Infinity Jersey

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ID: 34

A knockoff jersey made infamous being worn by anyone wanting to seem hard through association.

### Price/Sell

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❝ Kung only ever copied King! But the jerseys, never had an original! ❞
— **Bangimantas Žudys**
The **Infinity Jersey** is an item that acts as a conduit for the Infinity Franchise's influence.

## History

The Infinity Jersey originated as a bootleg produced by the Kung Company - a Taiwanese sweatshop that constantly copied the King Company and its sportswear before the flash. Kung's jersey started public advertisement and marketing sometime in 1998.

The dilemma with the jersey was that it had no originator that it copied from - for unknown reasons, the King Company ceased plans for a king-brand jersey, leaving the Infinity Jersey as a bootleg with no original.

The jerseys were later buried due to a *"PR catastrophe"*, only being uncovered later after the Flash.

## In-Game

The jersey is numerous and far-reaching, first appearing in the game within Garbage Island as piles of burnt synthetic fabrics - an effort to quell the franchise's presence within the landfill from the then occupying Rando Army.

A crate of the sportswear is seen outside House Dust, where an unlimited amount can be taken by Alex. After Chaz's mutation, the crate disappears.

The jersey's ubiquity is very present within Downtown Olathe - overrun by the Franchise, every man who has lost himself to it can be spotted wearing the clothing. Jerseys can be 'bought' by Bangimantas Žudys for free. Another crate is found at the bottom of the Dried Sangria Lake, dug up by men who didn't know why they were digging.

Jerseys can be obtained from many of the infinitized enemies located within downtown. Enemies that provide jerseys upon death include:

* Clyde Cyclone
* Donnie Sand
* Geronimo Phantasmata
* Luca Bariga
* Matty Mack
* Spanks Star
* Stefan Kindchild
* Tibby Dobs
* Tingles the Clown
* Wilbur Sin

Despite being available in abundance, the Infinity Jersey has no use within the game.

## Role Within the Franchise

As a mechanisms and tool for the Franchise, the jersey is an influencer. A place slowly overcome and consumed by a virulent 'gang', that is also open-invitation, compels many to put on the jersey.

Most wear it for the intimidation factor and the 'badness' of being associated with the Franchise, one example being Alcohol Keeth. Others wear it for safety, in the belief that as long as they're "one of them", they won't be a victim. Others wear it to waste themselves away - an outlet to enact violent feelings with little repercussions, such as Arnold Shpitz.

Regardless of motivation, the jersey allows the wearer to "relay responsibility and personal identity to a non-existent entity," allowing them to act out murder 'guilt-free', so to speak. So deeply under the influence of the hate plague, that one loses identity to it: They aren't doing it. It's the Franchise.

## Trivia

* The jersey's backstory of being buried due to a tremendous marketing failure is based on the real life equivalent of the Atari video game burial, the most notorious example being E.T. the Extra-Terrestial.
* Before (or during) development of LISA: The Pointless, lead developer Ed ran a satirical DeviantArt account called "Polska Kaczka"; in the submitted piece "*Specter of communism looms over free world!"*, the fictitious 'Bronislaw Subinski' alleges that he "SHAT for **88** days and **88** nights!" -- this serves as the potential first appearance of the 88 motif of the Infinity Jersey.
* The Polska Kaczka account also features a piece titled "*Farewell sweet prince, I will take upon the mantle*"; in the comments, a user inquiring about the 'Abibas' logo on a character's tracksuit is met with Bronislaw's disbelief that they have not heard of "the exclusive Abibas sports wear brand from Taiwan" -- this likely serves as the origin for the Jersey as a knock-off sportswear line from a Taiwanese sweatshop ran by Kung Corporation.

## References

1. ↑ "Kung, a Taiwanese company used to make knockoffs" - Ed, 01-10-17
2. ↑ "..some PR catastrophes happened to make them all get pulled" - Ed, 05-28-17
3. ↑ "They burn jerseys" - Louise, 03-07-18
4. ↑ "The jersey allows one to relay responsibility and personal identity to a nonexistent entity" - Ed, 01-10-17
5. ↑ "not just refference [sic] it is canonical to the backstory of the jersey" Ed, 12-28-16