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Category:Action Girl (view source)

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[[File:Lara croft reborn 02 color by vest-d7rqf05.png|link=Tomb Raider|frame|The phrase "Fight like a girl" becomes a [[Badass]] creed.<ref>Linework by [http://cehnot.deviantart.com/ Chris Ehnot]. Colors by [http://vest.deviantart.com/ David Delanty].</ref>]]
 
{{quote|''"I will jump in and take out Loki and his subordinates. Then, I will go home and prepare dinner."''|''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|Miu, before cutting a cross on a windshield and smashing through a car.]]''}}
 
The [[Action Girl]] is a female [[Badass]] who can go toe to toe with her male counterparts without breaking a sweat. [[Damsel in Distress]]? Not for this babe. She doesn't sit around waiting to be rescued. She's headbutting her jailer and [[What Kept You?|breaking herself out.]] She proves, with her very being, that girls aren't only ''not'' helpless, they kick ass. But not just "any girl with a fight scene" can be considered an Action Girl. An Action Girl is accompanied by [[Rule of Cool]], and routinely and reliably gets in on the combat. And what's more, she ''wins''.
 
Because of [[Double Standard]]s, true Action Girls are less common than male Badasses. If you want to get more into the why of that, check out the [[Gender Dynamics Index]] or our very own [[Action Girl/Analysis|Action Girl Analysis]] page. The short version however, is the concept that [[Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty]] and females should [[Stay in the Kitchen]]. For a very long time, females who did much but wait around for their hero to come rescue them were unusual and rare. Even now, women aren't automatically assumed to be able to fight and protect themselves the way men are. Society has progressed since then and Action Girls are popular and more common than ever, but girls still haven't completely caught up with boys when it comes to expectations in media, hence the continued existence of this trope.
 
That being said, one must watch out for the dreaded [[Faux Action Girl]]. With the popularity of the Action Girl increasing, creators are trying to slip them in for more appeal and political-correctness, without actually giving them a chance to show themselves off. The "Action" part of the character is left as an [[Informed Attribute]], with characters constantly playing up how much of a badass she is, and yet when it comes to facing the music, she proves otherwise by being a [[Damsel in Distress]] or suffering the effects of being on the wrong end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]], assuming she gets any action ''at all''. Basically she can talk the talk, but she can't walk the walk. Oh, and if she's on the right end of a [[Curb Stomp Battle]], she's a [[Dark Action Girl]].
 
Sometimes an Action Girl can start off well, but [[Character Derailment|derail]] into a [[Faux Action Girl]] over time, with no adequate justification for it. This is known as [[Chickification]].
 
Compare the Action Girl with her [[Evil Counterpart]], the often far-more-aggressive [[Dark Action Girl]], and the more mundane versions [[You Go, Girl!]] and [[Plucky Girl]]. Not to be confused with [[Affirmative Action Girl]], who is just a girl added to the cast in an adaptation or new season to balance out the gender ratio, no matter what role she actually plays (though, often, the girl ''is'' an Action Girl herself). See [[Real Women Don't Wear Dresses]] for when people think that ''every'' female character has to be an Action Girl to deserve something similar to basic respect.
 
Not to be confused with ''[[Action Girl (comics)|Action Girl]]'', a comic series ''about'' an action girl.
 
{{Featured article}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Action Girl]]
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Cyclic Trope]]
[[Category:Always Female]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
[[Category:Tomboy]]
[[Category:Magical Girl Tropes]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:Badass]]
[[Category:Index Index]]
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