Archives September 2006

The Hero Coalition Site run by Blitz is still somewhat in the testing phase, but I recommend for members of the RLSH community to sign up, and participate.
Click here to go to the Forum.
Respect.
~X
 

On a recent evening, Tothian, Squeegee Man and Dark Guardian are whisking up the West Side in their heromobile to Port Authority. Their mission is to bring help—in the form of water, granola bars and blankets—to the neighborhood’s homeless. Among bewildered shouts of “Thanks, man!” and “Yo! Is it Halloween already?!?,” the costumed crusaders distribute their goods and speed off into the night.
The three, who met on MySpace, often work independently and don’t even know each other’s real names. Squeegee Man, 26, who carries his signature implement on his belt, wears a uniform that some confuse with Superman’s, but as he indignantly reminds us, his underwear is on the inside. “I fight crime and grime,” he says. “I pick up trash, give things to the homeless and help old ladies cross the street—y’know, regular superhero stuff.” Meanwhile, Dark Guardian, 22—whose bulletproof mask has a smile drawn on it—and the 21-year-old Tothian (who won’t disclose his name’s origin for fear of revealing his secret identity) patrol bad neighborhoods in NYC and New Jersey. So far they’ve avoided brushes with real danger. “I haven’t saved anyone yet, but I’ve reported drug dealers and gambling dens to the police,” Dark Guardian says.
The superheroes take pleasure in the high-profile nature of doing good deeds in costume. “It’s in hopes of inspiring people to make the world a better place,” explains the Guardian. But the romantic returns of being a masked savior have been disappointing. “I’ve only had one girlfriend in my life,” admits Tothian. “Yeah,” snorts Squeegee Man. “And her name was Lady Invisible.” —Kate Lowenstein
For more info, go to superleagueofsuperheroes.com.

One of the few Canada-based real life heroes, Noble is a vigilant youth who patrols a large area around Ontario cleaning up the streets, as well as breaking up fights, which sometimes involves entering them. Trained in Goju Ryu martial arts, as well as Dragon Kung Fu, Noble is also an expert acrobat and gymnist, having spent years training as a circus acrobat.
Training and patrolling a regular part of his schedule, Noble stumbled onto the RLSH community while nursing a cold, and has been an active member ever since. Noble’s uniform consists of a black trench coat, black face mask, and black fingerless gloves. He is currently training with a round shield, 30 inches in diameter, to help him gain a defensive edge while maintaining an acrobatic style. Noble hopes to help the Superhero ‘movement’ become ‘mainstream’.
 

Miss Amazing is a masked superhero from the Lowell, Ma area. She has kept a low profile for the last five or so years while working behind the scenes to bring about changes in her city. She patrols mostly at night at different times and has made numerous calls to the police to stop crimes that are in progress.
This coming year she will be taking a more active role in her community and even taking more of a stand by actively stopping crime as it happens herself. She has numerous protective devises that are being added to her uniform and will be out and about even in early evening hours when the most happens with muggings and other trouble that are caused by the youth of her community.
 

Citizen Prime (formerly known as Paragon Prime) is a real-life crime fighter. His identity is guarded but not secret. He first appeared in Phoenix, Arizona in early 2006. Citizen Prime, or Prime, claims no superhuman powers. Prime’s experience and training make him an excellent tactician and creative problem solver. He is practiced in Ninjitsu, Tiajutsu, street fighting and Okinawan Karate. He is well versed in various armor technologies and nonlethal weapons. Prime has an excellent understanding of business, finance and technology.
Prime is a founding member of the non-profit Worldwide Heroes Organization and serves as the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, among other duties.
Prime’s armor (to be completed in January, 2007) provides Level 2 and Level 3 ballistic, stab and blunt trauma protection to 70% of his body while providing complete flexibility. His armor can contain various non-lethal weapons including 130 db alarms, Pepper Spray, various stun technology devices (including Taser, hand held and pen stun devices built into the armor), the ARMA 100 device, etc.. HIs armor and equipment is in a constant state of refinement. His helmet and armor contain communication devices and recording devices, including voice amplification.
Future planned developments: Night vision, fire proofing and electrifying the outer structure of the armor.
Prime typically patrols in an unmarked car, in disguise, or on foot. His investigations center around local issues such as lost children, local drive by shootings and the like.
As of this writing, his real life investigations and encounters remain sealed for confidentiality.
Prime also hosts a podcast on Prime.Vox.com narrating the journey to become a superhero.
 

Based in Chicago, IL… Liberator-X is an urban crusader who uses various legal options both on and off the street, to serve the purpose of his concise mission statement:

---

“To promote safety, and disrupt ongoing terrorism of citizens in key spots of the city, concentrating on family neighborhoods.”
 

A 23 year old southern california resident, blitz is the creator and designer of the Hero Coalition site, located at (link)www.herocoalition.com
Blitz is also one of the founding members of the W.H.O (Worldwide Heroes Organization).
Designing graphics and web pages in his spare time, blitz has many years of computer expeience doing everything from hardware to hard-coding.
“I don’t claim to be a hero, I just want to do good things. I built the Hero Coalition because there was a need, and I think inspiring people to be heroic is a very good thing.” –Blitz
 

*From Beerio’s Manual
Plate armor was traditionally made of iron or steel in the day of the knight, however due to the use of stronger and better crossbows and bows and the damnable invention of the gun, plate armor became less and less useful until it was abandonned altogether.The main problem with plate armor wasn’t that it couldn’t be made bulletproof. The problem was to make it bulletproof it became too heavy to be worn for a reasonable amount of time during combat.
Today man has learn of new and better materails other than iron and steel.
To make bulletproof plate armor today there are a few materials recommended:
High density plastic
Onnex
Kevlar or other ballistic fabrics incased in a resin.

From Beerio’s Manual
Chain armor is great defense against cutting damage. If constructed properly, also offers a reasonable amount of protection against piercing damage such as from a spear or knife thrust.
The viking style of chain armor is recommended. Viking style armor consisted of flat rings (think of a washer) alternating with round ring types (think of a piece of metal wire in a simple loop) with padding underneath. (This will be explained in detail later when I have time to update the site)
Keep in mind that chain armor is useless against bullets and blunt trauma damage such as from a base ball bat.
A variation on chain armor is ring armor where the rings are sewed or glued directly on a cloth or leather backing.

KEVLAR® is a space-age material designed by DuPont Industries. The material has been used for bullet-proof vests, helmets, masks, and friction absorption in the automotive and aerospace industries among other applications.
General Features of KEVLAR® :

High Tensile Strength at Low Weight

Low Elongation to Break High Modulus (Structural Rigidity)

Low Electrical Conductivity

High Chemical Resistance

Low Thermal Shrinkage

High Toughness (Work-To-Break)

Excellent Dimensional Stability

High Cut Resistance

Flame Resistant, Self Extinguishing

Historic Kevlar Explination Video
From Beerio’s Manual
When working with Kevlar, don’t think of it as sewing, but as making armor such as the medeval warrior did with leather.
1. Find some clothes that fit you as you would like your new suit to fit. I would suggest something old, stained and with holes in it because you are going to be disassembling them.
2. Cut the clothes up along the seam. Becareful to use the seam because that is how the patterns were assembled originally.
3. Use the new patterns to outline where the cuts will be on the kevlar fabric.
4. Cut the kevlar carefully as marked.
5. Assemble the kevlar along the seams as the original suit was.
Some key points:
Practice on some cheap fabrics in case your first attempt does not go good the first time. Kevlar is VERY expensive. Don’t think of the fabrics you practice on as wasted because they can be used for other purposes such as normal day use (if they are really bad looking you can wear it around the house or for bed clothes)
You can also dye them and wear them over your kevlar suit. Kevlar is strong but not very fashionable.
You do not need to use a needle and thread to assemble the patterns together. Rivets, screws and powerful glue are other ways to fashion kevlar together.
Kevlar’s main weaknesses are that it decomposes under alkaline conditions or when exposed to chlorine.
20 layers are needed to stop a 9mm handgun bullet traveling at 1200 feet per second