Meme Time: Defining Character Moments

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Oooh, it's a new one! We've done memes before about why you decided to play the characters you do. Here's a chance to ramble about that -- NOW WITH SPECIFICS!

Obviously we all love the characters we play for some reason or another. But why? Were there certain things they did or moments they had in canon that really stood out and grabbed you and made you say "okay, I have to play this character," or just "OMG I love you so hard?"

So tell me, because I love reading what you all have to say about your characters! What are some of the defining character moments that stuck with you? Let's say 3-5 moments as a general guideline, but if you've got more, go crazy; if there's only one but it's a good one, that's cool too. Bonus points for video links or quotes if you've got 'em, and I'm posting this one now so I can't be a dirty, dirty cheater and make my own YouTube clips ahead of time. Don't think I wasn't going to. >.>

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

Jack gets the best lines in New Amsterdam. This isn't me loving on my character; Elizabeth Bear admitted as much on her blog.

But the moment that made me fall in love with him is about 2/3 of the way through the first story of the collection. To give context, Sebastien was just outed as a vampire in the midst of a crowd that's quite ready to execute him for that. (They have reason to be twitchy; someone was just murdered.)

Sebastien, still blinking tears from his eyes, couldn’t see it. But he could imagine quite plainly that Jack paused, turned–slowly–and balled his hands into fists before pursing his lips into the most condescending consideration imaginable. He would stare the captain in the eye until Hoak flushed and dropped his gaze, and then he would drawl–

“Oh, I think not.”

It was as well that Sebastien’s face hurt too much for smiling, as he heard the hesitancy in the captain’s voice as he said, “Lad?”

“I’m of age,” Jack said. “Eighteen in December, before you ask, and also before you ask, I know everything I need to know about Sebastien de Ulloa. He saved my life, and you’ll have to kill me to take me away from him.” He lifted his chin, arms crossed, the smallest man in the room–shorter than two of the women, in fact–and though Sebastien couldn’t see it, he knew Jack glowered.

And then he gets to say ""every time a vampire says he doesn't believe in lycanthropes, a werewolf bursts into flames." and "I'm difficult" (which is what he tells Abby Irene when they're trying to work out both being Sebastien's courtesans; in that moment, it kills) and "Pray God, tell me you're not succumbing to vampire Angst."

How could I not want to play him?

[notmyownage]

1) "Well, Serendipity is my stripper name."
2) Okay, so the entire episode "Claudia". Not only is she genius enough to hack into Warehouse 13's computer systems and then manipulate the power center to spell out KNOCK KNOCK to freak Artie out, she's doing it all because she wants to save her brother. That's crazy sweet, right there.
3) *looking around at a room full of boxes and files* "Sweet! You can teach me all about scrapbooking!"
4) "I don't need any new-fangled equipment --" "Dude, don't worry, this is so totally old fangled."
5) Whatever the hell she did on that one preview that made me sit up and go "Oh hey, I should totally watch that show!"
6) *puts on labcoat that strengthens a person's individual magnetic field.* "Suck it, Magneto."

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

That whole KNOCK KNOCK thing scared the crap out of me. I couldn't figure it out until it was revealed in the episode. A great one at that. :D

Bel

[demonbelthazor]

This.



My favorite Cole scene -- he's finally got the Charmed Ones where he wants them, powerless and vulnerable, and he can't bring himself to kill Phoebe because he looooooooooooooves her. :D

How can I resist? I mean, it's not like I have a thing for characters struggling with the darkness inside them at all. Right?

[bitchprince]

So after about a year everyone here just about knows my 'okay, I have to play this character' moment, AKA The Moment Arthur Pendragon Owned Me For Good AKA That Not At All Subtexty Testing Fight With Lancelot just after he's smacked the boy in the face and told him to clean out the stables. It's the swaggering in, casually telling him he wouldn't be surprised if Lancelot was harbouring fantasies of hurting him but good right now, and then casually swaggering out as soon as he's gotten a good idea of Lance's abilities. (Well, and the verrah hot not at all euphemistic stickfight, of course)

I could start listing more S1 moments again, but let's face it, I've blabbed about those come hell and back, so my top 3 Season 2 Arthur moments it is.

1) dsafshdjfahkdjfhk like it's any surprise: Arthur finds out he was born of magic, walks back into the castle completely steel-faced, draws his sword while heading up the steps, walks into the throne room, has the guards dismissed, nearly fucking kills his father in his rage, is then lied to and finally has a colossal heroic Blue Screen of Death that ends in him sobbing into the floor. Hands down the Len-dies-in-keysmash-inferno moment of the series. Too bad they never followed through on it.
2) In the finale. Uther wants Arthur to stay in Camelot and not go out to face the dragon. Arthur finally stands up to his father, tells him where to stick it, and wins. And then, after gathering the first OH SO SUBTLE BBC incarnation of the knights of the round, rides off to his death (he thinks, anyway). Actually, the best moment probably comes the first time he stands up to his father in this ep (but I don't have the exact scene-- it's in this clip somewhere around 5 minutes ("My concern is for you!" "Mine is for Camelot." DO ME, ARTHUR. I mean...), along with the very OH ARTHUR-tastic bit later (about three minutes in, I'm guessing) where he rides out with what turns out to be a fatal dragon wound STILL ON HIS SHOULDER AND OOZING. Ahem.)
3) Morgause asks Arthur to put his head on a chopping block. And he does it. Because he made a vow. Yeah, I have a kink for noble!Arthur, and I have it bad, and it's just such an amazing 'yeah he's fucking crazy in an admirable way' scene.

And because I'm a colossal cheat and this season had too many awesome funny and slashy moments to count, I give you Top 19 A/M moments from Series 2. Because I love 'em all.

I will probably start babbling more again later. Fair warning.

[bitchprince]

... actually, I do have to name one S1 scene, just because of it. The end of Labyrinth of Gedref encapsulates Arthur in less than four minutes by ways of "You know me, Merlin: I never listen to you." Defiant, bitchy, brave, will do *anything* for his people... Arthur snarkily drinks poison for his people, and it's literally him in a nutshell.

"What kind of ridiculous test is that?!" Seriously. The most perfectly Arthur scene he has. Period.

/dorky fangirl

[scruffnfeathers]

You know, I have no idea what moment made me think I could play Castiel. I remember being very impressed by his first appearance (so freaking epic, omg) and I totally dug him as a conflicted noir detective type in "On the Head of a Pin", but it wasn't until the end of last season that he really started getting good.

This season . . . pick a Castiel moment and it's freaking sweet.

Favorite quote isn't even his: "He exploded . . . like a water balloon of chunky soup."

Some day, FH!Cass is just gonna have to explode, yo.

[likethegun]

Some day, FH!Cass is just gonna have to explode, yo.

*wibbles*

[life_inshadow]

I am so sad there's nothing on YouTube. Copyright, shmopyright.

1. The moment in "Who Are You?" when Willow's still hiding Tara from her friends, and Willow's doing her Babbly McBabbleson routine about it and claims she wants something that's hers and doesn't have to do with Buffy and Slaying, and Tara ends the conversation this way. "I am, you know. Yours."

2. "You learn her source, and, uh, we'll introduce her to her insect reflection ... Um, that was funny if you, um, if you studied Taglarin mythic rites... and are a complete dork." True story, this journal would be called insectreflection if there was any good way to get it to fit in the character limits.

3. The gang is talking about how Buffy's reacting to coming back from the dead. Tara says not to judge and tells an anecdote about how she reacted when her own mother passed away. Anya says Buffy is having sex with Spike, and Willow cautions everyone not to judge.

Tara says, "Are you kidding? She's nuts."

4. "You know I've been through hell/Willow don't you see/there'll be nothing left of me" during the "Under Your Spell" reprise in "Once More With Feeling." Amber Benson played the hell out of that whole thing. She loves Willow, but she can't be with her when she's abusing magic, and she'll do what she has to do to make that point.

5. "Well, I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's depressing." The scene wasn't anything special, but I love that line.

[weetuskenraider]

Gyah. #4 kills me every time.

[living_endless]

1. Her first appearance. No one loves me enough to scan my favorite panel, in which Death calls her little brother, "the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification on this, or any OTHER, plane!" and then hits him with a loaf of bread.

2. "I'm not blessed, or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to do, and I do it." Death lays out her raison d'etre as she talks to a woman who'd rather die than live with her powers. The fact this particular page was apparently inspired by Neil Gaiman being annoyed other DC writers were borrowing Death and misusing her doesn't make the monologue less beautiful.

3. "It's no harder to be nice than it is to be creepy. And it's much more fun." Didi finds a guy in a garbage dump, takes him home, patches hm up, and cheerfully snarks at him the whole time.

4. "If you know somebody really well, it's hard to be mad at them for very long. ... I know everybody really well." Didi explains why she's not pissed at having to spend part of her one day on earth on a wild goose chase.

5. No scans on this one, but the last moments with Dream in "The Kindly Ones." She hates everything about what she's doing, she's losing her favorite sibling to a suicide ... and she still takes his hand.

And then she apparently gives the most beautiful eulogy ever at his funeral. That's where this red dress icon comes from.

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading the issue where she appears for the first time and gives her brother a good scolding. :D So great!

[nevertobequeen.livejournal.com]

Almost all of my favorite Morgana moments deal with her and Uther, which might be me having issues, but whatever. I think the first moment I really sat up and wanted to play her was at the end of To Kill The King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILEtQ-tre0g) - Uther had Gwen's father killed for suspected sorcery, even though he was totally innocent, and Morgana just couldn't forgive him, so she met up with an assassin and helped him plan Uther's assassination (!!!). Then, when she took him out to her father's grave (where the assassins would strike)...well, you can see what happened.

And then, of course, there's one of my favorite moments from season two, when Morgana reached her breaking point (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2kp14LEwWI) in Uther's hatred of all things magical. Beware the glare of death!

[chosehumanity]

I toootally forgot to link it in mine, but speaking of the Witch's Quickening, how much fun was it to see Arthur and Morgana back in fine bitching form for all of two minutes after a whole season of nothing?

[sexonyoursheets.livejournal.com]

Seriously, mine can be boiled down to a whole bunch of one-liners ("No, seriously, I had sex with your mom. In your bed. Nice Star Wars sheets") and this clip:



That whole episode humanizes Puck a lot. He dates Rachel and genuinely seems to like her, (and is sad when she breaks up with him) even if he's only doing it because (a) his mom wants him to date a Jewish girl, and (b) Rachel appeared to him in a dream, because Puck is bizarre.

But singing Sweet Caroline in front of the whole club (with a random backup band) to impress her was very cute, I thought, and made him much more appealing than he had been. And it made me realize that I actually could play him, since he had more dimensions than just "jerk."

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Dude, yes. Up until that episode I felt like I could take or leave him and then that came along, and I was like, "Okay, I will totally give you a chance now."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

It's hard to pin down the exact moment I wanted to play Dinah; I was looking for a character with cheerfulness, and some sanity, as opposed to, you know, Parker. Someone more like Evie or Charlie, but with more backstory and canon to work with.

And the Birds of Prey DVD had just come out, and I was rewatching the cheesiness, and couldn't stop grinning at Dinah. Who, on being told she's snuck into the secret lair of two superheroes who are now debating if they kill people who do that ("We don't do that."- Barbara. "You don't." - Helena): bounces up from being knocked out to say, "You're superheroes. And you save people." *BOUNCE* "I want to join!"

Yeah, that was probably it. That and a little later, Barbara and Helena are debating who goes to the warehouse, who checks out the latest crime victim, and are handicapped by the fact that Helena can't be in two places at once, and Barbara can't get into a ruined warehouse in her chair...

Barbara and Helena: Debate debate damnit this is too difficult
Dinah: "I can go to the warehouse."
B & H: more debate, try to figure out how to manage this.
Dinah: "I can go to the warehouse!"
B& H: More debate, don't notice Dinah starting to bounce...
Dinah: "LET ME GO TO THE DAMN WAREHOUSE!"
B& H: ...*stare*
Dinah: *embarrassed la-la-la face*

But she also has some great, great moments later on in the series that sealed it for me; crying when her mom dies, and knocking out a bad guy sneaking up on Helena, and finally, not killing, not allowing to be killed, and then finally protecting the guy that killed her mom, when no one would've known if she'd failed to do so. Because it's The Right Thing To Do.

Ahem. And stealing Helena's clothes. *g*

[icecoldfrost]

I first fell in love with Emma Frost back at the very beginning, when she forced Ned Buckman to kill himself, and her characterization during the Phalanx Covenant arc leading into Generation X kinda sealed the deal for me.

I decided I needed to play her after AUing Anemone into Emma from Wolverine and the X-Men last year, which had inspired me to go back and read my old issues of Generation X. The 'ah-ha!' moment of I AM APPING HER NEXT SESSION came with a re-read of one of my favorite issues: Generation X -1, a flashback in which a weetiny Emma gets in over her head, and covers Emma's first meetings with Dark Beast, Harry Leland, and Sean Cassidy.

Then there's her, um, 'special' friendship with Bobby Drake, her original origin story, and the time she tried to cook for her students, or even her relationship with Scott...

Really, how could I resist? Ya'll should know my type by now, honestly.

[longislandiceme]

I loooove Bobby and Emma's relationship so fucking much. Srs.

[momslilassassin]

Ben first caught my attention in the Horrible Bug Books, when he first got to meet Allana, Jacen and Tenel Ka's illegitimate daughter. He was eight, and said: "You're not married, and you had a baby! You guys are going to be in so much trouble."

And I was hooked. And then Jacen mindwhammied that memory away from his bitty cousin and the first hints of Something Might Not Be Right With Jacen began emerging.

Ben gets most of the good lines in the Legacy of the Force series, and has been killing me in the Fate of Jedi books. He's this amazing combination of killer, Jedi, and complete dork that is just so much fun to play with.

Like these lines:

Luke: "What's one of the first things you learned in training to become a Jedi?"
Ben: "Don't cut off your own head with a lightsaber."
Luke: "After that."
Ben: "Your eyes can deceive you. Be mindful of your feeling. Girls are fun but dangerous. Lando has extra cards up his sleeve."
Luke: "Well, the truth is in there somewhere…"

Or:

Ben: "I'm in."
Luke: "Ben—"
Ben: "Dad. Jacen. Coruscant. Answers."
Luke: "I don't like it that you can win an argument without using verbs."

Or:

Ben: "We're choosing new names?"
Luke: "No."
Ben: "Oh. That's sad. I was looking forward to being Sparky."
Luke: "Sounds like a name for a monkey-lizard."
Ben: "And you could be Grand Master Whango Mittphool."
Luke: "Not in this lifetime."

And finally:

Luke: "Ben, what is our purpose as Jedi?"
Ben: "Well…to keep the Force in balance and to help people stay in balance with the Force. To detect wrongs and make them right. To serve as models for very attractive lines of boots."

[likes_scoundrels]

Ben: "Dad. Jacen. Coruscant. Answers."
Luke: "I don't like it that you can win an argument without using verbs."

That made me crack up in the middle of work. I had to cover it with a coughing fit.

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

1. The first episode I saw was in the middle of the season (Desperately Seeking Serena, which is still my favorite episode) and it was completely by accident because GG isn't my type of show at all. But, anyway, he starts off the episode paying someone to take the SATs for him, then he ends up spending the rest of the episode protecting his sister in his own screwed up sort of way. Badass with a heart of gold? That's my type!

2. When I did start a rewatch I was kind of meh because, hi, he tries to date rape two chicks in the pilot (who both later become related to him. Oh, show). But then Chuck starts off episode 1x02 in bed with two women while wearing these (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/sammie_jo_/ChuckBass%20Picspam/GG_0413.jpg) pajamas. That's when I knew I was in love. Yeah, I'm easy.

3. Speaking of clothes? He (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/sammie_jo_/ChuckBass%20Picspam/GG_2067.jpg) is (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/sammie_jo_/ChuckBass%20Picspam/Gossip_Girl_113_0975.jpg) amazing (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/sammie_jo_/ChuckBass%20Picspam/GG_0257.jpg). Even when it's bad (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/sammie_jo_/ChuckBass%20Picspam/GG_0638.jpg), it's amazingly bad. HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE THIS?

4. Daddy issues galore for me to play out. Bart did such a number on his son that the kid sees his dead father disapproving of him whenever he doubts himself. Won't embed but the scene is awesome (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDvRnFIQT0Q)

Dead!Bart is a dick. And I can't wait to bring that into FH canon. Soooooon sooooooon.

5. You can't tell me you don't want to play a character who canonically is practically a fucking sex god. And a slutty one at that. #27 on the Tribeca Scavenger Hunt is "Kiss Chuck Bass".

And he'll hit on anybody for any excuse whatsoever:



idgaf how bad this show gets, I will keep watching.

[brat_inslayage]

You're gonna get rambling due to my lack of video clips to link. Sorry.

1) Gotta say that hands-down, my absolute favorite Kennedy scene ever is the opening sequence of "End of Days." Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they've kicked Buffy out of the way-overcrowded house because everybody disagrees with the direction she's trying to lead them, and leaving aside the extremely dodgy logic behind that whole thing they've got Faith in charge now. So in "Touched," they're all arguing about what to do now, and Kennedy keeps pushing and pushing to have more of a say in what they do, and is pissing absolutely everybody in the house off to the point where Faith tells her "Back the hell off and let me do my job." Which ends up with Faith leading them into a trap, basically-- they kidnap a Bringer and make it talk (and Kennedy's got a knife at its throat and is being demandy while Giles facepalms, which cracks me up), and it basically feeds them false information, leading them straight into an attack in the sewers and an apparent arsenal... and a bomb. "Touched" ends with Faith yelling "Everybody get down!" as the bomb timer ticks down to zero.

SO. The beginning of "End of Days." Carnage in the sewers, dead Potentials among the rubble. Amanda, Vi, and Caridad are the first ones standing, and they find Kennedy. And here's this girl who's been trying so hard since the minute she set foot in Sunnydale to have things her way, finally in a position to do that, and as soon as she finds out Faith is unaccounted for, immediately tells them to find her.

Of course, Faith's unconscious when they find her, so Kennedy does have to take charge, and she's herding this bunch of freaking out, wounded teenage girls through the sewers, hauling unconscious Faith along. They get trapped in a dead end with a Turok-Han, and the girls are screaming, and Kennedy's snapping orders, telling them to remember their training and that they can take the Ubervamp. Except there's more than one, and they're freaking out more, and what I absolutely love about this scene is how completely protective Kennedy gets of all of them, keeping herself between them (because they're screaming and flailing and kind of being useless) and the Ubervamps. She's got no freaking chance against this thing, but she does it anyway.

I mean, yeah, she's hotheaded and overconfident and abrasive and irritating, but to me that scene just kind of redeems it.

2) Along similar lines, the beginning of the fight at the vineyard in "Dirty Girls." It's the first big (and way ill-advised) battle Buffy's leading the Potentials into, with a completely unknown but superstrong quantity in Caleb. They've just watched Caleb knock Buffy across the cellar with one punch and throw Spike headfirst into a cask of wine, but Kennedy still goes right in after him. She doesn't have Slayer or vampire strength and she knows it, but damn if she doesn't do it anyway, and I know it's just as much overconfidence as anything else but I love it.

...we won't talk about the rest of that scene.

3) Toward the end of "Showtime," when the girls are arming up to head to Thunderdome the construction site, and she goes straight for the crossbow.

Buffy asks, "You know how to use this?"

And she's all *mimes loading, firing* *smirks* "Since I was eight."

I think that was my first "DUDE I KINDA LOVE YOU" moment.

4) Although if I'm honest she kinda had me from "You better not hog the covers" in "Bring on the Night." Um. Possibly when I read that as a spoiler, even.

Because I'm crazy.

5) And yeah, okay, this scene from "Chosen"?
"In fact, this may have escaped your keen notice, but I'm... kind of a brat. I've sort of always gotten my way. So you're gonna make it through this, no matter how dark it gets, because now? You're my way."
Gets me every goddamn time.

[needsaparrot]

...we won't talk about the rest of that scene.

THANK YOU.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Because he goes from wanting to pick up power converters (http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=zMQcEfq2Oo0&v=X66jntR0MVE) to being a Jedi, like his father before him (http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=8JKnA6Rpu5w&v=U6odktXD31s).

Luke has an amaaaaaazing arc, and though it was terrifying to try to play such an iconic character, I've loved his sunny optimism since I was about ten.

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

I've always been completely upfront with Luke being my favorite OT character pretty much because of his growth and optimism.

This may explain why I love Zayne so much.

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Since I'm at work and don't have access to my copy of the book, this is largely from memory but there were two scenes that REALLY affected me and made me want to try playing Jonas:

• During one of his sessions with The Giver, he learns about war. And he's transported to a memory of a war zone, faced with a young man that's dying right before his eyes. And it's just SO SO SO SAD. It hurts to read and it's all seen through this young boy's eyes and he just has no idea. It makes me cry everytime.
  
• After learning about war, Jonas comes upon Asher and a group of his friends playing a game complete with finger guns. And Jonas just flips out. He wants them to stop but he can't tell them why but there's just desperation and MORE SADNESS and ugh. Again, hard to read but so so so good.

[imonscholarship.livejournal.com]

1. He's a spastic virginal little dork:



But once he loses his virginity, the guy canonically has a very diverse sex life (threesomes, sleeping with a teacher, goes through a bisexual phase). Can't tell me that's not awesome.

2. Dan's a judgmental, hypocritical little bitch who ends up just like the people he despises. Add this to the fact he's a total romantic and I'm not, he's one of the most challenging characters I've played, and I like that. He's the only character I've played that I haven't been completely 100% in love with in canon.

3. "Yeah, I come here for the crowd. You wanna play 'Mistress or Second Wife'? Because it's harder than it looks, believe me. So is her face."

4. Lily: So, where are you taking my daughter tonight?
Dan: I... I don't know. Maybe we'll do a walking tour of New York underground. Introduce her to my friends, the mole people.

5. I make it my business to inflict GG on people and Chuck is graduating so....yeah. And Elaine wants to play Little J during PW. Because she's her faaaaaavorite.

[likethegun]

goes through a bisexual phase

Whaaaaaa? Is this in the books?

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell, alas, doesn't have as many Awesome Scenes on YouTube, but here's a few which are, and a few which aren't.

1) Mitchell tries to talk the entire vampire population of Bristol into going on the wagon. "My name is John Mitchell, and I've killed more people than you've met." I always love it when he skirts the boundaries between being the Friendly Neighbourhood Kind Altruistic Vampire and the Vampire Rock Star Demon from Hell he can be when he snaps, and he certainly walks the tightrope here.
2) George and Mitchell fail at repression. Hard. Their attempts at it end in a nigh-psychotic co-ramble about The Real Hustle and marigolds. Classic.
3) The prequel featuring the moment Mitchell first tried to straddle the line between monster and man again. Yeah, it's my favorite Mitchell theme, period. Very well done.

Stuff that's not on YouTube:

1) Mitchell accidentally kissing Annie in an attempt to make her feel better. I don't use the words 'so cute' often, but: so cute.
2) Mitchell finally losing his faith in humanity again, snapping, brutally stabbing a man, and then slaughtering everyone in a single train. Brutal, but beautifully executed. Likewise, George being the only one who can talk him away from the killing edge later (and the "I don't want to know what you did, I need you too much," later)
3) The whole scene where he met George for the first time, saving him from those vampires. The start of an epic bromance, and such casual, non-flashy altruism on his part.
4) Bonding with a little boy who didn't have any friends, taking care of him, and generally being non-creepy but supportive - until everything went to hell, anyway. (His resulting 'All People Are Bastards' meltdown was also awesome)
5) ... Flashback to the 60s, waking up covered in blood and with two bodies on the floor and then vacuuming and cleaning up because Herrick said so ("the local vampires, their head guy, we don't see eye to eye. I kind of killed his mum." but Herrick and Mitchell are a whole new adfsklfjdklafjidsfljkj ramble of eee)
6) More of a George moment, but Mitchell talking about his former vampire roommate who killed his lover only to be interrupted by George having a jealous fit about how Mitchell's never said he used to live with other people is brilliant. (Especially ending on, "George, I haven't spent the last hundred years waiting for you and your three kinds of upholstery cleaner to come along." I love those two) (It's also three times funnier to me now because I keep picturing bitten_notshy proiding commentary)

Honestly, I could mention a lot, but a lot of Mitchell's best isn't easy to describe and... well, let's just say I wish the 'Tube had more.

[bitten_notshy]

Ha, I think Jack would push the courtesan system on Mitchell's world if he heard the story, just to add a whole additional layer of fucked-uppedness.

Then he'd suggest Mitchell and George get a room.

(And yes. The train massacre was brutal but so gorgeously shot. It may be sick, but I like that this show is not afraid of blood.)

[weetuskenraider]

It's my meme, I'll get all tl;dr'y all over it, dammit.

1) True story, when I was a kid my dad used to take me to the mall during the day in the summer because it had air conditioning and our house didn't, so I'd spend hours in the bookstore, which is where I first found the (awful, awful) Junior Jedi Knights books. I sort of fell in love with Tahiri from the get-go.

How can I not, when she's talking to Anakin Solo, one of the most famous kids in the galaxy and the nephew of Luke Skywalker, the morning after they've first met, and she tells him, "Don't flatter yourself. You're not so terrific that I'd have a dream about you for no reason?"

2) Edge of Victory 1: Conquest, by Greg Keyes, who IMO writes the best Tahiri dialogue. It's her first appearance outside of the JJK books, and it goes like this:

They were approaching the turbolift when the door hissed open and ejected a blond-and-orange blur. The blur smacked Anakin at chest height, and he suddenly found surprisingly strong arms wrapped around him in a fierce embrace. Bright green eyes danced centimeters from his own.

He felt his face go warm. "Hi, Tahiri," he said.

She pushed back from him. "Hi, yourself, great hero-from-the-stars who's too good to keep in touch with his best friend."

"I've..."

"Been busy. Right. I know all about it -- well, not all about it because we get the news so late here, but I heard about Duro, and Centerpoint, and --" She stopped suddenly, either because she saw it in his face or felt it in the Force. Centerpoint Station was a sensitive subject.

"Anyway," she went on, "you won't believe how boring it's been without you. All the apprentices have gone off, and that just leaves these kids×" She stepped away, and for the first time, he really saw her.

Whatever she detected in his eyes cut her off in midsentence. "What?" she asked instead. "What are you lookíing at?"

"I..." Now his face felt like it had been grazed by blasterfire. "You look... different."

"Older maybe? I'm fourteen now. Last week."

"Happy birthday."

"You should have thought of it then, but thanks anyway. Dummy."

3) "If you say young, I'll kick you where you really don't want to be kicked." This is from Star By Star, by Troy Denning. EVIL EVIL EVIL book, but in the same vein as my first item, that's Tahiri's response to Anakin Solo when he's trying to object to her going along on the Myrkr strike team. In front of an entire room full of Jedi. Who are all older than her.

4) "I know something about pain you don't. Pain drowns other people. I just swim in it." That's the first time Tahiri really consciously draws on the Yuuzhan Vong part of her in Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston, and it was one of those moments that really captured my interest in her as a character, because she is by this point already so broken, and I wanted to explore that.

5) Her entire turning-Sith arc in the Legacy of the Force books. I include that as a defining moment because when I read that, I knew I wanted to fix the entire damn thing.

6) And finally, even though I'll be using this in a canon catchup soon, I have to include this bit from The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes.

"Remember, you're supposed to be training me," Tahiri commented as she and Corran moved to stand back to back. "What does the wise Jedi do in a situation like this?" The warriors were advancing toward them in a tightening circle. In the distance, near where the tops of the field guides could be seen, the sky was a mass of white vapor.

"The wise Jedi avoids situations like this," Corran said.

"Oh," Tahiri said. "I don't guess I know any wise Jedi, then. Very disillusioning."

She counted thirty warriors.

"Right," Corran said. "And that's your lesson for the day-don't hang on to your illusions."

"I was hoping more for a crash course in 'how to kick butt when you're outnumbered thirty to two.'"

"Well, if you're going to be picky about what I teach..."

I adore TFP because it's full of Tahiri-and-Corran banter like that. I love Tahiri the most when she's being a little smartmouth. Does it kinda show?

[longislandiceme]

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when I fell in love with Bobby as a character, mostly because I've been reading X-Men since I was wee, and my reasons for him being my favourite back then were much the same as I imagine anyone under 10 had a favourite X-Man- he had, imo, the coolest (pun intended) powers.

I had the idea of apping Bobby in the back of my head for years, honestly. For a while, I pondered the idea of Ultimate Bobby, simply because a more condensed canon would theoretically be easier to deal with. But in the end, I can actually blame a good part of my decision to go with mainstream Bobby squarely on Emma Frost. One of the reasons is linked up there by icecoldfrost. The other would be a storyline that happens shortly after most of the world's mutants have lost their powers. Bobby believes himself to be one of them... right up until he's being held at gunpoint by a group of anti-mutant vigilantes. Emma, in an effort to save Bobby's life, reaches into his brain and basically flips a switch, breaking down the mental block Bobby had subconsciously placed on his own powers.

So, you know. Here's a character that so badly wants to not be a mutant that he convinces himself he isn't... and then hates not being a mutant. That's brilliantly messed up and I love it.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmmmmm, self-identity issues. I looooooooooooooooove that sort of stuff. :D

[endsthegame]

Let me be the first to say, Ender in Exile is a terrible book.

But it has two really rather awesome moments, right around the two places where Card remembers that Ender isn't him in mini-form, Jesus, or the Source of All Knowledge Forever, but rather a genuinely messed up boy who's just better at rationalizing his problems than everyone else is.

1) Petra, in a rare moment of being IC in this book, confronting Ender on his shit.

"Well, studying the structure of their bodies and the biochemistry of their cells is not going to bring them back."
"I'm not trying to bring them back," said Ender. "What a nightmare that would be."
"No, you're trying to persuade yourself that you deserve the merdicious things they're saying about you in the court martial, because if that's true, then you don't deserve to go back to Earth."
Ender shook his head. "I want to go home, Petra, even if I can't stay. And I'm not conflicted about the war. I'm glad we fought and I'm glad we won and I'm glad it's over."
"But you keep your distance from everybody. We understood, or sympathized, or pretended we did. But you've kept us all at arm's length. You make this show of dropping everything whenever one of us comes around to chat, but it's an act of hostility."
What an outrageous thing to say. "It's common courtesy!"
"You never even say, 'Just a sec,' you just drop everything. It's so… obvious. The message is: 'I'm really busy but I still think you're my responsibility so I'll drop whatever I'm doing because you need my time.' "
"Wow," said Ender. "You sure understand a lot of things about me. You're so smart, Petra. A girl like you—they could really make something out of you in Battle School."
"Now that's a real answer."
"Not as real as what I said before."
"That you love me? You're not my therapist, Ender. Or my priest. Don't coddle me, don't tell me what you think I need to hear."

2) Ender has just gone and let a man kick him until the brink of death to save him and prove a point. He comes out distraught because...

Then, a little later: "Val, you know something? I thought for a minute there that he was really going to kill me."
"Oh, you poor thing. It must have been devastating to realize you had bet wrong on the outcome."
"I had thought that if it came to that moment, if I really knew that I was going to die, it would come as a relief. None of this would be my problem anymore. Someone else could clean up the mess."
"Yes, me, I'm so grateful that you were going to dump it all on me."
"But when he was coming back to finish me off—I knew he planned a kick or two in the head, and my head was already so foggy from concussion that I knew it would finish me—when he came walking up to me, I wasn't relieved at all. I wanted to get up. Would have if I could."
"And run away, if you had any brains."
"No, Val," said Ender sadly. "I wanted to get up and kill him first. I didn't want to die. It didn't matter what I thought I deserved, or how I thought it would bring me peace, or at least oblivion. None of that was in my head by then. It was just: Live. Live, whatever it takes. Even if you have to kill to do it."
"Wow," said Valentine. "You've just discovered the survival instinct. Everybody else has known about it for years."

Sigh, boy.

3) The moment that actually made me fall in love with Ender was him and Bean, late at night, and Ender finally letting his defenses down for one split second. He just takes in one deep, truly painful breath of air, and Bean notices, and Ender lets him sleep at the edge of his bed and I go asdfkjdlsfkj.

(cont'd)

[endsthegame]

4) But the defining moment that tipped me over the scale where Ender was concerned (because I love dealing with these kind of issues; I know, such a surprise) is him saying 'I've lived too long with pain. I wouldn't know who I am without it,' and 'I have to go. I'm almost happy here' as to why he keeps leaving. It's a very powerful thing for me, and a very powerful issue to wrestle with (that to this day I still don't know whether I want to fix it in him)

5) His conversations with Alai, which I've also quoted in his userinfo. " What am I now, Alai?" "Still good." , and so forth - and "Salaam, Alai." "Alas, it is not to be." "What does it mean?" "Peace." Also very thematic for Ender. No peace, indeed.

6) "Am I the sum of my siblings? Or the difference between them? What is the peculiar arithmetic of my soul?" This fanart really gets it. Just the Val/Peter/Ender dynamic in general.

[likes_scoundrels]

What made me decide to app Leia was watching the original trilogy and bitching about how under-appreciated Leia was by Yoda and Obi-Wan. Oh, sure, she's just the back-up plan, we're not concerned that she's going to die. Dumbasses. Aside from that, I love her because:

1. She's not afraid of Vader and Tarkin.
Leia: Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.
Tarkin: Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life.
Leia: I'm surprised that you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.
Tarkin: Princess Leia, before your execution, you will join me at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
Leia: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

2. She's smart.
Leia: They let us go. It was the only reason for the ease of our escape.
Han: Easy? You call that easy?
Leia: They're tracking us.

3. She's bad-ass. She strangled Jabba with her own chains, she didn't hesitate to pick up a blaster and start shooting or hop on a speeder bike and chase after stormtroopers.

4. She never betrays the rebellion, not even when she was tortured or her home planet threatened with destruction.

5. She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.
Leia: Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy.

6. She's sarcastic.
Leia: Would it help if I got out and pushed?
and
Leia: You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought.

[weetuskenraider]

You know, now that I think about it, sarcasm seems to be a defining trait of most of the major kick-ass female characters in SW. I love that a lot.

I . . . may have a hopeless thing for sarcastic girls though. Ahem.

[likethegun]

So, I love Sam. I've loved Sam from the pilot episode of Supernatural, and my love has only gotten stronger over the years. But when I first started watching the show, I didn't really think about apping him because 99.9% of the RPG characters I'd played up to that point were girls, and even though I can relate to Sam on a ridiculous level, I wasn't sure if I could pull him off.

And then, while I was happily plowing through episodes to get caught up (I started watching the show late in the season), I reached "Nightmare" which is the episodes where Sam's visions evolved from nightmares to daymares.

4:35? Is the exact moment where I decided "Screw it, he must be mine."



Yes, I apped Sam partly due to love, partly due to his potential specialness, and partly due to how freaking pretty he is when he's in pain. Those of you who plot with me might not be surprised by this. :)

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble thinking of a moment where it all clicked together that I wanted to play Jake. I think it kind of came while I was reading New Moon and kind of wondering why the hell I was still reading the books. And then there was Jacob and I kept reading. And then he turned into an idiot and I decided that he could do so much better than that so I wanted to fix it. But okay, let me try this moment thing.

1) Can I just say the whole of New Moon? Because he's not freaking obsessive. He's patient and awesome, he gives her freedom and does everything for someone who's completely using it. The stupid part is that he knows, but he likes her too much to pull back.
2) After the big fight in Eclipse and Bella visits him and he finally accepts that she's not for him. He points out that Edward is like a drug to her, but he would have been healthier. He would have been the air and the sun. And he's kind of right too, but smart enough to let it go. (You know, until the next book when SMeyers screws it up again.)
3) And then finally the end of Eclipse, where Bella says her final goodbye and he just leaves and phases to a wolf and he leaves himself behind to live as a wolf. Which just made me want to hug him and fix him, because daaaamn.
4) In Breaking Dawn when Sam gives him an order that he knows is right and he finally fights back. He becomes an Alpha, not because it's his birthright, but because he knows he's right and there's no other choice.
5) Any time he struggles with what he is really.

There. I even managed not to include the whole shirtless thing. And well, wolves. I like wolves. *shifty look*

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god, picking moments for Gabrielle was the hardest thing in the history of ever, because I love just about every moment of hers onscreen to tiny, tiny little pieces. That said, I managed to narrow it down to a few, and ooooh, overview of Gabrielle's character development over the course of the series! This took a lot of grimacing and metaphorical sweating and help from divinesurfchick who was trying to find me YouTube clips but could only dig up one, so, uh, more rambling. Sorry. :D

1) Season 1, "The Greater Good" -- with Xena incapacitated and dying of poison, it's up to Gabrielle to try and buy her time to recover by stalling a warlord and his army intent on pillaging a town (I know, I know, that's like every other episode). So she dresses up in Xena's armor and dyes her hair black, and it's all really comical at first.

But that's one of the things I love most about this series: comedy and drama flow into and out of each other so easily, and it just culminates in this wonderful, wonderful scene. Xena's apparently succumbed to the poison and Gabrielle, who at this point is only barely learning how to use her staff and doesn't have a clue how to even hold a sword, goes riding into Talmadeus's camp to stop him from trying to draw and quarter Xena's body and actually holds him at swordpoint, and she's grieving and furious and for a few moments it really works. Renee O'Connor sold the hell out of that moment.

2) Season 2, "The Quest" -- Xena's actually died this time; Gabrielle's trying to take her body back to Amphipolis to be buried next to her brother, like she promised, only she gets waylaid by her Amazon tribe en route, and ends up caught up in a power struggle: Queen Melosa, whose daughter Terreis passed her Rite of Caste to Gabrielle and made her an Amazon princess, has died. Ephiny wants Gabrielle to take Melosa's place, but Melosa's prodigal adopted daughter Velasca -- who killed Melosa in a purportedly fair combat challenge -- is scheming for it.

Gabrielle keeps insisting that she's not ready to be Queen but changes her mind and actually this episode just completely breaks my heart for her all the way through, but it's the whole scene where she takes the mask of queenship and begins to put it on instead of handing it over to Velasca as expected, and Velasca's so enraged that she throws a knife, pinning the mask to a pole and openly challenging Gabrielle in front of everyone.

This is one of those moments where Gabrielle shows the kind of insight she's capable of, holding both the mask and the knife out to Velasca and saying, "Take it." Not specifying which she means -- it's a test, in front of the whole tribe. When Velasca, who has been pushing for a more openly warlike Amazon tribe, takes the knife first, Gabrielle takes the mask back and puts it on herself.

3) Season 2, "A Day In the Life" -- X:WP breaks my heart the most when it's hurt/comfort-y and dramatic, because Renee O'Connor is so fantastic at those scenes, but it does fantastic slapstick comedy too, and for those episodes it just doesn't get any better than ADITL. The opening scene is a hilarious little encapsulation of (as the title implies) a typical day for these two, and it's all domestic and funny and violent and awesome.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

4) Season 4, "The Ides of March" -- Oh, God. Oh, God, this scene. Gabrielle spends all of season 4 on this 'spiritual quest' that culminates with her choosing a completely pacifist life . . . because that makes so much sense to someone who won't stop traveling with Xena. There's a hideous mustard-yellow outfit to go with it. She ends up captured by Caesar along with a bunch of other people, and they're all going to be publicly crucified, so Xena goes to break them out of prison.

Only to end up facedown and helpless when Callisto (look, go with it, no one stays dead in the Xenaverse) shatters her spine with her own chakram. There's a Roman soldier charging her in the courtyard, ready to stab her . . .

And Gabrielle -- who has only ever killed once, in self-defense when she was duped into it -- just loses it, picks up a sword, and goes completely postal on this courtyard full of Roman soldiers until the moment she's straddling a guy, repeatedly stabbing him, and happens to get a glimpse of the bloody dagger in her hand and oh god the look on her face. I love "Ides of March" SO FREAKING MUCH.

5) Season 6, "To Helicon and Back" -- Oh man, season 6 Gabrielle is so very different from season 2 Gabrielle. She's older and less naive and still trying to cling desperately to her ideals, but more and more she gets put into situations where she has to make the hard decisions and people's lives hinge on those decisions, and it's beautiful and it hurts and I love her so much in that final season.

This episode is kind of weird, and it's totally the Xenaverse version of "Saving Private Ryan." No, seriously. X:WP is known for using episodes as weird tributes to various films and TV series, and this is one of them. I can't really explain this one much except to say it's an insane Amazonian version of D-Day with the suicidal attack from the beach and everything, and Gabrielle by the end of it completely kills me: she's holding a bloody sword and covered in blood and looking absolutely sick and asjd;akljsdfa. This clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eHZP-3-xRQ&feature=PlayList&p=411348A58964CDDA&index=116) is a music video overview of the whole episode including the scene I'm talking about, and it's kind of . . . eh, tolerable, but there's always the mute button.

6) Season 6, "A Friend In Need" (spoiler alert for series finale) -- asdjfklajsfal;s. Oh my god. THIS ENTIRE EPISODE for Gabrielle, really. I know a lot of people hate FIN, and there are certainly plot holes the size of a small solar system in it (it's like a lot of the problems with Buffy S7 condensed into two hours), but as far as the culmination of Gabrielle's growth as a character? GOD. YES. It's everything I could have wanted. It's gorgeous and we finally get to see her step out from Xena's shadow and stand on her own and the moment where she catches the chakram and the realization dawns on her face (backlit by the sunrise) gives me CHILLS.

Ahahaha exceeded maximum character length. God, that's so fitting with this girl.