That's a good point; we need to make sure that the stuff we use actually comes from our wiki. A large portion of the trope names actually come from other pieces of fiction. Like More Dakka, for example.

I think we hit a major stall, and that would be someone getting back to us on what would be required to babysit the store. I think ccoa's suggestion of having a store team would be good, but we'd need an idea of total man-hours needed for this. If it's 3-5 per week, we can just have a weekly (or perhaps biweekly, as the case may be) rotation. If it's more than that, we'd need to rotate more frequently.

Sorry. Got distracted...

Babysitting the Zazzle store involves

• making new designs or prodding the people who say they will make designs to get them made.
• Adding the new designs to the appropriate merch items.
• Checking the sales stats on a relatively regular basis to see what is selling and what isn't, so the item line can be tweaked.
• Tweaking the item list.
• Making sure the monies are transferred to the wiki. I don't recall what that involves.

A couple three hours a week, usually, more as we get toward holiday shopping season, when we'll want to add items that have gift appeal but that might not sell well the rest of the year.

There may be more; I'm kind of braindead right now. But that's the gist of it. It needs to be someone who can learn the Zazzle inventory interface, and who is organized enough to keep track of what needs to be done. Artistic talent would be nice, but if they can ride herd on artists effectively, they don't need to be one themself.

edited 10th Apr '12 5:24:04 PM by Madrugada

I tweaked the phlebotinum image a bit◊. And corrected my spelling.

Well that's not a huge deal at all. We could get a volunteer for that easily.

...

Anyone?

Anyone?

Anyone?

bueler?

@Maddy: How many babysitters would we have? I might be able to do it, but my schedule isn't entirely set at the moment and I wouldn't want to be the sole guy responsible for the stuff. Not that I'm volunteering (I'd want a bit more info first), but I'd like to know a few more of the specifics.

Also, I'd love to make an intentionally crappy looking Stylistic Suck shirt? Good idea?

I think I could handle a rotation or two. We'd have to probably dedicate a thread (this one or another) to managing the store.

Don't we have an extension to the Evil Overlord List written by tropers? Bet we could mine that for multiple appeal stuff.

Well some are really wordy, and use a lot of troper lingo. They could have variations to fit on pictures though.

Apart from the Evil Overlord List Cellblock A, B, Additional Evil Overlord List Cellblock A, B, C and TV Tropes Additional Evil Overlord Vows; we have the The Universal Genre Savvy Guide, the If I Am Ever Head of an Alien Monitoring Agency, the How to Survive a War Movie and more guides to use.

edited 11th Apr '12 11:56:54 AM by Joaqs

We might could do some of the trope distinctions from those lists, as well.

How to Invade an Alien Planet has some gems.

I would buy a t-shirt that had this one:

How to Invade an Alien Planet

Tip #5: Check the air and water first to make sure they aren't toxic to your kind. If you're invading a Class M planet but your species has a lethal reaction to H2O, natural selection hasn't been doing its job.

We can't use most of the Evil Overlord List, because we didn't write it.

edited 11th Apr '12 12:08:30 PM by ccoa

Here's the fixed volatile warning.

Doesn't look very professional. It's got an "I made this in MS Paint" vibe.

That's not meant to be the final picture that will show up on the products. It's just meant to be a template. Someone can take it and make a legit looking label based on it.

edited 11th Apr '12 7:53:32 PM by DragonQuestZ

I like the idea of the warning.

The new warning, with the black bomb, looks great. After some touch-ups, I think that can go on a shirt or other item.

I think the biggest tweak needed is to make the bomb just a little smaller and the text just a little larger.

Actually, one minor stylistic tweak that will make a huge difference - the corners of the sign need to be rounded, not sharp. Actual warning signs use rounded corners, so even if people can't immediately recognize what's off, there will be the sense that something is.

EDIT: One example from Amish Country is here◊.

edited 12th Apr '12 9:48:34 AM by 32_Footsteps

I agree. I just had trouble making it look right when I did the pixel art. Again, this is just a template, at best.

We should totally have a Fun T-Shirt shirt. Or if we really wanted to be cheesy, a shirt that just has a giant "T" on the front of it.

A mouse button over the holler sign with the words "SUMMON MODERATOR!"?

The more I think about it, the more I think that could sell to anyone who goes onto online forums. We'd want a larger and clearer graphic of the Holler button, though.

Or perhaps Summon Bigger Fish?

"Summon moderator" would have more universal appeal, I think.