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Monday, October 27, 2008

Animal Companions!

It occurs to me that if I were the kind of superhero or villain (let's face it, I'm far more likely to be the villain :-) to have an animal companion I think I'd want it to be a hummingbird.

I'm not entirely sure why, as I don't think it could DO anything useful. Well. Aside from fly backwards. I think I heard once that scientists don't actually know how hummingbirds can fly* and decided subconsciously that that was badass.

(* Honestly, I have no idea if that's true or a delusion, but it always sounded cool)

(** ETA: It might actually be bumblebees, but I like Hummingbirds better)

Also, it'd be nice to be the one in the partnership with the working attention span. Just once I want to be the one to say "For god's sake, would you FOCUS?"

What would you have?

posted by kalinara @ 4:13 AM  

12 Comments:

  • At October 27, 2008 5:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I thought it was bumblebees that weren't supposed to be able to fly.

     

  • At October 27, 2008 5:29 AM, Blogger kalinara said…

    Probably. At least hummingbirds don't die with their one defensive attack. :-)

     

  • At October 27, 2008 6:31 AM, Blogger K. D. Bryan said…

    Honestly? An African Honey Badger. They're ugly-cute, tenacious, good at biting, running and digging and, most importantly, they're just too damn stubborn to quit. Even the Guinness Book of World Records agrees on the badass nature of the African Honey Badger. The freakin' fuzzy lil' SOBs shake off 300 stings from killer bees and viper bites just to have lunch. Additionally, while big cats, wolves and dolphins are fine animals as well, I can't smuggle them in a large travel bag.

    If I had one of these as an animal companion - be it of the talking Disney variety or the villainous "Release the Honey Badgers!" kind - I think I'd be a pretty happy camper.

    Plus, I could make my enemies get the badger song stuck in their head - assuming my pet badger wasn't busy gnawing at their extremities. Ooh! Or both! Yes, I'm pure evil that way.

     

  • At October 27, 2008 8:24 AM, Blogger SallyP said…

    Lemmings, and lots of 'em. Can you imagine how terrifying it must be to see HORDES of Lemmings running at you?

    Granted, you could defeat me, if there happens to be a handy cliff around, but still...!

     

  • At October 27, 2008 9:25 AM, Blogger Matthew E said…

    The thing with the bumblebees... the way I heard the story, at one point some scientists did an analysis of the physiology of bumblebees and then did some calculations and figured that, based on what they knew, bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly. This was widely publicized, partially because it was kind of interesting, and partially because people wanted to use it as an example of the limits of science and the power of God or something.

    But part two of the story was less publicized: the part where the scientists later realize that the bees can flex their wings in certain ways, and that once you take that into account, the scientists were able to account for the bees' power of flight perfectly well.

    Or that's the way I heard it, anyway.

     

  • At October 27, 2008 10:02 AM, Blogger Saranga said…

    I've always been partial to armadillos.
    Or failing that, a cat. Unoriginal I know but cats are inherently badass.

     

  • At October 27, 2008 12:20 PM, Blogger Centurion said…

    You could always put poison on the beaks of hummingbirds....

     

  • At October 27, 2008 12:49 PM, Blogger Mana G said…

    Meerkats. Meerkat Manner has taught me that those lil' fellers can be bad-ass. (Although, it could also have to do with the fact that they, in an odd way, remind me of the gerbils of Narbonic, and I want an Artie so very desperately.)

     

  • At October 27, 2008 5:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    If I were a supervillain, I'd own a pug.

    Reason #1: Pugs are so intrinsically cute, they distract people with their cuteness long enough to take them by surprise.

    Reason #2: Pugs also have a tendency to fall asleep often in inconvenient places. So someone could trip over one and fall to their death.

    Reason #3: I'd get to call it AMBUSH PUG.

    Good night, Laughlin!

     

  • At October 27, 2008 6:25 PM, Blogger Canton said…

    Have you ever seen hummingbirds fight? They really are surprisingly badass little things, in spite of the fact that someone somewhere knows how they fly. (I don't know anything beyond basic high school aerodynamics. Physics is kind of over my head.)

    If I were a superhero, my animal companion would be... I want to say dragonfly, because I'm me, but that could be less useful than a hummingbird. Hmmm...

    Are we limited to extant animals? Pterosaurs are pretty appealing...

     

  • At October 27, 2008 8:13 PM, Blogger Diabolu Frank said…

    I love squirrels more than any other animal, but never as pets. Run free, roam a tree, nut gatherer!

    If I must be unusual though, how about a pangolin?

     

  • At October 28, 2008 2:46 AM, Blogger LurkerWithout said…

    @mana_g: Artie only works if you're a villain wanting an animal companion. Because of all the evil he did trying to do good...

    Also you'd think Giant Robot Bear would be good as a villianous beast but they get beat up suprisingly easily...

    Now Cyborg Penguin. Thats the way to go. They can dance and surf and fire lasers from their deadly robotic eyes...

     

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