When I made this poll I pretty much just started gen 2, now I'm on the Final Holy War! I'd say now, my no-brainers are Julia, Ares, Patty, and Ishtar. Shanan, Altena, and Julius are also super solid, and overall I'd say gen 2 has more interesting/more characterized characters than gen 1! As a side note, Seliph is now definitely my favorite character in Genealogy, and Leif is extremely likely to be my favorite in Thracia if not all the FE titles.