PRINCESS

If you've read any of my fanfic, you'll probably have realised that Princess is a major character for me. So I might as well do one of these even though I distinctly remember telling at least one person that I never would :) The main thing about Princess is that she's nice. She notices the pretty scenery under the ocean, she's positive (well, most of the time, but more on that later), she's happy, yada yada yada. In short, she's exactly the sort of person who absolutely nauseates me, so why do I like her?

Basic Details

Like all the others (well, including Mark only after Cronus' death), Princess is an orphan. She mentions in Peril in the Pyramids that she was three when her mother died, and remembers it.

Her main weapon is her yoyo, which can be used to trigger explosions and to retrieve objects with a little sucker-cap thingo. Princess' personal vehicle is a motorbike, the sound effects for which make it sound like a rather wimpy 150cc. Or a sewing machine :) It transforms into the Galacticycle, which is capable of handling difficult/watery terrain. It's housed in the port wing-pod of the Phoenix and has a clear shell that covers her when they're in Fiery Phoenix and splitting up into five.

Although she's as capable in a fight as anyone, her real skill is working out what Spectran computer banks are for and teaching things how to fall down, go boom. If there's any sensor readings or whatever to be taken using the Phoenix's instruments, it'll usually be either Princess or Jason doing it. She can fly the Phoenix if she has to (we actually see it in Beast With a Sweet Tooth, and Tiny mentions it in Save the Space Colony).

She's got recordings of Zoltar on hand (Prisoners in Space), has studied meditation in the Himalayas (Charioteers of Changu) and plays the guitar.

Personality

Mostly Princess is a very positive person, but there are two occasions where she pretty much packs it in and decides the game's over. In Invasion of Space Centre, when the place is down to damp rubble and she and Mark are trapped she says, "It doesn't look like we're going to get out of this, does it." Her whole conversation with Mark, at that point, she's not terribly upbeat at all. Then in The Conway Tape Tap, she's somewhat defeatist; when she and Mark are trapped, she goes from, "There must be a way [to get out of here]" to "We'll never make it back [to Earth]" rather quickly. Note, though, there's an alternative explanation for these episodes of defeatism in the next section. In contrast to this, she's still signalling and hoping for a response when she's captured in The Fierce Flowers, no giving up there.

She's a people-person, more than anything else. She seems to have a more active social life than most of the others, with a few friends outside the team like Jill, for whom Princess occasionally covers shifts at the J, and the mountain-sculpting Amelia in the Fiery Lava Giant are both mentioned. In fact, she's the team diplomat; when she disappears in The Fierce Flowers, relationships within the team get strained very quickly. When Jason's having troubles (double vision, numb hand etc) she tries to talk to him about it, she's sympathetic to people when they're having trouble, she's an older sister figure to Keyop.

Princess is good at her job and she knows it. She doesn't appreciate being protected in a work sense. When Jason says that a mission is dangerous, maybe Princess and Keyop should be sent back to the Phoenix, Princess retorts, "Maybe we should send you back," making the point that she doesn't need any special consideration (Ace From Outer Space). She has similar exchanges with Mark, although when he tells her to watch her back, she's a little more polite when she answers back.

In The Jupiter Moon Menace, the Phoenix is having some trouble with its sensors. Zark suggests reversing polarity on instruments, Princess doesn't think it will work, despite Zark's say-so, and is pretty definite about that. Then Mark says he thinks Zark is right; lo and behold, Princess is confident about the idea. This could indicate two things; first of all, Princess seriously needs to get some spine, and if Mark says so, it's okay. Which sort of leads us to...

The Romance that Launched a Thousand Fanfics

Or, so what's really going on with Mark and Princess anyway?

Okay, so they're not (or presumably not) doing anything about it, but there's definitely an attraction there. In Invasion of Space Centre, she says that she always liked Mark best (okay, so it's juvenile; the show was intended for kids, after all), and there's another episode where she says Mark sends her private messages using their bracelets. For Mark's part, he makes a reference about his "affections for Princess" in one episode, and he's genuinely shattered when she's missing and he's possibly killed her in The Fierce Flowers.

Now, I said something about an alternative explanation for Princess' little descents into negativity, didn't I. Hmm, how do I put this. Notice that they only happen when Princess and Mark are alone together. With that in mind, you could interpret it as a manipulation thing; get upset enough, get a positive reaction. It's a manipulative tactic, and one that I'd prefer to think that she wouldn't resort to. That said, I don't think she really has to.

Little Quirks

She has been known to bring back cans of "imported 10-4 oil from Venus" from Zark, and she and Mark occasionally drop in to see Zark. God only knows why.

So Why�?

I've sat down and had a bit of a think about this one, and I come back to one quality that shines over all her other traits; she's to-the point, and because of that, I'll forget about the Pollyanna-ing and the puppy-at-Mark's-heels. If she says she'll do something, she does it. On a mission, she does her job without grandstanding; out of uniform, she's exactly the same. And that, I guess, is her fundamental personality; someone who's true to themselves.