Years after reading this little passage and I still think it's one of the best bits of writing that encapsulate who Helga is at her core. A wily opponent who makes full use of her every advantage, as well as someone who can easily fit a wildly setting at the drop of a hat. She is the character whose appearance changes the most out of any character in the film, switching up from seductive secretary at Milo's apartment (and then in Whitmore's estate), then afterwards to the Mauser-armed lieutenant serving as Commander Lyle Rourke's right hand. We never get this kind of change between social/environmental contexts in most of the other characters, especially not to this degree. The rest of the Atlantis crew tends to fit one particular mold or other, and their outfits demonstrate this; they either remain the same for the duration of their scenes (like Mole or Audrey), or otherwise undergo no more than one or two wardrobe changes. Helga has four or five distinct looks in the film alone, depending on how much you count goggles or her distinctive coat counting for a different appearance. She is constantly altering what she looks like, embodying a more traditionally femme fatale presence in the beginning of the movie in her distinctive black dress, and then blending this with what is essentially a villainous take on the "Lara Croft" female action hero archetype in a tank top by the end. Her abilities as a situational and social shapeshifter make her the perfect weapon in the hands of her superiors, and I love that if you read Helga's character file you understand that Rourke saw and cultivated her potential to employ these skills as a spy—both during her time in the military, and then afterwards as a mercenary loyal to him and his interests.
