Ten Character Meme

So, my ten favorite fictional characters...hmm. Right off the top of my head:

1. Daria Morgendorfer (Daria)
2. Miles Naismith Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan books)
3. Buddy Baker (Animal Man)
4. Vladimir Taltos (Jhereg)
5. Mackenzie Calhoun (Star Trek: New Frontiers)
6. Guy Gardner (Green Lantern)
7. Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
8. Aaron Stack (Machine Man)
9. James Bolivar diGriz (Stainless Steel Rat)
10. Hiro Nakamura (Heroes)

1. Divide the list up by even and odd. Which group of five would make a better Five Man Band (like a Power Rangers team)? Who would you slot in each position: Leader, Lancer (second-in-command), Big Guy, Smart Guy, The Chick? If you think the team would be improved by swapping one character between the even and odd groups, which ones would you switch?

Leader Calhoun
Lancer diGriz
Big Guy Willow
Smart Guy Daria
The Chick Buddy

Calhoun is the obvious leader with diGriz as the rebel. Willow here is powered up Willow, not early science nerd Willow, otherwise she would be competing with Daria for the Smart Guy position. Daria fills the Smart Guy position with Buddy as the Chick.

Leader Miles
Lancer Guy
Big Guy Vlad
Smart Guy Aaron
The Chick Hiro

Miles is the leader because he would just start ordering people around, Guy is in the Lancer spot because he wants to be leader and no one else wants him to be one. Vlad is the Big Guy as he does carry a weapon called Godslayer. Aaron is the Smart Guy because the fleshy ones need him to be and Hiro is the Chick.

2. Gender-swap 2, 8 & 10. Which character would have the most change in their story arc? Which the least? Would any of these characters have to have a complete personality change to be believable as the opposite sex?

Miles
Aaron
Hiro

Miles' would probably change the least because Lois McMaster Bujold has said that Miles is built as a feminist character because of his underdog status in a very patriarchal society. Although Aaron is a robot, he did have a romance with Jocasta. Hiro would probably change most because of Japanese attitudes about women. His father would probably not have read him adventure stories in his youth, so no Hiro.

3. Compare the matchups of 1 & 8 and 5 & 9. (Ignore canon sexual preferences for the moment.) Which couple would be more compatible? Which couple would be more plausible to people from either principal's home culture?

Daria
Aaron

Well, Aaron is a robot, but he is smart and sarcastic, so once Daria got over the whole toaster thing, they would be compatible.

Calhoun
diGriz

Calhoun and diGriz both have very flexible ideas about following the rules, but they also save the world on a regular basis. They would probably argue over who's in charge.

4. Your team is 3, 4 & 9. The mission consists of a social challenge, a mental challenge and a physical challenge. Which team member do you assign to each challenge?

Buddy
Vlad
diGriz

diGriz gets the social as the smooth talking conman he is. Buddy gets the physical as he is a superhero. Vlad gets the mental as he is fairly smart as well as devious.

5. 7 becomes 1's boss for a week in some plausible fashion. How's their working relationship?

Willow
Daria

They would be impressed with the other's intellect and probably become good friends.

6. 2 finds him/her/itself inserted into 6's continuity. As far as anyone other than 2 or 6 is concerned, they've always been there. What role would 2 be presumed to have had in 6's story, and could they fit in without going wonky?

Miles in Green Lantern. Miles should not, under any circumstance be given a ring. But if he gets to speak to the Guardians, he can probably convince them he should have one, and if not, then to assign a squad of Lanterns to him.

7. 3 and 5 get three wishes. The catch is that they have to agree on all three wishes before they get the benefits of any of them. What three wishes would they make?

Buddy
Calhoun

I have no idea. Buddy has very down to earth needs; keeping his family safe. Calhoun would be thinking bigger I think. Maybe making surte his planet was never invaded.

8. 1 and 2 are brainwashed by a one-time artifact that works even on people immune to mind control to attack and kill 4. They keep their normal personality, skills and competence level, except any Code vs. Killing has been turned off. Can 4 survive? How?

Daria
Miles
Vlad

Vlad is always having people and other things try to kill him. He has lots of experience. Daria, not a killer and no real skills in that area. Miles on the other hand, has lots of experience and if he has time to plan, he stands a good chance at a first strike, but Vlad has a Great Weapon, so killing him is very difficult.

9. 6, 7, 9 & 10 must help an orphanage full of small and depressed children have a merry Christmas. Who does what, knowing that at the very least the kids will be expecting a visit from Santa?

Guy
Willow
diGriz
Hiro

Guy visits with the children, using his experience as a former social worker and teacher to find out what they need and cheer them up. Willow decorates with Hiro's help. diGriz steals the contents of a Toys-R-Us and dresses as Santa Claus while Hiro teleports gifts into each child's stocking.

10. 3 and 8 are challenged to circumnavigate the Earth in eighty days or less, using only forms of transportation invented before 1900. Can they do it, or will they be fatally distracted by sidequests or their own personality conflicts?

Buddy
Aaron

As superheroes, they will constantly be saving lives and getting distracted, but they will make it and finish 10 minutes late because they were stopping a bank robbery. There would probably be lots of snarky dialog as well, preferably written by Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis.