Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! RESULT: What's in a name?

Hope no votes got lost in The Big Crash™

Poll Results: What's in a name? (33 votes.)

• Generally, do you prefer Boy/Lad/Man/Girl/Lass/Woman codenames to "Simple" ones?
  
  I generally prefer Boy/Lad/Man/Girl/Lass/Woman codenames. 42% (14)
  I generally prefer simpler codenames 58% (19)

• Preferable codename for Reep:
  
  Chameleon Boy 21% (7)
  Chameleon 79% (26)

• Preferable codename for Gim:
  
  Colossal Boy 67% (22)
  Leviathan 33% (11)

• Preferable codename for Nura:
  
  Dream Girl 45% (15)
  Dreamer 55% (18)

• Preferable codename for Jan:
  
  Element Lad 61% (20)
  Alchemist 39% (13)

• Preferable codename for Andrew:
  
  Ferro Lad 24% (8)
  Ferro 76% (25)

• Preferable codename for Garth:
  
  Lightning Lad 55% (18)
  Live Wire 45% (15)

• Preferable codename for Ayla (with electrical powers):
  
  Lightning Lass 33% (11)
  Spark 67% (22)

• Preferable codename for Ayla (with anti-gravity powers):
  
  Light Lass 42% (14)
  Gossamer 58% (19)

• Preferable codename for Tinya:
  
  Phantom Girl 36% (12)
  Apparition 64% (21)

• Preferable codename for Tasmia:
  
  Shadow Lass 64% (21)
  Umbra 36% (12)

• Preferable codename for Dirk:
  
  Sun Boy 48% (16)
  Inferno 52% (17)

• Preferable codename for Luornu:
  
  Triplicate Girl 6% (2)
  Triad 94% (31)

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Most of you will probably have noticed the trend away from the Man/Woman/Boy/Girl/Lad/Lass codenames. So which do you prefer - both generally and in these examples which were changed significantly either in the SW6/Legionnaires pre-boot or post-reboot?

And, please, feel free to comment. (i.e. - COMMENT )

I have to admit a fondness for the present codenames, although a large bias of that comes from my Legion collecting starting in the postboot and a deep love for the SW6 run preboot. Of course, I find myself more enamored with Dream Girl over Dreamer, even though her postboot code name is starting to grow on me finally, as well as Element Lad over Alchemist. I think I'm just so used to calling Nura Dream Girl from reading back issues of Volume 2, 3, and 4 that the switch at first was hard, so I can imagine it's even worse for some more longstanding readers with other characters. While I understand how some code names may seem bulky or out of place, like Apparition or Umbra, that's where I find the appeal in them. They're different from the average code name and still relate the aspects of their powers.

Of course, that doesn't mean I hate the Boy/Girl/Lad/Lass codes at all! They're classics to me, even though I wasn't around to read the preboot when it was being published. I love all incarnations of the Legion, and thus can stomach most to all of the code name and character changes.

Interesting result! hmmm....look at Ayla's!

Looks like I threw off the tie for both of Ayla's code names.

I prefer the Lad/Lass names mostly but some of the newer, simpler names are okay. And if Condo ever gets reintroduced, I'd like to see him go by Catalyst instead of Chemical King.

INteresting to note that the landslides (as I type this) are on the side of the newer names, whereas where the older names are leading, its fairly tight.

Hmmm...

i went mostly with the older boy and girl codenames !!!

probably due to knowing these characters longer !! with those names !!

although i do like some of the newer ones ....

Matthew.

Interesting, I said I prefer the older boy/lad/girl/lass names, yet when confronted with specific choices I found I prefered more of the newer ones than the older ones.

Guess I just don't know what I like!

I too mostly went with the older names, except for Ayla and Lu. I like the way "Gossamer" sounds (although I went with Lightning Lass for her electrical powers). And "Triad" works so much better than Triplicate Girl.

And even though it doesn't make sense to call an alien shape changing being "Chameleon Boy", I just had to do it for nostalgia.

Hah! I did the exact same thing. I think it's because when I saw "new code-names" the names Gossamer and Umbra came to mind. I felt really dumb when I first saw those two because I had to grab a dicionary to know what they meant!

I mostly prefer the new names. Especialy when it's just a case of dropping the boy/girl/lad/lass and keeping the rest of the original name. One thing that surprised me is that I chose Colossal Boy over Leviathan. Maybe I associate "Leviathan" with everything that's wrong with Violet right now.

Hey, why not reboot Dirk as a gay legionnaire and call him Flamer?

Seriously, I wish I could get attached to the new single name monikers like Umbra, Spark and Apparition, but I long for the days Tasmia was referred to as Shady.

Agreed, both with a general preference for the traditional code names, and with an occasional leaning towards the modern ones. However, in the rush to update names, some of the chosen strike me as too kewl (Live Wire), or too oblique (Umbra.)

I too would prefer Catalyst to Chemical King. I would also prefer Omnivour to Matter-Eater Lad. I am torn on whether I prefer Bouncing Boy or Rebound.

I tend not to like names that, to me, don't seem to mean anything i.e. Tellus, Quislet, and Tyroc.

I would prefer Lonestar over Shikari, which is, I think, a given name not a code name.

New names. Down the line. This is the 21st, er, 31st Century.

I wish I could say that the "Boy," "Lass," etc., had some resonance or appeal any more, but they really don't. This isn't 1958 to the late '60s. It's a far more sophisticated SF-bred audience that has more than a taste for high fantasy as well. The pithy names work better against those tastes.

Besides, "Boy," et al., also provided an identification point for the boys (that was nearly the whole audience) who once were the prime comics buyers. Comics are no longer marketed to kids, really, aside from a few animated-series tie-ins. They can't afford them, either. More's the pity for the future of this industry.

Given that myopia, go with the snappier names, I say. It sounds better.

bUMP