From the Shadows …

Austin, Texas has a special connection with bats, but it wasn’t always that way. When these weird creatures first arrived by the thousands in the early 1980’s, they were initially feared and seen as a pest. It wasn’t until the City of Austin discovered their great contribution to the local ecosystem that the bats were embraced by locals and visitors alike. Four decades later, the bat colony under the Congress Avenue Bridge has become a great tourist attraction and an icon of Austin’s weird identity.

And Austin is well known for its weirdness! Austinites take great pride in their admiration and promotion of all things weird. For many, weirdness can be a way to embrace what we are inside—what makes us unique and special in a very individual way. That’s how we embrace our own inner monster. Through its journey of acceptance of the bats, Austin also embraced its inner monster, stepping out of the shadows and into the light.

… Into the Light

TRAVIS© by Innermonsters represents the essence of Austin at its finest: taking weird to the next level, exploring our inner selves, and embracing our uniqueness by revealing the best of us out into the light.

TRAVIS© was born in Austin to tell the world that it’s OK to be different—to embrace your inner monster and be yourself in a world where everyone wants to be alike.

Hi, I'm Travis.
I’m more than just a bat.
I'm Austin’s Inner Monster.

A long time ago,
the city was scared of me…
until they realized they were just scared of the unknown.

Today, the city and I embrace each other in perfect balance.

All of us have an inner monster, so you do the same,
step out of the shadow, let it out into the light and set it free,
because in the end, it will make us all better.