Beauty, Brains, and Brawn

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
From left to right: The one who fires off glorious magic spells, the one who builds the best gadgets, and the one who punches things real hard.

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 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 Color-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.

Examples of Beauty, Brains, and Brawn include:

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)
  • 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
  • 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
  • Et Cetera
    • Mingchao - Beauty
    • Fino - Brains
    • Benkate - Brawn
  • Ojamajo Doremi: At the start, at least.
    • Doremi - Beauty
    • Hazuki - Brains
    • Aiko - 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


  • 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. It doesn't last long.
    • 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
  • 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
    • Beauty - Aoi
    • Brains - Kurumi
    • Brawn - Haruka
  • Naruto - Team 10
    • Beauty- Ino
    • Brains- Shikamaru
    • Brawn- Choji
    • 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)
  • Ranma ½: When you boil them down to the characteristics most people associate them with, the Tendo sisters fit this.
  • 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 Pussy Cats
    • 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

  • 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)

Live-Action TV

  • Charlie's 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)
  • 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)


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.)
  • Project Justice - Seijyun Girls High School
    • Akira - Brains
    • Yurika - Beauty
    • Zaki - Brawn
  • Persona 4
    • Chie - Brawn
    • Yukiko - Brains
    • Rise - Beauty
    • Optionally replace Yukiko with Naoto.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky - Team Charm
    • Lopunny - Beauty
    • Gardevoir - Brains
    • Medicham - Brawn
  • BlazBlue
    • 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, Shale as the brawn, who is an even better fit for that role.


Webcomics

  • Angel Moxie:
    • Riley - Brains
    • Tristan - Brawn
    • Alex - Beauty
  • Last Res0rt:
    • 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.


Web Original

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


Western Animation

  • 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 [1]
    • 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, including being smart enough to exploit Azula's weakness of being too overconfident in the end of the episode "The Boiling Rock Part 2".
  • 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")
  • Teen Titans
    • Starfire: Beauty
    • Raven: Brains
    • Terra: Brawn
  • DC Super Hero Girls; six girl team, two heroines in each role:
    • Barbara and Zee: Beauty
    • Diana and Kara: Brawn
    • Jessica and Karen: Brains

Fan Works

  1. ↑ Well, technically Azula fits all three, and the other two also fit at least one other category, but they have their specialties
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