Welcome to the Legion!

Nominees, presenters and special guests of the 2014 Geekie Awards were definitely With the Legion on Sunday night, offering a wonderful variety of answers to the question:

“Who’s your favorite woman or female character from sci-fi, fantasy, comic books or video games?

Unsurprisingly, one of the first answers we heard was from presenter Jason Ritter who went straight for our main girl Princess Leia. Longtime fan favorite (and personal hero) Ellen Ripley of the Aliens franchise was a popular pick, with Sigourney Weaver’s iconic character being named by “The Division‘s” Eric Won and Trip Hope, Brielle and the Horror‘s Jared and Jordan Barel, Geek Girl Authority‘s Claudia Dolph, Kepler X-47‘s Erin Li, presenter and voice actor Rob Paulsen, and creator of Boston Metaphysical Society, Madeleine Holly-Rosing. The Barels also noted Sarah Connor from Terminator, while Claudia’s Geek Girl partner in crime, Audrey Kearns, didn’t hesitate when naming Star Trek’s Captain Kathryn Janeway. Fellow Trekkie (and star of the Geekie winner for Best Webseries “Star Trek Continues“) Michele Specht professed her love for Deanna Troi.

Sci-fi television offered a wealth of options for nominees to choose from. Best Personality nominee Danni Danger loves Firefly’s Zoe Washburne as much as we do, while Leslie Hunsinger and Arielle Fragassi of The International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club support the ship’s mechanic Kaylee. Leslie also mentioned the recently featured Starbuck as a character she admires. Numberism artist Sienna Morris picked Carter from Stargate, and fellow Art & Crafts nominee Anne Kirn of House of Darkly cited Aryn Sun of Farscape as a favorite.

Ellie, from the video game The Last of Us, was a popular pick among gamers and Best Video Game nominees, including Outlast creators Phillipe Morin and David Chateauneuf and the team behind Axle (Liz Fiacco, Lauren Gragg, Jessica Kernan, Alex Solano, Bryson Thill, Adam Borecki, Billy Peake), who also gave shout outs to Metroid’s Samus Aran and the classic Princess Zelda. Best Podcast or Vlog nominees Mayor Young and Crix Lee of Gecken picked Mass Effect’s FemShep and Gears of War’s Anya, respectively.

Wonder Woman was a popular pick among some of the guys including Arrow’s Manu Bennett, Man at Arm‘s weapon creator Tony Swatton, and the creator of Oh, Hell, and winner of the Comics & Graphic Novel Geekie Award, George Wassil. Presenter (and last year’s Geekie Awards host) Alison Haislip named Harley Quinn as someone she relates to, while Best Podcast or Vlog Geekie Winner Amy Dallen went with a three-way tie between Kitty Pryde, Agent 355, and Rogue. For her part, her “Talkin’ Comics Weekly” producer Jenni Powell agreed with presenter Olga Kay that Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy was the kick-ass standout of the summer.

We also heard from presenter Curtis Armstrong who talked about what a lasting impression Maria, the robot from Metropolis, made on him and his daughter. Animation fan and winner of Best Personality Geekie Jenny Lorenzo named Adventure Time’s Marceline the Vampire Queen as a character she very much enjoys. Geekie judge Ryan Keeley was the only one to bring up her love of books in her answer, bucketing her pick into the category of “Any character by William Gibson.” Kaz Kipp, a Best Short Film nominee for Kepler X-47 loved Sandra Bullock’s character Ryan Stone from last year’s blockbuster Gravity, while Athena Stamos and Brad Hansen, creators of the trailer for “The Doctor Games” went with Leela from (you guessed it) “Dr. Who.”

Fictional characters weren’t the only ones who got shout outs on the Geekie Awards red carpet, with Rob Paulsen professing his admiration for the Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester. And our own Jenna Busch was delighted to be at an event with “The First Lady of Sci-Fi,” Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Gale Ann Hurd.

Thanks again to everyone at The 2014 Geekie Awards for having us at their event, and thank everyone who stopped by to chat with us. Welcome to the Legion of Leia!

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Dani Ketch

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