The late-80's movie hit me exactly in the target audience - I was ten or eleven, so you can imagine. Read all the books in some sort of land-speed record, though naturally I got more out of the later ones in subsequent rereads when I was in a position to have the faintest idea what was going on. :-) Within the past few years I have successfully identified the exact type to be Fox's Favorite Character in a given setting - your Remus Lupins, your Aral Vorkosigans, aaarguably your Sam Seaborns, certainly your Commodores Norrington and roughly half the cast of Lord of the Rings - by testing him against the Anne Shirley Criterion: "I think I'd like it if he could be wicked, and wouldn't."

I needs me an icon! ~twirl~