Terry's Top Ten Fictional Characters (In any media)

So, on this post (assuming you've read the primer) I'm just cutting straight to the list.

10. Sheldon Cooper

Anyone who has watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory pretty much assumes its either comic gold or formulaic.  I've heard opinions from many different people on the good/bad of this show.  Yet, almost everyone you talk to has a positive opinion of Sheldon.  Sheldon Cooper is a character that defines what someone would be like had they no romantic emotions whatsoever.  When Sheldon has a relationship, it's only because he is contractually obligated to do so.  He is almost always in shock when he finds out he made a mistake.  His social skills rival that of a table.  Ask any fan of TBBT what their funniest moment from the show has been so far and I'll wager my bets 99% of the time it involves Sheldon Cooper.

9. Samus Aran

Ask any one who is into video games to name one that stars a female protagonist.  Metroid first defined in video games what heroes could be made of.  When the original Metroid first came out (remember this was before internet), the only way you knew how a game ended was to actually witness someone finishing it or beating it yourself.  So, imagine a lot of young boys playing through the original Metroid and then getting to the end realizing their character was female the whole time.  It was a twist ending in a video game that made many gamers realize that being a girl is just as fun as one of the guys.  Samus's reveal made endings in video games worth it.  One day, I will tell sit down my young son or daughter and let them play Metroid.  In a media filled with male protagonists galore, Samus is there showing us that your genitalia doesn't define what makes a hero.

8.  Doc Brown

There are scientists and then there are wackaloon scientists.  Doc Brown is definitely a wackaloon scientist, but boy do we love him.  He makes breakfast Rube Goldberg-style.  He invented the process for time travel out of a DeLorean.  He apologizes for the crude set-up of his quickly made scale models that the best model makers couldn't assemble in a week.  Doc Brown was someone that made science cool no matter how tough you were.  Everyone wanted to be Marty McFly time traveling with the Doc trying to not screw up the space-time continuum.  Throughout the whole Back to The Future trilogy, Doc makes deals with terrorists, makes the world's largest amp, takes care of his dog Einstein, and even manages to fall in love by the end of it all.  Yet, he shows us that maybe our true future isn't in the future.  Our future may have already happened in the past and we haven't experienced it yet.

7. Ronald McDonald

When it comes to fast food mascots, no one has it better than Ronald McDonald.  He puts a smile on your face no matter what mood you're in and the Happy Meals he's been helping push across the counter have made McDonald's a worldwide phenomenon.  Whether he is foiling the capers of the Hamburglar or hanging out with little kids, Ronald has been a mascot almost anyone in the whole family can enjoy  (even though he was overtaken in the creepy factor by the Burger King king many years later).  Little known fact, Willard Scott on the Today show was the original Ronald McDonald.

6.  James Bond

While this handy Bond height chart doesn't encompass all of the actors to have portrayed 007 over the years, it does show that no matter who wears the tux you're pretty much guaranteed a suave ladies man who always gets the job done.  James Bond has travelled to almost every country in the world, slept with every femme in the land, and still has time to play some golf.  I always wondered when Bond sleeps g but with Q by your side you'd never have to worry about sleep, Q would have the fix up ready at all times.  When you ask for a martini, always ask for it "shaken, not stirred" and every bartender will know immediately who you emulating.

5. Dorothy Gale

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy lives out an adventure that can only be brought about in a dream.  Naive, yet an ever enduring force for good, Dorothy helps her friends find out they always had what they thought they had lost and learns that being different isn't necessarily bad.  While most onlookers would have said the tornado would've wiped out the whole town in the beginning, it's a fantasy story through and through.  Growing up, I could count three movies that would be shown every year like clockwork: The Wizard of Oz,  It's A Wonderful Life, and A Christmas Story.  While the latter two are pretty good, you can bet if I ever have children that they will watch The Wizard of Oz with me just as I did with my parents, and my parents did with my grandparents before me.

4. Bugs Bunny

If you ask anyone to name a cartoon character, Bugs Bunny will almost certainly top the list.  From the drawn page to the small screen to the big screen, this leader of the Looney Toons was a pioneer in how comedic cartoons could be.  Bugs is exactly what your ten year old self wants to be: a smart ass who likes to eat carrots and outsmart Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd.  Bugs Bunny is the character that no matter what just makes you laugh.

3.  Severus Snape

In all of the Harry Potter universe you could probably pick two or three characters that would make this list (my original draft had Hermione and Snape).  Without giving the reveal away, Snape is one of the most mysterious figures in all of literature.  Throughout the course of the HP series, Snape is the character you want to know the most about, but readers are deliberately left in the dark for almost the entire series wondering what are Snape's motivations for his actions?  If he is so mean towards Harry and Company, then why does Dumbledore have so much trust in him?  J.K. Rowling once said that the true dynamic in the series shifts from that of Harry-Voldemort in the beginning, to that of Harry-Snape in the end.  Rowling explained this in an interview where she says (paraphrasing here), "Harry knows that Voldemort is evil from the get go.  Getting the world rid of Voldemort is always the prime directive, but Snape is a character that Harry is always suspicious of and is always receiving mixed messages from until the very end."  So, the Harry/Snape dichotomy is not just good v. evil, it's more hero v. the unknown.  If you don't know the person you're battling could have been on your side all along that makes for a fight that has many more layers and is much more interesting.

2. Mario

What is a fictional characters list without the one tried and true hero that an entire generation of people can call their own?  Mario is an Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom with his brother, Luigi and hobnobs with the princess.  While the hero saves the princess archetype existed way before Mario, the medium that was video games was saved by the mustachioed maestro.  First, he climbed ladders.  Second, he stomped Goombas.  He leapt, ducked, and slid into hearts of gamers all across the world in the 80s, 90s, 00s, and even now.  Throughout all of video games he is the most recognizable mascot known.  While most video games today rely heavily on story, depth, and three-dimensional worlds, Mario's tried and true formula of "Princess Kidnapped, Save Her" still sells video games by the millions.  The adage still remains, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

1.  Superman

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it's Superman!  Today, in our world there not very many people still alive who can say they were alive when Action Comics #1 debuted.  If you were lucky enough to have a copy survive for the past 70 plus years, then in today's market you'd have a cool two million dollars.  Superman is the hero that you wish you could be and want to be.  Throughout the comics, radio, television, cartoons, movies and any other media you can imagine, Superman has done it all.  Superman gives you three characters in one: first, there's Superman himself, the superhero who publicly fights crime and saves Lois and Jimmy time after time.  Second, there's Kal-El, last son of Krypton, sent to Earth as an orphan to live among humans and to show us the errors of our ways.  Third, he's Clark Kent, unassuming reporter; adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent from Smallville, raised as human-like as possible.  Throughout his history, Superman has been a symbol for what ordinary humans can acheive and that our identity isn't just who we are in public; it's who we are with our friends, family, and complete strangers and no fictional character embodies the best of who we can be more than the Man of Steel.

Final Thoughts:
This first post was a fun mental exercise for me.  If you want to debate this list, feel free to comment.  Note, these are my opinions and not what I believe are the only choices.  They are just a snapshot in time of my personality and my preferences.  I hope you enjoyed reading this list!