Faux Action Girl: Difference between revisions

A supposedly modern heroine who doesn't live up to her reputation. An [[Action Girl]] whose "action" aspect is more of an [[Informed Attribute]] than anything else. She's established from the very beginning as a powerful, capable hero but never does anything heroic. She has a well-grounded reputation as a strong fighter in her field, but always fails in the line of battle. Her talents and skills are well known to fellow characters, but they're never seen by the viewers, outside of perhaps a [[a Day in Thethe Limelight]] episode.

The key to identifying a [['''Faux Action Girl]]''' is the disproportionate hype - whether she's overrated or under-performing. Also note that context does play a role; for example, in a show full of incompetents who think they're tough fighters, it doesn't matter if a female character behaves the same way. It is also possible to have a female character who doesn't fight or isn't as capable as some others for perfectly justified reasons. She has to be much less powerful or competent than comparable male characters ''for no logical reason''. Strangely, [[Dark Action Girl|villainesses]] are rarely Faux Action Girls, but there are exceptions.

Please note that a Faux Action Girl is someone who ''has a reputation'' as a fighter. If she is just a girl captured then she's a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]. If she gets rid of the [[Distress Ball]], she's just a [[Badass in Distress]]. If she has ''just'' started fighting and doesn't have the experience/fame handy still, she's likely [[Skilled but Naive]] or a [[Naive Newcomer]], and there's still room to see if she can grow into a real [[Action Girl]] or not.

If much of the show's screentime is dedicated to showing the girl in question training and practicing only to lose when it counts, that's not this trope. That's [[Hard Work Hardly Works]], and it can hit anyone who is not [[The Hero]].

Also contrast with [[Chickification]], in which the [[Executive Meddling|producers]] take a character who ''is'' shown to be a legitimate Action Girl and make her incompetent. See also [[Standard Female Grab Area]], the standard weakness of a Faux Action Girl.

* ''[[Naruto]]'':

* ''[[Fatal Fury]]'':

* ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'': The very [[Badass]] Natsuki Kuga tended to serve as the [[Butt Monkey]] whenever the tone of the show turned comedic. In its [[Elseworld]] spin-off, ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', that trait was [[Flanderization|exaggerated]] into complete [[Faux Action Girl]]-ness. Despite supposedly being both [[The Ace]] and a [[Supporting Leader]], she never once managed to achieve anything without blundering and spent a good chunk of the series depowered. Lampshaded in the manga, where in Natsuki's first (and ''only'') fight, there is a panel of her crying tears of joy that she finally gets to do something.

* ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'': Kasuga shows very little skill for a supposedly skilled ninja. Aside from killing a [[Mook]], her biggest action during season one was trying to protect Kenshin from Nouhime. She failed. And then promptly gets kidnapped ''by Nouhime'' a few episodes later. She cut herself loose, completely on her own, but instead of duking it out with Nouhime, she just... ran away. Keep in mind, Nouhime has little hand to hand skill, and usually fights with a gun. The fact that she could easily take a supposed ninja like Kasuga says a lot about her ninja skill.

* ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'': Doris is an extreme example. In the first scene of the movie, she's shooting down supernatural creatures with her gun; but after the eponymous D arrives, she's relegated to [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] status and never takes up her gun again, instead getting kidnapped by the [[Big Bad]] several times.

* ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]'': Yuya is said to be the bounty hunter with 100% sucess rate. Too bad we only see her in action for a few time. Later in the story, she acts nothing more than a [[Damsel Scrappy|"damsel in distress"]]

* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'': Karina Lyle aka Blue Rose is an in-series case, and treated rather realistically — she's a conflicted teen trying to live up to her public image as a domineering badass despite poor combat abilities that put a serious damper on powers [[An Ice Person|that are actually rather decent]], a ridiculously impractical costume for the sake of the sponsors, and ''serious'' misgivings about her job. She still gets stuff done because she genuinely wants to save people, but it's telling that one of her named, publicized special moves, the 'Cutie Escape', involves ducking and running from whatever criminal menace is trying to reduce her to a smear on the pavement this week. [[Took a Level Inin Badass|She gets better]] by the end of the series, gaining more confidence and skills to match.

* Granted it's [[Porn with Plot]], but ''Kamyla's'' [[Informed Ability|"Special Police Force"]] ''appear'' as a [[Amazon Brigade|whole department]] of Action Girls and [[Non-Action Guy|pencil-pushers]] corrupted by the [[Mind Manipulation|titular drug,]] '''but''' everyone was already more influenced by the [[Idiot Ball]] given ''they're essentially SVU yet their standard unis are short enough to give panty shots from every. possible. angle'' and [[Boobs of Steel|Ageha]] [[Kick Chick|takes down every Mook in her way]] backed up by [[The Gunslinger|Koyomi]] and [[Drop the Hammer|Lily]] in a hideout until a hostage situation leads to [[Leeroy Jenkins|hunting down the Big Bad without even]] ''telling'' [[What an Idiot!|her sidekicks "hey, I've been injected with a aphrodesiac that's going to turn me]] [[Too Dumb to Live|and you into mindless sex slaves."]] They get (a bit) better by the time of the last chapter, but any belief of their alleged badassery is distant memory at best.

* ''The [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'': Susan Richards had been a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] in most of the early stories, until rewritten as a far more powerful and effective heroine by John Byrne; however, under later writers, she didn't always live up to this standard, and occasionally degenerated into full-on Faux Action Girl. Doesn't help that her powers are way more inconsistent than everyone else on the team: The Thing is always super strong, Mr. Fantastic can always stretch and The Human Torch can always ''Flame on!''...how many times have you heard The Invisible Woman say something to the effect of "I can't keep this up for much longer"? If her powers actually ''worked'' she wouldn't be listed here. It's worth noting that this doesn't always apply--sheapply—she once single-handedly beat Taskmaster, a villain who could take on all of the Avengers at once.

* Spoofed in Adam Warren's graphic novel ''[[Empowered]]''. The eponymous heroine is considerably more insecure than most of the other examples here, halfway between a Faux Action Girl and a pure [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]. However, at one point her boyfriend reassures her by saying he admires her guts in continuing to try and fight despite '''knowing''' that she'll probably end up getting her butt kicked and captured, as opposed to all the other heroes who have it relatively easy. It's also eventually revealed that when she does maintain her confidence, her powers actually ''work'', such as when she effortlessly rescues said boyfriend early in the story. Also a bit of a [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstruction of this trope]], as her poor track record is a major source of misery for her; her self-esteem's pretty much nonexistent and her reputation as a crime-fighter is the exact opposite of what this trope usually calls for: She routinely gets called things like "Useless Lass" and "Captain Kidnapped". In the most recent volume, she shows distinct signs of progress toward full [[Action Girl]] status... None of which is acknowledged by her teammates, so we get a side of [[Inverted Trope]] to go with it.

** As a rule, [[Black Canary]] doesis notan get[[Action toGirl]] bewhen appearing in her own title or a full-fledgedteam book, and a [[Faux Action Girl]] when she appears in comics that have a single main character who isn't her. The [[Green Arrow]] comic is particularly bad about having her lose to villains she really ought to be able to beat. She's rather infamous as the zig-zagging example of this trope and genuine Action Girl.

* The comic book prequel to ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Jarael started out as a pretty [[Badass]] [[Action Girl]] in the first story arc of the series, to the point of {{spoiler|saving [[The Hero|protagonist Zayne Carrick]] from the villains in the climactic scene}}. Since then, while she's kept the fiery temper and violent disposition, she becomes incompetent dealing with anything other than [[Mooks]], and [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|continuously has to be rescued]] from Mandalorians, [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Corrupt Corporate Executives]]s, and rampaging HK assassin droids, among other things.

* The old [[Nintendo Power]] comics of the early 90's gave us a comic based off of the original [[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]] game for the SNES; there the team gained a fifth member, the female fennec Fara Phoenix. She is the leading test pilot in the Cornerian Army and can fly an Arwing well; however when we first meet her, she's [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|hopelessly taken hostage]] and runs off after being rescued. Later on, she and Fox playfully show off their flying skills, only for her to be instantly shot down by an enemy ship, and doesn't fully participate in battle or much else when officially on the team.

* ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'': Kida was planned to have some awesome fight scenes, but they were [[Executive Meddling|among the many things cut from the movie]]. The result? An athletic, well-built, seemingly tough [[Tomboy Princess]] who is introduced as one of the Atlantean warriors, and yet the closest thing she ever gets to a fight scene is a brief skirmish with a couple of [[Mooks]] before getting completely [[Chickification|Chickified]] and put into the [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] role.

* ''[[Van Helsing]]'': Anna Valarious is another lovely example, whose laughable losing record is referenced in [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019094057/http://crimitism.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/is-anna-valarious-the-worst/ this blog post].

* In ''[[Night at the Museum]] 2: Battle of the Smithsonean'', Amelia Earhart continually insists she is able to take care of herself, but isn't seen doing anything ''remotely'' [[Badass]] except for flying a plane for about two seconds before handing it to Larry.

* The Arcee triplets in [[Transformers: Revenge of Thethe Fallen]], who failed to do any major damage while chasing down Sideways in Shanghai, and end up getting destroyed in the film's final battle. Even their screentime in the film was under a minute.

* ''Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'': Ramona Flowers. Arguably it makes sense, because it can be interpreted as Scott having to get over her past and not Ramona having to get over her own, but we still only see her engage female opponents and eventually has to be rescued because she just can't stand up to Gideon. Being [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] may have had something to do with it. In any case, it is explicitly stated that Scott has to be the one fight and defeat the evil X's, and Knives comes off as far more of a true [[Action Girl]] by the end.

{{quote| ''Unlike most heroines in this situation (where the dashing, rich, and studly hero saves her, has them fall in love over the span of five seconds, and they get married or something), Chryseis was not going to be rescued, and she knew this.''}}

* Vereesa Windrunner from Richard A. Knaak's Novel ''[[Warcraft: Day of the Dragon]]'' novel (Set in the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe). Here we're informed she is just as capable a ranger as her sisters in the first "of the Dragon" book, and in that book and every subsequent one, her grand accomplishments include being kidnapped, marrying Rhonin, and standing around in Dalaran next to her husband leading one of the least active factions in [[World of Warcraft]]. In fact, just about every female he's written qualifies.

** Then the creators "listened to fan complaints" about her being this and had her come back in season 8 with Faux Navy SEAL training that she somehow got in eight months or so (this is absolutely impossible to do). That training pretty much gave her [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]. Then they made it so she radiates kryptonite so that she could have a reason for leaving the love of her life, Clark. [[Faux Action Girl]] to [[God Mode Sue]], all in one season. There's a reason she's a [[Creator's Pet]].

* Kate, in the BBC series of ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. One of the other outlaws calls her "[[Creator's Pet|a good fighter]]", and she insists that "[[Blatant Lies|I can look after myself]]" even though she gets into trouble and has to be rescued by her male co-stars no less than ''fifteen'' times in course of one season. To get a gist of this percentage, keep in mind that there were only thirteen episodes per season, and Kate only appeared in eleven of them. At one stage she was kidnapped by an evil tax collector ''three separate times'' in one episode.

* If you thought there were no [[Dark Action Girl]] examples, you'd be wrong. The Romulan commander in the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' episode "The Enterprise Incident" is easily duped by Kirk and Spock, and, though explicitly stated to be a soldier, the most badass thing she does is slap Spock across the face in a fit of [[Woman Scorned]] fury.

* Tasha from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]''. She's supposed to be the ''Enterprise'''s tough-as-nails security chief; her main contributions to episode plots include being kidnapped, breaking down in tears, and hesitating just long enough to allow Klingon fugitives to take hostages.

* Bo in ''[[Lost Girl]]'' is supposed to be the hero of the story, but the number of times she needs to be saved by Dyson starts to seem kind of high, after a while. She [[Took a Level Inin Badass]] in season 2, however, and has held her own/not needed rescuing all that often anymore.

* Isolde from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' was presented as a tough, no-nonsense [[Hot Chick with a Sword]]. She is injured in her first battle and dies in her second. Likewise, [[Dark Action Girl]] Morgana is meant to be a dangerous, volatile opponent with her magic and sword-fighting skills, but even ''before'' her [[Face Heel Turn]] she consistently failed at almost everything she set out to do.

* A unique case happens in WWE when they are pushing a woman in a feud who has very little wrestling experience.

** Luna Vachon also suffered from this in her feud with, you guessed it, Sable. They were set to compete in a mixed tag match at ''[[Wrestlemania]] XIV'' and in their training for it, Sable refused to learn how to bump and Luna was warned that she would be fired if she damaged or hurt Sable in any way at all in the match. So in the match Luna had to rely on her partner Goldust to do all the work while she acted as Sable's punching bag.

* In the [[The Phantom Menace|Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace]] game, Padmé says she's been trained in self defence shortly before you are to fight through a gauntlet of Tusken Raiders, and proves to be useless, screaming for help and falling on all fours when struck. Strangely, you get to control Padmé as Queen Amidala later in the game and retake the city of Theed with only a few men by your side. The leap from [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] to [[Action Girl]] was much needed.

* ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'':

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'': Aribeth. She spends the first chapter dispensing rewards, the second and third chapters angsting, and the fourth chapter getting her ass handed to her by the player. Though she does [[Took a Level Inin Badass|improve]] in time for Hordes of the Underdark.

* Meryl Silverburgh from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' started out as a Faux Action Girl, though one who was aware of her limitations and strove to overcome them. And in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', [[Took a Level Inin Badass|she did]].

* In the original trilogy, Irene Lew, [[Informed Ability|highly-trained CIA agent]] and the [[Love Interest]] of Ryu, suffers from this as she's a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] in the first two games. ''Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom'' ([[Word of God|which actually is]] [[Interquel|set between the first and second games]]) plays with this, as {{spoiler|[[Stuffed Into the Fridge|Irene seemingly dies while performing a covert operation]]}}, but Irene saves herself from this trope when she pulls a [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Damn Heroine]] moment to save ''Ryu'' of all people. ''Ninja Gaiden II'' for the [[Xbox 360]] features Sonia, who is ''also'' a [[Informed Ability|highly-trained CIA operative]]. Her story at first mimics Irene's ([[Distressed Damsel in Distress|capture]], then [[Big Damn Heroes|saving Ryu's bacon]]), but she then gets captured ''again'', causing her to fall right back into this trope. However, it's hard to be of any use {{spoiler|[[Bonus Level of Hell|in the Underworld]]}} if you're not a [[Badass]] [[Ninja]] named Ryu Hayabusa. Perhaps a sequel will give Sonia a chance to redeem herself in the vein of Rachel and Momiji. As the original games have apparently been [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned to follow the Xbox titles (and by proxy, ''[[Dead or Alive]]''), [[Epileptic Trees|there are some theories that Irene and Sonia are one in the same]]. Crazy, right?

* Mei Ying in ''[[Indiana Jones and The EmperorsEmperor's Tomb]]'' is supposedly an intelligent and tough sidekick, but proves herself to be borderline-useless during fights and even manages to get incapacitated and possessed by the [[Big Bad]] during the final battle.

* A variation, or possibly an [[Inversion]]. Amy from ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' was [[Informed Ability|supposed to be]] an [[Action Girl]] pre-Adventure. You wouldn't know this though due to her being kidnapped the only times you see her in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog CD|Sonic CD]]'' and her only real action appearance was in [[Sonic the Fighters]]. Once ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' came though, she fulfilled her [[Action Girl]] status, though less aggressive than her, supposed, original AG status.

* Terra in the ''[[Ys]]'' series. Although she's apparently a [[Little Miss Badass]], she is never seen in combat, and you in fact have to [[Escort Mission|escort her]] at one point in ''VI'', alongside the [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] Olha.

* Rosechu in ''[[Sonichu]]'' is a blatant example - while the author constantly insists that she's a true [[Action Girl]] and she's allegedly as powerful as the main character, most of the time she doesn't do anything and gets captured as a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]].

* Herula in ''[[The Wulf Archives]]''. She's a [[Catgirl]] who may be a Marshal in Thae'lynn's forces, but we barely see her on the job. Instead, we see her almost exclusively in her sex games, or as a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]].

* ''[[The Batman]]'': Detective Ellen Yin spends most of her time being saved by Batman, one step behind Batman, or getting her hand held through mysteries by Batman. A borderline case, as she ''is'' competent when the writers realize they have no other choice other than solidifying her slide into full-on [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]. However, she is promptly written out at the end of the second season in favour of Commissioner Gordon (thanks to the [[Law of Conservation of Detail]]) and replaced by Gordon's ''daughter'' as the only female protagonist on the series. (She did get a [[Shout-Out]] in a season 4 episode, though she didn't actually appear; apparently twenty years down the road she becomes police commissioner of Gotham.)

** Alanna in "Mystery in Space!" The men ([[Batman]], [[Aquaman]] and her husband [[Adam Strange]]) get in trouble early in the episode, but get out of it without her help. Nevertheless she insists on coming along on their next mission, since they obviously can't stay out of trouble without her...and she gets kidnapped by the villain and needs them to save her.

[[Category:Women Are Delicate{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:TVAll the Tropes Superhero Team]]

[[Category:Gender and SexualityDepressing Tropes]]