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"Your brother became a star." Regina believed in that so purely, that she would laugh innocently when saying it... Too innocently... I just couldn't stand it... No matter how hard I tried.

Sean "Bat" Dingling was an acrobat at the Berry Big Circus. He fell into a comatose state after an accident six months prior to Russell Berry's murder.

Early life[]

Sean Dingling and his older brother Ken were abandoned by their parents when they were children. Russell Berry, the ringmaster of the Berry Big Circus, took them in and later employed them as acrobats. Ken and Sean became known as "Acro" and "Bat," respectively.

Bat developed a crush on the ringmaster's daughter, Regina Berry, and they would constantly play pranks on each other.

Accident[]

One day, Bat made a bet with Regina that if he successfully stuck his head into a lion's mouth, Regina would go on a date with him. Unfortunately, earlier that day, Regina had covered Bat's scarf with pepper to make him sneeze. Bat didn't sneeze, but when he stuck his head into the lion's mouth, the lion sneezed and bit Bat, critically wounding him. His older brother, Acro, tried to wrestle the lion off Bat, but was injured and became paralyzed in the process.

Bat remained in a coma, and Acro was confined to a wheelchair. Regina, being too naive to understand what really happened to Bat, quickly got over him and moved on. Angered at this, Acro devised a plan to kill her six months later, which resulted in her father's death instead. The resulting trial of one of the circus performers led to Acro's implication as the killer.

After Acro's conviction, Regina finally realized the seriousness of Bat's accident and vowed to stay by his bedside until he woke up.

Name[]

  • Japanese - Ippei Kinoshita (木下一平) ~ (Batto (バット)):
    • "Kinoshita" likely comes from the "Kinoshita Dai Circus", a famous Japanese circus.[1]
  • English - Sean Dingling ~ (Bat):
    • Acro and Bat, the two brothers' stage names, combine to form "acrobat".
    • "Dingling" is likely a combination of the "Ringling Bros Circus" and "dangling", a reference to his job as an acrobat.
  • French - Alec Loche ~ (Bate):
    • "Loche" is likely a play on "cloche", meaning "bell" in French. This may be a reference to the English surname "Dingling".

Unofficial[]

  • Brazilian Portuguese - Cauê Bambo ~ (Bata): [2]
    • "Cauê" originates from the Tupi indigenous tribe and means "hawk" or "falcon", highlighting its indigenous traits and emphasizing such origin.
    • "Bambo" is a surname created that references the fact that he is an acrobat and walks on a "corda bamba" (tightrope).
    • His nickname "Bata" and his brother's nickname "Acro" form "acrobata" (acrobat).

Development[]

  • Bat only appears in the court record and in-game dialogue, making him one of only two living named characters to date to have a court record profile but not make an appearance in-person, with Bruto Cadaverini being the other example of this.
  • Neither Acro nor Bat is referenced during the Circus's reappearance in The Imprisoned Turnabout.

Relationship with a minor[]

A significant aspect of the narrative of Turnabout Big Top is that the 16-year-old Regina Berry attracts the serious affections of three different adult men, including Bat. There is very little detail about the specific nature of these relationships, even though any marriage involving Regina would be considered child marriage. Incidentally, such a marriage would be legal in most U.S. states, including California, and federal statutory rape laws provide a child marital exception.[3] Moreover, in Japan at the time, 16 is the minimum age for girls to marry.[4]

References[]

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