Action Dress Rip: Difference between revisions

 

Contrast [[Kicking Ass in All Her Finery]].

{{examples}}

* Hitomi did this in ''[[The Vision of Escaflowne]]'' when Millerna puts her in some [[Gorgeous Period Dress]] and immediately thereafter, a situation arises when she needs to run really fast.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Yoko tears her long skirt when she needs to rescue a child stuck in a tree.

* The eponymous ''[[Murder Princess]]'' has to make some quick modifications to her gown whenever kicking some ass. Which is to say, often.

* ''[[You're Under Arrest]]'':

** Natsumi also did it once in the TV series, when she needed to find a hidden bomb... placed in a huge clock.

* In the ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' episode "Meme", Major Kusanagi is in her skirted (and rather tightly) military uniform when a situation arises. She tears it herself so she can run in it.

* In the last few episodes of ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]'', Alice goes to a fancy ball with her fiancé, {{spoiler|Lionel}}. She dresses up very nicely for the event, but when {{spoiler|a mob shows up, intending to kill a certain philandering Lord and the other guests too, she challenges that Lord to a duel to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. He calls forth two assassins as proxies instead of fighting her himself.}} After fighting for a while in her fancy dress and heels, the hem of her skirt is cut/torn by her opponent, and she pauses long enough to tear it shorter and more even, so as not to trip on the ragged end.

* Pai does this in the ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'' anime.

* The [[Whole-Episode Flashback|flashback chapter]] of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' that shows how Momoka and Tamama met shows Momoka doing this as she rushes to save Tamama from an alien attack dog.

* In ''[[Highschool of the Dead|High School of the Dead]]'', [[Action Girl|Saeko]] does this to the [[Cloudcuckoolander|school]] [[Gag Boobs|doctor]].

 

== Comic Books ==

{{quote|'''Jean:''' ''Hey!'' Not so blasted ''short!''}}

* Another ''X-Men'' story subverted this: When the Fury starts to attack the X-Men, Logan points out that Storm's dress isn't really suitable for fighting in, and makes the [[Mundane Utility|appropriate adjustments with his claws]] with just as much glee as before. Storm looked rather annoyed, and then switched off the holographic image inducer she was wearing, revealing that she was actually wearing trousers, which are now shorts.

* In ''[[Superman]]'', Lois Lane did it with a ''wedding dress'' while [[Bloodstained-Glass Windows|shooting up a church]] at her undercover wedding to a drug lord. And then storms into the Daily Planet like that to re-accept Clark's marriage proposal. No-one at the Planet [[Seen It All|really notices,]] because Lois [[Intrepid Reporter|has a certain reputation]] [[Weirdness Magnet|for pulling this kind of crazy shit twice a month]], and [[City of Adventure|Metropolis is wild and crazy like that.]] Hell, their high schools' PE classes probably teach the art of the action dress rip regularly, in case Superman and an army of Nazi mecha-ninjas suddenly fall through the ceiling during your black-tie prom and you [[Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting|find yourself in need of throwing around some kung fu.]] [[Genre Savvy|It's just basic common sense.]]

* ''[[Lady S]]'' once has to climb on the roof, and she wears an impractical dress. So she could have used this trope. But she subverts it by removing the dress instead, proving she's a [[Shameless Fanservice Girl]].

 

== Fan Works ==

* The Princesses in ''[[Shrek]] the Third''.

* Mérida of ''[[Brave]]'' does this so she can shoot during the archery contest. Not the skirt, but the back, shoulders and sleeves... pretty much by flexing, quite realistically.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* Played with in the Russian miniseries ''Catherine's Musketeers'', where the dresses of the protagonist [[Action Girl]]s are specially designed to be easily convertible.

* In ''[[Snow White and the Huntsman]]'', the Huntsman does this to Snow White's dress when they're trekking through the forest.

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Mistborn]]'', Vin rips away the entire dress when in a hurry. Later she gets a dress designed for Mistborn who wish to avoid doing this and loves it.

* Akroma does this in the ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'' novel ''Legions''.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Miu from ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' does this to her own prom dress as she and Shun race off to help out the other members of the Kamen Rider Club.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[New World of Darkness|World of Darkness]] Armory'' mentions this as a required tactic for any female characters who feel like using an inner thigh weapon sheath/holster.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* Unfortunately averted in the "Dreamcatcher" module for ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', in which your [[Love Interest]] (be she Anera or Teira) will trot ahead back to your bedroom to change before going into action.

* Joanna Dark in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', when a reception at the Carrington Institute has some unwelcome visitors.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Played with in ''[[Exiern]]'' when Tiffany's ball gown resists her best efforts.

{{quote|'''Tiffany:''' ''(rucking up her skirt)'' What is this thing ''made'' of?}}

 

== Western Animation ==

** "Trading Faces": Kim is in a gown in which she can barely walk, much less catch up with the escaping [[Steven Ulysses Perhero|Camille Leon]]. However, one appropriate tear later, she's free to move about.

{{quote|'''Fashion Designer:''' I love It!

** This also ends up happening in ''[[The Movie|So the Drama]]'', after her dress gets singed.

{{quote|'''Kim:''' Do you ''know'' how much babysitting I had to do to pay for this dress?}}

* Done in ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' to sari. They even ditched the shoulder sashes, causing them to [[Bare Your Midriff|bare their midriffs]].

* Chun-Li did this once in the Western adaptation of ''[[Street Fighter (animation)|Street Fighter]]''. Extra fanservice involved because the ensuing fight scene had quite a few panty shots.

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'': The [[Gender Flip]] episode "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake" features [[Action Girl]] Fionna attending the ball in a [[Pimped-Out Dress]], only to need to rescue Prince Gumball. Fortunately Ice Queen's attack tears the hem of her dress so that she can jump to the retractable sword in her purse.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]

[[Category:Costume Tropes]]