Full disclosure: not only am I the founder and head editor of TGEFM, but Asplenia Studios is the name of my art and illustration company. So you could also say this is kind of a TGEFM project, too.
tl;dr version: Purchase merchandise featuring the above design, only available during Pride Month, Jun 2022, and help raise money for The Trevor Project. Click here for purchase links.
Long version: While TGEFM staff and guest contributors were doing our track-by-track discussion of the recent album Dear Who? – Lavasocks Records / Sell The Heart Records‘ tribute to the 1995 Jawbreaker album Dear You– one of the songs we came across was a cover of “Million” by an artist named Keira. Curious, I reached out to find out more about this musician, and Andy Pohl (Tsunami Bomb, Sell The Heart) got me more information.
I soon found out that Keira Donnelly is not only a musician but, like myself, she is also a fan of the long-running Japanese sci-fi franchise Gundam. She actually went so far as to make a music video of her building a Gundam model, set to her song “Transition Blues”. The video features her kit bashing (using parts from different model kits) and applying a unique color scheme and decals to create what we now call the RX-78TRNS-01 Gundam.
Being a huge fan of Gundam, I do a lot of fan art based on the series and other mecha (giant robots or humanoid machines) franchises. But one of my favorite things to do is to draw them in what is now known as “Super-Deformed” style (aka- SD), which is basically cute, big heads, little bodies. It works for anything really, even planes (although this plane turns into a big humanoid machine anyway).
And so I offered to draw her Gundam in a SD style and she was into it. Then as the project progressed we thought of selling the unique design on a range of merch, eventually limited only to Pride Month, Jun 2022, with all proceeds going to charity. At Keira’s recommendation, we chose The Trevor Project, which focuses on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth, to benefit from this.
And that’s that. The design is available across several shops and a range of products. Remember, ALL proceeds from the sale of these designs will go to The Trevor Project, which means we’ll be basing our donation on our cut of the sales from the shops, and I will absorb any PayPal or associated fees out of my own pocket. You can click here for a linktree page to the shops (please share!), as well as Asplenia Studios’ and Keira’s socials, or see below a brief description of the various shops you can purchase from (and some quick info that might help you to decide which to use):
Teepublic sells on a limited range of merchandise, but the the prices are always good. Each design is on sale at a discount for the first 72 hours, and Teepublic has regular sales throughout the month. Best for: Clothing, often best prices, shipping to North America, UK, and EU
Redbubble sells on a wider range of items than Teepublic. The prices are generally competitive with Teepublic (except when Teepublic is on sale). Best for: finding this design on a bunch of items, shipping almost world-wide.
Etsy will also have an even more limited edition print that is not found at the other shops. Purchase of one of these prints will send the most money-per-item to our chosen charity.
Disclaimer – neither That’s Good Enough For Me, Asplenia Studios, or Keira are affiliated with The Trevor Project. All proceeds will be sent as an individual donation under the Asplenia Studios name.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
