Dear Mattel, the Legion Should Be ... Part 2

[JQ]

Five Years Later

Afflicted as a child with a rare energy overload on her nervous system, Danielle Foccart of Earth was brought to Brainiac 5 with the hope that he could cure her. Unfortunately, in his attempt to do so he used circuitry that was once part of his evil sentient computer creation, Computo, who possessed Danielle until she was sedated by her brother Jacques in his baptism of fire as the new Invisible Kid. After the Five Year Gap, Danielle and others escaped from the Dominators who had been experimenting on them. Asked to join the Legion because of her power to communicate with and control computers, she instead chose to join their younger time-duplicate counterparts, the Legionnaires, as Computo.

I know I'm not the only one who thought it would be cool for Danielle to develop computer powers ... actually I seem to recall there was a bit of foreshadowing in her original story. It did surprise me though when she finally showed up years later, and taking Computo as her name was a bit of a shock but it soon made perfect sense.

Computo only wore the one costume I believe, and as simple as it is what's nice about it is that it was one of the few Legionnaire costumes that broke the pattern of one color straight down the middle and another all the way down the sides. I thought the jacket was a nice touch as well. I think I could re-work a Black Canary figure into Danielle.

Continuity: I'd do a story that mirrors the 5YG reality, with the Dominators abducting the reformed Computo I and attempting to use it in creating B.I.O.N. In this case, Computo would psionically contact Danielle for help and activate her power leading to a rescue and the Computo name being passed on to Danielle.

Next: His Legion career was magical but short, and ended in a puff of smoke.

[JRJStarman]

Dragonmage.

I love reliving the past in this thread.

[JQ]

Glad you're enjoying it! There might be something special coming up soon just for you

[Marv-El]

How wonderful it would be to have a Legion as complete as you guys have shown it could be. 

[JQ]

It sure would be great to have at least one complete Legion era, Marv. It really wouldn't take that much. And with these later Legionnaires the argument holds more true that "there are too many Legionnaires to make them all" ... but there are plenty I think are worthy of having a figure. Thanks for reading!

[JRJStarman]

I really enjoyed the era that followed the 5 year gap. Those post Zero Hour stories were a lot of fun.

Everything went back to the bright shiny future as opposed to the drabness of the 5YG.

[JQ]

Five Years Later

Xao Jin of Earth was born with natural control of magical forces. Through years of harsh training he began to master his powers until he was captured and experimented on by the Dominators. Escaping along with Computo and others brought him to the attention of the Legion and their younger time-duplicates the Legionnaires, whom he joined under the name Dragonmage because of the dragon images that appear when he uses his powers. He faded from existence during Zero Hour, only to appear in the realigned reality as an applicant who was rejected because of the Legion's wariness of magic.

There have at times been complaints about the Legion being mostly Caucasian despite being from different planets, with only a few "non-whites" and hardly any members with truly alien physiology. Dragonmage partially addresses the issue, but a shy Asian with powers based on magical Chinese dragons could still raise eyebrows.

I think there are more images of some dude cosplaying as Dragonmage -- and it is an excellent costume -- than there are of the actual character. That's a shame because Dragonmage has one of the most interesting Legion costumes. I really like his post-Zero Hour costume too, but this is the one he wore as a Legionnaire and it would go great with the other costumes of that particular style.

Continuity: I suppose Dragonmage could show up at any time if the Legion held tryouts, since the White Witch is off being the Black Witch and not on active duty. He'd have to prove more in control of his powers than Legion Academy Cadet Glorith, though. Even with another mystic on the team I think he'd have a chance, as his particular form of magic seems to involve manipulating and shaping matter and reality rather than traditional anything-goes magic.

Next: Her costume was the cat's pajamas.

[Palinore]

You guys have probably addressed this somewhere, but I couldn't find it in a quick scan, so I'll ask...


Isn't the Saturn Girl from the Legion set in the wrong costume compared to the bulk of the characters in that set? I'm thinking specifically of Lightning Lad, who seems to be in a later costume. I'm no Legion expert at all, but wasn't Saturn Girl wearing the pink bikini outfit around the same time Lightning Lad was wearing the costume he's in? Or was there an overlap?

Note: I wouldn't say that the answer is "a big deal" to me, but I'm curious. So if you have better things to discuss, don't worry about it. I can track down the answer somewhere if I really need it.

[JQ]

There is some overlap. Most of those costumes are early Bronze Age -- Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy are in later versions. Another way you can look at it is that by the time Saturn Girl was wearing that costume Wildfire, Colossal Boy and Timber Wolf had changed theirs. Karate Kid had too ... and also died.

When we did our original writeups I felt that this version was safest for retail, even though the pink bikini is her best known costume. Lo and behold, not only do they make the more modest costume for an online only set, but GEOFF JOHNS' STAR SAPPHIRE gets released at retail in a more revealing ripoff version of that costume

[JRJStarman]

Wildfire changed suits so much it was like he  was changing socks. I really can't complain about any of the costumes we got in the box set. They came out pretty much how I wanted them.

Next entry.....Catspaw.

[jamgut]

You guys have probably addressed this somewhere, but I couldn't find it in a quick scan, so I'll ask...


Isn't the Saturn Girl from the Legion set in the wrong costume compared to the bulk of the characters in that set? I'm thinking specifically of Lightning Lad, who seems to be in a later costume. I'm no Legion expert at all, but wasn't Saturn Girl wearing the pink bikini outfit around the same time Lightning Lad was wearing the costume he's in? Or was there an overlap?

Note: I wouldn't say that the answer is "a big deal" to me, but I'm curious. So if you have better things to discuss, don't worry about it. I can track down the answer somewhere if I really need it.

The Legion Companion was published in 2003 by TwoMorrows Publishing.  If you compare the costumes on that cover to Mattel's Legion set, you see a really close similarity.  Saturn Girl is an exact match. On the cover. Cham is purple and yellow and while you can't see all of Lightning Lad, Cos and Brainy, they appear to be exact matches as well.  Starboy even has his beard.  There are a couple of minor insignia differences for T.Wolf and Wildfire, plus Colossal Boy's cover version has a yellow belt and a plain yellow disk on his chest.  Overall, the costumes from Mattel look like they were taken from that cover.  It'll be interesting to see if any future DCIE Legionnaires look their cover counterparts.

Also, interesting to note that KK was not on the cover.

[JRJStarman]

There's been a real hate on for KK for the longest time. Giffen in paticular dislike him. He's really the only Legionairre that's been killed in almost every incarnation of the team. Dead in the original team, dead on the SW6 team and dead in the god awful Countdown book that's the current version of the team.

He wasn't really a member of the reboot Legion until later in that run. So you saying that he didn't make the cover of that book doesn't surprise me in the least.

[JQ]

And yet Ferro Lad is!

But yeah, Giffen hates Karate Kid and he'll tell you straight up it's because his power is Super-Karate. He only did Countdown because he'd be allowed to kill Karate Kid again. Jerk.

[Palinore]

Thanks JQ and jamgut! I appreciate the knowledge!

[Marv-El]

There's been a real hate on for KK for the longest time.

And yet he was the first to have his own solo book, 15 issues, while "Valor" got his own for 23 but it was bolstered by Zero Hour tie-ins and a Legion/Legionnaires crossover.

Karate Kid is awesome, especially as an ersatz Bruce Lee.

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