Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly I'm thinking of a DCU character...

Does this character have some sort of shape-changing ability?

Has this character appeared in more than one story?

Is this character a Bizarro?

Is your character some kind of mammal?

No.

Does this character have some sort of shape-changing ability?

Yes (but probably not in the way you're thinking).

Has this character appeared in more than one story?

Yes.

Is this character a Bizarro?

No.

Is your character a plant-based life form?

Is your character a plant-based life form?

No.

Is your character an animal of some sort?

Is your character an animal of some sort?

No.

Is your character some sort of mechanical construct?

Is your character some sort of mechanical construct?

No.

Did your character appear in stories set before 1950?

Can your character breathe underwater?

Did this character ever appear in Brave and the Bold?

Did your character appear in stories set before 1950?

No.

Can your character breathe underwater?

I don't remember ever seeing it but I would say with confidence that he can, yes.

Did this character ever appear in Brave and the Bold?

Yes.

SUMMARY:

I'm thinking of a character who...

... is male.
... is not a super-hero, a villain or a supporting character.
... is not a mechanical construct (or any other sort of artificial life form), a plant-based life form, a Kryptonian (or any other sort of alien), a canine, a simian, a human, a mammal (or any other sort of animal); but
... is able to pass for human in appropriate clothing.
... wears a costume.
... can fly, breathe underwater, and shape-change (sort of); but
... has no connection to the supernatural.
... first appeared prior to 1970, and 1960, but not 1950; and
... has made more than one appearance since then.
... mostly appears in stories set in the 20th or 21st centuries; but
... does not usually appear in stories set before 1950.
... has never had his own book; but
... has appeared in The Brave and the Bold.
... has never been a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes (or any other team); and
... (as far as I know) has never met that Legion (of Super-Pets) stalwart Krypto (in continuity anyway; they've definitely shared a panel or two in at least one non-continuity story I can think of).
... does not live in Smallville.
... does not have an alliterative name.
... is not Detective Chimp or Bizarro.

Is your character Batmite?

And TK swoops in out of nowhere for the steal!

Bat-Mite it is!

I was amazed at how long this one took to get. I thought my last character (Pooch) would be tough to get, but you all worked it out in about 7 questions; while this one felt like it was going on forever.

I had fun with it though! And it just shows how one lucky question can really zero in on the answer - in Pooch's case, about the military; while with Bat-Mite here, I never really felt like any of the questions were particularly at risk of revealing him.

Over to you TK.

P.S. The non-continuity story that Bat-Mite shares some panels with Krypto in is Superman/Batman: World's Funnest. In which Bat-Mite and Mr Mxyzptlk proceed to hilariously kill off pretty much every Superman and Batman character (including poor Krypto ). It's very funny though.

Here it is:

http://www.comics.org/issue/87748/cover/4/

When is an entity not an entity? when it's from the fifth dimension.

So a combination of running out of classifications, B&B being a Bats team up book in places and thinking of odd characters like Det Chimp. Bizarro led to Mr M - which led me to Mite. Coming in late on helped a lot, as I'm usually half way down a blind alley if I'm reading each clue as they arrive

Waffling on has given me a chance to think...of a DCU character...

I always assumed magic = supernatural, but did not consider that beings from alternate dimensions could be magical without being supernatural.

Good going both of you!

Is your character a super hero?

Yeah, I'd thought about various magical imp characters earlier, but had dismissed them on the supernatural bit.

Anyway, is this new character normally featured in comics starring either Superman or Batman?

Hmmm Despite the association with "magic", the Fifth Dimension and it's characters have always seemed more science fictiony to me than what I would normally characterize as "supernatural" - e.g. occult-like characters like Phantom Stranger/Dr Fate/Dr Thirteen etc., along with all the associated mythological creatures; ghosts, werewolves, vampires, etc. None of that screams Fifth Dimension to me.

But it's all moot because the Fifth Dimension characters don't actually use magic anyway. Per Wikipedia:

Bat-Mite possesses what appears to be near-infinite magical power, but in reality is highly advanced technology from the fifth dimension that cannot be understood by humans' limited three-dimensional views.

Yeah, I actually considered that magic and the supernatural are not always the same thing.

And thanks for sharing that tidbit about Bat-Mite!

Yeah, I get it, and even thought of the possibility that you weren't counting them as supernatural when I considered them, but didn't follow up on it.

I will point out, though, that Mxyzptlk at least was traditionally described as using "magic", hence the effectiveness of his powers on Superman. Also, in a quite literal sense their powers are supernatural, because they work by utilizing principles outside/above our natural order, but they certainly weren't who I had in mind when I asked the supernatural question (I was thinking the Phantom Stranger at that point!).

Anyway, no big deal.

^ Re: the definition of supernatural. Some say Mxyztplk. Some say Mxyzptlk.

(http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk)

I did mean to wonder in my previous post how Mr Mxyzptlk's power was able to work on Superman if he wasn't using magic though?

I wonder who came up with that idea anyway? It seems needlessly confusing. "Magic" is a much more conceivable concept. But maybe that was the point, since the Fifth Dimension and its characters and motivations are meant to be beyond our normal understanding?

I liked how Grant Morrison used the concept in Batman R.I.P. When Batman asks Bat-Mite whether he's real or a figment of his imagination, Bat-Mite responds that the Fifth Dimension is imagination. That's a great line! And makes so much sense when you think about it.