The Defuser
Encyclopedia
The Defuser is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

, a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 created and originally portrayed by Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 police detective Jarrett Crippen on the reality television series Who Wants to Be a Superhero?
Who Wants to Be a Superhero?
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? is a reality show hosted by Stan Lee. Contestants dress up as comic book superheroes of their own invention. Each week, Lee challenges the contestants to represent what "superheroes are all about." One or more of the superheroes deemed the least deserving is eliminated...

. As a result of winning the show in its second season
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? (Season 2)
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? is a reality show hosted by Stan Lee. Contestants dress up as comic book superheroes of their own invention. Each week, Lee challenges the contestants to represent what "superheroes are all about." Three or four supervillains will attempt to defeat the superheroes...

, his character is the subject of a Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 comic book written by Jeremy Barlow with art by Kajo Baldisimo and appeared in a SyFy
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...

 Original movie entitled Lightning Strikes in 2009.

Fictional character

The Defuser is an expert paramilitary superhero who uses non-lethal weaponry and gadgets to stop villains. He has the unique ability to function at 110 percent (this boosts his speed, strength, agility, reflexes, hearing, and eyesight) making him slightly more formidable than virtually any single foe. He has a night vision to a range of 60 feet. The Defuser has two weaknesses; bright light (he must wear protective eyewear or he risks being blinded), and he does not harm villains too badly with guns or any other lethal weapons. His arch enemies are drug dealers. His catchphrase is ,"When the Defuser's around, the bad guys are going down!"

In The Defuser's Dark Horse comic, he fought a plane full of hijackers hand-to-hand to save the passengers, which included his wife, Norma. He also, with the help of a sympathetic robot cop, disabled an artificial intelligence determined to preserve its own existence by destroying him.

Jarrett Crippen

Jarrett Crippen is also the director and founder of SCARE for a CURE
Scare for a Cure
SCARE for a CURE is an Austin, Texas-based nonprofit organization that raises money for local charities, including the Breast Cancer Resource Centers. Each year they produce an "extreme, full contact, interactive haunted house adventure" that runs around 45 minutes to an hour long...

, a non-profit charity and interactive haunted adventure modeled after, and using many of the same talented volunteers, as Richard Garriott
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...

's Britannia Manor
Britannia Manor
Britannia Manor is the residence of game designer Richard Garriott. The name comes from the castle of Lord British, ruler of Britannia, the setting of the Ultima computer role playing game series, which he created. Britannia Manor is situated atop a large hill near Austin, Texas...

 and Wild Basin's Haunted Trails. Scare for a Cure started as a haunted house that Jarrett put on in his back yard, asking for donations of canned food for local food banks. It grew year by year, with help from the drama troupes of local high schools. In 2007, shortly after winning the Who Wants to Be a Superhero reality show, Jarrett moved his production to the Austin Elk's lodge. That was when he was joined by many of the volunteers who had done Britannia Manor and Haunted Trails in years past. Props and costumes stored at the Wild Basin wilderness preserve were also given to SCARE for a CURE.

The resulting interactive haunted adventure raised close to $10,000 for breast cancer charities and Elk's club sponsored scholarships in 2007, and awarded four $2500 scholarships to deserving students adversely affected by cancer in 2008. In 2009, SCARE is going back to its roots. It has relocated to Richard Garriott's partially built Britannia Manor Mark 2.

When Jarrett isn't attending conventions as his superhero alter ego, or running interactive spook houses, he makes amateur movies with friends who also tried out for Who Wants to Be a Superhero, making mini-movies of The Defuser and sidekicks Gravnos and XSeven, with enemy the Punk that can be seen on Youtube and on the Defuser's myspace page.

He is also well-known as an active member of the Champion's server chat forum, and co-founder of the Megaforce supergroup for the online game City of Heroes
City of Heroes
City of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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