POWERNAUT 1992!

I already said, the early 1990s turned out to be a power struggle among the U.S. Gov, Ellipsis, and the Doom Bear. Ellipsis came ready, with bodyguards.

I have Christine as a source for what she knows. Let's get to it.

• 1984 - 1985. The Doom Bear erupted onto our world a few times then, but briefly went away. There are lots of stories of toy heroes involved, but that seems like fandom to me.
• 1989. The Doom Bear raided our world again, in Hollywood, California. He focused on the Powernaut, as part of his scheme to dominate his world and our own. He took totems (signatures) of Christine Lassiter and the Powernaut, so as to dominate them in future.
• 1991. Published in what seems like a college diary, by who knows whom, maybe Ellipsis himself... The Doom Bear raided our world again. He'd followed Christine Lassiter, in a bar where she was singing, but found Stephen Wolcott (the potentialy-superhuman Ellipsis) in the venue also. Stephen had gotten Christine's autograph (thanks to his friend Captain Gonzo). The Doom Bear swiped this as a totem to use in place of the Powernaut's autograph, so as to dominate Ellipsis in future. (This was the famous "Fire and Ice" incident.) There was considerable mayhem afterward, including Ellipsis and Captain Gonzo and their superhero team The Balance vs. dominated Happy Bears, but the Doom Bear escaped with his new artifact of dominance.

After that, Ellipsis gained his full powers, got the attention of the U.S. Gov, and wound up on late-night TV to show his case. Christine Lassiter was there also... And so it happened.

Leo would later get some bizarre bodily transformations. But he had his nose and eye transformations at the time. He was born with them. These were trimmed and airbrushed and contact-lensed at the time of his professional photos. Leo was familiar with this practice. By the time he served with the Tuvalu Defense Force, he introduced himself to the Powernaut in 2011 with his whiskers trimmed.

Throughout this episode, Leo dressed just like his teammate Crusher Joe, only with leopard-skin tights. Crusher Joe was an established professional wrestler; Leo dreamed of being one. Eventually he'd get his own path to fame, as a baseball player.

The Doom Bear had just retreated from Earth. Lucianus Autonomus, the greatest mage of Earth, sensed adjacent dimensions of Earth squeezing in upon it. Dangerous in any case. But... why was it happening? Either the Doom Bear was bending dimensions toward him, to bring forth final battle - or he was bending them *away* from him, so as to preserve his dominion! Alas, we'll never know which.

Leo and Crusher Joe in later years would bear witness to what bears they recalled fighting, but they weren't really paying attention to all of them. All they could say was, it was like walking into a Hallmark store, but some of the designs seemed off. Powernaut Comics then took poetic license. Hence, a Broccoli Bear who was actually the color of cauliflower, and a Flag Bear who was the color of the American flag but whose chest emblem was a white flag. The Doom Bear had earlier changed many Happy Bear chest emblems, and dominated them all to various extents. Happy Bear, Lucky Bear, and Lovey Bear were all thoroughly brainwashed. Flag Bear and Broccoli Bear sensed things wrong with themselves, as did Old Deadhead Bear. Old Poppy Bear didn't care.

Megaphone and Doctor Lithium are gone, at least for now. (You never know, in our world.) So I couldn't interview them. But Leo and Crusher Joe both remember Slow Bear, Stupid Bear, and Suicidal Bear. Those were the only ones they recall staying behind, when Megaphone started firing. As for Senile Bear, Our Heroes have already admitted they weren't paying that much attention under the circumstances. Powernaut Comics poetic license again.

In any case, Crusher Joe eventually recognized they were all beating on creatures who just didn't care. So they moved on.

I am not usually given to praising Ellipsis. But he had just been tortured with extreme cold. He came back to inspire his team and defeat the Doom Bear. Indeed, he seems to have absorbed the same power he was storing for the Doom Bear - and then released it into Happy Bear space. Yeah, he can figure out how to do that. *And* he stood guard over his team as they took publicity photos of their victory - after they took photos of him.

I have it on good authority, though, he checked into the Dove Mercy Hospital of Buffalo-New York for recuperation. Of course, that was not publicized at the time. Backup staff, not involved in the Doom Bear fight, provided security... Oh, that's why we didn't see the whole team.