#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterB

The Bride of Frankenstein

I first saw her eponymous 1935 film in the summer of 2005. I was obsessed with her. Elsa Lanchester plays both "The Monster's Mate" and "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley" (though she is only credited as the latter); to me she became an icon of a woman creating herself, a totem I clung desperately to. She remains a favorite to this day (I absolutely had to go out to see Maggie Gyllenhaal's THE BRIDE! this year, reviews be damned).

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterC

Chucky

I had a different character picked for this letter, one who has been a favorite since childhood, but this little monster has brought me so much joy as an adult that I couldn't not acknowledge him. The work of a gay artist (writer and sometimes director Don Mancini), there isn't a bad movie in the series and the television show is a delight.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterD

Princess Diana of Themyscira, Paradise Island

It couldn't be anyone else. The inspiration for my first tattoo. I could not tell you what my first exposure to the character was, why I already loved her before picking up my first Wonder Woman comic (2006's WONDER WOMAN No. 1). She is like something supernatural in my life, an inspiring presence that has always been there and always will be.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterE

Ellen Ripley

Special thanks to @ami_angelwings for reminding me of this one, because she absolutely is one of my all-time favorite characters. The only character that I could think of on my own was "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark".

What an incredible character, an all-star figure of both the horror and sci-fi genres, with such a powerful journey across her three appearances (Ripley 8, though I love her too, is a different character in my mind).

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterF

Finn

Throughout the lead up to 2015's THE FORCE AWAKENS, I was sure that Rey was a shoo-in for my favorite new Star Wars character, and while I do love her, I walked away from that movie deeply enamored with Finn. He had such a wonderful arc, pushing through his fear and finding someone to fight for.

I strongly dislike what was done with him in THE LAST JEDI, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER should have done more (though it's a good start). But here? So much love.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterG

Ganja Meda

Marlene Clark's performance in Bill Gunn's 1973 film GANJA & HESS is absolutely bewitching. The character is powerful and vulnerable, seductive and repulsive, raw and unyielding and hypnotic. I cannot recommend this film enough, a poem written in grainy celluloid and crackling sound, and she is everything within it.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterH

Hildy Johnson

I love Rosalind Russel in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Hildy Johnson is essentially Lois Lane in a world without a Superman (which maybe makes this a little bit of a cheat, so I can talk about Lois Lane while leaving the letter "L" open for another character). She will do anything to get her story, even if it puts her at risk or might be slightly unscrupulous, but all out of a deeply rooted sense of justice.

All that and a fantastic sense of fashion.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterI

Dr. Ian Malcolm

When the prompt first went up, there was only one character whose first name starts with "I" that I could think of. There have been a number of really great ones posted that I was tempted to glom on to, but... Dance with the fella that brought you.

Who would have guessed (before Jeff Goldblum's casting at least) that a cynical Jewish mathematician would be both the moral center of JURASSIC PARK, and its breakout sex symbol? 🫦

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterJ

Jabba Desilijic Tiure

His full name comes from a 1994 role-playing game supplement, GALAXY GUIDE 11, but really he needs no further name than the one originally given to him in 1977...

Jabba the Hutt

No matter how many other Hutts Star Wars introduces us to (and there were a lot of fantastic Hutts in this month's THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU) Jabba will always be THE Hutt. His is such a powerful screen presence; I love him so much.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterK

Captain Kathryn Janeway

I was so close to choosing Kal-El (Clark Kent, Superman). But I think it would be a mistake for me not to have at least one entry devoted to the pop-feminist "girl power" characters of the 1990s, as they were such an important part of my early teenage years. For all the flaws of that era, and of this character specifically, Janeway remains a favorite into adulthood (VOYAGER is one of my "comfort shows" & her return in PRODIGY was a joy).

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterL

Princess Leia Organa

I cannot overstate to you how in awe I was when, watching STAR WARS for the first time on VHS at ten years old, I saw Princess Leia take over her own rescue from the well-meaning but ill-equipped trio of Luke, Han, and Chewie. She was everything I wanted to be.

I love her so.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterM

Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter

She has been called online the first lesbian lead character in American cinema (though I find the claim unlikely). She captures the tumult and torment of a closeted existence all too painfully. She is iconic, cloaked alternatingly throughout DRACULA'S DAUGHTER in smoke and shadow. One wishes for an ending where she can know her true power, but as a creation of the Hays Code era, it is tragically not to be.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterN

Nancy Thompson

A list of my favorite characters would not be complete without the presence of a horror movie final girl, and while my all time favorite, Laurie Strode, couldn't beat Princess Leia for the letter L, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's Nancy Thompson ranks very highly for me and easily deserves this spot.

The impossible position she's put in, fighting a demon in her own dreams, is truly terrifying. That she triumphs (or does she?) is oh so satisfying.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterO

Princess Ozma of Oz

THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ, the first sequel to THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, tells the story of a boy named Tip who escapes his abusive guardian and goes on an adventure through Oz trying to find a place where he belongs. In the end he learns that he is actually the Princess of Oz in a magical disguise, and the Good Witch Glinda transforms him back.

I didn't know why this was my favorite as a child. I wept when I re-read it as an adult.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterP

Padmé Naberrie Amidala

I was fourteen when THE PHANTOM MENACE came out, and where Leia had been aspirational, Padmé/Amidala felt relatable, my feelings blown up to the scale that space opera affords. A fourteen year old girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders, who finds a way to be strong and see her way through.

(I can also relate to making the mistake of falling for someone you think you can heal, but l'm sticking to THE PHANTOM MENACE for now.)

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterQ

Quiet

I need to represent my love of the work of Hideo Kojima somewhere on this list, and I find Quiet such a comforting presence during the tense gameplay of METAL GEAR SOLID V, hum-singing her little songs into the radio.

Also, "But once you recognize the secret reason for her exposure, you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds" remains one of the funniest fucking things anyone has ever posted on God's own Internet.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterR

Rok-Tahk

STAR TREK: PRODIGY is the best show to come out of the last ten years of Star Trek, and I absolutely adore the cast, but Rok-Tahk stands out. Mistaken for a brutish rock monster in the series premiere, the universal translator reveals that she is just a little girl (I can relate, big trans vibes). After a life in captivity, she just wants to take care of little animals and learn about science at Starfleet Academy. I love her so much.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterS

Spock

There was so much competition for this position. Selina Kyle. Seven of Nine. Darth Sidious. Sienna Shaw.

But it had to be Spock. STAR TREK first came into my life at thirteen, and I latched on to the character of Spock hard. There is an outsider aspect to the character, a disconnect between him and his parents, between him and his friends; as a closeted teenager, it was easy to relate to him, and he continues to mean a great deal to me.

#FavCharacterAtoZ
#FavCharacterT

Trinity

About twenty years ago, I began writing extensively about a trans reading of THE MATRIX. I may have been one of the first to do so, though I can't prove that. The Wachowskis' trans status was mere rumor then, and I didn't want to be accidentally outing anyone, so the work sat on a harddrive until that harddrive needed to be reformatted. 😕

Trinity is just so cool. So iconic. She is everything Neo wants to be, half of The One that he will become.