Patrick Courrielche
In 2015, Courrielche wrote a long form story "St. Nicholas: The Birth Of A Social Weapon" on the origin of Santa Claus and introduced the concept of a "social weapon" - a packaged idea, message, or product that is used by an individual or group to advance their cause. Courrielche argued that New York City elites crafted Santa Claus from St. Nicholas, a widely known patron saint, to stabilize a city plagued by annual misbehavior every December. Santa Claus was then used as a "social weapon" by merchants, craftsman, city rulers, parents, newspapers, and others to benefit their endeavors. The essay was added to the St. Nicholas Center's resource on the Origin of Santa Claus.
List of The Awesomes characters
Fake Santa Claus/Animal Control (voiced by Bobby Moynihan) - Not the real Santa Claus but has the power to mind control animals and humans. He locked up the real Santa Claus and forced everyone at the North Pole to work for him then he used his small amount of control over humans to make parents tell their kids that their Christmas presents came from him and waited 80 years until kids all over the world admired him and would give him their complete loyalty then tried to take over the world. He was then betrayed by Rudolph (whom everyone regards as a total dick) and was "killed" by the Awesomes. He woke up in a hospital where Malocchio Jr. has fixed him up and made him a new robotic body (which he resents). Fake Santa Claus later joined the P.R.I.C.K.S so he can take revenge on the Awesomes for destroying his body and ruining his plan of taking over the world with kids. Although he was soundly defeated in their final battle, Prock didn't wish to "kill" Santa twice, so he used his medical know-how to graft Animal Control's head onto the body of a giant slug-like alien.