A superhero concept

A discussion with shadow_5tails got me to thinking about a great concept for a superhero.

Remember the stuff they used to advertise in kids' comic books? There were X-Ray Specs - see into the girls' changeroom! (Not that we had girls at my school.) Or the Money Maker - stick a blank piece of paper in, and it'll come out as a $1 note... or stick in a $1, and it'll turn into a $5!

I never did find the small print on those ads; I was too cynical to believe them, but now as an adult I find myself wondering - what did you actually GET for your money? They must have sent you something, surely? These guys had mailing addresses, surely they had to make *some* pretense of sending you what you paid for?

And then I thought... what if everybody else was as untrusting as I am, and nobody ever bought this stuff - I've never heard from anybody who did - and what if it really DID work?

Imagine the one kid who saved up his money and sent away for this junk, and got exactly what the ads promised? Genuine X-ray goggles... a mansion of his very own, paid for in $5 bills... and armies of loyal Sea-Monkey minions who look like the pictures in the ads?

And as Rey pointed out, he could always pretend he made his living selling 'Grit', whatever that was.