Archetypes

A character's archetype is the form of the character that serves as a model for variants or alternates of that character. Most of the time, a character's archetype is the character's first published appearance in the Legion mythos.

One exception is characters who change identities, for example Pol Krinn & Magnetic Kid or Princess/Queen Projectra & Sensor Girl. In these cases, I treat each identity as a separate character with its own archetype: Pol Krinn, Magnetic Kid, Princess/Queen Projectra, and Sensor Girl. Each one of these is the model for alternates/variants.

Another exception involves independent characters who are derived from an earlier character, for example Saturn Girl & Saturn Queen or Invisible Kids Lyle & Jacques. In these cases, I tend to treat each as a separate character. I try to follow this rule of thumb: if two characters exist in the same universe and it's conceivable that the two of them could face one another, I treat them as separate characters with different archetypes.

Archetypes can also be thought of as "slots" that can be filled in different universes. For example, look at Supergirl & Laurel Gand/Andromeda: despite the differences between the two, Laurel clearly fills the role of Supergirl in the Glorithverse. (Of course, Valor also fills the role of Superboy, but I don't count Superboy as his archetype. It's an art, not a science.)