Favorite characters post: Buffy, BSG, HIMYM, Doctor Who, Community, GoT
Meme time!
Reply with "Fuck yes fierce ladies (and awesome dudes, too)" and I'll give you four fandoms. Write about your favorite character from each fandom.
eilowyn and ever_neutral both gave me fandoms. There was some overlap, but between the two of them, I got: BSG, Buffy, HIMYM, Doctor Who, Community, Game of Thrones.
This post is long, and full of love. Also, videos!
BSG: Starbuck
"Nothing but the rain."
It was really, really hard to choose between Kara and Gaius, as they both rank high on my list of all time favorite characters, period. But in the end I had to go with this badass right here, because STARBUCK. Her bad-girl attitude and mega-hot haircut were the first things I loved about BSG, and my adoration for her never wavered, even when a lot of the fandom started to go sour on her. Yes, I love early season Starbuck, the mouthy pilot who could out-fly anyone or anything and didn't play by the rules. Of course I did: That's an archetype I always love, and doubly so when it's a woman. It's just FUN, and yes, that might be my favorite version of her.
But I also love where she goes. Her complex, terrifying, fascinating relationship with Leoben was one of my favorite parts of the New Caprica episodes, and her trying to grapple with the after effects of that trauma was fascinating. And, of course, Kara as angel (?), Kara as confused savior of the human race -- yes, it's a departure from what she was, but I still love it. And she was always the same fierce fighter underneath whatever else was going on.
Kara's my girl, always.
Buffy: Spike
"They put the spark in me, and now all it does is burn."
This one, on the other hand, was easy. As much as I adore many, many characters on this show, Spike is my one true Buffy love, because he embodies what I love in a redemption arc, and a good redemption arc is one of my favorite things in fiction. He's a character that starts very, very bad, and makes a choice -- actually, a series of choices -- to change. What interests me in redemption arcs is not atonement for past wrongdoings (which is why I find Angel very boring most of the time). I don't care about some cosmic balancing of the scales, and actually find the concept really hard to wrap my mind around. Nothing someone like Spike could do could "make up" for the things he had done (as they discuss in Angel Season 5), but that doesn't interest me. What I care about is the process of a character redefining their world view, becoming a better person: Shifting priorities, learning to put others before themselves, acting on their better instead of baser instincts -- and struggling with it, of course, because in any good story there is struggle.
Spike's story is exactly that. He is always a strongly defined person, and the core of that doesn't change, but everything around it does, so he truly does go from a villain to a hero. I know there was a whole divide in Spike fandom between those who wanted him to be redeemed without the soul and those who think he needed the soul to be redeemed. I'm of the opinion that both are true: It's about choices. He may have been able to get there without the soul, but the choice to go and get the soul -- a choice he made WITHOUT a soul -- is as much proof of the change he'd gone through as anything else that could have happened.
Oh, Spike. Of course, I also love his snark, and his badassery, and his accent and his cheekbones. But it's the arc that makes him one of my favorite characters of all time. Well, and his relationship with Buffy, but I talked about that on another meme recently
How I Met Your Mother: Robin Scherbatsky
"He's a hockey player and I'm Canadian. I can't help it. If he was missing some teeth I probably would've already hit that."
At one point this would have easily been Barney. But as much as I adore NPH (and I do, I really do), and as much as I still find classic Barney funny, I've gotten tired of him recently. His father arc was okay, but his general schitck is wearing thin -- I still like him, but not as much as I like...
Robin! Robin who knows what she wants and goes for it. Who is hilarious. Who is hot in a suit. Who plays off all of the other characters really well. I like Ted better when he's in a scene with her -- romantic, friends, awkward exes, whatever -- then I do at any other time. I'm always pleased with Robin scenes. Also, did I mention how good she looks in a suit? Better than Barney, that's for sure.
Oh, yeah, and then there's the whole Robin Sparkles thing. Amazingness. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the video. Just, do it).
Doctor Who: Eleven
"Basically, run."
This. I. This. This is the worst question. Of all the question. Trying to pick a favorite Doctor Who character always kills me. Because the thing in, with other canons, if I don't have an obvious first choice, I normally have two, maybe three characters competing for the top spot in my brain. But Doctor Who? Donna! No, Rory! No, Martha! No, River! No, Ten! No, wait, what about Nine? No, wait, etc. etc. etc. I just adore every single nu!Who Doctor and companion. If this were a different day, I might pick someone else (probably, for the record, Donna). But for today, I have to go with Eleven.
Why? Because he's my favorite Doctor, and I love the Doctor in general. And Eleven. Well. Eleven. Let's start with this: Matt Smith is incredible. So much of my love for Eleven is the physicality of Matt's performance. The age he brings despite his young face. The humor. The small, quirky moments.
Eleven is everything I love about the Doctor. He has a delight in the universe that is palpable, and he has a desire to share it -- that's the professorial edge that I love so much about his iteration. He has an undercurrent of cold anger that is every bit as terrifying as Ten's Lonely God thing (and I love Ten's Lonely God thing), but, despite the fact that he is the version taken to task for being a fearsome warrior, his general outlook is as actually a trickster-teacher, constantly trying to draw the right answer out of everyone around him -- Amy, River, Rory, any random character, good or bad -- instead of just telling them. Until he decides they've failed and then...well, he can be dark, and that is part of what makes the Doctor interesting.
Eleven is my Doctor. And it's hard to beat that.
Community: Abed
"I usually have one foot out of reality, and even I'm freaking out right now."
Annie is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very close second. And Troy a very, very, very close third. But...Abed. Abed is what makes Community the show it is, because without him, there wouldn't be a reason for everything to get meta all the time, and the meta is a good 50% of what I love.
I like that Abed is an emotional outsider, looking in, analyzing everything through his own strange lens that makes him both notably wise and notably bad at interacting with the world most of the time. I love that he's a geek who is confident of who he is. I love that he doesn't care that Troy is stupid. I love that he's fiercely competent when he wants to be. I love that he likes blanket forts. I love that he called Chang El Tigre. I love that he has a talent and a passion and a vision he's pursuing. I love his relationship with each and every other cast member -- and that's what really seals the deal with him as my favorite character. Because if he's in a scene, I'm going to find what's going on interesting, guaranteed. (On top of that, Danny Pudi's performance is just incredible -- the comedic timing, and the little background things he does -- spot on, always!)
Game of Thrones: Dany
Spoilers for the end of GoT, Season 1
"It is not your screams I want, only your life."
This one was another killer. I adore Jaime so, so much. But Dany's my girl. I'm going to be writing a lot more about her in the near future, but for now, let me just say: Look at that fucking clip (unless you haven't seen the show and plan on watching/reading one day, in which case, beware of spoilers). Just look at the fucking clip, man.
She is fire and justice. At the same time she is a teenaged girl who makes teenaged girl mistakes, but also managed to find an incredible strength inside herself. She is mythical and she is intensely individual and human at the same time, and that is what's so fucking cool. She brings life and freedom but also death and destruction. She's the freakin' DRAGON, after all, and that kind of destructive/creative power is something I love in characters -- it's why I love Ten's Lonely God phase, for instance. But the thing about Dany is she's also a child. She's a young girl, and she is the dragon. SHE IS BOTH. And I just...I love her for it. For her flaws and her passion and her edge of insanity. I love her for walking into the fire.
Also, can we all take a moment to contemplate that the end of this clip is one of the most awesomely empowering depictions of female nudity I've ever seen? GoT had issues on that front (the less we speak of that Littlefinger scene, the better), but this is just incredible. I swear to god, every time she stands, rising out of the ashes, I start tearing up. Just...Dany ♥
ALSO
INFO AND SIGN UP HERE!
I'll be doing Daenerys Targaryen!
Because although Dany doesn't get as much hate as some of the other ASOIAF characters, there has been a recent backlash against her and I hate it. And also she's amazing and I've been looking for a reason to rave about her.
Reply with "Fuck yes fierce ladies (and awesome dudes, too)" and I'll give you four fandoms. Write about your favorite character from each fandom.
eilowyn and ever_neutral both gave me fandoms. There was some overlap, but between the two of them, I got: BSG, Buffy, HIMYM, Doctor Who, Community, Game of Thrones.
This post is long, and full of love. Also, videos!
BSG: Starbuck
Click to view"Nothing but the rain."
It was really, really hard to choose between Kara and Gaius, as they both rank high on my list of all time favorite characters, period. But in the end I had to go with this badass right here, because STARBUCK. Her bad-girl attitude and mega-hot haircut were the first things I loved about BSG, and my adoration for her never wavered, even when a lot of the fandom started to go sour on her. Yes, I love early season Starbuck, the mouthy pilot who could out-fly anyone or anything and didn't play by the rules. Of course I did: That's an archetype I always love, and doubly so when it's a woman. It's just FUN, and yes, that might be my favorite version of her.
But I also love where she goes. Her complex, terrifying, fascinating relationship with Leoben was one of my favorite parts of the New Caprica episodes, and her trying to grapple with the after effects of that trauma was fascinating. And, of course, Kara as angel (?), Kara as confused savior of the human race -- yes, it's a departure from what she was, but I still love it. And she was always the same fierce fighter underneath whatever else was going on.
Kara's my girl, always.
Buffy: Spike
"They put the spark in me, and now all it does is burn."
This one, on the other hand, was easy. As much as I adore many, many characters on this show, Spike is my one true Buffy love, because he embodies what I love in a redemption arc, and a good redemption arc is one of my favorite things in fiction. He's a character that starts very, very bad, and makes a choice -- actually, a series of choices -- to change. What interests me in redemption arcs is not atonement for past wrongdoings (which is why I find Angel very boring most of the time). I don't care about some cosmic balancing of the scales, and actually find the concept really hard to wrap my mind around. Nothing someone like Spike could do could "make up" for the things he had done (as they discuss in Angel Season 5), but that doesn't interest me. What I care about is the process of a character redefining their world view, becoming a better person: Shifting priorities, learning to put others before themselves, acting on their better instead of baser instincts -- and struggling with it, of course, because in any good story there is struggle.
Spike's story is exactly that. He is always a strongly defined person, and the core of that doesn't change, but everything around it does, so he truly does go from a villain to a hero. I know there was a whole divide in Spike fandom between those who wanted him to be redeemed without the soul and those who think he needed the soul to be redeemed. I'm of the opinion that both are true: It's about choices. He may have been able to get there without the soul, but the choice to go and get the soul -- a choice he made WITHOUT a soul -- is as much proof of the change he'd gone through as anything else that could have happened.
Oh, Spike. Of course, I also love his snark, and his badassery, and his accent and his cheekbones. But it's the arc that makes him one of my favorite characters of all time. Well, and his relationship with Buffy, but I talked about that on another meme recently
How I Met Your Mother: Robin Scherbatsky
"He's a hockey player and I'm Canadian. I can't help it. If he was missing some teeth I probably would've already hit that."
At one point this would have easily been Barney. But as much as I adore NPH (and I do, I really do), and as much as I still find classic Barney funny, I've gotten tired of him recently. His father arc was okay, but his general schitck is wearing thin -- I still like him, but not as much as I like...
Robin! Robin who knows what she wants and goes for it. Who is hilarious. Who is hot in a suit. Who plays off all of the other characters really well. I like Ted better when he's in a scene with her -- romantic, friends, awkward exes, whatever -- then I do at any other time. I'm always pleased with Robin scenes. Also, did I mention how good she looks in a suit? Better than Barney, that's for sure.
Oh, yeah, and then there's the whole Robin Sparkles thing. Amazingness. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the video. Just, do it).
Doctor Who: Eleven
"Basically, run."
This. I. This. This is the worst question. Of all the question. Trying to pick a favorite Doctor Who character always kills me. Because the thing in, with other canons, if I don't have an obvious first choice, I normally have two, maybe three characters competing for the top spot in my brain. But Doctor Who? Donna! No, Rory! No, Martha! No, River! No, Ten! No, wait, what about Nine? No, wait, etc. etc. etc. I just adore every single nu!Who Doctor and companion. If this were a different day, I might pick someone else (probably, for the record, Donna). But for today, I have to go with Eleven.
Why? Because he's my favorite Doctor, and I love the Doctor in general. And Eleven. Well. Eleven. Let's start with this: Matt Smith is incredible. So much of my love for Eleven is the physicality of Matt's performance. The age he brings despite his young face. The humor. The small, quirky moments.
Eleven is everything I love about the Doctor. He has a delight in the universe that is palpable, and he has a desire to share it -- that's the professorial edge that I love so much about his iteration. He has an undercurrent of cold anger that is every bit as terrifying as Ten's Lonely God thing (and I love Ten's Lonely God thing), but, despite the fact that he is the version taken to task for being a fearsome warrior, his general outlook is as actually a trickster-teacher, constantly trying to draw the right answer out of everyone around him -- Amy, River, Rory, any random character, good or bad -- instead of just telling them. Until he decides they've failed and then...well, he can be dark, and that is part of what makes the Doctor interesting.
Eleven is my Doctor. And it's hard to beat that.
Community: Abed
"I usually have one foot out of reality, and even I'm freaking out right now."
Annie is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very close second. And Troy a very, very, very close third. But...Abed. Abed is what makes Community the show it is, because without him, there wouldn't be a reason for everything to get meta all the time, and the meta is a good 50% of what I love.
I like that Abed is an emotional outsider, looking in, analyzing everything through his own strange lens that makes him both notably wise and notably bad at interacting with the world most of the time. I love that he's a geek who is confident of who he is. I love that he doesn't care that Troy is stupid. I love that he's fiercely competent when he wants to be. I love that he likes blanket forts. I love that he called Chang El Tigre. I love that he has a talent and a passion and a vision he's pursuing. I love his relationship with each and every other cast member -- and that's what really seals the deal with him as my favorite character. Because if he's in a scene, I'm going to find what's going on interesting, guaranteed. (On top of that, Danny Pudi's performance is just incredible -- the comedic timing, and the little background things he does -- spot on, always!)
Game of Thrones: Dany
Spoilers for the end of GoT, Season 1
"It is not your screams I want, only your life."
This one was another killer. I adore Jaime so, so much. But Dany's my girl. I'm going to be writing a lot more about her in the near future, but for now, let me just say: Look at that fucking clip (unless you haven't seen the show and plan on watching/reading one day, in which case, beware of spoilers). Just look at the fucking clip, man.
She is fire and justice. At the same time she is a teenaged girl who makes teenaged girl mistakes, but also managed to find an incredible strength inside herself. She is mythical and she is intensely individual and human at the same time, and that is what's so fucking cool. She brings life and freedom but also death and destruction. She's the freakin' DRAGON, after all, and that kind of destructive/creative power is something I love in characters -- it's why I love Ten's Lonely God phase, for instance. But the thing about Dany is she's also a child. She's a young girl, and she is the dragon. SHE IS BOTH. And I just...I love her for it. For her flaws and her passion and her edge of insanity. I love her for walking into the fire.
Also, can we all take a moment to contemplate that the end of this clip is one of the most awesomely empowering depictions of female nudity I've ever seen? GoT had issues on that front (the less we speak of that Littlefinger scene, the better), but this is just incredible. I swear to god, every time she stands, rising out of the ashes, I start tearing up. Just...Dany ♥
ALSO
INFO AND SIGN UP HERE!
I'll be doing Daenerys Targaryen!
Because although Dany doesn't get as much hate as some of the other ASOIAF characters, there has been a recent backlash against her and I hate it. And also she's amazing and I've been looking for a reason to rave about her.