Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business The Last Sun Boy Story

Thanks! I was interested in portraying him 'true' to at least some of the characterization that's been hinted at in the books (his party boy reputation), without sugar-coating or white-washing anything, but also without any sort of judgement or 'slut-shaming' involved in the lifestyle he lives. Just sort of show it for what it is, and let the reader make any judgement they feel necessary.



That part I gave to Shady because she comes from a culture where it would seem likely that a certain amount of posturing and not backing down and 'showing strength' would be a part of local diplomacy, and, unlike the majority of other Talokkians in leadership roles, she's spent enough time off planet and interacting with a large group of people who use very different styles of diplomacy and leadership, that she would be the perfect 'go-between' when dealing with a 'show of strength' and 'save face' culture and diplomatic sorts like Tinya or Imra, who would be more likely to accommodate or moderate or find consensus (which, to a 'show of strength' culture would be seen as weak or even deceptive).

Had the other solar aliens been sane enough for interactions, one of them would have operated on a wavelength high enough into the ultraviolet that it would have been invisible, and, hearing how Dirk 'nicknamed' the others goldenamberrose and burningwhiteiron, it would have nicknamed itself colorinvisibletomeat.



Thanks again!

My choice to show Dirk the way I did was an attempt to humanize him without putting him on any sort of pedestal. It's easy to take a beloved character, such as any of our favorite Legionnaires, and puff them up just a little too much.

That's actually something I liked about the bit in your fic where Tenzil figures out what the Lallorian ambassador is up to because his twin bodyguards gave it away. Tenzil is a huge 'fan-favorite,' and it would be easy to make him 'cool, just because he's cool,' which, IMO, some professional Legion writers have fallen into, instead of making Tenzil even more impressive by having him actually *earn* some of that cool, as you did by not just handing him a free 'cool moment' for no other reason than he's Tenzil. I like Tenzil better in that scene for having earned that little moment of cool, than just being like Morrison's BatGod, who just wins automatically by being BatGod.

colorinvisibletomeat! Ha, that would have been a hoot.

You succeeded in humanizing Dirk and the reactions from the other Legionnaires to his lifestyle - Brek's adoration to Rokk and Tinya's comments - were well played. Also good to see just how competent he can be - taking care of his father, figuring out he needed Regulus' armour, asking Drake to get the fight away from the built up area (ok, Drake figured that out himself but..) to facing the Solarians himself. You showed him to be a very multifaceted character.

Thanks again for sharing.

Great story! I don't tend to read many stories on LW (attention problems) but of course I had to check this one out.

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

The recent death of Sun Boy, and the realization that he was one of those Legionnaires who seems to get killed off or written out in multiple continuities, as writers don't seem to know what to do with him, made me want to get one more story out of him, even if I had to write it myself.

Taking it all the way back to his origin story (and wrapping up his rivalry with Zaxton Regulus once and for all) just seemed like a nice way to do that, by adding hitherto unknown complications without actually refuting or negating anything that had come before.

Good spotlight on Sun Boy, I like when writers can take the Sun Boy/Johnny Storm type characters and show what it is that makes them heroes without sacrificing their personality to do it.

Also liked the snippets of characterisation from the others....Tinya and Shady had my favourite bits, but was also good to see Polar Boy's uncertainty and the hyper-competence from Mon-El and Imra.

...and I really liked how you alluded to the history between Earth and the Solarians without having to beat us over the head with a detailed explanation of it too!

Thanks! Your initial feedback inspired me to cut back on my tendency to over-explain stuff (like past Earth / Solarion interactions, or recounting Dirk's origin story, or even explicitly discuss Dirk's background with the three villainesses) and just let background be background.

That was masterful, Set. I love how you captured each Legionnaire's personalities so well. Great way to highlight the personalities and skills of all the Legionnaires. Even womanizing Dirk read like a true hero, caring greatly for the rehabilitation of the Solarians and even being willing to have his father punished for his crimes.

And each Legionnaire you wrote into the story, and even the three super-villainesses, shone. Two thumbs up!

Thanks!

I didn't recall much about the personality of Beauty Blaze or Flare, but, just based off of her poised look, I wanted Blaze to be elegant and refined and cultured, while I decided to make Flare a bit more direct-speaking, pragmatic and mercenary of the three, and, to further differentiate them, gave Inferno a bit of a chip on her shoulder, making her the 'know it all' teenager, who acts more jaded than she is.

Beauty Blaze is the Bond villain of the three. She'll sit you down to a nice meal and some expensive wine, while she explains how she's going to frame you for murder, ruin your life and steal your company away from you, and it's only business darling, there's no reason to get all worked up about it...

Inferno, prone to visibly shrugging stuff off and making light of other people's concerns as a defense mechanism, is probably the most like Dirk, who I tried to portray as having a more thoughtful inner life than anything his spoken words revealed to his friends.

I agree with your idea to base Beauty Blaze's personality off her name. It all comes together nicely.

And from what I remembered about Flare, you were able to write her as Levitz had way way back in v3.

I also think you got Inferno down pat, that's how she's been written in the Postboot era.

Cool to hear!

I'd seen the original appearance by Flare, in which she didn't really get a whole lot of development, but the other two, I was mostly basing their characterization off of their visuals. (Inferno's outfit and stance, for instance, often made her look kind of impatient and teenager-y in temperament, while Beauty Blaze came off as more classical and elegant.)

It's kind of amazing how much a good artist can portray about a character without any words at all, just based on a characters personal style, stance, etc. (One reason I'm often put off of teams that wear a common uniform, as it can take away from the individuality of the characters, IMO. When you've got X number of panels and no room for a bunch of thought balloons or text boxes, every scrap of information you can convey through the art is vital!)

I wonder if that was a reason why some fans disliked the more "uniform-y" costumes (called uniforms!) of the Legionnaires in the Postboot. (IIRC they even used "uniform" in-story, although personally I think that's a wrong use of the term as there are still major differences. The unifying design for most is the central stripe).

In crowd scenes, my attention would always be drawn towards Legionnaires with more unique costumes - Kinetix (of course! the skirt alone...), Umbra and Apparition with their capes, M'Onel with the cape and the giant stylized M, Invisible Kid with the all-black look and the white I, Karate Kid, Thunder, Shikari and Wildfire.