The mystery of Geedis has been solved

September 5, 2019 5:08 AM

The podcast Endless Thread has solved the mystery of who or, or what, is Geedis (previously).
posted by audi alteram partem (15 comments total)

I dunno how I missed this the first time around (that is to say, "previously") because I love this sort of stuff. I like that in the link form the previously FPP, we see this:

The search for the truth of Geedis is far from over. Avery-Dennison has not immediately responded to either Fernald’s or Atlas Obscura’s requests for comment, but Fernald hopes he can get their attention on Twitter, with the ultimate goal of locating the artist or artists behind the stickers. Failing that, he jokes that maybe he can just start producing bootleg Geedis merchandise until someone sues him. At least then he’d have some answers to the question that started it all. Or maybe there’s an ending that’s even more like something out of an ’80s movie.

“My dream is that when all of this is said and done, this leads me to The Land of Ta.”

Editor's note: Fernald disappeared from his apartment on August 11, 2017 ad has not been seen since.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:11 AM on September 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

I wish I'd seen this back in 2017, too. I would have loved to follow along with the mystery and hunt, plus I had that Women of Ta sticker sheet at some point in my childhood.

I remember nothing else about where it came from, but Astrid is burned into my brain, and all the others on the sheet are familiar too. Astrid though, I must have stuck Astrid to something I looked at a lot.
posted by The Man from Lardfork at 6:58 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best thing I've seen today. And the whole podcast looks very much like my jam. And I love that it was transcribed!

Reminds me of one of my fav memories of the early Internets- some rando had put a plate of rotting meat in his neighbors yard and then posted updates of if the neighbor had noticed. It had it all - the suspense, the mystery, it was the best. And now I can find no evidence of such a site, just this fragmentary memory like a page of random stickers stuck in my head. I can't even remember how it resolved.
posted by zenon at 7:17 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

WHY ARE THERE PINS THOUGH?
posted by papayaninja at 7:27 AM on September 5, 2019 [11 favorites]

WHY ARE THERE PINS THOUGH?
posted by papayaninja at 9:27 AM on September 5 [2 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]

YES! I must know the answer to this, mystery *not* solved. Yes, yes, awesome work tracking down the original artist, very fun look at his work, and I know I'm being greedy, no, Geed-y, but why pins? Based on the information about the artist, Sam Petrucci, was he trying to make Geedis "happen," it seems like there would have been something in his files that would have indicated. At any rate, I am left with more questions.
posted by dawg-proud at 7:55 AM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

Because stickers peel off of your shirt too easily?
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:55 AM on September 5, 2019

Except for the pins, I'd call the mystery of Geedis solved. As for the pins themselves, I imagine that someone found themselves owning the equipment to manufacture enamel pins and started stealing designs from their immediate surroundings just to have something to sell. There happened to be a Land of Ta sticker sheet somewhere around, or perhaps just a solitary Geedis sticker, and the rest is history. Wouldn't you do the same under the circumstances?
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:56 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh my god we had that Dennison space-themed sticker sheet that's listed in the transcript. I remember there was a big fight with my brother because the big ol' space station sticker got ripped.
posted by rewil at 9:46 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

GEEDIS LIVES
posted by nubs at 11:22 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is neat, but man that podcast/transcript seemed to ramble on forever.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:32 PM on September 5, 2019

WHY ARE THERE PINS THOUGH
The stickers are in our timeline. The pins are from the GI Joe stock option timeline, where his pet project became a toy line and a Saturday morning cartoon.

In that timeline, the Internet is complaining about how casting Zoltan as a woman in Blockbuster's gritty reboot ruined their childhood, and a few folks on Digg are trying to figure out what the Decepticon logo is, and where it came from.
posted by condour75 at 7:32 PM on September 5, 2019 [8 favorites]

Reminds me of one of my fav memories of the early Internets- some rando had put a plate of rotting meat in his neighbors yard and then posted updates of if the neighbor had noticed. It had it all - the suspense, the mystery, it was the best. And now I can find no evidence of such a site, just this fragmentary memory like a page of random stickers stuck in my head. I can't even remember how it resolved.

Stinky Meat!!!
Here is your internet white whale!
http://www.stinkymeat.net/
posted by nakedmolerats at 7:55 PM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure I had the "space-themed sticker sheet" pictured in the article. I might even still have it intact in a massive sticker collection from my childhood.
posted by krisjohn at 8:10 PM on September 5, 2019

The stinky meat guy also did a stinky feet thing where he put his foot in a bag for a month. And one of the guys associated went on to found OKCupid.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:14 PM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is awesome. I had a similar mystery, but AskMeFi solved it inside of 6 months.
posted by gofargogo at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2019