I absolutely agree with this.  It’s like the tendency to say every Original Character MUST be a Mary Sue.

I’ve never liked how some people have taken fridging to such lengths that you can’t do ANYthing to a female character, else you get called out for it.  And it can frequently just be an emotional reaction to being a fan of said characters.

There IS a fine line between bad things happening to characters, and actual fridging, and that mileage is going to vary for everyone, but sometimes it’s just an overreaction.

And I’m doing a terrible job of explaining my thoughts, and have begun rambling, so shutting up now. >.<

I admit to being new to a lot of things in comics culture, but for me, whether something counts as fridging depends on two major things

1) Story: What does the death accomplish storyline-wise? If the entire purpose is to trigger feelings of emotional distress in your hero or start a revenge process, then you’re a good way through the “fridged” qualifications.  Example: In Fearless Defenders, Annabelle Riggs died in issue 6 (I think) and people said she’d been fridged (though for Valkyrie’s pain, not a dude’s). I maintain she was not fridged because her death was to set up the valhalla/body-share process and I believe more things in the FD storyline were to be related if the title had been continued. 2) Agency: Did the character go into a situation knowing her own risks? Or did the death come out of complete fucking nowhere?  Frigga went in defending Jane fully knowing the situation and prepared for combat. Aspects of her situation as the movie progressed certainly lean it towards fridging as it further drives the brother’s fury, but I’m not gonna say it was egregious.  Amanda Greyson in the Star Trek reboot however… yeah that was completely, 100% pointless. Major fridge.

I don’t think I explained as well as I meant.