Heroically Blonde II

Join Knites once again as he checks out more of our golden-haired heroines.
On
May 30, 2006
When I did my first article on heroic blondes for this website, I thought I had been pretty thorough--mined the blonde comic world for ever lock of value. But it turns out there was more golden-hair in them thar hills. So, let's put our reading-glasses on and see what golden opportunities I missed. I know I did not find them all, and I'll no doubt get more "But you forgot..." comments. However, I hope you enjoy what I have managed to put together here.

So, without further ado: Heroically Blonde II.

Carly Witwicky



This is probably the only girl in the world that would be turned on by your Transformers collection. She made her first appearance in the Transformers episode 18: The Immoblizer. In it,Wheeljack invents a machine that can stop any Transformer in its tracks and, after the weapon is stolen by the Decepticons, Carly plays a key role in reversing the effects of the device. When we first saw her, Carly and Spike were just dating. But, by the Transformers movie, although we never saw her in it, she and Spike had had their own little hero: Daniel.

Sunni Gummi



We're going to cross into the realm of non-human a few times over the course of this article. So, we might as well get started. Sunni Gummi along with her little brother Cubbi annoyed the hell out of me because they were always getting into trouble. But that was a personal weakness in my own pre-teen character. In time, I came to love the Gummi Bears, Sunni included. I should mention, while researching this article, I found a someone who loved Sunni quite a bit more than I did and drew an ok--and clean--picture of her all grown up. You can find it here:

http://bloodhound-omega.com/gallery/2004/04_fur017.html

Now I know with Sunni here you could make an argument for Butterbear from the Wuzzles to appear in this article or even, to a lesser extent, Baby Piggy from Muppet Babies. However, these two non-human blondes were not fighting for their survival (or any other cause for that matter) like Sunni and the other Gummi bears were so they shall be omitted.

Callie Briggs



This cute cat is the Deputy Mayor of Megakat City and is often the one running it while Mayor Manx is teeing off for another round of golf. She is highly independent, and has proved on more than one occasion that she is quite capable of taking care of herself during a crisis. She is friend to the SWAT Kats, and alerts them of any trouble happening within the city that they should be aware of. Yes, when there was trouble in Megakat city, she was the often the first to let the KATS out of the bag.

Lola Bunny



Lola helped save the Warner Brother's animated character line-up from being enslaved by the alien MONSTARS. These aliens teamed up with Michael Jordan's limited acting skills were a challenge to be sure, but Lola and the Looney Toons came out on top. Yep, this Blonde has definitely got game.

Cleo



Cleo was a member of the Catillac Cats, a street-tough gang of junkyard cats led by the suave and cunning Riff Raff. Among the others were brainiac Wordsworth, dumb-lug Mungo, wimpy Hector and mongrel villain Leroy. These guys were heroic--yet also quite foolish--in their ability to survive on the street. Cleo was Riff Raff's girlfriend. She didn't live in the alley with the other cats. She lived at a music store--a woman of privilage. The music store she lived in was guarded constantly by a hairy sheepdog named Bush (Im not making this up).

Hmmm. So, I guess, while Cleo is not a hero per se, her presence in this article does at least stand for something: in a way, Riff raff and Cleo's relationship was a metaphor for all men's relationships: Riff-Raff always had to get past...um... Bush...to get to Cleo. But that's okay because, as you can see in the above photo, This...um...pussy cat was worth the effort. Rowr!

Rainbow Brite



Warning: CUTE OVERLOAD! Rainbow Brite is a lovable, creative little girl who uses the colors of the rainbow to color our world and our lives. Though she may be small, her good deeds and the magic she performs with her power belt more than makes up for her size. Rainbow is carefree and fun loving, but her work comes first. She might abandon a playful afternoon to save a sun-drenched wheat field from losing all it's yellow or to save a rain-starved forest from losing its green. She colors things by scattering the "Star Sparkles" which become magical only when sifted through Rainbow's very own fingers. Along with her horse, Starlite and her helpers, The Color Kids, Rainbow Brite brings hope and happiness to all. Of course, she was giving this happiness long before she was Rainbow Brite. How, you ask? Well, Rainbow Brite was originally Whisp, a character from a Hallmark Card series. Betcha didn't know that. If you did, good on ya, Retrojunker!

Roll



This little blonde android gets to run around bragging that her brother's (or boyfriend's) name is either Rockman or Megaman depending on which country (or medium) she's in. Either way, that's pretty cool. Sometimes Rockman is simply called "Rock", which leads to the couple's names working together to be Rock N' Roll--an intentional pun by the character's creator. In the games, Roll is usually Megaman's sister. However, in the series Rockman.EXE, Roll and Rockman are not related. And they stand together on that cliff above love, unable to make the final leap, that is, completely admit their affection for each other.

Arrowette



Man, I miss YOUNG JUSTICE. That was one well drawn and well written comic book series. it was lighter than alot of your usual DC fair and had a nice anime flavor. Arrowette, a.k.a. Cissie King-Jones first appeared in the comic IMPULSE. She has retired from the hero biz these days. She did so after her school therapist - one of the few adults whom Cissie trusted - was brutally murdered. Cissie tracked down the killers in a violent rage. She would have killed one of them herself, if Superboy hadn't caught the arrow. Cissie was so shaken by the incident that she vowed never to be Arrowette again. Our loss.

Mantra



Hands-up if you knew Lauren Sherwood--the blonde Mantra. Hands-up if you liked her. I did, but I was among the minority. She was a minor character in the series that had been brought up to major player status to entice new readers in the infamous Marvel/Malibu crossover--Black September. She sure enticed me. However, there was such a large exodus of regular readers that the comic only lasted seven issues.

This comic could have almost been classified as soft porn sometimes, but that was part of what made it enjoyable. To my discredit, I never actually read any of the original Mantra series. But then it kinda had a 1500 year old "man trapped in a woman's body" thing going on. Outside a few episodes of Quantum Leap, that's not my kinda thing.

Minnie May Hopkins



Hanging out with this blonde from Gunsmith Cats is always a blast. She is an "bomb expert" after all. When action is called for, May carries a wide range of explosive weapons with her. She typically uses a self-modified grenade called a "May Special," an impact-only grenade with no shrapnel. However, she is not averse to using high explosive grenades when necessary. Yep. She's da bomb.

Irene "Rally" Vincent



Wait a minute. Isn't Rally from Gunsmith Cats a blue-eyed dusky-skinned girl with DARK hair thanks to her Pakistani/English decent? Yes she is. However, as I was researching Minnie for this article I learned Rally, PRIOR to appearing in the Gunsmith Cats series, appeared as a blonde Caucasian in the OAV Riding Bean. Heh, bet you didn't see this bit of gold coming.

Tara



Wife to Zandor and mother to Dorno, Tara joined her family in defending a planet named Amzot, (The planet was renamed Quasar in the 1981 series) from outer space menaces. In her show and comic she teamed up with "The Herculoids", five animals of incredible power: Zok the flying dragon, Igoo the rock gorilla, Tundro the ten-legged rhino-triceratops, and two protoplastic creatures named Gloop and Gleep. This blonde definitely takes the prize when it comes to wacky pets.

Tina Armstrong



Tina is not a true blonde. I decided to include her in this article because I was seriously surprised to learn she wasn't. You see, I started playing the Dead or Alive game series at DOA2 so I totally missed out on the fact that in the first DOA, she is brunette. In DOA2, DOA3 and DOA X-treme Beach Volleyball her hair is dyed blonde with her brunette roots still visible, but I never noticed this. (Sigh. And here I thought I had an eye for detail). In DOA4 her hair is entirely blonde. However, Some people believe in Tina's ending video for DOA4 that her hair becomes ginger, however on the 3D model used in the scene it is actually still blonde - the darker and slightly coloured lighting in the scene simply makes it appear different. Congrats, Tina, you sure fooled me. Oh, and in case you're wondering what her heroic qualities are: what would you call a woman who takes on her own overprotective Hulk-Hogan-esque father, in the wrestling ring no less, to achieve her dreams?

Princess Zelda



This blonde needs very little introduction, especially if you owned an Nintendo Entertainment System. I didn't, and I have yet to play a single Zelda game. However, I very much enjoyed the short lived animated series. In the series, Zelda was a warrior princess who wore a far more comfortable and practical garb than the Zelda from the games. In addition to running the kingdom part-time for her father, King Harkinian, she often accompanied Link on his adventures and was quite skilled with a bow. Unlike the games, the series made clear a romantic relationship between Link and Zelda. And a running gag in the series was Link always begging Zelda for a kiss; however, even when she agreed to indulge him, it never happened. They were interrupted by monsters, or Spryte (a fairy princess with a crush on Link), or any number of unfortunate circumstances. Ah, Link, you poor bastard. You had to battle sexual frustration alongside defending the tri-force. Sheesh. To Link's discredit, Spryte--a hottie in her own small right-- was willing to give him a kiss but he never seemed to notice. I guess he had eyes for blondes only. As I recall, it was directly revealed that Zelda loved Link in one episode. Too bad the series was cancelled before they heard wedding bells. Maybe, during the ceremony, Link finally would have gotten the kiss he wanted so badly.

Rio Kinezono



Rio is the main character of Burn Up W and Burn Up Excess: a girl with a seemingly on-off switch in her personality. On missions, Rio is serious, strong-willed, and practically fearless. Heh, I remember an episode where she tried to attract bad guys' attention by bungee jumping nude. Rio runs point for team warrior, meaning that if anyone is going to go headlong into a dangerous situation, it's usually Rio. Anyone who has seen her fight knows very well she is an expert at close-quarters combat.

Outside these kinds of situations, however, Rio becomes someone very different: almost bubble-headed in nature. Her personal life is filled with shopping, debts (usually from shopping), scrounging for money, and the constant use of her feminine wiles. She loves to tease her supervisor as well as Yuji, the only male member of Warrior.

Wonder Girl

Cassie Sandsmark is the third character to be called Wonder Girl. She is the daughter of Dr. Helena Sandsmark, an archaeologist, and Zeus. I first got to know her in the pages of YOUNG JUSTICE. There, she actually wore a black wig over her blonde hair as part of her disguise and had a thing for Superboy. She first derived powers from stealing ancient Greek artifacts. Zeus then granted her actual powers. Her powers are mostly the same as Wonder Woman's, though instead of a lasso of truth she carries a lasso that can expel Zeus's lightning, given to her by Ares, the Greek god of war. When the Greek gods left the mortal plane during Infinite Crisis, Zeus also stripped Cassie of her powers, though she was granted more power by Ares in exchange for becoming his champion. Since Superboy's death she has quit the Titans and apparently taken to crime-fighting on her own. What all this dealing with Ares a major Wonder Woman baddy will result in I have yet to discover. However, with the cancellation and restart of the Wonder Woman comic, maybe Ares will use the opportunity to improve his image. Hey, it could happen.

Queen Cinderella



This poor girl overcame an evil step mother and step sisters to get where she is today. I had the honor of observing her coronation at one of the Disneyland theme parks as she was promoted from princess to queen. It was a very nice ceremony attended by Mickey himself. I just hope no one gets their hands on the original Brother's Grimm Cinderella where she is shown killing off one of her stepmothers (she had a few it seems) by slamming the lid of a trunk shut her step-mom was looking in. This information could cause quite the royal scandal.

Secret



Ah, the smoke girl. At least that's what the people hunting her sometimes called her. Fortunately, she was found by YOUNG JUSTICE and they named her Secret. Her real name is Greta Hayes and she became a smoky-ghost-like being because her brother tried to kill her with a toaster in the tub or something like that. Her death was so traumatic she was trapped between this world and the "other side". She turned evil for a bit thanks to Darkseid--one of DC comics major villains. Fortunately, Robin--Time Drake--was able to talk her back down. Disgusted with her turn away from evil, Darkseid stripped her of her powers turning her back into a normal girl, which, ironically, she wanted to be anyway. She now attends the Elias School for Girls, along with Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl) and Cissie King-Jones (the former Arrowette) thanks to Cissie's help getting her enrolled.

Princess Aurora



Why am I including this blonde in a collection of heroes? One simple reason (besides writer's prerogative): she has managed to, so far, heroically avoid the direct to video sequel treatment Disney's slowly been doing to all its old classics. This is a major feat for a studio that seems to be running out of ideas. These sequels have been of questionable quality--some love them, some hate them, but I hope Aurora manages to keep out of the fray.

Deedlit



Deedlit appears in Record of Lodos War. She is very spirited, energetic and always willing to help people. Deedlit is almost always cheerful and upbeat, and often lightens the mood of those around her. She has a strong connection with nature, and knows how to use elemental magic to attack others and protect herself. Of course, that's not to say that Deedlit doesn't know how to use a sword. She can cross blades with some of the best the Lodus War world has to offer. She possesses the typical physical elf traits of being tall, thin, and having long, straight hair. Although she may look about seventeen, she's actually about one hundred and sixty years old. And would you believe this makes her the youngest in her tribe? She believes strongly that humans and elves should not be segregated, and should cooperate with each other and treat each other as equals. Hey, I'm all for it.

Betty Cooper



"You're kidding right? What is Betty doing in this article?" you say. But remember she has rubbed elbows with the likes of the Punisher and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in crossovers and assisted them as best she could. Also, she's one of the major league blondes in comics whether she wears a cape or not so...um...there you go. As for superpowers...well...have you ever seen Betty age?


Power Girl



This Blonde is similar to Supergirl in many respects and, ironically, suffers from similar origin instability problems like Supergirl has.

In the universe containing Earth-2, Kryptonian scientists and brothers Jor-L and Zor-L built spacecraft to escape the impending destruction of their world. In the end, each could only save their infant children. Jor-L's son Kal-L and Zor-L's daughter Kara arrived on Earth, making lives as that world's Superman and his cousin, Power Girl.

Then when the Crisis on Infinite Earths destroyed the multiverse and replaced it with a single, combined universe, Power Girl survived but her history did not. At first she believed herself a lost cousin of Superman, and she fought injustice with various superhero teams including Infinity, Inc. and Justice League International.

However, it soon became clear that Kara was not from Krypton, and she was eventually told that she was actually a survivor of ancient Atlantis before it fell. She was the infant granddaughter of the mage Arion, and had incredible magic potential. Unfortunately she was also possessed by the spirit of evil sorcerer Garn Daanuth. To save her, Arion had placed her in an alternate dimension that Daanuth could not reach, and so she awoke in the present day.

But finally, at the urgings of the Psycho Pirate, Kara has finally learned her true origin: a survivor of Earth-2, cousin of that world's Superman. Yay! Let's see how long this holds true.


Mireille Bouquet



This blonde hails from the anime Noir. She is a contract killer and very much an anti-hero, but not quite a villain. Her heroic element comes from successfuly navigating a world of darkness and faceless killers to discover her past.

Lisa Simpson



Lisa is quite the little hero. Consider some of her heroic accomplishments (Thanks Wikipedia):

All-star goalie in pee-wee hockey.
Discovered Jebediah Springfield was a murderous pirate named Hans Sprungfeld.
Helped Charles Montgomery Burns recover his fortune, which made Burns $120 million with the "Li'l Lisa" recycling plant. She was offered 10% of the profit, but turned down the offer.
Tree-sat a redwood.
Only female member of the Springfield Elementary club "The Superfriends."
Helped solve the attempted murder of Mr. Burns.
Spearheaded and succeeded in passing an initiative banning light pollution.

Go Lisa! Go Lisa! Go Lisa!

Sue Richards



She is part of the "First Family" of comics. She can turn herself and objects invisible. She can generate almost indestructible force fields and manipulate these force fields in a variety of ways. Yes, The Invisible Woman, Susan Richard's is definitely one Heroic blonde. Nuff said.

Ms. Marvel



As of March 2006 Carol Danvers has returned to the Marvel Universe as Ms. Marvel. I know her best for being the source of Rogue's Powers. Heh. I was at the comic shop the other day and saw an issue with her on it. "She's Back? But Hank MCcoy (Beast) said she wouldn't be able to access her cosmic level powers again. Um, wrong! I hear along with her Ms. Marvel powers, she still is packing the powers she had as Binary. It just goes to show you you can't keep a good heroic blonde down.

Princess Eilonwy



This princess, who helped save Prydain from the Horned King and prevent a horrible army of undead from beening created, comes from Disney's "The Black Cauldron". The story is taken directly from the second book of the same name from the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. These novels thrilled me when I was young. I strongly recommend them to anyone who loves a good adventure. "The Black Cauldron" as a Disney animated classic is famous for two things: One, it is the only Disney animated movie without a character singing a song. Two, it is also the only Disney animated movie with a PG rating. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

Boom-Boom/Boomer/Meltdown



Pick a name. Each one has belonged to Tabitha Smith at one point or another. A friend of mine collected X-Force years ago when it first started. I borrowed his issues and I got to spend some time with this blonde bomb generator. I always thought her time bomb power was pretty cool. It's nice to get a chance to revisit her again in this article. It's been a blast.

Gwen Stacy



As my final heroic blonde, I offer Gwen Stacy from the pages of Spider-Man. In the 2001 graphic novel collecting the 1994 miniseries MARVELS by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, readers got to see the regular person's view of the MARVEL universe. In its pages, Gwen is described by the main character, news photographer Phil Sheldon, as the ultimate example of the elements of humanity all the cape and tights heroes are fighting to protect:

"I saw the wonder and delight in her face and I knew the mistake I'd made. So some of us belittled the Marvels. So we didn't appreciate them. That wasn't important. They weren't here to win the approval of the petty and small-minded. They were here to save the innocent. To save people like Gwen."

But they failed.

Never has a death affected a comic universe so much or helped define a character (Spider-Man) in such a definitive manner. I'd be willing to bet Gwen's death, while perhaps not receiving as much real-world media coverage, even outweighs the Death of Superman. Both Gwen's and Superman's death resonate through their respective universes to this day. But Gwen's death had a far greater effect on the stories that followed it than Superman's did. And, of course, Superman came back. Gwen stayed dead, save in a few MARVEL alternate reality or dream stories here and there.

Gwen's death was a publisher ordered death, not part of a grand profit-based design like Superman's. MARVEL killed Gwen off because they had run out of ideas about what to do with her and nobody at MARVEL wanted to see Spidey get married. They felt tying the knot would be too restricting for Spidey. Ironically, they let him mary Mary Jane years later. Gwen's death had a greater effect on the fans than anyone on the MARVEL comics staff at the time could have imagined. Gwen is a hero in the sense that at the time of her death, she had clearly gained all of MARVEL fandoms love and respect and they truly missed her when she was gone. Damn that Green Goblin.



Well, there you have it. Thanks to my own reasearch and reader suggestions, I was able to write this sequel article for your reading pleasure. May our golden haired, fine-figured heroic ladies live on in the pages of comics, anime and video games for a long time to come. Oh, and in case your wondering why there is a picture of Princess Daphne above this last paragraph when she clearly appeared in Heroically Blonde #1, well, heh, I just couldn't help myself.

Peace out.

Knites
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