MON-EL

LEGION OF SUPER HEROES (DC DIRECT)

In the early days of the Legion of Super Heroes, the team had a rule about no duplication of powers between members, which seemed largely to be in place to avoid issues of members whose powers were just native abilities of everyone on their planet being outclassed by people from the same planet.  There were, however, some seeming exceptions to those rules, since Mon-El, a guy whose powers were effectively the same as Superboy and Supergirl, has been a long-term member of the team.  Maybe they just all felt sorry for the guy?  I mean, he’s fatally allergic to lead, which feels like it would really suck.  Also, his super hero name is just because he didn’t know who he was when Superboy found him, and Superboy thought he was his older brother, so he gave him the El name, coupled with “Mon” because he landed on Earth on a Monday.  Guy’s named after a day of the week.  And he’s allergic to lead.  That’s all pretty rough.  He did at least get an action figure.  So, he’s got that going for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mon-El was released in Series 2 of DC Direct’s Legion of Super Heroes line.  It was a small line-up, with just Mon-El and Brainiac 5, both pretty notable additions to the line-up.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Mon-El largely shares his sculpt with Series-mate Brainiac 5.  It’s a decent sculpt, and the two of them had enough common elements to make it work well enough.  Typically, Mon-El’s a little larger than Brainy, but they were both clearly meant to be based on their early Silver Age appearances, when they were both closer in build.  Mon-El gets a unique head, a skirt/belt piece, and a cape.  They’re pretty basic pieces, but they definitely get the job done, and they fit the rest of the line’s styling very well.  Mon-El’s totally painted, like most DCD figures of the era.  It’s a pretty solid set-up.  The colors are very bright, and the application is cleanly handled.  He even gets a little bit of blue accenting on his hair, which adds a little extra to the sculpted elements.  Mon-El included no accessories, which was the norm for most of this line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the Legion figures were originally coming out, my Dad and I kind of had a “shared” collection of DC Direct figures, with the Legion being officially his, but on the proviso that I could borrow them pretty much whenever.  However, Ferro Lad’s addition to the line meant that I *had* to start building my own collection.  Since then, I’ve been slowly building my own set.  Mon-El’s one that’s eluded me for a good long while, since he doesn’t show up nearly as often as some of the others.  I wound up getting this one this past summer, courtesy of Cosmic Comix, who got in a decent DC collection.  He’s basic, but I like him.