Tag artisteroi

Being a gadget builder, I reuse and repurpose a lot of things. Almost any bit of scrap technology can be reborn into something new and interesting with a little imagination, some know-how and hard work. I pride myself on being able to save something from a land-fill and give it new life in a new form. Because I have gotten such a reputation for doing things like that, people bring me stuff.
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My team mate, Superhero brought me the old sun roof off of the Supermobile. The transparent roof turned the cockpit into an oven in the Florida sunshine so he removed the Lexan roof and installed a fiberglass one. The Lexan roof came to me. I was going to sell it on Ebay Motors for some Team Justice operating capital, but there are dozens of them on there. For $50 price range!

So I was stuck with this large sheet of smoked ¼ Lexan. I offered it up as shield material. The first taker was Anonyman.
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I started by marking out a circle on the plastic that was roughly the diameter of the length of my forearm. Any larger and it would not be practical. Regardless of what Captain America may think, a large shield is not useful.

I got a leather belt from Goodwill for a few bucks and a dowel rod from my scrap box. The belt made the elbow strap and the dowel became the hand strap. Some metallic vent tape was used to create an Anonyman logo for the front of the disk. It was a pretty easy build.
After seeing the success of the first shield, one was requested by Urban Avenger. Not wanting to duplicate past work, (I hate doing something twice) I procrastinated. I’m bad for that.
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Eventually I did get around to starting on the build for Urban Avenger. I wanted to do something different for his shield so as not to be duplicating work. Urban has always had a thing for lighting and mask goggles. I wanted to create that effect on the shield using 3 lenses with the top one being an actual light with interchangeable color disks with his logo and such on the various disks.
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As I was talking to him about the shield though, He told me he doesn’t really use his mask lighting any more. There goes my design plans. I decided to just put the light on it (since I already bought it) without the lenses. The light I purchased for the project is a 3 way system having a standard light, A UV setting for finding spilled fluids, (actual detective gear!) and the 3rd setting? A friggin’ Laser! Sweet.
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After working out the details on how to do the Logo, I again used a Goodwill leather belt as the elbow strap. However UA, had stated he wanted it to be adjustable. It needed a buckle. More specifically it need a buckle that could be adjusted using only 1 hand.

Using my Dremel tool, I cut a tab shape in a square of heavy sheet metal. By folding the outer form at 1 location and the inner tab at a different location, I was able to create a double loop buckle with no moving parts. A bolt ran through the metal becomes the belt keeper. As far as I can find this is an original invention.

The front handle had to be a stable one on this build. It had to hold the barrel of the light on it. I couldn’t do it the same as the Anonyman shield. A section of “V” channel would do the trick. I beat the cold steel into shape with a heavy framing hammer. But it had powder coat on it. A soak in an acetone bath softened the powder coating enough to allow me to scrape it off with a utility knife. Some primer and Urban Avenger red and it was ready to go.

I installed it on the shield and attached light barrel to the outer edge using aircraft cable and then wrapping it with some scrap leather. I sealed the open end with a pvc pipe cap after drilling a hole in it for the wiring. I ran the wires to the emitter disk that I attached to the front of the shield using some angle braces. I then covered the wiring with some surgical tubing to keep it neat and help seal from water. I covered the connections with some leather and called it complete.
And if you are interested in seeing it in action:
httpv://youtu.be/aHAFyfeFozU

Take a few hours one night to help Knight Hood refill shelter supplies.
Superheroes Night 10/30/2011
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42RIQZ8fVFA

So I’m on my way to ST.Pete to meet Knight Hood with Artisteroi…
…and we pass a couple of Largo cop cars with their overheads on at the side of the road behind a van that has a rim but no tire what-so-ever on the rear passenger side. We decide to offer the cops the use of my Floor Jack, maybe we can pick it up enough to get the rim off. We do a U-turn & swing around behind them & I get out & walk up, it turns out it’s a Sergeant & a road Officer & the Sergeant looks at me & says “Out doing your good deed for the day?” and smiles. I offer him the use of the jack but they have a wrecker on the way. Odd thing is everybody on the scene is bald, even the van owner so I say OK I can’t help but I’ll tell you the bald guy joke” …
“What did the bald guy say when his daughter gave him a comb for his Birthday?”
“I’ll never part with it.”
We all had a good laugh & Artisteroi & I took off, some time you just bring Humor…but it helps.
 

Transportation is vital to an RLSH. Many of us cover a large area while on patrol and for handouts. As a result the most vital piece of gear that we use is the car. Of course some of us don’t use a car at all, patrolling on foot, or using a bike or skateboard. There’s nothing wrong with that. Which ever transportation is best suited to your locale is the way you should travel.
But I am going to tell you about cars first. Anyone who owns any type of car should have it on a regular maintenance schedule. All too often I see people who have a limited budget, purchase a vehicle that is right at the edge of what they can afford. They don’t include maintenance as part of the operating costs of the car. As a result the car degrades and you wind up with a really large paperweight that you are making payments on. Not an effective use of funding. Also you will look real silly in your gimmick trying to fix a leaky radiator by the side of the road.
Get a car that is well under your budget levels. A running used Camry is going to be a lot more super than mustang that is up on blocks in your back yard.
My team-mate Superhero has The Supermobile. A tricked out custom built Corvette Stingray. It’s mean, fast, scary fun to ride in, and spends a lot of time (and money) in the shop. Is it worth it? If you can afford it, yes. But take a realistic look at what you are doing as an RLSH, before purchasing something like this. As with everything else about the community, try to not be all starry eyed when investing in transport.

 Now that I have said the preachy part, I will tell you about some cool little transportation gadgets that are available.
 
A new arrival on the scene is a sort of cross between a skate board and a motorcycle. Called The Shocker.
 

Motocross Board

 
It’s available for pre-order now. The price is between $1700 and $3000 Depending on which model you want.
 
The Roamboard is an electric powered motorized skateboard.
 

Roam Board

 
The Roamboard starts at $2500 for a basic model and run to $3000 for a custom.
 
And since we are checking out cool skateboard evolutions and crossovers, what if you crossed a skateboard with a tank? The DTV Shredder
 

 The Shredder

 
This little monster will cost you about $4000.  It is still in the pre-order phase but should be available by spring of 2012.
 
 

* * * *

Weapons. Everybody wants weapons. Stun guns, real guns, batons, staffs, knives, swords. Flame Throwers?
Holy Nazi Frog Men! There must be a war going on in every back alley in the world? Is there? Have you asked yourself that question? Are you being realistic about what you will encounter on the streets? Or are you still pretending just a little bit?
If you are carrying a sword around on the streets you are pretending. “It’s just decorative.” Then why do you need it? “To make the costume look authentic” Ahh, you’re a cosplayer.. “I’m an RLSH!” No you’re not. You are lying to yourself and those around you.
I saw a video of the great Phoenix Jones. There is no denying that he is the most visible of us. The one most recognized by the public. And the one who is “setting the bar” by which we will all be judged. Unfortunately.
Anyway here he was on camera attending to an injured civilian. The man was lying prone on the ground. Bleeding from an injury to his temple. Phoenix Jones was dancing around in concern, seemingly confused. Then he calls to someone off camera for towels.  PJ is not carrying a first aid kit.
Bullet resistant vest? Check.
Stun Gun Baton? Check?
Thousands of dollars worth of custom made costume? Check.
Public Relations camera guy? Check.
First aid kit? Who needs it!…
I have no beef with PJ personally. I don’t even know him. This is not a PJ blog. This is a “What you need to have with you on patrol” blog. We should all be setting a good example. We should all be setting a much better example than that video of Phoenix Jones is setting.
Your number 1 priority, the number 1 reason to be an RLSH is to help people. Regardless of your ultimate mission you are there to help. The best way to help people is to be prepared. Training comes first. Then the gear.
Can’t afford the training? Volunteer some time to the Red Cross. They offer first aid training, CPR classes, and other life saving procedure classes. And they will teach you about the Good Samaritan Laws in your area. Free to volunteers. Free! No excuses not to do it. Go there now!

>>American Red Cross<<

If you are an RLSH to help people, then put in some of that time at the Red Cross. Look at it as patrol time. If you are not willing to volunteer your time doing that, you should be questioning your reasons for being an RLSH. We are not here to fight, we are here to help.
After you have a bit of training, and hopefully some real world understanding, then you can get these items for your utility belt. These are essential.
The Gadgets you should have with you always:

1. Get a first aid kit. Know how to use it.
2. Carry a cell phone to call for help. Always call for help first.
3. Carry a camera to make a visual record of events
4. Carry a flashlight to see in the dark areas.

Notice there are no weapons on that list. All weapons are optional. All of them. You don’t “need” any of them.
Are weapons helpful? In certain circumstances, yes. But those circumstances are a lot more rare, than someone needing first aid. Saving a life is going to make you a lot more of a hero, than fighting off a team of Nazi Frog Men.

I get requests for gadgetry all the time. 90% of those requests are for some kind of weaponry. I understand this. The heroes in the comics are loaded to the gills with advanced artillery. Villains are as well. They even have whole armies of henchmen packing all sorts of lethal armament.
As a result, our young impressionable members feel that they need a flame thrower or micro grenade launcher or some sort of anti personnel tactical nuclear device. Of course you need that. The heroes in the comics have them.
“Why not me?” you ask.
As I said before, many of our members are young and impressionable. In fact, a vast majority of people asking for top rated fire power are teenagers. Yes that’s right. Children not old enough to buy beer or vote are asking me to build a flame thrower.
I am all for the right to bear arms. My father taught me to shoot a revolver when I was 11 years old. I can bulls-eye a dime with a 22 rifle at 20yards. And I can knock a squirrel out of oak tree with nothing more than a sling shot and a small pebble.
I can use these weapons because I understand them. I respect them. I, however, do not advocate carrying any of them in the field.
I know that some RLSH carry lethal weapons on patrol. I am not telling them not to. One of my team mates carries a lethal weapon in the field. He has training in how to use it. He has years of experience with fire arms. And he has a licensed permit to carry it.  Also, he is old enough to vote.
Anyone wishing to carry a weapon of any kind in the field should have a healthy respect and understanding for what it can do. They should be trained, licensed if necessary, and permitted to carry and use it by the local laws and regulations. If you are asking me to build something that cannot be bought at a specialty weapons shop or a traveling weapons show, then I must assume that it is probably not legal and you have little understanding of that weapon and its proper use.
My new policy for any type of lethal weapons will be “You’ll shoot you eye out kid.”
*Addendum* I wrote this blog on Saturday night just before patrol. Sunday morning I had an email from a person asking for me to build a flame thrower. Yep.
I won’t say who it was that asked so if he wants to keep his reputation he can just pretend it never happened and no one will know.

An Interview with Captain Illumination
Some people think that I am the only gadgeteer in the RLSH community. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not the first, nor even the best. Maybe I am just the most vocal. Whatever that counts for.
There are many Gadgeteers with varying degrees of expertise and specialties. Some are on the street crime fighters, bringing their gadgets to the field with them for testing and fine tuning. Some host builder’s workshops for the improvisation of tools weapons and armour. And some are highly specialized technicians.

 One such highly specialized member is Captain Illumination. The good Captain is a street level crime fighter with an arsenal of home built light based equipment. Seeing his assortment of lights, and talking to him about his abilities it is easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge Captain Illumination has about battery powered light output.

 I wanted to bring some of that knowledge to light. Hehe. So I put together some interview questions for him. If you are looking for a good patrol light or just want to understand the nomenclature better, read on as I pick the brain of Captain Illumination!
1. First off, if you don’t mind,.. Please tell us where you have acquired your background in all things lighting.
Ever since I was very young I have been deeply fascinated by light, my parents kept a journal as I grew up, they said as soon as I could walk I would run around the house turing lights on and off for hours at a time.
I have never been able to leave things good enough alone, If they could be modified or improved upon I would do so. Flashlights were no exception. It all started with my first 4-D Maglite, ever since then I knew I needed more power.
As far as options for lighting goes, there are just so many routs one can take. Someone could just buy the biggest Maglite they can find put a Xenon bulb in it and be done. They could also buy any one of the thousands of cheap “but effective” Chinese made LED flashlights from eBay etc. For the true professional, company’s such as SureFire and Streamlight offer the performance and reliability out of the box that no other brand can match. The last rout of course is total custom built lights. Either based on a production flashlight or made entirely from scratch, these lights allow the end user to have the most control over just what they want their light to do.
What ever your choice start off small and work your way up. The experience you gain from working your way up will later allow you to build your own lights form scratch.
2. You seem to prefer incandescent lights as opposed to the more modern LED lights. Why is that?
Simply put, LED’s ARE the future. The truth is as simple as that. Soon all standard lighting sources will be LED. Just as car headlights are transiting over too LEDs, street lamps, movie projectors, searchlights, everything will be LED I estimate in the next 20 years or so.
That being said while LEDs do offer the ability to make custom lighting projects, nothing today can surpass the utter simplicity and cost effectiveness of incandescent lighting for home made lights. One simply can not match a home made Incan for the same price of a LED modded light. $15 will pick up a Par36- 50 watt bulb which will make over 1,200 lumens easily. In order to make that many lumens in LEDs (regardless of what anyone has seen for sale on eBay, etc) would cost hundreds of dollars invested in driver boards, heat sinks, Multiple LEDs, optics, Li-ion batteries, and even more.
Also Incan’s offer full color rendition. Meaning, everything you see with a incandescent light would look the same as if it was viewed during the day under sun-light. Even while using the purest white LED, one might expect to loose massive amounts of depth perception and the ability to discern one object from another at longer ranges. Lastly, it is MUCH harder for an LED to really throw it’s light down range for spotting objects in the distance. It can be done, but it all comes down to surface brightness when one wants to make a spot-light and Incans have that area covered.
 
3. What is the difference between Lumens and LUX? Which is better for seeing? Which is better for a weapon?
LUX, the forgotten sibling of Lumens, is overlooked by so many who need it. Today Lumens have almost became a house hold name, anyone who knows anything about flashlights, knows this magic word describes “just” how bright the light is, the higher the number, the better right? Well sort of.
First off I’d say at least 90% of flashlight companies who put lumens on packages are over exaggerating to say the least. Most imported Chinese made lights “while cheap” demonstrate massive amounts of over exaggeration. In fact a lot of them advertise an amount of lumens that it’s LED could never even physically produce.
Next time you read lumens on a flashlight try cutting the number in half. That would make it much more realistic. That being said don’t feel bad if you bought one of those “900” lumen flashlights, you still should have at least 300 “hopefully” that is a lot of light, once upon a time that would have been unheard of for even a large multi hundred dollar light.
Lux, however, is in fact even more important then lumens and there isn’t even over exaggerated claims made on packaging for it. It is as if it didn’t even exist! Lux describes the intensity of light at one meter. So Lumens = how much light, Lux = how intense. Think, Lumens is like how many gallons a second a hose or stream would discharge, Lux would be the pressure or speed at which it was moving. That being said one can now hopefully understand just how important Lux truly is if one is going for a “weapon” type light.
“First I must point out that like the proverbial grapple gun, a light which can be used by it’s self to stop an attacker is simply unrealistic, and near impossible to make, that being said lights can be used offensively and defensively to give a major upper hand in a fight” Anyway, if you think of a flashlight like water, which would you rather be hit by? 10 gallons dumped over your head from a bucket, or half a gallon focused into a water jet that could cut through steel? I think we all know the answer!
Thus if you want to disorientate an attacker by shinning light in his eyes you want the light hitting him in the face to be as powerful as possible. It doesn’t matter if you are only using 50 lumens if all 50 lumens go into his eyes. VS a 300 lumens light and only 15 lumens goes into his eyes and all the rest of the light goes around him.
The best comparison is a laser. A laser is light just like a flashlight, that being said a 10 lumen laser can reach out 2 miles easily, because it has super high Lux “over a million”. How does one get tons of Lux? Well you can either use very high power LED lights form some of the more high end companies or a cheaper incandescent with a large reflector.
A good comparison is that a typical 2-D flashlight makes 20 lumens and 3,500 Lux, and one of those $3, 7 LED lights that take 3x AAA cells makes more lumens “24” but only offer a dismal 800 Lux. A 900 lumen “true 350” Chinese tactical light, will make about 5,500 Lux, but a big old 4-D Maglite will make 18,000 LUX! With only 48 Lumens. The ultimate debunk of flashlights blinding people is that even the most powerful SureFire M6 $400+ flashlight will only make around 28,000 Lux when sunlight it’s self makes between 75,000 and 100,000 Lux.
Don’t belive me? Get your brightest flashlight then go outside during noon time stand in a patch of sunlights hold your flashlight next to your head and see if you can see the beam on the ground. Chances are you won’t. Is it possible to beat out the Sun? Yes, but it will cost quite a bit of money. If you’ve got the money, try a Polarion.
 
4. If we were looking for a good RLSH patrol flashlight, what price range should we be looking at? Can you recommend a light that would work well for us right out of the box?
Really the price range is up to the user, if one is willing to bet their life on their light I wouldn’t want the cheapest light I could find. Most RLSH’s are on a budget though, and $45 should easily be enough for almost any scenario.
An excellent starting light is the Maglite XL50. It’s cheap $30 and very strong and bright. Unlike most companies Maglite shows true lumens and at around 100 this lights is very bright for it’s small size. The best part is it’s reliability unlike most no name brands this light will last for years of use.
Want something a bit more unique? Get a $16 Streamlight ProPolymer 4AA flashlight from a dive shop, replace the bulb with a HPR 53 Halogen bulb, use 4x high quality rechargeable batteries and you’ve got a super bright almost indestructible low budget flashlight. Even if you don’t want to mod this light is works great for the price.
If you can still find one at your local hardware store, the Dorcy rechargeable 190 lumen flashlight has a super high LUX beam for it’s price and it’s standard rechargeability is very practical.
The Lowes 2-C Task Force flashlight was one of my first every day carry [EDC] lights for over a year. It’s cheap “under $30” and has 150 lumens with a very high lux beam “around 7,500”. The current generation uses a different LED then my original. I have no experience with it, but I assume it is even better then the original.
There are many other flashlights I could have suggested, however all of the above flashlights can be bought in local stores, free form shipping and have a good trade off between reliability, brightness, and run-time.
That’s all from Captain Illumination. I Hope this added to your knowledge of lighting for patrols and general usage. RLSH can use your new knowledge of lights to try to make the world a brighter place.
Groan, .. That was a horrible pun…
 

A lot of the RLSH wear armor of one type or another. From simple sports armor to full on ballistic protection and everything in between. Some even make there own armor to get that total custom look to it. One thing that almost everyone does to their armor, be it home made or store bought, is add a little extra padding. Possibly because you want it more comfortable, or able to take a harder hit or just because it doesn’t quite fit right.
So the question becomes, “What do I stuff under my armor and still feel manly?” Can’t very well use toilet paper like some teenage girl, can we. We need something macho and strong. And gadgety.
Enter D3o. That’s ‘dee three oh’ not dee thirty. D3o is a molecular super material that changes from gel to solid when impacted. It is sort of a Non-Newtonian fluid in jello form. It is gooey and pliable at rest, and very solid when impacted at high velocity. It has been available in Europe for a few years and is now making it’s way to the U.S. in high end sports gear. There has been a lot of talk about it in the RLSH community for a while.
I got a chance to test some of the new USA version D3o for Project EON some time ago. I tested the expensive D3o against a lesser known, much cheaper, type of polyurethane called Sorbothane.  Some of you may already be familiar with my findings but for those who are not, I am re-posting them here so they can be archived for the future.
I got a sample pack for testing of each product. The USA D30 called Deflexcion and the Sorbathane. I figured the best way to test the abilities of the materials was to place it over something fragile and then smack it with something hard. Like my big ass framing hammer for instance.

I built a small frame to hold the edges of the d3o net like part in place.

It had a recessed part in the center so the d3o sample will be held above a voided area.

Then I placed the d3o sample in place above the void and screwed down a holding frame to keep the sides held tight.

Theoretically the force of the hammer should now be transferred through the entire structure making it all rigid and preventing damage to the wood below.

It actually became rigid enough to break. The force of the blow stiffened the whole sample. But with no way to dissipate it, it shattered.

The power of the hammer could now be transferred through the material into the wood.
Now lets take a look at the Sorbothane.


Its stretchy. It comes in 5 durometer levels. Which is a measure of how tough it is. 30, 40, 50, 60, 70. 70 is the toughest and the least stretchy. That’s the 30 I am stretching.


Laying each piece on its own wood sample, I proceeded to strike each with the hammer. You can see where I hit it.

No noticeable damage to the wood. I repeated this test with each of the samples. There was no noticeable damage to the wood in any of them.
Conclusion: D3o out smarts itself. It is too unforgiving if it is fixed on the edges. I feel if it is sewn into a suit and then struck it will probably not break like my sample but will instead transfer the force to the stitches causing the suit to become damaged. It would have to be loose in a pocket structure of the suit in order to be effective.
It dosen’t have any give under a forceful blow. so if you have it over your knee and are hit with a sledge, it will become solid and transfer all the force of the sledge to your knee. I can see making a helmet from it or padding over a soft area of tissue. But I wouldn’t use it over a boney area like the knees ankles and elbows. Also it is NOT available in raw form. You have to buy equipment with it already installed. The price of such equipment can be unforgiving as well.
Sorbothane on the other hand seems to maintain a gooey consistency and is probably rippling under the force of the hammer like a stone hitting the surface of a pool. I would like to get this on high speed film. You can buy it raw and add it to your existing equipment. The primary supplier being McMaster-Carr. Supplier of all sorts of industrial gadgetry and parts.

Originally posted: http://southcapitolstreet.com/2011/01/05/real-life-superhero-breaks-up-carjacking-in-washington-state/
Evil villains looking to prey on the citizens of Lynnwood, Washington, beware: Phoenix Jones is watching.
KIRO Eyewitness News reports that a Lynnwood man, identified only as “Dan,” came “within seconds of having his car broken into” on Sunday when the alleged crook was chased off by a masked crusader. In an incident that local police couldn’t confirm to TPM, Dan told KIRO a man with a metal strip was trying to unlock his car in a parking lot when help showed up out of nowhere.
“From the right, this guy comes dashing in, wearing this skin-tight rubber, black and gold suit, and starts chasing him away,” Dan said.
Dan’s rescuer was Phoenix Jones, a.k.a. Phoenix Jones the Guardian of Seattle, a “Real Life Superhero” and leader of the Rain City Superhero Movement. Almost every night, the 22-year-old Jones, who keeps his real identity a secret, enters a secret compartment in the back of a Lynnwood comic book store and emerges, in uniform, to patrol the streets. (Watch video of Jones in action here.) His suit includes a bullet-proof vest and “stab plates,” and he carries a taser nightstick, mace and tear gas. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Jones also sports a “ballistic cup.”
“I symbolize that the average person doesn’t have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing,” Jones said. He told KIRO that since he began his patrols nine months ago, he has been stabbed and had guns drawn on him.
Jones isn’t alone in his crime-fighting enthusiasm. There’s an entire movement of Real Life Superheroes out there, across the country. Activities appear to range from handing homeless people water bottles to actually stepping in and trying to stop violent crime. The website rlsh-manual.com defines a Real Life Superhero as “whoever chooses to embody the values presented in superheroic comic books, not only by donning a mask/costume, but also performing good deeds for the communitarian place whom he inhabits.” Reallifesuperheroes.org urges visitors to “Let out your inner superhero and join or support our cause.”
But not everyone is ready to credit Jones with thwarting a Real Life Evildoer. When TPM contacted the Lynnwood Police Department, Public Information Officer Shannon Sessions said the department was aware of the “superheroes,” but could not confirm the incident this week.
“I know there was a story on it–but I can’t confirm that it’s true and that it actually happened,” Sessions said in an email. She even suggested that KIRO may have been “punked.”
A commenter on The Real Life Superhero Forum suggested the Lynnwood incident was staged.
“Staged… bunk,” wrote a member named Artisteroi in response to the Forum founder’s posting of the KIRO story. “[A]nd does anyone notice that his suit keeps getting more and more elaborate? Someone is funding this guy. That suit was made in Hollywood basement.”
Back in November, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the Seattle police had made contact with the Rain City Superhero Movement. A source gave the Post-Intelligencer the names of the eight other members of the Movement: Thorn, Buster Doe, Green Reaper, Gemini, No Name, Catastrophe, Thunder 88 and Penelope.

Police say the “costume-wearing complainants” are lucky they haven’t been hurt.
In one instance, police say a caped crusader dressed in black was nearly shot when he came running out of a dark park. In another case, a witness on Capitol Hill saw the crusaders wearing ski masks in a car parked at a Shell station and thought they were going to rob the place.

Seattle Police spokesman Jeff Kappel told the paper “[t]here’s nothing wrong with citizens getting involved with the criminal justice process — as long as they follow it all the way through.” But the article describes an incident on November 4 where police responded to a scene where Jones and other apparent Movement members were in a stand-off with a man making threatening statements and swinging a golf club. The “costume-wearing complainants” declined to press charges, to prevent revealing their secret identities. As a result, The Club Swinger walked.
TPM also found an interview Jones did in November with a blogger named Tea Krulos. In it, Jones describes his background in martial arts, and says the other members of the Rain City Superhero Movement “all have either military backgrounds or MMA training.”
“Phoenix Jones…people believe Phoenix Jones may help them,” Phoenix Jones told Krulos. “I mean they know they can’t count on it 100 percent, because it’s so random, but they know it is possible.”

Originally posted: http://www.gizmag.com/real-life-superhero-gadgets/16862/
By Ben Coxworth

Yes, there are real-life superheroes. And no, we’re not just referring to firefighters, paramedics, and other heroic people who we’re used to seeing coming to the rescue of others. We’re talking about costume-wearing, identity-concealing, cool-name-having people who fight crime, pollution, or other evils in their own communities, on their own time, and at their own risk. Many of them actually patrol the city streets, ready to intervene if they see trouble brewing – and being ready includes having the right tools. Given that none of these people have Bruce Wayne’s budget, however, their gadgets tend to be less like Batmobile clones, and more like… well, read on and see for yourself.

Off-the-rack items

First of all, there are some household products that are popular in the RLSH (Real Life Superhero) community, including flashlights, first aid kits, mobile phones, cameras, and zip ties, to use as handcuffs. When it comes to preparing for physical confrontations, some not-so-household ready-made devices come into play, such as Kevlar vests, body armor, pepper spray, and telescoping batons. Moving up the ladder to the realm of “Is that even legal?”, a few RLSHs carry tasers, wrist rocket sling shots, and blast knuckles, which are shaped like brass knuckles and deliver an electric shock. Interestingly, we could only find one superhero who said they carry a firearm.

The Eye’s Custom Gear

Just as Spiderman is known for his web shooters and Wonder Woman for her golden lariat, so many RLSHs are known – at least within their community – for their custom-made gadgets. One in particular is The Eye, a kind of Dick Tracy-esque superhero who watches over the streets of Mountain View, California.
“Being a professional electronics tech from way back in my history, and being born and raised in Silicon Valley, I take great pleasure in the creation process, the sub-system testing, the final result, and a device’s final effective usage in the field,” he told Gizmag. His mostly light-based doo-dads have a decidedly steampunk appeal, and include things such as…

• The Wrist Blaster: a wrist-mounted and -activated camera strobe, which temporarily blinds assailants when fired at night (a similar device, The Eyeluminator, incorporates a five-LED flashlight)
• Finger Devices: these include a finger-mounted butane torch, laser pointers, and the Dragon’s Eye Ring, which contains a high-intensity white LED
• Sonic Screamer Tube: this one uses the electronics from a personal body alarm, transferred into a sound-concentrating steel tube
• Laser Wand: a toy Harry Potter wand, retrofitted with a 95mW green laser module – useful for pointing things out to the police, or letting troublemakers know they’re being watched
• The Nightmare Cane: inspired by a cane used by TV vampire Barnabas Collins, it sports an LED light, rare earth neodymium magnets for picking up metallic objects, a retractable claw hand for grabbing other items, and a video camera mount for peeking over obstacles

Master Legend and the Master Blaster

Over on the Southeastern U.S., Master Legend patrols the streets of Orlando, Florida. One of his trademark gadgets is a handheld cannon known as the Master Blaster. “The Master Blaster will shoot so high in the sky you won’t see it come down,” he told us. “It can also blow a hole through a door. I can put anything in it that fits.”
He also uses custom body armor plates made from steel plating, and a closed-ended steel cylinder that slips over his hand and forearm, which he calls the Iron Fist. According to Master Legend, the device is capable of hurting somebody, or smashing a door down – not that he necessarily wants to hurt anybody. “Scaring someone is better than beating them up” he said.

Artisteroi – Just tell him what you need

Unlike The Eye and Master Blaster, the gadgets that Artisteroi makes aren’t for his own use. He has a degree in mechanical engineering, develops engineering software for a living, and has become one of a select group of people whom other superheroes turn to when it comes to getting devices made.
He is currently chief engineer on the Iron Rad suit project, in which several RLSH “gadgeteers” are collaborating on developing a sort of real life Iron Man suit. Mega-Rad, one of their fellow superheroes, is funding the project. According to him, some of the key features of the suit will include ballistic protection, light weight, strength amplification, sensory enhancement and non-lethal weaponry.
“Iron Rad is a bid to function in reality as a full time superhero, actually rescuing people, disrupting violent crimes, and doing some form of outreach toward the next generation of people (who could become bad guys) to try and help motivate them to become constructive and awesome members of society instead” he told us.
Right now, the suit is still largely on the drawing board. “All the parts of the Iron Rad suit are essentially existing tech that we intend to repurpose and shoehorn together into one system,” Artisteroi said. “We are just finishing up the ideation phase and beginning design and prototyping.”
Some of Artisteroi’s recent projects have included a fog gun, and a fighting staff that folds down into a compact carrying case. He is currently working on the Mega Claw, a spring-loaded mechanical hand for use in Iron Rad, that will be controlled by Mega-Rad’s own hand via cables attached to a control glove.

Putting it all to use

It’s obviously a lot of fun acquiring and/or fabricating these gadgets, but… do they actually end up seeing any use?
According to The Eye, absolutely. “My cane, the Fedora Light, the Eyeluminator, and the Dragon’s Eye ring are common-wear items, that I wear/use some combination of on every night patrol,” he said. “The Laser Wand I once used to spook some public park vandals away, by scanning it near their location.”
“As for the more offensive but legal items that I often carry, that I did not create, such as stun guns and pepper spray and such, I certainly hope I never have to use them, but am glad they are there if needed… I am always more pleased when my photonic, self-created devices are able to diffuse a situation before it escalates.”
Geist, a RLSH based out of Rochester, Minnesota, told us “I use a cell phone, flashlight and a can of gray spray paint all the time. The spray paint is to paint a neutral color over gang graffiti, thus reclaiming the neighborhood for the people and not the gangs. It’s supposed to be a lethal insult to the gang (meaning they have the ‘right’ to kill you for doing it.).”
“I’ve not used my offensive or defensive weaponry and prefer I never do. I’ve talked down a lot of tense situations using diplomacy and reason. I’d really prefer that everyone just goes home and sobers up, rather than anyone going to jail.”
Artisteroi believes that the consumer products such as flashlights and body armor find use quite often, but the more exotic stuff – not so much. “That is a good thing, really,” he added. “The real world is a lot more stable than the chaos of the comics. If we had to use these expensive tools all the time, being a superhero would cost a fortune.”
Special thanks to the administrators and forum members of Real Life Superheroes.org for their help with this article.