Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Waid's new Light Lass: simpering door mat or man hating lesbian?

well, we know now that waid/kitson are going to have Ayla be "Light" as opposed to "Lightning" Lass. But the real question is will she be a cipher who dates emotionally needy drug addicts and lets her male team mates slap her around? Or will she be a mean lesbian who seduces poor straight boys?

I hope Waid opts for one or the other, rather than giving Ayla a whole new personality!

Well, I'm not too sure Barry wasn't joking when he said Spark would be Light Lass, but I wouldn't favor either extreme in personality.

Ayla's reboot self was smart, resourceful and self-assertive, which are all positive traits. Later writers did some rather stupid things with her (such as having her nearly kill herself while regaining her lightning powers). But I like Ayla best when she exemplifies what is best about the Legion, though she could be a little hot-headed (she is Garth's twin, after all).

I had no idea that mean lesbians seduce poor straight boys. I hope she's stronger than choice A and softer than choice B. I hope that doesn't constitute a whole new personality.

A *little* hot-headed? Pretty much the first thing she actually did was pick a fight with Jo

And trying to think - logically, that she hated the gravity powers made sense. Now, bearing in mind that if she could simply go to Dr Gym'll, get two pills & wake up with lightning powers in the morning there'd be no story, and allowing for the hotheadedness you mention, how would you have had her go & try to get the lightning powers back?

Personally, I didn't see why Spark hated her anti-grav powers to the extreme of risking her life. There's lots of fun things a hot-headed girl can do with those powers. Remember the SW6 Gossamer?

The easy answer is that I wouldn't have.

I just find it hard to believe that the Ayla of the first two years of the reboot, the one who challenged Mekt and realized that if she and Garth used their powers together, they could overcome their psychopatic brother ... that this Ayla would have put her life in danger just to get her old powers back. In the first instance, she put her life on the line to save her brother. In the second, it was for entirely selfish motives.

I rather think she would have found useful ways to develop her new ability.

Ummmm... GARTH was the one who suggested the link-powers bit.

And I really couldn't see Ayla sticking with the grav-powers if she could help it (plus, remember in the story you hate, she'd just been told she couldn't use them anyway without debilitating headaches...)

I don't have the issues in front of me, so I apologize for misremembering them.

Debiliting headaches sounds like the writer was trying to give her a motive for risking her life, but it still seems kind of wishy-washy to me.

As I think on it, there were several ways the story could have gone:

1. Instead of "just" headaches, Ayla could have been informed that she was shortening her life, a la Kid Psycho, every time she used her powers. She then would have had nothing to lose and everything to gain by risking her life.

2. Alternatively, her anti-grav powers could have been a hazard to others, as were Invisible Kid II's teleportation abilities or Star Boy's Daxamite powers. This would also have given her a more credible incentive for getting rid of them.

3. But, if I were writing this story, I think I'd prefer to have her come to accept the new powers, albeit grudgingly at first. Then, just as inexplicably as they came, so too would they vanish and her old powers return. The kicker is that she had grown so used to the new abilities (and the sense of individuality they created for her) that she would miss them.

I think she'll be a man-hating door mat - literally! Every time Legionnaires come back to the club house Alya will bark at the boys to wipe their feet before coming in! Hmm...actually more likely she'll have a completely different personality...