1. Eilonwy from The Black Cauldron - The queen of forgotten Disney characters. She is strong and brave. She gets kidnapped by a pretty freaky (gives me nightmares, at least), skeleton king and locked in a dungeon. And what does she do? She stays calm and finds a way to get herself out. She saves the male lead and does it with humor and sass. She is also very sweet. Unfortunately for her, the movie she is in is one of the most forgotten about Disney movies. Probably because the movie didn't have a clear audience. The main characters looked young (like 10-14), there were fairies and a cute pig which made it seem like it was meant for little kids. Yet, the villain and his army of the dead and the sexual humor of the witches made it seem more for teens and up. Usually, Disney hides the sexual innuendo, but the minstrel being turned into a frog and getting stuck in the witch's bosom? Not very hidden. What was your audience with this movie Disney? You had a good plot and good characters but, really, what was your target audience?
2. Audrey Ramirez from Atlantis: the Lost Empire - spitting in the face of sexism and beating up bad guys at the same time. She is one of two daughters of a man who wanted sons. Audrey and her sister were raised as sons. Her sister is a boxing champion, while she is an expert mechanic. She took over her father's shop and now is on an elite team of explorers and she isn't even in her 20's yet. But, as a minor character, Audrey tends to be forgotten about compared to Kida and Helga. Which is sad, because she has the most sass - and in the end, when they're about to destroy a civilization, Audrey is the first one from the team to look back and realize what they were doing was wrong. (Except for the Doctor, who wasn't really part of that scene - because, apparently, it was just decided before then they were going to leave him behind. It just wasn't shown.)
3. Megara from Hercules - It takes a very strong person to sell their soul to save someone else's life. Especially in a Universe where the Elysian Fields (a sort of Greek mythology version of Heaven) were real. Assuming he was a good person before he dumped her, she knew he would end up in the Elysian Fields because Hades was real to sell her soul to. Yet, even knowing he would end up somewhere good if he did die, she still sold her soul to spare him from pain. And yet, even after he betrayed her she was still able to open her heart to Hercules. And let me just say, I've worked for some tough employers, but can you imagine a worse boss that Hades? I mean, he sent her to deal with a centaur and who knows what else, and quitting is not an option, so really she is one tough chick.
4. Charlotte La Bouff from Princess and the Frog - Charlotte is seriously under-appreciated. She is the exact opposite of basically every Disney princess. There were really no hardships in her life. She didn't have wicked step-sisters, she didn't have to clean or hide, and she never had to worry about anything. She always got everything she wanted. But she never abandoned her friend, Tiana, even though she probably had a lot of people swarming her trying to be her friend. And in the end, she wanted to help Tiana get the man of her dreams, even if it meant giving up her own dream to marry a Prince. The first time she didn't get what she wanted, and it was her choice to give it up in order to help out a friend.
5. Edna Mode from The Incredibles - I love Edna. Edna has the passion and fire that makes her the perfect fashion designer for superheroes. She is smart and strong. She also really puts a lot of thought into every design. She takes into consideration not only a supers powers but their personality and situation. Every hero probably goes to her, yet she knows them all on a personal level and is even there for Helen when she is worried about her husband. She also gives good advice.
6. Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet - A captain needs to be respected by their crew, especially in a time where pirates run wild and treasure is buried in the center of planets. No, but seriously, people in charge need the people following their command to respect them (or fear them, as Machiavelli might say). Captain Amelia is a well-respected Captain, something that based off people's reaction to her seems like it is rare for a female Captain to be seen as. She is tough and even after being shot she still tries to take care of her crew mates.
7. Adelaide Bonfamille from Aristocats - I honestly adore Adelaide. She is fabulous. She is a retired opera singer who was very famous and is now very rich. And she leaves everything, her entire fortune to her butler. True, she does say it goes to her cats first, which is what causes the butler to lose it. But cats do not really live that long, sadly. So, in fifteen years at most, most if not all of the cats would be dead and the fortune would have been his. And in the meantime, it isn't like the cats can shop. So, he would be the primary caregiver. So, he would just have had to take care of them until they died and then he would receive it all. If he had been smart enough to realize that cats having nine lives, doesn't mean they live nine lifetimes, then he'd have known he was going to still be alive and not much older than he was when he received the fortune. Anyway, in the end, she puts her fortune towards helping stray animals and opens her home to strays. She just seems like such a strong, down to earth woman.
8. Princess Dot from A Bug's Life - I don't know how old Princess Dot was in ant years or otherwise. But, she is clearly very young. And until the end, she couldn't fly either. Yet, she was incredibly brave and compassionate. She was also clever. When she saw someone suffering for being different, she went out of her way to try and make them feel better. She was loyal to her friends and risked her life to try and help her friends and her colony despite her young age and small size.
9. Kala from Tarzan - Kala is so sweet. There doesn't seem like there were many human visitors to the island, before his parents. But they did seem to recognize he was human, suggesting that humans had been seen around the island before and not in a particularly positive way. Perhaps, it was his parents. Perhaps, it was other settlers. Either way, the fact that Kala took him in disregarding his differences and her own mate's input (who was also the leader) to try to save him really shows how strong her sense of compassion is. She also is very encouraging, she lets him be himself even though that gets them both in trouble.
10. Olivia Flaversham from The Great Mouse Detective - I think she is under-appreciated, but also sometimes annoying. I think it is her voice that annoys me, it seems a little...off somehow. Maybe I find it a little annoyingly high pitched, or maybe the accent sounds kind of strange to me. I don't know. But the character her self is pretty impressive. She is a young girl who suffered a terrible trauma of having her father abducted and her home destroyed. And what does she do, she goes off by herself far from home with no money or help to try to find someone who can help get her father back. And when she finds the Detective, he seems crazed and is armed, but when he said he won't help, she doesn't give up. She is a strong kid and therefore earns the last spot on this list. (Though, Penny from the Rescuers should get an honorable mention here, because she is also very brave.)
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