Basic Trope: A character is far more badass in one interpretation of the story than in other iterations.
- Straight: In the book Legends of Troperia, Alice is a weak Shrinking Violet Damsel in Distress. In The Film of the Book, she's a bonafide Action Girl.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice spends 99% of the book either being kidnapped or being rescued from being kidnapped. In the film, she's a One-Man Army.
- Alice is a very wimpy and weak nerd in the book who gets pushed around easily. In the movie, she is a Physical God.
- Downplayed:
- Alice is still a Shrinking Violet in the film, but she's slightly more badass.
- Alice was already a badass even in the book, but the movie gives her one or two abilities she lacked in the book.
- In the movie, Alice attempts to fight the Big Bad, only to be on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle. The fact that she even tried to fight him is still more than she ever did in the book, where she simply ran away from him.
- Justified:
- Alice is a Composite Character in the film, having been combined with the character of Sharon, an Action Girl in the original.
- Alice went through some backstory development, and the film is actually a sequel to the original story.
- The adaptation is a derivative work of the "What If?" variety, and the circumstances Alice is put in are such that she starts to both come out of her shell and starts to crack open the shells of her enemies.
- Inverted: Adaptational Wimp - Alice was a competent fighter in the book, but she's an overrated and completely ineffective Faux Action Girl in the film.
- Subverted: The film opens with Alice leading an army against the forces of evil and generally kicking ass. Turns out that it was All Just a Dream, and she's closer to her characterization in the book.
- Double Subverted: ...For a bit, anyway. Later she does take a level in badass.
- Parodied: In the book, Alice is a painfully shy 8-year old girl who wears a pretty pink dress, carries around a stuffed toy, loves eating sweets and talks like a baby, while in the film, Alice is an adult Nineties Anti Heroine who wears black leather, carries around a BFG, loves smoking and swears like a sailor. The setting remains the same though, making Alice look horribly out of place.
- Zig Zagged:
- The film opens with Alice kicking ass, but it's All Just a Dream - and stays that way. But in the Animated Adaptation, she's a badass.
- Book Alice and Movie Alice are both equally badass, Movie Alice just seems more badass at first glance due being portrayed as a different kind of badass than Book Alice.
- Averted:
- The director of this movie is well known for giving characters a level in badass when he makes adaptations, but for this movie he decided to keep more closely to the source material.
- No matter the adaptation, Alice is a frail Shrinking Violet.
- Enforced:
- "The women's rights groups will grouse if Alice is a wuss in this movie. We've gotta make her more awesome."
- "The fans of the book hate Alice for being a useless damsel in distress. We can't write her out of the story, so let's try to have her Rescued from the Scrappy Heap by making her more competent."
- Lampshaded:
- After Alice opens the film kicking a bunch of ass, Bob walks up and says "Weren't you supposed to be, y'know, more reserved?"
- A line from the source material is intentionally reused in a much more intimidating context.
- Invoked: The author of Legends of Troperia wants the film adaptation to be handled by a director who is well-known for doing dark action movies.
- Exploited: The author really wanted to include more "dark" aspects to Alice's character in the book, but couldn't due to time constraints. He sees the movie adaptation as the perfect chance to include those abandoned aspects.
- Defied:
- The author of Legends of Troperia forbids his work from being adaptated to any other medium.
- The author of Legends of Troperia has final call over the adaptations of his work and refuses to have Alice be made a badass (something else like being the Adaptational Comic Relief is still possible, but beyond the scope of this trope).
- Alice is the Kid-Appeal Character of the franchise, and as such the moment the project is announced the Moral Guardians swear they will raise such a stink the movie will become a Box Office Bomb if Alice does something they perceive as violent.
- Discussed: "So, we should capture Bob and ignore Alice?" "No! The Shrinking Violet always Takes A Level In Badass for the movie! Capture her too!"
- Conversed: “Finally! Alice isn’t such a wimp anymore!” “What are you talking about? This movie is AWFUL! Do the creators even KNOW who Alice is?!”
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