History Main / DamselScrappy

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Dawn is put in peril often enough to be notable in-universe; in the MusicalEpisode "Once More With Feeling," Buffy quips, "[[LampshadeHanging Dawn's in trouble]], must be Tuesday." When local theaters used to play this episode as a singalong, some also passed out lists of Rocky Horror-style audience-participation phrases to yell out; among them was "Shut up, Dawn!" every time Dawn is on-screen. The same could be said for Willow prior to Season 6.

** Susan is a ScreamingWoman well known for twisting her ankle, freaking out hysterically, and (in one story) refusing Barbara's plan of escape from a Revolutionary France DeathRow because she's scared of the rats in the cell. She had occasional stories where she was useful ("The Sensorites") but most of these were not followed up on. Amusingly, the actress had been cast to be a telepathic [[ActionGirl martial artist]] and was instead given a character who spent all her time being captured, which contributed to her decision to quit.

** Peri is the single most notorious example. Her first appearance in "Planet of Fire" had her being very self-possessed and one of only two characters ever to NoSell the Master's mind-control abilities, but the rest of her tenure hardly ever had her achieve anything except be an object to be fought over. Due to the DarkerAndEdgier tendencies of the era, she came in for an unprecedented and uncharacteristic amount of [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty explicitly sexualised menace]] from villains, which came across as particularly disturbing given the general [[MsFanservice unusual degree of sexualisation]] in her portrayal and her borderline-abusive relationship with the Doctor. Her brutal (possibly averted) death came across as not so much shocking as the inevitable climax of her character arc.

* Princess Peach in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' should really be the poster child of this trope, full stop. While she does [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] sometimes, it's a very small amount of games where that actually happens, especially in comparison to the vast majority of games where she plays the DamselInDistress trope completely straight. If she really is able to [[TookALevelInBadass have her own adventures and asskicking]], [[FridgeLogic why she is utterly incompetent in defending herself in most of the main games?]] She might as well be left to rot in Bowser's castle and win the Darwin Award for not self-defending.

* Princess Peach in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series still has this reputation, despite having taken many levels in badass since her initial appearance ''and'' [[VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach becoming the heroine of her own game]] (although her badass qualifications in that game is debatable). One fairly common complaint is that while she does [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] sometimes, it's a very small amount of games where that actually happens, especially in comparison to the vast majority of games where she plays the DamselInDistress trope completely straight, [[FridgeLogic which brings the question of why she is utterly incompetent in defending herself in most of the main games.]]

* Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom.'' She's almost always crying and whining about ''something'' whenever she's onscreen, and contributes very little to the plot besides getting kidnapped and being Indy's [[GirlOfTheWeek obligatory love interest]].

* Yukimura Chizuru from ''VideoGame/{{Hakuouki}}'' comes in for a lot of frustration from players for her lack of combat ability and reluctance to fight, which - since she spends all her time in the company of the {{Shinsengumi}} and is herself the target of kidnapping attempts by demons - makes her TheLoad and means she repeatedly has to be rescued by others.

* Ninian from ''FireEmblem: The Blazing Sword'' often gets lumped into this category, even though she's only ever captured ''twice'' and the third time she goes with the BigBad willingly to spare her friends' lives. Not to mention she ''is'' a very useful member of the party with her ability to give an extra turn. [[DieForOurShip But she gets in between Eliwood-based pairings, the bitch!]]

* Daphne Blake from ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. She is known to often fall into traps, be kidnapped by the villain, or anger the villain in some way. Her nickname in the original ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' series was "Danger-prone Daphne".
** The first live-action film played with the concept and had Daphne [[{{Xenafication}} pick up martial arts skills]] [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap and become generally more useful]] after the gang broke up as a direct result of being called out for being the DamselInDistress. In virtually all ''Scooby Doo'' series and films since then, Daphne has been portrayed as a {{MacGyver|ing}} with her makeup kit and accessories. Her martial-arts skills from the live action film carry over to the animated film ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheSamuraiSword'', where she arguably has a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when she fights in the arena.

* Nora Grey, the heroine of ''Literature/HushHush''. Over the course of three books, she repeatedly walks into dangerous situations without telling anyone else where she's going (so no hope of a rescue if a plan goes wrong), no weapons of any kind, and usually no actual planned course of action beyond "I'll break into that place and wing it". The author seemed to be trying to channel NancyDrew, but failed to give Nora any competency. Really, Nora's stupidity could be summed up near the end of the first book [[spoiler:when she ''willingly'' walks into an empty school and plays into the bad guy's hands, even though (A) she knows she's being lured into a trap, (B) her super-powered, invincible boyfriend is already rescuing the hostage being used as bait for Nora, and (C) the bad guy doesn't even know said boyfriend is on the case, meaning that if Nora had stayed put, the entire climax probably would never have happened. And then, when she's in the school, she gives up and says that she hopes her boyfriend will rescue her. Even though ''he has no idea she is inside'' because ''he told her to wait outside for him'']].

** Rosa from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', who spends the whole first half of the game in distress, gets this reception from some, even though she makes up for it in the game's second half as the WhiteMagicianGirl. Rosa potentially gets worse by the sequel, ''[[FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears the After Years]]'' as she now only exists as a DamselInDistress to give character developments to "Ceodore! Cecil! Kain!" and spends one climax getting dragged around forcefully by [[spoiler: Dark Kain.]]

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004) recreates the style of a 1930s PulpMagazine story - right down to putting Gwyneth Paltrow in one of these roles as the PluckyGirl [[HotScoop Reporter]].

** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the third movie novelization by Mary Jane who asks if she has bait stamped across her forehead when she's locked in Venom's falling car. In the sequels she makes a couple of attempts to become a HeroicBystander. She drops a block of cement on Venom's head as he fights with Spider-Man in the third film and tries to attack Doc Ock from behind in the second film -- but Aunt May had already successfully done the same thing earlier on, [[GenreSavvy and Doc Ock doesn't repeat his mistakes]].

%%[[folder:Fan Works]]
%%* Krysta from ''Fanfic/MyLittleUnicorn''.
%%[[/folder]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Also now she wants to [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill his girlfriend]].]]

The DamselInDistress is an age-old classic plot device, which places a character in danger to add tension to the story. Sometimes one character (usually a {{Love Interest|s}} or a [[TagalongKid relative]] of another character) seems to have no discernible purpose besides serving as the DesignatedVictim. If the character is popular with the audience, this can be effective. Other times, well... let's just say that the audience starts wishing that the BigDamnHeroes would get stuck in traffic, just so they won't have to put up with ''[[TheScrappy her]]'' anymore.

Most of the time, this character's plight is due entirely to [[TooDumbToLive her own stupidity]]. She doesn't just pick up the DistressBall, she runs it into her own endzone and gets tackled for a safety. And she keeps on doing it, [[WhatAnIdiot again and again and again]]. This may be due to being TheDitz, or a severe case of crippling GenreBlindness.

[[folder:Anime and& Manga]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

** Terra in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', though in her case it's more due to CharacterDerailment from her original personality to fit this character type, than due to the number of times she needs to be saved. While she's often victimised and mixed-up in the original, she becomes confident as soon as it becomes clear that Edgar sees her as a person, and more confident still once she regains her memories, and often finds time for teasing Sabin and showing open enjoyment about fighting the Empire. In ''Dissidia'', Kefka's menace takes on an IHaveYouNowMyPretty tone, her personality becomes much more negative and serious, and she is constantly rescued by male characters for their benefit or getting lectured by Cloud ([[FakeMemories of all people]]) about the importance of knowing who you really are. The fact that Terra is the [[TheSmurfette only woman]] of Cosmos' Warriors [[{{Chickification}} doesn't make this seem any more classy]]; the remake mitigated this somewhat by altering Terra's dialogue as much as the recordings allowed and adding some other female characters to soften the UnfortunateImplications.

** Being associated with this trope is probably what spurred John Byrne, in his ComicBook/PostCrisis retelling of Superman's origin, to make it very, very obvious that Lois was now a borderline ActionGirl. This eventually led to an Inversion immediately after her wedding to Clark [[spoiler: when he was kidnapped after temporarily losing his powers]]. Lois took her Army brat background to extremes, becoming a GIJane in order to come to the rescue.

** [[spoiler:Star Flower]] could be this due to AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.

* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher). Hilariously, Hatcher also played Lois Lane in the '90s Superman drama ''Series/LoisAndClark''.

* ComicBook/{{Empowered}} has a very sturdy reputation as this in-universe, as a "[[ButtMonkey D-list superchica prone to capture and bondage]]", despite the fact that when the villains she faces upgrade from obnoxious, but not very harmful pervs to actual threats to the safety of her friends and/or the world, she is [[TheHero one of the most effective and powerful]] heroes (and a good battlefield leader even), [[TookALevelInBadass especially in the later stories]]. She is growing increasingly effective against the pervs too. It was finally revealed that she let the harmless pervs tie her up because [[spoiler:they had a tendency to forget she was there and start gossiping about more powerful villains' secrets.]]

** The other girl's name is Frieda. Her role in the cartoon was downplayed after giving Virgil a guy best friend instead of letting her be the best friend. She was replaced by Richie Foley, who is basically her except male and blonde - according to WordOfGod, he's also gay. On the other hand, Richie ''also'' falls into this category in the sense that he's always getting kidnapped and his help is mostly ineffectual except for a few episodes. His ineffectualness begins in episode 1 when he tries to protect Frieda from Hotstreak and gets his shirt burned to a cinder, and he is first kidnapped in the episode "Sons of the Fathers" by Ebon. After that, he becomes a mind-slave twice and is kidnapped at least three more times. That, and the fact that Richie gets super powers of his own later on, so he's actually able to help out more in combat and rescues Virgil a few times.

** Chibiusa/Rini too. Over half of the MonsterOfTheWeek plots in the second season are kicked off by her running off and getting herself into trouble. You'd think the girl would catch on after it happens so many times but no. The villains of that season have the easiest job in the world - they don't have to try and find her at all, they just need to wait for her to run off and inevitably reveal herself which happens every time.

* Pre-Nu52 ''Supergirl #60'' revealed there are quite a few guys like this in Metropolis; they will literally jump off of buildings so Supergirl has to catch and rescue them (and they often ask ask for her phone number afterward).

* ''TransformersAnimated'':
** [[EntitledBastard Sentinel Prime]] is an unusual male (not to mention giant alien robot) example. Most of his time onscreen involves him getting into some scrape or another, usually thanks to his massive stupidity, and having the [[BeingGoodSucks long-suffering Optimus]] get him out. It seems the only thing that keeps Optimus from abandoning him is a sense of guilt about their shared past and perhaps some level of fondness for his old Academy-mate.
** Mix of all of the above, and the hope that Sentinel gets it through his thick head that his arrogance is a Bad Thing. But StatusQuoIsGod and he always rubber bands back to being a jackass by his next appearance. Even Jazz, who has long tolerated (or ignored) it as his second in command, finally gives up and more or less defects to Prime's crew.
* Miko of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime''. [[AesopAmnesia No matter how many times she is told by her friends]] not to sneak off to see the titular robots fight and get caught in the crossfire, [[TooDumbToLive she sneaks off anyway]], has to get rescued, and in some cases nearly kills her friends. After doing so, she can be counted on to ''laugh'' about how ''awesome'' it all was even as the Autobots are trying to make her understand that nearly getting people killed or causing important missions to fail is in fact not a good thing. Being merely TooDumbToLive would be bad enough, but knowing and not caring because your amusement is more important... she makes people say "[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers I guess Daniel Witwicky wasn't all bad]]..." Also, she's another one the creators love far more than the viewers, so we get a ''lot'' of screentime devoted to someone whose "wacky antics" fall squarely into DudeNotFunny.
** ''Greatly'' improved in season two. She's gone from underfoot and proud of it to actually helpful, ''caring'' when people almost get killed, and ''not being the most common cause of people almost getting killed.'' All while not becoming unrecognizable. The arc with Bulkhead's injury and recovery have been especially good for her, and prove that ''anyone'' can be RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. Then on season 3 [[spoiler: she goes one on one with Starscream with the Apex Armor. And Win!]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Princess Lurichiyo. A bratty, spoiled rich kid who can't seem to stop getting kidnapped. After Ichigo and crew have the kidnapper cornered and it looks like the {{filler}} arc is over, [[spoiler:Amagai [[DiabolusExMachina shows up]], reveals he is a villain,]] and kidnaps her ''again''. Made more irritating for some by the fact that the arc came up in the middle of the Hueco Mundo arc and after Ichigo's battle with Grimmjow.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox64'': Slippy Toad. A player could be haunted for YEARS with the ear-piercing refrains of "Fox! Help me!!!" or "Fox! Get this guy off me!!!" If it weren't for his unbelievable mechanical ability, the Star Fox team would have probably pushed him out an airlock after his first mission.

** Terra in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', though in her case it's more due to CharacterDerailment from her original personality to fit this character type, than due to the number of times she needs to be saved. While she's often victimised and mixed-up in the original, she becomes confident as soon as it becomes clear that Edgar sees her as a person, and more confident still once she regains her memories, and often finds time for teasing Sabin and showing open enjoyment about fighting the Empire. In ''Dissidia'', Kefka's menace takes on an IHaveYouNowMyPretty tone, her personality becomes much more negative and serious, and she is constantly rescued by male characters for their benefit or getting lectured by Cloud ([[FakeMemories of all people]]) about the importance of knowing who you really are.

* One of the reasons why Akane Tendo from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is considered by some to be a BaseBreakingCharacter is the fact that, sometimes, she comes off as one of these. It's not that she gets kidnapped a lot (in fact, Ranma Saotome himself is actually kidnapped more frequently than she is), but she does get into trouble frequently, often because of her own issues (temper tantrums, pride and blind distrust of Ranma/trust of her enemies, mainly), and usually ends up contributing nothing positive to the experience. The very earliest examples of this are the [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics and Martial Arts Figure Skating]] stories.
* Molly from the Creator/DiC English dub of ''Anime/SailorMoon''. Her horrible accent, combined with how she gets attacked by the MonsterOfTheWeek in almost every episode of the first season, makes her much more annoying than her original character.

* ComicBook/{{Empowered}} has a very sturdy reputation as this in-universe, as a "[[ButtMonkey D-list superchica prone to capture and bondage]]", despite the fact that when the villains she faces upgrade from obnoxious, but not very harmful pervs to actual threats to the safety of her friends and/or the world, she is [[TheHero one of the most effective and powerful]] heroes (and a good battlefield leader even), [[TookALevelInBadass especially in the later stories]]. She is growing increasingly effective against the pervs too.
** It was finally revealed that she let the harmless pervs tie her up because [[spoiler:they had a tendency to forget she was there and start gossipping about more powerful villains' secrets.]]
* Franco-Belgian comic book ''Kid Paddle'' and its spin-off ''Game Over'' give us the [[EveryOneCallsHimBarkeep Princess]], a videogame DamselInDistress who always has to be rescued by her PintSizedPowerHouse barbarian boyfriend. The Princess is so stupid and common sense-lacking that most of the time, she ends up getting herself and/or the [[EveryOneCallsHimBarkeep Little Barbarian]] killed, generally in a [[EpicFail particularly]] [[TooDumbToLive stupid way]]. Good thing NegativeContinuity is in full effect, as they are videogame characters...

%%[[folder:Fanfic]]

* Even Bond girls from the Film/JamesBond movies are not immune, despite trying to help more than once. Such as [[Film/AViewToAKill Stacy Sutton]]... seriously woman, ''ChristopherWalken'' was able to [[WhatAnIdiot sneak up]] [[TooDumbToLive on you]] in a ''zeppelin''. And the [[CuteButCacophonic screeching]]...

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'':
** Bella Swan pretty much epitomizes this trope, even commenting in her own narrative that "I guess my brain will never work right. At least I'm pretty." Add in the fact that she can't seem to get out of ''any'' scrape without the intervention of a male, you've got one of the most textbook examples of this trope EVER.
** Alice Cullen just sums it up: [[LampshadeHanging "I have never seen anyone more prone to life-threatening idiocy."]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''{{Matlock}}'': Charlene Matlock, who almost every episode gets herself into some sort of trouble by trying to investigate/snoop around alone and either Ben or Tyler need to come to her rescue.

** The dislike isn't just because she was useless when not in sickbay - it was because she was useless outside sickbay ''and'' the writers [[CreatorsPet shoehorning her into as many episodes as possible]] and [[MarySue even having two characters fall in love with her]] so we'd realize we are supposed to love her too, as if they thought they could ''bludgeon'' the audience with her until they surrendered and decided they may as well like her. (The writers have [[WordOfGod admitted to doing this.]]) Didn't work.
* ''Series/StargateUniverse'': Chloe, who was - like Jennifer Keller on ''Atlantis'' - the LoveInterest for two different guys. Unlike Keller, however, Chloe had virtually ''no'' useful purpose whatsoever. Luckily, this is averted later in the series when she starts learning some useful skills, and also becomes [[spoiler: temporarily CursedWithAwesome by an alien infection that gives her super powers.]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Olive Oyl from ''{{Popeye}}''. Much more so in the cartoons, ''especially'' the Famous/Paramount Studios ones.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* One of the most annoying was Sharmell Sullivan, 1991 Miss Black America and the wife (both [[{{Kayfabe}} on-screen]] and [[RealitySubtext off]]) of former Wrestling/{{WCW}} great Wrestling/BookerT. Beginning in 2005, Sharmell accompanied Booker to all his matches dressed "beauty queen" style in a fashionable gown and tiara, and sometimes petticoats as well. Her only purpose when she and Booker were {{face}}s seemed to be getting menaced by her husband's {{heel}} opponents (including Wrestling/KurtAngle, who notoriously [[DudeNotFunny threatened to rape her]]). While Sharmell was capable of giving some of the weaker villains a good slap across the face from time to time, for the most part she was reduced to shrieking "BOOK-ERRR!" until her husband could come in to save her. After the pair's FaceHeelTurn (and especially after Booker became "King Booker"), Sharmell became more of a FauxActionGirl (with a bit of the AlphaBitch thrown in). At the 2006 ''[=WrestleMania=]'' she even joined Booker in a handicap match against The Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}} - but the pair lost when Boogey grabbed Sharmell and shoved a handful of worms down her throat!
* Wrestling/VickieGuerrero as well, with a side order of MilesGloriosus to boot. As General Manager of ''Friday Night [=SmackDown=]'', Vickie would boss around all the fan favorites in her obnoxiously whiny voice and generally act like a bitch....until someone like Wrestling/TheUndertaker would threaten her, and Vickie would turn into a cowardly ScreamingWoman who was helpless until her love interest of the moment could come rushing to her rescue. She eventually did [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] and even wrestles occasionally, but at heart she remained a man-hungry MrsRobinson [[CasanovaWannabe Wannabe]] who pouts when she doesn't get her way and still screams all the time (particularly when her newest boyfriend, Wrestling/DolphZiggler, is losing a match).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''CiemWebcomicSeries''. One of Denny Levens' basic purposes is to give Candi someone to constantly protect/rescue.
* The idiot damsel in the trope image is Zola from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. Not a true example, as while she started out appearing to be a picture-perfect DamselScrappy it was later revealed she was in reality a DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel and an antagonist hiding her true ambitions and skills by appearing to be a useless ball of fluff. But until the reveal she sure had to get rescued. A lot.

** Also {{ComicBook/Bucky}}, but well before [[ComicBook/CaptainAmericaWinterSoldier he was brought back]] by Creator/EdBrubaker having taken a ''massive [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]].
---> [[http://www.superdickery.com/buckys-true-purpose-revealed/ I'm starting to think]] that Bucky must have a tracer planted on him that allows Captain America to track down these hidden enclaves of enemy combatants. That's the only possible use I can think of for a sidekick who's only contribution to the war is to get captured every month...