Character Rant: Emma Swan

Alright, let's even out all of the talk of the "villains" with the talk of our main heroine, Emma Swan. The first time I heard her name, I cringed, because I can no longer associate the last name of "Swan" with anyone but Bella from "Twilight". Thankfully, Emma shows no resemblance of the Mary Sue, except for overlooking the obvious.
My first thoughts after the trailer was that she was Little Red Riding Hood, because of her red jacket, the wolf that came out of nowhere, staying at Granny's, etc. Of course Ruby disproved this so I have no idea who and if Emma is supposed to be a fairytale character. Some say Dorothy, some say Alice, I say she's like Henry and doesn't have a particular counterpart because she grew up in the real world. She's also the savior, so that probably is enough.
Emma is a bails bondsman/bounty hunter, which is one of many professions writers grab for when they want to imply BA-ness. And, when she arrests someone on an alleged date...I totally get the BA vibe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wga0l-pX46U
This is also, like, the first time we see her. So right out of the gate she's awesome. Here are some of my other favorite BA moments that make me love Emma (most of them involve her fighting).

7. Emma Wins Mr. Gold's Respect
6. Emma takes a chain-saw to Regina's apple tree (oddly no clip for this one)
5. Emma and Regina Fight (1x07)
4. Emma Calls Regina a Socio-path/Tells Her She's Taking Henry Back
3. Emma Beats Up Regina In Hospital
2. Emma Breaks the Curse
1. Emma Fights Maleficent (Just deal with the prince parts)

Notice how most of these are in order, proving that she just gets more and more awesome the more she loves Henry. Three of these are from the Season 1 finale, but I digress. There are more awesome moments, but they don't necessarily count as "BA".
To counteract all these awesomeness, Emma has...flaws. First of all she's very, very crappy at being a sheriff or deputy, mostly because she seems to hate procedure. She's intuitive and impulsive, so she blames people she has no evidence against (Regina), ignores threats that soon turn into violence (Mr. Gold), and sticks to the rules only when plot demands it (Mary Margaret). I would hate it if Emma was head of law enforcement in my town.
Also, for someone who can believe in the best of some people (Mary Margaret), she is extremely jaded. This jadedness and no-BS that comes from her hard orphan-raised-in-the-foster-system past makes her extremely slow to trust most people. So when Henry and August try to tell her about the curse, she refuses. Even when it would be very easy to chalk it up to magic. Like the poisoned apple turnover. Like Regina and Mr. Gold knowing everything about everyone. But, as we can see, she's kind of literally blind when she doesn't see August's wooden leg. Because Emma's practical and stuff. Still, this makes for a long season of facepalming and begging Emma to just believe already so things start becoming awesome in Storybrooke (about five minutes after Emma breaks the curse, Mr. Gold brings magic back. Because they're in tune).
Emma is a wonderful protagonist who is easy to relate to from a viewer stand-point. She's made mistakes and errors of judgement, and decides to give Henry up to give him a better life (little does she know). Her love for Henry is as strong as Regina's if not moreso because she hasn't been there for him. And it's the biological versus the adoptive mother dynamics that make their relationship so interesting...besides the fact that Emma's like "aw hell naw, be-otch" whenever Regina's being Regina. Jennifer Morrison also does a spectacular job of making Emma awesome and deserves her own applause. Because the writing can be incredible, but with awful actors... Well it dies.
One last thing I want to point out; there is always that one character in fanfiction that gets shipped with everyone else in the entire series. Emma is that one character. Unlike most pairings, who combine names (Kigo) or abbreviate (AxI) or just put an "x" between names (HarryxDraco), OUaT fans are much more creative. Some pairings for you to ponder:

• EmmaxGraham: No special name for this one that I've seen, but it's the most basic. It was teased at by the writers...before they mercilessly killed him off. This used to be my favorite pairing with Emma, but now I'm shifting more towards the third bullet.
• EmmaxAugust: August and his father just seem like butts in the fairytale world. Denying Emma having a parent to love/raise/explain crap to her in order to make sure he stays a "real boy"? And then said real boy, whose supposed to protect her, ditches her in the foster system? I don't care if the past is in the past, August still isn't very nice. And even if he is a writer, I won't give him a break.
• Mad Swan: I like Emma. I like Jefferson. So why not? I mean, drugging her and binding her up is already kinky enough for ten thousand fanfictions to launch... And they have the love of their children in common, though Grace sadly didn't remember Jefferson so he went a little cuckoo. We'll have to see more before I'm entirely sold on this idea, though.
• Golden Swan: I can see where the shippers got this from; Robert Carlyle is so charismatic he could have chemistry with Henry's book on set. Their scenes are quite fun to watch, but I'm guessing there's an age difference and a morality gap they'd have to bridge...even if Mr. Gold likes her spirit. At best to me it seems like playground romance: "I like you." "Go away, Gold, you smell funny and steal babies".
• Swan Queen: First time I saw this pairing, I threw up in my mouth a little. I've never been a fan of slash or femslash, but Regina and Emma being together seemed a 1 on the "most likely to happen" scale (right under "pigs will fly"). Besides cultural norms and step-cest (Regina would be her step-grandmother and Henry's step-great-grandmother), THEY HATE EACH OTHER. There has never been a moment where Emma's like "you want to go out for coffee, Reggi?". Even in the pilot there was just tense politeness. Yes, in a perfect world Henry would have both his mommies and have them like each other and raise him normally...but pigs WILL fly before Regina and Emma start getting attracted to each other. Keep dreaming, Swan Queeners, keep dreaming.