That Autograph Isn't Mine!

[wylodmayer]

A long, long time ago, I remember Kim Mohan writing an editorial in Dragon about how sometimes he was impersonated at cons... by women. I was thinking about that recently.

If I recall it correctly, Mohan was talking about how, more than once, people had shown up at cons claiming to be him (except they usually thought that he was a "she"). You'd think this would only be to get free (VIP) entry and whatnot, but some of them would actually call in advance and schedule speaking appearances and so forth... people who had clearly read Mohan's editorials and could pull off a credible impersonation.

He mentioned that he knew it had happened to others in the industry, including Tracy Hickman, for instance.

So, here's the question. Someone has been impersonating your character at cons, speaking at schools, or just whatever. Maybe this person is even trying to fight crime, sans powers, of course. Is he/she a harmless prankster, or part of a villainous ploy? A detractor out to ruin your reputation, a con out to cash in on it, or an adoring (if crazy) fan?

What does your character do? We'll assume this person tends to schedule any public events at the last moment, making it hard(er) to track the person, but feel free to speculate on alternate scenarios.

[Hermit]

Mole- Would spy on the guy. He has a pretty impressive sense that can allow him to sense through most materials, including masks, and it's discriminatory. He could work from there. If the guy is a VIPER spy...well, he'll try to track him back to a nest. If it's just some guy ... maybe he'll pay him a visit in costume catching the guy out of his, and ask what's up.

[Querysphinx]

Reminds me of a story: Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alikecontest... and came in third.

[nexus]

Reminds me of a story: Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alikecontest... and came in third.

LOL

"Sorry, Nice effort but you not "selling it", Chuck..uh...what was you last name again?"

Didn't Dolly Parton try to enter a look alike contest and get turned down because she just didn't look enough like...herself?

[Hermit]

Banner- Would show up in public in his own costume and say hi to the guy, see how he reacts,and go from there. If another Avenger were willing, he'd have them on stand by in case it was some ambush ready to get civs to safety.

[Doomed Prophet]

Had this happen to a fellow player's character, a power armor type, in one issue (series of game sessions like a comic book issue)... We finally cornered the doppelganger at a comic convention only to find that it was a trap... Needless to say the fight led to a master villain who was trying to smear our team's reputation... Now days when we run into this situation we have a specialist that we sic on them...

[Drhoz]

Well, Zero would be horrified - he's very protective of his identity. On the other hand, if the ersatz Zero gets himself killed by, say, Dr Destroyer (Zero has a few significant Hunteds) then Zero can nip off out the side door and start up with a new secret identity that'll hopefully stay unnoticed a bit longer this time. Shame about the fake, but if you go around impersonating superheroes than you can expect to get your face melted off by the last psychopath the real one offended.

Vitus would initially hope this means there's other gnolls somewhere, or possibly one of the 5 alternate Vituses has shown up up on Earth, but it may well turn out to be a clone. If it's an Evil Clone (TM) (or Somewhat Annoying Clone TM), judicious application of the spell Detonate Scrotum may be indicated

Otherwise I'm sure that they can come to some mutual understanding. If the other Vitus is willing to put up with humans in that sort of quantity, he's welcome to them.

[Hermit]

Aquatic-Would turn the situation over to the team liaison, PR is her specialty.

[bubba smith]

would get a description of impostor and track down same if an inocent celebrity impersonator would try to work with same to seetle out of court if no would have lawyers file restraining order

[hfergus]

Volt Would depend on just what is going on. If the person claims to be Volt, he'd investigate to see if it's a villian ploy. If so, villian is confronted - forcefully. If it is a fan that is not taking money and and upholding what Volt stands for, the person could become an "official look-alike", but would have to let that be known(and could even charge for it). Non villian ploy people would have a good talking to; force would be applied if necessary. Would also inform cons and etc that he will let them know in advance if he is coming or come in exhibiting powers. That would mean if it continued; someone has some pretty good abilities that would need to be looked into.

Olorin Would investigate. If the person is upholding what he stands for and it is not a villian ploy; what the heck? Let 'em. Olorin might check in with the guy to give him pointers unless the guy is a rabid fan. In that case, he'd get the "get a life" speech and then be let alone unless someone gets harmed. Villains would get a fireball up the nose.

Black Tiger Would be suspicious and investigate thoroughly. No matter what he found, he'd come down in the guy, hard! Villians he'd beat to a pulp and innocents he'd frighten half to death (or at least try to.)

Futurian Investigate for a villian ploy and deal with it if so. If harmless, he'd let cons, etc know and let them decide. Knowing Futurian, if there was a Futurian look-alike contest, he'd enter... and try to lose!

[Vondy]

Show up - in costume - and ask them for an autograph.

Guage their reaction and take it from there.

It will have to stop. How its stopped depends largely on them.

[Narratio]

Agreed, show up, ask for autograph and a percentage of the take. Also drag impersonator off for a night on the roof tops and down in the sewers facing off against the scum of the world.

Then leave this person at an emergency ward with the clear and solid understanding that the next time this happened, this person would be thrown into those nasty situations and left to fend for himself against the aforementioned scum of the world.

I think that might solve the problem.

[Amused]

Lauren - Would call her public relations person (Claudia). She would probably find it mildly amusing, if they weren't making her look bad.

Tamlyn - Would be incredibly annoyed and would track down this person and tell them in no uncertain terms that they would end the charade or she would be forced to do something unpleasant.

Gwendolyn - Would be confused at first, "Look that's me! But wait I'm here... how can I be here and there at the same time? Ooh, maybe me is the me that lives in the mirror! She escaped, good for her!"

[Clonus]

Riptide shrugs. That sort of thing happens all the time.

[Doc Shocker]

Coyote would initially see the humor in the situation and let it continue for a little while. During that time he would also be investigating and gathering as much info as he could. He'd also attend an appearance in one of his cover IDs and make sure to get the guy's scent for later tracking. The Copyote's actions and motive would determine what happened next.

Prankster, Adoring Fan, Con Artist: Would be tracked down at home and woken up in the middle of the night. "Very funny. Honest. Keep up the good work." then as he's leaving "Screw up and you'll live to regret it."

Villain or Villain's pawn: The villain, if able to avoid being tracked, would be ambushed on the Sunday of the Con (preferably late in the afternoon) and beaten into revealing his motive. A pawn wouldn't get treated as roughly (if a baseline) but would get pretty much the same treatment until he ratted out his boss.

Doc Shocker: would just show up to see how the impostor pulled off the whole "undead guy with lightning where his eyes should be" bit. Then throw off his disguise and, with minor display of power and a HUGE display of showmanship, teleport next to the fraud for a ambush photo-op. "Let's hear it folks! Let's hear it for (what's your name dude?)" Then introduce the pretender to his lawyers and PR people. Of course, if it's a villain Doc teleports them both away from the public and proceeds to fry the baddy.

[Karmakaze]

I'm just thinking it would be a terrific opportunity to shore up a faltering Secret ID. It's a great solution to the "never seen in the same place at the same time" problem.

[nexus]

Now that's pretty clever. Lemons into lemonade :)

[Amber Nytstar]

Luna Moth: If the copycat's her crazy adoring fan of a roommate, she'd sigh and get ready to bail the poor girl out of jail... again. If it's anyone else; she'd let them get arrested then steal the wig right off their head, in costume and in front of everyone.

[Badger]

Badger- wouldnt really give a damn. He has no interest in PR, only in fighting. Avoids public appearances, no use for them.


Frosty Bob- Rather not think about what he might do. :eek:

[sinanju]

Black Mask doesn't do public appearances, so any such appearance is clearly an imposter. The "Black Mask" persona is purely a means to avoid being identified; an imposter simply adds to the confusion. As long as he's not being made to look like a bad guy, he really just won't care.

Hell's Angel will show up in her civilian identity to get a picture of herself with Hell's Angel to help shore up the old secret identity--and because she'd be curious and who is impersonating her, and why.

Man-Ape would have "his people" identify the guy in question and smack him with a cease & desist order. Man-Ape (and the distinctive likeness thereof) is a trademark of Lloyd Greystoke Enterprises, LTD and must--and will--be protected. Plus, is the guy charging speaker or appearance fees? Lloyd mostly doesn't, and when he does the money is donated to charity.

Iron Maiden too will show up in civilian ID to get an autograph and a photo of her with the superheroine. And to check out the impersonator to see if Steps need to be taken.

[Wanderer]

Nova: "Oh, no. Another clone of mine has been released. I guess I'm going to be a triplet identical twins, now. Hopefully I can persuade this one, too, to set up an alternate identity. Oh well, at least having a couple backups isn't too bad in dire straits" Went there, done that.