Beast Boy (DC)

"Yeah, life has been hard. It's sucked sometimes. But that doesn't mean I don't like it. And being "normal" is overrated anyway."

- Changeling Garfield Logan also known as Beast Boy and Changeling is a member of the Doom Patrol and later Teen Titans and is named for his ability to transform into any kind of animal he wants. He is the jokester of the team and likes to mess around but is also very loyal to his friends. Even after losing his family and his adoptive family and being sold out by his first girlfriend Gar seems care-free and easy going preferring to look on the bright side of life rather than submitting to sorrow and angst.

Like his fellow Teen Titans, he was based on character of the same name from DC comics.

Origin
Garfield Logan was the son of doctors Mark and Marie Logan two well respected biologists. The Logans had gone to Africa to study a variety of new and less documented species of animal and took their son with them on the trip. While Mark Logan was collecting data and parts for a machine he hoped would be able to breakdown the barriers between human and various animal DNA his wife was out collecting samples for it and documenting any rare animals during her expeditions, this left Garfield to create his own amusement and he often went out to explore. Mark Logan eventually had a breakthrough with his device and left to tell Marie only to find Marie tending to Garfield.

Garfield had gotten sick several days prior and his mother was tending to him but did not want to disturb Mark during his research hoping the condition would clear up with a few days of bed rest and nurturing. Once he found out about his son's illness Mark gave Garfield a physical, the exam soon revealed he had contracted a rare and very fatal disease with no known cure.

In a desperate act Mark and Marie decided the only thing to do to save their son was to use Mark's new machine on Garfield to breakdown parts of his genetic code, for the disease only affected humans and not animals, though untested the only alternative was to let their son die. The treatment worked though with a slight side-effect of leaving Garfield's skin and hair green. Though the green never cleared up Garfield's parents were concerned about the condition but over all elated, that not only had Mark's machine been proven effective and more or less safe but their son's new genetic code allowed him to overcome an otherwise deadly disease. The Logans would eventually find though that there was another side-effect, one day Marie was attacked by a deadly Black Mamba snake, she was saved though by Garfield who had turned into a mongoose to kill it before it harmed her. It seemed Mark's machine had broken-down the bits of code between human and various animals so far that Garfield could actually rearrange his code to become animals, though Garfield seemed not to know how for some time his desire to save his mother had instinctively triggered the transformation.

Alas even with their various close calls the Logans would eventually still meet a tragic end. Many years after his powers were discovered Garfield would be left an orphan when his parents died in a boating accident Garfield was taken in by a local chieftain named King Tawaba who was a friend of his parents. Tawaba cared for Garfield as a ward of sorts but Garfield had earned the ire of Tawaba's witch-doctor, Mobu, who had a strong dislike of the Logans who had cast much doubt on the notion of superstition over practical medicine in the tribe. Mobu hired two American mercenaries to kill Garfield in exchange for revealing to them an otherwise lost temple with untouched treasures for them to loot. The temple collapsed killing Mobu and trapping Garfield, the two men rescued Garfield from the wreckage and brought him back with them to the U.S. there they forced Garfield to use his powers to help them commit crimes.

The two men eventually shot each-other and Garfield was brought into child protective services once the courts had heard the whole story. Garfield was given to Nicholas Galtry, his parent's financial attorney left to manage their estate. Unknown at the time to Garfield and the courts Galtry was embezzling from the Logans' estate and upon receiving legal guardianship of Garfield began plotting to kill him to avoid having to turn over his ill gotten assets when Garfield surely would begin asking about his inheritance.

Guardianship and the Doom Patrol
The odd legal case had gotten the attention of the Doom Patrol and Teen Titans, Garfield tried joining both groups but Galtry refused to give legal permission for Garfield to join. One day Garfield was kidnapped by a crooked circus owner and hypnotized into becoming his main attraction, the owner was using similar hypnosis on his crowds to have them turn over money and jewelry and used his attractions to collect it. The Doom Patrol got wind of the scam and put a stop to it. The experience was enough to put Galtry's capacity as legal guardian in question since he had not reported Garfield missing and had seemed not to notice, to avoid further allegations Galtry gave Garfield permission to join the Doom Patrol. Galtry used Garfield's membership in the Doom Patrol as an opportunity to have him killed quietly and with the Doom Patrol looking responsible by hiring various super-villains to kill Garfield. Once the head Doom Patrol members Steve Dayton and Rita Far AKA Mento and Elasti-Girl were married they formally adopted Garfield, wresting guardianship from Galtry, furthermore the proceeding lead Garfield and the Doom Patrol to discover Galtry's embezzlement which eventually lead to the the discovery that Galtry was actively trying to kill Garfield and soon leading to Nicholas Galtry's arrest.

For years Garfield, who had taken up the name "Beast Boy", worked with the Doom Patrol and moonlighted as a Teen Titan, however when the Doom Patrol were killed by Madame Rouge (Laura De Mille) and General Zhal Beast Boy went on a journey to find himself. His journey would lead him to another confrontation with Galtry posing as the the villain Arsenal. Beast Boy beat Galtry for the last time. After the experience Beast Boy joined the Titans West and soon became a full time Teen Titan in the main group taking up the name "Changeling" in his new team.

Trivia

 * He was also a scrapped character in the sandbox game, Mine Craft.

Quotes
"Maybe you don't need to keep up with him. I can turn into the biggest, strongest, fastest animals on earth. But you know what, dude? Sometimes it's best to be a slow tiny turtle."

- Best Boy in the animated series

"Hey! Chicks dig the ears!"

- Beast Boy

"Nobody's normal. Sooner you figure that out, sooner the staring won't bother you."

- Beast Boy

"Maybe you don't have to keep up with him. I can turn into the biggest, strongest, fastest animal on Earth. But you know what, dude? Sometimes it's best to be a slow, tiny turtle."

- Beast Boy

"I don't know about you guys, but I think we should hug this out."

- Beast Boy

"You're got to have each others backs. No matter what."

- Beast Boy

"Say hi Raven her power is extreme friendliness."

- Best Boy joking

"And here's Starfire... smoking hot babe, right?"

- Beast Boy