Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Ways to make Timber Wolf cool...

Well Brin IMO is cool. I don't think they need to do anything to really make him cooler. Avoid the complicated origin he had. Keep it simple.

Super-agility lame? Heh, funny the biggest superhero films ever made feature a guy with super agility. Personally I like super agility. Guys like Brin, Spidey, and Nightcrawler.

I really don't know what to say about Timber Wolf.

He's never been my favourite Legionnaire but neither has he ever been in my DIE! DIE! DIE! column like some of the others have.

I think part of my problem with Brin is that he ticks a lot of the boxes that I sub-consciously use to decide whether I like a Legionnaire or not while at the same time crossing the other ones.

For example -

Good costumes : Tick.
Good codename : Tick.
Good real name : Tick.
Interesting powers : Cross.
Interesting personality : Cross.
Interesting stories involving him : Cross.

His major problem is now, and has always been, that other than his cool look and name, he doesn't bring anything fresh to the team.

And the major cause of this is his power. I have never in all my years reading Legion comics worked out what 'super-agility' is. Surely its more than just being kinda quick and able to leap around a lot? And people say Chuck and Tenzil have "lame" powers! At least they're original! That goes a long way on a big team like this! (By the way - I find it ironic that some of the people championing Brin as being "cool" are the same ones that always decry Bouncing Boy as being "uncool" when they both have basically the same power.)

As it is Brin's made completely redundant by people like Karate Kid and Ultra Boy (and XS and Bouncing Boy if they ever come back).

So in order to "fix" Brin the first place to start would have to be his powers. Unfortunately I haven't got many ideas on how to go about this and I haven't seen many in this thread yet that sound like they'd work either. I quite liked EDE's idea of playing up the 'one with the animals' aspect though. Maybe he could have the powers of Animal Man or the pre-Zero Hour Beast Boy? Or would that take him too far into Chameleon Boy's territory? I don't really see what everyone's problem with the 'werewolf' DnA era was (other than the excruciatingly annoying 'Think Fast' slogan) because it at least made him stand out visually but I do agree that that incarnation wasn't particularly memorable.

His other problem is his personality (though the same could be said for most Leigonnaires at one time or another). Every team needs at least one loner/loose cannon type (and a team as big as the LSH could probably afford a couple) but if we're trying to distance Brin from Wolverine wouldn't it make sense to also distance him from Wolverine's most glaring character trait - his 'loner-ness'. Otherwise no matter what power you give him a loner guy named Timber Wolf is always going to draw comparisons to a loner guy named Wolverine.

I say go the other way - make Brin an integral member of the team. Maybe even leader? Someone earlier mentioned how good wolves are in packs - let's use that here. Let's make him someone you can't imagine the Legion without - like Brainy or Saturn Girl. Give the 'loner' role to someone original - like Projectra or Ayla or Gim or someone.

One power type I've always thought the Legion could use is the 'healer'. Someone like Raven who cures injuries, fixes breaks, things like that. Maybe even raises from the dead? Someone like that could become an integral member of the team. And a nice 'passive' yet powerful ability like that would complement Brin's super-agility quite well. I like the idea. What do others think? Is it stretching too far from the Brin Londo we're all used to?

lol, Bouncing Boy and Timberwolf have the same power? lol. One is a fat kid that inflates the other is a bad @ss that bounces around with a six pack, a cool hair cut and attitude? hmmm?

You even made a list of things that make a character interesting. Powers was just one thing on that list. It doesn't make or break a character. Brin is the rebel of the team. Doesn't really matter what his powers are IMO.

Thanks for just proving my point Jorg.

Didn't you guys love in Amazing Spider-Man when they draw like 5 Spider-Man's in one panel. 4 of them colored lighter (and without webbing) to show what moves and flips he did to get to wherever the solid Spidey was pictured???

I'd like to see Brin's stealth abilities played up (as suitable for the kind of guy who goes on solo recon missions). An heir to dotLEGION's Stealth--quiet and agile, rather than relying on visual camouflage like most of the Espionage Squad members. It's a skillset none of the other Legionnaires really have.

It wouldn't require any power changes, just more efficient use of his existing speed, agility and hyper-senses. That in itself would set him off from the Daxamite/Kryptonian crowd, who are notoriously bad at exploiting their full range of abilities.

More musing on Brin's personality in general rather than from a specific era.

He's passionate, but not grim. Not like Wolverine. He can be playful and mishevious, but not all the time. Street smart. Strong instincts.

Maybe more later.

I say go the other way - make Brin an integral member of the team. Maybe even leader? Someone earlier mentioned how good wolves are in packs - let's use that here. Let's make him someone you can't imagine the Legion without - like Brainy or Saturn Girl. Give the 'loner' role to someone original - like Projectra or Ayla or Gim or someone.

Might as well make a new character.

I could have sworn that I responded to this thread back when it was new...

Timber Wolf's history is full of transformations. I like the idea that the Zuunium his father tested on him really messed him up for life. He's normally a gentle, polite, handsome, maybe even insecure fellow most of the time, but the Zuunium makes him like a Werewolf or the Hulk or something of that nature, very powerful, scary looking and a bit crazy. When he comes down from his rampage, he's very upset and afraid of who he might have injured or what he may have damaged. He goes to great lengths to learn to control this problem, with skills from Karate Kid, and medical treatments from Brainy.

Emotionally, he fears hurting those closest to him, so he never lets anyone that close. This may make him seem unfriendly or anti-social, which breaks his heart, since he really wants friends.

...just some ideas I've considered.

You could make him out of wood!

kinda agree about the wolverine-lite/beastlike comparison.. therefore i think he ought to be killed off.. we already have a super-martial artist(karate kid).. or we could go for the artificial brain in a human body approach.. the constant frustration of how slow the body is.. whereas his artificial brain.. is so much faster etc..

And he should call everyone the 31-cen. equivalent of "Bub".

I like this idea about an artifical brain in a human body.

Maybe his 21st-cen. alias could be "Bub Cubb".

Well he lost his jacket to Elysion...perhaps he could lose clothes in each encounter with enemies until he's in a speedo.

(Note: program the mission monitor board to get Timberwolf assigned to every task force.)

Good idea, Lad Boy!

If you want him cool the answer is

SMOKING!!!!

Teenagers do it and they seem to have their fingers on the pulse

If Waid wanted to make the Legion real teenage rebels they would all smoke!

From what little I have seen of him so far, I think the WaK Timber Wolf IS pretty cool. Issue #12 suggests he is disciplined, a little arrogant and aloof (because the other Legionnaires aren't as disciplined as he is), resolute and committed. He's courageous, but sober about it, not foolhardy or vainglorious, as Ultra Boy tends to be. He seems more like the new Karate Kid, substituting a military/espionage type of discipline for the martial arts/zen discipline. Given these qualities, I second or third the idea that he would be a natural leader, perhaps of an espionage squad if not the whole Legion. That's a type of role he hasn't had before, and could be cool. His main problem at the moment is that he still looks to much like Ultra Boy and Micro Lad. Maybe he should wear ninja gear?

yes i am warming to this artificial brain in a human body..positronic.. parallel pdp or connectionism.. with external reactors.. able to read the external world faster than a normal human body?//

I agree with doublechinner. Making him leader of the espionage squad...with Violet as his right hand woman...would be cool.

Nice comparison between Brin and KK. Brin IS cool.

Right with Double and Jorge, this role would hype up that his coolness comes more from attitude rather than an obviously unique super-power. How many times has firm resolve and keen mind laid low a kryptonian or daxamite, right?

You could make him cool by actually making him wolf-like. (Has someone already suggested this?)

- very sensitive, directional hearing and superior sense of smell, able to locate and track by smell alone

- poor frontal eyesight, but excellent peripheral vision and perception of even the most minute motion

- great speed and stamina, able to outlast and wear out larger, stronger and faster prey

- loyal, uncomplaining, brave (not foolhardy), relentless, stealthy and strategic, with a natural affinity to leadership in a situation where he can be the alpha male (having bested other male competitors for the role)

A lone wolf is a young male who has left his birth pack (because he cannot become the alpha in that pack) and is searching for a new pack. The process of affiliation to a new pack can take some time, with incremental, tentative steps. I really get the sense that the current Brin is in that phase right now, with the Legion.

Give him a better costume? Like a shirt that shows his chest (like in the pre-CRISIS, pre-ZERO HOUR days)?

Don't we all?

That'd be perfect. Or maybe with Violet as leader of the espionage squad and Brin as right hand. What are the odds, though?