Follow Up

Lord Malignance, it’s difficult to address your questions 100% because I’m still figuring out some of the details and, even when I know what my personal goals are, I’ll have to negotiate them with other people because I don’t intend to act alone or “take charge” of a group of people.  I’m planning for collaboration.  Anyway, I have two years, more or less, until military retirement… so I’m on a timeline, but I have time to deal with these things.

There are a handful of reasons I’m going to Los Angeles – one is that violent crimes occur there on a daily basis.  I realize that’s kind of a nutjob thing to find “attractive,” but it means there are real people who could genuinely use help.  Another is that Hollywood is a magnet for people who want to break into the film industry and end up working in food service and such because almost no one actually breaks into the traditional film industry.  But these people have professional skills… lots of people in various fields have unused professional level skills.  I see it as rich with potential for collaborating along the lines of what I personally want this whole “superhero thing” to become.

One of the things I don’t want it to become is me dead in an alley somewhere because I was so dedicated to some impractical comic book ideal that I refused to take reasonable measures to ensure my own safety or the safety of people close to me.  In Los Angeles, no less, where the people I come across practically invented drive-bys… right?  Why wouldn’t you want a gun in a place like that?  As for training with guns, I’m confident that my level of pistol training compares favorably to the average mid-career cop.

What I think will happen when word gets around that “superheroes carry guns” (and wear body armor, and have practical training and tactics… and can electrify people with their feet… and hurl sonic grenades… and rip open car doors with robotic exoskeletons… and see in the dark… and “sense” when someone’s sneaking up behind them via a vibrotactile IR sensor array worn on the upper torso… etc etc)…

What I think will happen when word gets around about that stuff is the exact opposite of what happened when I patrolled through Oakland with a group that got snickered at and asked if it was cosplaying, more or less.  It has not been my experience that people react to potentially armed and dangerous groups of citizens with a “shoot on sight” policy.  Most people aren’t suicidal.

I don’t intend for ordinary people to fear me, nor do I think they will, either.  I have a concept I’m thinking out called (sort of a working title) “adaptive response.”  The idea is that you can tailor the signature of security guys to match environments and, therefore, provoke fear or not depending on the situation.  So if you just want to look all cool and Daft Punk-ish at an event, you do that, and nobody realizes on scene that you’re anything more than just eye candy.  On the other hand, if you want to appear intimidating as hell… you do that, too.

Here, check out this YT video about the so-called robot “Titan.”  (It’s a performer in a suit)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baGYnczzh1c  nobody’s scared of it, right?  Check out 0:43 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25_G81hYklQ&feature=related Or just imagine more or less the same thing confronting you in the dark.  It’s not a perfect comparison, but that’s sort of the idea.

Also if I made a distinction between myself in and out of costume I’d probably go even more nuts.  I’m only ever not in costume when I’m working or taking a shower or something.  I always dress funny, basically.

And I don’t have any plans to be a party clown or a Punisher wannabe.  More like… eh… performance art and pro bono counterculture security work that I document and commercialize with Internet films?  I can’t really think of the perfect way to put it right at this exact second, but basically just having fun and doing practical applied cool transhuman things “in the field.”

I give pretty good odds that I won’t be able to do the things I want to do without divorcing myself from the RLSH community, but we’ll see.  No reason to rush into these things and maybe it will work out otherwise.

Finally calling the group/team/LLC “The Magnificent Bastards” isn’t a joke.  Well, it’s sort of a joke.  But then “I’m going to get atom symbols tattooed on my forearms” was also sort of a joke.  Check out pic two in my blog post with the same title as yours.

I just wish I could do it all right this second, but I can’t.  But in two years I can do it all and fail miserably at it and still be able to keep going with it thanks to a retirement check.  That’s basically the plan.  And as I’m trying to get people involved I’m, like I kinda said way earlier in this rant, willing to change around the details and make it something we all agree is a good idea, fun, and sustainable.  All that jazz.

Superheroes and Guns

                                                                     Shut up, crime!

                                               Yippi-kai-ay, Melon Farmer.

                                                                  What?

They're called "Gunchucks" and they're even cooler than a flying guillotine.  Be sure to blare the Banana Splits theme from your belt-mounted PA system during use for additional psychological effect.

And behold actual comic book evidence that superheroes are supposed to use guns -- dual wield them, in fact:

Thank you.  Have a nice day.

awesome rocket sword