Summary
Look, I get that fashion andcosplaycan be expensive, especially when you’re buying from a brand, but I have to draw the line here. $160 for a single carrier bag? If you want a souvenir from the game, there are prettier souvenirs, and if it’s for cosplay, you can get a pack of75yellow carrier bags online for $10. If it’s for style… why?
As reported byRock Paper Shotgun, ZA/UM and Atelier are selling thesame carrier bagthat Harry Du Bois uses to collect bottles that he later trades for cash. The €159 isn’t just because it’s licensed merch, but because it’s made up of an expensive Dyneema fabric “15x stronger than steel” (and stronger than Kevlar).
I’m not sure what shopping requires fabric 15x stronger than steel, but it’s not the kind of shopping you’d do with a plastic carrier bag anyway. And this thing istiny,because in-game, it’s meant to be a bog-standard plastic shopping bag, so you wouldn’t fit anything heavy enough to rip it anyway. I suppose you could at least save yourself from getting shot in Big Tesco.
This Is The “Last Carrier Bag You’ll Ever Need”
According to the website, this Disco Elysium-styled carrier bag is “the last you’ll ever need”, and I would hope so. At roughly £130, in the UK, you could buy 1,320 carrier bags for that price. If you were to go shopping once a week, and use a single carrier bag (it’d be a light shop), it’d take you 25 years to get that many plastic bags.
It’s a weird bit of merch that fundamentally misunderstands the themes of Disco Elysium amidst a storm of controversy,layoffs, and spiritual successors. It all feels a bit grimy, and I’m not sure Harry would react all that well if you walked up to him with a $160 carrier bag while he scrounges for bottles to get by.
Disco Elysium
WHERE TO PLAY
Disco Elysium first launched in 2019 and sees you play the role of a detective investigating a murder. Critically acclaimed for its themes, art style, and largely combat-free gameplay, with a more complete version of the game, The Final Cut, launched in 2021.
