I think this is somewhat inspired by the wank in Doctor Who fandom. I think. And maybe a book I'm reading right now.

People always share what characters are their favorites, but I find it really interesting to see which characters people relate to most, and why, so here's hoping my ramble inspires others.


RAEG
Gregory House House MD
Sometimes I hate admitting this, because there's a lot of people in fandom who practically brag that they're ~just like House~ and ~isn't that awesome~. And then other people who think relating to House means you're an asshole. No, idiot, "asshole" is not a personality!

99% of the reason I started watching House was for this character. (The other 1% was because of the awesome twist end to "Fidelity," the first episode I saw.) It might be hard to believe, but I was seventeen and it was the first time I ever came across a character that thought like I did. (In hindsight, that explains why this is the only male character I clicked with SO HARD.)

An atheist? Check. (Not only that, but his views are presented as *gasp* legitimate!) Liked to spend time alone and tires of people easily? Check. (OMG, a real introvert!) Obviously disinterested in kids? Check. (Even though he was very good with them--thank you, they're separate issues!) Made intuitive leaps that other people have a hard time following? Check. Intelligent, but enjoyed dumb shows like The O.C. and Spongebob Squarepants? Whoa, whoa, whoa, now, he's starting to sound like a real person. Had views and a sense of humor not constrained by any particular ideology, because everyone does/believes stupid things, and the world is absurd so LET'S POKE FUN AT IT? FUCK YEAH.

And to top it off, his misery was presented as something independent of his personality traits. Be still my heart.

All kinds of whateverfail, I can roll my eyes and laugh off (back to the “people do/believe stupid things” and having an odd sense of humor), but, no lie, I feel personally insulted by the way his character got mangled in later seasons. There's a difference between growing as a person, and turning into a pod person. SIGH.

Temperance Brennan Bones
I only watch Bones on occasion; my mom's more of a fan. I somehow didn't see any of the show until later in its run, and of course once I laid eyes on Bones, I loved her and decided to start watching the show from the beginning. Because, hey, two hours, every week, of characters I actually get on a fundamental level? I AM SO THERE.

But I never finished because it seems this show is taking a similar trajectory as House, and is mangling Bones's character. (Yes, I saw the MUST HAVE BABBY episode.) Just for the simple fact Bones is female, I'd probably feel more insulted and probably cry over it, lol.

But, seriously, House and Bones are the closest matches to my personality I’ve come across in television. Why can’t they stay the way they are? Okay, mainstream media, I get it, you don’t really like or understand (or care to understand) people like me…sheesh.

Erica Hahn Grey’s Anatomy
I had stopped watching Grey's Anatomy very early into Season 4, but I always liked Erica from her few appearances. When I started watching again, two scenes hit me over the head: Erica saying Cristina reminds her of herself, and Erica telling Callie that she's awkward, doesn't like small talk, and doesn't make friends easily. She's blunt, and doesn't get any softer just because she was dating Callie (because, hey, newsflash, she doesn't need fixing). And she was convinced the entirety of Seattle Grace was morally and ethically corrupt, not to mention immature and unprofessional.

I wish I could say more, but she got written out prematurely. Damn you, ABC and your transparent agenda.


SQUEE
Sumire Iwaya Tramps Like Us/Kimi wa Pet
I've lost track of how many times I've re-read this series. I could barely write this section, because this character is so close to my heart and gets closer with each re-read and each year, and I feel oddly exposed talking about it. I'm so used to characters I relate to getting fucked over somehow, that I get tense during certain scenes; I was practically holding my breath through the last volume, hoping, hoping Yayoi Ogawa wouldn't fumble at the last minute...

YAYOI OGAWA DID NOT DISAPPOINT. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, AT LEAST ONE PERSON GOT IT RIGHT. I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER.

Everyone finds Sumire intimidating and are envious (and even sometimes downright resentful) of her accomplishments, but she's not stuck on herself at all, and really, she's awkward and lonely. Her fiance cheated on her because he found her intimidating, and she got demoted for punching a superior who sexually harassed her, but she holds in her frustration at the general unfairness of it all until she's about to explode. And when she finds an injured pretty boy in a box, what does she do?

Make him her pet and name him after her dead dog from her childhood and talk to him and cuddle with him and make him dinner and shampoo his hair angrily. OH GOD. I WANT ONE SO BAD.

I loved that Sumire wasn't the usual Intelligent Character--she had her odd interests (wrestling), and she was a journalist, so her "area" was in language rather than science/math. (I love science and all, but it gets old seeing smart=SCIENCE/MATH WHIZ.) And a lot of attention was given to her social awkwardness, but it wasn't played just for laughs, and it never just gets magically easier for her. She dressed like a dork in college, but she's still a dork ~on the inside~. (<= Me, except switch "college" with "high school.")

And Hasumi isn't portrayed as the bad guy, he just didn't really understand her and probably never would, and the two of them were never going to work out, and they break up like adult-type people. And I want a friendship like the one she has with Yuri, where they don't just depend on each other, they also challenge each other.

...god damn, why don’t I have an icon of Sumire?

Amy Pond Doctor Who
Amy's a little rough around the edges. Her sense of humor isn't to everyone's taste, her idea of a pet name is "idiot," she doesn't vomit her emotions all over the place or say "I love you" every three seconds. (I will try to resist the urge to rant on how "I love you" is pretty meaningless, and "idiot" is imbued with more love than a generic, pre-scripted phrase can ever dream to be. Ahem.) If that makes her unrealistic, then, uh, reality is unrealistic. (I think that's like dividing by zero, oh shi--)

This was my favorite scene, thought it summed her up and her relationship with Rory so well and naively thought more people would understand them better, but, no, WHINEWHINEWHINE:

Rory: Are you okay?
Amy: Are you?
Rory: No.
Amy: Well, shut up then!
*hugs ensue*

If you don’t get this scene, you will NEVER get Amy. Or me.

Moment from my life: at home, my mom, my sister, and I regularly call each other whores, bitches, etc. Sometimes one of us say it in such a deadpan way and another doesn't bother reacting because it's Business As Usual, and I imagine someone looking in from the outside would mistake it for actual insults. But that's how we say "I love you."

Cristina Yang Grey's Anatomy
Her bluntness, her focus. Just her complete, shameless joy she has for her career and learning, and that she a) has no problem admitting she'd choose her career over love and b) it's not a crazy question to ask. (Because, seriously, being a surgeon makes her come to LIFE. It's why, even though I love Owen, I ship her more with Teddy, because Teddy teaches her and is helping develop her career and GETS HER, and Cristina is just so ALIVE around her. I'd be half in love with Teddy, in Cristina's place. Wow, tangent much?)

Her relationships don't come off as frivolous as the others, where the couples fall in love, get married, and divorced in the span of a few months. It takes *gasp* time for her to fall for someone, and it takes her a long time to get over getting burned. (And...wait. Random thought here. Cristina=Sumire, Burke=cheating fiance, Owen=Hasumi, Teddy=Momo. WHOA WHAT IT KIND OF WORKS. Anyway.) I love the one scene when Meredith tells her something along the lines, "I get you when you say things like that. Other people won't." I know it so well.

Moment from my life: on a birthday card for my mom, I wrote, "I would kinda miss you if you got killt" (a line from True Blood). She and my sister thought it was hilarious. The rest of my family didn't get it.

I hadn't bothered catching up with Grey's Anatomy when I fell behind after hearing about the fail with Callie/Eric and that, apparently, Cristina wasn't doing anything. But when I caught up, I was rewarded with acknowledgment of her lack of doing anything in what I find the saddest scene in the entire series: Cristina goes to Meredith, then starts SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY, freaking Meredith out. And it's not over her love life, but that she's frustrated that her education is being stunted. NGL, I teared up. I get that, way too much.

And, yeah, wow, I relate more to Cristina than I thought I did.

Miscellaneous
Martha Jones (Doctor Who) is the only character I know of that I share a similar physical type with (and as short as she is, she still has about three inches on me). When I'm "on" (good sleep, not hungry, had sufficient alone time), people who don't know me well would probably think I'm most like her. But it's really just a personality I project to get through the day.

And my very Trekkie mom always compared me to Data and sometimes Spock. (And now I’m wondering if that’s why I always loved them, lol.)


…and I might do a follow-up post on my other account about original characters. Because I have more thoughts that will drive me up the wall if I don't write them down.