The Hooded Pickle

(In no particular order)

Real Life:

George Nicholas: The Man, The Myth, The Rentals

Lewis Gossett Jr.: The man has been in more than 60 movies so far and has won academy awards for his performances. Even films like Decieved (The Cloud Nine version) and Diggstown couldn't ruin his career.

Hunter S. Thompson ~ The man is legend in his own right. No other person has survived such bizarre episodes with such poise. A media icon, the man who rights fiction tells more truth than all the "serious" journalists out there. You know your good when other journalists look to your work for insights.

Miyamoto Musashi ~ 16th century Samurai and author of the Book of Five Rings. From the age of 18 until his death by sickness in his early to late sixties Musashi fought in more than 50 duels to the death. After the age of thirty he stopped using his sword and fought with his wooden scabbards. He gave the sidearm a pratical use and his book is an great influence on my fighting abilities and my cognitive prowess.

Christ ~ The son of man himself.

Buddha ~ Gave up a life of ease, riches, righteous living and power to become first a guy in a cave before becoming a masterful and wise beggar. Just giving up riches and wealth for his faith is enough for me.

Mr. Hawking ~ Eventually he will simply will himself into a new form that can walk, Steve's brainpower leaves you in the shallow end of the evolutionary swimming pool.

Einstein ~ The man, the mystery, the mathematics, the hair. A patent clerk whose parents thought was retarded, couldn't remember his own phone number yet manages to revolutionize science for all time.

Mythical:
King Arthur ~ The man has more legends than I ever will and he always seems to the epitome of what a man should be. Brave, wise, powerful and regal, as well as willing to fall into the bed of pretty lass who only looks like his wife. A man among men.

Bilbo Baggins ~ The hobbit had it made. Money (actually had a lot to begin with), a magic ring that keeps him alive longer than other hobbits, wine from two hundred years ago, fine food, a good pipe (a three foot clay pipe) and the roomiest hole in the ground you'll find.

Cu Chulann ~ The "Hound of Culan" was an ancient Irish folk hero who was amazing from the day he was born. Between beating fifty other irish kids in wrestling and an early version of Gaelic Football by himself and then strangling the largest irish wolfhound ever with his bare hands (at the age of ten) Cu Chulann went on to have an incredible number of adventures.

Sherlock Holmes ~ Like CSI without all the hubbub and mumbo jumbo that just ain't real.

Darth Vader ~ The force, a tie fighter, hit it with Natalie Portman, a lightsaber and the voice of James Earl Jones, what else could you ask for... what's this a life of evil and you get a deathbed redemption, can we see say awesome?

Comic Book Guy ~ If only I could aspire to be so cynical.

Yoroiden Samurai Troopers ~ Say what you want about Japanese animation, this show kicked motherfucking ass. Five strangers are drawn together by their powerful magical armors, just in time to witness an invasion from a hellish nether realm by the evil Emperor Arago. The city is overrun, it's technology rendered useless by the power of Arago's dark magic... millions of people are captured and taken to this nether realm, their souls trapped in towers of pain, their suffering fueling Arago's dark powers.
The only way to stop him from conquering the world is to band together and defeat his four dark warlords (corrupted Samurai Troopers from hundreds of years ago, preservered through Arago's dark sorcery, so that's hundreds of years of experience with their magical armors people, versus five guys who just theirs...), the evil Lady Kayura (the last living member of the ancient's one's clan [other than him of course...], the ancient one being a virtous monk who originally defeated Arago and forged the mystical armors), and Arago himself... not too mention legions of undead soldiers, ghost and demons of all sorts and other hell realm rulers... this shit is Voltron old school people...


Ogami Itto - Former Executioner of the Shogunate, now the dread assasin "Lone Wolf and Cub", he and his little son travel across fuedal Japan killing for 500 pieces of gold, the amount of victims doesn't matter. Asking only all the information related to the mission and the gold up front, Ogami will kill anyone, anytime. He has left the light path, rejecting both water that ended the regular Yagyu line but the fire that will consume the Shadow Yagyu. Deny him not, he is Lone Wolf and Cub, and his Daitonuki Sword will take your head. His is the demon's path, and he has become a Daemon of Meifuimado.

Ogami Daigoro - Young son of Itto, Daigoro (his name is Japanese Mnemonic for the five states of man in Buddhist lore) has seen more than his share of killing in his short life. No doubt his only memory of his mother is of her corpse, so freshly shorn of life by Yagyu clan ninjas. Given the horrifying choice of a ball (symbolizing a desire to lead a normal life, which would meant that Itto would have killed him) and a sword (meaning a life as an assasin) Daigoro crawls towards the sword, to which his father can only reply "My poor son, you would have been happier if you chosen to join your mother." Daigoro has killed his own share of people at his young age, which is quite an accomplishment, as he can barely count to five. Despite his young age he shows remarkable intelligence; saving his father's life, stealing a short sword from a noble's son who was about to beat him (physically) and attacking him like a trained swordsman. Indeed all that can be said about Daigoro is summed up by a Daimyo, "His eyes are like the eyes of an old swordsman who has seen too much killing. He has no fear of life or death... in such a small child..."


Ogami Itto and Ogami Daigoro - The Infamous Assasin "Lone Wolf and Cub"

Raistin Majere - Frail and weaker than a thousand year old man, with eyes that see the passing of time, not the beauty of humanity; Raistlin Majere was cursed with a love of power, for a desire for magic. Eventually, Raistlin aquires enough power to destroy the dark goddess Takhisis, Queen of the Dragons... and the wisdom to avoid doing such, out of respect for the balance of things.

Raistlin is an enigma; disdaining his companions, his own brother and almost everyone in the world, he still has a soft spot for those creatures considered weak and foolish by the more "intelligent races" (for example, gully dwarves). This arises from the contempt he recieved as a child, being considered useless because he preferred learning and sleight of hand to hard work and swordsmanship.

Enma Ai - The Jigoku Shoujo or the Hell Girl. A being whose soul purpose in existence is to get revenge for you by dragging your enemy into Hell itself... theres a price of course, you levy your own soul to Hell after you die. Despite the evil of her job she displays a distinct sense of pity and remorse for her victims, both those guilty of evil and those who make the deals.