Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes The Substitutes (Feb. 17) ... SPOILERS

Clips from this episode are now available.

You know he's got to be showing up sometime, though. There are just too many things that can be done with a shape-shifter to avoid it forever.

It occurred to me that maybe the creators who work on this series wanted to pay tribute to Dave Cockrum, so they used his most famous Legion Rejects, Infectious Lass and Porcupine Pete, for this story, instead of the classic Polar Boy and Night Girl.

That's quite an undertaking! It is a little addictive, too.

"TENZIL was AMAZING! He ate that bomb. He ate the ALIEN! That's not normal, but the "tastes like chicken" line was funny."

That line was also said by Bubbles of the Powerpuff Girls in that episode where she impersonated Boomer of the Rowdyruff Boys and had to eat a cockroach.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode, especially for its sheer geekiness, but I don't think it lived up to Bouncing Boy's promise -- that it was about how you used your powers that made you a hero, even if they were lame.

In the end, it wasn't creative use of their powers that saved the day. It was a coincidence. And even if Stone Boy calculated trajectories and all that (never mind the questions of how an inanimate block of stone can change its trajectory or the fact that he would have killed Starfinger falling from that height) and allowed Starfinger's capture, it was still the coincidence of him being carried away to discover the fuzzies turned into nasties that made the difference. In the original Sub story, they truly saved the world.

While I missed them immensely, I think Fire Lad and Polar Boy not being in the Subs was also a matter of them not fitting the theme of "lame" powers being good. They were originally rejected because they couldn't control their powers, not because they were lame. And while Night Girl's power fits the bill, it didn't have the visual or sight-gag potential of Drura.

I certainly hope to see them again. My favorite Sub made it, and his "fabulous" portrayal is growing on me. Not so much the mincing Starfinger, but oh, well. Pete was fun as the leader, and I loved the running joke with his mom driving them.

I finally saw it!

Put me in the enjoyed it, but *slightly* disappointed category. I think my expectations were built up just a little too much. I loved the fact that it was a twist on the original Subs story, and Starfinger was actually pretty groovy. Pete was a bit jarring in the role he was in, and while I understand why they would've picked the membership they did (go for the "funnier" powers), it still feels a bit wrong to me. I also wish that they'd given all of the Subs something competent to do, so that they'd all contributed to the victory.

The most awesome part of the episode, however: Matter-Eater Lad. That was the best portrayal of him in decades! And, yeah... "Cool name", indeed!

He's always been one of my favorites too but really there's no problem there. Jo Nah was featured as one of the heroes of the "Champions" episode. I figure we'll see him again pretty soon.

Great episode! It's SO cool to see so many classic characters and situations being used and mixed together with new stuff.
The egomaniacal Starfinger had me laughing out loud. "Tastes like chicken" slayed me. Tyroc! Blok! Polar Boy and Fire Lad in the crowd! Kitson's Starboy design!

I have to watch it again and see how many easter eggs I missed.

I'm -still-

Sun Boy....Sun Boy....

That might be it. If so, then it was a nice tribute.

I finally watched it and I'm firmly in the *LOVED IT* camp!

I can't believe how far this show has come since it first started! I was ready to give up on it before the break but these last three episodes have been increasingly fantastic. I am SOOOoooo on board for the spin-off comic now too!

There were so many great touches about the episode and most of them have already been listed. I just wanted to address the Porcupine Pete and Infectious Lass for Polar Boy and Night Girl debate.

I think the writers totally made the right call by subbing in those two later members for the originals. As others have said, this group of Subs were all united by their desire to succeed despite their somewhat lame powers. Brek and Lydda (with their actually very formiddable powers) would never have fit in with this scenario and therefore a lot of the humour and 'meaning' of the episode would've been lost. At least they got cameos and I'm sure we'll see them again sometime.

Can't believe I missed Gim and Vi at the end! Have to go and re-watch it now then.

P.S. "Way to go Tyroc" indeed! Can't wait to see him again!

Just a thought but could all these cameos (Subs, Legionnaires, baddies, and supporting cast) be an attempt for the animation team to establish their character designs before the comic got to far into production?

What an awesome episode for a longtime fan of the Subs! While the switch of Drura, Ulu & Pete for Brek, Lydda & Staq in the original group of 5 Subs was jarring at first, it really worked. Petey did a great job "leading" the Subs and Drura was wonderful. Loved the twist of Stone Boy being so learned when he finally speaks and the teamwork by he and Color Kid in tripping up Starfinger was great.

Like others, I wish these Subs had really "solved" the case but all in all I loved the episode and I was cheering them on throughout the ride!

Anyone get a count of just how many of the applicants can be identiied? Seemed like there were quite a few that cameoed in the last two episodes.

ahhhh so its TIE-Rock not TEAR-rock.
Heh...I love colour Kid...Ive always figured him to be a bit "vroom vroom" *makes vacuum cleaner motions*.
I mean C'mon! the guy has a freaking rainbow on his shirt!

I think that Ayla could be Light Lass. Despite the fact that Starboy has total control over gravity.

When Starboy floated the object Garth said "Is that all he can do..." before he was interupted. To me he was going to finish the sentence by saying " my twin sister can do that already".

Also Dream Girl's portrait was seen in an earlier episode and because the series seems to draw a lot from the Adventure era.

"Who are you people? Seriously, do I owe you money or something?"

As cute as the Subs were, Starfinger stole the show, imo.

I was also delighted to see Element Lad (despite the ugly magenta costume), Sun Boy (with flame hair!), Tyroc (with pants!) and WaK Star Boy (will Barry get royalties?). Bouncing Boy's four auditions would make a nifty episode itself.

I hope Ayla has light manipulation powers like in "Superboy's Legion". Otherwise, she's sidelined with redundant abilities or something very bad is going to happen to her twin brother.

BEST EPISODE YET!!!!

Hey I'm always ripping on the small characters. I don't mind them as long as they are there to make fun of. Much the way Lightning Lad made fun of various characters the last two episodes.

This was the best episode yet by far. Loved the Subs! Starfinger was so freakin funny. The last two episodes do feel like Legion episodes. (LSV too cool...why do they make the cool guys bad guys? )

Sure I would have loved seeing Polar Boy and a few other subs. But these were great! Great episode! It feels like they picked up that Sub special from the 80's and drew heavily from it. Atleast art wise.

There's going to be a spin-off comic???? Any details anywhere?

I'll feel bad for Chlorophyll Kid. I'm the only one who mentioned him as being one of the characters that made the episode stand out. I thought he rocked. No pun intended Stone Boy who also rocked. Hope to see these guys again along with other characters like Colossal Boy in the future.

I just heard some good news and bad news. My favorite, Chameleon Boy, will appear (that's the good news), but we'll have to wait until the second season for him. (that's the bad news). But I guess overall it's good news, because it means that the show has definitely been picked up for a second season.

I know I'm late to this particular party, but I've been watching these with my 8- and 6-year-old. They (and I) loved this episode! The funniest thing about it was that after the ep was over I spent ten minutes talking about how the Subs went on to become the saviors of Earth--how they all got control of their powers, Night Girl, who everyone ended up dating--I keep waiting for them (especially the boy child, who I'm afraid is already a full on fanboy) to really show interest, and the cartoon just might do it.

This ep aired again this morning and it's just as much fun on second (or mutiple) viewings! I especially liked how Brainy's condescending "I'm smarter than you" attitude showed a lot more since he wasn't in "Superboy fanboy" mode.