Beast Boy

Garfield Mark “Gar” Logan, also known as Beast Boy or Changeling, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown, and first appears in Doom Patrol #99 (November 1965). In Superboy Comics #33 (6/54), Superboy meets a green creature from Outer Space that can morph into any animal it wants to (also green).

Fictional character biography

As a child, Garfield contracted a rare illness by being bit by a green monkey called Sakutia but then was saved by his parents who used an untested serum on him. This serum had the unintended effect of turning his skin and hair green and granted him the ability to metamorphose into any animal of his choice. His parents later die in a boating accident, which to this day, Garfield believes he could have prevented. After he is saved from two kidnappers that try to use his powers to help them in their crimes, Garfield is left under the care of his despised guardian, Nicholas Galtry. Galtry is unhappy that Garfield is alive and plots to kill the boy in order to claim his inheritance. The various villains he hires to kill young Logan are impeded by the Doom Patrol, whose members Rita and Steve Dayton adopt Garfield. Logan eventually joins the superhero team, taking the name, Beast Boy. In his days with the Doom Patrol, Garfield has a romantic relationship with a girl from his high school named Jillain Jackson. After he saves her from Galtry (who was using the alias “Arsenal”), the relationship dissolved. Beast Boy is the only survivor of the Doom Patrol, a loss which deeply affectes him. Presumably in error, in his second appearance in Doom Patrol #100, he is twice called ‘Craig’.

Joining the Titans

He later joins the West Coast team of the Teen Titans (known as Titans West), and is part of the New Teen Titans assembled by Raven. At this time, Garfield takes the name Changeling. He remains with various incarnations of the team, and forms a close friendship with Cyborg. He later uses the name Beast Boy again, under which he gets his own miniseries Beast Boy. Following a failed attempt to recreate “Titans West” as “Titans L.A.”, as recounted in Titans Secret Files #2 (October 2000), Garfield rejoins the main team.

Beast Boy’s character is often used as comic relief. However, this is only a facade, as he uses humor to hide a deep inner pain. Beast Boy has suffered many hardships in his life (both his real parents have died, and his foster mother, whom Garfield became very close to, died in battle along with virtually all of the other Doom Patrol members with whom he was part of the team and his foster father was driven mad by a helmet he used to fight enemies). During his time with The New Teen Titans, Gar fell in love with Terra, a young girl with earth-manipulating powers and fellow Teen Titans member, who turned out to be a spy working for Deathstroke. Despite all his hardships, Garfield is friendly and upbeat.

“One Year Later”

While the events of Infinite Crisis unfold, details of Beast Boy’s life “One Year Later” are revealed in the current Teen Titans comic book. Teen Titans vol. 3, #34 (May 2006) shows scenes from the year between the conclusion of Infinite Crisis and One Year Later, from the damaged Cyborg’s POV. Garfield leads the Teen Titans, before quitting the team following the breakup of himself and Raven. He then joins his original team, the Doom Patrol, citing that the team need his help and that Robin can handle leadership. He is also feeling uneasy about remaining in a team without Cyborg. After Cyborg awakes, Beast Boy and the rest of the Doom Patrol helps the Titans fight off the Brotherhood of Evil, who have managed to clone Brain. The clone is a failure, however, and Mallah ends up tearing Brain’s head off so that he can preserve his master’s brain.

After returning, Beast Boy is infuriated to discover that the Chief has been manipulating them and trying to do the same to Kid Devil. Garfield and his parents stands up to the Chief and made him step down as the Doom Patrol’s leader. Beast Boy stays on his old team saying that they still need him. However, he does answer a call from Raven to help the Titans combat Titans East. Raven later demonstrates hints that she still loves Garfield and offers to help him heal after the battle with Deathstroke, but Garfield remains uncertain.

Titans

In Titans #1 (2008), Gar is attacked by Trigon, who floods his room with lava. In retaliation, Gar joins the new Titans team, wearing a costume similar to his old Changeling uniform. In later issues, the group are attacked by the Children of Trigon, who use Garfield’s suppressed anger and rage against Raven, who is also affected in the same manner. The two attack the other, but the fight is eventually broken up when the Titans begin to recover from the attack.

Raven’s three half-brothers then use her and Gar, transforming him into his demonic beast form, to act as keys to open a portal to Trigon’s realm. Raven uses her own power to influence greed in others to make her half-brothers steal what little power Trigon had left. The portal is closed, and Trigon’s sons, believing they have gained great power, leave the scene, returning Gar to normal.

Following this, the team has settled themselves down at Titans Tower (supposedly the New York base), where they attempt to recover from recent events. Raven and Beast Boy go out together on a “not-a-date”. During this, Raven reveals that since she faced her brothers, she has begun to feel as if she is losing control and slipping back under the thrall of her father’s powers. Although Beast Boy rejects the idea, he is blind-sided as Raven gives into her darker side, under the influence of her half-brother’s coaxing. Using her teleporting powers, she and the Sons of Trigon vanish, leaving a distraught Beast Boy behind to warn the others.

Powers and abilities

Beast Boy has the ability to morph into any animal that he has seen himself or has seen in an illustration (as is the case when he shapeshifts into an animal such as an extinct dinosaur). These transformations take only a second and Beast Boy has demonstrated that he is capable of rapidly changing his form with little or no effort expended. As a corollary to this power, he can transform back into his default form if an external force like magic transforms him into an animal. His power enables him to completely alter his body mass, being able to take the shape of animals far larger and heavier than himself, such as an elephant, a hippopotamus, or a Tyrannosaurus Rex (though until recent stories, such larger forms would physically exhaust him), or smaller and lighter animals such as mice and insects. However, he cannot change or return to a form if the space he occupies is too small and he cannot normally break the confines (as seen when he attempt to transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex underneath a bridge and hits his head, instantly aborting the transformation). His power also enables him to radically alter his body structure and take forms of animals without limbs, like snakes, or those without skeletons like a jellyfish. In two notable instances, he has even taken the form of multiple individuals simultaneously (once as a swarm of fireflies, and again as a mass of barnacles). He also displayed this ability once in the animated series, becoming an endlessly-multiplying plague of amoeba.

While as an animal, he gains all the physical abilities and characteristics of said animal, such as great strength (a gorilla), speed (a cheetah), and durability (a turtle), and abilities such as flight (various birds), and aquatic breathing (various fish). He can even gain the specific poison produced by specific snakes. While in animal form, Beast Boy retains his human intellect, memories, and the ability to speak. No matter what form he takes, his skin, hair, and eyes remain green, making most of his animal forms easy to distinguish from real animals of that species. In the early comics, his coloration would change to that appropriate to the animal form he had taken, with only his head remaining green.

When Raven implanted Garfield with an evil seed of her father Trigon, he began to transform into more demon-like creatures. Eventually, he found himself more comfortable in these horrific shapes rather than as a human, and stayed shifted. After becoming completely corrupted by the evil seed, he was used by Raven and Trigon, but eventually returned to normal. Titans #4 reveals that a small part of that seed still remains within him, which Trigon’s son manipulate, using the demonic energies to open the portal to Trigon’s realm.

Beast Boy has gained a new “Super-Animal” form made with the traits, strengths, and abilities of all the animals in the world. This gives him a multitude of abilities from a falcon’s vision to beyond a tyrannosaurus’s strength. This animal form has a constant feral attitude, and Gar has problems controlling its powers and mental state.

Originally Posted by Kain Darkwind of the Dicefreaks forums.

On this Thread

Garfield Logan, Beast Boy
Medium humanoid (augmented, human, shapechanger)
Wounds	16 WP, 115 VP (14d8+52 )
Initiative	+7
Speed	30 ft.
Armor Class	17 (+3 defense, +4 Dexterity), touch 17, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple	+10/+12
Attack	Unarmed Strike +12 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal)
Full Attack	Unarmed Strike +12/+7 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal)
Face/Reach	5 ft./5 ft.
Special Qualities	Changeling, Doom Patrol training
Saves	Fort +14, Ref +15, Will +10
Abilities	Strength 14, Dexterity 19, Constitution 16, Intelligence 15, Wisdom 18, Charisma 14
Skills	Disguise -2, Hide +19, Knowledge (earth and life science) +19, Knowledge (popular culture) +10, Listen +17, Move Silently +19, Perform (acting) +10, Perform (quip) +14, Spot +17, Survival +21
Feats	Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, lightning reflexes, Run, Track
Climate/Terrain	Titan’s Tower (San Francisco)
Organization	Solitary (unique), with Cyborg, with the Teen Titans or (OYL) with the Doom Patrol
Challenge rating	10
Treasure	None
Alignment	Chaotic Good

Changeling (Ex): Gar possesses the ability to turn himself into any animal and back again at will. His options for new forms include all creatures with the animal or vermin types. The effect lasts until he changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a swift action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Gar may shift between animal forms or his own, he does not need to return to his normal form before changing into another animal.

If Gar takes wound point damage in animal form, he must make a DC 20 Will Save or turn back into his human form.

Any gear worn or carried by Gar melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When he reverts to his true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on his body that they previously occupied and are once again functional.

Gar does not lose his ability to speak while in animal form.No matter what shape he takes, he always retain his green color.

Doom Patrol Training (Ex): Gar was a long-time member of the Doom Patrol and he is a longtime active Titan. He gets several benefits from his experiences.

• -Light defense
• -Good Fortitude and Reflex saves.
• -Medium Will saves
• -4+ Intelligence skill points per level

Skills: Because of his distinctive green skin, Beast Boy takes a -5 penalty on Disguise checks.