Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Karate Kid/Sensor Girl Question

Let's say my knowledge of the pre-boot Legion is only their Adventure series but I'm wondering two things about Val Arrmor and Projectra.

1. Is it true that the Legion's Karate Kid was because of the movie "The Karate Kid"? I know that Val could kick that little punk's butt any day of the week.

2. Exactly what were Sensor Girl's powers? Were they similar to Projectra's abilities?

Sensor Girl's powers were basically Projectra's enhanced. Her own senses were increased dramatically, plus she was given total control over the senses of others.

Here;s an interesting question: where does the difference bewteen sensory-manipulation and illusion begin and end? I mean, how does Projectra/ Sensor Girl/ Sneckie's powers differentiate from, say, Mastermind?

What's interesting is that with Projectra, it was never really clear whether her "illusion-casting" powers worked by effecting the environment, in such a way that it would appear to anyone who looked in a particular spot that whatever she was casting was there, or whether it worked by targeting the senses/minds of particular individuals. With Sensor Girl it became obvious that the latter was the case. I'm not sure I'm particularly fond of that fact, since it paved the door for the postboot Sensor being simply a certain type of mentalist, so that she's really just a less effective Saturn Girl.

True, and Imra's maintaining of the Tinya illusion throughout the greater part of Legion Lost has almost made the old Sensor redundant.

In Projectra's first appearance (Adv. 346) she made the Legion think they were being tossed through space and then floating at the bottom of the ocean, which would seem to indicate that she affects people's minds directly instead of just projecting an image for all to see like a movie projector. (as a kid, I didn't realize Projectra was her real name. I thought it was indicative of her power to project illusions.) That also seems to indicate that she chooses her target minds and that not just anyone who happens to be nearby can see the same illusion.

However, in about every appearance since then, it seemed that the opposite was true--that everyone in the area saw the same illusion, regardless of whether they were her intended targets. In Adv. 357, Brainiac 5 notes that Projectra and the other survivors of the Suneater mission could all see things that he couldn't. This proved to him that it was not one of Projectra's illusions, since her power was not that selective.

Well the Legion's Karate Kid first appeared in July 1966.

The Karate Kid Movie was made in 1984.

I have heard it said that Karate Kid was killed off during the last LSV war (Baxter #1-5 or Tales #326-330) because of the Karate Kid movie. WB Pictures didn't want competition/confusion within their own company as they owned and still own DC Comics.

...which IMHO was totally ludicrous and moronic. They killed a Legion character all because of that pretty boy Ralph Macchio (sp?)...IF that is what really happened. I've always despised self-absorbed pretty people and Macchio is/was near the top of my list.

I could be wrong, and I know where to check the records (just can't get to them at this moment), but I think that the creative team (at that time) did not care for the character, and "a Legionnaire" was slated to be killed off. Again, I will verify this soon. I am almost certain it had nothing to do with Ralph Macchio or the "Karate Kid" movies.

I'm fairly certain Keith Giffen leaned on Levitz to have the doomed Legionnaire be Karate Kid.

He couldn't wait to blow up the Batch SW6 Karate Kid, either-- along with SW6 Projectra.

Jeepers! It wasn't enough that Val had already been effectively written out of the book, Giffen had to have him killed as well?

Giffen REALLY disliked Karate Kid.

I would have ti say that Projectra's illusions were manifestations in the environment, since at one point the Persuader used his axe to cut through one. I don't believe that he could swing his axe to disable Imra from using her telepathy against him.

I think that when she became Sensor Girl, her powers changed in such a way that they became both tangible and mental. I think that they worked the same way that they always had, but she gained the additional ability to fool the other four senses, as well, which may have been a form of telepathic manipulation. Or maybe she just gained the ability to warp reality to a limited degree.

I think I remember Levitz saying he actually liked the Karate Kid character, but killed him off for shock value. In the Legion Companion he stated that "you've gotta give up the good ones sometimes, or people think you're only gonna kill the Chemical Kings". I remember being shocked back then after his death. He was like one of your buddies being killed off. When the new baxter series started, I don't think anyone saw that coming. It gave the Legion a darker edge not really seen in these pages. No, he wasn't the first Legionnaire to die, but the way he died was "dark and cold". I mean basically, you had two groups of young people (one good and the other evil) fighting each other and playing the "eye for an eye" card. Much like the teenage rumbles of the 50's and 60's. I never knew how deep the personal rivalry between Karate Kid and Nemesis Kid was until that story line. Nonetheless, it was great story writing!

Giffen may not have been the only creator who disliked Karate Kid. Dunno if it's true, but I read in an old LSH newsgroup thread that KK was the only character Mark Waid was *ordered* to include in the 1994 reboot. Waid complied by putting him in the Work Force, not the Legion. If there's any truth to it, Val's days may be numbered...again.