Wired Talks Geek Culture's Ass-Kickingest Women

In reaction to fan outcry (ie, bitching) about their list of 26 Female Ass-Kickers of Geek Culture, Wired.com recently released a list of 28 Fierce Female Ass-Kickers as chosen by their readers.

See folks, that's the thing about a list: they get hits for the website posting them because they're easily digestible; meanwhile they spark conversation and outrage amongst website commenters. No internet list is complete without any variation of "How could you forget to include So-and-So, this list sucks!".

Wired.com was reminding of this truism when they posted a gallery of Geek Culture's 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers to coincide with the release of Salt. Though the list does have its standards (Terminator's Sarah Connor, Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck) and its surprises (Mass Effect 2's Jack? Hell yeah!), I have to agree with the 170+ commenters: there are some glaring omissions. I mean, a list like this that doesn't include Trinity from The Matrix? Leaving her out is like making an omelette but leaving out the eggs: it's just a pile of stuff that isn't what you say it is.

170+ comments can't be wrong! Or they can, but in this case Wired.com decided to heed the word of the nerds and post a new gallery/list, Geek Culture's Fiercest Female Ass-Kickers, as Picked by You. Trinity, of course, is right up there- but what I like about the readers' choices is that they're a little more outside the box, including more characters from alternate media such as cartoons (Turanga Leela of Futurama fame). I'm also psyched to see Aeryn Sun from Farscape, Samus Aran of Metroid, and Fem Shep from Mass Effect represented. They let me know that people out there think the way I do, which is cool. However, it doesn't leave me any room to leave my own "How could you forget So-and-So, this list sucks!". Eh, win some, lose some I guess.