Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (T-Shirt) Review

**Note: Although this is a[n] toy/action figure review site, lately, I've been more and more interested in t-shirts as well.  Whatever t-shirt that may tickle my fancy, I'll post a review here as well.  I hope you enjoy it.  As always, feel free to e-mail me or leave comments on this site.  Thanks.**


This is one of the few amazing things that happened at last year's San Diego Comic Con.  Like many others, I was unaware of this until the SDCC event started.  Although I love collecting action figures, this t-shirt was (and still is) a MUST-HAVE for two reasons: (1) I'm running out of shirts to wear and (2) The novelty of having a "zombie" face to wear and freak out your friends and neighbors never gets old!

The Good:

• A definite amazing surprise for Comic Con attendees who waited on line to be one of the first to try out the [then] unreleased Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles [Wii] video game.

• It was finally available via Capcom's [U.S.] store front for purchase after several agonizing months of longing for said t-shirt.

• A nice "minimalist-approach" design on the front and backside of the shirt.  The front reads: "Let Your Darkside Out" with several flesh-eating zombies lumbering for fresh human meat in the background. 

• On the back, near the top middle area reads: "Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles" (in the same font as on the front cover of the Wii video game).

• The best part of this shirt is what lies beneath the front-side of the shirt: the decayed zombie face!  (An extremely ugly face that only a zombie mother could love.)  

The Bad:

• The Capcom Store is selling these t-shirts for $24.95 each!  These aren't exactly "designer" t-shirts now, are they?  But $24.95?  Really?

The Ugly:

•  Ha!  In my case, the shirt arrived in an over-sized [cardboard] box, not wrapped in any sort of protective plastic layer or such.  Whoever packed my shirt just tossed it in the box and then added the [usual] crinkly brown paper on top of the shirt with the packing slip and taped it shut.  You can imagine my surprise when I opened up the package to see that my shirt was already dirty.  Bits and pieces of cardboard was smothered all over the shirt.  All I can say is that it was a real pain in the ass to remove.  To make a long story short, I sent a complaint e-mail offering to return the shirt.  The customer support team at Digital River (not the best service out there) apologized and told me I could keep the shirt for free.

Additional Notes:

• This shirt was given out for FREE at the San Diego Comic Con 2009 for those lucky attendees.

• The same t-shirt (separately packaged in a polybag) was also given out FREE as a "pre-order bonus" if you pre-ordered a copy of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles Wii video game from Gamestop.

I initially purchased my first t-shirt off of eBay (before Capcom decided that it was a good idea to cash in on these shirts) at an inflated price of $50.00 ($5.00 for shipping and handling).  Why did I end up buying another (this time from the Capcom Store)?  To make a long story short, my cousin loved it (unfortunately this shirt isn't sold overseas where he lives), so I gave it to him.  I paid a total of $34.45 (shipping and handling charge of $9.50) purchasing it from the Capcom [::cough:: rip-off ::cough::] Store.


NOTE: I DO NOT REPRESENT eBAY OR THE CAPCOM STORE.  I HAVE NOT BEEN PAID TO MENTION THEIR NAMES.  I AM ONLY RECOMMENDING [OR NOT] SOLELY BASED UPON MY EXPERIENCES WITH THEM.

If my review hasn't deterred you from purchasing this item, you're in luck because the Capcom Store still have them in stock... at the same price!  These shirts come in all sizes: small, medium, large, extra-large, and extra-extra large.  Overall, I love the novelty of this shirt (referring to the "hidden" zombie face underneath the front-side of the shirt).  Also, it's another way of showing off your love for the Resident Evil series.


Score (out of five):