Favorite fictional female action hero

The greatest female action hero, in my mind, spends her time exploring the depths of alien planets. She spins through the air, her whirling body a buzzsaw that cuts enemies into a thousand pieces. She swings from energy beams over vast chasms filled with lava. Or spikes. Or acid. She has a badass power suit and won't hesitate in using it to kick your ass.

She fights a giant brain at the end of some of her greatest adventures, for pity's sake. That's classy.

I speak, of course, of Samus Aran.

The bounty hunting blond beauty of the Metroid games has always been a favorite of mine. Her merits are all the more impressive given that her games have all been hosted by Nintendo, whose games typically feature stereotypically dim-witted young lasses.

Not as much anymore, mind you, but in its infancy Nintendo had more damsels in distress than they had games that were actually beatable. (But that's another can of worms, one I'll refrain from popping open.)

Samus hasn't evolved much in her time on the Nintendo. And you know what? That's fine with me. She never fit the stereotypes. Samus has always been a living weapon, even back in the days where she sported green hair rather than blond. Her take-no-crap, silent attitude suits me just fine.

And I think that's her ultimate strength. Samus is silent. In the games she almost never has a voice. Rather, she lets her actions do all the talking for her. She doesn't negotiate with terrorists, she powers up her energy cannon and blows their faces off. The universe needs saving, so you'd better get the hell out of her way.

Best of all about Samus, however (and they've changed this a bit recently, to my dismay), her character isn't defined by her looks. Too many female leads are defined by their beauty. Samus steers away from that convention by remaining in her power suit most of the time. Sure, she's nice to look at underneath the plate armor, but you aren't that disappointed if you don't see her outside of it.

It's the time spent inside that counts. Her occasional emergences into the light of day are just a pleasant bonus.