COLOSSAL BOY (Gim Allon, aka Leviathan, Micro Lad)

Silver Age:
-Gim “Colossal Boy” Allon is one of those characters who always seemed to fit in funny, from what I’ve read up on him. Superboy, Ultra Boy & Mon-El were always more powerful, the original trio had that level of epicness to them, Brainiac was smarter, Blok & Chameleon Boy were iconic in appearance, and guys like Wildfire & Timber Wolf defined their era. Colossal Boy… was just there. He had his moments and displays of power, but aside from a crush on Shrinking Violet (and eventually falling for a Durlan disguised as her in a predecessor to Johnny Storm doing the same thing… unless I have my years mixed up and that happened first), he didn’t interact as much with the rest of the team. He was just kind of that “giant guy in the background”, usually wearing brutally generic super-hero costumes (a simple two-colour get-up with a generic 80s hood thing, plus that early outfit that was like a funky-coloured cowboy costume without the hat or badge), and being depicted as more of a jock than a well-thought-out guy. He had a bit of a thing with his mom being the President of the United Planets, and a later book decided he was Jewish because of his last name (comics was always… bizarrely lacking in Jews, actually, considering how many of the creators were Jewish. Compare them to Hollywood and all the Jewish characters we see).

But still, I kind of like the idea. Growth powers are one of my faves (Hank Pym notwithstanding… UP YOURS PYM!! YOU ****ING SUCK!!), being such a basic, regular power in comparison to others, but looks so visually cool and has so many good, creative uses, that I can’t help but like the dude. Alas, since the team has guys who are EXTRAORDINARILY more powerful, he kind of gets thought of as a mid-tier guy at-best- what IS it with comics and always making the 100-foot tall dude the third-strongest member of the team? You’d think being that huge would make you strong as hell, yet there’s always a Flying Brick in there to be tougher. What’s the point in being the biggest dude on the team if you’re weaker than numerous other teammates?

In any case, Gim didn’t get up to much, but had an unreciprocated crush on Shrinking Violet, who only returned his affections once she was a Durlan spy in disguise. When the deception was revealed and Violet freed, Gim discovered he was still in love with Yera, and remained married to her. Gim’s mother Marte was President of Earth around this time as well. Following the “Five Year Gap”, Colossal Boy joined the Science Police and never returned to the Legion until the modern revival of the original team. The “SW6” clone eventually took the name Leviathan.

Reboot:
-Gim retained the “Leviathan” name here, and was from Mars instead of Earth, but was still human. He debuted as a Science Police officer who gained his powers from a meteorite. He was the team’s first leader, but resigned after Kid Quantum died in their first mission, and realizing that Cosmic Boy was a much better leader. There was also a Love Triangle, as he crushed on Kinetix, but Shrinking Violet crushed on him. However, Gim’s big wish was to have a heroic death (probably due to long-standing guilt over Quantum’s demise)- the Emerald Empress soon gave many Legionnaires their “heart’s desire”, which gave him his wish.

Threeboot:
-Colossal Boy was gone for YEARS until the “Threeboot” brought him back, this time as a member of a GIANT race, only he had the power of Shrinking. Demanding to be called “Micro Lad” in a pure Silver Age twist, he again kind of got used as the antagonist to other, more level-headed Legionnaires.

Wow- she is a THOUSAND times better looking with actual hair.

CHAMELEON GIRL (Yera Allon)

-Yera was part of an odd little plot twist, in that Shrinking Violet was kidnapped by native Imskians, and Yera was duped into replicating her. Once the facade was revealed, she & Colossal Boy kept their romance going, and she became one of the non-Legionnaire couplings for a long time as a minor character. Her looks changed between “weird Durlan” and “hot chick who is bald and has tiny forehead stalks”, and they never went the full kinky route with their relationship that they SURELY did with Bouncing Boy & Duo Damsel, but she wasn’t a bad character altogether- just a little dull. Shrinking Violet finally forgave her during the “Five Years Later” era, but she did not appear during the Reboot nor Threeboot eras, and the new continuity did not feature “Five Years Later”, so they were still at odds in the 2000s. Around this time, she had joined the Legion full-time as “Chameleon Girl”. She even appears in the New 52 Era as part of the Legion Lost team, trapped in the modern world.