Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Matter-Eater Lad, Bouncing Boy, Chemical King, and Ferro Lad!

All four are still annoyingly missing from the current Legion line-up!

At least Tenz and Chuck are in the 'toon!

Can't wait for the 'toon comic to come out!

Give us Ferro Lad or Give us death! (Or give him death at least!)

Chemical King I could live without, unless they actually utilize his potential this time around.

Where do I sign up to get the other 3 into this book?

Was that billboard way early on supposed to be Chuck and Tenz?

If so, it wasn't enough.

Right here! My new ambition is to keep this thread on the front page until all four characters show up in the book!

Or until I get distracted or bored or something!

It's a valid crusade. These are the 4 remaining ADVENTURE-era Legionnaires still not on the team.

(I hope they don't show up as members of the LSV!!)

Hmm... the first three listed could have been participants in the current Pinup Models competition. Of course, Tenz has the coveted host job, so he kinda does each challenge, too.

Didn't somebody have a theory one time about the preponderance of Black-haired characters in the DC comics universe being due to Tenzil's miracle machine-induce wish fulfillment?

Silver Agers! Bah! They get ALL the attention!

What about Jacques, Mysa, Kent and Blok?

Hmm... I suppose I could've included groovy Silver Agers such as the White Witch, Quantum Queen, and Insect Queen in this...

Exactly. Or, for that matter, what about Kono, Quislet, Kid Quantum, Gates, Shikari and Gear?

Or what about someone, gasp, new?

Yeah, because Tenzil, Chuck, and Condo have been so massively over-used!

I'm not opposed to having non-classic characters show up, but not at the expense of these already under-utilized classic Legionnaires!

I vote for Matter Eater Lad and Bouncing Boy in the toon comic.

The rest in the regular comic.

You're equating the terms 'classic' and 'Silver Age'. What makes Chemical King more 'classic' than Kid Quantum? He may be an older character than she is, but I don't think he's a better character.

My idea is that all eras of the Legion count equally. And therefore the Silver Age is quite overrepresented. I don't object to any of the four characters in the thread title showing up, but if I was looking to add characters to the cast of the book I would definitely not be looking at them first.

The difference is that when waid started this run there was all that talk about his love of the silver age legion stories/characters. The fact that these four haven't shown up IS significant in light of this.

I'd love to have a not-blown-to-smithereens Blok show up in this continuum, but it probably won't happen until the early 2010's when some new writer we've never heard of reboots the book again proclaiming his hard-on for the Levitz-Giffen era books of the 1980's.

That's my point. If you're going to have a Legion that's rooted in the Silver Age, and yet you blatantly leave out a number of Silver Age characters, their absence is conspicuous.

Now, if Waid had decided to start the series with a mixed cast from all eras, fine. That might even be cool. Personally I could've done without Ultra Boy, for example, as he's been way over-exposed in the past few versions of the team and not much good has been done with him since early v4.

I think it's kind of goofy to have almost all the Silver Age characters, but to add in, say, Kono, and then ten years down the road to introduce Ferro Lad significantly inexperienced compared to the rest of the team and being trained by Kono.

You left out Superboy. Not that I necessarily want him back...

Significant of what?

They can't use everybody. They can't make things too similar to previous Legion versions; that's the trap that the reboot fell into. It's possible to admire the Silver Age stuff without wanting to reconstruct it entirely.

I would not have had a problem with it.

I'm with Matthew E.

The roster is all Silver Age. Waid's Legion is rooted in the Silver Age. It's the reason many don't like it including me.

Bring Blok back with the code name Stone Boy. But make sure it's Blok...not Dag.

With the death of Cockrum I am hoping Waid slows down on the Silver Age...and give us a member who isn't a boy or lad. WILDFIRE!!!!!!!!

While I feel that Wildfire is the one member that *needs* to be back to make this feel like the Legion, I wish Tenzil and Chuck would get their due, because they never did in the Reboot.

As for new characters--cripes, good luck! There's about a 1:5 ratio of good new characters to crappy ones that everyone hates with the Legion, and I feel the main reason is because most Legion fans want old favorites back and are unhappy until they get them. I, for one, will require the creators to WOW me with a new character and be much harsher in my critique than in bringing back an old character, because I want characters I'm already invested in back. However, new concepts, love interests, stories, villains, locations and supporting characters are beyond neccessary at this point.

There are many Legionnaires from all eras that deserve to be back (and Gates of the Reboot is at the forefront as an example of a most recent), but its become almost like a travesty that Matter-Eater Lad, Bouncing Boy and Ferro Lad continue to get the shaft. I feel it must be addressed, before all of Legion Fandom--and thus, all the world--be torn asunder!

But look at what you're saying:
You're saying that, of every six new Legionnaires introduced, one is good and five are bad.

Your explanation is that Legion fans don't like new characters as much as they like old characters.

Well, if that explanation is true, maybe the quality of the characters isn't the problem.

(When it comes to Matter-Eater Lad, Bouncing Boy and Ferro Lad, I think that the reboot treated all of them very well. Ferro got to live, for one thing. Tenzil was only in a supporting role, but not a bad one. And I liked reboot-Chuck very much; I thought he was a great character.)

(Great, I reply, the page doesn't refresh, and my post is lost :rolleyes: )

I'm not saying that the above is a good thing, but I do think its a pattern we've grown to see over the years. New members are introduced and lots of people dislike lots of them. And I think that's mainly because most Legion fans want old favorites to be back on the team, and they dislike the notion of the team being filled up by new members, *especially* if they replicate missing members powers or personalities.

I agree with you that the reboot was respectful, and agree completely on Ferro, but I do wish Chuck and Tenzil had a chance to at least be in costume as members of the team, albeit briefly. A four part story paying them respect as actual members of the Legion with homage to their histories would have been preferable. Not having that at all feels like a bit of a slap in the face to the Silver Age Legion's past no matter how nice it is. But I like Jorg's idea of at least having them star in the cartoon.

I'm more along the same lines as most in that the characters I most want come from different eras than the Silver Age (Wildfire, Dawnstar, Kent Shakespeare, Gates). I'd like to see them 'close out' the Silver Age cast with the remaning 4 and move forward myself.

Above all though, I completely believe that in order for the Legion to be successful and to recapture the magic, it must break new ground storywise and move forward, progressing from past Legion stories. I'd just like to see it done with characters historically associated with the team that many fans have an invested interest in.

And if anyone asks, yes, I was one of those posters back 2000 that crusaded and crusaded for Andy Lanning and Dan Abbnet to kill Monstress, and they pleased us all