Effortless Amazonian Lift

Don't worry about him. He LOVES this!

"Oh, he's lighter than I thought."

— Colette Brunel, Tales of Symphonia, after picking up Regal Bryant

So, you have your regular Action Girl. She has the looks, and the attitude. But you want to indicate her strength, without having her beat the stuffing out of someone. That's where the Effortless Amazonian Lift comes in.

A Distaff Counterpart to Bridal Carry, this refers to a woman visually displaying the strength to lift and carry someone similar-sized or heavier than herself in her arms. This trope is used in an attempt to subvert gender expectations, and show that the woman in question has unusual physical strength. When involving a couple, it can also be used to show who holds the reins in the relationship. Usually displayed by a Cute Bruiser or The Big Guy. When done by someone with no such characteristics, it is even more notable.

Note that this does not refer to a woman simply carrying something. The action must always emphasize her Super-Strength.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan does this on occasion. At one point, she breaks up an argument between Eren and Jean by throwing Eren over her shoulder and walking away. In a flashback later in the series, she's shown to have once thrown 210-pound Reiner across the training yard at Annie.
• Case Closed:
  • Ran carries her father through the streets after he drank too much without any effort.
  • In an earlier episode she kicks in a door of a burning house, grabs an unconscious woman and carries her out, saving her life.
• In A Certain Magical Index, Shizuri Mugino can casually Neck Lift a full-grown man (even if he is obese) and then throw or punch him across the room despite being a skinny teenage girl. It is noted that she doesn't have super strength. She prides herself in that her natural strength allows her to kick a guy's ass without even using her powers.
• Kei from Dirty Pair easily lifts a grown man and swings him over her shoulder to rescue him from heavy enemy fire. It's meant to emphasize her position as the "muscle" and tomboy of the Tomboy and Girly Girl duo she forms with Yuri.
• Earth Maiden Arjuna: Juna carries Tokio in her arms to protect him from a monster in the second episode. She doesn't even seem to be aware of any strain, despite being in her human form.
• Fushigi Yuugi:
  • Played for laughs when dainty Wholesome Crossdresser Nuriko sees a weightlifting contest in progress, effortlessly picks up and holds the current contestant and the weight overhead, and walks away with the prize.
  • Also, at Nuriko's first appearance, when Nuriko was believed to be an imperial harem girl by the name of Kourin, "Kourin" effortlessly picks up a piece of rubble that had fallen on Tamahome and Miaka, and rescues them as if she were just rummaging through a pile of clothes.
• In Girls Bravo, Kosame attempts to kidnap Yukinari for Lisa. So she knocks him out, pulls him over her shoulder and starts kicking Kirie while holding him. Her strength is attributed to her status as a professional hitwoman.
• Hitomi-chan Is Shy with Strangers: Combined with Bridal Carry when Hitomi catches Himari from falling down some steps.
• Shown twice in very short order in Episode four of Isekai Quartet, once with Rem carrying Subaru and Darkness carrying Kazuma
• In the tenth episode of Love Hina, Amalla Su, Kaolla Su's elder sister tries to force Keitarō to marry her and runs away carrying him tied up. Keitarō wasn't exactly willing to marry her.
• In Lovely★Complex, Koizumi carries Otani in her arms after he failed to escape her. She manages to carry him quickly into a changing room while he struggles to get down. It's obvious who wears the pants in this ralationship.
• Magi: Labyrinth of Magic, there's a Running Gag of Morgiana doing this to Alibaba.
• Maid-Sama!: Misaki is unusually strong; In one episode, she crossdresses to enter a competition for a Butler Cafe; the first challenge is a race in which one partner must carry the other piggyback the whole way. Most of the other (male) competitors can't finish the course; Misaki comes in second.
• In Pokémon Adventures, 10-year-old Wild Child Sapphire can carry three fully-grown adults on her back. While sprinting.
• Ranma ½ plays with this.
  • While Ranma won't allow Akane to carry him as a guy, he lets her carry him piggyback when in girl form, emphasizing how Ranma thinks of himself according to his gender. Not that Akane would have any trouble carrying his guy form — she's sometimes seen dragging him by the pigtail while running (with Ranma trying to keep a cool composure all along).
  • In a straighter example, Shampoo demonstrates the strength to catch Mousse in her arms after she saves him from a villain, continuing the trend of her being the dominant one in their "relationship".
  • Hinako-sensei in adult form is once seen carrying the unconscious bodies of three girls (Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi) at the same time. It seems her energy-draining power is also boosting her strength.
• Makoto Kino of Sailor Moon is The Big Guy of the group, and physically the strongest of the Inner Senshi. In her debut, she lifts a guy over her head, with no signs of physical strain. She also does this during an ice-skating scene, and in a dancing scene◊, demonstrates the strength to lift Ami by the waist and single-handedly over her head. And she does that without transforming into Sailor Jupiter. In the manga, Makoto's strength is also shown by lifting Usagi onto her shoulder to save her from a speeding car.
• Tsukiko of Samurai High School can easily walk while carrying three people. She can even chase a thief while carrying them.
• Kagari from Witch Craft Works bridal carries the male protagonist all the time. Although this may have more to do with magic rather than strength, it signifies her power and Violently Protective Girlfriend status.
• Natsumi of You're Under Arrest! has no problem beating up thugs and carrying them over her shoulder. The epitome of a Cute Bruiser police officer.

Comic Books

• The title heroine of Amazon Gazonga, despite her diminutive height and (mostly) petite build compared to the other Amazons, frequently picks her much taller love interest up, slings him over her shoulder, and then runs long distances carrying him.
• In one of the Archie Comics, there is a couples surfing competition where the man lifts the woman up while on a surfboard on the ocean, but when Archie is too weak to pick up Betty, Betty carries Archie!
• Bravura does this several times to Asterix in Asterix and the Secret Weapon. It helps that he's about half her size.
• Batwoman carries a larger man at least half a mile up a sizable hill without strain in Batwoman (Rebirth).
• Samus carrying Kevin in one of the Captain N: The Game Master comics.◊ It's a rather clear image of her being in charge. Kevin's protests only add to that demonstration.
• In The DCU, being the Big Gal, Big Barda is often portrayed carrying around other heroes, including her husband, Mr. Miracle.
• Heroic Seductress Elektra does this to a dude, and manages to look hot doing it.
• Secret Six features a rare female-to-female example when Scandal Savage casually carries her girlfriend Knockout over her shoulder when rescuing her from Hell◊. What makes it qualify is that Knockout is way bigger and heavier than Scandal, who outside of her Healing Factor, has normal human strength.
• She-Hulk does this regularly, often for an easy gag.
• Linda does this frequently throughout the Supergirl comics, often taunting the men she lifts. here is one of many examples
• In issue #540 of Superman , Catwoman lifts a heavy looking man by the neck and comments on how light he feels to her.
• Vampirella frequently displays that she’s 700,000 times stronger than the average man (yes, this is canon) by, despite her petite yet fit and athletic build, lifting up males and either seducing them or forcing them into submission. She shows no physical strain while doing this and often explains that she cannot feel said human. You can see one of the many examples of this at this moment where she's performing a throatlift.

Films — Animated

• Encanto: Mirabel's sister Luisa has the gift of Super-Strength, and she's shown effortlessly carrying things like livestock, furniture, and even a bridge.
• Monsters vs. Aliens: When the huge jock Cuthbert injures his ankle, the petite girl Katie effortlessly bridal carries him.

Films — Live-Action

• Adam's Rib. As part of her defense strategy to show that women are like men so they should be treated the same, Amanda calls a circus strongwoman to the stand. The strongwoman demonstrates that women can be as strong as men by picking up Adam, who is both Amanda's husband and the district attorney trying the case.
• Played with in Ever After. When Danielle and Henry are attacked by gypsies, Danielle is told she can leave and will be allowed to take "anything she can carry". She proceeds to pick up Henry and walk away carrying him on her shoulders. In this case, the action is meant to emphasize her audacity and determination, rather than physical strength. Charmed by it, the gypsies invite them to stay for a meal.
• In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Galadriel bridal carries an injured Gandalf to safety. He is much larger than her, but she shows no signs of effort.
• A View to a Kill. When Zorin tells General Gogol he's going to go ahead with his Evil Plan instead of working for the Soviets, a KGB mook pulls a gun and is promptly lifted up in the air by May Day.

Literature

• In A Brother's Price, Jerin was worried about his sisters and was very relieved to see them come back safe and sound, hugging his sister Eldest as she came through the door. She picked him up and walked him through back into the suite.
• In the Mercy Thompson series, a female firefighter who's a werewolf was pleased when werewolves abandoned their masquerade, because it allowed her to play this trope straight when saving people, rather than feign being no stronger than a non-werewolf woman.
• In Phoenix Rising, Kyri picks up a crate (containing stonesculpt hangings) weighing between 400 and 450 pounds by herself. Another had been giving two grown men and strong warriors trouble earlier.
• During a discussion about magic in Shadow of the Conqueror, Daylen makes himself weigh over seven metric tons, and Lyrah hefts him into the air with ease. This stuns both of them, as she's amazed that he has four Light bonds, and he had no idea that it was possible for a Lifebinder to specialize their Super-Strength.

Live-Action TV

• In one of the later seasons of 'Allo 'Allo!, Helga is temporarily replaced by a very tall woman, who responds to Herr Flick's usual "You may kiss me" by grabbing him by the lapels and lifting him off the ground into a kiss. The camera clearly shows his feet hanging in the air, and the studio audience's incredulous-sounding laughter suggests that the lift was actually genuine, and the actress really was that strong.
• Beast Master shows a female love interest carrying a wounded prince. When the hero doubts her strength and asks whether she's strong enough to carry him, she replies, "I'm strong enough to carry you."
• Buffyverse:
  • The opening episode of the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows Buffy scooping up a male vampire twice her size out from his grave with one hand.
  • A similar instance happens in Angel when Darla, fresh from rising as a vampire a second time, shows her strength by lifting Angel (a 6ft muscle-bound dude) off the ground with one hand.
  • When Drusilla is restored to health, she is seen carrying an unconscious Spike in her arms.
• The First Shop of Coffee Prince has the female lead carry the guy nearly a block on her back.
• Fuller House : Kimmy picks up DJ's date (literally) and explains that she used to guess people's weight at the carnival. For fun.
• Atalanta from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is able to lift Hercules himself in a bout of playfulness. She's played by bodybuilder Cory Everson, who probably did it with no special effects or other trickery - at least, there's no doubt she could easily lift Kevin Sorbo.
• I Am Frankie: When physically intervening in a argument between Kingston and Sigourney, Frankie uses her android strength to lift him over her head until she is convinced to let him go.
• One In Living Color! sketch involved a man going on a date with Grace Jones and ended with her easily throwing the terrified man over her shoulder and taking him home with her.
• In the first season finale of Jessica Jones (2015), the title character effortlessly lifts Luke Cage, who is larger than she is in muscle and height, on to a wheelchair without any effort at all, showing Claire Temple that she is a Gifted.
• In K.C. Undercover, one particular scene has the android Judy (designed to appear as a 12-year-old), effortlessly pick up her father Craig and spin him in the air during a public dance recital. The DJ nearby immediately comments on her abnormally powerful strength to size ratio.
• In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, She-Hulk bridal carries a Tinder date.
• Small Wonder: Vicki looks like a 10-year-old, but has no problem picking up her father, Ted; her brother, Jamie, or any other male character. Justified because of her Robot Girl status.
• In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data's daughter Lal, who is trying to learn about humanoid courtship. When Riker, who is notably the second largest member of the command crew (after Worf), comes in, she off-handedly pulls him clear off his feet, over the bar, and plants a kiss on him. Riker, for his part, was unhurt, if surprised.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Charley Dixon is understandably skeptical that Cameron is a 'big scary robot' until he sees her pick up a body this way. As an EMT he knows just how much a body weighs.
• Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman regularly did this. She carried Steve Trevor from the beach on Paradise Island after he was shot by a Nazi and once again to an American hospital. Those were simply the first two of many, many more.

Pro Wrestling

• Josie "Minerva" Wahlford was the first person on record to be called "world champion" in professional wrestling, but she was more famous as circus strong woman than a wrestler(Cora Livingston is considered a much better wrestler and was the first world recognized women's champion). She lost the wrestling title belt to considerably weaker women (Alice Williams and Laura Bennett were two hurdles she could never clear) but claimed to have never lost a weight lifting contest and was entered into the Guinness Book Of World Records for the most weight ever lifted by a woman.
• When she decided to enter the professional wrestling business in 1935, the 5'1 115 lbs Mildred Burke's trainer, Billy Wolfe, initially rejected her but relented when she kept asking for training and then body slammed a man Wolfe sent to get rid of her.
• Back during the 1950s boom in the USA, men's wrestling was on the rise but women's was starting to lose interest, so to regenerate that interest it was very common to see a woman pressing a man on her shoulders or over her head in promotional photos to get the point across ahead of time, Mae Young being one of the more famous cases. It has since remained common in professional wrestling, though mostly with those being billed as exceptionally strong ladies like Chyna, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya Neidheart.
• The large majority of contenders displayed such lifts when WWC and IWA Puerto Rico had a women's division (physically, they had different belts but almost seemed to alternate on who'd actually book matches for them). Many were heavyweights, unsurprisingly (Wendi Richter, Monster Ripper, La Tigresa, Leandra, Sweet Nancy, Killer Kat, Krystal la Potra, Zoe The Golden Princess, La Amazona, etc) but even the 108 lbs Génesis used a fisherman's suplex. Naturally, there were also guys to function as the lifted such as Paparazzi and Stephano (though Barbie Boy and Queen Adonis won the belt in IWA)
• During the 2004 Dragon Con, Lady Victoria picked up the referee and used him to choke Vanessa Harding on the ropes. Later, Lexie Fyfe ordered the ref to cover Lady Victoria for a pin and when she threw him off, Fyfe caught him and dropped him back on her.
• One of Candice LeRae's moves is the Ballsplex, where she grabs a guy's groin from behind and throws him over her head. She sometimes holds him up for a few seconds. She's even done it to two guys at the same time and to the enormous Abyss. LeRae is 5'2.
• At Tribute to the Troops 2005, the petite Maria Kanellis casually picks up a soldier three times her size and basically plays "airplane" with him. The soldier reacted roughly the same way a child does, with delight.
• In Pro Wrestling ZERO1 Amazing Kong's and Nanae Takahashi feuded, again, this time over recruiting Toshi Uematsu into their respective groups, R.E.M. and The Dream Catchers, not just competing in wrestling matches but also contests of strength. At one point the two even used poor Uematsu as a billy club against each other.
• Behold, WWE's Top 10 Most Powerful Divas. Most are who you'd expect like Nikki Bella and Chyna. The list is a little questionable with the surprisingly included Aja Kong ranking below Bella, many such as Alundra Blayze, Bertha Faye and Nicole Bass ommited but they gave a deserving spot to Sable(also apparently stronger than Aja Kong but behind Bull Nakano and Jazz).

Roleplay

• In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Luna's power gives her enhanced strength. She only discovers this when she easily lifts a grown man up by his collar. Both herself and her best friend Ivy are surprised and impressed by her new muscle.

Video Games

• In Carl Clover's story mode in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, we have Makoto demonstrating her sheer strength in two manners — the one that matters to this trope is when she escapes from Carl with Tsubaki in tow. To emphasize, Makoto's roughly 49 kilos, Tsubaki is 47 kilos (possibly without Izayoi), and she still dead sprints away from Carl.
• Fate/Grand Order: Anastasia is able to carry Ivan the Terrible, who is roughly the size of an elephant (and thinks she's his wife), on her shoulders and run with him.
• In the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning shows the strength to carry her younger sister, Serah, without showing any fatigue. The action is also meant to show Lightning's protective feelings toward her sister.
• In the first and third Mass Effect games, a female Shepard can just pick Kaidan up to carry him into the Normandy if he can't walk even with assistance. Completely justified in that Shepard is a super-strong, hyper-resilient cyborg by the third game, and even in the first she is an Alliance marine who has received top-notch training and gene mods that enhances her abilities beyond those of the average person. Furthermore, the armor that she's wearing has strength enhancement capabilities built into it.
• Nanami in Suikoden II picked up the wounded protagonist in a piggyback to carry him to safety.
• Colette from Tales of Symphonia at some point lifts Regal to take him along with them. One handed. And then she comments that he's lighter than she thought. While he's twice her height and more muscular.
• Karura of Utawarerumono demonstrates her ridiculous Super-Strength by kidnapping and carrying Hakuoro Bound and Gagged with only one hand. She keeps him there while waiting for the other girls to prepare for the journey. And she doesn't even bat an eyelid.

Visual Novels

• The second Hatoful Boyfriend has Hiyoko throwing a grenade through the shell of a tank and kicking holes in floors. In the first game she's a little lighter on action, but when two of her Love Interests are fighting she can pick them both up, carry them to a window, and throw both of them out.... Of course, they are both birds of poorly established size, and she's human.

Webcomics

• El Goonish Shive: During the year-long party arc, Elliot (while genderbent) says, "This calls for some manly muscle. Hey, Nanase! Can you push this sofa for us?" Nanase is of average height but not particularly muscular, yet still quite strong, apparently, as she shoves the couch over unassisted. Justified, since when she burns out her magic she complains about losing some of her strength — apparently she was boosting it with her powers.
  • She can still kick plenty of ass, and "losing some strength" means she's able to bench press only 160 pounds, so it's only relative.
• Far Out There has Stilez pick up Frank with her pinkie... by the nose.
• I'm the Grim Reaper: While rescuing Chase from The Red Spades, Scarlet easily hoists him over her shoulder. She's even able to hold him like this while fighting off Brooke with her scythe.
• Thanks to her power of gravity, Muneca Powell of Pacificators is capable of doing this. It's only the first time she've done this... we're bound to see more.

Western Animation

• An episode of American Dad! has Stan believing that this trope is in effect when Francine effortlessly lifts him by his shirt collar and carries him into a rehab clinic. In reality, Stan is anorexic, severely underweight, and in denial about his condition, which is why they're at the rehab clinic in the first place.
• Ben 10: Omniverse: Princess Looma Redwind, the Princess of the Tetramand species, proves to be a Daddy's Girl when she hugs her father and lifts him off the ground. Her father is three times her size, by the way.
• In the first episode of The Legend of Korra, Action Girl Korra lifts Tenzin and his three children into a hug without breaking a sweat. In a later episode, Korra easily lifts the park protestor over her head with one arm.
• In one episode of the Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) cartoon, Roll carries Dr. Light and the governor this way, one in each arm.
• Marge Simpson manages this at the end of The Simpsons episode "The Strong Arms of the Marge", when — suitably muscled-up from intensive bodybuilding — she sweeps up Homer in her arms and romantically whisks him up the cellar stairs.
• Teen Titans (2003) loves to show just how strong Starfire is. Whether it's lifting Beast Boy in hippo mode, lifting ten times more weight than Cyborg can with JUST ONE ARM or even being the only one out of the Titans who can lift a special Tamaranian goblet (which is apparently made out of depleted uranium). No wonder she trashed Cyborg's evil counterpart so easily.
• Work It Out Wombats!: Ellie shows her strength in "Gift For a Fish" when she catches Mr. E in her arms.

Real Life

• Hal Sparks jumped into the arms of Lucy Lawless in The American Comedy Awards. She held him without any trouble.
• Early female bodybuilder Sandwina demonstrated her strength by tossing her husband into the air and catching him.
• Most fit women are capable of deadlifting more than their bodyweight: http://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.html
• The training Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, and Vanessa Hudgens did to prepare for Sucker Punch left them able to deadlift about 200 pounds.
• In a less wholesome example, Belle Gunness was a Norwegian-American serial killer (operating in the late 19th Century), who reportedly had the ability to lift very heavy weights, including the suspiciously large body-sized trunks she frequently ordered to be delivered to her house. (Trunks which never seemed to leave the house. Not empty, anyway....)

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