Stoler starts getting into costuming...

In July 1987, Stoler got a job as a bicycle messenger in Boston. As a classicist, he decided that a messenger should wear a winged helmet, so he found a taxidermist who would sell him some actual preserved bird's wings. Which he attached to his headgear, and by the end of his first day of work, he had acquired the nickname "Birdman". (Not to be confused with the cartoon character/attorney, the guy from Alcatraz, or the movie with Michael Keaton. Most messengers were known only by single names, or nicknames, like Steve the Bike, Ted the Pest, or Maggie the Biker Chick from Hell, unless they had names that were cool in the first place, like Jack Daniels or Tristan Redgrave.) A local photographer was doing a series of photos of couriers, so Stoler posed; he never actually wore the beak for work, though he did wear the scarf....when it was warmer, though, he generally wore this company t-shirt. (Note the bird logo...) A wholly original supercharacter!

For Halloween that year, he made use of the aerodynamic Bell Stratos Helmet he had bought (and which he also decorated with wings, though just of contact paper) and a lot of silver spray paint to portray the title character of that fall's hit movie...Robocop!

And brought order to lawless Quincy House!

Just imagine if Stoler had put as much effort into his studies during his junior year as he did into costumes!