The Unpopular Woman Love Post

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

It's pretty natural that some female characters do worse in fandom than others, right? And sometimes it's difficult, if not downright impossible, to find a place where you can fan these characters in peace, or fellow fans to fan them with. Not to mention trying to find fanworks about them. Experience says: It hard.

So, stealing the idea shamelessly from doyle_sb4's Women of Doctor Who celebration post, here is a love post for the unpopular female characters. Like in doyle_sb4's post, you start a thread with the character's name and their respective fandom in the subject line, after which people are free to share fic and vid recs, picspams, links to essays, defenses or simply thoughts of love about the character in question. Because unpopularity is a subjective thing most of the time, the character doesn't have to be somebody you know to be the fandom underdog for sure, but if the character also has a large number of fans it would be good to give some reasons about why they're hated and why it's wrong. Links to the character threads will be collected in this post.

Being a post for unpopular characters, this is a bashing free post. If you have any negative opinions about the characters discussed or the fandom rivals of the character of your choice, please keep them to yourself.

And now, knock yourselves out!

ETA: The character and the fandom should both be named in the subject line, I forgot to mention the fandom initially. Sorry about the inconvenience!

ETA 2: If you want to share you thoughts about a character who has a thread, please reply to the thread in question. General comments and threads for new characters go to the main post.

Threads:

Diana Fowley, X-Files (Vid rec, Fic Recs, Fic recs)
Jennifer Hailey, Stargate: SG1
Sakura, Naruto (Fic recs, Author rec)
Dawn Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Anastasia Dualla, Battlestar Galactica (Comic rec, Reasons why Dee is awesome)
Lana Lang, Smallville (Vid recs)
Maya Herrera, Heroes (Vid rec)
Relena Peacecraft, Gundam Wing (Fic recs)
Cally Henderson-Tyrol, Battlestar Galactica
Gwen Cooper, Torchwood
Jennifer Keller, Stargate: Atlantis (Community link, Fic recs, Fic recs)
Niki Sanders
Freya/Anise, Stargate: SG1 (Fic rec)
Maria Hill, Marvel Comics
Thirteen/Dr. Remy Hadley, House MD (Picspam links)
Bela Talbot, Supernatural (Fic rec, Fic)
Shiori Takatsuki, Revolutionary Girl Utena
Tifa Lockhart, Final Fantasy VII
Max Guevara, Dark Angel (Vid rec, Fic rec)
Elizabeth Swann, Pirates of the Caribbean (Author rec)
Cynthia Velasquez, Silent Hill 4
Allison Cameron, House MD (Meme rec)
Liz Sherman, Hellboy
Dr. Camille "Cam" Saroyan, Bones
Ruby, Supernatural
Chloe Sullivan, Smallville
Sakaki Ouka, Weiss Kreuz
Jo Harvelle, Supernatural
Inara Serra, Firefly (Fic Rec)
Lt. Colonel Hollis Mann, NCIS
Director Jenny Shepard, NCIS
Lilly Kane, Veronica Mars
Kate Austen, Lost
Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis (Link, vid rec)
Alex Drake, Ashes to Ashes
Anya Jenkins, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Fic recs)
Koriand'r, DC Comics
Sam Carter, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis
Ana Lucia, Lost
Padme Amidala, Star Wars
Arwen, The Lord of the Rings
Martha Jones, Doctor Who/Torchwood
Kennedy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lois Lane, Smallville
Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter
Shmi Skywalker, Star Wars
Mai, Avatar: The Last Airbender (Fic links, Fic links & recs)
Keiko Yukimura, Yu Yu Hakusho
Orihime Inoue, Bleach
Yakumo Tatsuro, Shinzo
Sakuno Ryuzaki, The prince Of Tennis
Tenten, Naruto
Anzu Mazaki, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Temari, Naruto
Himawari, xxxHOLiC
Karen Kouzuki/Kallen Stadtfeld, Code Geass
Yuuki Miaka, Fushigi Yuugi
Meg Griffin, Family Guy
Elliot Reid, Scrubs
Princess Zelda, Legend of Zelda series/Brawl
Mizuki Kaho, Card Captor Sakura
Colette Brunel, Tales of Symphonia
Kaoru Kamiya AND Tomoe Yukishiro, Rurouni Kenshin
Ninian, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Katara, Avatar: The Last Airbender (Vid rec)
Naomi Hunter, Metal Gear Solid
Scheris Adjani, Scryed
Silk Spectre II/Laurie Juspeczyk, Watchmen
Jun the Swan, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Hinata Hyuuga, Naruto
Momo Hinamori, Bleach
Miyako Inoue, Digimon 02
Misa Amane, Death Note
Juri Katou, Digimon Tamers
Asuka Tenjoin, Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Comments

Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[such_heights]

Enemy no. 1 as far as some parts of fandom are concerned, she gets a lot of flack for every mistake she's ever made, not to mention having the audacity to make Jack and Ianto's relationship more complicated. I adore her, for her flaws and her strengths, for her compassion and her ballsy approach to everything life throws at her. I can't imagine the show without her. <3

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

I LOVE GWEN. I love her because she's flawed, because she sometimes does terrible things, and she's one of the REALEST characters I've ever seen--they're not afraid to seriously push her right to the edge of sympathetic and Myles' fucking awesome mad skills always manage to keep me in love with her. And considering the total insanity of her fictional universe, she's also incredibly brave and strong, without being impervious to emotional damage. I don't think I will ever get tired of her.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

She gets shot, she gets back on her feet. She breaks, she screams, she cries, she laughs, she loves--

GOD, I love this woman.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[sandrine]

I love Gwen, because in a show of absurdities and alienness, she's so deeply human. She's a strong woman, but real enough to have her moments of weakness and her breakdowns. She's likable not only despite but because of all her flaws and bad choices. I'm not sure if I'm going to watch S3, but if I do, it'll be mainly because of Gwen.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Gwen is the most relatable character on the show. I've never understood the hate.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[mimarie.livejournal.com]

I adore Gwen Cooper.

She's complex, ambiguous, contradictory and straight to the point. She has me on the edge of my seat, unsure how she'll react, she's so utterly real. I can cringe when she opens her mouth and in the next breath be cheering her on. I love her flaws and how much she feels (and enjoys, and loves, and cares about, and misses utterly, and suffers, and screws up) everything in her life. I love how horribly well I feel her pain when everything goes wrong for her, how she makes me stop and think when she tries to have everything and ends up crying into her pizza (that still makes me shiver. I loved her before that, but I fell for her - and Eve Myles - utterly then), and how much strength she makes me feel capable of when she gets up and gets on with it again.

Why is she so hated? Mainly, I think, because she has a spark with Jack that refuses to go away, no matter who each of them is with. There's always a danger (or hope!) that something might just happen between them. I don't understand the hate at all. If you try and ignore Gwen, or deny her impact on the other characters, then you take away a huge source of conflict, and then what's left of the show?

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[stellastars]

...and ends up crying into her pizza (that still makes me shiver. I loved her before that, but I fell for her - and Eve Myles - utterly then)...

I'm so glad to see someone else mention that scene! It has always struck me as one of the "most-true" moments for the character, the show, and, well, a whole lot of other shows, too. Because who hasn't felt like just *sobbing* like that?

I like Gwen for her strengths and her flaws, but in that moment I simply *adored* her. (And, of course, love for Eve Myles, too!)

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[girl-wonder.livejournal.com]

I think what I love the most about Gwen is how she chose Rhys and how she clearly loves him, and how despite her life changing all around her, she is still so stable when people need her the most.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[jerel.livejournal.com]

I think it's when she's interacting with Rhys that I like her the most. The fight they have in "Meat," when she reveals that she's working for Torchwood, made me feel a little uncomfortable, because it felt so realistic. I felt like I was intruding on the moment. But I also like the little "couple" moments, like when he brings her toast in bed, or he calls her to set the DVR.

Another thing I like about Gwen is when she's in "policewoman" mode. When she's trying to talk calmly to someone who, for the rest of us, would make us run the other way very fast. (Lisa in Cyberwoman is the only example I can think of right now.) Or when she's trying to stay calm but you can see her start to crack. This happens several times in "Countrycide."

Plus, Eve Myles is pretty awesome. :) I love her laugh! And in "End of Days"? When she discovers Rhys' body and when she's yelling at Jack? My G-d, I was glued to the set.

I can't say she's my favourite character, but I also don't understand the hate-on the fandom has for her.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[coneyislandbaby]

I really, really do not understand the hate on for Gwen in fandom. I never have and I never will. The other characters have done things just as bad, if not worse, than she has, and none of them are held up and vilified in the same way she is.

And I don't understand people thinking she'll take Jack from Ianto. If Jack really wanted her, he'd have her. He's Jack. There's got to be a reason he hasn't gone after her.

Re: Gwen Cooper, Torchwood

[oz-the-bobble.livejournal.com]

I freely admit that I used to be a Gwen-Hater. She annoyed me, for the fact that she brought in her 'perfect humanity', and never really got any comeback for cheating on Rhys.

Recently, though, I've come to love her. I think throughout series 2, she grows as a character (hell, all of them do - but Gwen's the one I didn't like before, so) and I freaking goddamn love the bit in Journey's End when she rings Rhys to tell him she loves him.

I WAS CONVERTED TO GWEN'S LOVE. I think... she's got the jokey friend thing going on. In my head she's like my more popular older sister, who might do things without thinking that hurt me, but she'll always try and make it back up to me.