When you got it, you got it. BAMF, baby.

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

So, I saw Salt yesterday and I was reminded, as I often am, that Katee (like Angelina) is one of the few kickass women on TV and in the movies that I really, seriously believe can kick some ass. I mean, not her personally, but the characters she plays. Both Sarah Corvus and Starbuck could fuck your shit right up, I have zero doubts about that. But I often do have doubts about other characters that normally get round up in things like the recent Wired list of female ass-kickers, even for shows that I thoroughly enjoyed and characters I liked.

For example, I'd say I'm about 95% on Sydney Bristow's ass-kicking capabilities, and about 90% or maybe 85% on Buffy (ooh but 100% on Faith). There are women on shows right now, like Anna Torv on Fringe for example, who I'm only at like 50% believability with. I know this is probably down to personal preference in a lot of the cases, but I wonder what it is that I need the character to have in order for me to buy into the idea that they can cause some serious damage? I think there's definitely a lot more showiness in some roles than others (Torv's Olivia is comparatively very low key) but there's something a bit more...believably menacing to me with a Salt or Starbuck.

Maybe it's because they're not asked to wear the hero mantle so heavily and can flirt with the dark side/anti-hero/villainy of the character, much more so than a Syd or Buffy or Olivia, who are usually compelled to remain the nice guy hero at all times. Hmm. 

So what do you think? What makes Starbuck such a believable badass for you? Are there any times/scenes/episodes in canon where you couldn't really buy into it (not talking about the moments where she's showing vulnerability but where she's specifically showing the badass side and you were like "nah, nope")? What are the qualities that a fictional badass must have?