Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Personalities of Legionnaires

Hi, there! I been wondering what the views are on the various personalities of the Legionnaires. What is your take on your favorite Legionnaires and why do you think they act the way that they do? What do you think are the most obvious personality traits (both good and bad)? How do you think they relate to romance and relationships? Who's a hot head and who's not? Which Legionnaires make strong leaders and who are the followers? Who is able to manipulate others the best and who lets themselves be jerked around by the others?

I'm hoping the discussion will serve two objectives....

1. Good discussion and evaluation of the characters.
2. An assortment of ideas to include in my RPG.

Here's hoping for a long lasting thread!
I have read the interviews of Jim Shooter from 1976 and Tom and Mary Bierbaum in 2000 from the Encyclopedia Glaactica forum already. What I would really like to see is a more overall view from the readers.

I want to participate, but this will take some time to put together... I'll likely follow the Shooter/Bierbaums format... just need a little time.

Okay, I'll go in bite-sized chunks.

My own personality guides, if I were writing the LSH... in order of membership... starting with the founders...


COSMIC BOY

The typical all-American athelete if Americans existed on Braal. A natural leader people want to follow because he is as smart as he is attractive (get it?). This ex-jock does have a dark side that he keeps well-hidden, but it can be brought to light under the right circumstances. As a former Magnoball champion, Cosmic Boy is a firm believer in the 'giving it all for the team' philosophy and does not suffer well anyone who seeks to damage the team's spirit or strength in any way.


SATURN GIRL

With an intelligence even a Coluan would respect, Saturn Girl is a young lady that inspires respect as well as awe and fear. A role model for young sentients United Planets-wide, Saturn Girl tries hard to uphold the standard which she feels the public holds her to. She would be devestated if her playful side were ever to be exposed, so she tends to focus on poise and dignity, while all the while aware of the discomfort her being a mind-reader can cause. She is likely one of the most-requested Legionnaires to have on missions.


LIGHTNING LAD

A "family man" at heart, Lightning Lad would like nothing more than to one day settle down with his wife and lots of kids running around. Also a bit of a "hot-head", Lightning Lad is fiercely protective, sometimes overprotective even, of the people he loves and considers "his". Since losing his brother and meeting Cosmic Boy, Garth looks upon Cosmic Boy as a sort-of substitue for his older brother and treats him with much respect. Garth considers his fellow founders and (to a lesser extent) Phantom Girl and Triad his "adopted family" on Earth and, while protective of the entire Legion, is fiercely protective of those 4 in particular.

Are we doing the current incarnation or should we address all reboots?

There were threads that were dedicated to dissecting characteristics of individual Legionnaires, which might be helpful. I think there were at least three maybe? I don't remember what they were called though... maybe someone else who remembers can dig it up.

Great write-ups MLLASH.

I see Saturn Girl slightly different. As a telepath, she needs to be and was trained to be in control. This control manifests itself in two ways. One, Irma keeps a tight lid on her emotional and mental state. She knows the consequences (to herself and others) if she were to lose control of her power. This causes others to see her as an Ice Queen. Two, the need to be in control makes Irma want to be the leader. Luckily, she has some talent for leading. She is also very assertive. This is part of what makes her a good leader.

that was fun!

Okay, the first recruit...


TRIAD

There was a reason Triad was the first recruit... she is amazingly likeable. A bubbly, infectious personality... and a brash, boisterous, fun-loving personality... and a shyer, quieter reserved personality... something for everyone! Triad is one of the most accomplished Legionnaires at hand to hand combat and was in fact the unarmed combat trainer for recruits before Karatre Kid came along. Amazingly adaptable to dealing with sentients of all types of personalities, Triad is ideal for missions of infiltration and espionaige.

I'm just kinda doing the LASHboot versions... which borrows something from all of them I guess...


EDIT: Now I've read PG's post below, I think my posts aren't quite what you were asking for, I misunderstood.

I was hoping to cover all of the various versions with a strong emphasis on the original characters. Feel free to do your favorites of any boot though. One favor....let us know which characters/version you are discusssing. This will keep it organized for me so when I detail the personalities of the characters I can include differences from the various versisons.

Thanks Much.

I like Lash's take on the characters. He seems to have distilled what is most common and most important in every incarnation. Quis also adds another dimension to Imra.

I can't wait to read more.

Thanks Quis, HWW...


PHANTOM GIRL

Sugar and spice, and maybe a bit spoiled as well, Phantom Girl is not above batting her eyelashes to get her way. She's also not above dishing out a punch in the face to get her way either. A rebellious toughness softened with charming sweetness ensures that Phantom Girl has many admirers, sometimes including even the adversaries she and the Legion faces. Phantom Girl has become adept at fighting partially in and partially out of phase, making her very difficult to beat.

MLLASH, I'm agreeing quite well with your overall assements. Please post more! I'm looking to keep as true as possible to the character and at the same time do this part of the game the right way. The indication of original/classic, or a reboot version being stated is so that players can make role playing adjustments depending upon which version of the Legion they are playing. Since I'm not real familiar with the reboots (other than the current one) I just don't have the knowledge to fill in the gaps. I have plenty of comics to read but that process is a bit to slow for game development. I been extremely pleased with your assessments, they are very close to mine but yours are better thought out.

I agree, Lash's writeups are amazing. Lash and Quis on Imra is great.

I'm almost afraid to post, but I'll give KINETIX a shot. (I'm mostly basing this on her origin in LSH Annual 6)

Zoe's love for power for "pure" reasons has always been a defining aspect, but why does she love it so much? She always said she a) wanted it to feel "perfected", and b) to help people.

Add to this her obsession with her wardrobe, and the way she took Violet and other people (XS, Lori, Triad) under her wing at times; she also mentioned that she tried to be the good little girl (unlike her resentful brother) when her mom was towing them around to archeological expeditions, especially because she felt useless because she couldn't help out.

Zoe needed attention. She felt that attention meant she was worthy somehow (of people's love and affection maybe? or maybe just their respect and time); but to get attention, she had to be good and do good stuff and make herself useful; without doing that, she wouldn't be worthy. So she had to become as perfect and good as she could be to get attention from others. The wardrobe to get attention; helping Violet, because it was a good thing to do; the power, to give her more potential to become even better.

Loving MLLASH's profiles.

My random quatloo;

Lightning Lad - from a world where everyone has a twin and the family and social structures reflect that. He is sometimes seen to completely fall apart when forced to deal with something alone, because that's completely unnatural to him. And then he shines when someone has his back, making him the ultimate team player. His confidence doesn't just double when someone has his back, it goes up exponentially. In a group, he's fearless, perhaps even *reckless* and brash. Alone, he can become self-paralyzed with doubts and insecurities, something that his jerk of a brother has learned to exploit all-too-well... All burdens are meant to be shared, with a sibling, and, eventually, a spouse. Keeping secrets, underhanded schemes, grudges that last more than 30 minutes, all are alien to him. He (and Trip) are perhaps the Legionnaires best suited to end up dating a telepath, as sharing their lives and powerful emotional connections are a huge part of their world-views.

Cosmic Boy - Garth's opposite, in that he's sublimating years of intensely competitive nature. He's not into sharing, and he doesn't seek out companionship (Night Girl goes to the crazy lengths of experimenting on herself to gain super-powers and trying to join the Legion just to catch his eye. And without suitors willing to go to those sorts of extremes to get his attention, he may well still be alone!). He's the one who has to think of everything, and plan everything, and the only person he 100% completely trusts in any situation is himself. He's learned to be a team player, but it's been a hard slog for him, because he's had to unlearn the driven competitive nature that being a solo-sports-superstar built into him. Even with the massive adjustment he's made, he's still more comfortable at the head of the pack and with plans that originated within his own head...

Saturn Girl - from a world where everyone can sense everyone else at all times, and she was at the top of the heap with the most sensitive awareness, there are times Imra wants to drop the iron-control ice-queen facade, scream at everyone to shut up with their too-loud thoughts and so-predictable emotional reactions, slam the door and be alone. She can come across as curt with people, because, even if she wasn't able to read minds, she's still smart enough, and experienced enough to be able to finish many of her team-mates sentences for them. Sometimes she's secretely thrilled when one of her friends surprises her by saying or doing something she didn't see coming a mile away. Other times she envies Dream Girl for retaining such poise and not going completely mad, waiting for everyone else to 'catch up,' and knowing that they never will. Garth isn't a boyfriend, a husband or a lover, although he is also those things. He's home. The quiet place where she can go to relax, the warm, safe sheltering haven where she can say what she thinks, express her doubts, demand a hug for no reason at all or just 'veg out' without having to be 'on' all of the time.

Thank you Phantom Girl and I-B.


CHAMELEON BOY

Equal parts trickster and detective, Cham is not one to let questions go unanswered. He feels a kinship of sorts with Saturn Girl because he also feels like he must be a role model and represent his homeworld of Durla, whose native shapeshifters have suffered prejudice in the past not unlike the telepathic natives of Titan. However, Cham isn't very close to Imra because he considers her a bit standoffish. Cham tends to pal around more with whom he considers the fun-loving Legionnaires like Triad, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad but he can also be frequently found in the company of Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid, especially if there is a mystery or problem going on.


COLOSSAL BOY

Colossal Boy was the literal "Big man on campus" in the LSH until more powerful members began to fill out the ranks. As this happened, Gim's self-doubts threatened to overcome him. Keeping his doubts about himself at bay is an everyday task and Colossal Boy tends to compensate with a brash, "GO TEAM!" attitude that he knows will especially please founder Cosmic Boy. Despite being able to grow to giant proportions, Gim tends to fade into the background because of his self-doubts and he struggles at making connections with his fellow Legionnaires. He doesn't realize that between his looks and general "tries-to-please" attitude, he would have no problem getting dates.

My take on Brainiac 5:

Pre-boot: This is the boy who wants to be the hero. His main motivation is to redeem the family name. He's smart. Smarter than everyone else, but he also wants to fit in. So, he has learned to accept everybody as he finds them. He is able to see the value of each person, not just their intelligence. He is friendly and someone you can trust. As willing to take part in the action as to be in his lab.

Reboot: This Brainy is a bit more stand-offish. He values knowledge above all else. Heroics takes away from this quest for knowledge, but he recognizes the value of what the Legion does. As long as people accept him as he is, he initially tolerates their friendship and eventually recognizes his need for friendship.

Threeboot: Much more Machiavellian and arrogant. His motivations are his and his alone. Even the reader is not sure why Brainiac 5 is part of the Legion. He is willing to use and manipulate people to achieve his ends. He is dismissive of others. How much of this is his Coluan heritage and how much is a defense mechanism is unsure.

And there's the secret with Cham. He chums around with almost everyone, at different times, as his interests are as chameleonic as his flesh.

When it's mystery-solving time, he's chummy with Vi and Tinya and Lyle. When there's fun to be had, he's hanging out with the 'fun people.'

There are some people he doesn't seem to 'get,' like Projectra, and is rarely seen with.

Thank you Set, I'm enjoying reading yours and everyone else's takes too... this may be the most fun thread in a while for me!

Continuing the Shooter/Bierbaums format...


INVISIBLE KID

Lyle Norg, boy genius. As a child, Lyle would often scandalize and worry his parents with his tinkering around with everyday items and the inventions that resulted, such things as antigrav ice cubes and laser kittens. Still, it didn't take a genius to know that Lyle was quite gifted. The Legion's scientist prior to Brainiac 5's arrival, Lyle was actually relieved when Querl joined the team. Because as incredibly smart as Lyle is, he also likes to have fun, and labwork had grown tiresome for him by his preteens. Lyle is extremely humble about his accomplishments but has grown particularly close to Brainiac 5 through a friendly rivalry. Though Lyle is extremely likeable and affable, there are ways to earn his ire, chief among them being looking upon his powers or scientific abilities as "weak". Though close with many of his teammates, once Lyle was brought in to assist on the case of Condo Arlik, he let many friendships slide to devote the bulk of his time to helping Condo.

STAR BOY

Easily dismissable upon first glance as a typical jock, those who know Star Boy better would likely describe him as a "doofus". Very athletic but never brash about it, Star Boy is a good-natured and reliable friend. He's the one who will "have your back". Thom's good nature is what enabled him to forgive his teammates who voted to oust him even after he was cleared of murder by the Science Police. Unfortunately, his laid-back good nature tends to rub some of his more serious-minded teammates the wrong way, and the Legion's unofficial "Good Time Posse" (consisting primarily of Triad, Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad) wouldn't think someone as 'jocklike' as Thom would hang out with them. These notions tend to limit Thom's relationships with his teammates, so he spends the bulk of his time with his girlfriend.

Anyone else like to offer their assessment of the personalities of the Legionnaires, or want to lean (AHEM....) heavily on MLLASH for some more awesome reviews)?

This thread is great. I'm enjoying reading everyone's thoughts so much that I'm skipping my own for now

Lash--love, love, love your personality bios. Some like Tinya's and Gim's, are so simple yet insightful that I smiling at myself for not thinking of them that way before. All the more reason you should be co-writer of the Legion with EDE.

MON-EL
Distant is the word. He has trouble making connections with people, and has yawed between 'trying too hard' and retreating back into the quiet 'observer' mode that he was trapped in for ten centuries. Ten centuries. Forty generations of humans lived and died, and Lar just sat there and watched. He has the unsettling confidence of someone who knows that he's invulnerable, combined with the jaded reactions of someone who has watched a million people live and die, in real time, and has no fear of death whatsoever. He's not in the Zone now, and he *can* stop bad things from happening, and one of the few times he'll show his anger is when someone attempts to hurt someone near him, because, for the first time in a millenium, *he can do something about it.*

Despite being freed from the Zone, he's never felt like he's 'come home' and he will *always* feel disconnected, a 'stranger in a strange land.' His home died a thousand years ago. His home planet has changed in that time, and he feels little connection to it, visiting it rarely. Right now, the Legion is 'home,' and few of his teammates realize exactly how alone he feels, even in the middle of a crowd.

He's the Legion's big gun, and knows it, carrying himself with an almost unconscious air of unshakable confidence. Superboy (or Girl) comes and goes, but Lar is always there. Ultra Boy can mimic some of his power, for brief times, but that barely counts. Wildfire and Star Boy have both had his level of power, but both lost them relatively quickly. Dev-Em once expressed interest in joining the team, and Mon-El flat out lied to him about whether or not he would be welcome, and then misled his teammates about whether or not he was interested!

Mon-El is very comfortable being the Legion's 'big gun,' and, his friendship with Superboy aside, isn't looking for competition... The Legion is his home now, and he's not going to give up his place for anyone.

The only fear he has, the only terror that speaks to him in the night, is returning to the Zone. These are the times when the presence of someone near him, someone he can touch and hold, is the only thing that keeps him sane. Shadow Lass is one of a rare few that he is willing to share these moments of weakness with, and, for all her warrior bluster, she'll never give him reason to regret this trust.

alrighty i have a bit of time today. I'll do five for now.

The legion when they came together is like that first day in the dorm of an elite college that recruits the cream of the class of the high schools all around the country. In this way its different than all other teen superhero teams who are thrown together by virtue of age family relationships or other circumstances. Because of this coming together, they find themselves in roles and situations where they are not the big fish in their little ponds.

- Would have been a leader amongst her peers on Carrg which I see as a sleepy planet, a bit behind the times. This is not because she wanted to (because she's naturally unassuming) its simply because she was so talented and likable her teachers and peers thrust responsibility on her. When she comes to the Legion she finally gets what she wants a place with people so talented she gets to blend in a bit without being front and centre on the stage. A very details oriented person, a great manager of plans but not a leader amongst her team-mates.

- Fun loving and adventurous. Naturally popular amongst boys and girls alike. Her early membership and outgoing personality makes her one of the leaders of legions social groups especially amongst the girls. This status makes her a rival of Imra. Imra and Tinya have had contrasting family backgrounds in every version of the pairing, to emphasize their differences in world views. Her outward personality belies the fact that she has to work to overcome what she sees as challenges, such as living in her mother's shadow in the reboot and cartoon. I would say that Tinya is not as naturally pretty as Saturn Girl but her vanity makes her spend much time in the make up, hair and wardrobe whereas Imra doesn't care.

I was always a fan of the Introverts Squad -- Ferro Lad, Invisible Kid, Chemical King. They were never part of the inner circle, never the popular person in the room. Their powers were the result of mutations or the self-testing of an experiment, and so didn't especially feel 'heroic'. They might have had friends but the friendships were either the result of amiable competition or due to their being someone others found it was easy to talk with.

That introversion was why each of them felt that they had to go out of the way to prove their worth to the team, and probably contributed to their deaths.

PHANTOM GIRL
Some portrayals play up her aristocratic background, whether her mother was a President or a Queen. In the threeboot, on the other hand, her parents are just average schmoes.

Going with the aristocratic background, she seems to be very much the 'preacher's daughter' who hangs out with the bad boys to give her parents agita. Her people, in general, tend to stay in their home dimension, and she's something of a 'free soul' who explores the greater universe, has joined a team of people in another dimension and is dating someone that her mother might charitably describe as a 'no-account hoodlum.'

And yet this isn't just 'teen rebellion,' because Tinya's kept it up consistently across her portrayals. She actually does want to be a part of the greater universe, an explorer, an adventurer, a woman-of-action. Like Mon-El, Tinya hasn't just come from another planet, she's come from another dimension to be a Legionnaire. Also, like Mon-El, she knows that she's pretty much invulnerable here, and her attitude could be interpreted as oblivious to danger and devil-may-care by a detractor or incredibly brave and selfless to someone who she's pulled out of harms way.

She's left behind a cushy life, one that she finds unutterably boring and mundane, to be a superhero. She's risked her life, time and again, not as some jaded thrillseeker or spoiled princess-playing-at-hero, but because she genuinely loves being a hero and doing the right thing as a person of action, and not just a legislator, like her mother.

She's very much the opposite of a jaded thrillseeker, no matter her background, and can be deeply intuitive, when she wishes to be. It's too easy to look at her wide-eyed enthusiasm and her 'nothing can touch me' powerset and think that she's skating through life without a deep thought in her head, but she comes to the Legion with the purest of intentions, and her actions speak louder than her words.

Shadow Lass:

She is the Champion of her home world. This is a hereditary role, but one that she has embraced. IN the Adventure era she was a bit more girly, in that she first tried to latch onto Brainiac 5 as a boyfriend and then when that didn't work, set her sights on Mon-el. However, the relationship did develope into a solid one. She sometimes gets annoyed with Mon-el when he become over protective.

In the reboot, Shadow Lass was portrayed as being somewhat xenophobic. In both the reboot and the threeboot, she is much more of a fighter than in the preboot days.

In all eras, Tasmia is very self-confident about her powers and abilities. She is aware of the limitations of her power, but that does not stop her from being the champion that she is.