Basic Trope: A girl who attacks those who threaten her love interest.
- Straight: Charlie threatens Bob. Alice, Bob's girlfriend, beats Charlie up.
- Exaggerated:
- Charlie insults Bob's cooking. Alice throws Charlie down a flight of stairs.
- Alice attacks Charlie despite the fact that Charlie was defending her from Bob.
- Charlie barely pushes Bob. Alice shortly delivers a No Holds Barred Beat Down.
- Alice slaughters every single person that has ever wronged Bob, from his sworn enemies down to the jerk that stiffed him out of five cents when he mowed his lawn when he was a child.
- Downplayed:
- Charlie insults Bob. Alice insults Charlie back.
- Alice and Bob are a Battle Couple who are both protective of each other.
- Alice is confident in Bob's ability to handle himself in a fix, but does not take well to enemies threatening him to get at her.
- Alice slaps Charlie because he's bullying Bob. But it's more in order to humiliate Charlie than actually willing to hurt him severely.
- Alice is not officially Bob's girlfriend, but the two have a lot of Ship Tease and she's very protective.
- Justified:
- Alice is a superhero, and Charlie is a supervillain. Bob is a normal person.
- Bob couldn't stand up for himself. If he does, he'll be arrested. Alice, on the other hand, could get away with it.
- Bob would have done worse to Charlie if Alice didn't step in. Alice saw it previous times and decided leaving Bob to deal with his own problems is a bad idea.
- Alice just witnessed one of Bob's biggest tragedies in his life. She had a good reason to be protective as she is when he needs her.
- The wires for romantic and maternal love got crossed.
- Alice is Bob's bodyguard.
- Inverted: Alice encourages others to be mean to her boyfriend.
- Gender Inverted: Sally threatens Alice. Bob beats Sally up.
- Subverted:
- Charlie pushes Bob. Alice walks toward Charlie menacingly, only to turn to Bob and yell at him for being a wuss.
- As soon as Alice moves toward Charlie threateningly, he pulls out a gun, forcing her to retreat.
- Double Subverted:
- Then Alice beats up Charlie.
- Alice retreats to push Bob behind cover. Then she pulls out her own gun.
- Parodied:
- Alice carries a list of people that have wronged Bob, and schedules times for their beatings. She has a secretary to keep track of them for her.
- Bob comes down with a mild cold. Alice comes up with an infallible cure to the common cold.
- Zig Zagged: Alice is sometimes protective of Bob, sometimes antagonistic, and sometimes lets Bob fend for himself.
- Averted:
- Alice is nonviolent. She tends to Bob's wounds, but does nothing to fight Charlie.
- Alice and Bob are not romantically involved.
- Enforced: "We need to show that Alice is an Action Girl. Have her beat up someone that threatens Bob."
- Lampshaded: "Watch out Charlie. Touch Bob and Alice will beat you up. Again."
- Invoked:
- Alice trained in martial arts to stop people from attacking Bob.
- Alice first met Bob when he was getting beat up by a gang of bullies, and after beating said bullies up, she promises to never let anyone hurt him.
- Exploited: Bob goads Charlie into shoving him specifically so Alice will beat him up.
- Defied: "Seriously, Bob, fight your own battles."
- Discussed: "Don't mess with Bob. Alice will kick your ass."
- Conversed: "Uh-oh, someone pushed Bob while Alice is nearby. The fight scene's about to start."
- Implied: Bob is seen being bullied, and later vents about it to Alice. Later, The Bully is seen with several scrapes and bruises, as well as a broken arm. When he tried to harass Bob again later, Alice shoots him a Death Glare, causing him to back off immediately.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob feels emasculated by Alice's constant defending of him. Their relationship suffers.
- Alice ends up seriously injuring Charlie, and this lands her in legal trouble.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob and Alice have a talk about her defending him and Alice only steps in to help only when he is clearly in over his head.
- While Alice concedes in court that she went too far in attacking Charlie, she won't apologize for wanting to defend Bob. Bob is touched by his girlfriend's concern, though he and Alice agree that she should take anger management courses so that she can learn how to defend Bob in a way that won't get her criminal charges. Besides, individual people looking for weak targets to pick on when they go out are less likely to hassle Bob in the first place if they know they'd be facing two opponents off the bat.
- Played For Laughs: Bob is a shameless coward who cringes behind Alice at the slightest hint of danger, to the disgust of friends and enemies alike.
- Played For Drama:
- Alice's protectiveness towards Bob is due to the fact that he is often bullied by others which severely damages his self-esteem. It motivates her to beat the crap out of anyone who bullies him while she's within proximity. Even when she's dating him.
- Bob is The Woobie whose parents died in a car accident, causing him to have a bad case of Heroic BSoD. Alice then decides to be his girlfriend and beat up people who mocked him for it
- Bob is terrified of her, but can't come up with the courage to talk it out because, Alice is Cute and Psycho.
- Alice beats up Charlie and succeeds in defending Bob....but what she wasn't counting on was for Charlie to return with a gang of friends, who proceed to surround her and jump her.
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