Johnny Cupcakes x NBA 2013 Big Kid T-Shirts

Back in 2010 Johnny Cupcakes released a killer series of NBA inspired Big Kid t-shirts just in time for the NBA All-Star Game (see the designs here). Each shirt featured JC’s mascot re-imagined as an NBA Legend (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird). Flash forward three years and Johnny’s done it again! The weekend after the 2013 NBA All-Star Game Johnny Cupcakes has released an all new series of NBA inspired Big Kid tees!

This time around Big Kid has been reimagined as two current players and one Basketball Hall of Famer. Big Kid as the Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin was released as a JCLA Bakery exclusive, Big Kid as the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce was released as a JC Boston Bakery exclusive, and Big Kid as the Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman was released as an online exclusive. Each t- design was also sold as exclusive buttons at each Johnny Cupcakes retail location. Is this a killer release or what!?!?

Each Johnny Cupcakes x NBA 2013 Big Kid t-shirt retailed for $39.99. The shirts were available in both men's and women’s styles, sizes S-3XL. The Bulls online exclusive is now sold out, but I’ve heard the LA and Boston exclusives may still be available in select sizes. All three NBA Big Kid buttons are still available and can be purchased for just $0.99!

NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 Vinyl Figures by Funko

The NBA Playoffs are really heating up and now’s your chance to immortalize the 2012 season with these cute, chunky vinyl figures of your favorite basketball player! Whether you’re a Heat, Knicks or Lakers fan, there’s definitely a figure for you in Funko’s NBA Pop! Sports Series 1. What’s really amazing is there are ten figures in this first wave of NBA Pop!, making it Funko’s largest single release to date. NBA Pop! Sports Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge, Derrick Rose and Mr. Linsanity himself, Jeremy Lin.

The NBA Pop! Sports vinyl figures feature one point of articulation, stand 3.75” tall and come packaged in a full color displayable window box. These figures are available now in stores everywhere, but you can save yourself a trip to your local toy store by ordering them online from Entertainment Earth for $9.99 each here.

NBA Pop! Series 1 Concept Artwork by Funko

Funko has teamed with MINDstyle (yes, that MINDstyle) to produce a line of officially licensed NBA Pop! vinyl figures. Series 1 includes Lebron James, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, Lamarcus Aldridge and the reigning MVP, Derrick Rose. While these figures look awesome, The Blot has just one question…where’s the beef? As in where’s Kobe Bryant!?! Pau’s great, but the Lakers fan in me needs a Kobe Pop! vinyl figure immediately. I guess I'll just have to wait until Series 2.

As a University of Texas alum, I also think it’s pretty cool to see two fellow longhorns included in this release, Kevin Durant and Lamarcus Aldridge. I guess they can’t say we’re just a football school anymore! Funko also leaked the preliminary artwork for a future Jeremy Lin NBA Pop! vinyl figure. This would make a pretty sweet New York Comic-Con 2012 exclusive wouldn’t it?

NBA Pop! Series 1 will begin shipping in late April to ensure they reach you in time to cheer on your favorite team during the playoffs!

Johnny Cupcakes Black Friday 2010 Releases

Not to be left out of the madness that is Black Friday, Johnny Cupcakes released a huge set of all new limited edition t-shirts featuring some really fun and unique designs. Going along with the “Black Friday” theme, most of the shirts have been printed on black tees. The Blot especially likes Johnny’s “Cupcake Day Parade” t-shirt, which is perfect for Thanksgiving morning when most of America is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. The Boston Celtics inspired "Full Court Press" should have all the NBA fans out there very excited for the latest JC basketball themed tee.

All of the t-shirts above can be purchased directly from Johnny Cupcakes through its online store. The t-shirts come in guys and girls sizes and retail for $35.99 each (except the “War (’10)” t-shirt which retails for $38.99). Use the coupon code “snow” for 15% off all purchase between now and Monday, November 29th, at 11:59pm EST.

Los Angeles Lakers Win the 2010 NBA Championship For Back to Back Titles

Wow, as a lifelong fan of the Los Angeles Lakers The Blot can honestly say I’m as excited for this NBA Championship, the franchise’s sixteenth, as I was the first time I watched the Lakers win one in the ‘80s. It’s definitely a feeling that never gets old, and this one was especially sweet considering the team’s collapse against the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals.


It’s hard to believe the Lakers have now been to the Finals three straight years and are coming off back-to-back championships. Before Derek Fisher’s return and Pau Gasol’s arrival in 2008, the team was in a freefall and Kobe’s departure was all but certain. Now the years with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are just a distant memory!


There are a number of reasons this championship is especially sweet, and at the top of that list is because it came against the Lakers’ hated rivals, the Celtics, and was the perfect revenge for 2008’s loss. On top of that, Kobe now has 5 titles (and 2 NBA Finals MVP awards), on par with Magic Johnson, and Phil Jackson has won 11 titles, widening his record over the Celtics Red Auerbach (who has 9 titles to his credit). Another amazing statistic is that Jackson is the only NBA coach to ever win multiple titles in a row four different times! He had two different three-peats with the Bulls, a three-peat with the Lakers and now back-to-back championships again with the Lakers. That’s just incredible, isn’t it?


Another interesting turn of events from last night’s victory is that Kobe now has more NBA titles than Shaquille O’Neal (5 to 4). When asked what winning another NBA titale means to him individually, Kobe responded “Just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank. You know how I am. I don't forget anything." I may be a Shaq guy, but that’s still pretty funny (and true).


I could go on and on about Pau’s amazing performance throughout the playoffs (he probably should have won the Finals MVP award this year), Ron Artest’s amazing in game 7 or DFish’s continued clutch shooting…but I won’t, because you already know how great they were! Instead I’ll just make an impassioned plea to Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss to please, please, please resign Phi Jackson. Pay the man his money so the Lakers can you win you a second three-peat. As we all know, Phil likes to do things in 3s.

Johnny Cupcakes x NBA The Dream Team T-Shirts

The Blot is a huge fan of the NBA, so these Johnny Cupcakes Dream Team t-shirts, an unofficial tie-in with the Association, automatically becomes one of The Blot’s favorite JC releases. Released just in time for this past weekend’s NBA All-Star Game, the first three t-shirts features the Johnny Cupcakes mascot Big Kid re-imagined as three of the greatest NBA players of all time: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.




The second batch of Johnny Cupcakes x NBA Dream Team t-shirts are tributes to two of the league’s two most decorated franchises, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. These are also happened to be the only two cities that have Johnny Cupcakes retail locations. As a Lakers fan I especially like JC’s Dunkin’ Desserts Until It Hurts LA tee, and will probably have to order one when it goes on sale sometime this week.



The Johnny Cupcakes Dream Team t-shirts will all be available for purchase at the Johnny Cupcakes online store early this week; however most of these should be available in stores right now. The Big Kid Jordan is an online exclusive, while the two Celtics themed shirts will be available at Johnny Cupcakes Boston and the two Lakers themed shirts will be available at Johnny Cupcakes Los Angeles.

Johnny Cupcakes Winter 2008 T-Shirt Line

Johnny Cupcakes unleashed a new batch of killer shirts this past week. The new designs are a good mix of holiday cheer, random nuttiness and classic JC. My favorite has to be the Boston Celtics inspired Foam Finger t-shirt, but I know a lot of Johnny Cupcakes fans out there will love the Pez inspired JC Dispenser t-shirt in purple. Plus there are three all new Cupcake & Crossbones colorways good for any occasion.



All of the shirts featured here (except the Fuschia Gingham Crossbones colorway) come in both guys and girls style t-shirts and retail for $35.99 each at the official Johnny Cupcakes online store. Get these shirts while they’re fresh, because once these Cupcake t-shirts are gone you might never see them again!



For those of you looking for that out of print or sold out Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt, eBay is now the place for you. Johnny Cupcakes has set up an official Johnny Cupcakes Vault account on eBay to clean out/auction off old shirts, warehouse treasures, last pressings, promotional materials and other random goodies that customers around the world are often clamoring for. If you’re looking for an old shirt or just want to see what hidden gem Johnny might have hidden up his sleeve, definitely check out his new eBay store here.

2008 NBA Finals Game 1 - LA Lakers vs. Boston Celtics Tonight

The Blot can’t wait for the NBA Finals to finally begin. It’s been way too long since both Conference Finals ended and I don’t think the Association could possibly hype up this series anymore than it already has. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics are the league’s two most prestigious franchises and this is definitely the matchup David Stern and the league was desperately hoping for. Kobe, Gasol and Odom vs. Garnett, Pierce and Allen is a series for the ages…or at least for the past few years.


The game starts in just over an hour and I can’t focus on much else. Because of that and still trying to catch up from being out of town for a week, The Blot is having to postpone my Lost season finale recap until tomorrow. Sorry everyone! But, if you want to help out by cheering on my LA Lakers, you can tune into ABC at 9/8 central for Game 1of the 2008 NBA Finals.

Johnny Cupcakes

There are two things (among a list of others) that The Blot loves, random t-shirts and cupcakes. So when I first heard about the indie clothing brand Johnny Cupcakes up in Boston, MA, it was a no brainer I was going to dig their shirts. You see, while the store may look just like a bakery, there are no real cupcakes…just the coolest, funkiest shirts in the northeast. I’ve been telling myself for a year now that I wasn’t going to buy one until I walked into their flagship store, but since I’ve still never been to Boston I’m thinking it’s time to cave in and order a few.

Johnny Cupcakes was founded by Johnny Earle and started out as a joke back in 2000 when he decided to start making t-shirts as a side business. (link) By 2001 he was selling shirts out of the back of his 89’ Toyota Camry and the rest, they say, is history. The clothing line’s logo is a riff off of the traditional skull & crossbones symbol, replacing the skull with a cupcake. Like the logo, most of the company’s clothing line “uses cupcakes as the prominent feature…often replacing iconic symbols with cupcakes.”(link) According to the Johnny Cupcakes website, the company is adding a third store (and their first outside of the Boston area) in Los Angeles later this year, somewhere near Kidrobot’s LA store. (link)



While I definitely dig the traditional Crossbones shirts the most, I have to say I love their take on the Boston Celtics logo. As you all know I’m a sucker for shirts that riff on sports teams and their logos, so I think I’m going to have to pick this one up when I finally place an order. Since I’m an alumni of the University of Alabama, I might also have to get a Houndstooth Chef Crossbones t-shirt to honor the late, great Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.



So, if you’re looking for some new shirts to add to your closet and can’t make it up to Boston, then definitely check out the Johnny Cupcakes online store to satisfy all of your cupcake cravings!