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Post By Visionary, going with the simple title. Thu Jul 22, 2004 at 02:47:24 am EDT |
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Why Visionary is a Legionnaire | |
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September 30, 1998
League of Regulars membership has traditionally been by invitation only, with membership being made available to those heroes who are deemed most worthy in terms of valor, character and abilities. It is with regret that I must break this practice, on the advice of legal council, and offer membership to the man known as “Visionary”.
Lisa seems to think that he may be able to take legal action against the organization for my demolition of the east wall of his condo. I still don’t see why we should be accountable for the Anti-Jarvis taking up residence there... apparently we would have been on more secure legal footing if we had simply let the Irregulars enslave the Parodyverse... but I digress.
While the man has no powers, skills or even, apparently, common sense, it is my hope that we can find some use for him that will keep him mostly harmless to our organization, and avoid costly litigation in the process... (Lisa’s hourly fees are unbelievably high, and as for her ‘alternate payment plan’, well... the less said, the better.)
It is my fervent hope that I do not live to regret this decision.
Signed,
Jarvis, League of Regulars Chairman.
“Get it yourself”
This is the explanation that Visionary uncovers during the storyline "Mob Rules", and it's one that eventually sends him packing off into the corn for an extended leave from the team.
Certainly, one of the real life reasons that Vizh made it onto the team was that pretty much every hero did in those early days. It was a kind of reward for the posters of the board... once you had contributed enough, you got in. Still works that way, actually. But his popularity in the early years didn't hurt him any either... Vizh was a fairly simple concept (no pun intended), and new and old writers alike didn't have much trouble fitting him into the broader-played stories of the times. He had a catchphrase, he had an amusing gimmick in his alleged fakeness and rumored slow wits that offered easy jokes, and he had fairly well established relationships.
Visionary's leadership of the Legion benefited from many of the same traits... The reluctant leader was a running gag that anyone could catch on to and use in relatively short order. It had the further benefit of keeping him out of the way for the larger plot by tying him to a desk.
But as the Parodyverse grew more nuanced, I think many of his plusses became negatives. People didn't really know what to do with the character any more, especially as all of the old jokes eventually ran out of steam.
The one saving grace of the character, and the trait that works both in and out of continuity to explain his Legionnaire status, is the fact that Visionary is so completely a team character. Solo characters in heroic tales need to have many facets that can allow them to take roles in a variety of differing storylines. They need a level of competence to solve the plot and the resources to foil the villain. Team characters, however, need only bring specific traits to the table, leaving room for other characters to shift into the spotlight as they all join together to save the day. Visionary certainly leaves a whole lot of room in that spotlight for his teammates. You always pair Visionary with other characters... solo Vizh just isn't done.
And that's really his in-continuity reason for being a centerpiece in so many teams, from the Regulars to the Legion to the LLJr. and so on... He forms relationships with other characters quite easily. What's more, while he has a host of doubts about himself, they only serve to make him totally believe that much more in others. He strives to be worthy of the company he keeps, while being terrified of the responsibility. He has a constantly expanding circle of relations which really have become his family, complete with that level of loyalty to each other.
And really, that's an ideal towards which most any team would aspire.
"Look… I don't know how you got on that team, but I do know why you're still there. It's because *they* want you there." She looked at him thoughtfully. "What I don't know is this… Do you want to be there?"
He stood there a moment before answering. "Of… of course I do! They're my friends!"
"Then tell me this… how does measuring up to them as a hero have any bearing on them being your friends?"
--Hallie & Visionary, "Mob Rules"
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