No, really. Go watch the video
And he’s not the only one. Apparently there are nine of them, part of the “Rain City Supehero Movement.”
What.
PS: If you’ll allow me a bit of shallowness, Dan from near Seattle is super cute. I’d use my super powers to, uh, save him any day. …Unfortunately I have no super powers.
28 comments
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Josh Benton
January 5, 2011 at 2:56 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I remember hearing something about these guys, or something like these guys, a while ago, and not paying too much attention to it because I was preoccupied with other things at the time.I’ll admit that every time I hear about this sort of thing my inner geek goes squee and bounces around like a happy little puppy. After all, who doesn’t want to be out there changing the world?The philosopher in me, he can’t help but going “Hmm….” Phoenix Jones says that all the individuals he’s affiliated with have a military or mixed martial arts background? Is that really sufficient? Sure they might be able to protect themselves, but what happens if and when someone else gets hurt? And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg as far as that goes.Anyway, I realize this was meant as a humorous post, and with my power of super-philosophy I’m likely over thinking it. So my introspective pose and I shall leave you now, good citizens, and ponder this somewhere other than Ms. McCreight’s comment box.
SpitefulFox
January 5, 2011 at 3:03 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw…
JT Ingram
January 5, 2011 at 3:05 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
No super powers?? But your boobs can cause statistically insignificant earthquakes!
Grumble F Kitty
January 5, 2011 at 3:05 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Isn’t that just glorified vigilantism? Is that a word? Anyway, I kind of would have thought it’d be illegal. *shrug* And yeah, Dan’s a cutie. Looks like Mr. Phoenix might be, too…
Insapory
January 5, 2011 at 3:16 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
JT: I’m pretty sure boobs are a super power in and of themselves. If nothing else, mind control has always been pretty useful!
CycleNinja
January 5, 2011 at 4:10 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Jen, every superhero needs a nerdy lab assistant sidekick to make stuff, right?
EdenBunny
January 5, 2011 at 4:35 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Yeah, I always suspected that Wonder Woman’s lasso was just a veneer…
Eric_Rom
January 5, 2011 at 8:19 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Batman doesn’t have powers either, just mad skilz. And tech, but you’ve got the tech covered.
Hans
January 5, 2011 at 10:57 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Science is a superpower.
bildungsroman
January 5, 2011 at 1:36 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ok, this has to be because all of those guys saw the movie Kick-Ass. I knew that would happen the second I saw it…
Svlad Cjelli
January 5, 2011 at 3:00 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The local police has no major problem with it, for now. They encourage civilians to take part in crime fighting by being good witnesses, and though they don’t want civilians to put themselves in danger, it’s not strictly illegal.It probably would be a bigger problem if they carried lethal weaponry beyond mace spray and taser nightsticks.
johnnypotamus
January 5, 2011 at 4:40 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My favorite part of the Real Life Superhero movement is that there exists a group of Super-Villains, specifically dedicated to giving these idiots something to focus on so they’re less likely to hurt themselves or others.
Gus Snarp
January 5, 2011 at 4:58 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It says he didn’t catch up with the guy. I wonder what would have happened if he had?
Spencertroxell
January 5, 2011 at 5:02 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
We’ve got a superhero in Cincinnati too:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…Of course, all of this was inevitable.
Katherine
January 5, 2011 at 6:07 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Your username is “bildungsroman’. That. Is. Amazing.
Gus Snarp
January 5, 2011 at 6:28 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Typical. The Seattle guy has a cool costume and actually looks like he could take on a bad guy. We get the out of shape people who’ve scrawled an unidentifiable symbol on their ill fitting shirts with a magic marker.
Eric_Rom
January 5, 2011 at 7:58 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Real super heroes have mastered silk-screening, at the very least.
Rollingforest
January 5, 2011 at 8:18 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My question, of course, is who’s watching the watchmen?
Abie
January 6, 2011 at 3:18 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This conversation is not complete without the penetrating insights of Sinfest. http://www.sinfest.net/archive…http://www.sinfest.net/archive…
Camus Dude
January 6, 2011 at 3:28 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I seriously doubt superheros (costumed adventurers) will become popular enough (or successful enough) IRL to need to worry about what happens when a criminal gets caught.
bildungsroman
January 6, 2011 at 12:26 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Not amazing, just a German word =)
bildungsroman
January 6, 2011 at 12:28 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My theory is that there was no actual bad guy, it was just the superhero’s friends posing as robber and victim, just so he could get media attention. C’mon, “Dan”? Guy is too cute to not be an actor…
JediPsychologist
January 6, 2011 at 4:27 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Okay, I know this makes me the biggest nerd in the UNIVERSE, but I’m sort of obsessed with the RLSH (Real Life Super Hero) movement. Soooo here’s a few links:http://www.reallifesuperheroes…http://www.worldsuperheroregis…I’m just sort of obsessed with the concept in general, but my boyfriend’s favorite by far is Angle-Grinder Man. He uses an angle-grinder to cut the boots off cars when people get parking violations. He lives in England, where it is apparently legal for shop owners to put the boot on your car and charge you a fine, instead of calling the cops every time someone parks in front of their store. And, apparently, Angle-Grinder Man takes issue with this. My boyfriend finds this hilarious.
Josh Benton
January 6, 2011 at 4:51 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Seems like the earlier post predicting supervillains was right. Sure, Angle-Grinder Man is only angle-grinding car boots. However, if it’s legal it’s legal (a tautology, I know), and Angle-Grinder Man is breaking the law, yes?
Gus Snarp
January 6, 2011 at 8:19 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I had the same thought, but I’m not sure. Dan also seemed a bit clueless to me.
Gus Snarp
January 6, 2011 at 8:22 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Yes, Angle-Grinder Man is questionable at least. He apparently also disables traffic cameras. So he’s destroying property to enable people to break all sorts of traffic laws. I guess once you put on a mask you get to decide which laws count? “Who watches the watchmen?”, indeed.
Josh Benton
January 6, 2011 at 9:19 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
True, though there are plenty of individuals without masks who decide which laws count.Were it an immoral law I’d be happy to join the Angle-Grinder Man fanclub. In this case, though, and despite the fact that I’m not fond of the proliferation of government cameras, I just can’t see where Angle-Grinder Man has a valid point. Are shopkeepers charging random or inflated prices to unboot cars Seems to me he’s actually fighting against things that would help the police be available to deal with more pressing issues.I’m trying to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. If they say they did X, I’ll accept they did X unless the evidence tells me otherwise. As a general rule I don’t want to question their mental state, either, but with Angle-Grinder Man….P.S. I’ll admit that I had to go back and fix the times I spelled it Angel-Grinder Man.
johnnypotamus
January 6, 2011 at 10:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
For reference, you can find those folks (the real Good Guys?) at http://www.joinroach.com/ — home of the Ruthless Organization Against Citizen Heroes