Beauty, Brains, and Brawn



"Blossom, commander and the leader

Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter

Buttercup, she is the toughest fighter"

- The Powerpuff Girls ending theme

Related to Tomboy and Girly Girl, a type of female Power Trio where one is smart, one is tough, and one is conventionally pretty, popular or feminine. It's fairly common for the "Beauty" to act as the Team Mom, The Kirk, or the mediator when the other two get into their frequent fights, so they have something to do other than just be pretty. Often, to give "Beauty" a useful skill, she is the one who is socially adept and empathetic, while "Brains" has technical skills but is nerdy and socially awkward.

The personalities might also be what the Freudian Trio used to be described as: body or the impulsive, pleasure-seeking one (the brawn), mind or the academic, reasonable one (the brain) and heart or the one who ties them together, as the calming, healing influence (the beauty). In other words, the Brawn represents the Id, the Brain represents the Superego, and the Beauty represents the Ego.

Often Colour-Coded for Your Convenience as the Brainy Brunette, the Fiery Redhead and the beautiful but Dumb Blonde. Although it can be switched around. Contrast though as the Blonde, Brunette, Redhead tend to be portrayed as flaws while Beauty, Brains, and Brawn are good.

See also: The Hecate Sisters, The Three Faces of Eve, and Four-Girl Ensemble.

Anime and Manga

 * Axis Powers Hetalia
 * Ukraine: Beauty (the most emotional and sensitive)
 * Liechtenstein: Brains (sensitive as well, but more stable and said to be a techie in the author's notes)
 * Hungary: Brawn (the Action Girl,'nuff said)


 * Magic Knight Rayearth
 * Fuu - Brains
 * Hikaru - Brawn
 * Umi - Beauty


 * Marmalade Boy
 * Arimi Suzuki - Beauty
 * Miki Koishikawa - Brawn
 * Meiko Akizuki - Brains


 * Ikki Tousen
 * Gentoku Ryuubi - Beauty
 * Kan'u Unchou - Brains
 * Ekitoku Chouhi - Brawn


 * Sailor Moon: First Two Arcs of the First Series
 * Usagi/Moon - Beauty
 * Ami/Mercury - Brains
 * Rei/Mars - Brawn


 * Sailor Moon: The Outer Senshi
 * Michiru/Neptune - Beauty
 * Setsuna/Pluto - Brains
 * Haruka/Uranus - Brawn


 * Sailor Moon: The Sailor Starlights
 * Yaten/Star Healer - Beauty
 * Taiki/Star Maker - Brains
 * Seiya/Star Fighter - Brawn


 * Saber Marionette J
 * Bloodberry - Beauty
 * Cherry - Brains
 * Lime - Brawn


 * The Daughter of Twenty Faces - According to Koito, the Detective Girls are as followed:
 * Chiko - Brawn
 * Tome - Beauty
 * Koito - Brains
 * Unfortunately, it doesn't completely work, because Chiko is probably more clever than Koito...


 * Kaleido Star: Half-first season Power Trio
 * Sora - Beauty
 * Mia - Brains
 * Anna - Brawn


 * Neon Genesis Evangelion
 * Misato - Brains
 * Rei - Beauty
 * Asuka - Brawn


 * Et Cetera
 * Mingchao - Beauty
 * Fino - Brains
 * Benkate - Brawn


 * Ojamajo Doremi: At the start, at least.
 * Doremi - Beauty
 * Hazuki - Brains
 * Aiko - Brawn


 * Project A-ko
 * C-ko - Beauty
 * B-ko - Brains
 * A-ko - Brawn


 * Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid
 * Vivio - Beauty (Attracts friends with ease in addition to being royalty)
 * Corona - Brains (Bookworm type Squishy Wizard Marionette Master and the least brawny of the three)
 * Rio - Brawn (Skilled martial artist who created her own style and the least bookish of the three)
 * Similar dynamic with the original trio.
 * Nanoha - Beauty (A Messiah by means of Defeat Means Friendship)
 * Fate - Brawn (Does the most up close fighting of the trio and has the skillset to match)
 * Hayate - Brains (Least able to go one on one according to Canon, gained magic by being plugged into a Magical Tome. Becomes a Commander and Big Good in the series following her debut)


 * Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart
 * Hikari/Shiny Luminous - Beauty
 * Honoka/Cure White - Brains
 * Nagisa/Cure Black - Brawn


 * Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
 * Hanon - Beauty
 * Lucia - Brains
 * Rina - Brawn


 * School Rumble: Tenma's three female friends.
 * Eri - Beauty
 * Akira - Brains
 * Mikoto - Brawn


 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica could decieve you into thinking this was the case.
 * Mami - Beauty
 * Madoka - Brains
 * Sayaka - Brawn


 * Sket Dance mixed things up a bit:
 * Bossun - "Intuitive" Brains
 * Himeko - Beauty and Brawn
 * Switch - "Technological" Brains and Beauty


 * Rocket Girls
 * Beauty - Yukari
 * Brains - Akane
 * Brawn - Matsuri


 * Digimon Xros Wars Good guys Mixed version.
 * Beauty - Nene
 * Brains - Taiki
 * Brawn - Kiriha


 * Digimon Xros Wars Bad guys Mixed version.
 * Beauty - Lilithmon
 * Brains - Tactimon
 * Brawn - Blastmon


 * Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel


 * Beauty - Aoi
 * Brains - Kurumi
 * Brawn - Haruka


 * Naruto - Team 10


 * Beauty- Ino
 * Brains- Shikamaru
 * Brawn- Choji


 * FLCL


 * Beauty - Mamimi
 * Brains - Ninamori
 * Brawn - Haruko


 * Outlaw Star
 * Beauty - Melfina
 * Brains - Suzuka
 * Brawn - Aisha


 * Yu-Gi-Oh
 * Beauty: Shizuka Katsuya/Serenity Wheeler
 * Brains: Anzu Makazi/Tea Gardner
 * Brawn: Mai Kujaku/Valentine
 * Across Series:
 * Beauty: Anzu/Tea (Dueled the least)
 * Brains: Asuka/Alexis (Won through strategy, also subverting Dumb Blonde)
 * Brawn: Aki(za) (Has the most duels of the three, and was a scary and hard opponent)


 * Zettai Karen Children, also combined with Blond Brunette Redhead
 * Beauty: White-Haired Pretty Girl Shiho
 * Brains: Brainy Brunette Aoi
 * Brawn: Fiery Redhead and Hot Blooded Kaoru


 * Ranma One Half: When you boil them down to the characteristics most people associate them with, the Tendo sisters fit this.
 * Beauty: Kasumi
 * Brains: Nabiki
 * Brawn: Akane


 * Gakuen Alice: Both a Female version and a Male version
 * For the Girls
 * Beauty: Mikan
 * Brains: Hotaru
 * Brawn: Permy
 * For the Guys
 * Beauty: Ruka
 * Brains: Yuu Tobita
 * Brawn: Natsume


 * Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Beauty: Winry
 * Brains: Alphonse
 * Brawn: Edward
 * Alphonse and Winry could actually be switched: Winry is tech whiz so she fits nicely in Brains, whereas Al is a softspoken Gentle Giant so he has a good share of Beauty as well.

Comic Books

 * Birds of Prey
 * Black Canary - Beauty
 * Oracle - Brains
 * Huntress - Brawn


 * Josie and The Pussycats
 * Josie - Brains
 * Melody - Beauty
 * Valerie - Brawn (It could be made out that Valerie could be both brains and brawn, while Josie is just the leader).


 * SHIELD
 * Maria Hill - Brawn
 * Sharon Carter - Beauty
 * Victoria Hand - Brains

Film

 * Charlies Angels (the movies)
 * Natalie - Beauty
 * Alex - Brains
 * Dylan - Brawn


 * Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
 * Missy - Brains
 * Chrissy - Brawn
 * Sissy - Beauty
 * Justice - Betrayer


 * The Indiana Jones films
 * Marion Ravenwood - Brawn
 * Willie Scott - Beauty
 * Dr. Elsa Schneider - Brains


 * The Sound of Music: The three oldest Von Trapp daughters
 * Liesl - Beauty
 * Brigitta - Brains
 * Louisa - Brawn


 * Beauty and The Beast: The Beast's servants
 * The Feather Duster - Beauty
 * Mrs. Potts - Brains
 * The Wardrobe - Brawn

Literature

 * Occurs in Noel Streatfield's Ballet Shoes.
 * Pauline - Beauty
 * Petrova - Brains
 * Posy - Brawn (while not the stereoptypical Brawn, she is certainly the best dancer of the three)
 * They also qualify as a Blonde Brunette Redhead trio.


 * The Princess Series
 * Snow - Beauty
 * Danielle - Brains
 * Talia - Brawn


 * Avalon Web of Magic
 * Kara - Beauty
 * Emily - Brains
 * Adrianne - Brawn


 * The Wheel of Time
 * Elayne - Beauty
 * Min - Brains
 * Aviendha - Brawn
 * also a Blonde Brunette Redhead trio.

Live-Action TV

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * Willow - Brains
 * Buffy - Brawn
 * Anya/Buffy/Cordelia - Beauty


 * The Vampire Diaries
 * Elena - Beauty
 * Bonnie - Brains
 * Caroline - Brawn


 * Charlies Angels (the original series)
 * Sabrina - Brains
 * Kelly - Brawn
 * Jill - Beauty


 * Firefly
 * Kaylee - Brains
 * Zoe - Brawn
 * Inara - Beauty
 * River - A bit hard to define, although she seems to have all three being a child prodigy/genius (enough to have Psychic Powers), expert at Waif Fu, and not to mention played by Summer Glau


 * Charmed
 * Prue - Brains
 * Piper - Brawn (She started using her brains more when she got promoted to eldest sister)
 * Phoebe - Beauty (Became brawnier when she started using She Fu)
 * Paige - Beauty (She had the least experience)


 * Star Trek the Next Generation (first season)
 * Counselor Deanna Troi - Beauty
 * Dr. Beverly Crusher - Brains
 * Lt. Tasha Yar - Brawn


 * Step By Step
 * Dana- Brains
 * Karen- Beauty
 * Al- Brawn


 * Wizards of Waverly Place - Only in the episodes where Juliet was present
 * Juliet - Beauty
 * Harper - Brains
 * Alex - Brawn


 * Degrassi
 * Seasons 1-8
 * Manny - Beauty
 * Liberty - Brains
 * Emma - Brawn (In the Feminist Save-the-Planet Independent Tomboy way, less so physical strength.)
 * Season 7-11
 * Mia (S7-8) then Fiona (S9-11) - Beauty (Model and Fashionista)
 * Holly J - Brains (Student Council President going to Yale)
 * Anya - Brawn (LAR Ping battle Princess turned Military recruit)


 * H₂O Just Add Water
 * Season 1-2
 * Cleo - Beauty (Fashion, Cleo is treated as Hollywood Homely)
 * Emma - Brains
 * Rikki - Brawn
 * Season 3
 * Bella - Beauty
 * Cleo - Brains
 * Rikki - Brawn


 * The Nanny (The Sheffield household)
 * Fran Fine - Beauty
 * Gracie Sheffield - Brains
 * Maggie Sheffield - Brawn

Music

 * The song "Gangsta Bitch"
 * Eve - Brains
 * Da Brat - Brawn
 * Trina - Beauty

Video Games

 * Fire Emblem 6 - The Pegasus Knight sisters
 * Yuuno - Beauty
 * Thite - Brains
 * Thany - Brawn


 * Fire Emblem 7 - The other Peg Knight sisters
 * Florina - Beauty
 * Fiora - Brains
 * Farina - Brawn


 * Fire Emblem - The original Peg Knight sisters
 * Palla - Beauty (Eldest and most level-headed.)
 * Catria - Brains (Portrayed as fairly clever in her (limited) characterization.)
 * Est - Brawn (Powered straight through enemy lines to bring the allies a Cool Sword.)


 * Final Fantasy X 2
 * Rikku - Beauty.
 * Yuna - Brains.
 * Paine - Brawn.
 * Of course in the original Yuna was the beauty with Rikku as the brawn and Lulu as the brains. Rikku suffered some heavy Flanderization between games.


 * A Dance With Rogues
 * Norah - Brawn
 * The Princess - Brains
 * Pia - Beauty


 * Neverwinter Nights 2
 * Shandra - Brawn
 * Elanee - Brains
 * Neeshka - Beauty


 * Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mask of the Betrayer
 * Female player - Brawn
 * Safiya - Brains
 * Kaelyn - Beauty


 * Project Justice - Seijyun Girls High School
 * Akira - Brains
 * Yurika - Beauty
 * Zaki - Brawn


 * Disgaea Hour of Darkness
 * Etna - Brawn
 * Flonne - Beauty
 * Jennifer - Brains


 * Disgaea 2
 * Rozalin - Beauty
 * Hanako - Brains
 * Etna - Brawn


 * Soul Nomad and The World Eaters
 * Revya - Brawn
 * Danette - Beauty
 * Layna - Brains


 * Persona 4
 * Chie - Brawn
 * Yukiko - Brains
 * Rise - Beauty
 * Optionally replace Yukiko with.


 * Chrono Trigger
 * Ayla - Brawn
 * Lucca - Brains
 * Marle - Beauty


 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky'' - Team Charm
 * Lopunny - Beauty
 * Gardevoir - Brains
 * Medicham - Brawn


 * Super Smash Bros.
 * Peach - Beauty
 * Zelda - Brains
 * Samus - Brawn


 * Blaz Blue
 * Noel Vermilion - Beauty
 * Tsubaki Yayoi - Brains
 * Makoto Nanaya - Brawn


 * Lost Odyssey
 * Ming - Beauty
 * Sarah - Brains
 * Seth - Brawn
 * (though Ming, Seth and Cooke can also can be the Brains too)


 * Tales of Vesperia
 * Estelle - Beauty
 * Rita - Brains
 * Judith - Brawn (also Beauty, but her role tends to be as Brawn instead)


 * Jade Empire
 * Dawn Star - Beauty (Brains before Silk Fox's arrival)
 * Silk Fox - Brains (also Beauty)
 * Wild Flower - Brawn (when Chai Ka/Ya Zhen is in control)


 * Dragon Age Origins
 * Leliana - Beauty
 * Wynne - Brains
 * Morrigan - Brawn (at least personality-wise. She could technically fit all three)
 * Alternatively, as the brawn, who is an even better fit for that role.


 * Planescape Torment
 * Deionarra - Beauty
 * Hannah - Brawn
 * Fall-from-Grace - Brains

Webcomics

 * Angel Moxie:
 * Riley - Brains
 * Tristan - Brawn
 * Alex - Beauty


 * Last Res 0 rt:
 * Jigsaw - Brawny Brunette
 * Daisy - Brainy Redhead
 * Adharia - Beautiful Blonde


 * El Goonish Shive:
 * Nanase - Brawn
 * Grace - Brains (of the Genius Ditz variety)
 * Ellen - Beauty
 * Although all three of them would probably count as Brawn in any other setting.


 * At Arms Length
 * Reece - Beauty
 * Ally - Brains
 * Sheila - Brawn

Web Original

 * Sailor Nothing
 * Himei/Sailor Nothing - Brawn
 * Aki/Sailor Beauty - Beauty
 * Shin/Sailor Truth - Brains

Western Animation

 * Totally Spies
 * Sam - Brains
 * Alex - Brawn
 * Clover - Beauty


 * The Powerpuff Girls
 * Blossom - Brains
 * Buttercup - Brawn
 * Bubbles - Beauty


 * Alvin and The Chipmunks
 * Brittany- Beauty
 * Jeannette- Brains
 * Eleanor- Brawn


 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic - Cutie Mark Crusaders
 * Sweetie Belle- Beauty
 * Apple Bloom- Brains
 * Scootaloo- Brawns
 * Alternatively, the Mane 6 can be divided into two per section, as well.
 * Beauty - Rarity and Fluttershy
 * Brains - Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie
 * Brawn - Applejack and Rainbow Dash


 * Avatar: The Last Airbender
 * Azula: Brains. The second season finale and the Day of Black Sun are triumphant examples of this.
 * Ty Lee: Brawn, by virtue of being able to beat down dozens of grown men. With her bare hands.
 * Mai: Beauty, through her elegant design and the fact that she's the only one of the three to have a boyfriend.
 * Alternately, it could also be:
 * Azula: Brawn. She's one of the most powerful firebenders around.
 * Ty Lee: Beauty. She's the girl everyone wanted to be with in the episode "The Beach".
 * Mai: Brains: She's the oldest and wisest out of the three girls,
 * Can also apply to the three girls in the Gaang, though they are all well-rounded enough to have aspects of each category.
 * Katara: Beauty, she's a powerful waterbender, and not unintelligent, but she's also the one who turns the most heads.
 * Toph: Brawn, because of the three she relies the most on brute strength and guts when fighting.
 * Suki: Brains, by virtue of being leader of the Kyoshi Warriors she has the best leadership skills and is good at planning strategy.


 * Doug - the main three females
 * Patti: Brains
 * Beebe: Beauty
 * Connie: Brawn (as seen in "Doug Throws a Party")


 * Inch High Private Eye
 * Inch: Brains
 * Lori: Beauty
 * Gator: Brawn


 * X Men Evolution
 * Kitty Pryde: Beauty
 * Jean Grey: Brains
 * Rogue: Brawn


 * Teen Titans
 * Starfire: Beauty
 * Raven: Brains
 * Terra: Brawn

Fan Works

 * Sapphire Eleanor Rose Suzette De Mont vs. Canon - the three female members of the MSEA we see the most of.
 * October: Brains; she's the leader of the MSEA and generally makes all the decisions
 * Aphrodite: Beauty; she's a lovely young thing who's not much into physical combat--instead, she's a Cute Witch
 * Charlie: Brawn; she carries a Big Fucking Gun and is always eager to do the dirty work