# What fictional character did you aspire to be like as a child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063 "2018-07-17T04:34:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/1 "2018-07-17T04:34:01Z")
I’m not asking what fictional jobs you would have liked to have. One can be a starship captain (theoretically, anyway) without drinking Earl Grey tea or having sex with green space babes to suppress your lust for your half-alien buddy. It is emulating the characters’ characters that I am interested in hearing about. Did you want to be as cool as Jim Rockford? As scrappy as Kim Possible? As clever as Temperance Brennan? Tell us about it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/2 "2018-07-17T04:43:04Z")
I wanted to be Superman, in the era of the George Reeves TV show. Invincible, incorruptible, insouciant (although I didn’t know what that meant), he didn’t need to get angry because he always won. Oh, yes, and good looking. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/3 "2018-07-17T04:47:44Z")
Sgt Saunders on _ **Combat!** _ Every free day I had, you’d find me down by the railroad tracks in Army surplus gear, killing Germans with my Mattel tommy gun. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/4 "2018-07-17T05:01:49Z")
Constable Odo from DS9 was and remains the fictional character I identify most strongly with. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/5 "2018-07-17T10:04:26Z")
Bilbo Baggins. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/6 "2018-07-17T10:14:57Z")
Alex P. Keaton from _Family Ties_. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/7 "2018-07-17T12:41:37Z")
Saucy and bad-ass like Scarlett O’Hara. However, being more of a Carreen by nature, I made no strides in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/8 "2018-07-17T12:49:01Z")
Simon Templar or Archie Goodwin. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/9 "2018-07-17T12:51:32Z")
Captain Horatio Hornblower. Inner conflict and doubt, but outwardly “a strong silent capable man, unmoved by emotion” (a quote from _Beat to Quarters_, the first novel in the cycle). The quintessential moment is at the very end of _Ship of the Line_. Hornblower has just beaten three French ships into ruin and disabled a fourth, but at the cost of the wreck of his own ship, the death of two thirds of his crew, defeat, the prospect of years of captivity or execution at the hands of Napoleon - never to see his unborn son, never to see the woman he loves hopelessly again, never to walk his quarterdeck or smell the salt air of freedom. But he has accomplished his purpose. Regards, Shodan PS - ha hem! ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/10 "2018-07-17T12:58:34Z")
Fictional inventors did it for me. The one that stands out most to me is Gaston Lagaffe. Not motivated by wealth, power or fame, he just has a simple office job and just prefers to tinker with electronics, mechanical stuff, and anything he can get his hands on, really. He’s also lazy as fuck and does the bare minimum possible. That’s where the comparison kind of stings ¯\_(ツ)\_/¯ ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/11 "2018-07-17T13:26:43Z")
Gandalf. Though I didn’t think through the battling a balrog, dying, and resurrecting part of the deal. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/12 "2018-07-17T13:30:05Z")
Superman. Zorro. Daniel Boone. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/13 "2018-07-17T13:40:15Z")
Bugs Bunny, wise-cracking cool cat. Later on, Hawkeye Pierce, same same, add in skirt chaser. Needless to say, these role models didn’t really serve me well socially. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/14 "2018-07-17T13:50:22Z")
Rick Hunter ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/15 "2018-07-17T13:50:22Z")
Superman. Superman. Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/16 "2018-07-17T13:51:00Z")
When I was very young, it was whatever cowboy hero I’d recently seen in a movie or on TV: Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger, etc. When I started reading more, it was Tarzan and Alan Quatermain. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/17 "2018-07-17T14:13:03Z")
“Tom Swift,” he said adverbally. ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yellow_sausage_bandit/32/394_2.png) [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_sausage_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/18 "2018-07-17T14:31:25Z")
Darth Vader - crush the rebel scum ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/19 "2018-07-17T14:36:06Z")
“Cat Woman”, because she was so athletic and yet so sensuous. In fact, that’s exactly why cats are my favorite animal. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063/20 "2018-07-17T14:36:37Z")
Spock or Scotty are at the top of my list. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fictional-character-did-you-aspire-to-be-like-as-a-child/818063.md?page=2)