View source for Real Women Don't Wear Dresses/Anime and Manga/Pokémon

{{trope}}
* Misty from the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime came under a ''lot'' of fire when her character went from complete [[Tsundere]] to [[Team Mom|more motherly]] upon obtaining Togepi; the jury is still out on whether it's legit character development or lazy writing, but a lot of the criticism levelled at her ''is'' pretty unfair. Being motherly towards Togepi didn't make her any less of a competent Pokémon trainer. 
** Being caring towards her Pokémon ''is'' a strong character trait in Misty's case: a good example is the episode where we learn  {{spoiler|how she tamed her berserker Gyarados: by [[Taking the Bullet|taking a Poison Sting]] for it during a battle with a bunch of rogue trainers.}} And Togepi, being a baby Pokémon, logically needs more care than average. Maybe it wasn't well-written, technically speaking, but it's not ''that'' farfetched.
*** Plus, even before Togepi she displayed motherly qualities, most notably towards the Horsea she rescued in ''Tentacool and Tentacruel'' and later Jigglypuff when they first found it.
* May and Dawn have also been bashed for being girlier than Misty and being Coordinators rather than full-time Pokémon trainers or breeders. Never mind that there are several male Coordinators like Drew and Harley. Harley himself [http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/e/e4/Harley.png is shown to have] [http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/3/34/Mayley.png EXTREMELY archetypically girly traits] in canon, but he's "allowed" to have those without having fans bitch him out whereas May is bashed and hated for being more or less feminine. 
** Then again on another note, due to how quickly she dealt with  {{spoiler|Mamoswine}}, Dawn might actually have more potential as a trainer than ''Ash''. And she's the first dress-wearer...
* When ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' was released, [[Fanon]] immediately labeled the female PC as a confident tomboy with plenty of battle prowess. When it came for ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' came to adapt the games, fans bashed the PC's counterpart, White, as she turned out to be a [[Neutral Female]] with no knowledge of Pokemon battling. Never mind that:
** 1) It is still early in the arc with plenty of time for her to grow into a proper [[Action Girl]]. [[Let's Get Dangerous|Yellow]] and [[Lady of War|Platinum]] didn't start out as badasses.
** 2) She has a full time job that doesn't leave her room for Pokemon training.
** 3) Said job is actively ''running her own business'', an impressive feat for a girl in her midteens.

{{tropesub-subpagefooter}}