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

Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[tielan]

The first four things I heard about Teyla from other people were:

"Oh, she's just Sheppard's 'yes' girl."
"She's the tits and ass - the eye candy. She doesn't have a purpose in the show beyond that."
"How can you possibly like her? She's got no personality!"
"Her people are primitives, what's interesting about that?"

And although people might have gotten a little quieter about it over the last couple of years, there's still a "well, there's no place for someone like her in my version of Atlantis" current that runs through the fandom (and, sadly, the show).

Me? I adore her. There's something to be said for an emotionally strong, physically capable, and intellectually sharp woman, who doesn't apologise for what she is and doesn't have to be snarky or 'feminist' to count herself worthy of notice.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[ryf.livejournal.com]

I like Teyla :)

She's got her own culture and struggles like any human would with adjusting to the Atlantis way, yet she never gives up her identity.

And also, she kicks ass.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[azure-horizon.livejournal.com]

Five reasons why Teyla should be fanned

Season 1: She left her people, NOT to become Sheppard's 'yes girl' (so true, Tielan :() but to help fight the Wraith. She trusted in a people she had never even heard of before, let alone had any real experience with.
Season 2: She had enough humanity to empathise with a Wraith turned human. Even though she didn't want to, she tried to identify with him through the fact that she had some Wraith DNA too. Imagine Weir doing that...

Season 3: She controlled a Wraith Queen in Submersion. Seriously, the writers have her powerful when they want and this was just great. Her determination to prove to the people of Atlantis that she was just as good as them... Go Teyla.

Season 4: Her determination to find her people - even when pregnant she kicked that guy's ass in Kindred pt 1. Lorne conceded to her role of command, when Sheppard had kind of given up on her 'vision'. She also did't flip out when she saw Carson come to rescue her, lol.

Season 5: After five years, tptb let her near a computer. The 'dumb indigenous' Athosian was let loose on the ship *shock horror*. I say, it was about time she got to do something other than stand around watching Sheppard and Rodney work on the computers while she was the moral voice. She had a family, made the decision to keep her child on Atlantis, she kicked Michael's ass. From what we seen in season 5, it would not have been shocking to hear Teyla didn't go back to Earth in EATG but she was loyal enough to the people and the cause to, in a sense, not leave them behind.

If that's not enough reason to love her, there sure is plenty of others :D

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[such_heights]

People hate on Teyla? Seriously? And wow, those are some seriously skeevy reasons too.

I LOVE HER SO.

I love how gracefully she walks the tightrope between her team, the Atlantis expedition as a whole, and her loyalty to her people. I love how centred she is in herself, how she's inherently peaceful and diplomatic but will kick your ass the instant it's necessary - she's firm but fair with everyone, always.

I love that she can defeat Wraith Queens - I love she can do that with the help of her unborn son, that her pregnancy was a strength. I love how she can function so unexpectedly as the emotional heart of the show, especially with John - her line of "I feel a great sadness" in 'Sunday' just destroys me, as does their conversation on the way to find Ronon in 'Sateda', as does her response to both Kate's death and John's uncertainty in 'Doppleganger'. I love that she booted Michael off the tower in 'The Prodigal', I love that she wouldn't give up looking for her people even when Atlantis didn't seem to care, and I am thrilled beyond belief she got to keep her son, find Kanaan, and I desperately hope fandom is working on writing her the magnificently happy ending she deserves - with her family, with the Athosians, with her team, back in Pegasus where both she and Atlantis belong.

Teyla is completely extraordinary - the problems in her story are the awful problems the writers had with trying (and not trying) to write about the people of Pegasus. She's become one of my favourite fictional characters ever, let alone on SGA.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[azure-horizon.livejournal.com]

Yes. That episode was entirely too sad but "I feel a great sadness" brought it all home.

Teyla links!

[such_heights]

Rachel Luttrell guestfaced on face_of_joe, which produced a lot of awesome and a lot of hilarity.

For vids, I recommend lim's Mission Report (scroll down on her vid page), which is a fascinating, offbeat look at Teyla's perspective, and 32 by keewick, which is a brilliantly layered character portrait of Teyla in relation to the various forces in her life, and I get something new from it every time I watch it.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

Teyla and Elizabeth were the only real adults in the show. I love her poise, maturity, and wisdom. She's the kind of strong that goes right through to the core.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I like way too many of the female characters on this list for my own good. That said, there are some that deserve being complained on by fandom more than others.

Teyla? In my mind totally doesn't deserve it. What exactly has the done? When I started watching SGA people always talked about her like she was the stereotypical alien big busted bimbo, but when exactly has she ever been that? Why do people act like she is a Mary Sue when she is anything but? She is not useless to the mission (and therefore annoying because she is being dragged along by the plot even though she is useless), not is she completely overpowered to the point where it becomes ridiculous (there are several other characters who fit the bill much more), she is neither perfect nor a secret bitch to others while being praised as a saint. She doesn't have people flocking to her and worshipping her without any basis (popular complaint against unpopular characters like Lana or Thirteen or Kate). She is played by a capable actress (so she doesn't fullfill the "played by a bad actress" complaint leveled against other unpopular characters) who is beautiful but not over the top annoying beautiful.

So really, what exactly has she ever done wrong? Why does she get such a bad rep?

IMO Teyla is the clear example of a character people judged just based on their own expectations and then never bothered to actually go and check whether she was anything like those negative expectations. Because she totally isn't. She is the antithesis of the untalented, useless, overeposed and worshipped for no reason character.

Teyla is the true underdog of SGA and it kills me that so many people apparently never gave her a chance (including the writers).

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[azure-horizon.livejournal.com]

including the writers

That's it, right there. She was never WRITTEN well... or written to her full potential and that, I fear, is where a lot of complaints come in about her.

Another one of my fave Teyla moments is in season 5's, The Queen. She does kick ass in this but again the PTW struck and she wasn't as 'kick ass' as she would have been in say, season 1. TPTW had difficulty with her before, but when RL became pregnant, they lost track of her character completely.

She was never given a chance, though why is beyond me. She was beautiful, smart and she tried her best to integrate while still being part of her own people. She was friendly with pretty much everyone - we saw her interacting with numerous members of the expedition (Kate, Lorne, Weir, her team, Michael, Carson) and the friendship was that - a friendship. She was equal to them (for the most part) as they were to her.

Re: Teyla Emmagan, Stargate Atlantis

[wingslapped.livejournal.com]

Well said. I'm looking forward to seeing more of what happens to her as I watch the show. I usually like slash, but I look forward to her scenes with Sheppard and Ronan. She is a good role model, and I would love to me more like her.