Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board What's in a name?

I am curious as to the meanings of various Legion World member's user names. I mean, the reasons for many I can figure out: a favorite character or story. I mean, who among us does not practically piddle themselves in anticipation of the latest issue of Giant Robot Lesbian Comics & Stories?

But even if they user name is merely taken from a favorite character, then why does that particular character so resonate with you that chose them as the front for you online identity?

In other cases, what's the story behind the name?

I'll go first.

Shortly after first going online in 1995, I discovered the old lsh-l on mlists mailing group. Around that time, some fans were organinzing a get-together in NYC. It was anticpated that several then Legion creators would be in attendance. In point of fact, I later learned that Paul Levitz himself was there, and not only that, I understand he picked up the check.

Anyway, I was seriously contemplating making the 10 hour drive out of the woods to attend. Somewhat innocuously, I thought, I inquired whether in would be considered bad form to bring along my portfolio. I had never (and have not yet) met a real live honest-to-goodness comics professional and thought this luncheon might provide a prime opportunity to get some feedback on my efforts.

Anyway, the resultant all-out thermonuclear flame-war that erupted led me to believe that, not only would it have been poor form to present my portfolio, I had not performed an act of particularly good form in merely being born.

Dudes! This was my first flame war. I had NO idea. Honestly, I was tear deep into this thing well after the point at which I have since learned to bail. "You're Hitler!" "No, YOU'RE Hitler" "Well, You're Hitler-Infinity"

sheesh

It was at somepoint that someone, I forget who (in fact, I can't even quite remember if they were defending me or attacking me)referred to me in the third person (at that typical point in a flame-war where people start playing U.N. translator and interpret to each other what others said and what they meant) rather cheekily as Portfolio Boy.

After I got over the hurt of the whole thing, I mean this was all new to me and serious business back then, I adopted this acidic epithet as my e-eponym.

The name has become a source of pride for me, signiying my trial-by-flame with online fandom, athough, sad to say, I have hardly drawn a line since.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

When I signed on to the old DCMB's in the fall of 2001, I decided I wanted a user name in the vein of the old Legionnaire Boy/Lad/Kid vein. Over the course of the preceding 12 months, I'd squandered a significant portion of my savings buying Legion comics and Marvin the Martian memorabilia on eBay. I took the nom de poste "Poverty Lad" as a tongue-in-cheek, personal "D'OH!" to get me back on track.

Side note: It's funny how our names take on lives of their own...

Hey, Portfolio Boy, did you ever participate on the old rec.arts. newsgroup? Those guys could be serious snobs and elitists.

Anyway, my name doesn't have much of an origin story. I accidently found the Legion on the DC Message Board. I saw a poll and just had o participate. I couldn't think of anything right away so I just made up something that sounded Legionish. And Super Lad Kid was born. That's it. No more.

That's exactly why I was so afraid to de-lurk. Even though I'd read every LSH ever, I never felt I could contribute. I felt guilty for just enjoying the stories and not dissecting them. I'll never be good at the trivia aspect, but my heart is there.

"Walt Disney's Giant Robot Lesbian Comics & Stories -- First Gemstone Issue!"

Unfortunately, that was my first exposure to Legion fandom. I, too enjoyed the reboot's early days. But if anyone said that they did on that newsgroup, they were pretty much trashed by the longtime fans who knew better. Now that I think about it, that might have scared me off from posting for awhile.

I checked it out a couple of months ago. Hardly anyone posts there anymore, and there was more discussion about a stapling error in the latest archives then there was about the latest issue.

The name should be obvious. As to why I chose it? It's Legion related (I had another name for the DC Boards). Wildfire is my fav because his angst reached my teenage psyche -- being trapped in a strange new body, feeling alienated and somehow "inhuman" and not being able to get the girl. He was also one of the big-guns without being a boyscout and was fiercely loyal to the team when push came to shove -- he always threw himself in danger and (literally) gave his all in battle (when he blasts himself out of his suit).

Because I'm too damn proud for my own good.

Well, partly. I mainly chose it because I was doing a lot of tatting at the time. (Tatting is a kind of lace that's usually worked in rounds. It looks kind of like a spider web.)

Good thread idea, Portfolio Boy.

My name's Dean Lee, and I'm a big Legion fan, so deanlegion just works.

I gave a more expansive answer on the avatar thread but Varalent was the name I gave to a super hero I invented when I was a kid. He could vary the size of anything so I combined "vary" with "valiant" and somehow ended up with Varalent.

That's a great story, Portfolio - I hope you find it funny now that it's in the past! Must have stung some at the time, of course.

I answered this also in the avatar thread. FC was a real life cat. Of course, she deserved her own comic, but I can't draw or write, so she'll have to be immortalized as an MB poster. And where better than here?

It's interesting that a few of you mentioned fear of flaming as a reason for not participating. Dogmatic criticism and flaming make me terribly angry and frightfully sad, I hope we never put up with any of that here. It doesn't get you anywhere and it's really hurtful for most people. And, as has been pointed out, it kills groups.

*puuuurrrrrrrr*!

Hi Jinx!

*scratch*
*scratch*

I just found this thread, and thinks it deserves a healthy BUMP to any new posters who haven't seen it yet!

I'll add my story about my LW 'handle', it's probably not what one would expect. About four or five years ago, I came upon a startling realization while I was reading through my 80s New Mutants run: they never had a brown-haired member of the team (at least during Claremont's reign). There were about four blondes, even a red-head, but no brown-haired person like myself! So what does a young buck do when he finds such a fault? Why, he makes his own character that's dangerously close to a self-insertion. So I actually started a fan-fic, getting about five-hundred pages into it actually, about a boy with precognition powers (which would eventually expand into casting time fields that could slow people down to being frozen in stasis, or speed up the area around someone to grant super-speed qualities) who found his way into the New Mutants circa NM #45. His code name, aptly enough for his precognition, was Future. My story was basically about his acceptance, and my plans were to rewrite all of the New Mutant/X-Force/X-Men stories from his perspective to add some new insight, as he eventually went on to join the X-Men (at the same time Cannonball did) due to his tenure and expanding time powers. Obviously, it was a large task and I never got very far after I did a little growing up and realized copyrights would never let me actually publish this (and money is about the only incentive to finish such a chore). I'm still fond of the character and daydream of 'what-ifs' if he actually existed in the canon all the time.

Anyway, I was lurking on the old X-Fan message boards and decided to register. I used, aptly enough, the name Future. I continued to lurk and still to this day have never posted. Sure enough, the next time I came across a comic-related message board, I decided to revive the username Future. Mostly as a nod to myself and to continue my ever mental play of being the character, thrilling to the adventures and growing up alongside some of my favorite teens (outside the Legion)!

As Pov said above, names certainly do take a life of their own. I can't read the word 'future' in a book or hear it without just thinking back to here on Legion World.

Alright, who's next?

I read the "Who's Who in the LSH" series from 1988, a decade after it came out, and found that its first issue described Dawnstar's two younger brothers, Greybird and Greatfire.

Only two paragraphs about them, but the names struck me as being quite kewl, and they related to my favorite Legion character. I remembered them when I signed up for or used several comics message venues that year -- including the DCMBs and rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh.

Others had wanted to elaborate on Dawnstar's family in fan fiction and art, then and later, and my being around spurred several talented people to be so kind as to depict "me" and "my brother."

"Outdoor Miner" is a song I like by a band called Wire, an important and influential post-punk outfit of the late '70s still active today.

That said, I only went with it because I was fairly certain no one else would have a name like it.

And, a year after this was posted, not much has changed there.

There are a lot of very intelligent people who post on the rec.arts ngs. But many of them spend so much time nitpicking books to death and dismissing storylines that haven't even resolved on vague philosophical grounds that it just stopped being fun to post there.

"He Who Wanders" is what the name M'Onel means in the reboot.

Why M'Onel? He's always been one of the four characters I've connected with most in the Legion (the others being Lightning Lad, Sun Boy and Invisible Kid). I liked the idea of Mon being Superboy's big brother -- someone even the Boy of Steel looked up to. Mon also used to put me in the mind of someone who was sort of my unofficial big brother while I was growing up.

I discovered the rec.arts group six months or so before I found my way to the DC Legion board. I remember getting into a spirited conversation with someone over the merits of LEGION LOST, which she saw as a travesty, and I saw (and still see) as a minor masterpiece. I don't mind a good debate now and then, but the reason I left that group was boredom. There just weren't many interesting conversations or posters who were receptive to ideas that differed from their own.

No blind spots in the leopard's eyes
Could ever hope to jeopardize
The lives of lambs
The shepherd cries

An afterlife for a silverfish
Eternal dust, less ticklish
Than a clean room
A houseguest's wish

(chorus)
He lies on his side
Is he trying to hide
In fact it's the earth
Which he's known since birth

Face worker, a serpentine miner
A roof falls, an underliner
Of leaf structure
The egg timer

Mine's pretty ordinary, I'm an aspiring actor. Put that together with a like of the Legion & you get ActorLad.

There can't be much surprise to my name, it's been with me since before Al Gore invented the internet or message boards. When I first got online, I used the name Scout (that seemed to be my role in any circle of friends I belonged to.)

Over on the DC boards, back when Devin Grayson was writing TITANS, there was some serious flaming and name-calling. I got into a number of "fights" with posters that would be downright rude and insulting to Ms. Grayson, because they didn't like her work. I don't care for that kind of abuse to anyone that puts themselves out there like the creators do. I called one poster spineless a few times for hiding behind a screen name. He pointed out my hypocrisy, and that didn't sit well with me.

I stand behind my words, even the goofy ones. 'Sides, CJ has provided me years of amusement as folks try guess for what it stands.

I musta missed this thread first time around.

I'm British, so American Comics are somewhat of a minority interest over here. Serious British collectors tending to gravitate towards the British comics of their youth, like Dandy, Beano, Valiant, Hotspur, Tv21 etc.

When I was rediscovering the legion it felt like I was the only one interested in this obscure branch of DC comics, everyone else wanted Bats and Superman or marvel stuff.

Of course one day I stumbled across the LMBP over on the defunct DC Legionnaires message board. I lurked for a while and listened to all those posters from exotic and faraway places like Buffalo or Texas or Seattle or Tennessee, or, well you get the picture.

when I decided to de lurk the name Faraway lad just seemed to describe how i felt.

Of course now I don't feel so isolated and faraway. Especially as i have made contact with so many British posters, and have visited some of you across the water.

'Nekogami' is Catgod in mediocre Japanese. I'm not Japanese, but I AM a cat. (Well, ok, not really, but I generally maintain a feline persona online.)

I am a furry, with a cat persona (actually, several, but only one is 'me'), and a fan of anime, manga, crpgs, J-Pop, and other Japanese pop-culture products. Plus I'm a god, so it all fit together. ^__~

I considered taking a Legion-esque Boy/Lad name, but thought it better to use the nick I use elsewhere. When I can't get Nekogami, I use Kamino Neko (Cat of God).

I came up with my monikor during my freshman year of college (back before almost all of you were on message boards, as I so like to point out !) Like others, I wanted a 'boy', 'lad' or 'kid' in my name in the vein of the adventure era.

I decided on "Cobalt", since I had learned that day in Chemistry class that cobalt is the chemical used to kill cancer cells for a lot of different cancers. In an indirect way, cobalt acts heroically in keeping people alive, so I thought the name "Cobalt Kid" would seem heroic through that relation. And the 'ka' sound of both just rolled nicely off my tongue (and I didn't want to think too hard about it ).

Five years later, this monikor has become so legendary and famous, that I would never think of changing it!

My name is Craig and I have a big ego. "The All-Craig" sounded too arrogant...

Actually, I started out on the DC boards as "Omni Commentator", since I was credited with naming the Legionnaires lettercolumn "OmniComments". After a while, I changed to Omni Craig, so people would know my first name.