satyreyes wrote:

Wow, nicely done!  Yes -- H for headpiece or headgear, and W for whip.  But you've made two mistakes in evaluating the whip candidates.  The first is that Ash certainly does not have a whip himself (I'd have given you a picture of Bulbasaur if I'd wanted to play that angle).  The second is that you didn't catch another whip user.  You've gotta catch 'em all. 

Figures. That makes more sense since the others don't rely on someone else for their whipping skills.

As for the other whip user, Aang doesn't seem like a whip kind of guy (he isn't a violent guy at all), so by process of elimination, that makes the person/thing under C the other whip user.

A > C

Letters: W, C, A, R

satyreyes wrote:

The puzzle is more than half decoded.  Only the J, L, and P rows are left.  Those rows are tricky, but I hope gettable.

Alternatively, you might actually be able to skip straight to the answer with some guesswork and clever use of Google or Wikipedia, if only you knew how to use the letters you've found.  I actually didn't mean for that part to be a big puzzle.  The letters at the heads of the rows (C, J, L, and so on) are not part of the solution; they're only there as a solving aid.  All the Penguin cares about are the candidates -- specifically, the ones who are Haves, as you've been identifying them.  And rather than do anything terribly tricky, I thought I would just have you read the answer in normal English reading order, left to right, top to bottom.  Viewed from that perspective, what do you have so far?

Listed from down, it's:
(G,I),(R,C,A),(F,O,R),(N,I,C),(U,S)
The () marks the separate rows.

I think I have it solved. The last 10 letters sounds like part of the word californicus, and anything that uses that word has to start with G and use the I next.

Google (and Russian Wikipedia) gives us Gibbifer californicus.

Last edited by Saito Hoshikawa (09-09-2012 03:24:07 PM)

...And since the Riddler is too poor a sport to say so, congratulations.  I genuinely didn't think anyone would be able to solve that puzzle all alone.  I'm glad you did, though; it's one of my favorites.

** SPOILERS **
This post will reveal the entire worked solution to this riddle.  If you're still working on it, stop reading here!

The Riddler isn't much help here.  All he does is frame things for us: everyone is either a have or a have-not, the Penguin “doesn't care about the have-nots,” and we're supposed to “tell the difference.”

Examining the diagram, we see an orange slider that highlights three “haves” and “have-nots” at a time, as well as five “candidates.”  The left-hand side of the slider is shaped like a grouping bracket and points at a letter.

Most likely, “telling the difference” means figuring out what that “haves” have that the “have nots” do not.  Since each candidate is associated with a letter, we most likely have to pick out the candidates who are “haves,” then combine their letters.  We can do this for each of the eight possible slider positions.

The first slider position, where the slider points at the C, is pretty simple.  The Haves are Barret, Dr. Octopus, and Motoko Kusanagi.  Each of these characters has mechanical parts: Barret's arm, Doc Oc's tentacles, and Kusanagi's entire body.  The Have-Nots are Gaius Baltar, Max Payne, and Little Orphan Annie, each of whom is without mechanical parts.  (In Baltar's case, this is actually a plot point.)  So the “C” stands for cybernetics.  From the candidates, we select Inspector Gadget and Vriska Serket, who also have cybernetic parts, and leave behind all-natural Gollum, Luigi, and Captain Murphy.  From Gadget and Vriska, we now have the letters GI.

We might still doubt that we really have the right methodology, so we look for another easy slider position to test it on.  The last slider position, pointing at the second H, is a good choice.  The Haves this time are King Randor, Molly Weasley, and Dracula.  The Have-Nots are Cortana, the Tin Man, and Roxas.  The Have-Nots are especially helpful here: each of these characters lacks a heart, while the Haves all have one – even Dracula, who must be staked through his heart in order to destroy him.  So the H stands for heart.  From the candidates, we select the obvious heart-havers: Ma-Ti and the Queen of Hearts.  We leave behind Frosty the Snowman, Hexxus, and WALL-E, none of whom has a heart.  This gives us the letters US.

At this point we are confident that our method is right, and the riddle becomes a game of figuring out what the Haves have in common.

Row 1: C is for Cybernetics.  Barret, Doc Oc, and Kusanagi are Haves; Baltar, Max Payne, and Annie are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Gollum, Luigi, and Murphy, but select Gadget and Vriska: GI.

Row 2: J is for Job.  Dr. Octopus, Major Kusanagi, and Professor Jones are Haves; Max Payne, Annie, and Aladdin are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Rorschach, Wakaba, and Hana, but select Giles (a Watcher) and General Leo: BB.

Row 3: L is for Leather.  Kusanagi, Indy, and Catwoman are Haves; Annie, Aladdin, and Chell are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Robin Hood and Optimus Prime, but select Squall, Morpheus, and Kino: IFE.

Row 4: W is for Whip.  Indy, Catwoman, and Sailor Venus are Haves; Aladdin, Chell, and Inigo Montoya are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Aang and Ash, but select Zorro, the Balrog, and Simon Belmont: RCA.

Row 5: P is for Pseudonym.  Catwoman, Sailor Venus, and Darth Vader are Haves; Chell, Inigo Montoya, and Homer Simpson are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Rocky, Guybrush Threepwood, and Shrek, but select the Phantom of the Opera and L: LI.

Row 6: H is for Headgear.  Sailor Venus, Darth Vader, and King Randor are Haves; Inigo Montoya, Homer Simpson, and Cortana are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Kagome and Jareth, but select Movie!Utena, Chef, and Ness: FOR.

Row 7: T is for Twins.  Darth Vader (Luke and Leia), King Randor (He-Man and She-Ra), and Molly Weasley (Fred and George) are Haves; Homer Simpson, Cortana, and the Tin Man are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Ikari Gendo and Worf, but select Zeus (Apollo and Artemis), Miki's mom (Miki and Kozue), and Walder Frey (who owns a castle called the Twins): NIC.

Row 8: H is for Heart.  King Randor, Molly Weasley, and Dracula are Haves; Cortana, the Tin Man, and Roxas are Have-Nots.  Of the candidates, we rule out Frosty, Hexxus, and WALL-E, but select Ma-Ti and the Queen of Hearts: US.

Put all of the letters together to obtain GIBBIFERCALIFORNICUS.  Spaced properly, this is GIBBIFER CALIFORNICUS, a species of insect – and this is the answer.