Okay, that's it.

[apocalypsos]

Tell me something awesome about a woman you love in any fandom. Wax poetic. I want to hear people talk about what they love about female characters. And try to pick female characters or women in RPF who haven't already gotten love so we can spread it around.

And no bashing other people's comments!

You know what? I'm picking Boo. Yeah, okay, she's a very tiny woman. Who cares? She's silly and fun and adorable, and looking at an icon of her always makes me feel better, and she learns how to be brave right before our eyes. I heart that so much that I really wish I had the time to rewatch Monsters Inc. before I leave for work, but I don't, damn it.

Now you go. :)

EDIT: Guys, if you want to do more than one character, go nuts. The more, the merrier, right? \o/

Comments

[beanarie.livejournal.com]

Hyacinth Bucket Boo-KAYYY. Not one woman on this list possesses a more indomitable spirit than this cheery lunatic. She knows what she wants, she goes for it, and God help whoever tries to discourage her.

[vorpalblades.livejournal.com]

Definitely Claire the Keeper. Man, she is one of my all-time favorite women of TV.

[irenak.livejournal.com]

Let me just give a huge "Seconded!" to this choice, because I adore Beatrice. Hands down, my favorite Shakespeare heroine: stubborn, snarky and refuses to back away from a fight. Love her.

Re: Doctor Who

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Me too! She's brilliant, she's tough and smart, and she's making me fall in love with the show all over again.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yay for Pepper! She doesn't have to date her boss, but she could if she wanted to, and if he weren't such an ass. She's smart and tough and she's good at her job.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Oh, Dana! My science-heroine crush for life. *worships*

[vorpalblades.livejournal.com]

I'm probably going to be the only person who puts this, but Janette from Forever Knight. The woman knew who (and what) she was and was not afraid to run with it.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yay for Dana! So smart, so independent, so amazing.

[irenak.livejournal.com]

Nobody's mentioned Dani Reese yet, so - Detective Dani Reese from Life. Who's saddled with a partner she never wanted and doesn't talk to her hero-cop father because she realized at too young an age he wasn't one of the good guys and tries to avoid AA and forming emotional attachments through casual sex. She's stubborn and flawed and as fucked up as anyone but is also smart and loyal and so badass she'll stare down a man who invades her home simply because she refuses to be a victim.

A shout-out also to Lt. Karen Davis - Dani's boss and occasional agony aunt. A woman who'd like nothing better than to see Charlie Crews gone from her precinct because of all the trouble he brings, but is an honest, tough cop through and through even when it'd be more politically expedient for her to be otherwise.

Seriously, I love them both so very, very much.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Oh, Faith. You rock.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Eowyn is brilliant! She's tough and she rides and she can go to war and be freaked out by it all, and still keep on going. That's courage.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Movie!Vesper is made of win. She was kick-ass at her job, and didn't put up with Bond's bullshit.

[irenak.livejournal.com]

And Eames, like her spiritual ancestor, is the better marksman of the two, too. :)

[vass]

All the women from Dykes To Watch Out For. Which is 95% of the characters. I can't pick just one. They're real and funny and flawed and hopeful and diverse.

Phryne Fisher from Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher detective novels. She has no guilt or shame. She solves crimes. She drives a fast car, and flies a plane. This is in 1928. She saves women from desperate situations. She picks out beautiful young men and sleeps with them, then sends them away when she's had enough.

Joy Merriweather from Drop The Dead Donkey. She's the PA from hell. She released scorpions in her boss's desk drawer because he was rude to her. She gave a coworker a black eye for trying to break up another coworker's relationship just for fun. She responds to requests like "A cup of coffee would be lovely, Joy," with a scowling "Oh, wouldn't it, though!"

Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. She is witty, funny, and self-critical. She's able to change her mind when she's wrong. She's able to puncture other people's pretention. She's loyal to her family, even when they're in the wrong, but her loyalty doesn't cloud her clear-eyed assessment of them. She conducts herself well in a society that makes that very difficult.

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Rayyan Hamoudi from "Little Mosque on the Prairie"

She's a devout, hijab-wearing Muslim feminist. Which, really... I could stop there. She's also a doctor, with an awesomely sarcastic sense of humour. And also, totally willing to stab someone with a fork in order to get around that "can't touch someone of the opposite gender that I'm not related to" rule.

Stuart/Goth Girl from "Rent-A-Goalie"

Loyal BFF to the show's central character she may be, but that doesn't mean she's afraid to speak up and tell Cake he's acting like an idiot. Or to literally knock some sense into him when he strays off the path of his "Code for Living Right". Also, she co-owns a flower shop/sex shop. AND she's a fucking awesome goalie.

Superintendent Maggie Norton from "The Border"

She's the sweet, kind, motherly figure for the team... who's also a crack shot with a gun and possesses the kind of interrogation skills that can reduce a hardened serial killer to a sobbing mess.

Um. Apparently all my kickass women today are from semi-obscure Canadian television. Yay?

Re: Doctor Who

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Fifth. I wrote an essay about the rockingness that is Donna.

-blue

[serrico.livejournal.com]

Seconded!

(...Our icons of Timey-Wimey People entertain me. :)

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Olive from Pushing Daisies. She could easily have turned into the Evil Scheming Harridan Who Wants To Break Up Chuck and Ned, but instead she's turned out to be a funny, combative ex-jockey with a big enough heart to befriend her romantic rival and wish her well.

Also, she sings. And I saw Kristin Chenoweth in concert tonight, so I've got her on the brain.

-blue

[serrico.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I wish I had one *hundredth* of Janette's poise/self-sustainability/fashion sense.

[serrico.livejournal.com]

Maggie is awesome. Awe. Some. Period.

(Semi-obscure Canadian TV yay!)

[hobbit-feet.livejournal.com]

YES ON BOTH OF THESE! Particularly Bailey who is hilarious and tough and will not put up with your shit while still being profoundly compassionate.

[the-jackalope.livejournal.com]

Princess Eilonwy from The Chronicles of Prydain. I LOVE her. I have wanted to be her FOREVER. She's spunky and smart. She doesn't take anything form anyone, and she lets you know when she's annoyed with you. But she's also caring, and loving. And I HEART her.

[silverkit.livejournal.com]

-Every single lady ever penned by Tamora Pierce.
Alanna, Tris, Sandry, Kel, Ally, Dane, Lalassa, Daja, Lark, Beka, Rosethron, Evy, Buri, too many to fit in this comment space. If Tammy wrote her she's resourceful, smart, skilled in some trade, flawed and yet able to overcome or accept that part of herself, smart and kick ass in either brains, or brawn. In general it feels like she'll walk off the page at any moment. Some of my first, and still my best, role models.

-Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena. Yes, they're both out of their minds, but boring, weak or broken they ain't!

-Promise from Rob Thurman's Nightlife series. Classy, smart, elegant and able to kick your sorry butt from one end of the block to the other without putting a hair out of place. A perfect romantic match for Niko.

-Abby Bartlett, from the West Wing. Because she's funny, sharp and smart, but knows when to admit that she done wrong.

[gulliblesnail.livejournal.com]

Detective Kathy Swanson, from Torchwood! Oh, I so wish she were a regular character. She provided this wonderful balancing force as a wary ally who was thoroughly unimpressed with Jack's flirting and Torchwood's freedom to do whatever they liked. I loved her because she was someone to hold them accountable and she made the show more fun with her fantastically snarky sense of humor.

[adiva_calandia]

(Here via crazylittleme.)

Clarice Starling, of Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal (I vastly prefer Jodie Foster to Julianne Moore, but that's less relevant here), is who I want to be when I grow up. She hauls herself up and out of a life she dislikes, rises to the top of her field, and no matter what Hannibal Lecter may think, she turns out to be his match. There's a moment in SotL where she steps into an elevator filled with FBI guys -- she comes up no higher than their shoulders, and she gives them all a polite smile, and I never fail to pump my fist. I'm short, I'm semi-athletic, and if I could grow up to be Clarice, I would be thrilled. (Although maybe minus the fixation by a psychotic serial cannibal.)

Vicki Nelson, from Tanya Huff's Blood books and the TV series Blood Ties, is flawed, angry, hurting, tough, and Is Not Going To Stand For Your Shit. Not even if Your Shit is demon-summoning, werewolf-killing, or zombie-raising. Especially not then. And she could take Anita Blake even before she [SPOILER].

Nita Callahan, from Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, is maybe the best teenage heroine I've ever read. (Okay, I'm biased -- I RP her.) She's smart and funny, courageous and self-sacrificing, and yet still a human, teenage girl who doesn't know how to handle her crush on an older boy, is scared of dying, and doesn't always fit into her high school.