liz_marcs | Fictional Women Who Rock My World: Soldiers (Part 2/4)

Current Mood: artistic

Fictional Women Who Rock My World: Soldiers (Part 2/4)

Continued from Fictional Queens Who Rock My World and continued in Fictional Working Women Who Rock My World and Fictional Lovable Scoundrels and Witches Who Rock My World.

This one is all about the soldiers, the ones who wear a military uniform, and the ones who don't.

Soldiers

Major Kira Nerys from Deep Space Nine

As soon as Kira Nerys was old enough to pick up a gun, she took up life as a Bajoran resistance fighter to drive the occupying Cardassians off her homeworld. From there, she got a commission in the military, became the military attaché (however unhappily) between Bajor and the Federation, was the Gal Friday to the Emissary of the Prophets (think "Jesus" of the Bajoran religion), became the military adviser to the newborn Cardassian resistance fighting against Dominion occupation of their homeworld, before ending up as military governor of Deep Space Nine itself.

Kira's sense of humor is definitely not human (a subtle and important distinction...she's not humorless, she just doesn't get human senses of humor). Her diplomatic skills are non-existent. She's prickly, stubborn, and will argue you into the ground when she thinks she's right.

Funny enough, she's right more often than she's wrong, and that's even when she's duking it out with Sisko (said Emissary) himself.

Kira is Star Trek's version of a Horatio Algier hero. The twist? She's not a guy.

Oh, Kira, how much I adore you, crinkly Bajoran nose and all.

Kira's character-defining quote comes in "Crossover," the first Mirror Universe (aka, the Spock with a Beard Universe) episode in which the Deep Space Nine denizens must deal with their nastier, eviler selves:

Mirror Sisko: What do you care about Terrans' freedom?
Kira: I care about freedom! What I don't understand is why you don't care.

Lt. Commander Susan Ivonava from Babylon 5

Ahhhhh, Ivonava. I could write epic poetry about your sheer awesomeness. The quintessential commanding officer who has no patience for fools (and she sees feels everywhere), the perpetual cynic, the dry Russian sense of fatalistic humor, Queen of the C&C, and natural-born leader.

Also, a really shaky diplomat. And it seemed that her friend, commanding officer, and mentor Captain Sheridan simply delighted in pushing her into diplomatic situations. The more, the better. To be fair, he wanted her to get experience so she would be better equipped to advance her military career, and she did tend to get results. But her flailing to get from Point A to Point B was always good for hilarity, mostly because Ivanova was such a goddess at everything else.

Seriously, though. Ivanova's awesomeness simply can't be put into words. You can only watch in awe and applaud every time she lets loose with her pungent observations about life on Babylon 5.

Here's Ivanova being her awesome self after a science team decided not to follow her direct orders and nearly got themselves killed because of it:

Ivanova: And just one more thing. On your trip back, I'd like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra: "Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!"

Kitty Pryde from the X-Men and Excalibur eras

I feel bad for young girls reading comics today. All the superheroines look like supermodels.

When I was a wee girl, I had Kitty! Kitty, who did not look like a supermodel. Kitty, who was young and scared and learning the ropes. Kitty, who was fighting to figure out just what this super-heroing thing was, let alone the random bad guys. Kitty, who thought and acted, well, just like me I guess.

Kitty made the X-Men for me. In fact, she was the X-Men for me. When she left the X-Men for Excalibur, I went with her and hung on to that title until the bitter, bitter end because, well, it was Kitty.

Kitty wasn't perfect or sure about anything, but she was perfect enough just the way she was.

So, three cheers for Kitty, a superheroine who spoke to young girls who loved comic books. I despair we'll never see her like grace the comics books any time soon (and that includes her most recent comic book incarnations).

Kitty, from her Excalibur days, surveying the damage to the team's home/headquarters:

Kitty: You ever notice how we always seem to wreck where we live a lot more effectively than any bad guys we fight ever do?

Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I know. Everyone loves Buffy. Don't get me wrong. I like Buffy, but I love Faith. She's a screw-up. Yes, surely she is. And no matter what she does, it seems everyone will look at her like she's second-best.

Yeah, she went mad with power. She murdered people. She conspired to pull off an apocalypse. Yet...I could almost understand where she was coming from. And in the end, Faith put her money where her mouth was, owned up, and took society's punishment for her crimes.

But as soon as she was needed to save lives (namely from one Angelus), she was out of jail and damn the consequences. When that was over, she willingly went back to Sunnydale with all of its bad memories so she could help, even though she knew she'd be as welcome as a poisonous snake.

Love her. Hate her. At the end of the day, Faith deserves props for picking herself up after falling so far and striving to be something — someone — better.

Faith just after her prison breakout to Connor, who's giving her problems over her plan to put down Angelus so he can be resouled:

Faith: Are you a murderer? 'Cause I am. If it comes down to you or Angelus, you haven't shown me a thing to make me want to take your side.

So let's hear it for the kick-ass fighters, who can get things done when no one else can.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As far as superheroines who don't look like supermodels, have you ever read Runaways? Gert's a cool superheroine who doesn't look like a supermodel, and she certainly has a power we've all wanted at one time or another: pet velociraptor.

There's also the main characters of Gunnerkrigg Court, though that's a webcomic. They're not warriors, but they are strong female comic characters who aren't drawn as ridiculous caricatures of women.

I gave up on comics a few years ago (mostly for financial reasons). I know in theory there are superheroines out there who don't look like supermmodels, but it seems every time I stick my toe back in, that's exactly what I'm getting. :-(

No arguments with any of those, but no Sam Carter?

Sam annoys me. I don't know why, but she does. I can see why a lot of people do like her, tho. It's just that she's not my cuppa. Probably because I prefer women who are slightly more abrasive.

What that says about me, I don't know....

I so totally agree with you on Faith. Buffy always annoyed me because she was so often totally hypocritical and unthinking in her beliefs. For example, her insistance that soul=good. Faith, on the other hand, was someone you with whom you'd always know where you were. Admittedly that might be on the ground groaning in pain... but you'd *know*! :-)

omg *yes*!

Buffy is a bitca!

That's one of many many reasons Joss rocks (anti-feminst my ass).

Yet, strangely, I keep thinking to myself, "Joss, not nearly as much as a feminist as he thinks."

I guess it all comes down to point of view on that one. I think a lot of it is because he tends to aggrandize his accomplishments more than a little bit, i.e., there were plenty of kickass female leads who held down their own show years before Buffy was a glint in his eye, and there were a lot of strong women on teevee both before and during the Buffy run.

So, yeah...while I think Joss's heart is in the right place, I also kind of resent it when he tries to lay claim to some things as "feminist firsts" when its demonstratively not true.

*shrugs* Different strokes there, I guess.

But on another note, yeah, I agree that when Buffy would get on her self-righteous horse and dismiss other people's opinions even when they had a good point because She Said So, my teeth would grind in frustration.

Oh no, I do agree with you on that; sure he's down with equality but he's hardly striking massive blows for womankind.

It's just that a couple months ago, there was some woman who posted a rant on LJ saying Joss was a misogynist who probably rapes his wife.

Takes all sorts, I guess...

I dunno, I agree with you in that Joss is not the first to be doing all this pro-lady stuff. I've never heard of Joss mentioning how great he is, or how he's the first one to have done it, or anything, but my reaction in favour of Joss is related to the fact I read some rabid woman once posting how Joss hates women because in Firefly the women call Mal 'sir'. Nothing to do with the fact that he's their captain and all the men call him sir as well, of course.

Total agreement with you on Ivanova and Kira. Ivanova was always my favourite characters on B5 (and her absence was one of the main reasons I gave up on season 5. Byron was the other major reason - eurgh. The rest of the suckitude in general did not help, but Ivanova would have made it better!). And yes, watching her deal with people diplomatically was always a laugh. My favourite scene was the one where the two arguing aliens follow her into the lift and the doors close. And when they open again she's tearing them both new ones... "And if you have any more problems with your seating, I will be happy to move your chairs out the door, down the corridor, and INTO THE FUSION REACTOR!"

Kira was just fantastic with her absolute determination not to give in to anyone ever, even on those rare occasions when she was wrong. The way she'd just get up into people's faces and refuse to back down was awesome, especially when she was doing the speaking through bared teeth and smiling thing. :-)

I was a bit more ambivalent about Kitty (although I liked Excalibur - well, I liked it when Alan Davis was doing it, because he was a very VERY strange person, but always lots of fun :-) - I liked her, but found her a bit dull. Of course, I was more into the New Mutants than main X-Men, and by the time I got into the major team, Kitty had left.

And Faith - yeah, I can't argue with that. She always gave 100 percent, regardless of whether it was right or wrong. No half-measures on THAT girl. I may not have always liked her (actually, there were many times when I loathed her), but I always respected her for sticking to her guns.

Looking forward to the last two parts of this series!

Heeee! Thank you. The last two parts are finally up!

Great choices, all! And now I am mouring the lack of a Faith icon.

I have only two Faith icons. One saying "Oh shit!" and my Living History one.

It's kind of odd that I don't have more myself.

You know who I'd add to the soldiers? Betan Survey Captain Cordelia Naismith (Vorkosigan).

I want to be Cordelia when I grow up.

Amen!

I'm not familiar with the Vorkosigan saga. It's one of those series that's on my "must read" list. Which I'll get to. Eventually.

What can I say but ditto. And one of my favorite Ivanova quotes, "No boom today, boom tomorrow." I loved that Russian sense of humor.

Kitty made the X-Men for me too, although it sounds like I bailed earlier than you. I salute you for sticking through the bitter end.

Yeah, Excalibur fell of a cliff, didn't it? It's astounding how fast the quality went down in that comic.

You know, I've always loved Faith the most of all the women on the shows (Cordelia runs a close second). I love her for all the resons you listed and then some. She *owned* her sexuality in a way none of the other female characters did, and in a way that said "If you call me a slut for it, I'll rips your balls out through your nostrils!" And you believed her. Pure awesome.

Yes! Exactly!

And she's the only character in the whole of the Buffy-verse that wasn't made to pay for owning her sexuality, either.

Aaah, Kira Narys, my favourite TV character not created by Joss Whedon!

Actually in some ways Kira reminds me rather a lot of Buffy. An older Buffy who's been through the mill a couple more times.

Not just the surface thing of both being kick-ass women; they seem to me to share some of the same strengths and weaknesses. The defiant, never-give-up spirit. The capacity, at their best, for showing deep, fierce compassion; and at their worst, for utterly uncompromising self-righteousness.

Then compare: Dukat-Kira, with(S5) Spike-Buffy. You can pretty much transplant some of the lines:

"You can't deny that there's something between us."
"Yes! Loathing! Revulsion!"

(oslt) - from Buffy, but very, very close to some of Kira and Dukat's exchanges.

Want to know what's surprising?

The writers originally wanted to make Kira/Dukat a 'ship, and Nana Visitor not only put her foot down, but put it squarely in the writers' collective asses.

Whatever argument she made, the writers were not only willing to listen to her, they never went through with the 'ship. What's more, they never held it against the actress. In fact, they've come out and said that she was right, but they had been so blinded by the chemistry between the two actors that they didn't stop to think that pairing them up would ultimately ruin the characters and would make. no. sense. for Kira to go down that route.

So, you're more on-target than you think. Heee!

I did not know that. Well done Nana Visitor! God, what a horrendous move that would have been. Waaaay worse than B/S, which at least had some logic in the context of Buffy's state of mind in S6.

But yeah, the way those two worked together added a lot to the show - including how it helped the exploration of Dukat's imperialist mentality, and that whole occupation/resistance dynamic in a very personalised way.

Wait... Aeryn Sun?

I like Aeryn, but she wasn't the female character in Farscape who rocked me world.

It was Chiana. :-)

Oh, Chiana. I love her so. She fell but hard, all the time, and it was how she picked herself up [often without any help at all] that made me love her. I think I loved them both the same. Aeryn and Chiana. Farscape is where my all times OTP comes from, John & Aeryn. [Of course CB and BB's insane chemistry was a major factor but I digress.]

Chi is ♥

Ivonava!!! I love her SO SO MUCH and that scene you quoted? Probably one of the best EVER! :D Thanks for both these great posts!

Glad you're enjoying them!

I've finally completed the list! Hooray!

<3's for all your choices.

Maaan, I miss Ivanova. She just broke my heart every time she got her heart broken, but she was so damn cool with everything she did on top of that.

And Faith, yes. *holds up lighter but does not request Freebird*

Yay for Ivanova!

I think I watched the first season strictly for her and Garibaldi. If it weren't for those two, I might've given up on Babylon 5 in the middle of Season 1.

Seriously. It got more comprehensible as time went on, but no one except those two really *hooked* me until Londo made his declaration about looking stunning in purple. (heh.) Season 2 was a lot easier; I don't know if Sheridan was just easier to make sense of, rather than Sinclair, or if Mira Furlann out of a bone-headdress costume was easier to figure out, but ... yeah.

Long live the Drazi!

Ro Laren, now there was a feisty Bajoran.

Ro Laren was okay. I wasn't overly fond of her, although that could be because she didn't have a whole lot of character development beyond what was absolutely necessary on Next Gen.

True enough DS9 did a much better job of that. Course, I think the real reason I prefer Ro over Kira is that I much prefer Michelle Forbes over Nana Visitor as an actress. It also didn't hurt that I had a minor crush on Forbes back in College.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fictional Women Who Rock My World: Soldiers (Part 2/4)

Interesting List

Re: Interesting List

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Another Bajoran

Re: Another Bajoran

Re: Another Bajoran