Hero & Legendary accounts that were hero & legendary before the merit update shouldn't be regarded as something unique.
Right--and I also don't even recognize most of those members, and I don't think they're among the most trusted in the community despite their ranks (I have not checked any of their trust pages, though).
And yeah, there are a lot of members eager to join any signature campaign they can, since there aren't a lot left that pay in bitcoin that I know of. Those accounts may also be under the control of account farmers or others who bought them--who knows. All I know is that when a new sig campaign opens up a lot of high-ranked members start coming out of the woodwork to join them.