Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Age of Condo Arlik?

OMGOD, I'VE BEEN SO BUSY AND I'VE MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH.

*ahem*

In other news! I'm writing a Reboot Lyle Norg/Condo Arlik fic and am in desperate need of your (yes, you!) assistance.

How old do you think Condo was in the 247 universe?

It's well known that Lyle was supposed to have been in a relationship with Condo Arlik in the Reboot universe, but it's never said when it started or how old they were when it did. Which does pose a bit of a problem.

Lyle joined the Legion when he was 16 or so...does that mean he was already dating Condo? If so, does that mean he was dating someone in their 20s? Condo appears (in the very few panels he's in) to be in his mid-twenties when Lyle is about 17/18.

Basically what I'm getting at is that I want Lyle and Condo to have been dating BEFORE he joined the Legion, but...that's really not legal. I'm willing to go with 16 because that's the age of consent in a lot of countries (and US states) but not any lower.

Thoughts? Ideas? HELP ME OUT.

Conjy!! Good to have you back.

I can't find any official sources for Condo's age in the Postboot reality, and in his appearances he does look a bit older than Lyle. Nothing to show when the two met either.

But remember, the age of majority on most UP worlds is 14. So Condo could already be an established reporter at 18 or so if he started by 14.

In my own writing I have Condo meeting Lyle shortly after the Legion started, and I made them roughly the same age (in fact, I had Lyle act slightly older - he took the lead on their first date )

I'd worry less about continuity and just make them whatever ages work for the story you are telling. In the Reboot, IIRC, Lyle seemed older than Condo. In the classic adventures, Condo seemed older and more established, and might even have been older than Lyle (although Lyle would have the experience-as-a-Legionnaire advantage perhaps in confidence and maturity?).

So, really, you can pick a reasonable age for either (one that's comfortable to write in a relationship, regardless of what the 'age of majority' is in 31st century, or how long a 'year' is among a interstellar culture that 99% has never been to Earth and would have no more reason to measure their age in rotations of Earth around its sun than they would to speak English or celebrate Christmas...).

Even if the chronological ages are one thing, the relationship dynamics could end up in a different direction, as I mentioned above, where Lyle could be younger, but more confident and experienced, or vice versa, with a younger Condo perhaps having experience working independently on his home world and an older Lyle being less comfortable without a team of fellow heroes around him and becoming a bit insecure or hesitant when not 'in his element,' if that's all he's ever known.

Mix it up to play to your writing strengths. There have been three different Lyle Norgs (not counting briefer appearances by others, such as the Lyle Norg of Superboy's Legion!), all of them quite a bit different in personality, so it's not like you can be 'wrong' if you portray him as utterly confident and take charge or somewhat hesitant and easily flustered.

Or even both at once, depending on the situation! He might be totally 'the man' planning out and orchestrating a Legion mission, and utterly hopeless on a first date!

I like the idea of the usually confident Lyle acting like a himbo when he first meets Condo, because Condo is just so drop-dead gorgeous

They looked roughly the same age to me in that continuity as well.

(I would worry more about the power/consent issues that would have surrounded both characters in Original Recipe Legion. Because in that case, Lyle would have been involved with his own patient, which is iffy even with negligible age difference involved.)

My memory tells me that Lyle was slightly older, but looking back at the actual comics they could easily be the same age. A lot depended on the artist really, with Condo looking as if he'd just come back form some serious working out in some issues.

Hello sweetie pie! *kisses*

Yeah, I've decided to just go with them being 16 and 20. I don't find that terribly hard to write, especially considering that Lyle lived on his own (in the 247 universe) since he was 14. He's probably one of the more mature Legionnaires as far as life experience goes, so that can put him on even ground with Condo.

Welcome back, Conjure Lass. Looking forward to your fic.

*kisses too, Conjy* Oooh, I can imagine how Condo would deal with Lyle being four years younger BUT just as assertive and possibly just as mature as himself! Can't wait to read your fic

(Blaze and I always thought it'd be fun to double-date with Lyle and Condo. They seem like such a wonderful couple!)

The age difference doesn't particularly bother me- if it were the other way around. Just to minimize that disconnect in my mind, I wondered if Condo might be using 31st century technology like futuristic makeup or mechanical image producer to make himself look older and gain authority for his holo-reporting. The galaxy might be ready to revere and honor teen heroes, but perhaps they wouldn't accept hard news from such a very young face.

Or maybe Condo just liked being a daddy!

And maybe Lyle just likes older men who can keep up with his maturity



Kind of besides the point, but you may have gotten your Boots mixed up Set? In the Preboot, Lyle was older - in at least 1 version of Condo's origin story an already-teen Lyle visited a still pre-teen Condo when Condo was still in the lab learning to control his powers. Lyle even calls him "lad", which I choose to ignore because I don't want them to have that big an age difference

Huh, I wasn't sure if classic Lyle was even still alive when Condo joined the team, and thought that, in the Reboot, Lyle was called in to do something involving a young Condo's powers being out of control and him having to live in a bubble or something weird.

Eh. My head is full of strange notions, and three continuities (and other stuff like the 5YL continuity, which appears to be utterly dead now that Sun Boy is also dead) just muddle it further.

Too much continuity can be bad for us

And it's good that we don't let these little continuity snarls stop us from writing our own ficiton.

As an aside, I'm struck by how handsome Condo is under Jeff Moy's penciles. Just look at him! Topmost panel-right, and bottom most panel-right. I can totally see Lyle being at a loss for words the first time he lays eyes on this stunning face!

In that lower right panel, he's got the sort of gray coloration that some comic-book colorists (inexplicably, IMO) tend to use for people of Indian or Middle Eastern descent. That could be an interesting tweak (for his old-Earth-ancestry to be Indian or Middle Eastern, not for him to be gray-skinned!).

Here's another one of Postboot Condo with slightly different skin tone. It's certainly not the same coloring used for XS and her dad. I'd love for him to have South Asian or Middle Eastern heritage!

I was looking for images of postboot Condo, and came across this adorable fan piece of Lyle and Condo being oh so sweet! They're pretty young here though, just into puberty. Safe for work unless you have homophobic co-workers, or nosy ones who might report you.

Naval gazing continuity is the life blood of comics. Your post has now been retconned to fit

See! It was during the Dark Circle! I swear this was supposed to be the storyline where he was introduced as Lyle's boyfriend and never was! I mean, think about it. Lyle goes on a date with him, gets some sort of intel, quits as Legion leader to investigate the Dark Circle. Condo is shown breaking the story in the middle and interviewing Lyle at the end. I would swear that this was when he was meant to be introduced. It's a shame they never went through with it.

I'd love him to be South Asian or Middle Eastern too! But there's a problem with that.

Condo is from Phlon.

Unless maybe his people were one of the seeded one's from Earth. I guess. Though that's stretching it a bit. XD!

Yeah, but Phlonians, like Winathians, Braalians, Titanians, etc. probably are related to / descended from Earth-humans, somehow, and could have African-Winathians and Asian-Titanians and whatnot.

(Indeed, Chemical Kid seems pretty Asian, so I imagine a Semetic or Indian Phlonian wouldn't be any more unlikely than an Asian one.)

I'm sure I saw a list of the worlds Mon El seeded (you know what I mean). Was it in an old Valor issue?

The Cosmic Reset Button has eradicated all continuity, including that retcon.

Bah! To the dawn of time where will rewrite...hey, it's really crowded at the dawn of time. Who are all these guys...how many reboots have there been?

I think the Phlon-as-one-of-the-seeded-worlds explanation is very valid. Another one could be that Condo's family migrated from Earth sometime in the past. Lots of reasowhy he'd have Asian roots