Board 8 > Ranking Champ edwardsdv's ranks his top 100 Fictional characters. Zea watches.

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Around this time last year, me, Mac, Zea, and superangelo128 listed our top 50 Anime/Manga/VN/LN characters and it was the single most successful topic of our time in the topic "Top 50 Anime Anime/Manga/VN/LN Characters Fatal 4-Way: Angelo vs. edwardsdv vs. Mac vs. Zea"

This year, we set out to broaden our horizons and characters from ALL fiction. Sadly, the rest of them, most recently zea lost interest in the project, making me the last man standing and de facto champion of our group. So I will do the writeups for the all of us and zea will make fun of me or something. It'll be great.

My list has a fair number of characters from TV, movies, books, manga, anime, at least one visual novel, play, wrestling, and several that make appearances in several genres.

This list will probably go slow for now, but I will aim to reveal at least one character every day. Progress should pick up in a couple weeks when I find more free time on my hands.

Should I still be in a chipper mood, I will accept nominations for characters I can write up my opinions on when this is all said and done.

With all of that said #100 and the honorable mentions will be coming up shortly.

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This section of my list is dedicated to professional wrestling. There are a few characters from it that I have loved quite a bit and they find themselves bringing up the bottom of my list

Honorable Mention:

The Undertaker

"Listen, if you've got beef with me, I aint a hard guy to find. I stand 6'10, I weigh 330lbs, and I'm usually kicking the hell out of somebody."

"You can't kill what's already dead"

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/249/398/undertaker_original.jpg?1321390701

The Undertaker, by virtue of sheer longevity, has had one of the most dynamic possible careers. His gimmick has changed drastically, from Wild West Mortician, to Servant of the Devil to Badass Biker, and then simply THE PHENOM of wrestling, his character has remained remarkably constant (aside from the American Badass phase). Odds are if youve seen wrestling in the past 20 years, you've seen taker. He does say much, but his immense physical presence and masterful body language make those words irrelevent anyway. Most people right now are high on his recent string of wrestlemania storylines and with his carrer which probably came to an end at this most recent Wrestlemania. The trouble with writing a guy like him up, is that there is so much you could focus on. I personally feel his strongest run was in the attitude era where he served as this undeniable force slowly taking over the entire federation with his magic and occult followers. The entire thing tied in well with the real- world craze of parents freaking out over the occult and each and every angle was solid, even if this was the stretch that featured taker's worst matches.

The reason taker is the third of these three is that his character has not flowed very naturally from one place to another and that he himself was typically silent and an obstacle for someone to overcome or fail trying.

Honorable Mention #2

Stone Cold Steve Austin
"Give me a Hell yeah"
"Sportsmanship...what a load of crap, don't preach your morality to me. Steve Austin doesn't have any mercy... you want mercy? Take your ass to church!"



Steve Austin, arguably the main character of the WWF during the Attitude Era, is the definition of what wrestling logic is all about. hes a beer drinking, anti-authority, psychotic bad-ass who routinely beats the crap out of his boss and does so with a smile on his face. He is what so many americans wish they could be. What I like about Stone Cold is that he's pretty much just crazy the entire time. You see guys like the Rock, Vince McMahon or Triple H who are like these normal guys trying to play smart and maximize their advantages but they never realize, you can outsmart a crazy person. He is basically a prototypical badass.

Theyll do things you didn't think of. Force Stone Cold into a rematch for his title? He'll just toss it into a river and keep you from challenging for it. Try to escape in your limo? He'll crush it with a forklift. Try to get into Austin's head by putting him in an impossible situation? He'll freaking spray you and your buddies down with a high-powered beer hose and turn the tables. Austin is unflappable.

Even his heel run as a paranoid guy who just wants the affection of his boss fits into this as his perception of events differs from everyone else's and he becomes this unstoppable weapon that people continually try and fail to control to their own peril.

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nominate John Hunter (1897)

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#100 Hunter Heart 'Triple H' Helmsley

Let me explain something to you. I AM a lot of things. I am everything that I say I am. But the one thing that I definitely am not, is a good guy. So if you feel like playin' the Game, then jack I'm standing right here.

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/001/743/645/TripleHWinsUndisputedTitle_display_image.jpg?1325353728

I know this will be controversial, putting Trips ahead of the other 2, but I do strongly feel Triple H is the single most compelling character in wrestling if you take his career as a whole. He starts off a typical Connecticut Blueblood who wants nothing more than to be the best wrestler in the world and recognized as such. So he starts making the right friends and connections after a few years of struggling. Slowly he forms the Kliq, consisting of himself and three of the best wrestlers at the time, Razor Ramon, Diesel, and Shawn Michaels. This group exists mostly backstage,but it is revealed in kayfabe as Shawn and Trips form Degeneration X. After Shawn is gone, it quickly becomes obvious that while he was the weakest of the group, it existed to serve his needs. The other 3 didn't need it, the whole thing was a ruse to propel himself forward. He calls himself the game because of this ability of his to continue climbing the ladder and PLAY THE GAME so well that he transcends it.

With that said, and himself in charge of D-X the group grows, each member supporting Triple H's crawl up the ladder of success, resulting in his reaching the pinnacle of the company. his every move is very carefully plotted, even down to the women he chooses to romance, leading to him positioning himself as the heir of the company, a move that is cemented when he marries Steph and has a hand in (kayfabe) pushing the old heir Shane out of the company.

Along the way, it is clear he prefers childish antics and having fun with his cronies, but that he is not above being sadistic and mean and completely unscrupulous to get his way. Unlike the other wrestlers on this list, he has practically never wavered from that and has been interesting to me almost the entire way. While other had stronger individual runs, he has had a strong decade plus in a single character which is impressive as he has been a fan favorite that entire time as well. Fact is, if you had to choose one wrestler who typified the WWE, Triple H is THE answer period.

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I would be down for doing an all-fictional one once I broaden my horizons more

also tag

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99. Kyouhei Kuga (Kamisama Dolls)

It's been a long time since then. but none of the things making up this village have changed. It is a terrible place, that gives birth to a terrible power.



Kamisama Dolls spoilers ahead.


Kyouhei Kuga impressed me with his growth throughout the season of the show. Kamisama Dolls is about these giant magical wooden puppets, known as kakashi, that this pair of traditional Japanese families can control and have used for various things over the years. Kyouhei was originally the Seki, or master of one of the puppets. Something happens in his childhood which causes him to renounce his rights to that and to leave his home for tokyo, hoping to abandon his responsibilities, shoving them onto his much younger little sister.

However, he soon finds that he cannot escape his duty, at least not very well. He and his enormous breasted love interest discover a dead body in an elevator and he recognizes the wounds as those caused by a kakashi. Soon he finds himself drawn back into the life he tried to abandon, now responsible for helping his sister try to track down the serial killer, who turns out to be his old best friend, Aki. What I like about Kyouhei is that he doesn't just do an about face and start down the path to reclaiming his responsibilities. It is all taken in steps, with the power of the kakashi constantly troubling him. It becomes clear that there is something in his past which makes him question the effect that controlling a powerful weapon like that can have on the mind and whether or not he can do it. Ultimately, his dark past is revealed and his reasons for being afraid become palpable. In the end, however, he is forced to face up with his fears to protect his sister, but the power of his past continues to haunt.

The powerful internal struggle that defines him is highly interesting to me. He has to deal with the morality of killing and trying to do the right thing without necessarily being perfect himself. He is a deeply flawed, psychological character but in the end, you find yourself pulling for him to put it all together. What starts off as a very typical shell of a protagonist, winds up strangely compelling. The moral dilemma that consumes him is very relate-able and the power over him that each person in his life holds represent the various forces tugging at him, forcing him down a path he wants to abandon more than anything. The story of his personal redemption is rocky and still in progress and I for one can't wait to read more of it.

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98. Shinji Ikari (Evangelion)

"I mustn't run away"

I'm not worthy of piloting an EVA, because I don't understand anything. I'm incapable of doing anything good for anybody else!



Shinji Ikari is the main character of the Evangelion series and one of the most seriously psychologically flawed protagonists around. Evangelion in general is pretty interesting because of the way that so much of its action can be taken as allegories for or illustrations of psychological problems and shinji himself embodies a lot of these.

Perhaps the most notable is the Hedgehog's Dilemma that consumes him. Shinji is, in general, a very shy character who tends to avoid human contacts out of fear for saying the wrong thing or letting someone down. In general the concept is the dilemma all people face between making connections with people and risking getting hurt or shutting themselves away in total isolation to protect themselves. For Shinji,this dilemma is intensified by his duty as the Eva's pilot. He not only has a duty to society but is in turn almost wholly responsible for its continued existence and the safety of the other two pilots.

His inability to cope leads him to on several occasions attempt to abandon his duty only to be pulled back in for a combination of his feelings for Rei and his sense that humanity is in fact worth preserving. Shinji is lead further and further down a dark path, however, and his continued series of mental breaks ultimately leaves him a shattered husk, redeemable but horribly flawed-- much like the humanity he is meant to protect and in my opinion symbolize.

The powerful psychological and metaphorical implications of his character really do make an otherwise self-admitted terrible person turn into one of the most interesting fictional characters out there. If you haven't seen Evangelion yet thinking it was just a typical mecha, I urge you to look past that so that you can enjoy some of the most cerebral fiction out there.

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97. George Oscar "GOB" Bluth (Arrested Development)

The real problem is she keeps saying God is going to show me a sign, the ... something of my ways ... wisdom?

Michael Bluth:Ohhh so that's your trick.
GOB: No Michael, it's my illlusion



I ordinarily don't like comedic side-characters that are strictly buffoons all that often, but for GOB i will make an exception. Part of this is that Michael Bluth is simply not that great of a character and part of it is simply that Wil Arnet is damn funny at everything he does. Arrested Development, for all 2 of you out there who haven't seen it by this point, is a sitcom that really hacks away at the conventions of the genre, complete with overblown morals and coincidences to a much grander scale than it should be feasible to maintain for three seasons. The show features one relatively normal person and a cast of bizarre characters each as selfish and megalomaniacal as the next, but each in different ways, always causing chaos for poor Michael to fix.

Gob is often at the center of the show's chaos, as he is jealous of Michael and is extraordinarily obvious about it. He is petty and often outright sabotages Michael or tries to in nearly every episode. He is in every way imaginable the worst older brother ever. And t is HILARIOUS. At the end of most episode, it appears the GOB makes some kind of moral breakthrough, but it is often immediately wiped away or a Broken Aesop that he learns and nothing ever changes. Ever. His development is non-existent. Stopped at age 13. Because its Arrested Development. Get it?

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Tagging for some CHIHAYA loving.

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Bump

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I will be disappointed if Heero doesn't make this list now.

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96. Relena Peacecraft (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)


"Some day, I'm gonna find out...just what it is that makes people fight."





While she possesses the most obvious name symbolism of all time, Relena Peacecraft is the body that does carry the major themes of Gundam Wing on its shoulders. Gundam Wing is a significant departure from the other Gundam series in a few ways. Unlike the earlier gundams this does not portray the conflict between two nations, but rather between one huge nation and a scattered group of small nations that it seeks to conquer. The Gundam pilots are all essentially terrorists fighting a tyrannical One World (and space) government. Relena Peacecraft, on the other hand IS the representative of a nation and one that is trying desperately to pursue peace in a time of intractable conflict.

It is through her that the limits and the powers of the appeal of pacifism are embodied. However, she does not begin this way. In the typical Gundam manner, she is swept up from a fairly normal life of being rich and petty until she meets Heero and gets wrapped up in the massive international political system. When her brother abdicates his responsibility to the Sanc kingdom, she has no choice but to buckle down and grow tremendously as a person in a very short time.

She then then finds herself thrown into a variety of roles, ultimately becoming, by way of a massive collusion of events a symbolic and later through the power of her peace-based rhetoric, real power over the one-world government. All the while, her idealism is clashing head on with the harsh violent reality being orchestrated. When she finally triumphs is one of the series big feel good moments. And lets face it, there's no identifying with Heero, so she ends up being the real hero of Gundam wing, despite never stepping foot in a Mobile Suit. Gundam Wing is weird and awesome that way.

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spoilers: he doesn't I thought I pretty well inferred I preferred Relena just now <_<

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She could be the protagonist but that doesn't mean he's not more awesome!

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ranking champ more like slow update champ

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To satisfy you I will do a quick ranking of the pilots, but none of them made the top 100.

Quatre>Heero> Zechs Marquise> Duo>Trowa> Wufei

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From: BroAndChar | #018
ranking champ more like slow update champ

hey how are you doin

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From: edwardsdv | #019
To satisfy you I will do a quick ranking of the pilots, but none of them made the top 100.

Quatre>Heero> Zechs Marquise> Duo>Trowa> Wufei

I am satisfied.

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pretty good man how bout you

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95. Lightning (FFXIII)

Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys

To them, we are just pets. I've been so blind! I was born into a Fal'Cie world, raised on a Fal'Cie leash, without a master to follow... My life had no purpose.



In a field of male protagonists, many of whom have a rather rosy disposition, the female Lightning stands out a bit. What is interesting to me about her fro ma purely aesthetic perspective is that, despite making a female character similar in personality to Squall and early game Cloud, Lightning not only surpasses them, but does so easily. Throw into that that square resisted the temptation to make her some kind of femme fatale and she was already off to a good start.

She is simply a female soldier, who is many ways flawed.She's asocial, single-minded, and too proud to let anyone help her. She joins the army in the first place While she is motivated by her love for her sister and her want to take care of, and later rescue , her she often loses sight of her goals pursuing whatever is in front of her. The end result is that when the party gets together for the first time, she punches out snow, punches out Fang, insults Sazh and alienates Vanille. The only person who sticks with her in spite of her foul personality is Hope, who finds some appeal in her rough nature given the personal tragedies he also endures. After concluding that she couldn't shake him, the pair have a series of conversations that I feel are some of the best in the whole series, let alone game. At first, this effects Hope in the wrong way, as he decides to walk the path of vengeance just like Lightning. But ultimately, he awakens some kind of sisterly affection in her that she should have been showing towards Serah and Lightning slowly begins to thaw and see the errors of her anti-social ways.

The two of them grow together and by the end, Lightning realizes just how foolish she has been and grows. This development equips her and her alone to grapple with the realities of the tyrannical Fal'Cie and equips her to make the decision to take down the system that she had served so loyally up to that point. I remember when the advertisements for this game were running, there was a line about " It is their battle to survive each other" and i feel like that is both really accurate and applies very strongly to lightning. When FFXIII is at its best it is when the clash of personalities in the party crates conflict and raises issues, with the real challenge not being the conquest of bad guys, but the ability of 6 people to co-exist. While this gets watered down and diluted later in the game, that early game writing was awesome and Lightning is its main beneficiary.

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