Smurfette Breakout: Difference between revisions

It's often that many shows feature a bigger ratio of males to females in their characters, with [[The Smurfette Principle]] being pretty widespread. However a lot of the time this can work in favor of the female character. Being the only female in a largely male environment makes her stand out and be distinctive from the rest of the show's male characters. If the writers have written her well and avoided most [[Positive Discrimination]], then chances are she will become popular with the viewers. If her popularity rises high enough, she might even become a [[Breakout Character]].

The area in which this is most common is [[Professional Wrestling]]. It's a rather frequent occurance for a woman to be introduced as someone's manager or valet, usually for a tag team, and end up becoming more popular than the wrestler they're managing. Often if the team splits, the woman will fare much better because she can be integrated into the women's division while the men will often become lost in the shuffle.

Note that this is not simply about a female becoming a Breakout Character. There must be a majority of males compared to females for this to count. The character need not be the only woman on the show either. See also [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and [[Breakup Breakout]].

* In ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Miss Piggy, one of the few female Muppets, was initially only a minor character but her popularity skyrocketed and she is now probably the most famous of them, along with Kermit.

** The first woman eliminated became the first one to debut on WWE TV regularly (as one of Brodus Clay's dancers) while winner Andy got released after a few months in developmental.

* [[Older Than They Think]]: The Fabulous Moolah was initially a valet for Buddy Rogers but eventually branched out on her own and became a pioneer for women's wrestling. She is recognised as the first ever WWE Women's Champion and held it for over twenty years.

* [[Sable]] was first [[Triple H]]'s valet and then Marc Mero's. The fans cared more about Sable than Mero, and she was given more attention and storylines and is now recognised as the first true WWE Diva. This also happened to Mero's second valet, Jacqueline, though she didn't become quite as big a star as Sable.

* Trish's arch-rival, [[Lita]], benefited from this as well. She debuted as a valet to Essa Rios who was meant to be a pioneer of the Light-Heavyweight division. He ended up lapsing into obscurity while Lita became popular with the fans for her high flying moves. She averted this when Team Xtreme broke up, as all three of that group have remained well known.

* Happened with MNM, arguably. Joey Mercury got released twice and faded away and John Morrison is permanently stuck in midcard purgatory while Melina broke out on her own and became Women's Champion and was surprisingly popular after her [[Heel Face Turn]].

* [[Chyna]] benefitted from this both in and out of the ring as well. She became extremely popular with female fans for competing in the men's division and got a lot of mainstream exposure.

* Yuna and Rikku were two of only three girls in a party of seven characters in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. Yuna was the main character's love interest while Rikku was a supporting character. [[Final Fantasy X -2 (Video Game)|The direct sequel]] revolves around them and new character Paine. [[Word of God]] has said that there were originally meant to be ''two'' spin off games with one focusing on Yuna and the other on Rikku but they eventually got combined into the one game.

* Jasmine from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' is a supporting character while the story is about Aladdin, but she is included in the [[Disney Princess]] franchise and is actually the only princess in the lineup who isn't the main character in her film.

* Tinkerbell from ''[[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Peter Pan]]'' got her own spinoff franchise in the Disney fairies.

* ''[[She -Ra: Princess of Power (Animation)|She Ra Princess of Power]]'' was actually introduced with this in mind.

* Penelope Pitstop was the only female racer on ''[[Wacky Races]]'' and got [[The Perils of Penelope Pitstop|her own spinoff series]].

* ''[[The Avengers: EarthsEarth's Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'': The Wasp was the only female Avenger during the first season, and went on to become the show's most popular character by far.