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

Kate Austen, Lost

[lostinapapercup.livejournal.com]

I know Kate's liked in some corners, and although I've yet to meet someone in person who has a serious problem with her, the internet is a completely different story.

I like Kate because, like all of Lost's original crew of survivors, she's flawed. She's brave, she's protective, she's stubborn to a fault, and she's loyal to what attachments she has. I like her because her personal moral code, though imperfect, has reared its ugly head time and time again. I like her because she's genuinely attracted to two men but never once said I love you to either of them over the few months they were all together on the island. (I don't dismiss her I love him in season three by any means, but I do think Kate, Sawyer, and Jack were played like pawns in that arc and the admission was a forced one. And as I've said before, faced with Pickett's violence against someone I cared for, I probably would've given a dramatic recitation of One Hand In My Pocket if that's what he'd wanted.)

I like Kate for her self-preservation instinct and for not being able to shoot the dying marshal, for climbing trees like a monkey and for liking Patsy Cline, for her restlessness and for snatching up the Halliburton when Sawyer dropped it from a tree, for being unable to resist a chocolate bar the first time she saw the pantry in the hatch and even for being uncertain about both Sawyer and Jack.

I've always thought that with how overprotective and controlling Jack can be with her and with Sawyer's spilling her secret and later playing her for the gun con it wasn't too hard to get why she'd be unsure about where each of them stood with her and where she stood with them, regardless of her personal issues.

There are things I wish the writers would emphasize more or less in her storyline, sure, but I always fail to understand why there's quite so much vehement Kate hate out there.

Re: Kate Austen, Lost

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

The most common reason for hating Kate I've seen is her part in the Jack/Sawyer/Kate-love triangle, and while she might be frustrating at times, Jack and Sawyer are just as bad and often worse, and all of their personalities play a part in how the relationships between then work out. I do often have trouble getting what exactly makes Kate Kate, but I love that she is competent and out for herself, and that she isn't quite capable of staying still and yet holds onto the roots she has. I'm not sure if the writers always get her either, but she's fascinating.

Re: Kate Austen, Lost

[lostinapapercup.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the most common reason I see, too. And I can understand that to a certain extent, but not from those groups of fans who only like Kate so long as things are looking good between her and the guy of their choice or the fans who hate Kate for the things she's done yet think, say, Locke or Sawyer are blameless and virtuous.

Every single character on the show is pretty dysfunctional, and I get why the three in the triangle are there and even think a few priceless moments have come of it but also feel as though the writers are sometimes too focused on the triangle for the sake of it being a triangle and not because of each character's issues.

That said, I do feel like I get why Kate didn't make an on-island choice in the few months she was there, and I'm not surprised she and Jack tried to have a relationship in the time they've been off. I also think I'll understand if she's conflicted when she and Sawyer see each other again, which I'm sure will happen.

But the more the creative team and the good folks at ABC hype it up everywhere -- especially by making things worse by turning it into a quadrangle and dropping hints about that -- the less natural it all feels to everybody.

Re: Kate Austen, Lost

[bofoddity.livejournal.com]

The writers do like to push the triangle in the center of attention when there's no need for it, so I agree with you it. I do find it funny, though, that the triangle is all about all three characters being at their worst, and if the writers approached it more from "this is dysfunctional" angle than from "who will Kate pick" angle, it would be a lot more interesting.

And I do understand why Kate didn't make a choice on the island. We might have known them for years, but the characters themselves have known each other for much shorter time, and with all the stress they went through there was no time for romantic decisions. I'm sure she will have a pile of issues to deal with by the time she meets Sawyer again.

Re: Kate Austen, Lost

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

Kate is my faaaavorite. I think she's so beyond the pigeonholing of a love triangle. She's really smart and wiley and compassionate to a fault, which is my favorite thing about her. And I love her as a mother to Aaron and the way she gained the upperhand in her relationship with Jack once they got off the island.