Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board What does your Significant Other know about Legion World?

Something else else I always find a bit interesting - given how involved I've been in the Legion World community over these past years - is just how little my wife actually knows about this whole crazy thing.

Obviously "Mrs. Nihil" knows how much I value LW (I mean... for Pete's sake... as long as I'm keeping the grass cut, she doesn't mind that I'm wandering the country on the weekends chasing you all down for drinks ) but - overall - she mostly just considers this place to be my hobby.

Over the years, though - through all the little projects she sees me doing and the stories of mine she's read - a few things have managed to sneak in.




The following is the entirety of what "Mrs. Nihil" remembers about Legion World:


- Shark Lad. Somewhere over the last five years (Probably around the time he and I decided to try out for a reality TV game show together ) Sharky and I stopped being just buddies and became real friends. We've hung out enough times by this point that we probably qualify as common-law brothers (well... cousins, at least)... and yet - thus far - he's never met my wife. That will be rectified this autumn.

- Quislet Esq. Though - if pressed - she likely wouldn't know the "Esq" part... she does know Quis as the only LWer she's ever spoken to. When I roomed with him at the NY Comic Con... she insisted that he call her and assure her that he wasn't an axe murderer. Quis obliged her, stowing his axe for the day and making her feel better about the whole thing.

- Beyond that, however, Mrs. Nihil's knowledge gets pretty vague. She knows the name "kenaustin" from all the games I used to run; "Lard Lad" and "Dev Em" from the action figures I made; and - though she can't remember the names - she knows that my "Ex" character has a fictional girlfriend who is actually written by an old Navy man.

- Probably the funniest thing she remembers, however - because she enjoys reading the stories I write - is my portrayal of "Emily Sivana". Though, obviously, Emily herself is actual Legion Worlder, in my LMB stories she's been nice enough to let me use some creative liberties. I enjoy writing Emily as a foil to Ex... someone who, at once, he both cares about and is occasionally infuriated by, but - most importantly - will absolutely call him on his BS. It took Mrs. Nihil all of about 5 minutes of reading my stories to look up and say, "Hey... you're writing this 'Emily' girl as me!" It was done completely subconsciously but... wow... she's right!


And that's it. Beyond that point, Legion World - in my wife's mind - just becomes "his thing".




So, I was curious - assuming, of course, that your S.O. isn't also a member of this community - what they think about it all. Do they ever peek over your shoulder as you're writing? Do they get a kick out of the goofy names? Or do they just roll their eyes and leave you to it?

What does your significant other know about LW?

I'm gonna go ahead and answer even though Blaze is a registered member. He knows almost nothing about the Legion, but when he saw how supportive you all were of our relationship (which we have to keep secret in real life) he decided to sign in and be part of this supportive community.

He thinks you're all really cool, and even though he doesn't get most of our rich backstory he really enjoyed the Dark Oval novella and all our crazy moments.

He thinks some of you are cute (but I won't say which ones)

The Boyfriend and I have been together less than a year. He knows about LW and the friends I have here.

He is not a comics fan, nor science fiction or related genres. That's fine. I went with my mom to see Star Trek Into Darkess and Man of Steel.

He was very intrigued when I told him about Rockhopper Lad as a character, especially the picture Sketchy drew of him. We finally decided that he needs to have a Legion World persona who will be written into LMB continuity. I jokingly refer to him as a shape-shifter, so I decided he would be a Durlan. As soon as I can find a way to write it into a storyline, he will appear as Jorj Zeddle, the Durlan Ambassador to Legion World. Whether he will be an LMBer or not has not been discussed as of yet.

That quite a lot of my friends are here.

I suggested a cute-as-hell nickname for Rocks' BF's character on Facebook, but I don't think either liked it too much. In any case it was a fun exchange!

As for what family knows....

My wife and kids know about my "Lard Lad" alter-ego here and that some guy actually made an action figure of him. All of them have seen pics of it and were fairly impressed. They also know Lardy's pic by Viridis Lment has been my FB avatar almost since I first signed up to FB. I'm not sure if any of them are aware that I'm "Paladin" now.

My wife knows some of the broad strokes of Lardy's story. She knows he was gonna turn evil and recently killed his evil dad. She has no idea of his history of sexual promiscuity...nor of the fact that he's bisexual! She knows I've written HELL of a lot about him but has never shown any interest in reading any of it. If pressed, she 'might' be able to name 'Cobalt Kid' as one of my fellow LWers because I've mentioned him most from time to time. HUGE "maybe" there, though.

They all know that this place is the number one thing I do on the internet and that for the first time, I actually met someone from LW in person recently--AND that he's apparently NOT an axe murderer!

And that's about it, I'd wager.

My wife knew I did something comic book related back in 2004 ish (back when she was my girlfriend). I eventually told her it was a message board but for the most part it never came up much, though she was fully aware of my nerdy ways (which many of my friends do not).

It was only later when we lived together that she realized how often I'm on LW! I explained the wide array of topics we discuss beyond just comics and I even described some of the fictional LMB universe building. She thought it sounded fun but isn't too interested in the details. I'm quite content in her not sharing my hobbies as this way they remain "my" thing.

She eventually got into her own message board, a "What to Expect when you're expecting..." one and got to see first hand some of the fun of a message board, as well as some of the weirdness and oddity that ensues. That's when she took a real interest, and I gave her the backstory of the LMB, Legion World, some highs & lows and notable moments, and several meetings that we've had all had. My obvious pride in being a founder of the LMB makes her laugh.

She thinks its really cool that so many of us have become great friends over the years. My brother once said "you guys are like the positive part of the Internet."

She's also seen a ton of people on Facebook. For instance, like my siblings she knows when a certain Brian Fletcher posts on my wall, something funny and weird is going to be there.

They've come to know several names that make their way through my Facebook repeatedly.

^ that's awesome Lardy!

My brother remembers you from that one night years ago he posted on the DCMB's as "Kruel". He's big into writing D&D type stories, so I've told him about our various stories over the years at length. He refers to you particularly as 'my boy' in reference to our ongoing co-authordom of the LMB.

My sister has gotten into comics in a big way so I also talk up some posters who I think read the best stuff (re: independents and some others).

For what it's worth, Lardy, The Boyfriend knows about our in-character relationship a few years back.

And apologies for accidentally editing your post above. I was trying to quote and hit the wrong button.

My wife knows all about LW and the strange happenings here...she also has a profile and occasionally posts but mostly lurks.
She got a kick out of my recent "crush" on Lash and Conjure Lass resulting in the ConjureLash robot

Well, set him 'strait' ( ) and make sure he knows that in actuality YOU are MY boy!

Seriously, I think it's awesome that your bro knows I exist! I kinda/sorta remember 'Kruel', too. Was he 'out' as your bro when he posted?



Well, there have been very few books recently that one of us reads that the other does not, so we're practically twins, now. Far as I can tell, the main thing you've missed out on recently is Dial H and, less recently, The Boys and Drums. As for me versus what you read, the things that come to mind are Skullkickers, Blackacre and Nowhere Men.

Dude! I hope his Spidey Sense didn't tingle when we all had that FB exchange a week or so ago!

What happens on LW, stays....

None of my ex's knew about my Legion Message Board, uh, .... messaging (?). Not even my comic shop guy knows I'm on LW. Not that I do much here but still, it's home away from home.

Maybe someday if I find myself dating someone else who reads comics but there's not many women that read comics, let alone a place to meet. Presuming I still have them when I die, I do wonder what people will make of those comic boxes in the garage and under the bed. Better than finding porn I suppose. lol.

Must remember to put something in the note to the executor to notify my comic shop guy and get the boxes to him.

My wife knows about Legion World.

She knows I met Quis in Boston when I went there for work...and was very glad I survived the experience. I kid Quis...I kid.

She knows that Suddenly Seymour got mine and our childrens names into the local paper several years ago for Free Comic Book Day.

She probably could not name them though if pressed. She does know Lashy and Mattropolis (as their real selves) from FB. She also knows that I have sent stuff to both of them and we occasionally get packaes from Uncle Lash...which the kids love to see.

She also knows that Ex got me my Erin Grey autograph and made a figure of my character.

She knows we have our own little universe here that I write stuff for, but has never really asked about it.

My daughter looks forward to the day I let her join here as a member. I'm positive my son will follow suit one day as well.

Blaze still lurks from time to time, but is usually too exhausted from work to actually post. And when he lurks, he only reads stuff involving him (my story posts, mostly). He always did have a big ego

Unless of course he tortured the members he met to get their passwords and has been posing and posting as each victim ever since.

"Toothpicks" was an Old West colloquialism for the common grave markers that were simply crosses made of sticks. Coincidence?