Cause there are parallels to this first major arc here, y'know. Villains working to tear down the U.P. on a galactic scale, both from within and without...
Maybe Terror Firma just really really really aren't the cool villains Waid thinks they are. I dunno.
Posted by Fat Cramer on :
I'd agree that they're nowhere near as creepy as Robotica. The whole sentient machine thing spoke to our (my?) fears of computers run amok, machines supplanting mankind, HAL.... It was one of the great, undeveloped stories of DnA and only weakened by the smarmy and accomodating Robotican Legion Academy applicant.
Terror Firma - Elysion strikes me as more of a loudmouth gang leader with resentments against the Legion, trying to please Big Daddy Lemnos. The others don't really have personalities yet, and we haven't seen too much of their powers in action. I don't even remember their names. They aren't individuals in the sense that the Fatal Five were, and they don't have some great evil goal of their own - they're grunts, puppets, whatever. Maybe if they rebel against Lemnos and go on some galactic rampage, they'll be scary. Right now, they're just fighting better. We never really saw what they did to Orando - perhaps if we'd been taken through the destruction, T.F. would be more frightening.
Posted by Jorg-EM on :
Yeah but they are much cooler. I like these guys. Fatal Five who? Posted by Tromium on :
Yeah, Robotica was scarier than TF, but The Blight took the cake. They were like zombies, eating people and stuff.
But in defense of 3boot villainy, we've only gotten a glimpse or two of Lemnos' army - I get the impression they number in the thousands - so it's probably premature to judge the magnitude of the threat.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
I have to admit that the villains have left me totally unimpressed so far. Of course, I feel like we've barely seen them--I can't even remember their names.
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
I agree, Lemnos is still the scariest of the "new" villains. I keep thinking of Terror Firma as just cannon fodder.
But if they were able to destroy Orando, they should be MUCH scarier. FC's right, we just need to be shown what they're capable of.
Posted by rouge on :
I thought Robotica was an excellent premise that DnA squandered. Much like the Borg from Star Trek (that you could argue "inspired" many aspects of Robotica) as soon as the threat went from an unfeeling, "not-to-be-reasoned-with", seemingly unstoppable menace, to a pupper group subjegated to a single mind (Computo/Borg Queen) with a motive and agenda, it lost all of it's fright factor.
THe above poster was correct though, in that Robotica also suffered from being a rehash of the Blight.
Terra Firma, on the other hand, is at least a little original. I don't think they're supposed to be the uber-threat, just an obstacle. This arc is more about intorducing the team and dealing with the mystery of Lemnos. TF is there so the Legion can punch something along the way.
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
I agree that the Terror Firma/Robotica comparison is a little off, in that TF are the "advanced wave" of something bigger, rather than the real threat. Perhaps they'd be better compared with the Oversight Watch?
Posted by SouthtownKid on :
quote:Originally posted by Tromium: Yeah, Robotica was scarier than TF, but The Blight took the cake.
That's what I was going to say also. But I don't think they really need to be creepy scary to make great adversaries. Of course, if you put "Terror" in the name, you kind of set expectations, I guess... But I'm enjoying these guys so far.
Mostly, I've been preoccupied with wanting to learn about the new Legionnaires though, so I haven't really thought much about the villains.
Posted by SiliconDream on :
I liked Robotica more once they went from scary to sympathetic, but then I'm a Trekkie. For creepy, I preferred the Blight, and for outright terror nothing beat the Progenitor.
Terror Firma's just an "anti-Legion" narratively, I think. They're there for fights and to demonstrate another style of superteam. (Recall how bad they are at cooperation, for instance.) So far, Lemnos is the scary one--and that even after he's introduced himself with a casual chat. He's just so breezily murderous!
Posted by Jorg-EM on :
Lemnos is scarier but confusing a tad.
Terror Firma are super cool. Robotica were generic IMO though I enjoyed the story with them as the villains.
Posted by MLLASH on :
I find Lemnos (and before him, Mnemonic Kid) to be VERY creepy scary. The one thing we can each call all our very own and no one else's is our memories. To have someone alter/eradicte/mess with that is the ultimate personal blasphemy! Total violation. Yuck!
As for Terror Firma... meh. They're alright I guess.
Posted by KidChaos on :
I guess I'd have to see where Waid is going with the Terra Firma/Lemnos story before I could fully compare it against DNA's Robotica arc.
Though Robotica fizzeled out at the end, it was a much more interesting opponet for the Legion than the generic/bland Terra Firma. At least so far.
On the other hand, Lemnos (who I look at as seperate from TF)is hella-cool/scary. The Lemnos back up a few issues ago has easily been my favorite story from the new series so far.
I *really* wish Waid would have had the Legion battle a few non-Lemnos related villans. Though I appreciate that he is trying to build up toward the big upcoming war, I fear the agonizingly slow pace has lost the new Legion more than a few readers...
Posted by Kid Quislet on :
Robotica is much more scary opponent than Terror Firma - so far. We saw how Robotica first infiltrated SP HQ and attacked and consumed an officer, than later on a planetary scale ravaged the entire planet of Xanthu and fight back the Khundian army. Terror Firma took out Orando, maybe, but we didn't see it. Otherwise, they've just pushed around some Legion kids and SPs. right now they seem to be more like a gang of bullies than a terrorist army.
Likewise, Lemnos comes across to me more like a Mr. Myxtzplk (sp?), annoyingly powerful and evasive rather than scary.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: I have to admit that the villains have left me totally unimpressed so far. Of course, I feel like we've barely seen them--I can't even remember their names.
Still can't. Do we have them listed somewhere? Or does anyone even remember?
(or was that Lemnos plan?)
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Who are you again??
The only ones I remember are Elysion, Zepha (the girl with wind powers)- though our smilie list has her as "Zelpha" , Kynda (the girl with fire powers) , and "Stasi" (not sure if that was her real name), who had stasis powers. All these four appeared in Emily Sivana's Legion Villain tournament
I think another one was called Phren, not sure what his powers were other than *possibly* some form of teleportation.
There was also one who had water powers, and another big strong one.
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
Original team:
Elysion = earth-manipulator Kynda = fire-manipulator Zepha = wind-manipulator Nameless green guy = water-manipulator Phren = powers unclear Gron = super-strong guy
Then there were others added later, but I'm not sure how many of those were named (and I can't really remember who was in them vs. the LSV).
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
I think Stasi was one of the later ones.
It would make sense if Phren, given the name, had some sort of mental powers.
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Yes, Stasi was one of those who showed up when the 3boot Legion took the battle to Lemnos' home base. There was another one there who had powers similar to the X-Men's Cannonball. There was also a guy in armor not unlike Wildfire's armor style whose powers weren't shown.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
You guys are pretty groovy, you know that? Posted by Set on :
quote:Originally posted by Eryk Davis Ester: [QB] Original team:
Elysion = earth-manipulator Kynda = fire-manipulator Zepha = wind-manipulator Nameless green guy = water-manipulator Phren = powers unclear Gron = super-strong guy
Phren and water-manipulator guy both worked together to protect the team from telepathy (indicating that they both were telepaths), but it took the both of them to block Saturn Girl, so neither of them was a *great* telepath...
Phren also seemed to be the one who could open teleport portals.
It takes a special kind of something to make an elemental theme team less successful than the Masters of Disaster... Posted by Emily Sivana on :
I will defend Elysion because I think he has a lot of personality that I feel is absent from many of the Legion's villains. Yes, he is a psychopath that enjoyed destroying the lives of innocent people for fun, but it makes the book interesting to read.
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
I actually love the look of the team. And the Greek-themed names are pretty cool, as well. So I'm a fan of the overall design of the characters. If only their storyline hadn't ended up so lame overall.
Posted by Set on :
I do respect that he at least tried to expand the Legion rogue's gallery by inventing some new characters. If he just went with making threeboot variations of the Fatal Five or Legion of Super-Villains or League of Super-Assassins, that would have been less bold a choice, IMO.
I feel the same way about Levitz attempting to throw in a few new characters, like Atta, Immortus, Questor, Sun Killer, etc. instead of just recycling the old familiar faces.
It's just a bit funky that, with the threeboot being pretty much written off entirely, we'll probably never see Elysion, Kynda, Zepha, etc. again.
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
Maybe some clever writer will incorporate them into the story of how Orando ended up back in our dimension or something, assuming that story ever gets told.
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
quote:Originally posted by Emily Sivana: I will defend Elysion because I think he has a lot of personality that I feel is absent from many of the Legion's villains. Yes, he is a psychopath that enjoyed destroying the lives of innocent people for fun, but it makes the book interesting to read.
That is a good point, as he isn't motivated by the "usual" suspects - riches, fame, power.
For that matter, the rest of Terror Firma was "new" in the sense that they were kids unjustly punished for the sins of their parents. Of course, their hand (?) in destroying Orando was unforgivable - or was it? Was it ever proven that the powered Terror Firma members were involved in that?
Posted by Set on :
quote:Originally posted by Invisible Brainiac: Was it ever proven that the powered Terror Firma members were involved in that?
Papa Projectra was babbling about great wildfires and floods and storms ravaging areas of Orando before he died, in addition to earthquakes, which makes it *seem* like Zepha, Kynda and water-controller-dude were also actively participating in the carnage (although creative use of Elysion's powers could easily create tidal waves and volcanic eruptions to trigger wildfires and weather disruptions, so it's not *proof* by any means).
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
Yes, I remember it was heavily implied the others were there. But then when the Terror Firma kids "rebelled" they were going on and on about how Elysion was a psychopath, so there was a whole lot of backtracking there.
Posted by Set on :
quote:Originally posted by Invisible Brainiac: Yes, I remember it was heavily implied the others were there. But then when the Terror Firma kids "rebelled" they were going on and on about how Elysion was a psychopath, so there was a whole lot of backtracking there.
I remember that, and how the others seemed to be protesting that they had no idea whatsoever that Lemnos / Elysion were up to shenanigans, as if, somehow, they were all utterly unaware that Orando had been destroyed...
I have no idea if that was meant to represent Lemnos having somehow messed with their memories, or the writer desperately backtracking and trying to 'whitewash' these characters he had turned into planet-killing mega-villains.
While Elysion certainly could have killed Orando single-handedly, barring Lemnos-mind-wipage, it strains credulity that the rest of Terror Firma were all as innocent and unaware of what was going on around them as they claimed.
If Waid changed his mind, and had them be innocent dupes, Shooter changed it *again* by having Sun Boy return and say that they were all bad-guys who were lying to him and he'd sent them all to prison. (Which, if they had planetary affecting water, air, fire, etc. control powers, seems pretty darn impressive...)
Whatever the truth was, it changed at least once, if not twice, during those fifty issues.
Posted by Invisible Brainiac on :
I can understand Shooter undoing what Waid was setting up, but for Waid himself to do that was confusing.
It seemed more to me that Waid was backtracking, or at least if that was his original intent, he wasn't able to set it up all that well.
Heck, I was shouting along with Cos and Lemnos when they replied to Terror Firma's demand of "We want out" - "You think it's that simple???" You destroyed a world, hello!!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Zelpha]](graemlins/Zelpha.gif)
, Kynda (the girl with fire powers) ![[Kynda]](graemlins/Kynda.gif)
, and "Stasi" (not sure if that was her real name), who had stasis powers. All these four appeared in Emily Sivana's Legion Villain tournament ![[Phren]](graemlins/Phren.gif)
Phren, not sure what his powers were other than *possibly* some form of teleportation.![[Cheers]](graemlins/cheers.gif)