Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board What LW means to me

Next month, it will be five years since I joined Legion World (although I didn't actually start posting until about 5 months later).

Since then, this place has gradually become an almost daily part of my life, and really something so valued to me that I would be hard pressed, at this point, to imagine the circumstances where it would no longer be so.

I know that everyone who comes here does so for different reasons, and with different regularity, but - at the end of the day - I know I can't be the only one who feels this way. What Nightcrawler has created here - and the community that has built up around it - is, in my opinion, nothing short of amazing. Thank you, as always, Gary, for this online home and all the hard work you put in to make it a reality.



In any case, I was thinking about this today, and decided I'd start a slightly more serious thread than usual by way of "testimonial," - to just sort of expound upon what Legion World means to me - with the hope that others might want to do the same.



When I think about this board, and the people on it, I always wonder what it is that makes this community work so well. To consider that such a large group of people cutting across almost every conceivable demographic - age, race, gender, sexuality, marital and parental status, political and religious leanings - should come together initially because of their interest in a specific comic book is a staggering idea to begin with. That they should then stay together (in some cases - my own included - long after they're even reading comic books) speaks to something a lot more significant, I think.

I've been a member of many social different groups in my life - sports teams, fraternal organizations, military and corporate structures - but I think the thing that separates this community from any other group experience I've had is - regardless of agreement necessarily about the ideas put forth - the almost ubiquitous air of respect and acceptance that people extend toward one another.

Perhaps it is a function of the commonality of the interest in the Legion - basically the fact that all of us, at some point, felt an affinity to the type of teamwork and brotherhood epitomized by that comic. But, going further, perhaps that affinity itself is a function of a certain personality type - that to have become a fan of the Legion implies that one is already predisposed to those concepts.

I don't know, that's just me speculating... but I do know that - five years ago - my own horizons were a lot more narrow than they are today, and a large portion of that growth I attribute to the relationships I've built here. My time here has certainly awoken me creatively - being surrounded by so many diversely talented people has definitely inspired me to express my own self through artistic outlets that I never would have tried before coming here.

But, far beyond that, Legion World has awoke me emotionally. Getting to know a group of people who so candidly open themselves - not only about their personal triumphs, but the personal trials they face, as well - has definitely created in me a far wider world-view than I had before my arrival here and, I think, a far greater degree of compassion toward others.

I know that's a lot credit to give to a message-board... but I really do feel it's true.



In any case, yes, I know I'm overly verbose, but I really mean the things I've just written and I felt the need to express it to all of you.

As I say, feel free to use this thread to expand upon your own feelings about the significance of this site to yourself or - alternately - to just mock me unmercifully.

Either way, I'll still love ya.

Thanks for posting this, Ex.

You've expressed a lot of my own thoughts.

I may have more to say on the subject, but, for now, I need to process what it all means . . .

You're not overly verbose. You're just perfect.

There are a lot of us who feel the same way about LW. The reverse is also true: the community gets continually enriched each time someone dives in and becomes a real integral part of it. That has definitely happened with you, Ex!

I can't imagine my life without Legion World and the LMB. On day I'll be more articulate but for now I'll only say you've summed it up perfectly.

It means getting to meet people I would not have. And it has been a social outlet for me.

Awesome thread, Ex!


For me, Legion World is my true "home" - I can be myself here in ways that I dare not here in "real life" (except to a very small handful of people). I know Blaze feels the same way, though his ass is not here as often as it should be.

It's just wonderful having some place where I can just relax.

To me.... this place is like Bloom County on crack and speed. And I love it. Good friends, good fun, good food, good flannel shirts....ummmm, what?

*and that right there is why. I can mean everything I say, and still have fun talking with people that get that the feeling is heartfelt, but expressed in such goofy ways and not get insulted by it, but rather appreciate that we all have our ways of expressing ourselves, and get the marrow out the bones. This is indeed a great place. And it has some really great people.

In our lives we're lucky I think to meet even a few people that actually create something that lives. Gary (and there were others) created a place on the internet like none I've seen. Many are places to give or exchange ideas but LW I've seen inspire others to create in a way I've not seen since my Engineering days. People really play off each other in nice ways.

There are many posters I no longer see here that I miss and new ones who are so interesting. Still wish that Cookie Monster hunter had stuck around.

I just like meeting people who don't think I'm immature for still liking comic books at 32. I felt... welcome here when I actually got over being so shy, and that makes me want to stick around. Though admittedly, I don't have a whole lot to share, but you guys don't seem to mind. Getting to know you all makes me feel less lonely sometimes, so I owe you one.

Legion World provides me with a place where I can hear what other readers are thinking about current Legion storylines...kind of like the old "Legion Outpost" letter column page of old. I miss those forums for readers to share their thoughts on how the stories are going. I especially miss the writer/editor responses. It really made you feel like the creators at DC cared about our opinions. Nowadays, there is no way to communicate with Levitz and no way to know if he hears us or even cares. Legion World helps fill that gap.

Besides, it's kind of cool to see that there are other readers from around the country who care for the Legion as much as I do.

This board, and more importantly the posters that are here, have become part of my family.

It's funny, I have known some of them (Lash, Paladin/Lardy, Cobie, Shady, etc.) for over ten years now, and others for a few months or years. You were all there when my daughter was born. When I lost jobs, and got new ones. You guys celebrated with me when my son was born. We have seen fellow members get married, have children (or at least their wives did), get divorced, getin accidents. We have also endured the deaths of good friends who passed far too soon.

The one thing through it all was that we were all here to share in every moment. And the even more amazing thing for a group of people from all over the globe is that we all come here to share those events from our lives. For me there is no hesitation to share the ups and downs of my life with all of you.

There is also the fact that in a few years, my daughter has said that she cannot wait until she can join in on the fun here. Think of it...a second generation of members. It makes me think that this thing may outlive all of us that were there at the beginning and those that have joined over the years. There are new members joining everyday, and I can see more second generation Legionnaires coming down the line.

LW means a lot to me, too, but I'm not gonna sit here and emote over it like some big GIRL in front of all you people. YEESH!

^ Just kidding, guys.

Thnaks for clearing that up...for about 1/10000000000000000000000000000000000 of a second I thought you might have possibly been serious...:P

This is kinda more about the LMB, but I'm pretty proud of it as one of my better posts on LW. Kinda sums up how I feel without having to restate it.

(Link goes to the old board. Couldn't find it under the new board's "search" function.)

EDIT: Fixed link to this board.

To me, this board comes as close as real life possibly can to fulfilling the promise the Legion always represented to me: the optimistic future, the sense of community, the appreciation for the unique gifts each of us brings . . .

If the Legion really existed on our earth, it would look much like Legion World.

Thanks for your awesome start to this thread, Ex.

Now that Gary has opened the post count log I see that I'm just about to mark a major milestone. The significance of that to me is not in what I've posted in Legion World, but the fact that I've kept coming back here almost daily to be with all y'all. (That's Southern for "everybody".)

I've loved everything that's been written in this thread. When HWW said, "If the Legion really existed on our earth, it would look much like Legion World," it occurred to me that maybe we are like a super-team -- heroes to one another.

There is such a great variety of ways to play with each other here, as well as to knock each other around in debate. I've never met a single one of you in person, but there have been many times I've wanted to come through the screen and fight your real-life villains with you.

It's good to sit here at the Mission Monitor Board and visit with my team. I hope we all keep hanging around for a long time.

Though I often wander away and explore the vast reaches of this online realm, and sometimes find temporary abodes (which I guess is fitting with my new id as a Lovecraftian horror) and occasionally I'll even disconnect completely, this is my online home.

Some people here I've known online for 12 or 13 years. Others a much shorter amount of time. But I am honoured to call you friends, many of you have helped me through some very bad times and celebrated with me during the good ones.
Those of you who have been around long enough have seen me live as the lowest of the low and rise up to heights that honestly baffle me to this day but I think I managed that rise in part due to the support I received from you all.

So I guess for me Legionworld means REAL friends, and due to my quirks, oddities and general weirdness I don't have many of those in real life.

Damnit Ex, once again my guise has been broken, all my posts are supposed to be inane

I never would've learned as much about the Legion as I did on here.

You guys gave me an outlet when my parents split and things became unbearable. And you were willing to set me straight when I would step over the line and make thoughtless comments.

I've met some truly wonderful people on here, and I'm sorry I'm not on here as much as I used to be.

Lardys linked post says it well.

SWEET ASS SWEET!

LW !!!