Topic: Favorite Depictions of Less Than Favorite Characters
Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
This thread is about characters you don't really like that much, but do like one particular non-standard take on or storyline featuring that character.
For example, I'm constantly surprised that writers keep using Universo, who is one of the cheesiest villains the Legion has ever faced. I really liked his portrayal during the 5YL, however, where he was the morally ambiguous rebel leader and smooth manipulator of various forces. That was far more interesting than yet another "Look deep into my monocle" story.
Others?
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Another example from the same era (for me, at least) would be Sun Boy. I always found him to be kind of bland until he became a traitor to the U.P.
Although he's still not my favourite character by any means, I also like the way his characterization is presently being handled, in that he may not necessarily be a "true, blue," legionnaire, or committed to the group come hell-or-highwater.
[ July 18, 2005, 08:26 AM: Message edited by: Mediocre Boy ]
-------------------- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so the meek[s] shall inherit inherit the Earth, but what about the geeks? I still want Baffin Island--polar bears and all! :)
From: Brampton, Canada | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Star Boy is a character whom I found very bland in the preboot, and even in the early reboot. But his portrayal in Legion Worlds gave him much more depth and I ended up appreciating him a lot.
Leviathan is another character who I found much more interesting post-ZH. Unfortunately, they killed him off before I ended up liking him, but I'm finding the threeboot version way more interesting.
posted
I've been underwhelmed my Mordru the whole time I've been a Legion fan. I should mention that I read his first appearance after every other story that included him. So, my view of Mordru was that he had done something major in the Legion's past, but then he was in a Dave Cockrum story that was about 10 pages long....no big threat there....then, he was the source of all the strife in Earthwar, but that story lost its zest when Jim Sherman left. Giffen made him look cool for a second during the GDS. Oh yeah, I forgot that moment during the "Lord Romdur's Castle" story....
Anyway, it was during TMK when Cos and Mordru had that meal together that I thought Mordru was really a threat to the universe. That he was a real entity.
I should also say that I didn't purchase Mordru's issues of JSA. Maybe I should have?
posted
I never thought that highly of Bouncing Boy, and wondered if he could rise above comic relief at times, but I did especially like his adventure with Comet Queen! It was recounted to Superboy in "LSH" v3 n11, the backup story, "New Business."
That, apropos of the thread about Keith Giffen, was one of the last portrayals he made of the Legion during his second run. It didn't fall apart as much as he'd let his work do on "Omen and Prophet," the dissolution had (IMO) set in, but it told the story of two offbeat characters quite well.
(I much preferred, by the way, Chuck Taine's being cast as the Legionnaires' resident engineer and troubleshooter, non-powered, in the first reboot.)
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Chuck Taine with mustache late in v4. Chuck Taine in all of v4. Chuck Taine by DnA. In other words no inflating.
Matter-Eater Lad in v4.
Triplicate Girl. I don't for some reason as a kid in the early 80's I thought these three had horrible codenames. It escapes logic but for some reason I thought Duo Damsel sounded much cooler than Triplicate Girl??? ohwell.
Agree with EDE on Universo. Same thing with Mano in v4. Though now I do think Mano is cool in any version. It was v4 who made me a fan.
Pretty much v4 ironed out any stuff I didn't like. doh! Then came the damn clones. ohwell.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
I admit too, that I thought Umbra just needed an attitude adjustment until I read her origin story in the Legends of the Legion mini. I also gained a lot of respect for her in Lost after we took a peek into her mind and motivations. I never cared for Shadow Lass preboot.
Apparition is another Legionnaire I never really liked preboot, but I actually liked her SW6 version. The reboot made me love her, what with the stories about her, Jo and her mother.
Light Lass is another Legionnaire whom I never took very seriously preboot, and my opinion of her went downhill after she left Brin. Of course, I was young at that time so my opinion probably wasn't justified She was just okay for me during the reboot. After her characterization in LSH 1 and what she did in LSH 7, though, she's rapidly become one of my faves.
Chameleon is another character whom I think gained added depth in Legion Lost. Monstress too, as Drake said above.
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Anybody at Legion World felt that Tyroc got a pretty raw deal under the Paul Levitz regime?
From: Adelaide, Australia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Colossal Boy and Karate Kid were among my least favorite Legionnaires until the 3boot. Now I love CB and don't wish KK was a corpse.
It may sound like heresy, but I thought DnA's pink-mottled "Sneckie" had more potential than humanoid Projectra, past or present.
Loved Umbra more than any other version of Shady, including the current one.
I used to be madly in love with Sun Boy, then Levitz/Giffen and TMK turned him into a creep and he hasn't been the same since. The jury is still out on the 3boot version.
The only time I ever found Saturn Girl remotely palatable was when she was pregnant/post-natal, and actually seemed like an approachable human being for a few fleeting moments.
From: Reimagined Trom | Registered: Jul 2003
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I wasn't a big fan of the snake version of Projectra until DnA got their hands on her.
From: Gorilla Nebula Pub | Registered: Jul 2003
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cleome46
or you can do the confusion 'til your head falls off
posted
Timber Wolf majorly got on my nerves until his treatments in the cartoon and in 3boot.
I liked him better as the pseudo-Hulk who baked cookies on the side, or as the streetwise kid with a huge blind spot for his sweetheart's problems... rather than Levitz treating him as a buffoon with no social graces and little in the way of smarts.
Haven't been able to keep up with Legion Lost, so I can't really say much about how he's being written now. I do hope that if he returns to his own time, we'll see him reconciled with Ayla as a friend, like we did late in 5YG.
-------------------- Hey, Kids! My "Cranky and Kitschy" collage art is now viewable on flickr. Drop by and tell me that I sent you.
From: Vanity, OR | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
I don't really like Ultra Boy but I really liked him in the beginning of the 5YL.
I liked Timber Wolf at the end of the Baxter, as the frustrated deputy leader ... I never really liked him otherwise.
My favorite Sun Boy was the womanizing Sun Boy from Giffen's first term ... I think he's boring elsewhere.
I loved Tyroc in the 5YL, I think he is wacky otherwise ... Tenzil even clowned his sonic powers.
From: Ninja Land | Registered: Nov 2004
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