Man, this was hard. I’m terrible at picking favorites, I feel like I’m neglecting the ones I don’t pick. OTL But I’m going to say this lovely lady! Tigress!
I really love how her character has developed over the movies, her backstory was told beautifully, and she’s a badass who will do the right thing but not at the cost of her friends. Hardcore indeed.
Funny story, I actually didn’t care for her a whole lot the first time I watched Kung Fu Panda (I thought Mantis was awesome, he’s coming up later). I liked her and her design but I loved Shifu and Oogway more. But watching again I really started to appreciate how hilarious she was in the background. Po lands in front of her and she’s ready to punch his lights out. Po is failing on the obstacle course and while everyone looks concerned, she doesn’t give a shit. It’s great!
Tigress is so amazing. Seriously, I’m impressed a character like her exists in mainstream movies. And I love how they didn’t sexualize her design based on human standards, i.e. visible breasts. Because I don’t think tigers have breasts like humans. Admittedly, there are some other characters I think that works for (I’m thinking of Sawyer from “Cats Don’t Dance”), but it works so much better without for Tigress and her world. Even “The Art of Kung Fu Panda” book talks about their decision not to conspicuously sexualize her design, looking for other ways to make it clear that she was a woman, i.e. comments about making the markings around her eyes look like mascara. KFP character designer Nico Marlet, I love you.
And between the two movies and her short, Tigress has gotten some very nice development. ^_^