LOGOS AND YOU: WHAT IS THAT THING ON YOUR CHEST ALL ABOUT?

Good evening, everyone. I am Proteus, the proto-man, here once again to tantalize your ocular sensors with pearls of mediocre pseudo wisdom... or something...

TONIGHT we talk about logos, ladies and gentlemen, do-gooders and ne'er-do-wells. What types of logo should you choose, should you even choose a logo at all? Where should it go? how big should it be? blah blah blah all that wonderful nonsense...

Now I'm sure your asking yourself, "Who the Hell is this guy to think he can dictate logos to me?" That's a fair enough question. Well here are my credentials: I'm an artist and concept designer. I'm also a special makeup effects artist and costume designer. I've even been paid for my services, so technically that makes me a professional - at least according to my high school photography teacher, who used to start every class with "What's the difference between an amateur and a professional? The professional gets paid." Fair enough... Anyways, I've designed a couple dozen logos for other RLSH over the years, so I've got some experience... again, not showing off, just lending some credence to why you would even bother perusing this post in the first place.

Anyway, moving on...

LOGOS!

To begin, Logos are basically a simple, easily recognizable design intended to serve as an identifier for a person or object. In essence, in the presence of a good logo, the lay person should need no other indicator to identify who you are as an RLSH.

Now, the question you should be asking yourself before beginning the quest for the ideal logo should be Do I even need a logo? do I want people to instantly recognize me? Well, much like with the design of your costume, The purpose you serve as an RLSH should heavily inform your need for a logo. Are you in public service? Outreach? Do you perform charitable services where your image is important? Are you marketable in any way? These are instances where a logo would come in handy. 

Personally I don't see an immediate need for a logo in crime prevention, unless you've made such a name for yourself the mere presence of your logo is enough to dissuade people from being naughty, a-la Batman... But of course that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a logo, it just means you don't require one in most instances... anyway... moving on...

SELECTING A LOGO:

If you take a look through the world of superheros you'll see a variety of different types of logos, from letters(Superman), to icons(Flash), to faces(Deadpool), to abstract designs(The Greatest American Hero). What style would work best for you? Do you have a particular gimmick that could identify you, as in Green Arrow, Green Lantern or Captain America? Is your gimmick animal based, like Spiderman, Batman or Hawkman? Whatever your logo is, it should be something that on sight triggers a mental association with your name. The lightning bolt immediately brings the Flash to mind. The Question mark makes one think of the Question (or the Riddler if their thoughts lean toward villains) Your logo should do the same. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Back in the day a caper by the name of Zenith approached me for a logo. He wanted something that embodied his name. After talking to him for a bit and getting his color scheme down, I literally translated the definition of his name: Zenith - highest point. So I created a background image that represented a kind of high tech interpretation of a mountain, overlaid with a Z that I manipulated to fit within the image:

It was an extremely simple design, but also extremely successful, and today is one of my favorite personal logo designs. I dunno if Zenith is still active, but hopefully he used that logo for all it was worth... Anyway, from this you can get the idea of what an effective logo is: Simplistic design that conveys the image, values, or mission statement of your RLSH persona at a glance. 

ANATOMY OF A LOGO:

Ok, so you have an idea of what a logo should be, but what should it look like? what all goes in to a logo, anyway?

A logo can be as simple as a silhouette of a bat on your chest or it can be as complicated as Wonder Woman's double W's...

Seriously... there's a lot going on there... A logo can be just the object or it can be the object within a frame or background, Like Superman's "S" within the diamond or Batman's original logo:

We'll talk more about the significance of this logo later on, but right now I'll use it to demonstrate the importance of USE OF SPACE. Notice that the bat symbol nearly completely fills the yellow oval. This is proper use of space. Now let's look at an improper use of space:

That's right. Superman, right off the cover of his first ever appearance in Action Comics... Just look at him. Supes in all his early glory... But take a look at that logo. What the heck is goin on there? Let's take a closer look:

Ok, you've got an over-complicated crest with that tiny little s in the middle. In all honestly it's just... lackluster. It took many many years and issues of superman to get to the look we have today

Now let's compare. The new design features a simple Diamond shaped shield with a thick red border. The "S" has been altered to fill as much space as possible. It even blends into the border so much that the S itself appears incomplete The yellow of the background just shines through the few spaces that the S isn't covering. This is proper use of space. Don't be afraid to use your allotted space to it's fullest.

HOW BIG IS IT?

How big should your logo be? Honestly it can be as big or small as you want. It just needs to be visible and onlookers should be able to identify it without having to examine it.

Robin's logo is over his heart, much like a badge would be, while Nightwing's logo takes up his entire chest and his back. But it's still instantly recognizable. Go with what works in your overall design. If you have a gear heavy outfit with straps and pouches and other things covering most of your torso, perhaps go with an arm patch or perhaps a belt buckle, kind of like this fool:

Basically a logo can be anything and it can go anywhere, as long as it is what? Easily identifiable, clearly visible, , conveys your message, and makes proper use of space.

Once you've accomplished that, it's on to 

LOGO PRODUCTION

Oh wow, two tutorials in one? It's amazing! In the first part I suggested some things to consider while designing your logo. Now let's make 'em! 

Depending on what you want, you can make your logos out of any number of materials. You can have it made into a patch, or 3D printed into a badge that you can pin anywhere, but I'm going to show you how to actually make your logo yourself using your choice of 3 possible materials. The first being craft foam!

Now for this tutorial I decided I would be making my logo, since this is ultimately for my Proto-suit, so I took a look at the history of my logos:

My original crest. Wow, that was too busy. I don't think that's gonna work for my Proto-Suit

Ah, my RLSH logo... too preppy... like seriously too preppy. It just screams do-gooder... I hate labels.

Ah, now this is better. Darker, more... foreboding. I like this... But it's still not quite perfect. So I'll modify the design a smidge and break out the craft foam and start cutting...

There we go. Good use of space and it pops! Of course the color is wrong but that's ok. I'm not keeping this. Now for those who want a Craft Foam logo they are easy to make. This craft foam was available at Wal-Mart and was sticky backed, so all I had to do was cut out the background triangle (3 actually so I could build up thickness) and the "P" (2 in this case) and stuck them together. Once this is finished you can take simple white hobby glue, water it down 1:1 and brush your solution over the whole thing to seal it. after a few coats you can paint it however you want (I recommend acrylic paint), add Velcro or just sew it on to your outfit and VOILA!

In my case though, this is just a template. I'm gonna cast that sucker... So time to build a mold:

Just hot glued it to a box and hot glued cardboard walls around it, then I coated the whole thing with Mod Podge that you can get at any craft store

Then after a few coats I was ready for plaster! A quick blast of cooking spray evenly spread over the inside and then I poured in the plaster. After a half an hour to 45 minutes, I got this:

Purdy. Now what I want to do is a master pull because I want to be ready in case something goes wrong with the mold during actual casting. So for the Master I'm going to use the second recommended material, which is silicon. Now silicon is much much stronger than craft foam and will last infinitely longer as a logo, also it's highly flexible and will work well on any type of outfit. 

So all you need is a tube of clear silicon type 1, which is available at any home improvement store... Heck, you can even find it at Wal-Mart in the house paint section

Now the silicone by itself will stick to everything and take forever to dry as it is. If you've ever had to seal a shower with this stuff you know what I'm talking about. The secret is that moisture causes the silicone to cure, so if you mix in just a TINY bit of water in with the silicone it will cure completely WITHIN 20 MINUTES! Also, silicone sticks to very few surfaces: fabric, hair, and itself. mainly itself... So you don't even need a mold release for the plaster mold. just work the silicone in and you're done. Now in this case the moisture to be mixed in came in the form of some copper colored acrylic craft paint I had laying around, so I mixed it up quick.

From here I've got about 5 to 10 minutes working time, So I move quickly and scoop the goop into the plaster:

Now you want to make sure it gets into every nook and cranny and is even with the top of the mold. If you intend to use the silicone itself as your logo, I recommend at this point to lay a strip of fabric, like a strip from an old t-shirt over the mold and gently press it into the silicon. once it's cured it will be locked on to the fabric, which provides strength and reinforcement to the logo. If you're extra careful and can line it up, you can actually press your costume itself into the silicone, and it will become a permanent part of your costume... again you must make sure it is lined up straight.

The silicone is nearly impossible to paint, since the only thing that sticks to silicone is silicone. So unless you have silicone paint, which can be expensive. So what you can do is mix the silicone in different colored batches and apply them one at a time, adding the next once the first is cured... kinda like playing with those creepy crawlers back in the day... 'member those?

Anyway, once the silicone is cured you get this:

and once trimmed and cleaned up:

So now I have a master pull, which you will see why I would need it in a bit, because I don't want a silicone logo. I want something solid... I want plastic... I want High Density Polyethylene

Also known as HDPE, recyclable number 2... in this case, red punch bottles. So I just cut up the bottles into little pieces and pour them into the mold.

Now the whole thing I throw into the toaster over at 350 degrees and monitor closely until it's all nice and melty (about the consistency of silly putty). One thing to remember with HDPE is that once it's heated enough to manipulate, it constricts... it doesn't shrink, it tries to pull up into a ball, so pressure needs to be applied in order to get it to retain the shape of the mold once it's cooled.

This is where I went wrong... I cut the initial pieces of plastic too small and didn't pour enough in at the beginning (the usual method is as the plastic melts and lays flat you add more and more layers of plastic, building it up) so by the time I was ready to pull the whole thing out it wasn't....... complete...

Ummmm... wow... There's no saving that... unfortunately the mold also broke in half. So I had to break out the crazy glue. Hopefully it would hold together long enough for another casting... This time I also added clippings from a milk bottle as well, since uncolored HDPE seems to melt and spread easier for some reason.... So I used larger cuts of plastic this time, backed it all with a few layers of milk bottle plastic, then quickly pulled it out of the toaster oven and covered it with parchment paper(which doesn't stick to it) and then clamped the whole thing between two pieces of HDPE plate(if you remember my stab resistance tests on the Book of Faces)

And waited until it cooled...

Now the moment of truth. I go to remove it from the mold and I get:

ummmm... So much for that mold (this is why I made the silicon master pull, so I could remold if I needed to) Luckily it looked as though I got what I needed, though... so time for some trimming, sanding and cleaning...

HDPE cuts and sands just like wood, so I pulled out a little hacksaw, trimmed down the sides, lightly sanded the whole thing, then took a toothbrush and scrubbed the whole thing down under some soapy water to get rid of the remaining plaster.... It's still rough, so I took some bits of red plastic left over and a heat gun and began patching. then once cooled I sanded it down

Looks much better doesn't it? All it needs now is some fine tuning, then prepping for paint(much like silicon, paint doesn't stick well to hdpe. recommended is lightly going over it with a torch, then wiping it down with 90% or higher alcohol while it's still hot. that removes enough mold release from the plastic that it will hold paint... there are examples of this on YouTube, so check it out) but for right now, I intend to test for the main reason why I want my logo in HDPE.

Remember when I mentioned that we would be talking about the old yellow and black bat symbol again?

Yeah, that one. The question was once asked why, in the two-toned, sometimes monotone Batsuit, why there would be this single splash of yellow right in the middle of his chest. It made no sense. Now, artistically we know that the yellow pops and draws the eye to that spot, making us, the readers aware that Batman is on the scene. In the Batman universe, however, it was explained as this: The yellow field behind the bat logo is a single splash of yellow that draws the eyes to it and criminals would instinctively focus their aim at that yellow spot, rather than Batman's head. That yellow spot which was, at the time, of course, the only place on Batman's outfit that just happened to be completely armor plated. The yellow Bat-logo was bullet proof...

So knowing I can't make myself bullet proof, I do know that HDPE is extremely stab resistant. So, let the testing begin!

Stabbing the logo at full force, the point only penetrated approx 1/16" 

It didn't even penetrate halfway through the plastic, making this a very effective test indeed! Coming soon I'll be showing how you can make full armor plates out of HDPE, but for now I hope this helps with your quest for designing and creating the ultimate logo. As always, I'm open to any and all questions, so ask away.

Ciao!

WHO IS THE MAN BEHIND THE BEAUTIFULLY CHROMED FACEPLATE?

Well hello everyone! Proteus here and MAN has it been a while! I would have posted this earlier, but I had to wait till I got off work so I could look up my old passwords and such, since it's been so long since I even looked at this blog.

I appear to be having a bit of an identity crisis today, as our good friend Circus Jax has decided that I am not me. First he decided that I am not acting like myself, and then I acted too calmly when he threw down the gauntlet, though, honestly he was acting shifty toward me since I've been back, so I've been expecting this.

Next, he is positive that I am not me because I do not remember certain "key" events that he remembers because apparently he has a photographic memory and screen caps every interaction of note that he has. I wish I had a photographic memory. I've all but forgotten the first three years with the lovely La Femme. It creates a bit of an issue come anniversary time...

So anyway, This is my last resort. He needs proof that it is me by my dusting off the old Proto-Blog and making a new post. So here it is...

Now, to help seal the deal, The origin of the Proteus Avatar! Back when I turned my back on the RLSH community and became RLSV, I decided to change my look. I wanted something with a more sinister, Dr. Claw type of villainous look.... or even better... something along the lines of Cobra Commander... yeah, that's the ticket... I'd go with a modified version of good ole' CC... so I decided to make a concept image... So I went a-googling and found this:

Nice, right? Well it required some playing with, so I broke out Ye Olde Photoshop and came up with this:

Looks more foreboding, yes? Now for the finishing touch... My newly designed villainous logo!

Now add the two together and voila! My new avatar!

And that is as close to the concept for the Proto-Suit as it gets! That's the history of my Avatar, Jaxy. using artwork that isn't on my Book of Faces page OR elsewhere on my blog. I'm sorry I'm not the guy you remember, but I'm not sorry. I'm me. I've been on my own journey and my journey continues. If this doesn't satisfy you I don't know what to say, but I'm not going to continue with this. I have more important things to do than justify myself to anyone.

I am Proteus - the One and Only - STILL unconstrained by labels, memes, or people who doubt me.

RLSH: RACISM, INTOLERANCE AND YOU!

What an interesting day it is today. The weather is starting to become mild (only in the high 90's instead of the 100's - yippee skippee, My wife, La Femme is being particularly affectionate today (why wouldn't she be? I'm a stud) and the Proto-clones appear to be singing in tune (for a change)

And now I open up Facebook and lo and behold, Zimmer has posted some splash art of Nadra Enzi's blog... some intense stuff:

Wow, that sounds pretty racist, doesn't it? Well, it is, and Zimmer is using this to challenge the Initiative, with whom he has had a difference of opinion for quite some time. The funny thing is, if you step back, you will begin to see repeating patterns in both sides of this that are equal parts disturbing and, well, just plain funny. Click the Read More button below to.... read.... more....

IF IT FLOATS LIKE A DUCK...

Well, it's a quiet day here in the Proto-dome. I like quiet days. they give me time to reflect upon the week, upon the things I have seen and done, and it gives me the ability to look down at all the silliness of the world. And there's a lot of it. Today my focus shifts to something I read on facebook stated by Caped Crusader Matches Malone. He said that he and his companions are NOT RLSHs. I found that highly interesting. Click Read More to Read More

PROTEUS AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

This has been a day, people. A.... Day....

For starters, the environmental controls to the Proto-drome went out, turning what is a usually constantly pleasant temperature into a primordial stew. It was like being in a sauna... in the everglades.... in August. Unpleasant. And of course the Proto-clones are useless for anything that doesn't involve standing there like a lump or singing show tunes - don't ask, So I was reduced to crawling around maintenance shafts three and seven most of the day. It was ugly.

As if that wasn't enough, I return to the world of face book this evening only to see the community reduced to a Lord of the Flies type atmosphere. I swear last time I checked they were running around chasing Purple Lotus with sharpened sticks screaming "PL's the monster now! PL's the monster now!" It was disturbing.

OZONE...

Agent Beryllium has revealed that she has been continually sexually harassed online by an RLSH named Captain Ozone. Captain Ozone's own responses to these allegations seem to support the claim. This is one of the most troubling things I've seen in the community of late. To make things worse, while I haven't seen anyone come out directly in support of Ozone, I have seem more than a couple suggest that she essentially get over it. Block the guy and move on, just report him, blah blah blah. Someone even went so far as to say he didn't understand why it was being made into a natural disaster. This is the type of personalities on display in today's RLSH community. 

I'm going to start out by posting here my response to her latest thread, which were my immediate thoughts on the subject: 

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

Yesterday was Labor day.... Which means I spent last night being bored to tears. Turns out I wasn't the only one, as I got into a conversation with the Baroness Blackheart on the Book of Faces and it turned out that we both agree on a few things: namely how weird things have gotten lately. Click the read more button below to do more reading...

PROTEUS RISES!

Sweet holy crap it's dusty in here!

Well it's been a while since I posted anything in these old pages, and as I look back I see a man who was wide eyed and excited about the world real life heroics... He genuinely wanted to help...

How things have changed... HAH! Click below to read more.

Image Is Everything: Getting the RLSH back on the path...

Recently a question was raised about the message the RLSH is presenting to the public. It appears lately that the positive inspirational message that was initially intended by the RLSH has gone missing. Well, what follows is my response to that.

Knight Owl lending aid to the needy.

For The World is Hollow And I've Touched The Sky...

Greetings, heroes. I've been kind of off lately. My personal life has had me running around, which has given me the opportunity to kind of take a back seat and observe the RLSH community from a distance. I've noticed a few things during my year in the community, and I've learned even more.

Roughly a year and a half ago I discovered the RLSH community. I went through a brief period of exploration and research, learning what I could about this amazing movement. 

Oh, what a grand time it was, too. I had found a community where colorful characters donned comic inspired costumes and took to the streets in an effort to make a change. I was ecstatic. Though I had no costume I had already begun taking on some of the characteristics and ideals of heroes that I wished to embody. Charity and outreach, I found myself stopping to help more often, I would carry water around to hand out to those in need. I started watching out for people in need of help while I was out and about. I began to feel good about myself, and I wanted to see how far it could go. 

Then I joined the RLSH community in September of 2010. I actually joined initially with no intention of dressing up and patrolling, which I have actually stated in the past. I was pleased with the work I was doing and wanted to learn more about the community and what it meant to be a Real Life Superhero before I donned a mask of any kind. I listed myself in the category of hero support because I'm artistic and somewhat handy, and designing logos costumes and gear is something that comes easy to me, and being a security guard by trade, I figured I could pass on things I have learned on the job. 

Proteus existed solely as an internet personality, designed to be of service to the RLSH community, waiting for the day when he would come to life in the real world - when I would step away from the every-day good samaritan work I was already doing and commit to being a RLSH in reality.

Then I started to notice something. Some of the "colorful characters" I mentioned previously turned out to be more than just colorful... They seemed kind of crazy. Or pissy... really pissy... I mean like completely nose in the air ready to jump on anything they didn't immediately agree with or understand flat-out mouth-open, noise coming out, won't shut up pissy. Still others I noticed had a flair for the way over dramatic, like Batman skulking on his stone perch listening to Rorschach pontificating about the putrification of society type dramatics. And still others thought they were playing Kick-Ass cosplay, ready to go out into the streets with sword in hand and take out the bad guys.

Don't get me wrong, I almost immediately gained tremendous respect for quite a few RLSHs. They were the ones who genuinely "got it". The ones who had at least somewhat of a clue as to what they wanted to accomplish out there and were actually helping people. They were realistic about what they were doing, they knew what the costume meant and how to use their image and how to really help people. They made an effort to learn the skills they needed to do the job right and they actually cared about other people. These people I respected and continue to respect and will continue to respect in perpetuity. 

Actually cared about other people. That's a really important phrase - maybe the most important phrase of this entire blog thus far. because the biggest problem with the community is that it is mainly comprised by loners. Don't confuse this, as I'm well aware that a good portion of the community are married, engaged, involved in a relationship, what-have-you, but it's more a type of person I'm talking about, rather than a social status.

Loners. Geeks, Fanboys, Nerds, socially awkwards... If you're in the RLSH community, at least one of the above applies to you. Oh don't worry, I fit at least three of the above myself. As evidence I present the title of this blog "For the World Is Hollow And I've Touched The Sky" - Yea, that's the title to an episode of classic Star Trek, or TOS for the fanboys (if you already knew where the title was from, then congrats, you know which of those words applies to you)

The point being is this type of personality tends to spend enough time alone to start developing a more personalized set of beliefs, and a somewhat quirky way of dealing with others. The result is a bunch of kiddies who don't really play well together. Arguments, complaints, whining. It seems to dominate the RLSH boards. Hell, I've even found myself getting drawn in to them. It's really easy to do on the boards. Honestly There's so much whine on the boards I want to bottle it and sell it to stupid rich people. In other words, so many members of this community that is supposed to be inspired by the comic book characters that we all looked up to growing up aren't holding themselves to the standards of those characters. There's almost a code of conduct for comic book heroes - a code of chivalry, if you will, and so many just don't seem to be following it.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. I have noticed an off-shoot of the community where there is very little arguing going on. In fact, this off-shoot is comprised of people who are very supportive of each other, very realistic in their ideals, and seem to be focused on helping RLSH discover where it is that they are "off" in their philosophy. I find myself agreeing with this side of the community more and more often, and to be honest, it's had an effect on me.

If you haven't guessed yet, I'm talking about the RLSV movement... Yes, heroes, The Villains. I realized that what I do in my personal life is what I do in my personal life, That hasn't changed. I continue to do good in my community and that won't change. I still plan my hand outs and acts of good will with no accolades and no screen time and I will sleep at night contented.

On line, however. I've spent a great deal of time trying to get through to the community exactly what it means to be an RLSH, and so many just seem to have way too many layers of spandex over their ears. 

So be it. 

If you won't take gentle persuasion, maybe you'll respond to being called out for your transgressions. Where once Proteus strove to help the community to grow and become stronger, he will now strike out against to weak-minded bafoonery that pervades the very fabric of the real life superhero movement.

As I have said before, there are those among you for whom I carry a great deal of respect. You are doing it right and I salute you. If you actually know anything about me, then you can pretty much figure out who these people are that I am talking about. The rest of you should seek to bring yourselves to their level and be the best that you can possibly be. do that and you have nothing to fear from me.

For those of you who won't...... I have plans for you. Very special plans. As any other good super villain, I am of a mind to destroy you, and I shall. Oh, don't worry, I won't make any physical threats against you and I'm by no means any form of internet hacker. No name calling, no threatening emails, and absolutely no lies. Not one single lie. No, in fact I'm not going to do a single thing. That's the genius of my master plan. 

You see, you are all going to do the work for me. You will step out of line, slip up, make mistakes, as you are wont to do, of course, and all I'll do is smile with my little highlighter and point it out. I'm sure you're shaking in your boots thinking "Ooooo scary that's like sooo totally threatening and junk. look at me being all scurred, lol" and that's fine, that's exactly what I'm hoping for. In all honestly I hope you completely blow this whole thing off. That'll make my job even easier.

Of course there is a way to save yourselves. It's really quite simple. Straighten up. That's it. Clean up your act, quit being whiny little piss-ants and go help people. Honestly, the whining, arguing, and blatant hypocrisy here on the interwebnets is frikkin ridiculous.

I will, of course, continue to write my helpful little blogs. I still have knowledge that could be useful to the community. I'm still designing logos and costumes and gear, so by all means, feel free to come to me for anything. After all, if you are a worthy hero, then what do you have to fear from me?

So whattaya say, heroes? Let's play.

-Proteus RLSV

The Utility Belt...

Discussion discussion, discussion... About every three seconds there's a discussion about gear and what an RLSH should carry... What should an RLSH carry? Well, that depends on a few things, the biggest being space. How much room do you have to carry stuff on you and still be mobile? Well, Bob Kane and co. solved that problem early on when they created Batman... They gave him a utility belt. More after the break.

The Ego Issue and How It Effects Us All

The following blog concerns a potentially dangerous issue that faces the RLSH community on whole. If, over the course of reading this blog, you feel that I am talking about you... well, I am. If you feel that what I am saying doesn't apply to you... well, it does. Whether you agree with the content of this blog or not it is information that I feel the RLSH community on whole could benefit from.

If you are an RLSH, then odds are you are very opinionated. I mean we all decided to don masks and take to the streets because of our opinion that something needed to change in the world, right? Exactly, and I'm not saying that being opinionated is a bad thing, but it does have its down side. One big example I can think of is the constant bicker fighting that goes on in the forums and on facebook and any other place that RLSHs congregate. Read more after the break

Suiting Up: Part 4 - LOGOS!

So now you're an RLSH, geared up and ready to hit the streets. You've got everything you need as far as gear, protection and now you've got your very own super suit. But who the Hell are you? How will people know you are anything other than some weirdo running around in tights and sports pads? 

Today we'll be discussing logos. You know, the big red 'S' on Superman's chest? Yea, that. Whatever you call it; logo, sign, sigil, mark, seal, crest, it all basically means the mark you wear on your costume that identifies you with your superhero persona. read more after the break:

Who guards the guards?

So today I had to watch five people get fired. 

The primary goal (or prime directive if you're a Trekkie) is to protect people and property. So when an employee is terminated, it is the security guard's job to stand by while they escort the sacked employee off the property - you know, just in case they do something crazy. Read more after the jump.

Suiting Up: Part 3 - Putting It All Together.

So far we've discussed the basics - everything from looking at the evolution of superhero costumes to the necessary considerations to make when planning your look. This time out we're going to look at some of the current RLSH looks and examine how they fit in to the categories of costumes we mentioned in part 1. Also I'll be providing some resources for putting your costumes together. More after the break.

Hangin' in there.

Hey everyone, Proteus here.

The last few days have been somewhat difficult for me. No no, no crisis. No one has died, no jobs lost, nothing serious beyond personal demons. Let's just say I've had a question of faith. I had begun to question the point of all of this. I found myself starting to heavily disagree with the motives of other RLSH out there and was seriously considering hanging up the cape.

Oh, make no mistake. I had no intention of stopping my personal crusade. I want to help make the world a better place, and whether I wear a costume or not I still plan on doing my part. It's a very long and difficult thing to explain, but the bottom line is that I had begun to lose faith in the RLSH community.

Then someone posted something on one of the forums... SuperHero article

Needless to say this changed things. This simple news article revived my faith in the movement, recharged my batteries and just simply made me feel better. I suppose we all have a crisis of faith now and then, this weekend was mine. 

So anyway, not to worry, the third part of my costume tutorial will be up tomorrow and I'll be right back at things. Thanks for sticking with, 

And be safe out there.

Suiting Up: Part 2 - Planning Your Costume.

If you go to any of the RLSH forums and ask questions about costumes, you are most likely to receive a fairly commonly written response:

"Save your money and get a bullet proof vest!"

... or something to that effect, and then most likely something about training...

I've actually even seen that response on posts where the author has just finished listing a full assortment of protective gear that they already own. Oddly enough, it usually takes a second to discover that the responder more often than not already has a fully realized super hero costume.

What's the point of all this, you ask? Simply that when it comes to developing your hero's look, you are pretty much on your own and in the dark. Hopefully this series will help to light the way. Read more after the break.

Suiting Up: An Introduction To Superhero Costume Design

So you've made the decision to venture out into the world in the guise of a Real Life Super Hero. You want to present an image that's heroic, classic, perhaps intimidating. Or maybe even themed. What do superheroes wear? Are you going to be taken seriously wearing tights and a cape? Are you going to be safe running around looking like a ninja? What about protective gear? Do you need to be bullet proof or will an athletic cup suffice? Read more after the break.

What is it that you guys do, anyway?

If you're part of the RLSH community, you've no doubt been asked this question in one form or another many many times. If you aren't, then upon learning about the RLSH community you've no doubt asked that question yourself. I don't blame you. It's a good question.

What is an RLSH? What's the point? What is it that we do, anyway? read on after the break to find out.

Is "working out" working out?

If you've read my introductory entry, you may remember that before I started out doing this I was a pretty hefty fellow. I'd have to say I was topping about 300 lbs around the time I discovered all of this. What's worse is I hadn't done much beyond sitting on my posterior and playing World of Warcraft for the better part of two years. Just walking around my house once would leave me winded. I knew that if I wanted to be effective as an RLSH I had to do something about my general health. 

Read on after the jump to find out what I did.