favorite QUILTBAG characters?

Phantasmagoria

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In all types of media?

I'm partial to Willow and Tara from Buffy (despite how their storyline played out...); young me was such a fan and it felt so groundbreaking to see them as a couple on TV. I also really adore Callie from Grey's Anatomy, she's got such spirit and I loved watching her realize her bisexuality. The Wire has one of the greatest TV characters of all time, Omar, a gay man on the wrong side of the law; I did like the lesbian cop Kima too, but I mean, no one's as cool as Omar. (He's based on a real person, and they had to literally tone down the awesomeness for the character to be believable.) Then there's The L Word, though I stopped watching after season 3- it has some polarizing characters I was quite fond of, like Jenny the neurotic, slightly pretentious writer coming to realize she's gay... and some simply adorable characters, like Alice and Dana.

In terms of books, the ones who've made the biggest impression on me are Anne Rice's gothic, romantic bisexual vampires Louis, Lestat, and Armand. She has written some great bi women (she tends to shy away from writing fully gay/lesbian characters) but they are usually more minor ones, and don't carry their own stories like the highly entertaining Lestat. I'm thinking of the 1920's flapper witch Stella from The Witching Hour as an example of a great but sadly minor bi woman character. (I mean come on- a 20's bi flapper witch, she should have had her own spinoff novel...) I did also really become attached to Lynn Flewelling's Seregil and Alec in the Nightrunner espionage fantasy series. And Richard Morgan's A Land Fit For Heroes grimdark fantasy trilogy stars not just an awesome, wiseass gay male war hero, but an equally awesome lesbian war hero (who is a sort of half-human half-alien but the aliens in question are depicted like fantasy novels usually depict high elves).

Sadly there aren't as many (positive) depictions of trans characters in any media... I did think the trans woman character Ricky in Boy Meets Girl was very endearing, and thankfully they chose an actual trans woman to play the part. I've been trying to get into Sense8 because it's an interesting premise but something about the story-telling is off to me... they do seem to have a pretty cool lesbian (bi?) trans woman on that show, though, named Nomi. She's a blogger and "hacktivist" and also played by a trans woman actress. (Not surprising the Wachowski sisters would handle the issue well, given that they're both trans women themselves- oh and speaking of the Wachowskis, I ADORE the 90's lesbian film noir Bound, I highly recommend it!!)

EDITED because I forgot to mention the women in my forum avatar! They're not explicitly confirmed to be in love but I mean.... it's a bit more than subtext. Fang and Vanille, from a video game, Final Fantasy 13! (Fang literally says at one point of Vanille "I'd tear down the sky if it'd save her.")

Fellow AWers, who are your favs? :)
 
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Jerboa

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I keep meaning to watch Bound but haven't got round to it yet.

Don't know if you can get 'Hollyoaks' in the States, but they're pretty good with positive trans characters. The headmistress of the school is trans, played by a trans actor (Annie Wallace). Speaking of Hollyoaks, they're great for QUILTBAG in general - my faves are Brendan and Ste, James, Esther.

I adore Thomas Barrow in Downton Abbey. He's so tragic.

I do like Willow and Tara but wouldn't call them faves (I'm an Anya girl).

Erm... in fiction I like Ash and Darian in Glitterland.
 

Roxxsmom

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II did also really become attached to Lynn Flewelling's Seregil and Alec in the Nightrunner espionage fantasy series. And Richard Morgan's A Land Fit For Heroes grimdark fantasy trilogy stars not just an awesome, wiseass gay male war hero, but an equally awesome lesbian war hero (who is a sort of half-human half-alien but the aliens in question are depicted like fantasy novels usually depict high elves).

Sadly there aren't as many (positive) depictions of trans characters in any media... I did think the trans woman character Ricky in Boy Meets Girl was very endearing, and thankfully they chose an actual trans woman to play the part.

I really liked Seregil and Alex too, in spite of the large age difference kind of bothering me. The story in Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner, focuses on Richard St. Veer and his partner, Alec. Ash, by Malinda Lo, is a Cinderella retelling with a bisexual female protagonist who (spoiler alert) has something of a love triangle and ends up with her female love interest.

I recently read a YA fantasy/superhero novel called Dreadnought, by April Daniels. The protagonist, Danny, is transgender, and I was really cheering for her (and I'm typically rather indifferent to superhero stories). Glenda Larke's Stormlords Trilogy has a transgender character. He isn't a protagonist, but he does become a pretty significant character with an arc of his own. "Every Heart a Doorway," a novella by Seanan McGuire (but it really reads more like a novel) also has a transgender male character, whom I really loved. The protagonist is likeable too, and she's asexual (and at one point, actually comes out and says this in so many words to another character).
 
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Simpson17866

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Besides mine :D

Yeah, I loved Tillow in seasons 4/5. Season 6 always feels like my favorite season for how dark it tried to go, but only when I don't stop to think about how they didn't execute the darkness as well as they could've. (Though I did like finding out that Spike and Angel had experimented at some point)

Favorite heroes:

Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory (asexual romantic)
Amy Farrah Fowler, Big Bang Theory (bi)
Bandana, Order of the Stick (gay)
Haley, Order of the Stick (bi)
Agent Gregorio, NCIS: New Orleans (bi)
James Bond, Casino Royale – Spectre (bi)
The Doctor, Doctor Who (bi)
Captain Jack Harkness, Doctor Who / Torchwood (omni)
Inara, Firefly (bi)
Claire Bennett, Heroes (bi)
Lucy, Kay Scarpetta novels (gay)
Gay Perry, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (hmm...)
Most of the cast of Carmilla (various)
Captain Holt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (gay)

Jeri Hogarth from the Netflix Marvel-verse (gay) is technically a hero, right?

Favorite Villains:

Light Yagami, Death Note (asexual aromantic)
Sabine, Order of the Stick (bi)
Gus Fring, Breaking Bad (either gay or bi)
The Master, Doctor Who (bi)
Lara Raith, The Dresden Files (bi)
Mystique, Marvel comics (bi, genderfluid)
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, DC comics (Harley's bi, Poison Ivy's probably gay but could be bi)
Frank Underwood, House of Cards (bi)
 

Phantasmagoria

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I haven't heard of some of these: thanks for some new material to read/watch! Simpsons17866, I too loved Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, he was just so entertaining. And I had forgotten that Gus Fring was same-gender attracted! He's definitely an awesome villain. Roxxsmom, I agree about the age difference between Seregil and Alec and only half-accepted the idea that maybe the Fae just mature at such a slower rate.... but then Alec has Fae heritage too, so....
Jerboa, I haven't heard of Hollyoaks but yay for new things to check out! :)
 
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Underdawg47

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Ste and Jamie from A Beautiful Thing.

Eugene and Finny from A Separate Peace. I know many don't believe they are gay, but it was the first book I read in high school that made me think I wasn't the only one who had feelings like this for another boy.

Jack Harkness from Torchwood. The first action hero bisexual man that I can think of.

Michael "Mouse" Tolliver from Tales of the City.

Ms Madrigal from Tales of the City who was awesome landlady. I wanted to live at 28 Barbary Lane.
 

Diana Hignutt

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Tolian of Lorm from those books I wrote so long ago now. Sorry. Had to be done.
 

Jerboa

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Jerboa, I haven't heard of Hollyoaks but yay for new things to check out! :)

British soap. I'm convinced I've seen some of my American friends mention it, so it must be shown somewhere!

Also, check out a couple of TV shows called 'Cucumber' and 'Banana'. ('Amy' is my favourite Banana character).

And I can't believe I forgot Nathan and Stuart from (the original) Queer as Folk!
 

Jade Rothwell

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right now I'm loving Porcelain

4802613-screen+shot+2015-09-14+at+9.09.06+pm.png


they're a non-binary jewel thief with the ability to make objects brittle (which is a more badass power than it sounds) from the new 52 version of Secret Six
 

Simpson17866

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right now I'm loving Porcelain

4802613-screen+shot+2015-09-14+at+9.09.06+pm.png


they're a non-binary jewel thief with the ability to make objects brittle (which is a more badass power than it sounds) from the new 52 version of Secret Six
That sounds pretty scary to begin with :eek:
 

Jade Rothwell

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That sounds pretty scary to begin with :eek:

I at first didn't get the application of it, but they use it to destroy metal, break down safes, and can be really useful in a fight against metahumans. their ability is more effective the tougher the object they touch is. so touching a pillow won't do much, but touching steel will destroy it
 

Cobalt Jade

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I know it's a thing now, but whenever I hear 'they' used as a non-gendered singular pronoun, I think first of multiple personalities, or something like a tenclone (multiple clones of a single person that operate as a team, and thinks of themselves as one being.) See Ursula K. LeGuin's Nine Lives, or John Varley's Titan-Wizard-Demon series.

Varley reminded me of one of my favorites, Scirocco Jones, who was bi. She was a little heavy-handed, and maybe too much of a wish fulfillment of the author, but she was so much fun, and kicked major ass.
 

Phantasmagoria

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Porcelain sounds pretty badass. The world needs more non-binary badasses :D

Currently I'm watching How to Get Away With Murder, and two of my favorite characters on the show are Connor and Oliver, who... well I won't spoil their whole plot, but let's just say they're in love. Whether they will survive as the body count continues to mount, I don't know... (I'm like six episodes into season 3, so not fully caught up yet.)

Oh! And the show Nashville is another one I'm into lately, which has a great gay character, Will, who is a country singer (like most of the cast; I'm not a huge fan of country in general, but the writing for this show is superb, and I actually really dig the music they write for it, too). They also recently introduced a trans woman in a minor role as a physical therapist and she's awesome; I just hope she gets more screen-time. Maybe they'll discover she can sing, too, haha.
 

Jade Rothwell

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I know it's a thing now, but whenever I hear 'they' used as a non-gendered singular pronoun, I think first of multiple personalities, or something like a tenclone (multiple clones of a single person that operate as a team, and thinks of themselves as one being.) See Ursula K. LeGuin's Nine Lives, or John Varley's Titan-Wizard-Demon series.

Shakespeare used singular they in some of his work :Sun: and I know someone who DOES have dissociative identity disorder, and he doesn't use they pronouns
 

Jade Rothwell

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couple examples taken from Language Log:

"There's not a man I meet but doth salute me
As if I were their well-acquainted friend"

"And every one to rest themselves betake"
 

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I love Dorian from Dragon Age: Inquisition. This is largely due to the fact that lurking just under the flamboyant, snarky veneer is a
COLOSSAL NERD. Seriously, if you need to find him, you go look in the library. Where he grouses about the selection of books. He talks like someone who loves language. He loves magic and knowledge for its own sake. And I love his (relatively) quiet determination to make the world a better place. Maybe I'm selfish but I like to think he's exactly who I'd be if I were a man.