[ SECRET POST #3314 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3314 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.



















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 072 secrets from Secret Submission Post #474.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ariakas]

One of the character archetypes I like so much better when it's female is the "cocky ace" type, because... well, frankly, women/girls hardly ever get to be the cocky ace. In fighting teams they're relegated to "team mom" or "healer" or "responsible and resolute, but not as skilled as her male counterparts." Not that there's anything wrong with those types of people/characters, but it's tiresome to be pigeonholed into set roles. I adored Starbuck for that reason (and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for similar reasons).

Caveat: said character actually has to be an ace. Not just cocky. We get plenty of "feisty" female characters who think they're very skilled, but end up needing to be saved by the male characters, etc. That really doesn't count.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with this. Though, I also feel like the "cocky ace" female character is ineffective when they feel unrealistically badass for the sake of being sexy to a male love interest. Sort of like, they do superficially badass things, but are wearing tight leather and heels the entire time, don't come across as realistically capable, and aren't actually involved in any serious "fights" or what have you (unless, as you said, they are defeated and need a male character to rescue them). I hate superficially badass female characters.

Starbuck definitely is the real deal though.

[ariakas]

Yep. In so much of what I read/watch (sci-fi, shounen) the author tries to have his cake and eat it too by telling us that his protagonist's love interest is "badass" but by showing us she isn't, by having her constantly in need of rescue, only winning fights against minor brainless badguys but failing pathetically against the named characters, etc. His intent is stroke his/his readers' egos even more by having a "tough" girl need the MC's help, but all it comes across as is that she's not that tough at all. She's an Empowered Woman! (But still sexy.) She fights! (But still gets damseled.) Etc.

It's the Stormtrooper effect: no, no one believes that they're good shots, no matter what you put in the dialogue. We can plainly see they're not. And no, no one believes that your heroine is a kickass, competent fighter when we can plainly see she's not.

But yep, Starbuck's the real deal. BSG showed us that through actions from episode one.

[(Anonymous)]

OMG all of this. Superficially badass female characters are the worst possible thing.

True badass female characters are the best. The "cocky ace" type (though rare), is super cute.

[nightscale]

This tbh.

I adored Starbuck because she was the best and was actually shown to be, not that this never happens, but it's not as common sadly.

[ozaline]

If you like anime at all, I'd suggest Macross (and even to an extent it's bastardized american cousin Robotech)

SDF: Macross/Robotech the Macross Saga has a cocky woman ace
Macross II Lovers Again has a cocky female ace
Macross 7 has the cocky ace from the first series but now she's mayor of a city but she'll take her fighter jet out when they're cut off from the military for a while (and for the rest of the series after that).
Macross Frontier has a couple, but they're not the main focus.

Robotech Masters/Super Dimension Calvary Southern Cross: has three main characters who are all Lieutenants in their own branch of the military
Robotech the New Generation/MOSPEADA: has a freedom fighter group that includes this, plus an enemy version who pops up near the end of the series.

Robotech II the Sentinels has two, the one from the first series and a rookie pilot who has to fight for approval cause her father doesn't want her in the military (but only three episodes were made so you need to go with the novels or the comics)
Robotech The Shadow Chronicles: Has the squad leader as a woman.


--Now to be fair for all the cool stuff in Macross, there are some sexist tropes in-play, the ace in the first one fits into the "Every Amazon wants Hercules trope," where she's an awesome pilot but falls for the man who bests her (on the other hand she doesn't give up being a pilot for him, and continues to kickass)... and the more recent entries into the series have gotten more and more sexualized. But it along with GI Joe (the comic and to a lesser extent the cartoon, but gods not the second cartoon) was one of my first exposures to truly competent women in military roles who gave as much as the men.

[(Anonymous)]

I was also uncomfortable with the whole Mylene/Basara thing M7 was pushing. She's like 14.

[ozaline]

You could really argue that Basara doesn't show much interest in Mylene, but yeah the ending theme definitely was pushing it.