History Main / DamselScrappy

** During the Arrancar arc, Orihime also got this reputation among parts of the fandom ([[Chickification Chickification]], NeutralFemale, and SayMyName / MostAnnoyingSound have all been cited as contributing factors.)

** During the Arrancar arc, Orihime also got this reputation among parts of the fandom (Chickification, NeutralFemale, and SayMyName/MostAnnoyingSound have all been cited as contributing factors.)

* Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' gets blamed for this, but it really only happens once per disc (there are four of them.) Yes, that's annoying, but it certainly could have been worse and, to be fair, only on the first instance did her own foolishness get her into the situation. The rest was unfortunate circumstance. The thing that grates most players is how accepting the rest of the cast becomes afterward--at one point, even [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl choosing to save Rinoa]] despite the fact that saving her conflicts with Squall's (the player's) current task as leader. It also probably doesn't help her out that the other two playable females, Quistis and Selphie, are highly-trained military professionals...and Rinoa is an untrained teenage girl who got in way over her head on the first disc. Not surprisingly, the former two are more than capable of getting out of scrapes, something that's called attention to when she's rescued at the end of the first disc. There's also a few situations in the game where ''other'' main characters are held captive (hell, even ''Squall'' has to get rescued...by Rinoa's mechinations no less), but Rinoa is the only one who get singled out repeatedly.

**** She wasn't always mindlessly emotional and constantly in need of rescue, but she did get flanderized pretty badly shortly after officially hooking up with Peter. In fact, the same thing happened to his earlier love, Betty Brandt. Maybe hooking up with Peter isn't such a good idea for any girl who's not MJ.

* ''SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004) recreates the style of a 1930s PulpMagazine story - right down to putting Gwyneth Paltrow in one of these roles (and as a FauxActionGirl, no less!) simply because, in those stories, ''every'' female character was a DamselScrappy.
** Err, the other main female character was a [[ColonelBadass Badass Commander]] AcePilot played by [[HotAmazon Angeline]] [[AngelinaJolie Jolie]]. Wearing an [[EyepatchOfPower eyepatch]] to boot. Not to the mention TheDragon of the BigBad.

** Err, the other main female character was a [[ColonelBadass BadassCommander]] AcePilot played by [[HotAmazon Angeline]] [[AngelinaJolie Jolie]]. Wearing an [[EyepatchOfPower eyepatch]] to boot. No to the mention TheDragon of the BigBad.

** Err, the other main female character was a [[BadassColonel BadassCaptain]] AcePilot played by [[HotAmazon Angeline]] [[AngelinaJolie Jolie]]. Wearing an eyepatch and with a BigDamnHeroes arrival to boot.

** And Mary Goodnight from ''TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' is ''[[InformedAbility supposedly]]'' [[FauxActionGirl an intrepid agent sent along to aid Bond.]] All she manages to do is get caught by Scaramanga and then [[GoGoEnslavement lay around on a beach]] wearing [[FanService a bikini]].
** There's also the Bond girl in ''DiamondsAreForever'', who at one point ''falls off the edge of an oil rig'' after trying to use a submachine gun and failing epically.
*** [[FridgeLogic From the way she held the gun, one would assume she had no prior firearms training, so she didn't know what kickback was]].
* One could argue that Buttercup from ''ThePrincessBride'' fits this trope. She seems pretty useless by herself, especially [[NeutralFemale doing absolutely NOTHING when Wesley is being attacked by a giant rat right in front of her except gasping and looking scared.]]
** In the movie you are right, but in the book, Buttercup redeems herself and saves the entire team by the use of her acquired powers: [[spoiler: as they are riding away from the castle, they are surrounded by armed men from the Brute Squad. Fezzik, Inigo and Westley admit they have no idea how to handle this, when Buttercup imperiously orders the entire squad back to the castle to rescue the Prince, implying all sorts of vengeance upon them in her capacity as the Queen. Later she admits she isn't really the Queen, but the squad didn't know that]]. This troper is sad that Buttercup didn't get her best scene in the movie.

** "At least I'm pretty?" Wasn't a huge part of her "personality" that she thought she ''wasn't'' pretty?
*** That quote comes from Breaking Dawn, after she's been turned.

* Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' gets blamed for this, but it really only happens once per disc (there are four of them.) Yes, that's annoying, but it certainly could have been worse and, to be fair, only on the first instance did her own foolishness get her into the situation. The rest was unfortunate circumstance. The thing that grates most players is how accepting the rest of the cast becomes afterward--at one point, even [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl choosing to save Rinoa]] despite the fact that saving her conflicts with Squall's (the player's) current task as leader.

* Shana in ''LegendOfDragoon'', however, most people preferred her over [[ReplacementScrappy Miranda]], who never got kidnapped or sick but ''still'' turned out to be more annoying. Because Shana's practically ''such'' a stereotypical female-protagonist, this troper called this (as well as several other tropes), "Shana Syndrome".

* During the long drought in [[{{WWE}} World Wrestling Entertainment]] between The Fabulous Moolah and Chyna, these kinds of female characters became frustratingly common in ProWrestling, and they still pop up occasionally. One of the most annoying was Sharmell Sullivan, 1991 Miss Black America and the wife (both [[{{Kayfabe}} on-screen]] and off) of former WCW great Booker T. 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 faces seemed to be getting menaced by her husband's heel opponents (including 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 TheLibby thrown in). At the 2006 ''[=WrestleMania=]'' she even joined Booker in a handicap match against The Boogeyman - but the pair lost when Boogey grabbed Sharmell and shoved a handful of worms down her throat!

** 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.

* Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' gets blamed for this, but it really only happens once per disc (there are four of them.) Yes, that's annoying, but it certainly could have been worse and, to be fair, only on the first instance did her own foolishness get her into the situation. The rest was unfortunate circumstance.

* Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' gets blamed for this, but it really only happens once per disc (there are four of them.) Yes, that's annoying, but it certainly could have been worse.

* Rinoa from ''FinalFantasyVIII'' gets blamed for this, but its mostly a case of MisBlamed. On the first disc, she has two instances where [[MartyrWithoutACause she blindly gets herself into trouble]] - [[WhatTheHellHero and the characters show her no sympathy for it.]] After the second time this happens and she's only barely pulled out alive, Rinoa finally realizes how close her own antics got her to death and starts taking her life more seriously, symbolizing character growth. She unfortunately ''still'' gets unfairly targeted by the plot for other events simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but through no fault of her own. Since a lot of people ''hate'' ''FinalFantasyVIII'' and therefore hate all the characters in it, people tend to be far harsher on Rinoa than a character like this really deserves.
** Typically, people who have played ''FinalFantasyVIII'' and actually read the dialogue (namely noticing that she gets sternly lectured about blindly walking into trouble) are a lot less harsh on Rinoa than those people who have either '''a)''' Played the game, but didn't really pay attention to the dialogue that much, '''b)''' Played the game, hated it, and therefore didn't pay attention to the dialogue, '''c)''' Watched a LetsPlay where the person had done either '''A''' or '''B''' and were [[PlayedForLaughs making fun of her]], or '''d)''' had never played the game or had only played past the first part and made assumptions. Needless to say, it's party MisBlamed, part ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch.
*** Of course, it doesn't help that the stern lecture Rinoa gets for coming up with her incredibly stupid plan (giving an evil witch a famous type of jewelry as a present and assuming she's stupid enough to not realize it blocks her magic powers, ''and to continue wearing it'' once she realizes) doesn't stop her from trying to ''follow through'' with it, ''by herself'', and the player is treated to am [[ScrappyLevel obnoxious sewer dungeon]] because the character who gave her the stern lecture feels bad for being mean to her and goes back to apologize. This is followed by a Rescue Mission where the player has to save Rinoa from the consequences of the actions she was explicitly told by a qualified mercenary would get her in trouble. It's hard for a player to sympathize with a character who goes to that much trouble to be a pain in the ass.
*** Not to mention that despite being "called out for it" or whatever, Rinoa's DistressBall derails almost everything happening concurrently in regards to plot and characterization. Examples? The Garden War scene where she's hanging from the edge and the party comes back to get Squall to rescue her. Keep in mind that, at this point, Squall has been deemed the commander of this war and the life of every Balamb student ([=SeeD=] or otherwise) is his responsibility. Squall refuses to go and save ONE student as opposed to the dozens, if not hundreds that need him now--then the party ''completely disregards what he says'' and tells him to do it anyway while they make up their own plan. I'm sorry, who was in charge here again? Worse, they use the phrase "Rinoa is one of us" for their justification (as opposed to, you know, the other people in the Garden whom many either grew up in and befriended long before Rinoa came along). Next, when Squall actually mounts his rescue, the means to do so ''literally'' drops into his lap through ContrivedCoincidence. Third, after he rescues her, he and Rinoa run through an intense battlefield with warriors from both sides killing and being killed mercilessly while they head to defeat the BigBad behind the whole war. Then, they suddenly decide to stop and have a cutesy romantic conversation involving Squall's ring--''while the people under Squall's command are fighting and dying a few yards away''.
**** Technically, Rinoa's not a student; she's either a still-active client or an out-and-out civilian. Being a client ''could'' justify special attention [[RightForTheWrongReasons but not for the reasons]] [[ShipperOnDeck the others emphasize.]] Whether being a civilian also justifies it or makes it more egregious is up to the Troper.

** Cordelia was also bad about this when she first joined the main cast.
** the Buffy "Scrappy of the week" parade. Like Cassie. The dying(and dying, and dying) girl who was being killed by destiny and wrote poetry about it. It was never explained why she was dying. Or how she knew, or why it was impossible to stop it. We just got to sit and watch her get saved, and then saved, and then saved..and then plop of a heart attack.

**** She wasn't always mindlessly emotional and constantly in need of rescue, but she did get flanderized pretty badly shortly after officially hooking up with Peter.

** The point was to show [[DeconstructedTrope how a real person, not an Action Girl like Marion or Ilsa, can cope with all these crazy adventures.]]
*** Which also serves as a pretty masterful exploration of why no one wants to see movies about "real people".
**** [[TakeThat Because you guys would act just as whiny and useless as she did?]]
** Willie wasn't that bad. She was a character who, unlike Marion, was out of her element and has never dealt with the lifestyle Indie has. So it's understandable she would react the way she did

*** Starting in TheSeventies comics, Lois was written to be more assertive to avert this trope, and needed rescuing much less often, including in her solo stories in ''The Superman Family.'' This included Lois having mastered a Kryptonian form of martial arts named "klurkor."

* Kaede Sakura from {{Kampfer}}. [[supersecretspoiler:It's all just an act.]]

* One of the reasons why Akane Tendo from [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]] is considered by some to be a BaseBreaker 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.

** ''YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' constantly makes fun of this trope. His older brother Seto Kaiba tries to reminisce about him and can only remember the thousands of times he's been kidnapped.

*** But not completely averted with regards to Gwen Stacy, the shrieking Penelope that Sam Raimi must've based his Mary Jane on. Though she was at least likable to many of the fans, the repetitive rescue-me's got tiring enough to render her Scrappy.

* Bella Swan from ''{{Twilight}}'' pretty much epitomizes this trope, even commenting in her own narrative that [[WallBanger "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.