I am curious as to the meanings of various Legion World member's user names. I mean, the reasons for many I can figure out: a favorite character or story. I mean, who among us does not practically piddle themselves in anticipation of the latest issue of Giant Robot Lesbian Comics & Stories?
But even if they user name is merely taken from a favorite character, then why does that particular character so resonate with you that chose them as the front for you online identity?
In other cases, what's the story behind the name?
I'll go first.
Shortly after first going online in 1995, I discovered the old lsh-l on mlists mailing group. Around that time, some fans were organinzing a get-together in NYC. It was anticpated that several then Legion creators would be in attendance. In point of fact, I later learned that Paul Levitz himself was there, and not only that, I understand he picked up the check.
Anyway, I was seriously contemplating making the 10 hour drive out of the woods to attend. Somewhat innocuously, I thought, I inquired whether in would be considered bad form to bring along my portfolio. I had never (and have not yet) met a real live honest-to-goodness comics professional and thought this luncheon might provide a prime opportunity to get some feedback on my efforts.
Anyway, the resultant all-out thermonuclear flame-war that erupted led me to believe that, not only would it have been poor form to present my portfolio, I had not performed an act of particularly good form in merely being born.
Dudes! This was my first flame war. I had NO idea. Honestly, I was tear deep into this thing well after the point at which I have since learned to bail. "You're Hitler!" "No, YOU'RE Hitler" "Well, You're Hitler-Infinity"
sheesh
It was at somepoint that someone, I forget who (in fact, I can't even quite remember if they were defending me or attacking me)referred to me in the third person (at that typical point in a flame-war where people start playing U.N. translator and interpret to each other what others said and what they meant) rather cheekily as Portfolio Boy.
After I got over the hurt of the whole thing, I mean this was all new to me and serious business back then, I adopted this acidic epithet as my e-eponym.
The name has become a source of pride for me, signiying my trial-by-flame with online fandom, athough, sad to say, I have hardly drawn a line since.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Posted by Poverty Lad on :
When I signed on to the old DCMB's in the fall of 2001, I decided I wanted a user name in the vein of the old Legionnaire Boy/Lad/Kid vein. Over the course of the preceding 12 months, I'd squandered a significant portion of my savings buying Legion comics and Marvin the Martian memorabilia on eBay. I took the nom de poste "Poverty Lad" as a tongue-in-cheek, personal "D'OH!" to get me back on track.
Side note: It's funny how our names take on lives of their own...
Posted by Super Lad Kid on :
Hey, Portfolio Boy, did you ever participate on the old rec.arts. newsgroup? Those guys could be serious snobs and elitists.
Anyway, my name doesn't have much of an origin story. I accidently found the Legion on the DC Message Board. I saw a poll and just had o participate. I couldn't think of anything right away so I just made up something that sounded Legionish. And Super Lad Kid was born. That's it. No more.
Posted by Semi Transparent Fellow on :
quote:Originally posted by Super Lad Kid: Hey, Portfolio Boy, did you ever participate on the old rec.arts. newsgroup? Those guys could be serious snobs and elitists.
That's exactly why I was so afraid to de-lurk. Even though I'd read every LSH ever, I never felt I could contribute. I felt guilty for just enjoying the stories and not dissecting them. I'll never be good at the trivia aspect, but my heart is there.
Posted by Stu on :
quote:Originally posted by Portfolio Boy: I mean, who among us does not practically piddle themselves in anticipation of the latest issue of Giant Robot Lesbian Comics & Stories?
"Walt Disney's Giant Robot Lesbian Comics & Stories -- First Gemstone Issue!"
Posted by Super Lad Kid on :
quote:Originally posted by Semi Transparent Fellow:
quote:Originally posted by Super Lad Kid: Hey, Portfolio Boy, did you ever participate on the old rec.arts. newsgroup? Those guys could be serious snobs and elitists.
That's exactly why I was so afraid to de-lurk. Even though I'd read every LSH ever, I never felt I could contribute. I felt guilty for just enjoying the stories and not dissecting them. I'll never be good at the trivia aspect, but my heart is there.
Unfortunately, that was my first exposure to Legion fandom. I, too enjoyed the reboot's early days. But if anyone said that they did on that newsgroup, they were pretty much trashed by the longtime fans who knew better. Now that I think about it, that might have scared me off from posting for awhile.
I checked it out a couple of months ago. Hardly anyone posts there anymore, and there was more discussion about a stapling error in the latest archives then there was about the latest issue.
Posted by DrakeB3003 on :
The name should be obvious. As to why I chose it? It's Legion related (I had another name for the DC Boards). Wildfire is my fav because his angst reached my teenage psyche -- being trapped in a strange new body, feeling alienated and somehow "inhuman" and not being able to get the girl. He was also one of the big-guns without being a boyscout and was fiercely loyal to the team when push came to shove -- he always threw himself in danger and (literally) gave his all in battle (when he blasts himself out of his suit).
Posted by Arachne on :
Because I'm too damn proud for my own good.
Well, partly. I mainly chose it because I was doing a lot of tatting at the time. (Tatting is a kind of lace that's usually worked in rounds. It looks kind of like a spider web.)
Good thread idea, Portfolio Boy.
Posted by deanlegion on :
My name's Dean Lee, and I'm a big Legion fan, so deanlegion just works.
Posted by Varalent on :
I gave a more expansive answer on the avatar thread but Varalent was the name I gave to a super hero I invented when I was a kid. He could vary the size of anything so I combined "vary" with "valiant" and somehow ended up with Varalent.
Posted by Fat Cramer on :
That's a great story, Portfolio - I hope you find it funny now that it's in the past! Must have stung some at the time, of course.
I answered this also in the avatar thread. FC was a real life cat. Of course, she deserved her own comic, but I can't draw or write, so she'll have to be immortalized as an MB poster. And where better than here?
It's interesting that a few of you mentioned fear of flaming as a reason for not participating. Dogmatic criticism and flaming make me terribly angry and frightfully sad, I hope we never put up with any of that here. It doesn't get you anywhere and it's really hurtful for most people. And, as has been pointed out, it kills groups.
Posted by Jinx on :
quote:Originally posted by Varalent: Varalent.
*puuuurrrrrrrr*! Posted by Varalent on :
Hi Jinx!
*scratch* *scratch*
Posted by Future on :
I just found this thread, and thinks it deserves a healthy BUMP to any new posters who haven't seen it yet!
I'll add my story about my LW 'handle', it's probably not what one would expect. About four or five years ago, I came upon a startling realization while I was reading through my 80s New Mutants run: they never had a brown-haired member of the team (at least during Claremont's reign). There were about four blondes, even a red-head, but no brown-haired person like myself! So what does a young buck do when he finds such a fault? Why, he makes his own character that's dangerously close to a self-insertion. So I actually started a fan-fic, getting about five-hundred pages into it actually, about a boy with precognition powers (which would eventually expand into casting time fields that could slow people down to being frozen in stasis, or speed up the area around someone to grant super-speed qualities) who found his way into the New Mutants circa NM #45. His code name, aptly enough for his precognition, was Future. My story was basically about his acceptance, and my plans were to rewrite all of the New Mutant/X-Force/X-Men stories from his perspective to add some new insight, as he eventually went on to join the X-Men (at the same time Cannonball did) due to his tenure and expanding time powers. Obviously, it was a large task and I never got very far after I did a little growing up and realized copyrights would never let me actually publish this (and money is about the only incentive to finish such a chore). I'm still fond of the character and daydream of 'what-ifs' if he actually existed in the canon all the time.
Anyway, I was lurking on the old X-Fan message boards and decided to register. I used, aptly enough, the name Future. I continued to lurk and still to this day have never posted. Sure enough, the next time I came across a comic-related message board, I decided to revive the username Future. Mostly as a nod to myself and to continue my ever mental play of being the character, thrilling to the adventures and growing up alongside some of my favorite teens (outside the Legion)!
As Pov said above, names certainly do take a life of their own. I can't read the word 'future' in a book or hear it without just thinking back to here on Legion World.
Alright, who's next?
Posted by Greybird on :
I read the "Who's Who in the LSH" series from 1988, a decade after it came out, and found that its first issue described Dawnstar's two younger brothers, Greybird and Greatfire.
Only two paragraphs about them, but the names struck me as being quite kewl, and they related to my favorite Legion character. I remembered them when I signed up for or used several comics message venues that year -- including the DCMBs and rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh.
Others had wanted to elaborate on Dawnstar's family in fan fiction and art, then and later, and my being around spurred several talented people to be so kind as to depict "me" and "my brother."
Posted by Outdoor Miner on :
"Outdoor Miner" is a song I like by a band called Wire, an important and influential post-punk outfit of the late '70s still active today.
That said, I only went with it because I was fairly certain no one else would have a name like it.
Posted by Outdoor Miner on :
quote:Originally posted by Super Lad Kid: Hey, Portfolio Boy, did you ever participate on the old rec.arts. newsgroup? Those guys could be serious snobs and elitists.
And, a year after this was posted, not much has changed there.
There are a lot of very intelligent people who post on the rec.arts ngs. But many of them spend so much time nitpicking books to death and dismissing storylines that haven't even resolved on vague philosophical grounds that it just stopped being fun to post there.
Posted by He Who Wanders on :
"He Who Wanders" is what the name M'Onel means in the reboot.
Why M'Onel? He's always been one of the four characters I've connected with most in the Legion (the others being Lightning Lad, Sun Boy and Invisible Kid). I liked the idea of Mon being Superboy's big brother -- someone even the Boy of Steel looked up to. Mon also used to put me in the mind of someone who was sort of my unofficial big brother while I was growing up.
I discovered the rec.arts group six months or so before I found my way to the DC Legion board. I remember getting into a spirited conversation with someone over the merits of LEGION LOST, which she saw as a travesty, and I saw (and still see) as a minor masterpiece. I don't mind a good debate now and then, but the reason I left that group was boredom. There just weren't many interesting conversations or posters who were receptive to ideas that differed from their own.
Posted by Lightning Lad on :
quote:Originally posted by Outdoor Miner: "Outdoor Miner" is a song I like by a band called Wire, an important and influential post-punk outfit of the late '70s still active today.
That said, I only went with it because I was fairly certain no one else would have a name like it.
No blind spots in the leopard's eyes Could ever hope to jeopardize The lives of lambs The shepherd cries
An afterlife for a silverfish Eternal dust, less ticklish Than a clean room A houseguest's wish
(chorus) He lies on his side Is he trying to hide In fact it's the earth Which he's known since birth
Face worker, a serpentine miner A roof falls, an underliner Of leaf structure The egg timer
Posted by ActorLad on :
Mine's pretty ordinary, I'm an aspiring actor. Put that together with a like of the Legion & you get ActorLad.
Posted by CJ Taylor on :
There can't be much surprise to my name, it's been with me since before Al Gore invented the internet or message boards. When I first got online, I used the name Scout (that seemed to be my role in any circle of friends I belonged to.)
Over on the DC boards, back when Devin Grayson was writing TITANS, there was some serious flaming and name-calling. I got into a number of "fights" with posters that would be downright rude and insulting to Ms. Grayson, because they didn't like her work. I don't care for that kind of abuse to anyone that puts themselves out there like the creators do. I called one poster spineless a few times for hiding behind a screen name. He pointed out my hypocrisy, and that didn't sit well with me.
I stand behind my words, even the goofy ones. 'Sides, CJ has provided me years of amusement as folks try guess for what it stands.
Posted by Faraway Lad on :
I musta missed this thread first time around.
I'm British, so American Comics are somewhat of a minority interest over here. Serious British collectors tending to gravitate towards the British comics of their youth, like Dandy, Beano, Valiant, Hotspur, Tv21 etc.
When I was rediscovering the legion it felt like I was the only one interested in this obscure branch of DC comics, everyone else wanted Bats and Superman or marvel stuff.
Of course one day I stumbled across the LMBP over on the defunct DC Legionnaires message board. I lurked for a while and listened to all those posters from exotic and faraway places like Buffalo or Texas or Seattle or Tennessee, or, well you get the picture.
when I decided to de lurk the name Faraway lad just seemed to describe how i felt.
Of course now I don't feel so isolated and faraway. Especially as i have made contact with so many British posters, and have visited some of you across the water.
Posted by Nekogami on :
'Nekogami' is Catgod in mediocre Japanese. I'm not Japanese, but I AM a cat. (Well, ok, not really, but I generally maintain a feline persona online.)
I am a furry, with a cat persona (actually, several, but only one is 'me'), and a fan of anime, manga, crpgs, J-Pop, and other Japanese pop-culture products. Plus I'm a god, so it all fit together. ^__~
I considered taking a Legion-esque Boy/Lad name, but thought it better to use the nick I use elsewhere. When I can't get Nekogami, I use Kamino Neko (Cat of God).
Posted by Cobalt in EDE's body on :
I came up with my monikor during my freshman year of college (back before almost all of you were on message boards, as I so like to point out !) Like others, I wanted a 'boy', 'lad' or 'kid' in my name in the vein of the adventure era.
I decided on "Cobalt", since I had learned that day in Chemistry class that cobalt is the chemical used to kill cancer cells for a lot of different cancers. In an indirect way, cobalt acts heroically in keeping people alive, so I thought the name "Cobalt Kid" would seem heroic through that relation. And the 'ka' sound of both just rolled nicely off my tongue (and I didn't want to think too hard about it ).
Five years later, this monikor has become so legendary and famous, that I would never think of changing it!
Posted by Omni Craig on :
My name is Craig and I have a big ego. "The All-Craig" sounded too arrogant...
Actually, I started out on the DC boards as "Omni Commentator", since I was credited with naming the Legionnaires lettercolumn "OmniComments". After a while, I changed to Omni Craig, so people would know my first name.
Posted by OM in Liza Minnelli's Body on :
quote:Originally posted by Lightning Lad: (chorus) He lies on his side Is he trying to hide In fact it's the earth Which he's known since birth
Face worker, a serpentine miner A roof falls, an underliner Of leaf structure The egg timer
It's even vaguely - and I do mean vaguely - about a bug, so the avatar choice just worked beautifully.
Posted by Kid Prime, esq. on :
Well, I like the Transformers.
No, really. I do.
Just ask around.
In all seriousness, I had just moved to an incredibly small town named Fouke, Arkansas to start the 6'th grade (it's one of those places where there are more cows and chickens than people) and, being completely out of place in that environment, and a huge introvert to boot, well, I didn't really start making friends for a very long time.
But that fall, I remember walking home from school (it was Wednesday, so we got out early so folks could go hunting or some nonsense... seriously, y'all) and I was surprised to find a new cartoon when I flicked on the TV after school. I started it about 30 secs too late, but what I saw was thrilling: Bumblebee and Wheeljack's easy banter as they drove their energy rods through a Decepticon patrol to the Autobot base on Cybertron. I thrilled to the decency and nobility of the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, and the cool strength and evil of Megatron. I totally dug on Soundwave and his cassettes, the inept prissiness of Starscream, Jazz's coolness, Mirage's gentleness, Bumblebee's verve... anyway, it was the first part of the first 3-part miniseries, and I don't have to tell you, the next two days, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and ran home as fast as my 11-year-old legs could carry me. Needless to say, I was hooked.
Looking back, I can see now that the production values on that first season were superior to any other cartoon being produced in 1984, and in particular, the voice work was just superb. But all I knew at that time was I wanted there to be a world where beings like Optimus Prime lived. Prime soon replaced Luke Skywalker in my little mind as the epitome of heroism. Part of Prime's greatness was that his nemesis, Megatron, was every bit as awesome. In that first year in Fouke, Arkansas, those Autobots and Decepticons gave me friends when I didn't have too many others around. I used to stay up till all hours of the night playing with my figures... I remember when I was ready to trade one of my figures away, I would come up with a huge epic storyline to write him off the continuing Transformers saga in my bedroom.
And then, in the next year, as the craze hit and every kid and preteen in school was walking around with Bumblebee or Brawn in their pocket, the Transformers gave me something with which to relate to the other kids in my hopelessly rural environment, as we began to argue such important topics as whether Omega Supreme could beat Bruticus, or whether Starscream could beat Cyclonus, or...
From my age 11 to, er, 14 (okay, I was slow giving them up) the Transformers gave me something to hold onto and call my own when there wasn't much else going on in my life. Being a preacher's kid, I had become used to moving every other year, and I was conditioned to be a loner. The Transformers helped me while I was in that state, and ultimately, they helped me to break out of it as a preteen. I still think Optimus Prime is the greatest, most capable hero ever. And that is why I love the Transformers so much.
(And the "Kid" part of "Kid Prime" is my nod to the Legion, of course!)
[ July 15, 2004, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Kid Prime, esq. ]
Posted by The LMBP Spectre on :
After lurking here for two months, I decided to finally jump in. The only thing was, I couldn't come up with a name!
So I picked an existing LMBP character that had no one posting with the moniker and became the LMBP Spectre. And payed for it by having to understand the crazy continuity of the LMBP Spectre .
Posted by Kent Shakespeare on :
When I stumbled across the DC boards, all the good Legion names seemed taken. I was briefly "soulofantares" for a week or so...
Having just gotten back into LSH after a 14-year absense, I was (and still am) rebuilding my collection, recollecting issues sold off and pixking up stuff I missed along the way. So, picking up the TMK era, I liked Kent, and no one was using the name.
Since adopting the name, I've grown to like my namesake even more, and was glad to see him rreintrodiced, albeit briefly, in Foundations.
I now use this handle on DC boards and ebay, and a few other places, too.
Posted by Flannel Lass on :
Well, it all started with The Tick.
When I was in grade 7, a boy in my class who drew many zany adventures for many zany characters decided that it was unfair that in The Tick, the character Chameleon could blend into anything except plaid. Apparently plaid was too complicated. So, he created Plaid Man!! The man who can blend into any plaid pattern like a very specialised chameleon.
My best friend and I, looking over his shoulder, and listening to the exploits of Plaid Man, Barry the Overly Happy Door, and others, and being tremendous comic book fans ourselves (though I didn't "find" Legion until years later) -- we decided Plaid Man needed help. Sidekicks. And so, we created Flannel Lass and Kilt Girl. (Why not Kilt Lass? Because we both have Scots heritage and we were spreading out the ethnicness. Or something.)
Yes, Flannel Lass! With her shirt of plaid flannel! Kilt Girl! With her kilt of plaid wool! They kept themselves on hand in case there was no plaid on hand, unrolling swathes of it over buildings, occasionally letting Plaid Man hide on them. In a strictly platonic way.
I was Flannel Lass because I wore a lot of flannel plaid shirts (I like to think I inherited this trait from my Great-grandfather, who was a lumberjack). My friend had longer legs, so she got the Kilt Girl moniker.
When I resubbed to this board, I needed a new name since I couldn't manage to sign in to my old account. I still like flannel, it reminded me of the one time I got along with that guy, and it fit the Legion pattern. Hence....
*booming voice* I AM FLANNEL LASS!!! FEAR MY WARM FUZZIES!! *poses dramatically on a cliff, wind blowing hair and flannel shirt*
Posted by Fat Cramer on :
You could be the Christo of Legion World, Flannel Lass - wrap our buildings in flannel.
Posted by Hrun the Barbarian on :
Hrun comes in and steals all the names, I now hold all to ransom, Those who wish to have a name must bring me much booty, slaves and Mead
Posted by CJ Taylor on :
I can do the booty, and the slaves. You know how hard it is to find Mead in Minnesota? Lutefisk we have in barrels (go figure!) but Mead...
Posted by He Who Wanders on :
quote:Originally posted by Flannel Lass: When I resubbed to this board, I needed a new name since I couldn't manage to sign in to my old account.
Who were you before, Flannel Lass?
EDIT: Never mind. I just saw your "the return of snowsparkle" thread. Welcome back!
[ July 27, 2004, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: He Who Wanders ]
Posted by Mystery Lad on :
Need I say it? My choice for an alias is ... a ... ready for it? ... ?MYSTERY?!
Todd
Posted by STU on :
What's a Caunotaucarius? A meat-eating dinosaur?
Posted by Abin Quank on :
Mine is just a series of adaptations that occurred after I started posting here.
I originally chose the moniker "New Kid" because this board was the first internet message board that was ever interesting enough for me to participate in. Then on a whim I changed my name for a few posts and discovered that I couldn't get the "New Kid" log-in back after the change, so I became "Almost But Not Quite New Kid" (Which Semi and Vee Immedately shortened to "ABNQNK") Then in one of the most hilarious posts ever added to the On-Going Story Thread, Numfie came up with the line "What the hell kind of name is Abinquank?" So in tribute to the three hours I spent ROTFLMAO at his post I changed my moniker to Abinquank? But then! Cobie added a post (again in the ingoing thread) giving Abinquank? a for real, honest to goodness, almost genuine Power Ring and Abin Quank the Legion World Green Lantern was born...
Simple...
For full details read the On-going Tag-Team Thread over in Bits... Posted by Harbinger on :
Harbinger came from an idea I had for a character I wanted to write about, Kord Das from the ongoing Legion 35C series.
Originally I had code names for all the main characters and I really enjoyed writing about Kord Das - he is the lynch pin to the whole organisation in the stories (even if he is an absolute *******), but I sort of dropped his code name and kept it for myself.
At the time I didn't know of the Crisis character so was taken aback when someone wrote about "Red skies" in my welcoming thread.
There have been quite a few variations - Harbi is quite often used, or Binger, and Haagendaazinger and Barwinger, though my favourite was Hardyharbinger.
Most people just call me B or Belinda these days.
Posted by matlock on :
My name is Matthew and back in the day there were shows like Matt Houston and Matlock floating around... so I'd get called those names all the time. The company I worked for back in the early-to-mid 90's had an intercompany forum that was just for BS'ing around on that you could post on with a nickname.
I no longer have any idea why it's lowercase though. It's not like I have a low sense of self-esteem; neither am I a big e.e. cummings fan. It's been that way all this time though, so I guess I won't be changing it.
Posted by Beagz on :
My original handle on the DC boards was "Beagle Boy" - and that was given to me by my neighbors.
Once my dog was old enough to walk, he and I would walk through the trailer park nearly every day. And since he was a beagle, people on their porch would just wave and call out, "Hey, Beagle Boy!!" (And believe me, it was quite embarrassing to be called "Beagle Boy" in the doctor's office. AND IN CHURCH!!!)
Anyway, one of the posters on the board, Sasha / Duct Tape Lad / Starman 872 / other stuff (and an all around great kid!!!) started callin' me "Beagz" for short, and it just kinda stuck.
Posted by Exnihil on :
Another great thread for resurrection!
I've always wondered what "Abin Quank" and "Outdoor Miner" were from.
Mine's straight forward, but dopey at the same time. When I first signed up over at the DCMB a couple of years ago, I had never posted to a message board before, so I was literally, "ex nihilo," or Latin for "out of nothing". Where's the "O," then? Well, there's the dopey part... I misspelled it.
Posted by Arm Fall Off Boy on :
I liked Arm Fall Off Boy for the sheer silliness of the name. I know, not very original. Oh, did I mention my own arms sometimes fall off?
Posted by dedman on :
Awesome thread to bring back....pretty cool seeing where you folks got your names.
As for mine...well it kinda comes in two parts. Way back in the day I would go jam with some musician friends of mine in university. Now I really couldn't play very well, but on the drums I could keep a beat, so occassionally i filled in when the regular drummer couldn't make it. These guys usually recorded thier jam sessions in case something that sounded good was played. During one seesion at a big finish to a song I pounded away at the drums, jumped up and threw a drumstick at a high hat. The stick bounced back and struck me in the head. I fell to the floor. THe lead guitarist ran over to me, stood over my body and screamed "Mark's DEAD!" and started playing a fast original metal riff. Words flooded into my mind and I jumped up and started to sing...in a wierd distorted voice. After it was all over the guitarist said something like "That was awesome, you sounded like a deadman" And so a band was born. The name stuck too, It was a small campus and very soon everyone was just calling me deadman.
But why spell it DED. Well I'm a gamer, and back in those classic arcade days, when you got a high score you could only input three letters. Everyone was calling me deadman, the closest I could input was DED, thus the spelling came about.
Posted by stephbarton on :
My is the screen name I use everywhere (otherwise I would forget my logins).
My first name is Stephanie (hence the steph) and I pulled the barton, well, it's one of those geeky things you are embarassed to admit.
Back in High School I was a fan of Gundam Wing and meet some other Gundam Wing fans who were also very crazy Otaku, I mean VERY crazy. In our group we each took a name of one of the pilots (and we were all girls, go figure, but the one girl who had a steady boyfriend could not convience him to take the girl's name).
Anyways, even though my absolute favorite character was Duo Maxwell (DUO!!!!) I was given the name Trowa, for Trowa Barton.
Well, when it came time to be on the internet I realized I did not want my real full name being blasted all over cyber space, so I figured I would go with stephbarton as a combinatin of my real first name and the "nickname" last name.
Go figure that in college I would meet a girl whose name was really Stephanie Barton.
Posted by cleome on :
I love to garden, and "cleome" is simply the scientific name for a plant called the Spider Lily. Actually, I meant to pick a very similar-sounding name for a very different plant;But I got confused. Them's the breaks. [shrug]
The lower case spelling was just an impulse thing. Most, but not all, of the silly names I've used online have been all lower case.
Posted by Doctor One on :
My real name is Juan, and initially I used that name to post here in the boards. A few years ago I defended my PhD, and when I posted about it, Cobie started calling me Doctor Juan. I decided that I needed a more 'superheroey' name than plain old Juan if I was going to belong :-), and so I changed the spelling of Doctor Juan to reflect the way most English-speakers pronounce my name.
Now I teach, and because my last name is very Spanish, very long and quite unpronounceable many of my students call me Doctor One in real life. And this amuses me greatly....
Juan
Posted by Quislet, Esq. on :
On the old DC boards I was Quislet. I always liked the little guy.
When I got here "Quislet" was taken. Seeing as I had just graduated from law school and could offically add Esquire to my name, I became Quislet, Esq.
Posted by Stealth on :
I love L.E.G.I.O.N., and at the time that I started posting on comic book message boards I was going through a phase of re-reading it and re-re-reading it. I was also getting into new comics for the first time in seven-and-a-half years (hence my lack of presence on any comics boards pre-2005), but there's nothing like the old favorites.
On the DC boards I was originally Lydea Mallor, then that identity got erased by the klutzes running those boards so I changed it to Ig'nea. Then a very kind poster referred me to Legion World, so I signed up with the name of yet another L.E.G.I.O.N. character.
Stealth is someone I wish I could be more like in real life: tough as nails, assertive, outspoken. In real life, I'm a lot more shy and soft-spoken than the way I come across on the internet.
Posted by LardLad on :
The first ever internet handle for message board posting I came up with was "DC Bullet", after the classic DC Comics logo. I can't remember what the board was called, but it was Superman-centric--Superman Club? Whatever it was called, that's how I got my feet wet in the nascient internet era as a newlywed. I posted there a few months before losing interest.
Flash-forward a few years, and I decide to venture back in when I see a reference to Wizard's site in their magazine. I sign up over there, and instead of recycling DC Bullet, I decide to make up something new and register as "LARDLAD" out of self-deprecating humor. There, I enjoyed posting with MLLASH particularly, and both of us coincedentally migrated over to the DC Boards. Over time, Lard Lad became a character and a persona for me that I've posted under ever since.
As I've noted before, I was not consciously remembering the Simpsons' Lard Lad when I created the handle for myself. I have no idea if he was working there in my subconscious somehow!
Posted by Quislet, Esq. on :
quote:Originally posted by Stealth: In real life, I'm a lot more shy and soft-spoken than the way I come across on the internet.
Aren't most of us?
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
Since I already posted the origin of 'Cobalt Kid', I'll give another tidbit:
When I began posting on the DCMBs in 1999, I mainly spent time on the Legion boards and "Other DCU" boards. I did find one other Board community that I became a part of, and that was the Batman Board, which was perhaps the most active board on the entire DCMB's besides the 'Other DCU' board. There was a ton going on there, lots of fun threads, and it was like how the LMB's Legionnaires Board was a few months prior. I lurked as Cobalt Kid and didn't really post there. When I finally 'delurked', I took the name 'Dark Conan'. This was because in a thread called 'Poster Versus Poster' or something, the posters were battling themselves and somehow this made-up general character made his way into several posts, so I adapted the name. Essentially, they had created him, and I took the name for myself. That only lasted a few weeks as not long after I came, the dreaded Robgoblin Moderator put the kibosh on the non-topic fun at the Batman board (and most of those posters I've never seen since).
When I was with the LMB, I decided to ressurect my 'second' name and made Dark Conan an LMB villain--mainly to create an 'in-story' purpose for why I was leaving for the summer (because I then had no computer at home, only my roomates at college). Thus, Dark Conan became an LMB nemesis, but his origins lie with Batman.
PS - he doesn't exist anymore because I killed him off Posted by Set on :
I have an inexplicable fascination with the Egyptian god Set, who was one of the first recorded beings to be extensively retconned, much in the style of Hal Jordan, from the god of war and fertility who sat at the prow of the solar barque, protecting the sun from the serpent Apep every single day, to becoming associated with that very serpent and said to be a god of darkness who wants to snuff out the sun (the same sun he used to protect from the same serpent that he's now identified with!).
The comic book geek in me loves the idea that retcons have been around for 5000 years, and the comic-book-guy in me likes to rant about how Set's re-interpretation by the Greek occupiers of Egypt was the worst. retcon. ever.
Set, like Quetzalcoatl, was a red-headed god, believed to be 'foreign' somehow (from a distant land, even considered a 'god of foreigners'), and if I really wanted to, I could go all Hot Rods of the Gods and say that he, and Quetzy, and Thor, and various other red-haired dieties associated with wind and storm, were all manifestations of the same individual...
Plus, it's an easy username to remember, being only three letters long and easily typed with minimal finger movement, since the keys are close together.
I'd say that I was 'efficient,' but lazy is more accurate and easier to type. Posted by dedman on :
Thats pretty awesome Set....I'm into Egyptology too, I always wondered if thats where your name came from.
Posted by cleome on :
quote:...The comic book geek in me loves the idea that retcons have been around for 5000 years, and the comic-book-guy in me likes to rant about how Set's re-interpretation by the Greek occupiers of Egypt was the worst. retcon. ever...
I feel that way about The New Testament.
Posted by Rockhopper Lad on :
I know I've posted this somewhere before, but I've collected penguins for many years and my favorite species is the rockhopper. I've used variations on "Rockhopper" as screen names (rockhopper, rhopper, rockhopper10r [my choir nerd name ]) for a long time. When I joined up here, I added "Lad" in homage to the Legion. Now I use "Rockhopper Lad" or variations thereon more often than not.
[ February 07, 2009, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Rockhopper Lad ]
Posted by SharkLad on :
In the summer of 1975 (when I was 3 years old!), my mother (foolishly) brought me to see the movie Jaws with my older brother and his friends ... I've been fascinated with sharks ever since (I also didn't learn to swim until I was 12) ... when I began posting on the old DC Legionnaires board, my original screen name was Cozmik Boy ... when the LMB started, I wanted more of a "character" screen name ... I used to post almost exclusively "in character" but there's only so many arses you can chomp ...
<splash>
Posted by DrakeB3004 on :
quote:Originally posted by stephbarton: Back in High School I was a fan of Gundam Wing ... my absolute favorite character was Duo Maxwell (DUO!!!!)
My absolute fav was Wufei! I have two Gundams on my bookshelf, the Shenlong Gundam being my first one
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!) Like others, I wanted a 'boy', 'lad' or 'kid' in my name in the vein of the adventure era.![[Optimus Prime]](graemlins/OptimusPrime.gif)
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