Sylvia Anderson created the first woman I remember wanting to be.

This is kind of a big deal for a transgender girl like me.

Lady Penelope was everything I wanted to be; effortlessly cool and suave, with the ear of everyone in the room and the skills to kick said people's collective teeth in if things took a turn for the less than civilized. She was awesome. I was... seven, I think, maybe younger, maybe older.

Sylvia Anderson co-created Thunderbirds as well, which is the future I firmly believe humanity deserves. It's utopian, in a sense. There's no war. There's little in the way of borders. People are safe and happy. The only disasters are accidents or the machinations of a villainous mastermind. Humanity is victorious.

Lady Penelope was the woman I aspired to be, and the world she lived in gave me hope for the future when I needed it most.

She will be missed.