Childhood Heroes – I Am…
Don’t ask me why but I’ve been binging on old childhood cartoons – maybe it’s because the big 30 is less than a year away, maybe it’s because the pitter-patter of tiny feet have filled our family house again, whatever it is I’m not giving out about it!
Last Sunday I brought you some of the best cartoon theme songs from 80s/90s and today I want to look at some of my favourite characters from those shows.
These are the characters I would always play when my brothers, neighbours and I got together and peeled away from the TV screen and thrown outside.
Donatello
He was the brains of the operation and he came equipped with a Bo staff. Donatello might not have been the leader, me might be blown up his fair share of tech but he was the turtle with the plan. Saturday mornings we ran around the field next door and while the others had to pretend their had swords, nunchuks and daggers, I had a weapon – a stick and it hurt!
Donatello thought me that it was cool to be smart, that you need to think things through before committing to action. He also thought me that purple was the best colour!
Angelica
I am the third born of six children, four years younger than the oldest and four years older than the youngest so I can’t claim to know what it was like for only child Angelica in Nickeldeon’s Rugrats.
That’s not to say I wasn’t bossy, spoiled and the one who acted twice his age just so he could he could attention/praise from his parents.
Angelica was and is a boss, she’s manipulative, a leader and she knows how to get exactly what she wants and she’s only three years old.
Cheetara
You’re going to start noticing a trend here, the rest of the characters are female AND they use staffs as weapons! I don’t remember a lot about Cheetara, I was still quite young when the Thundercats were at the height of their popularity she always stands out for me.
One of two female characters, Cheetara was compassionate and wise, offering her charge and leader Lion-O sage advice whenever it was needed.
She was also an extremely proficient fighter, using her keen agility and acrobatics to out-manouvre her opponents in combat – the opening credits scene where she leaps from a cliff top, tumbling and bursting into breakneck speed still gives me goosebumps. It also gave me the idea to leap from tables, chairs, the wall in our yard and to swing wildly with a stick!
Gi
Gi uses water as a weapon to defend the planet and it’s ecosystem so instantly she was my favourite of the five planeteers. The second planeteer to be summoned by Gaia, she received her ring of power from a dolphin.
While many regard Wheeler as the smart ass of the group it was always Gi who shot him down with a quick remark. She helped keep the group together in times when they were tested but was far from a perfect leader often quick to act without giving a thought to her actions.
Gi reminds me a lot of Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender and I hold both in high regard. As a kid I would run around the house with a sandbucket full of water, throwing handfuls at the others, because that’s what a Planeteer of water does…
Diana
I don’t care what anyone says about Diana, she was the leader of the party in Dungeons & Dragons. One of the oldest she made sure her young party members were always safe and in high spirits, she put the needs of others ahead of her own.
Diana was the ‘Acrobat’, exuding agility, grace and calculated moves in combat, equipped with a magical Bo staff – a weapon and tool Diana used it to defend herself and to vault herself across dangerous gaps and up soaring heights.
Unfortunately I did not have Diana’s grace and the handle of a floorbrush was no substitute for her weapon – it didn’t matter whenever our adventuring party went out on a quest Saturday morning I always chose to be Diana!
Catwoman
Selena Kyle/Michelle Pfeiffer probably had the biggest impact on me as a child. I was six years old and I wanted a crudely stitched leather outfit, a whip and a mask, I wanted nothing more than to be the kickflipping, asskicking, empowered vigilante hellbent on revenge. Even at the age of six I saw a lot of myself in Selena Kyle, I was shy and soft spoken but I had a fire in me that wanted to be stirred and provoked, a Catwoman.
To this day my love for Catwoman and the others is still there, they weren’t just characters on TV shows, they were heroes, they were friends, they had a big impact on my childhood and my life.
Who were your heroes?
Who did you pretend to be as a kid?
Let me know in the comments below!
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
