Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Spaceopoly And one shall surely be retconned!

I'd keep Ferro Lad and Dream Girl and ditch the other 2. Mostly because Ferro Lad and Dream Girl are 2 of my all time favorites--I always did like the underdogs and these are interesting underdogs. Ferro Lad's mask made him mysterous and intriguing. And his reason for wearing the mask made him a tragic character. Dream Girl's beauty and her power also made her mysterious and intriguing, not to mention the fact that she was highly intelligent and capable preboot. I hated the way they made her a vamp and then a ditz and was thrilled with her reworking via Khundian training.

By the way, Dream Girl wasn't elected by the readers to throw Levitz for a loop. She was elected because she was popular with the fans and they were tired of the fact that she rarely ever appeared. Thank God she was elected leader because it forced the creative team to use her more. Otherwise, I'm sure she would've gone the way of Bouncing Boy, Duo Damsel, Chemical King, and Matter Eater Lad. "Poor me. I'm so useless. I might as well quit."

Star Boy is just dull as dishwater preboot (though he shows more potential postboot) and any other Legionnaire could've filled the "Legionnaire Who Killed"role just as easily. And Karate Kid's fighting skills are pretty unimpressive when you've got guys like Superboy and Mon-El on the team IMO. As somebody else pointed out, KK and TW were pretty interchangeable, though if the choice were between those 2 I'd keep Val and ditch Brin.

This is a hard topic! But I will try to stay to the point: which Legionnaires is expendable, not which one is my favorite.

Val/Andy: Although Val is my obvious favorite, I think there is more to that than my reasons for him being the most important. Why? Because I think a whole slew of Legionnaires could have been substituted in place of Andy in his death: Leviathon, Sun Boy, Shrinking Violet, Light Lass. These are all great Legionnaires whom I love, but I think Val is more important than any of them. Why? Because once Val joined, he quickly became a prominently featured Legionaires (moreso than Jeckie or Andy), and appeared constantly. For me, Val is the most representative of the shift away from the "Silver Age" Legion stories to the more character driven stories. Val attacks the Fatal Five when he has only hours to live. Val joins Brainy, Cos and Superboy when they invade Talok VII. He just seemed so important and so prominent in all the stories. And...he did have his own title, came back in time and then died saving Jeckie, in a way that was more personnal and emotional than Andy. Nothing could have replaced the death of a Legionnaire, but I think Andy could have been replaced by another Legionnaire.

Dreamy/Thom: this is a tough one. Pre-Levitz, definately Dreamy, since Thom was so intrical in the Legionnaire who killed, befriending Superboy and dating Lana, and being the Legionnaire who joined the Subs. Yet, Dreamy is influential too, and definately moreso once Levitz took over. From there on in, Dreamy is irreplaceable, while Thom's roles in various stories could have been substitued by Lightning Lad (bad luck), Timber Wolf (bad love life), or any Legionnaire in a battle.

Kewl topic Lash!

Jeepers! I just remembered another reason for retconning out Star Boy. His insane bias prevented Calamity King from joining the Subs! Without Star Boy, my namesake would have been a much more prominent figure!

Back Off, HatBoy... This Legion's mine.

Interesting stuff here!

Okay, this time I'm going to choose 2 Legionnaires that I can't recall spending much time together, so retconning out one wouldn't affect the other character much... but both have their share of fans!


SHADOW LASS/UMBRA

or

SHRINKING VIOLET

Yow! Tough choice!

But...I'll retcon out Violet. Her big story pre-boot was the sens-tank deception; post-boot Emerald Vi - as I recall them. Tasmia fought against Mordru, the Black Circle, Darkseid. She hooked Mon-el/Valor and kept him from going totally off the rails at times. She was part of the Lost team, and played that role more effectively than I think Violet could have - not just due to powers but to personality. She had a distinctive world, with relatives and personal enemies that persisted throughout Legion history. (We haven't seen much of Imsk since... when? 1965?) Her personality and appearance made her stand apart from the other legionnaires and became part of the story when her temper or standoffish attitude dictated her behaviour.

I believe Tasmia has been a lot more developed than Vi as a character and to lose her would throw away a large chunk of 30th/31st century lore.

This IS a difficult one.

On the one hand, we have the whole Violet/Duplicate Boy, Yera/Colossal Boy, Sens-Tank thingie.

Then we have Tasmia, whom I just like more, ESPECIALLY postboot.

I hated the results of the 'Emerald Vi' storyline post-boot-- therefore I will let it be the deciding factor. I would retcon out Violet.

Difficult to choose between the two although I think both are expendable (sorry Arachne!) Of the two I would probably keep Vi. She is more integral to some major storylines. She's the tie to the Heroes of Lallor; she provided the form that Gim fell for, leading to the first interspecies marriage; tie in for the Imsk/Braal wars which effected so much of Legion history.

Shady was little more than Mon's girlfriend in the preboot, and really not much more of interest in the postboot (IMHO). Not sure that her role needs to be filled but, if so, we have her cousin waiting in the wings.

I'd ditch Violet for the same reasons that Fat Cramer stated so eloquently.

I like both characters so much that I can't see eliminating either.

I do want to point out that Shady was the original shameless hussy. In her first story, she has the hots for Brainiac 5. Then when she realizes he doesn't return her affections, she goes after Mon-el. I believe Duo Damsel or Superboy has a thought balloon about this when the four of them travel back to Smallville to escape Mordru. Also in this Story, you see that Duo Damsel has a crush on Superboy, but she later settles for Chuck. Fickle, fickle girl Legionnaires

I'm not sure I buy the argument that Tasmia's character is more developed, and not just because Shady is one of my least favorite characters.

Sure, she may have more of a backstory preboot, but what exactly did she do? Arm candy for Mon. Postboot, she has a more distinct personality, if bitchy distinguishes one's personality. We haven't really seen that much backstory on her. Her only real distinction postboot is that she was one of the Lost.

But Vi, think of all the changes her personality went through preboot (and not just because a new writer was aboard)--from wallflower (pun intended) to cranky survivor to Imskian conscientious objector (I know, a little late, but...) to Ayla's lovah to wounded war vet. By Zero Hour, she was one of the most developed characters in the Legion as well as one of the longest serving. All without wearing a black bikini OR thong.

You make an excellent case for pre-boot Violet, Arms.

I'll have to pick Vi over Shady as well. Not just for what armsfalloffboy said, but because she seems more central to the team. Shady preboot was mostly just Mon-el's "lover" and postboot mostly hung on the outskirts being grumpy.

Preboot if there was no Vi, there'd be no Yera (or she would have had to replace someone else which means she might've ended up with someone else) and Ayla would miss a huge part of her characterization. And who knows how Venado Bay might've ended if she weren't there to save Rokk's life. Postboot, there'd have to be a new explanation for the team being thrown into the 20th century, which not only lead to Ferro on the team, but Computo and Robotica.

What tipped the scale in Vi's favor?

Vi...Venado...Vee...very simple choice, when you look at it this way!

latecomers, feel free to comment on the previous rounds, but here's a new one.

This time, I'm using 2 post-boot ONLY characters. And one shall surely be retconned... but which one is more expendable in your eyes and why?...


SHIKARI

or

KID QUANTUM (Jazmin Cullen)

Even worse, Lash! You make me think too early in the morning...

I'd retcon out Kid Q. Trying to remember if she played a critical role in defeating some villain and I don't know that she did.... She seems to be important to Legion history because she's around a lot as leader, but I don't know that her presence really changed anything. Of course, next week she'll probably save the entire universe and I'll eat my words.

Shikari was crucial to getting the Lost team back, without which we'd have half a Legion. Without her and the other Kwai, would we have had threshold technology? Much as I dislike it for the way it's used for sudden end-of-story rescues, it may be a big development in the 31st century stories - depends what future writers do with it.

Gotta agree with FC. Shikari is by far the more important character. Kid Q really adds nothing to the story that couldn't be provided by one of the others. In a sense she's the Chemical King of the postboot. The writers can't seem to figure out what her powers do. In Condo's case they killed him off, in her case, they seem to do whatever the writer needs done in that particular story.

I'd have to say Shikari should go. She's an updated Dawnstar and not well done in my opinion. Her whole race can do what she does . I've not seen her developed as much as she could've been.

Jazmin's got a lot more potential here. But I too would like to see a more defined set of powers. She's shown determination, loyal, strength of character and managed to do a decent job as Leader despite not being a Legionnaire for long.

But this too is a tough choice. Both have a lot of potential.