Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board When Legion Worlder met Legion Worlder......

I thought about posting this in the New York Con thread, but it seemed more appropriate to have it's own. Having never met any Legion Worlder to date, I've often wondered what it would be like.

If I ever DO go to one of these things and meet some of you guys, I have a feeling I would come off as a blithering idiot! I'd be saying, "Dude, this is so WEIRD!" several times and in different wording that I don't think I'd be all that engaging. "Dude, you're Cobalt Kid...and you're Ceej---I mean Ceej! And you're Quislet and you're....."

Is that how it happened? Help a LWer-meeting virgin out by sharing YOUR first time!

"Whoa!" = Most commonly heard expression from a Legion Worlder hitting the floor at SDCC.

"Nice to met you" while thinking "You look nothing like how I pictured you looking."

Then there is the dilemma of using Legion World name vs real name. For most of the people I've met, I still think of and refer to them by their screen name.

My favorite exchange from San Diego last year:

I had never met anyone in person, so on my way to the convention center, I stopped at Horton Plaza and bought a small stuffed penguin. When I finally found the Legion World table and started introducing myself, someone asked why I had a penguin in my pocket and I replied "So everyone will know who I am." A guy standing about two feet from me heard that and said "Rocky?". It was Outdoor Miner.

The Wizard World Dallas meet-up was awesome. I can't really describe it. Lash looked and acted almost exactly like I had imagined but everybody else was a huge surprise.
Yeah, (as I recall) we mostly used each other's LW names. It was so cool being called "Yellow Kid" in a crowd of hundreds of fans. One fantastic part was the fear in Mark Waid's eyes when we took over the front row at the Legion panel.
Awesomeness squared.

Do tell! Did y'all have LW I.D. on you or something? Did y'all give him the third degree?

When I finally gave in and met my first LWer, it was after several years of knowing others had met. It was Poverty Lad in Jan/Feb 2004, and we’d been ‘talking’ online since about 2001/2002, though I had only recently come back from a very long absence from the internet of about two years, and had found Legion World and settled in for four months. Despite all that history together, I was pretty nervous at first to meet him! Of course, I was going to his residence, so if he wanted to chop me up into little pieces and mail them to other posters (I would assume Lash), I had no real plan of escape. Long story short, it was only awkward for about twenty seconds and then we were like old friends (which we kind of were). Plus, Pov is really cool so we basically called each other “Pov” and “Cobie” while interspersing “Des” and “Bri” at various times. The next Legion Worlder I met was Faraway Lad, whom I had been talking to online since 2000. So that too was like an old friend. Now when I see them both (having met them both in real life several times), I give them a big hug. I’ve known them both almost a decade, even if I only met them both about five years ago.

But, you are right Lardy, its pretty awkward at first. I gave up several years ago (I’ve met about 22-ish LWers in real life by now) on calling everyone by their real names. I generally call them not by their username but their board nicknames. So when I met Gary (Nightcrawler), I was calling him ‘Nighty’. Beth is Cali, CJ is ‘Ceej’, Rob is Quis, etc., etc.

Even after all these years, when I went to San Diego, after having met about half the people already at various other places, I was a little nervous/awkward for the briefest second. I was totally fine until Caliente called me and we had that fifteen second “Cobie” / “Cali” / unsure what to call the person moment and then both started to laugh. Then we were texting while I was flying (I’d met her before) so I thought I was okay again and then I got slightly nervous at the airport, but it was Abin who showed up to get me (who I happen to actually call by his first name, Chuck), and that was more fun than anything because unlike me, who is a lot less over the top in real life, Chuck is the opposite, and is actually CRAZIER in real life . Then I met CJ, Monkey-Eater Lad and Actor Lad for the first time, and by then I’d been with Cali for like an hour so I was cool again, and I just jumped right into it, calling them “Mel”, “Actor” and “Ceej”, who I was rooming with—after never having met him before in real life (and it rocked, shotgun Ceej as my roommate for the next fifty meet-ups).

San Diego was especially cool for me because it mixed people I’d never met before with people I’d met several times, like Quis and Kent. Faraway and Gigi were there, who I greeted with a huge hug, and so was Stuey, and Stu and I led a charge of drinking multiple shots and beers that resulted in a mob forming to free Pam from the evil clutches of Judd Winnick.

Usually you just dive right in, act a little dorky (or cool in my case ), and notice everyone else act slightly dorky too. Its actually a little more funny to hear people talk about the comic books in person than online—its like you look around think “wow, I hope no normal (re: non-comic book readers) are listening!”

PS - I have to meet you (Lardy) and Lash! We've been posting together since 2000 (or prior?), and are founders of the LMB! It must happen!

PPS - it was really cool when I met Cru, since we've been posting together since 1999, and have been great online friends since 2000.

PPPS - oh, I also met Exnihil first at the Geoff Johns panel before I actually met him on LW! He saw one of my pics and was like, 'hey didn't I meet you at San Diego?'. Very cool. It was after I asked Geoff to kill off Dream Boy in Lo3W.

Yeah, it's GOTTA happen, someday--however, it may cause the space-time continuum to IMPLODE or something should it actually occur! Are we willing to take that risk?

Did we ever!
Of course we each had badges with our LW names and had been chatting with Barry for hours so he knew who we were already. (giggle fit)
That promo copy of Teen Titans/Legion with Mark, Barry and Steve Wacker's signatures has a special place on my wall.

It seems LW has been much kinder to Barry than it has The Waid, even though they were really co-conspirators. I guess Barry's such a nice guy and draws such purty pitchers, he gets a pass!

Dude, I have built such a wild, crazy, over-the-top persona on the boards, I know anyone who ever meets me wouldn't be able to help but be disappointed! Lard Lad is kinda my pure unadulterated id let loose and ungoverned by my ego and superego. Real Lardy gets drunk maybe 2 or 3 times a year, has been married 15 years and reads and watches TV a lot. Boring, huh? *yawn*

So my worry is, is it better to let the legend live on or let Dorothy see the little man behind the curtain?

Even better was when Steve Wacker looked over at us and said "Oh, it's the internet!"

Well, I think it has more to do with the fact that Barry interacted with us here at Legion World. So, he is more like a friend rather than a creator to criticize

Or is your worry that your pure unadultrated id will come out whil with us?

Scary thought.

I think, given the LW presence at SD, I probably hold the record for meeting for the greatest number of LWers in person prior to actually meeting them online!

Over the course of that weekend, I either spoke to, or sat next to in panels: Cobie, CJ, Cali, Kent, Nightcrawler, Rocky, Klordny, Quiet Darkness, and Suddenly Seymour... while having no idea who they were on this board.

I think the funniest thing is, while looking at SD pictures online, I came across Director Lad's photos. I appear in one of them, captioned, "Is this one of ours, or just some random passerby?"


Now... Lardy, you want something that will blow your mind?


The Adv. 247 you won during Survivor:Marzal? I actually got that at SD and was showing it off to anyone who would look. At different times, Nighty, Kent, and Klordny all handled it... as well as both Mark Waid and Keith Giffen. So... if you know any CSI types who can extract DNA from a comic book bag... you have the awesome potential to clone both your own Legion creative team and mini-fan base!

Waid and Giffen touched it?!?!? They don't have their own damn 247s?!?!



Seriously, what was the situation? "Hi, Keith...Hi, Mark! Wanna touch my 247?"

I was hanging around at the back of the room before the KG panel kicked off talking to Waid, who was also just hanging out, when all of sudden Giffen just wandered in and joined in the conversation... so cool!

Sure... it was offered to Waid... but Giffen? He's all hands.

I think we all allow for that, and expect the real us to be a little tamer than the boards. As Cobie said, Abin is really the only one more over the top in real life. Well, Ceej too, but Abin's had more practice.

I think Dalls was a key ice-breaker. While some of us (not me) had met each other a little here and there, it was generally msall gatherisnf of two or threee, as I understand it (maybe aound 6 at San D 04).

But Dallas just had such a life-force of its own, a true bonding event, and I think our energy carried over onto the board and encouraged more and more.

Dallas was the first time I've ever met any LWers, and only the third time I'd ever met any internet friends (the other two had less than desireable results. not awful, but...).

I've met around 42 (if I recall correctly) of you, and it's been great.

We had no problem shouting "LOSER!" across the room to Bill at our first face-to-face with him on our Niagara adventure with Gigi and Far...

<strike>One</strike>two of my faves...