Australian Reuben Rose, on his way to a charity event and carrying a tray of cupcakes, was surrounded by police at a train station in Blacktown, Sydney today after his fellow commuters became concerned at the stuff in his bag.
Rose, you see, was dressed as Marvel’s Deadpool (part of the national Superhero Week charity drive) and along with the cupcakes he was also carrying swords, ammunition, grenades and firearms.
They were all plastic props, part of his costume, but obviously not everyone on the train was aware of that, so in the middle of his ride Rose found himself yanked off at a station and surrounded by five cops.
He was soon on his way, but not before the Daily Telegraph could call him both “Deadpool” and “Spiderman” in the same story — as well as claim he was ARRESTED in the headline before burying at the very end of the story that the “police did not charge him with any offence.”
Deadpool arrested on Sydney train: Police alerted to superhero armed with guns, grenades and ninja swords [Daily Telegraph]
Comments
26 responses to “Cops Called On Cosplayer Riding Sydney Train With ‘Guns, Swords & Grenades’”
Logan I’m not sure what exact angle you’re going for here but you really should be emphasising a few things here:
1. It was stupid of this guy, no matter his suit, to be carrying this stuff openly on the train. He had swords, an ammo belt and grenades showing. With the rash of shootings and violence around the world, better to be safe than sorry.
2. The cops have to turn up to any callout concerning weaponry. They cannot pick and choose.
3. Everyone handled everything very well, the cops and the guy got along well and the cops told him exactly why he had been called upon (the exposed weaponry).
4. Deadpool is still a ‘minor’ character in terms of non comicbook reader popularity, the mistake is bound to be made in terms of identifying him, who cares?
5. It was this guys fault, the cops reacted swiftly, appropriately and properly. Noone was arrested, hurt or detained unfairly. All in all, it was exactly how it should have gone down.
*Edit* I really feel there should actually be a little praise in this article for the cops. *shrug*
So kids, want to dress as Deadpool? Do so! In the appropriate place where you don’t have to worry about carrying weaponry openly in public and scare people who have the *right* to call the police and have you checked out because they have a right to be concerned about their own safety.
*2nd Edit*
Thanks to Logan for clearing up that it was a Kotaku US article and not actually his fault. Much appreciated.
You’re right but there are things that are poorly reported, like saying he was arrested and then at the end of the article saying he wasn’t.
Perhaps it’s not clear but this article is about the incredibly bad journalism of the Daily Telergraph article. We live in a world where people don’t read the story just the headlines so an Article with a untrue headline such as Deadpool arrested is flat out lying to people even if you correct yourself at the end of the article.
There exist situations and circumstances where one can be arrested without being charged. It’s probably not as uncommon as you think.
Bad journalism on the part of the Daily Telegraph is not news. *Good* journalism at the Daily Telegraph would be news.
Without commenting on the general quality of the news organisation, it is possible to be arrested without later being charged.
Hey weresmurf,
I actually didn’t write this, it’s from Kotaku US. Our CMS is currently not showing the correct author (which is Luke Plunkett).
EDIT: Alright, it’s showing up correctly now.
You can see why no one would expect this to come from Luke.
It’s longer than two sentences. 🙂
I kid, just a little. His longer stuff is generally decent. It’s a shame he doesn’t do it more often. In cases other than this.
It kinda isn’t.
I dunno man, I find it hard to believe I’m saying this but I’ve seen some outstanding lengthy Plunkett articles in the past. The short articles are generally shite though.
No worries mate 🙂
Want to say that the way they suggest the stuff was in his bag and that last photo which I assume was meant to show what he was travelling like suggest he made an attempt to keep that stuff less visible.
That said even if it’s the case he didn’t do a great job at it.
Agree with everything else, the fact the cops reacted quickly found out there was nothing to fear and the guy was on his way. Nice to have a happy ending.
4. The point here was not that the article referred to him as Spiderman, but that it referred to him as Spiderman once and Deadpool every other time. If an article is going to make a mistake, then it might as well make it every time. (Once is bad journalism, every time is accidental misinformation; I find the latter more forgivable.)
It isn’t as big an issue as it looks however, because “Spiderman” is in quotation marks, and therefore is a quote from someone else (although it isn’t fully clear who).
After Supanova I was on a train with a kid playing with a REAL sword out in the middle of the train. I don’t know how he didn’t get this treatment.
*shrug* Who knows. Maybe he should’ve…
“It was stupid of this guy”
Well, at least he was in character!
LOL well played sir! Well played! Upvote is yours.
I totally agree. If it wasn’t a harmless guy off to an event, and really a nut job who shot up the train because the cops didn’t respond, it would then be a different story. This is bad journalism.
I’m personally surprised two people downvoted it, the idea they’d downvote calling the police to check out someone toting around weaponry? Just absurd.
Yeah, but what do you expect? You have people who think this is the cops being rough. If it was legit and he killing a bunch the same would complain the cops did nothing.
The real lesson of this is the only rule of cosplay one should follow:
Change at the venue… or else at the least travel by private vehicle.
Decent costume either way.
I’d like to know who’s the retard that called the cops on a deadpool carrying a tray of cupcakes… Ooooh yeah he must be on his way to feed people then blow them up straight after…
Haha, Blacktown.
gotta say, the cop on the left has that “doesnt approve offically but approves unoffically” look
I think that female cop likes lycra covered shlong 😛
Another day in Blacktown.
The quality, class and professionalism of Australian journalism and news reporting has really plummeted in recent years. A ‘close enough’ approach is used liberally, with extra lube.
what does he expect in this day and age. doing it in LA with Comic Con on. justifiable. sydney where half the people he’s walking around have no clue let alone everyone is quick on the trigger to cry terrorist.
idiot.
Things I’ve seen people do on their way to Cons in Brisbane, include wrapping weaponry in sheets etc to keep them out of peoples view til you get there to avoid things like this. Or keeping them in long bags etc. If people can’t see exactly what it is, it may as well be a giant sausage in a sheet, they won’t care. But the moment it’s seen, their personal safety level goes off the charts.
One of those cops looks like Judd Apatow, next Jason Segel movie perhaps?