Just an update for the most excellent Epic Super Hero Battle 2010 happening this weekend!  This is just an update, and here is the full Epic Super Hero Battle post.

PUB CRAWL

Our partners in this melee – AZ Cacophony – are doing a pub crawl again before the battle. This is totally optional. If you’re interested, the crawl starts at noon.

WHERE TO GO FOR THE BATTLE

Both sides will meet separately on Mill Ave in Tempe, then come together as a group.  Note that this is a participation event! If you’re not in costume, don’t come!

Villains — You’re being led by Ruth Carter. Villains — You’re being led by Ruth Carter. You are meeting by the KPMG building on Rio Salado at 2:00.  See the map!

Heroes — Jeff Moriarty is directing things for your side. You are meeting on 1st and Ash (in the Monti’s Parking Lot)  See the map!

MAP: Map of Parking and Meetup Locations! <– This is the map!

WHEN TO BE THERE

Saturday, April 17th – Both Heroes and Villains need to be parked, dressed and gathered with their groups by NO LATER THAN 2:00p. We highly recommend planning on arriving at 1:45 to make sure you can find the group. If you get there early — WAIT! No rogue agents, please. As cool as it sounds… it’s not. The group is better.

THE BATTLE

The battle will take place on Mill Ave, working our way up towards the Light Rail station. We’re going to stay on public property so we don’t disrupt any of the business on Mill. No none wants to get arrested. Well, none of us trying to organize want to get arrested. YMMV.

If you’re on Facebook you can RSVP for the event here and share it with your friends!

THE MOVIE

Since the movie Kick-Ass is opening that weekend, we’re going to ride the light rail in costume (fun!) and go see the movie in costume (more fun!).

We’ll take the Light Rail to the 3rd & Washington stop, then walk to the Arizona Center to see the 4:30 show (or 5:15 if we run late)

TWEETS AND PICTURES

Use the tag “ESHB10″ for tweets and pictures around the event.

After that you’re on your own, but you’re in full costume with a whole city to have fun in!  Hopefully you can think of something!

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Image by Moriartys via Flickr

Just letting you know that the videos from the NoPantsAZ Ride are now on our YouTube Channel.  There is a longer version (below) and a short version if you’re the impatient sort.  Sorry for the delay in getting them online, but we had some problems with the footage and it took a while to sort out.

Enjoy!

Over 300 people participated in the No Pants 2010 Ride in Phoenix, inciting confusion, shock, and joy in the local community.

On Sunday, January 10, 2010, Phoenix was abuzz with Cardinals Football fever as people gathered at light rail stations at the east and west ends of the light rail line.  The event leaders, identified by the red scarves tied to their bags inconspicuously navigated the nervous crowds, answering questions and reviewing the action plan.

At 2pm, participants began filling the light rail trains.  We had so many participants in the east valley that they had to be divided into two trains.  Even with the group split up across three trains, there was standing room only in the cars.

As the trains began to move, the pants came off.  Non-participants reacted first with looks of confusion, which turned into shock often followed by laughter.  One onlooker was inspired by the newly pantsless people around him that he removed his jeans as well!  At each stop, new people entered the trains and asked us, “Where are your pants?” An older gentleman said he enjoyed the view as he chatted with three cute pantsless women on his way to The Spaghetti Factory.

Each pantsless group poured out of the trains in central Phoenix and walked to the Starbucks at Arizona Center.  As we walked down the street we were greeted by perplexed looks, car honks, and a few people pulling out their cameras to snap a few shots to show the folks back home.

At Starbucks, more people were motivated by our fun and removed their pants. We were there for nearly an hour, talking, laughing, and taking pictures when a security guard approached us and said that we had to put our pants back on.  (Note: the Starbucks was next to Hooters where the waitresses were wearing even less than us!)  Refusing to comply, we left, either heading back from whence we came, or taking our merriment to the after party at Dave’s Electric Brewpub.  Thanks @RailLife for setting it up!

Image by Nick Bastian

As we rode towards the pub, a Metro security guard entered the packed car to check for tickets.  He was greeted by chants of “Pants Off!”  He laughed and said he felt overdressed.

One onlooker turned to Tim, one of our intrepid pantsless leaders, and asked why none of us were wearing pants.  Tim responded, “You know, I hadn’t really noticed.”  The onlooker immediately pointed to two pantsless ladies – one with undies that said, “Prude” and other’s said, “Geek” – and said, “You’re telling me you didn’t notice this?”  Tim could only smile and shrug.

While we were relaxing at the pub, a Tempe Police car pulled up and asked if we were the No Pants group.  The officer said, “That’s awesome.  We had a briefing about you.”  We’re not sure if his pun was intentional, but it was beautiful. We asked the local media to not ruin the fun, but some ignored us and spilled the beans. Others were more circumspect and we ended up with a few good mentions around town.

The No Pants Light Rail Ride was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who joined us, especially the 40 veterans from last year’s ride.  Thanks to nooccar, Nick Bastian, Art Rodriguez, and others we have a lot of great pictures in Flickr. If you add your own please tag them with ‘nopantsaz’ and ‘improvAZ’.  We will add pictures to our Facebook group as we can, and you’re welcome to post yours to the event!  We hope to post the video on YouTube shortly.

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• Riders go pantless on Seattle’s Link light rail (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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Image by ousooner44 via Flickr

We’re excited to announce the details behind the 2nd Annual No Pants AZ Light Rail Ride. Once again we’re doing it in conjunction with Improv Everywhere’s No Pants Subway Ride, and everyone is invited to participate!

The event will take place at 2:00pm on Sunday, January 10. Everything you need to know is in this post. Please read it carefully!

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION

1) Willing to take pants off on light rail.
2) Able to keep a straight face about it.

**THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY EVENT. DO NOT SHOW UP UNLESS YOU PLAN TO TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF.**

DETAILS

When: Sunday, January 10 at 2:00 PM Sharp! (Over by around 4:00)
Bring: A backpack and a fare card.
Wear: Normal clothes (hat, jacket, etc)
Mid Party: There will be a mostly unofficial gathering at Starbucks at the midway point

WHERE

There are two starting points – choose whichever one is closest to you:

WEST SIDE
Start: Montebello/19th Ave
Stop: 1st Ave & Van Buren
Return: Central & Van Buren

EAST SIDE
Start: Price/Apache
Stop: 3rd St & Washington
Return: 3rd St & Jefferson

Check out the Light Rail map for more details on the stop locations.

HOW IT WORKS

Be at the West Side or East Side starting point station and ready to board the train at 2:00pm sharp. It is the same time for both stops. Be early if you need to, especially if you need to buy a light rail pass.

Watch for Team Leaders (identified by a red bandana tied to their bag): The Team Leaders may try to split people into small groups to board different trains, depending how many people show up.

Don’t take off your pants until you’re on the train – Once we board the train and it starts moving, take off your pants and put them in your backpack. If you’d like to use a briefcase, purse, grocery bag, or whatever instead of a backpack that’s fine too. You are responsible for your own pants and they should be with you at all times. If anyone asks you why you removed your pants, tell them that they were “getting uncomfortable” (or something along those lines.)

Act normal - Stay with your group. Sit in the car like you normally would. Read a magazine, listen to your iPod, etc. You do not know any of the other pantsless riders. If questioned, tell folks that you “forgot to wear pants” and yes you are “a little cold.” Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants. Be nice and friendly and normal.

Do not tell people you are doing a prank! You don’t really notice anything odd about people not wearing pants.

We will have photographers on hand to take pictures documenting the event. We need everyone else to just act casual. If you bring a camera, be very discrete and only take a few. It’s supposed to look like a normal train ride.

You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, “I wore this because I’m doing a silly stunt.” Wear two pairs of underwear if it makes you feel more comfortable. Don’t wear a thong or anything else that might offend people. Our aim is to make people laugh, not piss them off.

Don’t disrupt the Light Rail – While the Phoenix Police Department said that wearing your underwear in public isn’t illegal, don’t do anything dumb. All responsibility for your actions during this event are entirely your own.

Disembark at your Stop station and follow your Team Leader to the Arizona Center, where we will be getting a nice cup of coffee at Starbucks.

At 3:15 start heading back to your Return stations. Try to stay with your group, but if you need to leave earlier (or want to stay later) that’s entirely up to you and your group. The same rules apply as above.

Update: There will be a group photo session at the coffee shop when both groups meet.

Update: An after-party is planned at Dave’s Electric Brew pub back at the ASU Stadium stop. Details: http://tinyurl.com/NoPantsParty

Last year was a lot of fun and we’re anticipating more people in 2010! Spread the word and tell your friends, just make sure they read all the rules!

If you talk about it on Twitter, use the hashtag #NoPantsAZ.

If you’re on Facebook you can RSVP at the event there, but that’s optional.

See you on the 10th!

The following is a recap of the 2009 No Pants Ride that happened nearly a year ago.  It was the event that got ImprovAZ started, so I didn’t have a place to post it at the time. It’s been a fun year since this happened, and if you’re interested in the No Pants Ride coming up January 2010, join our mailing list or watch this blog!

I used to do improv with the Oxymoron’Z and Jester’Z troupes here in Phoenix, so have long wanted something like Improv Everywhere to get rolling locally. I know, I know… Improv Everywhere isn’t really improv, but they’re cousins enough that I longed, nay, yearned.

So last January I decided to help give it a push and organize an Arizona version of the No Pants Ride as part of the Improv Everywhere global No Pants Ride. It seemed like a great way to break in the Valley’s new fangled Light Rail. Shorthanded as “nopantsaz” on Twitter and Flickr, the ride was an almost unqualified success.

Planning

I had no idea what to expect up front, or if there would be a mass chickening out at the last minute. I secured about 10 stalwart companions to ensure I wasn’t alone, but in spite of 100+ RSVP’s on the Facebook group I figured we may top out at 30 people total. Wanted to keep it super simple since this was our first event and the Light Rail system isn’t that complex. Two starting points, one finish point, coffee, then return. Piece of cake!

Biggest worry was that Light Rail or security would shut us down. I’d checked with the police that wearing your underwear in public was legal, so it came down to whether there would be a disruption that they thought would interfere with the line operating.

Launch!

The plan was to catch the first train past 3:00 at the Apache and Dorsey station in Tempe. Trains run about every 15 minutes, and one left around 2:50, so I expected one around 3:05.  Nothing. I got paranoid at one point they halted the train to get security out there. By 3:00 there were easily 90 people on the platform. I walked up and down the line a few times trying to spread people out and giving instructions. It’s a tad awkward to ask “Are you here to take off your pants” to strangers, in case you’ve never done it.

It was worse because of a local cameraman who clearly had never heard of “subtle” or “covert”. I asked the media I spoke with to meet us at the end so as not to blow our coverage, but this guy had a full shoulder camera and kept it right in my face. He asked me things like if it was illegal, which had me uttering the truly brilliant line that we weren’t “breaking the law. We were just… fluffing the law. Frosting the law.” Right. Moving on.

Ride Out

The trains were PACKED! Figuring another wasn’t coming for 15 minutes, we found space and as soon as the train began moving, dropped and hid our pants. Not easy in a full, moving train, but I think there were a lot of contortionists present. Reactions varied from shock to amusement to horror. An older woman seated next to me grumbled to anyone who would listen how terrible it was that we were being obscene in front of children, even though it was just a bunch of bare legs. You’ll see a lot more skin on the Rail in August in the Valley, that’s for sure.

After a while people began cheering when non-participants joined or left the cars, and the people riding for a while started to relax into the joke. I loved the look when people got on, pressed together with the crowd, then glanced down and realized there were a lot fewer pants than people.

We rode to the Campbell and Central station for a much needed break.

Coffee Pit Stop

The media was waiting in force at Lux coffee shop when we arrived. All attempts at being nonchalant about the affair were long gone. We strode with pride over to Lux, and the shop ambiance took a sharp dive off a cliff as the Pantsless Army queued up for beverages. “Puzzled” doesn’t quite cover the looks the patrons were shooting us.

At this point one group went to George & Dragon Pub, still pantsless, to knock back a pint. Others reboarded the train for the ride back.

Ride Back

It was less eventful overall, but had some better reactions because the train was more open. People were crowding near the doors to avoid mingling with the pantsless. One gal actually ran off the train after she asked me a question about which stop she should use, then realized the situation. She decided the current stop was just peachy keen by her without another word. Pulled back in around 5:30, for a 2 1/2 hour event.

Afterthoughts

The event was a blast, and I met some great people. There is a pile of excellent pictures and a great video (bel0w).

Also major thanks to Heather, TJ, Tyson, Clintus, David, Evo, Brian, Jill, RailLife, Lux, and everyone else who chipped in and spread the word. It was a community effort.

The media’s involvement was a mixed blessing. I think it helped show that this was intended to be fun and nothing bad came of it, but totally destroyed the covert nature of it. I got some tips from the national IE group about this, so will apply it a bit different next time.

We now have this blog, and an ImprovAZ Facebook Page that we’ve been using to organize new events. Personally, I think Phoenix needs more events like this. Shake things up, give people something to talk about, just have fun. Too many people in this town just ask Why, and I think more need to be asking Why Not?

During costume preparations for the Epic Superhero Battle, a few of our group saw some Coroner and Crime Scene t-shirts at a local store.  And we said to ourselves, “Selves? If we can’t come up with a prank for this, we aren’t worthy of the name ‘pranksters’.” So we cogitated on the idea for a while until inspiration struck.

In October, we put the finishing touches on the idea and a small group of us headed out to give it a go.  Armed with a weighted and stuffed prop body bag, we donned our Coroner shirts and rode the Phoenix Metro Light Rail into the downtown area.  As we explained it to a few innocent bystanders, our coroner-mobile had broken down and with budgets being tight… public transportation, to the rescue! And while we were out, we thought we’d make a quick stop for coffee. What could be considered unusual about that? We also had two “plain clothes” accomplices along to covertly film.

The reactions were immediate; a few people shifted seats to get a better look or to move further away, others engaged us in conversation, growing ever-more uncomfortable as we described our need to transport our sans-vehicle cargo before the heat caused some issues (for those of you in other parts of the world, yes it is often still hot in AZ at the end of October), most just stared and took out their phones to snap pictures and presumably to text their friends and family.  A couple of guys alternately offered up their thoughts on whether or not we really had brought a body on board the train but when one of our party pulled out a pair of latex gloves — for only genuine County Coroners have access to latex gloves, it seems — that sealed the deal for one of them.  “Oh man, you just gave it away,” he said, “why would you need gloves unless you really had a body in there?” Why, indeed?

Eventually, we reached our intended stop and carried the body bag across the street to the coffee shop, much to the chagrin, amazement and befuddlement of the patrons seated outside.  We had not pre-arranged anything with the shop, but the workers didn’t give us much reaction. Guess they’ve seen their fair share of strangeness at a downtown coffee shop. Go figure. A few phones came out from the other patrons, but only one guy worked up the nerve to ask us if there was really a body in there.  “We can’t discuss the details of an ongoing case,” we replied to him, to which he nodded and said, “I understand.  See… it was my wife that wanted to know”.  Bam, another believer!  We enjoyed our coffee and then got ready to leave, yielding one of the best lines of the day: “No, we did not just spring a leak.”

The ride back to our vehicles was pretty uneventful; very little reaction from the sparsely populated train car. But the ride out was the clincher, as were the stunned “OMGWhatTheHellWasThat?!?” reactions from the patrons in the shop AFTER we left. That’s good enough for us. And we think this one has legs enough to let us do this in a few different venues. Maybe the mall? Will hilarity ensue?

Yeah, it’s in the bag!