zomg!!1

...Holy cow, Y - The Last Man rocks da house o_0!! (Um... I mean the comic. Er.)

Y'know, I'd never actually want women to um, have all the power anymore than men... or like, chickens. And if every man died, I really would miss most of the musicians out there like crazy. Dude. And how much do I love Yorick "I'm not your fucking sister" Brown, omg?? <33333 *sigh* Gotta love me some wise-cracking overly-romantic magician-- ahem, escape-artist hero <3. Non-sarcastic protagonists sort of make me sad ^^;;
    Man. I think if women ruled the world, things would get scary in their own special way, yeah....

~~ that likeable/unlikeable heroic quality

Reading limyaael's latest essay/rant, this one on writing likeable bastards, I realized something. I think there's a duality I'm always looking for in protagonists to love, especially male ones: that balance between vulnerability and strength, especially when applied to offbeat heroic characters like Harry, Mal (Firefly) or Y - The Last Man's uber-adorable Yorick. I also think this ties nicely into my preference for reluctant heroes, perhaps (to get all meta, I hate a 'yes' without a 'no' imbedded in it).
    And on second thought, my favorite heroic characters also represent an interesting balance between being likeable & unlikeable-- frequently dipping into both but staying in neither long enough to become stale. Perhaps most important is that... property of vacillation itself, even. Heroes just aren't heroic (to me) if they're not bastards on their (rather frequent) off days; I dunno, it just doesn't seem realistic enough. Perhaps it's a question of identification, pure and simple: I know -I'm- a bastard, why aren't you?

If the main character is invulnerable or his arrogance is always borne out by easy success at every conflict, if he never doubts himself or says stupid things or acts just as bad as his enemies-- if he never fails as both a hero & a human being, he's not going to be interesting or sympathetic.

( ...I can really go on about this, it appears. -.- )

~~

In other news, I'm a middle-of-the-road liberal Democrat according to this test. Hmph. Also, I feel suspicious about the assertion that I apparently have a highly developed sense of Right and Wrong (I sort of hate calling things right or wrong, but I guess I was forced by the test.)
    Also, I had something of a personal realization reading this article on personality typing-- "The Creative/Artistic personality type seeks harmony through conflict. They tend to stir up emotions and create disorder. They return later to smooth over situations that they may have created earlier." Man... that just... explains a lot -.- I really am so Type 4 it hurts. I mean, literally sometimes.
    Basically, by themselves, I hate both harmony and conflict. I really do. It's only together that they seem... I dunno, right. Er.

To bring this back to my earlier point, I think the most interesting heroes (to me) are the "Omega" type personalities from that link (with all the omg-mesmerizing behavior charts), that are not 'dipolar' but rather are integrated and whole. How does this relate to being unlikeable? Well, I think whole people of this sort are... uh, not necessarily predictable or easily socialized. They would often enter into conflict based on their convictions & desires even as they'd compromise when confronted with the reality of things. Individuality breeds discontent, I guess.

EDIT - If you want to read the first issue of Y: The Last Man (and I know you do, trust meeee), here's the first issue in pdf format, courtesy of Vertigo. ♥ Um, also, here's a better review (or two). And yes, these are my ideas of lame-ass attempts to pimp it. ^^;;