Xenafication: Difference between revisions

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== Multiple Media ==

* Maid Marian from the ''[[Robin Hood]]'' legends is an odd case. She was an [[Action Girl]] in some of her original appearances (fighting Robin to a standstill while disguised as a boy in one ballad). [[Bowdlerization|Victorian writers]] [[Chickification|turned her into]] [[The Chick]]. Modern writers tend to make her the [[Action Girl]] again, with ''[[The New Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' turning her into a virtual Xena clone. ''[[The Outlaws of Sherwood]]'', the novel, has Marian and Robin actually sharing the public role of Robin Hood. Well-handled, but definitely an example.

 

 

* [[Wonder Woman]] underwent this [[Post-Crisis]]; while she was already a superhero, the 80's version of the character played up her Amazon Warrior roots and even has her killing some of her foes.

* A somewhat tame version of this trope occurred with Lois Lane's [[Post-Crisis]] reboot. Whereas her dominant characterization had always been typical shrieking helpless damsel despite [[Bronze Age]] attempts to make her [[Take a Level In Badass]], her revamped continuity gave her an [[Army Brat]] past and made her highly adept at hand-to-hand combat as well as a wide range of weapons and vehicles. The ''very first'' post-crisis miniseries in which she appeared had her [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|beating up and commandeering the machine guns of a gang of terrorists]] holding her and a group of socialites hostage on a yacht, while Superman lets her take care of things as he obligatorily carries the yacht to safety. Needless to say, this pretty much makes him fall for her even harder than he had already.

* In the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'', Susan Storm was originally [[The Chick]] of the team with a near useless power of invisibility. [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]] took partial steps to fix that early on giving her force field projecting powers. However, it was [[John Byrne]] who really powered her up by having her [[Green Lantern Ring|nifty new ways of using her powers]] and learning to get aggressive enough to really use them well. Today, she is now considered one of the most powerful superheroes of the [[Marvel Universe]] and even [[Doctor Doom]] underestimates her at his peril.

 

 

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* ''[[The Little Mermaid]] II'' completely flipped the roles of Eric and Ariel. In the original film, Eric had to do all the action sequences and save a rather helpless Ariel in the climax. Meanwhile, in ''The Little Mermaid II'', Ariel was so action-oriented when Morganna tried to kidnap her infant daughter Melody, that she actually ripped Eric's sword out of its scabbard while he stood there slackjawed. Eric was mostly useless in the action scenes. Apparently only ''one'' member of that couple can be an action team.

** Ariel was also generally ''far'' more adventurous and action-oriented on the television series, which took place [[Prequel|before the first film]].

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* In an attempt to make her an actual character (and cut down on the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]), Arwen from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' was given a big chase scene on horseback that Glorfindel did in the book. She was originally intended to fight at Helm's Deep as well, in order to allow her and Aragorn to actually interact, but it was cut in favor of sticking closer to the books. By that point, however, fans had already dubbed her Xenarwen. Liv Tyler even comments on this in the extended version's behind the scenes, saying she had done months of swordplay training to prepare for Helm's Deep, before the fans caught wind and dubbed her "Liv Tyler, Warrior Princess", and the idea was scrapped.

** Though that was given some reason (she was sick of being a [[Damsel in Distress]]) and years passed while she gained her skills. Plus, she retained a lot of her valley girl ways.

** Arguably justified, because when they returned to Narnia, they regained the fighting skills they had after years of royal training. Peter was able to defeat the [[Big Bad]].

*** Susan was also ''already'' trained as [[The Archer]] in the real world, whereas the much younger Lucy picked up her archery skills in Narnia itself. On the other hand, she was trained as archery [[Passionate Sports Girl|as a sport]] than as survival means - which explains why she panicked horribly when Fenris was around, since until then she only had used her archery skills to point at blanks and not at living beings, much less wolves.

** Although the movie producers most likely just wanted a badass [[Ms. Fanservice]]; most of the other members of Arthur's entourage, the knights, are depicted as soldiers (well, mercenaries) of the Roman Empire, even the ones whose names and legendary origins are Celtic themselves.

** There's also the little tidbit that in the older pagan celtic versions Guenwifhar (Guinevere's original name) was a total [[Badass]].

* In ''[[The Terminator]]'', Sarah Connor is just an ordinary waitress who just happens to be the mother of the future savior of the world. By the time of ''Terminator 2'', she'd learned how to kick ass. Unusually for this trope, this is both [[Justified Trope|explained]] and [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]], as her knowledge of the future apocalypse seems to have driven her over the edge and she has become almost like a human terminator as a result. This even gets some [[Foreshadowing]] at the end of the first film, as, after the terminator is defeated, she drives down to Mexico to hook up with a gun runner. By ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', she's up to [[24|Jack Bauer]]'s [[Badass]] tier.

** It was partially explained for the second movie, with her telling Jack that Will taught her how to sword fight. It's justified in the third movie, since she's been aligned with pirates for quite some time and presumably had no choice but to toughen up.

*** You can see by the end of the second part, she already started to toughen up.

* Alice in [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''.

* While Irene Adler has [[Breakout Villain|gotten an expanded role]] in [[Sherlock Holmes]] adaptations for a long while, in ''[[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', she becomes a definite [[Action Girl]], which is showcased in a [[Mugging the Monster]] scene. This probably has to do with the fact that the film also emphasizes Holmes and Watson's (canonical) fighting prowess.

* ''[[Snow White and the Huntsman]]'' has Snow White donning knight's armor and leading a rebellion against the Evil Queen.

 

* In ''[[Lost in Oz]]'', Princess Ozma is mentioned as having been trained from birth to fight the Wicked Witch, and is apparently in her 20s. {{spoiler|It's actually a subversion, as by the time the heroes rescue her she's lost all fighting capabilities and has been enchanted to be an eight-year-old}}.

* Nicely [[Averted]] with Guinevere from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. It would have been easy for the writers to simply give her a sword and have her display unlikely physical prowess in battle ...but she never does. Instead her worth is founded on [[Badass Damsel|her kindness and intelligence]], and she's managed to get herself out of several dangerous situations by using her wits or stalling for time until she's either rescued by other parties, or manages to escape by herself. On the odd occasion when she ''does'' wield weapons in self-defense, she's portrayed as a competent but hardly skilled fighter. As such, she's something of a [[Base Breaker]] in fandom, with half appreciating her as a strong female character whose strength does ''not'' lie with the ability to swing a sword, and the other considering her a case of [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses]].

* As mentioned above, Maid Marian from the BBC's ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' had a secret identity as the Night Watchman, a masked and hooded vigilante who was giving alms to the poor long before Robin came up with the idea. Despite Marian having a reputation as an [[Action Girl]] and [[Badass]] in the original ballads, the Night Watchman was clearly an attempt on the writers' behalf to have a "strong, modern take" on Marian, an idea that (in the context of the show) was somewhat unnecessary for several reasons: a) Marian already had a vitally important role as the spy and informant within Castle Nottingham, b) the concept was stuffed full of [[Fridge Logic]] (why didn't anyone notice that the NWM had breasts? Why did Marian need the guise in the first place considering taking food/money to the poor was hardly illegal? Where did she get her combat skills in the first place?<ref>She claims her father had her trained so that she "would have choices", but given that Sir Edward spends the entire show fretting over her and forbidding her to do things means that this explanation makes even ''less'' sense</ref>), and c) despite being presented as a skilled fighter, the writers often had her thrown into the role of [[Damsel in Distress]] ''anyway'' (and most of her best [[Badass]] moments were done ''without'' the disguise). For the most part, the writers get away with it considering their Marian ''was'' a three-dimensional character in her own right, and the idea fitted in well with Marian's rebellious attitude, but often the Night Watchman just felt like an excuse to have their lead female do an occasional back-flip or karate chop.

 

 

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': Amy Rose was kidnapped in her first video game appearance in Sonic CD. She was given a [[Drop the Hammer|Piko Piko Hammer]] in Sonic Adventure (well...Sonic Fighters) and was more than capable of taking care of herself.

** Prior to that, she had a mild form of this. Her [[Informed Ability]] of being a spunky tomboy who could fend for herself started coming into light with the racing games and ''[[Sonic the Fighters]]''.. Though she's gotten less tomboyish over the years.

** While Ariel in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' franchise qualified as an [[Action Girl]], she was made into a guest party member in ''Kingdom Hearts'' and kicked more ass than she did in the movie or TV series (though neither of them had Heartless so who's to say she wasn't already like that?).

* Fitting with the Alice in Wonderland example in Film, Alice takes ''several'' levels in [[Badass]] in [[American McGee's Alice]]. Justified as it's a [[Battle in the Center of the Mind]].

** [[Super Mario 3D Land]] has Peach become strong enough to {{spoiler|actually escape Bowser's Lair on her own. However, she is not competent enough to get away before recapture. Still, A for effort.}}

*** [[Paper Mario]] actually allowed the player, as Peach, to sneak around the captured castle and help Mario by gathering information, sending him useful items and badges, and essentially causing trouble for Bowser and his minions. She also gives Mario the power needed to finally beat Bowser in the final battle.

** On a similar note, Princess Daisy. When she was first introduced in ''[[Super Mario Land]]'', she was actually portrayed as a [[Damsel in Distress]] where she is kidnapped by the evil alien Tatanga, and Mario had to defeat the alien to save her. Now, she's a [[Tomboy Princess]] who appears in various spinoff games alongside Peach and prefers competing in sporting events more.

 

== Western Animation ==

** She did use Link's sword while his spirit was split from his body, which effectively [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|rendered him useless]]. However, she wasn't very good at it and still proved she needed to be saved....twice. This is not including all the other times throughout the animated series that she had needed to be saved.

** Although, while she did need to get rescued quite a few times, she still managed to be fairly competent at saving herself. Plus, did you see the recoil on that [[Sword Beam|sword beam?]] Thing fires like a shotgun.

** Prior to the cartoon, or really around the same time in Japan, the [[The Legend of Zelda (manga)|first manga]] made Zelda into an [[Action Girl]]. She also seems to have aged a bit, not being an eleven year old like in the games.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]

[[Category:Skills and Training Tropes]]

[[Category:Character Derailment Tropes]]