This is the antithasis of the Characters you Hate thread!
Which fictional character(s) do you like, would like to be, can't get enough of?
I really admire the patrician of Ank Morpork Havelock Vetinari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havelock_Vetinari)
QuoteLord Vetinari's genius political thinking and his running of the city can be summed up by his belief that what people wish for most is not good government, or even justice, but merely for things to stay the same; the Vetinari family motto is, after all, Si non confectus, non reficiat ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it.")
Sonja Blue, the vampire killer (and vamp) in the Nancy Collins collection of Sonja Blue. She's not some pretty and helplessly romantic vamp. She's one tough predator.
Gregory House from House M.D
Even though he's a prick, he's cool. 8)
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on August 12, 2011, 08:21:34 AM
Gregory House from House M.D
Even though he's a prick, he's cool. 8)
Would that make him a 'Chilly Willy'? ;D
Maniac Magee
Dr. Cox from Scrubs
Angel Batista from Dexter
Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory
Dr. Cox and Janitor from Scrubs
Batman
Homer Simpson
Larry David (Character?)
Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys
Gob from Arrested Development
Liz Lemon (and basically everyone) from 30 Rock
I watch a lot of TV and Film, so I can't list all of them.
Randy Marsh from South Park.
Scott Pilgrim
Sgt. Nicholas Angel
Bricktop
Hellboy
Quote from: Tank on August 12, 2011, 08:24:05 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on August 12, 2011, 08:21:34 AM
Gregory House from House M.D
Even though he's a prick, he's cool. 8)
Would that make him a 'Chilly Willy'? ;D
I think ego-wise, maybe not.
I like the season 1 version of Gauis Baltar, I was always laughing even while saying, "Uh oh."
Also season 2 Gauis Baltar, when he found himself dragged into compelling dramatic situations; even though it was less funny, I still was invested in the character because he was so much fun earlier. Season 3 Baltar was not the direction I hoped to see (mainly the second half of the season) and Season 4 Baltar was an infuriatingly bizarre shark jump.
Luna Lovegood, particularly in The Order of the Phoenix.
Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark. That traumatized look on his face as he's getting off the plane after his kidnapping ordeal...that look of tormented heartbreak as he suits up in his perfected Iron Man suit for the first time...
Quote from: Tristan Jay on August 12, 2011, 10:02:50 PM
I like the season 1 version of Gauis Baltar, I was always laughing even while saying, "Uh oh."
Also season 2 Gauis Baltar, when he found himself dragged into compelling dramatic situations; even though it was less funny, I still was invested in the character because he was so much fun earlier. Season 3 Baltar was not the direction I hoped to see (mainly the second half of the season) and Season 4 Baltar was an infuriatingly bizarre shark jump.
I couldn't decide on a single BSG character. That is one of my favorite shows ever. James Callis guest starred on Eureka in one of the recent seasons. During one episode everyone was having hallucinations and someone asked Callis' character what he was seeing and he said "tall, leggy blond in a red dress" and then I cheered. Nerd out!
Richard from the comic "Looking For Group"
Or Han Solo.
Wolverine!
The Discworld is full of great characters. But Death is my favourite.
Trigger Only Fools and Horses.
Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, Blackadder Goes Forth.
Anton Chigurh No Country for Old Men.
Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks.
Moka Akashiya from Rosario+Vampire - it's a manga, she is adorable and a vampire (but NOT in the twilight sense). She is also very sexy
All the characters from Trailer Park Boys
Dwight on The Office
Sheldon of course!
Basil on Fawlty Towers
This is random..there are a billion
Omg the old Lucy...from "I Love Lucy"
Mortitia from The Adams Family
Thak goodness for retro TV
Ok one more and I will hit the post button
Patsy and Eddie from AB FAB!
I'm going to alternate between literary characters and television/movie characters:
Leopold Bloom, from James Joyce's Ulysses: I have to say that reading Ulysses straight through, then again, then again was a big moment in my life. I read the work as a teenager after having finished The Son Also Rises and having my English teacher recommend Ulysses as a sort of next step. Instantly, one is struck with the character of Leopold Bloom. Like many characters, he's thoroughly self-inspected, but unlike many other famous literary characters, like Holden Caulfield for example, there's a real maturity, objectivity and clear-sightedness to the man. As a challenge to these character traits, Bloom goes through terrible traumas and depressing episodes from his wife's infidelity to his father's suicide to his infant son's death. And yet, through all of this, despite being understandably emotionally affected, he maintains that core balance. On top of that, he's clearly a good, compassionate man. He's more complex than I'd care to go into in a forum post, but ultimately there's a heroic quality to him.
Romo Lampkin, from Ronald D. Moore's seminal Battlestar Galactica: I remember thinking it was fascinating that, in the Battlestar story, Gaius Baltar was going to be put on trial for crimes against humanity. It was a bold move, perhaps characteristic of the series, that presented an opportunity to introduce a new kind of character to the show: Romo Lampkin. Instead of the stoic, militaristic, desperate pragmatist type characters that we'd mostly seen up to this point, Romo was more of a trickster archetype, relying heavily on psychological manipulation and deception, along with having a wicked sense of humor. He managed to throw Apollo completely off kilter to the point where he fundamentally changed the character's destiny (twice, actually), he made Baltar look like an idiot, and he even managed to impress Commander Adama despite having a personality that drove most of the cast up the wall. He had these funny little kleptomaniac moments, too, such as stealing the sandal of the prosecutor to throw her off balance. He was by no means the only brilliant or scheming character on the show, but he always seemed three steps ahead of everyone else, with a smirk on his face. And really, he was one of the few real breaks from the relentlessly bleak and depression plots of the show, which always made him a welcome presence.
Don Quixote de la Mancha, from Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote: In my opinion, the ultimate dreamer, Don Quixote was a man who lost himself in tales of adventure to a point where those adventures took over as the primary reality in his life. In some mad combination of imagination, hope, and schizophrenia, he crosses over into a fantasy as a knight set to the task of winning the adoration of his lady, Dulcinea, through adventure and chivalry. There's something truly charming about the character of Don Quixote, who is the embodiment of fool and dreamer. It's as if his essence is of such a pure good that the normal reality he inhabits isn't enough to challenge it.
Michael Bluth, from Arrested Development: I really struggled with who my absolute favorite character was on Arrested Development. Ultimately I landed on Michael because he was the straight man (using the comedic term, not sexual orientation) in a cast of wonderful lunatics. Jason Bateman's ability, through Michael, to live through his family's misadventures while still being ultimately very relatable is a minor miracle, and the glue that held the entire show together. And in his own misadventures I often had my biggest laughs because I related to Michael. When Michael was dating Rita, and he was suddenly struck by something in his childhood, for example, I laughed so hard I believe I lost my lunch. I immediately rewound and watched it again. It was just so glorious.
Ender Wiggin, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game: Ender was the quintessential victim-turned victor character, particularly from science fiction. He started out as a brilliant boy manipulated into becoming a powerful warrior, but by the end, he's become a great hero by telling the story of the great war from the perspective of the Formic. In the end, it's not game theory or treachery or war, but the simple human impulse to understand that which you fear in order to overcome that fear that wins out. I stopped at Ender's Game, but I may read the rest of the series some day to see what became of the character.
President Jed Bartlet, The West Wing: I believe I was a sophomore in high school when The West Wing premiered. I wasn't politically engaged in any way shape or form at that point, but the show caught my attention.Over the next 7 years, I came to think of the Jed Bartlet character as almost a(n obviously fictional) father figure, like I had with Captain Picard when I was younger. He was brilliant, politically very capable, and yet he embodied that impossible contradiction: the modern statesman. He wasn't power-hungry, he wasn't a raging partisan, and he wasn't corrupt... shoot, he wasn't even corruptible. He was a good man, a good father, a brilliant economist, and a good governor: the kind of man one would want to be president. Despite being so wonderful, he was imperfect, too. He had a temper, he made terrible mistakes, like not disclosing his MS, and he had serious issues with his father, but those were not impossible hurdles, but challenges to be overcome by a relentlessly capable and good character. I have to admit that it was a toss-up between Bartlet and Picard for this last spot, but ultimately there's something disconnected about Picard because the Federation seems so unrealistic. Perhaps the Bartlet White House is equally unrealistic? We'll probably never know.
Hank Moody from the show Californication.
I like the drunken womanizer with many flaws, but many redeeming qualities as well.
Eric (or E) from Entourage.
I like his business savvy, balls, and abilities.
Matthew Mcconaughey in Lincoln Lawyer.
Again, I love the troubled individual. Eventually, he does what I view as being the moral thing, but granted, that is subjective.
On a side note: I still can't stand the ending of "Gone Baby Gone." I'm sure many people think it had the morally correct ending, but it just pissed me off.
Samuel L. Jackson in Gone Baby Gone.
See above.
Also, nearly anything Cary Grant has played.
Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot.
There is something very sexy and endearing about her character in that movie.
John Cleese in Fawlty Towers.
I love how angry he is and how he tells people how it is.
I could go on and on, there are a ton a characters from books, shows, and movies I love. I also hate many... probably most.
Arthur Dent
Count Orloff as played by Jim Carey in A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Dude from The Big Labowski
Terry Pratchett's Death, Suzanne, Vetenari and others.
Leto Atreides II and various Bene Gesserit.
Queen Elizabeth I
Shrek
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin
Jack Sparrow
Franckenfurter
Shaun of the Dead
Wallace & Gromit
Sherlock Holmes
Dexter
Brian from The Life Of
Scar from The Lion King
Absolute favorite in the last ten years is Malcolm Tucker, from The Thick of It. One of my all-time favorite characters, in fact.
Others:
TV/Movies, etc:
Eric Cartman, from South Park
Hawkeye Pierce, MASH (TV)
Q, from STTNG
From Literature:
Captain Crozier, from Dan Simmonds, The Terror. Although technically he's not fictional.
Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, from The Relic.
Edmund Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo. I love strong inspirations.
Quote from: RunFromMyLife on October 01, 2011, 01:33:53 AM
Ron Swanson - Parks & Recreation
Dwight Schrute - The Office
These are two of my favorites because of how quotable they are. And there's the Swanson pyramid of greatness.
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Absolutely Mal and Jayne from Firefly.
Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.
M-O from WALL-E.
Those are really the only ones I seriously wish were in more things, especially M-O, best character in the movie.
Lord Peter Wimsey
Rosalind from The Chrysalids
Nigel Molesworth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Molesworth)
Asmodean, The Wheel of Time
Vincent Valentine, Final Fantasy VII
Richard B. Riddick, The Chronicles of Riddick
Alex Krycek, The X-Files
Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay, Stargate Atlantis
Tv/Flim:
Shaun, from Shaun of the dead (though anything Simon Pegg's done, really)
Lorne, from Angel
Dumbledore in the first movie when he was played by Richard Harris
Jenna Marbles, even though she's not really a "character" per se, but she makes me laugh
Tim from the UK office <3
Laura Roslin and Bill Adama from the most recent BSG
Literary:
George Washington Crosby from Tinkers
Don Quixote and Sancho from Don Quixote
Peter Walsh from Mrs.Dalloway
Jane of Jane Eyre