Rent A “Fake” Superhero For Your Kid’s Party

Back when I was a young ‘un, it was a big deal, almost fantasy level, that you’d get a clown or a magician to perform at your birthday party or a party you were invited to. Nowadays, it almost seem the norm to have someone dressed up and prancing about whenever a group of more than a dozen kids are in the same area. I haven’t had to book anyone yet - The Kid™ has yet to turn 3, so we haven’t had a full-on party for her yet - but I’m thinking I’ll probably go the simple route and take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese for at least the first party or two. Still, I was poking around the internet the other day, looking for characters for parites just to get an idea of what I have awaiting me, and I came across these guys.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with them. They rent out characters to come and entertain kids at parties and events - perfectly legit and it fills a legit need for parents. However, I found it immensely entertaining that they show a photo of Spider-Guy:

And then offer this disclaimer:

It is not the intention of San Diego Party Playpals, LLC to violate any copyright laws. Our characters are NOT name brand copyrighted characters and we do not market them that way. Our characters are generic and we can only accept bookings from individuals who are aware that we DO NOT represent any licensed character. Any resemblance to nationally known copyrighted characters is unintentional and incidental. If you are requiring a licensed, copyrighted character for your event you should contact the company/copyright holders.

Taking a look through their other characters, we have “Red and Blue Hero (Superman), “Dark Hero (Batman), “Dark Space Knight (Darth freakin’ Vader), “Exploring Girl” (Dora) and more. To be honest some of the costumes look pretty good, and I don’t care what they call themselves to get around overly-restrictive copyright issues, but that doesn’t stop me from snickering at “Black or Red Ultra Man” when it’s really just some dude in a Power Rangers outfit.