Tropescilloscope: Action Girl

A Badass who just happens to be a girl. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Camp Gay Empathic Environment B-Movie The Vamp The Reveal Knight Templar Artistic License – History Sequel Escalation It Can Think Disney Villain Death Call-Back Ghost Fiction German Films Setting Update Blatant Lies Precision F-Strike Apocalypse How Shell-Shocked Veteran Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Reckless Gun Usage Action Survivor Match Cut Determinator aka: The Determinator Overprotective Dad Gilligan Cut Large Ham Hair-Trigger Temper Retired Badass Due to the Dead The Faceless The Smart Guy Accidental Misnaming Sacrificial Lion Lighter and Softer Jerk Jock Fanservice Domestic Abuse Humans Are Bastards Wham Shot Silent Movie And Starring Vampire Fiction The X of Y Action Girl Shut Up, Hannibal! Exactly What It Says on the Tin Meet Cute The Film of the Book Tagline Fanservice Extra Children Are Innocent The Alleged Car Damsel in Distress Bullying a Dragon Police Brutality Artistic License – Biology As Long as It Sounds Foreign Imagine Spot Big Bad Aside Glance Drives Like Crazy All There in the Script Rule of Symbolism Faux Affably Evil Mr. Fanservice Romantic Comedy Belligerent Sexual Tension Scary Black Man Handicapped Badass Tap on the Head Foregone Conclusion Works Set in World War II Award-Bait Song Grey and Gray Morality All There in the Manual Fatal Family Photo Arch-Enemy Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Video Credits Frame-Up Bald of Evil Mr. Exposition Cassandra Truth Gender Flip Not So Stoic I Need a Freaking Drink Chekhov's Gunman Half the Man He Used to Be French Films Failed a Spot Check Take That! Black and Gray Morality Heterosexual Life-Partners Evil Counterpart Dark and Troubled Past Only a Flesh Wound The Brute Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Villainous Breakdown She's Got Legs Evil Plan Silence Is Golden Worthy Opponent Book-Ends Neck Snap Affectionate Parody Aluminum Christmas Trees Redemption Equals Death Deconstruction Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Thriller Soundtrack Dissonance Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Names to Run Away from Really Fast Crazy Jealous Guy Rule of Cool Improvised Weapon Exact Words Car Fu Irony Hate Sink Genre Shift Meaningful Background Event Dramedy Parental Incest Show Within a Show Scare Chord Retirony Genre Throwback Bond One-Liner The Ditz Adaptation Expansion Downer Ending Bloody Hilarious What Happened to the Mouse? Artistic License – Physics Bury Your Gays Funny Background Event Major Injury Underreaction Parental Neglect Shirtless Scene Word of God Nice Guy Moment Killer All Girls Want Bad Boys Darkest Hour The Chick British Films Sir Swears-a-Lot The Mafia Chekhov's Gun Screw the Rules, I Have Money! "The Reason You Suck" Speech Beware the Nice Ones Refuge in Audacity Corrupt Corporate Executive Death Seeker Drill Sergeant Nasty Fourth Date Marriage Oh, Crap! Ship Tease Ambiguously Gay Broken Aesop Mythology Gag Superhero You Have Failed Me Every Car Is a Pinto Pretty in Mink Rasputinian Death Break the Cutie Shoot the Shaggy Dog The Stoner Playing Gertrude Fan Disservice Dual Wielding Mugging the Monster Horror Comedy Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Stuff Blowing Up Driven to Suicide You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Creator Cameo Break the Haughty No Ending Wicked Cultured Establishing Character Moment Wretched Hive Gory Discretion Shot Cold-Blooded Torture The Musical Riddle for the Ages Improbable Aiming Skills The Alcoholic The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Mundane Made Awesome Stalker with a Crush Bare Your Midriff Male Gaze Defrosting Ice Queen Left the Background Music On Rich Bitch folderlabel Auto Erotica Music Stories Noodle Incident Villain Opening Scene Important Haircut Dark Reprise Plucky Comic Relief Badass Bookworm Bottomless Magazines Face Death with Dignity Pyrrhic Victory Ominous Latin Chanting She Cleans Up Nicely Broken Pedestal Villain with Good Publicity Badass in a Nice Suit Leitmotif The Hero Have a Gay Old Time Punny Name Never My Fault Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Film Series Age Lift War Is Hell Cool Old Lady Abusive Parents All Men Are Perverts Closed Circle Stylistic Suck Off-into-the-Distance Ending Famous Last Words Bowdlerise Man on Fire Gold Digger Bloodier and Gorier Kill It with Fire Real Life Writes the Plot All Just a Dream Historical Villain Upgrade Beta Couple This Is Gonna Suck The Mole The Dreaded Fantastic Racism Psychopathic Manchild From Bad to Worse Anguished Declaration of Love Retcon Loads and Loads of Characters Alas, Poor Villain Dwindling Party Christmas Movies Index Action Genre Pre-Asskicking One-Liner The Hero Dies Danny Peary Cult Movies List One Steve Limit The Remake Arranged Marriage Historical In-Joke Film Noir Sealed Evil in a Can In Name Only Karma Houdini What the Hell, Hero? Big "NO!" Almost Kiss NO INDOOR VOICE Straight Gay 20 Minutes into the Future Cain and Abel Romantic False Lead Posthumous Character Victoria's Secret Compartment Insult Backfire Your Cheating Heart Took a Level in Badass Monumental Damage Asshole Victim Ass Shove After the End Tempting Fate Big Eater Bittersweet Ending No Name Given Made of Iron Extreme Doormat Market-Based Title Madness Mantra Catch-Phrase Brother–Sister Incest Even Evil Has Standards All for Nothing "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Final Girl Storming the Castle Dogged Nice Guy Unusually Uninteresting Sight Stealth Hi/Bye Took a Level in Jerkass May–December Romance Karmic Death Interrupted Suicide Hidden Depths Hope Spot I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Rape as Drama Author Avatar Lock and Load Montage Science Fiction Films Call-Forward Epic Fail There Is No Kill Like Overkill Public Domain Feature Films Hoist by His Own Petard "Awesome McCool" Name Hypocritical Humor Did Not Get the Girl Wrong Genre Savvy Historical Hero Upgrade Your Head A-Splode Translation Convention Black Comedy Rape Instant Death Bullet Everyone Has Standards Reasonable Authority Figure Bound and Gagged Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Kubrick Stare The Atoner Sexy Discretion Shot Mistaken for Gay Bi the Way Brainless Beauty Manipulative Bastard Training Montage Slasher Smile Wounded Gazelle Gambit Distracted by the Sexy Cat Fight Betty and Veronica Historical-Domain Character Rule of Funny Serial Killer O.O.C. Is Serious Business Adaptation Distillation Central Theme The Great Depression Guile Hero Green-Eyed Monster The Smurfette Principle Reality Ensues Fingore True Companions Non-Indicative Name Not Even Bothering with the Accent Super Strength Four-Temperament Ensemble Adorkable Groin Attack Male Frontal Nudity The Bad Guy Wins Evil-Detecting Dog Very Loosely Based on a True Story Once More, with Clarity! Random Events Plot Not What It Looks Like Kick the Dog Earn Your Happy Ending Author Appeal Composite Character Well-Intentioned Extremist The '80s The Ace Breaking the Fourth Wall Fish out of Water Serious Business Big Bad Duumvirate Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Our Vampires Are Different Adaptation Name Change Tranquil Fury Redshirt Army A.I. Is a Crapshoot La Résistance Dirty Cop The Oner Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Bad "Bad Acting" Armor-Piercing Question Villain Song The Un-Reveal I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Small Name, Big Ego Canadian Movies Parental Substitute "Well Done, Son!" Guy Title Drop Dropped a Bridge on Him Pragmatic Adaptation Taking the Bullet Neck Lift My Greatest Failure Blood Knight Beard of Evil Product Placement Dies Wide Open Red Shirt Spell My Name with an "S" Love at First Sight Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Artistic License – Military Bond Villain Stupidity For the Evulz Spared by the Adaptation I Have Your Wife Get Out! Dying Moment of Awesome Framing Device Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Soft Glass Never Found the Body Easily Forgiven Politically Incorrect Villain And the Adventure Continues Meaningful Name Suddenly SHOUTING! Improbable Weapon User Chiaroscuro Disappeared Dad Jump Scare Black Comedy Be Careful What You Wish For Re-Cut Accidental Murder Shown Their Work Off with His Head! Freudian Excuse Red Eyes, Take Warning Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Cowboy Cop Say My Name I Did What I Had to Do Batman Gambit Eyepatch of Power Gratuitous English Obstructive Bureaucrat Bilingual Bonus Adapted Out Pre-Mortem One-Liner Horror Films The Dragon Air-Vent Passageway Outrun the Fireball Immune to Bullets Unreliable Narrator Deadpan Snarker Enemy Mine Gainax Ending Race Lift Death by Adaptation Five-Man Band Jerkass Has a Point Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Bad Boss Bloodless Carnage MacGuffin Chewing the Scenery Totally Radical Big-Bad Ensemble Insane Troll Logic Gorn Bar Brawl Properly Paranoid The Load Together in Death Bland-Name Product Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Cluster F-Bomb Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Heroes Want Redheads Evil Brit Leaning on the Fourth Wall Mexican Standoff Curse Cut Short The '70s Cool Guns Affably Evil Heroic Sacrifice Roaring Rampage of Revenge Country Matters Adaptational Villainy Take a Third Option Stealth Pun Big Brother Instinct Unwitting Instigator of Doom Annoying Younger Sibling Flashback Mind Screw Eiffel Tower Effect Would Hit a Girl Drowning My Sorrows Too Dumb to Live Those Wacky Nazis In the Back Cruel and Unusual Death Anti-Hero Awesome, but Impractical Badass Normal Ambiguous Ending Real Life Anti-Villain Plot Hole Cool Old Guy Nothing Is Scarier Demonic Possession Drugs Are Bad Corpsing Psycho for Hire Badass Boast Death by Sex The Cavalry Evil Laugh Kids Are Cruel Trailers Always Spoil Would Hurt a Child Undying Loyalty The Place Woman in White Revenge Morality Pet Knife Nut Sanity Slippage Unresolved Sexual Tension Early-Bird Cameo Blood from the Mouth Face–Heel Turn Slashed Throat He Who Fights Monsters Time Skip Fake Shemp Fantasy Films Woman Scorned Dirty Old Man Contrived Coincidence Up to Eleven No-Sell Needs Wiki Magic Love Eureka Moment Japanese Films Ambiguous Disorder Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Scenery Gorn Index of Film Westerns Stock Footage Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Authority Equals Asskicking Jerkass Fainting The Stoic Implacable Man Greater-Scope Villain Beauty Is Never Tarnished Hero of Another Story Those Two Bad Guys Happily Married Animal Title Index Reality Has No Subtitles Hell Is That Noise Adult Fear Papa Wolf Crapsack World Nice Hat Broken Bird Grievous Bottley Harm Light Is Not Good Department of Redundancy Department Pay Evil unto Evil Becoming the Mask Disney Death Bolivian Army Ending Decoy Protagonist The Power of Love Loophole Abuse Fire-Forged Friends Coming-of-Age Story The Big Guy Curb-Stomp Battle Death by Irony Poor Communication Kills You Killed My Father Calling the Old Man Out What You Are in the Dark Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Obviously Evil Crucified Hero Shot Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Vomit Indiscretion Shot Femme Fatale No Celebrities Were Harmed Genre Savvy The '90s Deal with the Devil Biopic Room Full of Crazy For Want of a Nail Pimped-Out Dress The Lost Lenore Adaptational Heroism The Bully Big Fancy House The Stinger Creative Closing Credits Red Right Hand Idiot Ball Demoted to Extra Dressing as the Enemy Here We Go Again! Rated M for Manly Dramatic Irony Stepford Smiler Pragmatic Villainy It's Personal Foreshadowing Brutal Honesty Diabolus ex Machina Really Gets Around Honor Before Reason Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Cat Scare Disguised in Drag Expy Dark Is Not Evil Getting Crap Past the Radar My God, What Have I Done? Sequel Hook Big Applesauce Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Psychological Thriller Evil Sounds Deep Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie The Dog Bites Back A Minor Kidroduction Guns Akimbo Ironic Echo I'm a Humanitarian Extremely Short Timespan Abhorrent Admirer Bait-and-Switch Pretty Little Headshots Laughing Mad Ascended Extra Defiant to the End Depraved Bisexual Vomit Discretion Shot The Sociopath Covers Always Lie Same Language Dub Parental Abandonment Heroic BSoD Narrator Developing Doomed Characters Documentary Married to the Job Bavarian Fire Drill Dramatic Gun Cock Babies Ever After Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Put on a Bus Running Gag Catapult Nightmare Animal Motifs Last-Name Basis Spanner in the Works BFG Humiliation Conga Sci-Fi Horror Ripped from the Headlines Manchild Canon Foreigner Peek-a-Boo Corpse Friend to All Children Sassy Black Woman Mooks Evil Is Petty Conspicuous CG The End... Or Is It? Logo Joke Shower Scene Eldritch Abomination Film Noir Index The Ghost Anachronic Order Does This Remind You of Anything? Camera Abuse Black Dude Dies First Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Arc Words Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Black Best Friend Villain Protagonist Eye Scream Animated Credits Opening Insistent Terminology The Chessmaster More Dakka Missing Mom Let's Get Dangerous! Butt-Monkey Epic Movie Punch-Clock Villain A Father to His Men Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Crazy-Prepared Jerk with a Heart of Gold World of Ham Attempted Rape It's All About Me The '50s Taking You with Me Alliterative Name Protagonist Title No OSHA Compliance Bunny-Ears Lawyer Throwing Your Sword Always Works Spiritual Successor Scenery Porn Combat Pragmatist Big Damn Heroes As Himself One-Word Title Australian Movies Novelization timeperiod Not So Different Meaningful Echo Manic Pixie Dream Girl Visual Pun Intergenerational Friendship Ragtag Bunch of Misfits He Knows Too Much Only Sane Man Captain Obvious Celebrity Paradox Overly Long Gag Hooker with a Heart of Gold Amusing Injuries Sadistic Choice Star-Crossed Lovers Didn't Think This Through The Voiceless Naked People Are Funny Men Are the Expendable Gender Race Against the Clock Evil Is Hammy Homage Self-Deprecation Adaptation Dye-Job Heel–Face Turn A Date with Rosie Palms The Starscream Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Darker and Edgier Rousing Speech Bring My Brown Pants Even Evil Has Loved Ones Not Quite Dead The '60s Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Hollywood Darkness Despair Event Horizon Daddy's Girl Mama Bear Vitriolic Best Buds Death Glare Naïve Newcomer Gone Horribly Right Yandere Body Horror An Axe to Grind As You Know Toplessness from the Back Back from the Dead Unspoken Plan Guarantee N-Word Privileges Determinator Henpecked Husband Jitter Cam Anachronism Stew Actor Allusion Lampshade Hanging Ungrateful Bastard Fate Worse than Death A God Am I Card-Carrying Villain Never Trust a Trailer Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Fatal Flaw Our Zombies Are Different Action Prologue Villain Ball Ms. Fanservice Fun with Acronyms Chase Scene An Aesop Agony of the Feet How We Got Here Deliberately Monochrome The Cameo Motor Mouth Berserk Button Sole Survivor Hollywood Law Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene It Will Never Catch On Hypocrite Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Daylight Horror Fat Bastard Artistic License – Law Heel Realization From Nobody to Nightmare Love Triangle Freeze-Frame Bonus Blackmail Advertised Extra Dull Surprise Mighty Whitey No Antagonist Dumb Blonde And I Must Scream Ax-Crazy Truth in Television No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Casting Gag Kick the Son of a Bitch Evil vs. Evil Boom, Headshot! Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Based on a True Story Disproportionate Retribution Early Installment Weirdness Made of Explodium Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? '80s Hair Sinister Minister Alpha Bitch Slap-Slap-Kiss Make It Look Like an Accident Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Hong Kong Films Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Paper-Thin Disguise Double Entendre Chekhov's Skill Slasher Movie Malevolent Masked Men Dissonant Serenity Captain Ersatz Fiery Redhead Creepy Child Shout-Out Reality Is Unrealistic Pet the Dog Better to Die than Be Killed One-Man Army Intrepid Reporter Red Oni, Blue Oni Zombie Stories My Beloved Smother Adaptational Attractiveness Antagonist Title Anyone Can Die Only One Name Flipping the Bird Wham Line Only in It for the Money Red Herring Line-of-Sight Name Character Development Not So Above It All Vacation Films In Medias Res Military and Warfare Films Italian Films Smug Snake You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Laser-Guided Karma Does Not Like Shoes Continuity Nod Martial Arts Movie Offscreen Teleportation Recycled IN SPACE! Adaptational Badass Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Rewatch Bonus Manly Tears Adults Are Useless Obfuscating Stupidity Killed Mid-Sentence Twist Ending Facial Horror Television Movie Index Sports Stories Amoral Attorney Death of a Child Token Minority Mystery and Detective Films Expository Hairstyle Change The Lancer Artistic License – Gun Safety Police are Useless Rule of Three Costume Porn Hero Antagonist Badass Grandpa Comically Missing the Point Only Known by Their Nickname Older Than They Look Eagleland Shipper on Deck Mad Scientist Good Is Not Nice Offscreen Moment of Awesome Dark Action Girl Cloudcuckoolander Whole Plot Reference Credits Gag Smoking Is Cool Cool Car Russian Films Deliberate Values Dissonance Actually Pretty Funny Foil No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Maybe Ever After Spiteful Spit Those Two Guys The Casanova Brick Joke Informed Ability Funny Foreigner Unusual Euphemism Kill 'em All Dirty Coward Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Deus ex Machina Double-Meaning Title Mood Whiplash Cool Shades Skewed Priorities "Shaggy Dog" Story As the Good Book Says... The Quiet One Not Using the "Z" Word Leave the Camera Running Suspiciously Specific Denial Mercy Kill Badass Longcoat Destination Defenestration Dutch Angle An Arm and a Leg Suspiciously Similar Substitute Artistic License – Geography Faking the Dead