Amazon Brigade: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[The Squad]], with about four liters of estrogen added, and little to no loss in testosterone. Alternately, the [[Lovely Angels]] after a recruitment drive.

Not to be confused with [[Estrogen Brigade]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* The trio in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqHiGHjsRyI this commercial] for ProteinOne snack bars.

 

* In ''[[Sekirei]]'' we have, well, most of the Sekeirei. Of 108 reported Sekirei, we have seen three, maybe four males. While most Ashikabi have only one Sekirei, the most powerful Ashikabi if the North, East, West and South all have more than one. The Main character, Minato of the North has five female Sekirei, and one that's between the two genders.

* Fairy Squadron in ''[[Macross II]]''.

* The Pandora's of ''[[Freezing]]''.

* The Pleiades Saints in ''[[Puella Magi Kazumi Magica]]''.

* The various teams, starting with the Hanagumi, in the different installments of the ''[[Sakura Taisen]]'' franchise.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''Femforce'' from AC Comics, which seems to exist mainly as an outlet for its [[Author Appeal|creators']] and [[Fan Service|readers']] [[Fetish Fuel|fetishes]].

* The Sisterhood Of Steel, from the comic of the same name.

* The Star Sapphire Corps from ''[[Green Lantern]]''.

** Subverted in the fact that the Star Sapphire's version of Ion or Parallax, Predator, is male.

* ''Battlefields: Night Witches'', by [[Garth Ennis]], is a fictionalized account of the [[Soviet Union|USSR's]] "Night Witches" (see Real Life, below) during [[World War II]].

* ''[[Sin City]]'' has the Old Town girls. They've teamed up a lot with the male protagonists but there are male-less Old Town stories out there. Also keep in mind that these girls are tough enough that both the cops and the mafia are afraid to mess with them.

 

== [[Fan Works]] ==

* The Mirage squadron in ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]''.

* Although not technically a separate group from/within the larger Warriors organization, the "heavy hitters" that Douglas Sangnoir summons in chapter 12 of ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk II]]'' still fit the bill -- the four most powerful members of his world's counterpart to the [[Justice League]] or [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], all women.

 

== Film ==

* The girls from ''[[Sucker Punch]]''.

* Admiral General Aladeen's bodyguards in ''The Dictator''. They also serve as sex slaves.

 

* In [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s retelling of ''[[The Iliad]],'' ''[[The Firebrand]],'' from the perspective of Kassandra, we have...well, the real Amazons, insofar as they can be called real. By the end of the book, they more or less die out, logical with the feminist bent of the novel and the way that the cult of patriarchy was sweeping the nation.

* The Fish-Speakers in ''God-Emperor of [[Dune]]''. Later, the Honored Maitres appear in ''Heretics of Dune''. Although it's not their main purpose, when necessary the Bene Gesserit can fight with nearly superhuman capability. Justified in the first case by Leto II's belief that the maternal instinct would prevent the Fish-Speakers losing themselves to bloodlust and quests for power.

** Moreover, Leto intends them to be a ''temporary'' army, he ''wants'' them to basically cease to matter once he dies, as part of his larger plan, the Golden Path. The Fish Speakers are all about him, absent Leto, they have no unifying force.

* The Maidens of the Spear and Elayne's personal bodyguard in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' books.

* The protagonist of ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'' is recruited for a secret organization of this type.

* Isaac Asimov's short story "[[Shaggy Dog Story|Shah Guido G.]]" features an all-female police force known as the Waves. However this really had nothing to do with the plot, being part of a clumsy and long-drawn-out build up to a punning punchline.

* In the [[Larry Niven]] novel ''The Integral Trees'', the Triune Squads are made up of [[Celibate Hero|women who refuse to marry]], women who [[Hide Your Lesbians|love women]], or those who are [[Gender Bender|"women" by courtesy only]]. They are sent to patrol the Trunk, a hazardous and seemingly pointless duty, to make up for not doing their "real" duty to the tribe [[Stay in the Kitchen|by providing children]].

* In ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'s Revenge'' Special Corps agent James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" DiGriz lands on a planet once run by women (until they were usurped by a male revolutionary party working in cahoots with galactic invaders). He teams up with the resistance – former members of the military who are of course fit, shapely young amazons – much to the annoyance of Jim's lethally-armed and dangerous wife.

* The shrykes from ''[[The Edge Chronicles]]''. Not quite a [[One-Gender Race]], but the ladies hold the upper hand in... well, everything.

* The eponymous Bunch in ''The Bad Bunch'' by [[J. T. Edson]]; an all-female gang of outlaws as dangerous and ruthless as any men.

 

* The three main members of ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'', in either the TV series or the movies.

* Another villainous example: The Hanarangers of ''[[Super Sentai|Kakuranger]]''

* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' was the first to reveal that the Orion women, far from being the slaves portrayed in the other series, actually control their civilization with a male-attracting pheromone that gives other women headaches. The only one unaffected by them is {{spoiler|Trip}}.

** I'd have believed that if they'd shown the Orion male captain doing the laundry.

 

== Music ==

* [[Emilie Autumn]]'s riot grrl-esque band The Bloody Crumpets (or at least their stage personas). Even [[Lady of War|Aprella]]. Hell, their catchprase is "Fight like a girl!" As a phrase of empowerment, that is.

 

== Myth and Legend ==

* In Chinese folklore, the widows of the Yang generals during the Song Dynasty. When most of the Yang menfolk were killed defending a fort from Liao invaders, the women of the clan took up arms to confront the Liao army. This has been dramatised in films such as ''The Fourteen Amazons'' and ''The Legendary Amazons''.

* Although the Valkyries of Norse Mythology mainly merely collected the dead, there were plenty of attestations of the female bands fearlessly engaging in battle.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Sala and her Sky Band, an all female band of [[Sky Pirates]], from ''[[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]]''.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Exalted]]'' has the Brides of Ahlat, the Southern God of War. Completely female, sworn to remain virgins, and symbolically wed to Ahlat himself. They're consider to be Elite troops and thus not to be messed with.

** ''Exalted'' also has the Tya, a group of women in the West who reject the usual gender roles for the region to take on male ones-which is more than symbolic, as the ritual wards away the spiteful goddesses known as the storm mothers (they hate any woman prettier then they are, which includes everyone that is not a storm mother). They are treated in society more as men than women, actually.

* ''[[Mage Knight]]'' included a subset of Amazon figures in one of its more [[Steampunk]] factions, the Black Powder Rebels. They weren't necessarily more powerful than any other group or faction (except for the Amazon Draconum, which was borderline broken.)

* In ''[[Mutant Chronicles]]'', at least three factions have Amazon Brigades: [[Blue Blood|Bauhaus]] has Etoiles Mortant, Imperial has Mourning Wolves and [[Church Militant|The Brotherhood]] has Valkyries and Vestals. Mishima was supposed to have an elite unit of female warriors, the Kikigomae Sohei, as well, but [[Author Existence Failure|Publisher Existence Failure]] caused them to be limited only to a concept drawing and a mention in the rulebook for ''Warzone: Universe Under Siege'' as no figures were produced.

* The Amazones of ''Bloodlust'', called Sekekers, are used to mutilate themself and are thus quite ugly. However, some beautiful young girls form a elite unit called the Chrysalides, and are trained to fight half-naked.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has the all-female street gang Desolation Angels that are active in many American cities. The gang is known to hunt bug spirits with great enthusiasm for some reason. {{spoiler|The reason is simple: They are Mantis spirit hosts.}}

== Theatre ==

* You better not forget those flying horse-riding shieldmaidens in the winged helmets from ''[[The Ring of the Nibelung|Die Walkuere]]''.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Solatorobo]]'' has the Pink Peaches [[Sky Pirates]]. Naturally, [[Palette Swap|their robots are all pink as well.]]

* Two of the gangs in the ''[[Jet Set Radio]]'' games are all-female: The [[Woman Scorned|Love Shockers]], and Rapid 99.

 

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Ellen, Grace, and Nanase form a temporary Amazon Brigade during the Painted Black arc.

* The entirety of Earth's military in ''[[Angels 2200]]''. ([[Gendercide|A plague having wiped out most of the male population]], there are [[Lady Land|no adult males on Earth or most of Earth's colonies]].)

* Illyra, Elysia, and Occela form the basis of a budding Amazon Brigade in ''[[Rumors of War]]''. Given that the setting is based on [[Greek Mythology]], ''one or more of them may actually be Amazons.''

* Though not a brigade specifically, the female cast members of [[Something*Positive]] are both more violent and most of the time, stronger than the male cast members (although how much the male members are willing to fight in general may have something to do with it). The basic rules seems to be that if somebody has a pair of breasts and is reasonably intelligent, she can probably kick your ass.

 

== Web Original ==

* Team Kimba of the [[Whateley Universe]] is really close, considering that their one 'boy' was born a girl named Hannah. The Whateley Academy Martial Arts Cheerleaders are all-girl but not tough enough to be a true Amazon Brigade.

* The Entire Nileniran Military in ''[[The Movolreilen Saga]]'', but especially the Swordcheeks, woman who completed a nine-year [[Training from Hell]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* The Galafems in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. They also kidnap and forcibly-induct women into their numbers, making their army stronger.

* In ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', [http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3et4454To1qbgksw.png the Rabbaroos] are an all-female [[Fictional Sport|Pro-Bending]] team.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[media:Green Nuns.jpg|The 40-woman Amazonian Guard]] of [[Muammar Gaddafi]] ([[Spell My Name with an "S"|may his spellings be many]]) Officially they're known as the Green Nuns, but western media tends to refer to them as the Amazonian Guard as something of an invocation of this trope's imagery.

* Not sure if this one is Mythology or Real Life or if this really counts as an Amazon Brigade since they were never recorded as seeing combat; When military genius Sun Tzu was trying to sell Helu, the King of Wu, on hiring him as an advisor, the King put a group of his concubines under Sun's command to train as a test of his skill. He split them into two teams, assigned each team a captain (His Nibs' two favorite concubines) and explained the commands, but they laughed and didn't take it seriously. So he tried again, repeating the commands and explaining what they mean. Still nothing but giggles. So he beheaded the two team captains. The ladies immediately obeyed every command and ran through every drill perfectly. When the King complained at losing his lady loves, Sun Tzu [[Deadpan Snarker|snarked in his face]] about the costs of real warfare. He got hired anyway. (Technically, they lost members in action, while under military command, so they might be considered an Amazon Brigade)

** The story states Sun Tzu faulted himself first, saying that if the orders were unclear, the general was to blame. The second time, he stated that if the orders were clear but not obeyed, it was clearly the fault of the officers. When the king protested, Sun said that when in the field, there are orders from the regent that the general does not obey. This principle is stated in the Art of War, the original [[Big Book of War]]. When the ladies began to comply (much to the relief of the next two commanders), Sun stated they were ready to face fire and death and be used however the king saw fit. Not bad for someone who may never have existed.

** During [[World War I]] there was a battalion made up entirely of women, led by a woman named [[wikipedia:Maria Bochkareva|Maria Bochkareva]], who personally petitioned the Czar to be allowed to serve in the Russian Army to escape her abusive husband. Towards the end of the war, she was put in charge of the [[wikipedia:Women's Battalion of Death|Women's Battalion of Death]]. It was something of a publicity stunt to try and raise morale in the Russian Army. It failed, and about eight months after they were formed Lenin overthrew the Russian Provincial Government and the rest is history.

** During the Russo-Japanese War there was an all-woman cavalry regement. The officers were daughters of the country nobility who from hunting could ride and shoot as well as their brothers; the enlisted women were recruited from a Central Asian tribe with a strong Amazonian tradition.

* During the [[Mexican Revolution]] there were Las Soldaderas: active female soldiers fighting hand-in-hand with their fathers, sons, and brothers. When their husband died, they wouldn't cry, [[Badass|they'd say "Dame la pistola!" and ride off into battle.]]

* Women in ancient Iranian cultures, such as the Scythians, the Sarmatians, and even the Persians, frequently fought alongside the men. Archaeologists have found many tombs where women received a warrior's burial.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Index Team]]

[[Category:Action Girl]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]

[[Category:Badass]]