History Main / Chickification

* A ''lot'' of the females in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' was hit with this, especially the love interests for the various heroes. Princess Sally and Bunnie Rabbot were hit pretty hard post-time skip, Sally more than Bunnie[[note]]Thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, Sonic couldn't have a steady love interest, so Sally ended up breaking up with him in the most [[WallBanger Wall Banging]] way possible. Bunnie, however, had Antoine replaced with an EvilTwin, didn't know about it, and spent most of her time moping or trying to win back his heart.[[/note]]. It wasn't until, and it took until writers changed hands that both of them were returned to their ActionGirl roots.

* Princess Sally Acorn of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' was hit with this ''hard'' after King Acorn took control of the kingdom again, and didn't really come out of it until Ian Flynn took over writing duties.

* Maid Marian from the ''RobinHood'' legends is an odd case. She was an ActionGirl in some of her original appearances (fighting Robin to a standstill while disguised as a boy in one ballad). [[{{Bowdlerization}} Victorian writers]] turned her into TheChick. Modern writers tend to [[{{Xenafication}} make her the]] ActionGirl again, with ''TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood'' turning her into a virtual Xena clone. ''Literature/TheOutlawsOfSherwood'', the novel, has Marian and Robin actually sharing the public role of Robin Hood, with Marian being very much the better archer of the pair.

* While it's safe to say that the entire casts of both MassEffect games experience varying degrees of chickification in fanfiction at some point or another; Garrus Vakarian ([[{{Wimpification}} in a rare male example]] of this trope seen near exclusively in het fic where he's paired with Female Shepard), Commander Shepard (usually Female Shepard, though Male Shepard is not immune either), Tali'Zorah and Liara T'Soni experience the heaviest levels of this trope more often than the others.

** Although that's probably a bad example because this is ''{{Kane}}'' we're talking about, who even main eventers like JohnCena or RandyOrton acknowledge as a legitimate threat whether he's a heel or a face. And that's ''without'' the fact that Kane's character is a slasher movie serial killer (replacing murder with assault) and has a tendency to pop out of ''anywhere.''

* Completely subverted with [[spoiler: BadassPrincess Say'ri]] in FireEmblemAwakening. Excellus believes that revealing [[spoiler: that her older brother Yen'fay sacrificed himself for her sake]] will completely break her to the point of stoppig fighting altogether... but, ultimately, [[BewareTheQuietOnes it just pisses her off enough]] to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge come after him]] and, if you let her, [[LaserGuidedKarma chop his filthy head off.]] This subversion doesn't count as {{Xenafication}}, though; as she's badass to begin with.

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* Padme Amidala from ''StarWars'' goes from a confident and tactical senator who can hold her own in a gladiator arena and droid battle to a weak and submissive housewife when she get's pregnant in Episode III. After facing life threatening situation after situation without any distress, she spends most of Episode III as an emotional wreck before giving birth to twins, losing the will to live and succumbing to death.

* Mina Harker in the many film adaptations of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', but most drastically in the [[Film/{{Dracula}} Bela Lugosi version]], which she spends most of weeping hysterically.

* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'': Hungary seemed like a case of this, but she turned out to have just gotten a massive GirlinessUpgrade. Even after becoming Austria's maid, she's still a [[NinjaMaid very competent fighter]], and comparing her level of actual skill, [[TookALevelInBadass she's actually]] '''[[TookALevelInBadass stronger]]''' as an adult NinjaMaid than as a pre-teen CuteBruiser: as a kid, Hungary wins against Prussia but struggles with Ottoman Turkey and later loses to him (and at least two guys are either defeated [Lithuania] or kidnapped by Turkey [Greece] [[DoubleStandard but the fans don't bash them for it]]), whereas as an adult she curbstomps Prussia [[OneManArmy and his whole army]] and beats up France at least twice. But go tell that to the "feminist fans", who insist that Hungary belongs to this trope [[FanDumb even when faced with stone-cold proofs of how she doesn't fit]].

* Ironically, the aforementioned Chi-Chi from ''Manga/DragonBall'' does ''not'' fit the trope. Her particular case is more of OvershadowedByAwesome, since more than half the cast took a backseat to the Saiyan characters by ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Including several '''men''' like Krillin, Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu.

* Casca in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is sometimes accused of this, though it's closer to a case of being StuffedIntoTheFridge while still technically alive--from a psychological perspective, it's not exactly surprising that she's insane [[BreakTheCutie after everything that's been done to her.]] That, and she had managed to press on for '''several''' years already, only shutting down when [[spoiler: she was tortured and raped into insanity during the Eclipse while watching all of her companions save her love interest Guts (who still gets horribly broken as well) die at the hands '''of the monster who once was their commander and savior''' and his minions.]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass And yet the fandom expects her to be perfectly well after THAT, and bashes her for daring to be affected in any way.]]

* Snow from MÄR gets hit with this hard in the anime, mostly due to fillers. She was never the strongest fighter on the team or anything, but she held her own quite nicely. Her first loss comes not from being weak, but having a MAJOR disadvantage that rendered her useless. Filler arcs tend to great exaggerate this, she captured by the Zonnens in that filler arc, though admittedly through a trap any one of them could have fallen for, and in the Ghost Chess arc she's relegated to being almost useless, although they later make a plot point of it. She does have one impressive moment where she snipes an ÄRM from a mile away but it doesn't make up for it. Combine this with fact she's absent for over 20 episodes due to being captured and it's no wonder some fans dislike her. (It should be noted she wasn't held captive for nearly as long in the manga, the anime added tons of filler to prolong her rescue).

* Padme Amidala from ''StarWars'' goes from a confident and tactical senator who can hold her own in a gladiator arena and droid battle to a weak and submissive housewife when she get's pregnant in Episode III. After facing life threatening situation after situation without any distress, she spends most of Episode III as an emotional wreck before losing the will to live because her husband has gone to the dark side.

* Padme Amidala from ''StarWars'' goes from a confident and tactical senator who can hold her own in a gladiator arena and droid battle to a weak and submissive housewife when she get's pregnant in Episode III. After facing life threatening situation after situation without any distress, she spends most of Episode III as an emotional wreck before losing the will to live because of her dependence on her husband.

* Chloe Valens from ''TalesOfLegendia'' has to be rescued by Senel from drowning ([[SuperDrowningSkills since she can't swim]]), and struggle with her growing feelings for him throughout the game. At the same time, she defeats Senel in single combat, is a KnightInShiningArmor who subverts HonorBeforeReason when it matters most, and doesn't take revenge when she had every reason to do so. Though she may so "female" emotions, Chloe is an example of this trope [[TropesAreTools done well]], as she is no less of a {{Badass}} at the end of the game than she was at the beginning.

{{Chickification}} differs from FauxActionGirl. The latter is just about a [[InformedAbility so-called]] Action Girl who never lives up to her reputation once the plot hits the fan. {{Chickification}} involves a genuine Action Girl who was {{badass}} at one point, but was [[CharacterDerailment derailed]] into a weak and helpless (or at least significantly less {{badass}}) character, without any {{in-universe}} justification for such a change. The '''lack of in-universe justification''' is key to this trope. If the Action Girl is changed as the result of physical and/or emotional trauma, that's something else: it can be CharacterDevelopment, BreakTheCutie, BreakTheHaughty, etc.

This trope is not really about any ActionGirl [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses who shows those icky and bad 'female' emotions]].

* Sakura, in ''{{Naruto}}'' [[ZigZaggedTrope zigzags in and out of this.]] On one hand she starts out as a FauxActionGirl but TakesALevelInBadass during the TimeSkip, but then she is quickly over-shadowed by Naruto and Sasuke and soon after falls back into the role of a background character who can only pin her hopes on Naruto. On the other, the few times she ''does'' manage to shake this off, the results '''are''' genuinely impressive: like how she ''before'' the TimeSkip managed to hold off the Sound Genin ''[[PluckyGirl when she barely had any skills at all]]'' and ´´[[CombatPragmatist resorting even to biting]]'' to protect Lee, Naruto and Sasuke, how during the [[spoiler: Shinobi War]] she managed to [[spoiler: discover the Zetsu clone spies ''and'' capture one alive]] -- and recently, in 632 [[spoiler: when after perfecting one of Tsunade's best techniques (YMMV in that detail), she wrecks havoc among the Ten-Tails's bodyguards.]]
* Kaoru Kamiya form RurouniKenshin keeps being accused of falling into this, but technically speaking her case is OvershadowedByAwesome. The '''only''' case in this anime/manga where this trope is played straight is [[spoiler: Misanagi from the Black Knights arc.]]

* Sakura, in ''{{Naruto}}'', starts out as a FauxActionGirl but TakesALevelInBadass during the TimeSkip. Unfortunately, she is quickly over-shadowed by Naruto and Sasuke and soon after falls back into the role of a background character who can only pin her hopes on Naruto.

** The other girls also go through this often in some shipping fanfics, leading to the untrue and unfair assumption [[HetisEw from the most rabid]] {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s [[StrawFeminism and "feminist fans"]] about all the Hetalia girls being {{Satellite Love Interest}}s ''in canon''. The more frequent victims of this are Belarus (who goes from an hilariously creepy {{Yandere}} and KnifeNut who chases after Russia and breaks Liet's fingers, to either Russia or America's blushy and passive, or as much passive-agressive, bride) and Taiwan (who isn't action-geared and ''is'' comfy with her uber girliness, but is still a [[GenkiGirl Genki]] PluckyGirl... and yet she ends up as a YamatoNadeshiko caricature who ''only'' wants to be Japan's [[WifeHusbandry child bride]]).

* This is disturbingly common in ''FireEmblem'' fanfiction, particularly with characters like [[ProudWarriorRaceGirl Lyndis]] (especially in a lot of fics pairing her with [[BodyguardCrush Kent]]) and [[SilkHidingSteel Eirika]]. It's particularly bad in the case of Eirika, since as a result ends up suffering from the fandom in a similar manner to the Hetalia girls -- people accuse her of being weak and stupid, when in reality she's written as having the ''human'' reactions that an until-recently very sheltered noblewoman would have.

* ''TheWalkingDead'' arguably has Andrea. She initially was a {{GirlNextDoor}} trying desperately to be an {{ActionGirl}} in season 1. In season 2, she sort of made it by the end, yet was still making bad decisions. However, in season 3, she ends up [[spoiler: basically becoming the [[BigBad Governor's]] personal slut. She slowly lets him take away her gun and her freedom. Lets him. She has plenty of outs, including leaving with Michonne, the girl who SAVED HER FREAKING LIFE on multiple occasions. What's worse, she defends the Governor despite all of the horrible crap he does.]] She becomes so irritating that some fans call her the [[FanNickname New Lori]]. For those who don't know, Lori was the original fan-labeled annoying female.

* ''{{Series/HawaiiFive0}}'' Kono seems to be going this route. In season 1, she kicked ass in almost every episode. Now, she spends much of her time back in MissionControl or off doing grunt work while the new action girl gets screen time.

* ''{{TheWalkingDead}}'' arguably has Andrea. She initially was a {{GirlNextDoor}} trying desperately to be an {{ActionGirl}} in season 1. In season 2, she sort of made it by the end, yet was still making bad decisions. However, in season 3, she ends up [[spoiler: basically becoming the [[BigBad Governor's]] personal slut. She slowly lets him take away her gun and her freedom. Lets him. She has plenty of outs, including leaving with Michonne, the girl who SAVED HER FREAKING LIFE on multiple occasions. What's worse, she defends the Governor despite all of the horrible crap he does.]] She becomes so irritating that some fans call her the [[FanNickname New Lori]]. For those who don't know, Lori was the original fan-labeled annoying female.

* Ironically, the aforementioned Chi-Chi from ''Manga/DragonBall'' does ''not'' fit the trope. Her particular case is more of OvershadowedByAwesome, since more than half the cast took a backseat to the Saiyan characters by ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Including ''men'' like Krillin, Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu.
* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'': Hungary seemed like a case of this, but she turned out to have just gotten a massive GirlinessUpgrade. Even after becoming Austria's maid, she's still a [[NinjaMaid very competent fighter]], and comparing her level of actual skill, [[TookALevelInBadass she's actually]] '''[[TookALevelInBadass stronger]]''' as an adult NinjaMaid than as a pre-teen CuteBruiser: as a kid, Hungary wins against Prussia but struggles with Turkey and later loses to him, whereas as an adult she curbstomps Prussia [[OneManArmy and his whole army]] and beats up France at least twice.

* Casca in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is sometimes accused of this, though it's closer to a case of being StuffedIntoTheFridge while still technically alive--from a psychological perspective, it's not exactly surprising that she's insane [[BreakTheCutie after everything that's been done to her.]] That, and she had managed to press on for '''several''' years already, only shutting down when [[spoiler: she was tortured and raped into insanity during the Eclipse while watching all of her companions save her love interest Guts (who still gets horribly broken as well) die at the hands '''of the monster who once was their commander and savior''' and his minions.]]

* Kaoru Kamiya form RurouniKenshin keeps being accused of falling into this, but technically speaking her case is also of OvershadowedByAwesome. The '''only''' case in this anime/manga where this trope can be seen as played straight is [[spoiler: Misanagi from the Black Knights arc.]]

* Was very, ''very'' common in the Manga/CardCaptorSakura fandom. Sakura, one of the most powerful magic users in that canon and possibly in the CLAMP universe, would inevitably be a big victim of DomesticAbuse at the hands of her canon ([[HetIsEw and male]]) LoveInterest Syaoran, to make excuses as to why she should break away from him and search for comfort in the arms of her UnluckyChildhoodFriend Tomoyo.

* This is disturbingly common in ''FireEmblem'' fanfiction, particularly with characters like [[ProudWarriorRaceGirl Lyndis]] (especially in a lot of fics pairing her with [[BodyguardCrush Kent]]) and [[SilkHidingSteel Eirika]] (who as a result ends up suffering from the fandom in a similar manner to the Hetalia girls).

** Subverted: [[spoiler: Leona seemed to have been hit by this in XI, after being [[BreakTheCutie broken]] in 2003 (when her Orochi blood took over her again and she almost beat Ralf and Clark to death), prompting her adoptive father and commander Heidern to repace her with her friend and fellow ActionGirl Whip. However, this turned out to be a TenMinuteRetirement only; in XIII Leona was fully back, having decided to live with her condition and not break down again.]]
** Additionally, the FanDumb loves to falsely accuse King of this. Technically speaking, she went through a negative VocalEvolution (her voice got more high-pitched) and a slight GirlinessUpgrade (she's still a {{Bifauxnen}} and ActionGirl, with her sprites becoming slightly more feminine and the ''XI'' ending showing her in a cute dress -- ''during a date''). Her fighting skills and basic personality remain untouched.

* ''Hawaii5O'' Kono seems to be going this route. In season 1, she kicked ass in almost every episode. Now, she spends much of her time back in MissionControl or off doing grunt work while the new action girl gets screen time.

-->-- '''Kame Sennin/Muten Roshi''', ''Manga/DragonBall Z''

* Ironically, the aforementioned Chi-Chi from DragonBall does ''not'' fit the trope. Her particular case is more of OvershadowedByAwesome, since more than half the cast took a backseat to the Saiyan characters. Including ''men'' like Krillin, Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu.

* Viola of ''StationeryVoyagers'' becomes a blubbering mess when she finally realizes the gravity of what's happened to her and her family, and her combat abilities consequently suffer.
** Katrina becomes significantly less concerned with [[{{Badass}} her image]] [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily after getting Glario back]]. (But [[RetiredBadass don't sell her short]].) Notably, she undergoes {{Xenafication}} between "The Wages of Cheating Death" and "Outcasts."
** Cindy Martius goes from slaughtering murderous rum runners and holding her own in WorldWarTwo; towards a path of fawning over Liquidon, and nearly crying every time he hurts himself. Granted, she can still kick plenty of Aviatet tail; and is not above creative use of a FantasticSlur or two. But her role from interesting side character worthy of a spin-off to LoveMartyr for just one of ten total main protagonists is noticeable. She shines the most when [[BadassInDistress Liquidon gets himself in trouble]]. In these cases, she can [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass snap back temporarily]] and become a ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend.
** The gender-inverted version: Marlack, originally revenge-focused, becomes a much more domestic family man after meeting Neone.