History Main / SpaceShipGirl

* In the CrossGen title ''Sigil'', a female character remains a hologram tied to the ship's computer throughout the series.

* ''ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' does this with actual naval ships, though the technology in said ships rivals that of most spaceships which would feature this trope.

* ArpeggioOfBlueSteel does this with actual naval ships, though the technology in said ships rivals that of most spaceships which would feature this trope.

* Inverted in the IainMBanks novel ''Matter''; the Special Circumstances vessel 'liveware problem' has a man as its human avatar, and offers to sleep with one of the protagonists.
** Ships and other structures run by Minds in TheCulture series often have thousands of these (which doesn't even begin to test the [[DeusEstMachina computing power]] of a Culture Mind). Some of them are indistinguishable from other humans (this has caused at least one character minor embarrassment the morning after); others are more obviously nonhuman.

* ArpeggioOfBlueSteel

** [[spoiler: In the Extended Cut of the Control Ending, after uploading themselves, Shepard was recreated as an AI entity to provide the voice, avatar and moral compass for the Reapers]].

* Subverted in Robert Jordans [[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]] series. The Sea Folk refer to their ships as "he" and are asked about this being different by one of the main characters.

* Another male example appears in the ''[[Creator/AlastairReynolds Revelation Space]]'' series, where a cyborg captain is melded with his ship by alien nanomachines. His consciousness is apparently distributed across the ship's systems, but he can still project an avatar of himself when it's useful.

* ''LostUniverse'': [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1142146262764.jpg Canal]], {{Meido}}-outfitted hologram.

* Canal Volfied is the Artificial Intelligence that runs/controls the Lost Ship Swordbreaker in ''Anime/LostUniverse'', and she chooses to project herself as a hologrammatic human female with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair greenish-blue]] RapunzelHair. Though she's well-aware of her nature as the ship's mind and can get very hyper when it comes to supplementing the ship's weaponry (which she refers to as "accessorising"), she's also got a very human-like personality. She has a particular distaste for Millie because Millie is insistent upon being the ship's cook... ignoring that she blows up the kitchen ''every single time''.

* Kate Rose from ''TrinityBlood'' she is the basically the AI of the flying ship "The Iron maiden", although she's also a {{Wetware CPU}} whose body is comatose, she's been inside the ship for so long that she often refers to the parts of the ship as if they were her own appendages

* EDI, your new ship's AI from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. No body or even image of one, but she's got the voice and personality. Her femininity is confirmed by both one of the engineers of the ship, who is afraid of the Estrogen Overload in the level, and by the ship's pilot, who sees the AI as a girlfriend / mother figure...eventually.

* Karan Sjet from ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}''. In truth, she is a scientist that sacrificed herself to become the Mothership's core, and is now the Mothership's voice and "soul" through the entire game. In the sequel she continues being the Mothership, but the ship itself changes.
** Remember that all Bentusi are rather literally bound to their ships, and this suddenly becomes true of all the female Bentusi out there. You'd think there would be some, despite the ubiquitous male narrator.

Nowhere do they go so far, though, as when the ship ''is'' a girl. She may be a [[{{Hologram}} holographic projection]] by the ship's computer, or she may be a physical manifestation created by BlackBox technology, she may be a WetwareCPU running the ship, or she may simply [[MacGuffinGirl turn into a human]] [[VoluntaryShapeShifting when she wants to]]; but she ''is'' the ship, and thus requires special handling. Spaceship girls range from the deadly serious to the outright wacky, but they are never just machines. Hint: don't make her angry when you're parsecs away from the nearest planet...

* Another male example appears in the ''[[AlastairReynolds Revelation Space]]'' series, where a cyborg captain is melded with his ship by alien nanomachines. His consciousness is apparently distributed across the ship's systems, but he can still project an avatar of himself when it's useful.

* The webcomic ''{{Krakow}}'' parodies this trope mercilessly with the "planegirl" story, starting [[http://www.krakow.krakowstudios.com/krakow/archive.php?date=20060801 here]].

* A car, not a ship, but Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Christine}}''. Which was clearly the source for "Alice" in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', below.

* Dora, Lazarus Long's starship in Robert Heinlein's ''Time Enough For Love''. Dora appears again in later works, especially ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast''.
* Another Heinlein example: Gay Deceiver in ''Number of the Beast'' and later works.

* A car, not a ship, but Creator/StephenKing's ''Christine''. Which was clearly the source for "Alice" in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', below.

** Ships and other structures run by Minds in the Culture series often have thousands of these (which doesn't even begin to test the [[DeusEstMachina computing power]] of a Culture Mind). Some of them are indistinguishable from other humans (this has caused at least one character minor embarrassment the morning after); others are more obviously nonhuman.

* In RobinHobb's ''The Liveship Traders'' series, there are sentient ships with animate figureheads. Some of them are males, though. They are mostly considered as persons, with one captain actually ''courting'' his female ship to the point that his sexual partner and the ship consider each other love rivals. Not played for laughs at all.

* The Cylon ships in the Re-Imagined Series have Hybrids as their central computer hub. Hybrids take the form of women laying in a cloudy tub similar to a regenerating tub. Hybrids are not supposed to be sentient and generally their speech is a string of ship operations. [[spoiler: Some models and humans believe that the Rebel Hybrid also spouts prophecy.]]

* On one episode of ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOnDeck'', Arwin makes an A.I. for the cruise ship that will control all the main processes of the ship. It becomes evil and eventually manifests itself as a RobotGirl, who falls in love with Cody.

* The Japanese PC game ''Gadget Trial'' has been described as a fusion of turn based tactics games and mecha musume, and has the player control tank, artillery, and other girls who personify military hardware.

* The webcomic ''Krakow'' parodies this trope mercilessly with the "planegirl" story, starting [[http://www.krakow.krakowstudios.com/krakow/archive.php?date=20060801 here]].

* Only tangentially related, but too funny not to mention: Captain Star of ''Captain Star'' insists that his ship the ''Boiling Hell'' is a he.

* In {{Runaways}}, when the group gets back together after [[spoiler:the death of the Pride]], Chase insists that the Leapfrog is a he, as there is enough estrogen on the team already, thank you very much.

->''"I am the Normandy now. Its sensors are my eyes. Its armor, my skin. Its fusion plant, my heart."''

* In the 11th Pokémon movie, ''GiratinaAndTheSkyWarrior'', Infi is a holographic projection of the navigational systems for main villain Zero's ship, the Megarig.

* Stella of the Huckebein in ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Magical Records Lyrical Nanoha Force]]'' is another example of someone who can synchronize with her ship, to the point where she seems to be able to use her HealingFactor to repair damage on the ship while they're linked. [[spoiler:This leads to disastrous consequences for her when the Huckebein's ship gets struck with the Zero Effect]].
* In the 11th Pokémon movie, ''Giratina and the Sky Warrior'', Infi is a holographic projection of the navigational systems for main villain Zero's ship, the Megarig.
* Kate Rose from TrinityBlood she is the basically the AI of the FlyingShip "The Iron maiden", although she's also a {{Wetware CPU}} whose body is comatose, she's been inside the ship for so long that she often refers to the parts of the ship as if they were her own appendages

Throughout history, ships and other seafaring vessels have always been referred to as "she" (at least in English), and spaceships are just an [[SpaceIsAnOcean extension of the metaphor]]. Knowing how to treat a ship is like knowing how to treat a woman, TheCaptain will say; take care of her and she'll take care of you. She may have to be tamed, or she may take a gentle touch. The moderately sexist analogies go on and on. Strangely, this even applies to ships named after men (e.g., the USS ''Ronald Reagan''). It also applies to aircraft. This has been reflected in the appearance of older sailing vessels and many military aircraft -- with scantily clad figureheads for the former and scantily clad women painted on the latter.