GWC Fantasy Sci-fi Interlude: Solid Edition

I've been in a GWC fantasy football league for the past two seasons. Fantasy football is a fun way to spend time with the GWC community as well as learn more about players, teams, and football in general than you'll ever want to learn. The GWC Fantasy Sci-fi League is like that except better. You get to read and learn about characters you may have never heard of otherwise. Certain characters that others chose can pique your interest enough to lead you to picking up a book, comic, film, or series. If you don't feel like completely diving into a character's story, then a quick Google or Wikipedia search are great for filling in gaps. I cannot guess how many times I've had to use those tools. Plus, the GWC community is indescribably awesome with their creativity and entertainment.

To start off, I don't have plans to kick off another GWC Fantasy Sci-fi League, sorry. Still it's been several months, and I've had a character on my mind for my next team for what seems like ages. Then, others came to mind. I didn't have an outlet, so I'm making one.

I won't say that I've been biting at the bit waiting for the next league since the end of the last. However, have you ever watched a series or movie, or read a comic, manga, or book and been so drawn to a character that you've wanted to make a web shrine dedicated to that character? Or, maybe you've wanted to write fan fiction with that character in the lead? Well, I don't do either of those. Plus with the prevalence of the internet, probably someone has already made a shrine or wrote fan fiction that far outdoes anything I could cobble together. I will say that every now and then, characters will do something that make me think, "Oh, I'm definitely putting him/her on my next team." So, I guess putting characters on a team is my version of making a web shrine or writing fan fiction.

So, what is this league of which I speak? The GWC Fantasy Sci-fi League is very similar to any normal fantasy sports league. The difference is that the "players" we pick must have a science fiction, fantasy, gaming, or comic connection to be on a team. We (try to) pick four team members. However, team members cannot be gods or god-like.

"Gods," you ask? For instance, Superman would be considered god-like. Zeus and other Olympians are disqualified as well as their offsprings since they are literally demi-gods. HeadHunter, a humorous GWC community member, made Team Cheatin' consisting of Unicron from Transformers, Superman, Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, and a random Ancient from Stargate SG-1. Even though Team Cheatin' could not participate, HeadHunter's comedic posts garnered a lot of positive acclaim on our forums.

Additionally, we have to fill our team member slots for specific roles similar to normal fantasy sports leagues. In our first league, the roles were robot, scientist, warrior, and alien. I adore anime, so I chose powerful anime and manga characters. Washu Hakubi (the non-Choshin version because Choshin are god-like) from Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki was my scientist. Gally (or Alita as she is known in the United States) from Gunnm was my warrior. By the way, James Cameron is making a movie based off the manga, Gunnm. Ifurita from El Hazard and Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya filled in my robot and alien roles respectively.

The next league was Black Ops themed, and the roles were pilot/driver, tech expert, recon expert, and martial artist. My tech expert was Washu Hakubi from my first team. My Martial Artist was Gally also from my first team. Priss Asagiri from Bubble Gum Crisis and Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell took the respective pilot/driver and recon expert roles.

However, this post is for the more obscure or unsung heroes. The ones who sit back and help others from the background. They don't worry about their own glory or fame. Still, they can't simply be called "sidekicks" because they manage to shine on their own. This post is likewise for the heroes and protagonists whom the series or settings they were in are so obscure, unpopular, or underrated, that simply not enough people know of them yet.

Presenting fastcart's Team Solid

Edmund Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian movie version)

First is Edmund because he's been on my mind for months. Halfway through watching Prince Caspian, I knew I wanted him on my next team.

I may regret this. But since I haven't seen or read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader yet, I'm picking the Prince Caspian version of Edmund. He had brilliant lines. Deliveries like "The last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid" where you could tell he was owning up to his mistakes. And, "I know, you had it sorted" after destroying the White Witch's ice wall was both a subtle and unsubtle nudge to Peter and the prince to get their acts together.

Then, there's his sword skill and taking care of business when and where necessary.

Ikezawa Kazuma/King Kazuma (Summer Wars, Note: If you haven't seen this movie, you're missing out. Just sayin'.)

I literally interrupted the community watch to post:

Kazuma/King Kazuma on my SFFL team next time. d:

For some background, here's the obligatory wiki quote (I won't link it because it's full of spoilers):

The 13-year-old cousin of Natsuki Shinohara. His avatar is King Kazma, a renowned program in OZ. Kazuma is also a hikikomori who seldom leaves his room and uses his talents to win every game in OZ. When he is not in his room he trains in Shaolin Kung Fu with his grandfather, Mansuke Jinnouchi.

Ok, maybe that quote raised more questions than it answered. I'm visualizing the lot of you reading this nodding your heads in agreement. Natsuki is the young heroine of the movie. OZ is like a social networking site, a theme park, and a mall all within an MMO. However in this story, everyone has an OZ account. And, OZ's reach is so extensive that an OZ ID is like your social security number. Nothing could go wrong with that right?

Unfortunately, I can't go into more detail of why I like Kazuma than that without ruining key plot elements. I think people should try to watch the movie unspoiled. I will say he has his faults, but he comes through in a major way.

He's cool and the movie is great. Just watch the movie and you'll see why I picked him. You won't be sorry, I promise!!

Master Sgt. Ronald Greer (Stargate Universe)

My third and most recent (as of Monday night) pick is Greer. He is the reason I'm making this post. If he wasn't already a favorite SGU character, then I think many of us moved him to that spot after the last three episodes. In Twin Destinies, he volunteered to stay on Destiny without hesitation. In Alliances, his general character development was well done. And in Hope, he showed off the hydroponics bay (his little vacation spot), and volunteered to donate a kidney without hearing the risks. Plus, with the way he delivered "I'm a Marine. We're always first," I wouldn't be surprised if Stargate Universe, let alone Greer, suddenly becomes a military fan favorite. He's the very definition of solid.

Chloe Sullivan (Smallville, pre-Doomsday version)

I was tempted to just stick with three because I had a difficult time choosing my fourth pick. I bounced between Teal'c, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Data (TNG TV series version), Aragorn, Samwise, Bumble Bee (I can't take Sean's pick even though he could still choose the cartoon or movie version), Marcus Cole (Babylon 5), Hiccup and Toothless (How to Train Your Dagon), Honor Harrington (Honorverse [by Crom she went through a lot of crap]), Jane Sagan (Old Man's War), and Aeryn Sun (Farscape). But after picking Edmund and Greer, I wanted a truly, real unsung hero. For me, that would be either Topher Brink (Dollhouse [such an underrated show]) or Chloe Sullivan.

I chose Chloe because you can't be much more unsung than not existing in comic book cannon for a decade. I picked pre-Doomsday because even though she is still solid post-Doomsday, she went kind of dark (with good reason!). As she said herself, she's been a doe-eyed sleuth, intrepid reporter, Watchtower, and someone who helped inspire others to greatness. So, what else can I or anyone else say to add to that?

Plus, I can't have an all male team. Come on!

Now, let's review this team. Edmund could fulfill a warrior or diplomatic role. Kazuma could fulfill a martial arts or tech support role. Greer could fulfill a recon expert role. And, Chloe could tie the team together by inspiring the best from the rest of the team, plus play both tech expert and driver roles. Although Greer may not like the idea, I’d have to pick Chloe as the team leader due to Greer’s impulsiveness and because of her inspiring nature.

My traditional all anime/manga female picks will have to come later because they will be harder to choose than the four above. I'll have to dig deep to pick characters I haven't previously picked or be lazy and use some of my old choices.

So, who would the rest of you pick? Since this isn't a real league (yet?), you don't have to be specific like I was. And, you don't have to pick four because some choices are so good (see below Chloe Sullivan) that one or two are all you need.

Through loyalty, knowing they'll do the right or difficult thing, they just kick too much butt, or for reasons all your own, who would you all would like to have your back no matter what?