Top 20 Space Girls - Part 1

For a fantasy fan, I don't talk much about the sci-fi genre. Or science fiction heroines, unless they're also superheroines, or from a dystopia.

I've never been a big fan of science fiction, mostly because I find it to be, ironically, a very static, limited, dated, and hypocritical genre, run by a straight white boys' club mentality; especially when it comes to representation of marginalised groups of people in real life. It is a genre with one of the most, if not the most, toxic fanbase ever conceived, outside of the video games community. The majority-male fandom is so entitled, stuck in its retrograde ways, and unimaginative, that I have to wonder how they could possibly be fans of a genre that is supposed to be all about progress, and breaking boundaries. Is it really meant to be for everyone? Why are most sci-fi fans so dead set against change and giving other people who don't look like them a voice and a chance to be heroes as well (and be writers, directors, and other content creators for that matter)?

Well, here is a list that I hope shows how good  - not to mention essential - progress is in the science fiction field. My Top 20 Space Girls - from fictional mediums from all across the limitless entertainment cosmos. I would have called them Space Women, since a lot of the following character entries are adults, or more accurately, Space Heroines; but I'm a feminist with a soft spot for the cute and girly, and Space Girls sounds simpler and cooler to me anyway. It gets the point across.

Doing a list about science fiction heroines is new(ish) for me, and therefore a nice challenge. Besides, if I were to do a list concerning my favourite fantasy heroines, THAT would take way too long and would be way too broad in definition and scope. Sci-fi narrows it down and simplifies things for me.

Before I begin, keep in mind that I don't care for Star Trek, or the Alien franchise. Or Firefly.

I bet you will never guess what my number one choice will be, too.

Well enough of that, let's get on with the list. Begin!





20. Singularity (Marvel)

A short entry, since I've only read a few comic volumes that contain this character. But anyone even looking at her has to admit that she is a cool creation. Basically, Singularity is a universe, or a pocket universe in humanoid form, or a quantum entity, that is sentient, and she looks and acts like a fun loving child. She can do anything from teleportation of herself and others, to shrouding all and making herself bigger than Galactus could imagine; to absorption, to time travel, to multiverse hopping, and psionic sensing of others in the universe. She is mainly a part of the all-female A-Force team, and of Arcadia in a Battleworld multiverse in Marvel comics. In fact, Singularity's character revolves around a lot of Marvel superheroines, such as Nico Minoru, She-Hulk, Medusa, Dazzler, Captain Marvel, and Ms. Marvel. She was also mainly created by women - Marguerite Bennett, G. Willow Wilson, and Jorge Molina. I have to wonder, however, how a sentient night sky and star form can have a gender. And by her very nature whether she is overpowered - much more so than any of the Marvel writers can handle or admit to. But Singularity is cute and charming, and she loves and cares for her female friends, no matter which universe and timeline she travels in. Must be a lonely existence she has, in spite of her gleeful optimism and playful attitude.

For more information see here.


19. Valkyrie (Brunnhilde) (Marvel)

The same as with Singularity, my limited knowledge of this character will lead to a briefly written entry. Mostly I'm going by the movies, where Valkyrie, aka Brunnhilde, aka Scrapper 142, the last survivor of the Valkyrior, is a black Norse goddess badass and recovering alcoholic with PTSD (shame that her bisexuality wasn't made explicit - screw you, Marvel Studios). Naturally some people had a problem with seeing a female character portrayed like this. Like a human being. She's funny, yet tragic, and she gets shit done and takes shit from no one - her gender plays no part in anything about her. She isn't regulated to love interest territory! (But unsurprisingly, she was in the first draft of the Thor: Ragnarok script) That's revolutionary for the Marvel movies! (And credit to them for continuing this with Captain Marvel). Valkyrie is one of the reasons that Thor: Ragnarok is such a great, fun action film. Oh and she's cool in Avengers: Endgame, I guess, as limited as her screen time is. I also never thought I could like a character played by Tessa Thompson after viewing her play a horrible person in Veronica Mars (granted, nearly everyone is irredeemably horrible in that show, but that's beside the point), but wow has she come a long way since then! Valkyrie as a warrior is based on the mythology figure Brynhildr, and me including her as a space heroine is due to her dimension hopping as an Asgardian (on a winged horse, Aragorn), and her appearance in a Patsy Walker: Hellcat comic. She is an expert with a sword and spear, and is a born leader. Valkyrie fits well in both the fantasy and sci-fi categories. Valkyrie - a fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero action woman!


18. Krystal (Star Fox, Nintendo)

Mainly for nostalgic purposes am I including the blue anthropomorphic fox Krystal at all. Yes, in her first appearance (of her regrettably few in Nintendo games) in Star Fox Adventures, she is a love interest and damsel in distress, after you briefly play her as a hero at the beginning of the game; and yes, her hero role and staff weapon were taken from her by a male lead, and she was originally going to be the only lead in an original game, Dinosaur Planet, before Nintendo made it into a Star Fox game. And shafted her into the obligatory love interest and damsel in distress roles. Then there's that disturbing sexualized view of her from a fanbase I'd rather not name. But I really liked Krystal as a kid, in representing one of the very few heroines in video games I got to see at the time. I might have been settling for scraps, but they're cool and understated scraps that I cherished in my little girl's girl power loving heart. There's a mystique and mystery to Krystal's character; she's from a doomed planet, Cirenia, she's an orphan, she originally spoke in her own planetary language, and her design is kind of awesome if people get their minds out of the gutter. The nineteen-year-old blue vixen is also apparently a telepath. Not liking the passive, sexist and exotic angle there. Still, from what little I could find out about her, Krystal is calm and caring, and fights and pilots just as well as the other, male members of the Star Fox team. In one possible ending in Star Fox: Assault, she marries Fox McCloud and has a son, Marcus, with him. The only decent product that I could find and buy concerning Krystal online is a small cushion case (NOT a body pillow). She possesses more potential than as a sex symbol, that's for sure. Where is she in recent games now?


17. EVE (WALL-E)

The Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator (EVE) is a space travelling and exploring - and militaristic - robot, like R2-D2 and BB-8, who is also the title character's love interest, yes, but a hero in her own right. In fact, she does more and achieves more in the film than WALL-E does. Earth would not have been salvaged and saved without her, period. Her romance with WALL-E is one of the sweetest and most charming ever put to celluloid, regardless. The top reason for why she's low on the list is: how and why does she even have a gender? She's a robot! Programmed to verify habitability on planets! Is it because of her feminine voice, and her clean and sleek egg-shaped body? (Oh boy, I think I've cracked it (damn it!); she was created to find fertile planets, and she's called EVE (Eve) for a reason. Crap). EVE is cute, humble, serious, and ultra heroic when she needs to be. She has as much of a charming personality and memorable presence as WALL-E. She was a step in the right direction for Pixar in writing more dynamic female characters with agency.


16. Phoenix (Jean Grey) (X-Men, Marvel)

So what if this planet-destroying fiery goddess's arc has been done and redone to death by now? She is popular for a reason, and hopefully not only because of sex appeal and the thrill that insecure men get from seeing a powerful female - the most "dangerous" in the universe, even - get dominated, taken down a notch by men, and killed by men, over and over again. Phoenix, or Dark Phoenix, is super powerful - in flight, burning everything in a rapturous inferno, telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, and just being able to travel across the universe by her own power, will, and might. In the original Dark Phoenix Saga comics, Phoenix/Jean Grey's hunger for more, that is dangerous and tragic in a human, not merely in a woman, is insatiable and terrifying, and at the same time is kind of intoxicating and infectious to see. All of that unstoppable power, driven by a woman who has been constantly used, abused, tortured, and violated - psychically and otherwise - in the most horrific ways by men; seeing her own that power for herself for once, even if she is not entirely in control of herself (or her human self), is satisfying from an outsider's perspective, looking in on a fictional story featuring an awesome, heart-pounding woman figure at the center. That kind of cognitive dissonance and detachment is the way to see it when you consider that the Dark Phoenix ends up killing billions on a planet when she devours an entire sun. Yet she is neither evil nor good, she just is. She is raw power itself, existing as her own entity, and trying to find her place and purpose in a neverending universe full of cosmic energy and matter. It's thrilling. In other mediums, like cartoons and films, the Phoenix is specifically a split personality and/or a separate space entity from Jean, whilst in the comics it is still her, only no longer fully human. Deep down she might still love and care for other living things like an amazing human, with limitless possibilities inside of her, mutant or not. I only wish that the film adaptations had done Phoenix (or any other female X-Men, in fact) justice. They haven't. Not in the slightest. And X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Dark Phoenix were written by the same man, Simon Kinberg! (Who also directed Dark Phoenix!) Who knew that the same guy would fuck up the same character arc twice! What was Einstein's definition of insanity again? This is why we need more female writers in the film industry. And the comics industry. But the Phoenix has been resurrected enough times that hopefully she will one day get the portrayal she deserves. Right? What a universal, supernova powerhouse. A burning goddess of raw power and pleasure.


15. Romy Silvers (The Loneliest Girl in the Universe)

Romy is exactly what the title of her YA science fiction book states. She is sixteen-to-seventeen-years-old, and the sole survivor of a crew on a ship, NASA's The Infinity, heading for a new habitable planet for humanity to thrive and survive on. She was never meant to be born; her parents disobeyed orders, and due to a series of horrifying accidents, and overall insanity caused by being trapped in the loneliness of space for years, they are gone. Romy is all that is left alive on the ship. That was five years ago. Literally no one can be lonelier and more trapped than Romy, yet she is as ordinary a teenage girl as you can imagine. She is nice, sweet, writes fanfiction, watches her favourite cheesy television shows, keeps things clean and functioning, and tries to stay optimistic and calm in an impossible situation such as hers. Which is a feat for someone so young, and who has experienced as many traumatic events as she has; whilst all that is keeping her alive is a metal shell between her and deep, empty space. What's going to happen if oxygen were to run out before she gets to a planet - which will take many more years - with a breathable atmosphere? Romy copes with it all - including the strange noises at bedtime - impressively well. There are no other options left for her, either way. She is an aspiration, and a credit to teen girls. She has PTSD and panic attacks, and no one to talk to or communicate with, except for slow, limited email from earth, and a communications link from a stranger she can't see. Only they give her what passes for human contact and comfort in her life. Romy Silvers - naive but learning about humans as they might reach her from across the universe. And she's the Commander of her ship, and a pilot - don't mess with this tenacious, brave, resourceful, and smart girl. This very ordinary and human girl. Who is perhaps not as alone as she thinks. What a thrilling feminist YA sci-fi book The Loneliest Girl is! It is not a romance, to be sure!

For more read my review of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe here.


14. Karolina Dean (Lucy in the Sky) (Runaways, Marvel)

From one normal teenage girl to another, who happens to be an alien. Again, I'll be showing my limited knowledge of the Marvel Universe here; this is just what I've found in some comics. I find Karolina Dean to be a sweet, perky and friendly blonde girl who one day suddenly discovers that she is more than an outsider (heh, yeah right) - she's an outsider all the way from space! Her criminal parents (who are Hollywood celebrities on earth - she's nonetheless humble and lonely) were originally from the planet Majesdane, and her alien nature and powers were kept hidden from her via a medical alert bracelet. Karolina can transform into gorgeous flowing energy, and fly, and manipulate solar energy. Due to this lineage and heritage - not to mention finding out that another teenager's worst fantasy, that of evil parents, is also true - Karolina is traumatised, ashamed, self-conscious, and insecure. Her identity crisis is raw. Her self-hatred is a serious issue. Her powers of the solar and rainbow form are symbolic, too - she's a lesbian, to add more to what she feels she has to hide about herself from others, who she thinks won't understand her. Despite her bouts of depression, confusion, and insecurity, however, Karolina is a compassionate ray of sunshine who loves and cares deeply for her friends, the Runaways, even though it isn't always easy. She's many levels of complicated, but a nice girl all around. She was once engaged to Xavin, a nonbinary Skrull, who had shapeshifted into a female form in order to accommodate her. Then she dated Julie Power, and now she is the girlfriend of Nico Minoru. Karolina is also a Beatles fan (her original codename, Lucy in the Sky, gives it away), a vegan, a college student, and is seeing a therapist (a good thing for a superhero to do!). She's learning to love herself for who she is, one battle at a time. Her current alias is Princess Justice.

Find out more about Karolina Dean here.


13. The Crystal Gems (Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl) (Steven Universe)

The cartoon lesbian space crystal trio who will always save the day! I will not say much here, since admittedly it's been a while since I've seen Steven Universe, and I've been put off by some highly questionable content and changes to the show recently. For a long running show, it comes with the territory, sadly. But these extraordinary aliens deserve a spot on this list - a soft, rainbow-coloured spot. They are each individually great for diverse representation - in sizes, colours, personalities, skills, and sexual orientations. They're really cool when fused with other Gems, as well. Plus they're musical, for all the tragedy in their long lives. Their powers and aesthetic resemble Magical Girls - my kind of novelty! The three may not know a lot about humans, or how best to look after them in every possible situation, but they try (mostly, or in Amethyst's case barely), and they make good godmothers and teachers for young Steven. They're not perfect, not when it comes to personal problems, but they keep trying, and that's enough. Children's entertainment needs more diversity, especially in LBGTQ rep, and Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and the other all-femme Gems are an asteroid-sized step in the right direction.


12. The Thirteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

I just realised that if I had included this as the thirteenth entry, it would have been a good fit. But oh well, my list, my opinions. The quality of the Thirteenth Doctor's episodes and adventures have been...mixed, at best. But the Doctor herself, the first female and subsequently transgender Doctor, remains a startling and amazing character, especially for a female character in a decades running science fiction TV show. What a clever and cunning time traveller, scientist, adventurer, and heroine for girls to look up to. Lest we forget, she built her own sonic screwdriver! Jodi Whittaker is great. Even better, she is explicitly a pacifist - she hates guns, and violence being the only solution to a problem. The Doctor is highly intelligent, eccentric, exuberant, and prideful, but she possesses a big, caring heart for other living beings, as well. Compassion and intelligence are not mutually exclusive, and nihilistic cruelty is not the only optional philosophy to live by when you're super smart, no matter what Rick and Morty might tell you. It is she, the funny and emphatic Thirteenth Doctor, who brought me back to watching Doctor Who after many years, when I couldn't take anymore of Steven Moffat's bullshit. There are women like her in real life; like in STEM fields.

For more of my thoughts on Doctor Who the 13th, read my comic book review here.


11. Starfire (Koriand'r) (Teen Titans, DC)

A young alien princess from the planet Tamaran, who can fly and travel in space anywhere in the universe. She has super strength and can shoot green star bolts from her hands and eyes. She is also an orphan and a former slave on her invaded home planet. She is like the DC version of Karolina Dean, only straight (as far as we know). Sadly, Starfire has been sexualized many, many times in comics and other mediums - she's a teenager, for fuck's sake! Never mind that she's an alien, and conveniently gains her powers from the sun, as absorbed by where her skin is exposed. Oh, what excuses that male writers come up with to put female characters in as little clothing as possible! But Starfire's personality, when she is given one, remains sweet, caring, loving, and naive yet capable of high inhuman intelligence and remembering facts. In children's media she is often given justice - I first saw her in the original Teen Titans cartoon, and she is an admirable superheroine in the DC universe (Teen Titans Go! does not exist for me). The compassionate Starfire is beautiful on the inside, not only on the outside. Not always confident (or gentle, or a peacekeeper, for that matter - she is not afraid to kill when she feels she has to, to protect loved ones and innocents), but she is. Additionally, when written well she shows confidence, comfort, and agency in her sexuality. Atta girl!

More thoughts on Starfire/Kori on a comic book review here.





Part 2 coming soon.