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| 4 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 8 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1344364981055940100 |
| 9 | %% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_zelda_link_6202.jpg]]]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:350:BowAndSwordInAccord.]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''"Why are female soldiers always no-nonsense snipers? Says something about the writer, I think, if they perceive women as mostly poking holes in things from a very long distance away."'' |
| 15 | -->-- '''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''' on ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'' |
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| 17 | The tendency to make a female character a ranged fighter while her male partner/teammate fights up close. In fantasy settings, she's the archer or a SquishyWizard, and the burliest male character has a [[{{BFS}} giant melee weapon]]. In SuperHero comic books, especially Creator/MarvelComics in the '60s and '70s, female characters are more likely to be given powers that are ranged or unconventional enough to let them stay back while their male teammates do all the punching. In settings where ranged weaponry is the norm, such as military or futuristic settings, you can expect the female character to be a sniper, hacker, medic, or some other support role. The most common exception to the "ladies aren't melee fighters" rule comes when the female combatant is fighting someone who's [[DesignatedGirlFight equally matched]]. |
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| 19 | Part of this is due to cultural taboos against showing [[WouldntHitAGirl women getting hit]]. Fighting from a distance is, almost by definition, safer than hand-to-hand combat, so there's inherently less chance of or opportunity for [[MenAreTheExpendableGender a woman getting killed]] if she's not actually coming to blows with someone else. It may also have to do with the fact that a [[{{Stripperiffic}} skimpy costume]] or [[ChainmailBikini armor]], which a lot of female characters get stuck with, looks less unbelievable on someone who isn't in melee. While {{Action Girl}}s who get up close and personal with the bad guys have long since become commonplace, heroines are still more likely to have ranged powers than their male teammates. |
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| 21 | To some extent, this reflects the physical reality that women on average have [[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7253873/ significantly]] less height, muscle mass, and bone density than men, meaning they'd have a disadvantage in melee or close-range combat, or other positions where physical strength makes a large difference (e.g. modern infantry who have to haul heavy gear around for miles). In a case of TruthInTelevision, for exactly that reason the Soviet Red Army during World War II had divisions of female snipers, fighter pilots, machine gunners, and tank commanders, while still barring women from serving as regular infantry. However, this stops being sensible and turns into StayInTheKitchen when a particular ''non''-average woman meets or exceeds the physical fitness standards expected of men in close combat roles, but is denied the opportunity to do what she's good at merely because of her chromosomes. If physical standards are relaxed because of a need to replace heavy combat losses, then authorities who still cling to traditional gender roles may continue to refuse a particularly big and strong woman for front line combat even as they begin to draft men who are smaller and weaker than her. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Ironically, this trope was sometimes inverted in real life, at least with low-tech weaponry. Powerful war bows require a great deal of upper body strength to draw back, while [[JavelinThrower javelins]], darts, and rocks fly farther and hit with greater force when thrown by a person with stronger muscles and longer limbs to give the projectile more velocity. Crossbows could put average women on more equal footing with average men because they are drawn using mechanical spanning devices or more advantageous muscle groups, but are still in part dependent on physical strength, especially in regards to rate of fire (drawing back that span was ''exhausting'' even for very physically fit men). Other possible equalizers are [[SufferTheSlings slings]] and spear-throwers, which effectively lengthen the user's throwing arm to accelerate small stones/bullets or javelins very efficiently; and muskets, which substitute chemical propellant for muscle power, and whose effectiveness is most determined by skill and discipline. As for melee weapons, historical swords, axes, maces, etc. were rarely as heavy and cumbersome as those in fiction. In particular, anything with a slicing edge like a sword or a stabbing point like a spear could often kill with relatively little force as long as decent technique was used, especially if the target was wearing little to no armor, or the offender was good at finding weakpoints (significant physical strength was needed to smash through metal armor, as many historical archaelogy videos prove). Two-handed polearms are good options because of their reach, and the ability to take a wide grip on the shaft for increased leverage in striking or binding: NaginatasAreFeminine in Japanese culture, and a signature weapon of the LadyOfWar. Still, the image of the lithe, graceful female archer persists in medieval fiction. |
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| 25 | Together, a close-range guy and a long-range girl may form a BattleCouple. The classic pairing of a caster and a basher is SwordAndSorcerer. Occasionally mutates into the TwoGuysAndAGirl form of FighterMageThief. This trope could also be considered an outgrowth of MenUseViolenceWomenUseCommunication: Even when women ''do'' use violence, they tend to do so in a less up-front and physical manner than men do. Similarly, MaleMightFemaleFinesse has both parties use violence, but the woman fights with more emphasis on grace and refined skill than the man. FirearmsAreCowardly can also be related if the reason why one considers guns cowardly is because of their association [[WomenAreDelicate with women]]. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Compare ShortRangeGuyLongRangeGuy when the gender dynamic isn't important. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | ---- |
| 30 | !!Examples: |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 35 | * A Tricon Global ad campaign from the late 1990s featured the Taco Bell Chihuahua, Colonel Sanders, and a female Pizza Hut driver as ''Franchise/StarWars'' characters. They were besieged on all sides by a droid army. While the Taco Bell Chihuahua was completely unarmed and PlayedForLaughs, the Pizza Hut girl had a blaster pistol and Colonel Sanders bore a lightsaber. |
| 36 | [[/folder]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 39 | * Inverted in ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'': Deunan is only a very average size woman, while her BattleCouple boyfriend Briareos is an 8 feet tall cyborg. Deunan is the far more hot-headed of the two and always goes in first while Briareos covers her from the back. |
| 40 | * ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Soga (male) is a CloseRangeCombatant who uses [[BladeBelowTheShoulder arm blades]]. By contrast, Reo (female) uses gadgets and incense, while most of Suzu's (female) powers make her TheMinionMaster in one way or another. Appropriately, Matsuri ([[GenderBender male turned female]]) uses his sword, shuriken, and wind spells at both close and long range. In a subversion, [[spoiler:Shadow Mei]] has powers similar to Suzu, but has the brute strength to fight hand-to-hand. |
| 41 | * Inverted in ''Manga/BlackButler'' with Ciel and [[spoiler: Lizzy.]] While Ciel carries a pistol and is an excellent shot, he has asthma and poor stamina. In one battle, he even sprained his ankle wearing high heels while [[spoiler: Lizzy picked up a sword]] and smashed some [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Bizarre Doll's]] heads in. Both are badass, and the only reason why Ciel couldn't help in that scene was that his gun jammed. |
| 42 | * In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', Hansel uses an axe while his twin sister Gretel uses an automatic rifle. [[spoiler: It's revealed as an unusual enforced example, as their random {{Twin Switch}}s includes exchanging weapons.]] |
| 43 | * ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': The Hayasaka siblings are HalfIdenticalTwins, and the brother uses a sword while the sister a bow; Tokiko, however, being an ActionGirl, fights upfront and personal using a MagicSkirt. |
| 44 | * ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' At the ultimate level and above every digimon is shown to have some sort of projectile or at least a ranged attack, the girls at this stage only show ranged attacks in their arsonal despite what their champion stages before them displayed. The males all have some sort of melee ability to complement their ranged attacks. The only female who showed any physical ability was Angewomon which was only slaps and other basic ability only useful in a CatFight. |
| 45 | * ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' movies: |
| 46 | ** Inverted in the final battle of a few movies, like ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheHauntsOfEvil'' and ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasChronicleOfTheMoonExploration'', in which the boys mostly wield pistol and cannon gadgets, whereas Shizuka uses Super Gloves to throw large objects at enemies. |
| 47 | ** Played straight in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheSpaceHeroes'', a SuperheroEpisode of the series. Nobita and the others get close-ranged powers (like Gian's SUperStrength and Suneo creating short-range weapons like [[ThisIsADrill converting his hand into a drill]]), Shizuka on the other hand gains the ability to [[MakingASplash fire high-powered jets of water at targets]]. |
| 48 | * ''Manga/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai'': |
| 49 | ** Played straight with Dai and Leona, with Dai providing the sword-fighting and Leona assisting him through spell-work or item utility. |
| 50 | ** Inverted with Pop and Maam, as Pop is a SquishyWizard who's focused on spell-casting while Maam is more capable of close-range fighting (more so once she becomes a BareFistedMonk). |
| 51 | * ''Anime/EngageKiss'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. Shu is the guy with the gun acting as support while the strong demon swordswoman Kisara does all of the smashing. |
| 52 | * In ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'', the protagonist [[MartyrWithoutACause Shirou Emiya]] fights by reinforcing [[ImprovisedWeapon melee bludgeoning items]] like lead pipes and chair legs before eventually upgrading to actual [[HeroesPreferSwords swords]], while his [[IWasJustPassingThrough off-and-on]] ally [[{{Tsundere}} Rin Tohsaka]] fights by firing magical projectiles [[HandBlast from her fingertips]] and throwing magical gemstones. This is [[InvertedTrope inverted]] with their [[SummonMagic Servants]], Saber and Archer, who as their [[CharacterClassSystem Class]] names [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin imply]], are a swordswoman and bowman, respectively. |
| 53 | %%* [[MasterSwordsman Yajiro]] and [[TheGunslinger Rushuna]] in ''Anime/{{Grenadier}}''. |
| 54 | * Inverted in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. The cyborgs, who are [[{{Cyborg}} body-modified]] [[TykeBomb little girls]] [[MadeOfIron are built for combat]], so the usual way using them is to use them to trash enemies up and front, while the handler (usually adult males) is stay behind for support. When the handler rushes front for whatever reasons, [[RuleOfDrama it usually doesn't end well.]] |
| 55 | * In ''Manga/HeavenlyDelusion'', Maru and Kiruko are this, the former relying on his [[LightningBruiser brute strength; speed]]; and [[SuperToughness durability]], whereas the [[TheGunslinger latter]] is armed with a RayGun and [[ImprobableAimingSkills quite accurate with it]]. Unfortunately, in a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] Japan with giant [[EldritchAbomination “Man-Eater”]] monsters roaming about - plus the [[HumansAreBastards gangs of desperate and resourceful bandits who prey on the innocent]] - even these two have a difficult time surviving while they travel. |
| 56 | * ''Manga/InuYasha'': |
| 57 | ** We have Kagome on the bow shooting magic arrows, and the title character on the sword 'n claws, slashing stuff up. Justified in that she's an ordinary (aside from the spiritual powers she inherited via {{reincarnation}}), untrained human girl from the modern age, and he's a half-demon. And even after learning to fight in her own right, Kagome quite sensibly builds on natural talent for archery rather than trying to force herself to become a melee fighter. |
| 58 | ** Sango and Miroku who fit SwordAndSorcerer, but in Sango's case it is actually somewhat played straight when it comes to Miroku, as her main attack is usually to throw her weapon while he fights up close with his staff most of the time. |
| 59 | * Inverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. While no actual weapons are ever used, Kaguya and Shirogane are occasionally shown with knives and a handgun respectively in promotional material as a visual representation of their BattleOfWits. |
| 60 | * This is somewhat {{inverted|Trope}} in ''Literature/LordMarksmanAndVanadis''. While most of the men do fight in close quarters, the main character Tigre fights exclusively with a bow and the female Vanadis who surround him fight exclusively with close combat weapons such as swords, spears, and staves. |
| 61 | * Played with in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'': between [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Subaru and Teana]], the tomboyish Subaru is a melee fighter and the more feminine Teana is a ranged shooter. Additionally, among Fate's adoptive children, Erio and Caro, Erio fights with a spear, while Caro primarily uses summon magic. |
| 62 | * ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[TheHero Kouji]]'s [[HumongousMecha robot]]'s signature weapon are [[RocketPunch its fists]] (and in the manga he usually fights with punches and kicks, using Mazinger's weapons to finish the enemy off). [[ActionGirl Sayaka]]'s [[FemBot robot]]'s signature weapon are its [[ChestBlaster missiles]] (and her second robot is armed with missiles and [[EyeBeams optic beams]]). This pattern repeats in the sequels (''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer''). |
| 63 | * In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Tenten plays this straight with her enormous arsenal of ranged weapons, as does Temari with her fan. However, most of the other female characters avert this, particularly Sakura and Tsunade, who both pack a huge punch and both are seen getting hit (and getting up from said hits) multiple times. |
| 64 | * Inverted in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' with Negi as the ranged mage and Asuna as the martial artist/swordsman in front...initially. Even after Negi starts [[TookALevelInBadass taking levels in badass]] and starts fighting up-close, though, Asuna remains on the frontline. The rest of the non-{{muggles}} in Negi's all-female class are also mixed between melee fighters (Kuu Fei, Setsuna...), ranged support (Konoka, Kazumi...), and all-around badasses (Kaede and Mana, mainly). The spirit of the trope is upheld--keeping the most "delicate" character out of the fray. [[KidHero Negi's]] [[WouldntHurtAChild youth]] evidently trumps Asuna's femininity. Or lack thereof. |
| 65 | * Inverted in ''Literature/OkamiSan'' where Ryoko uses her boxing gloves while Ryoshi favors his slingshot. In his case, it's possible it's due to his [[ShrinkingViolet fear of being stared at]]: he can hide and snipe from anywhere while their enemies are focused on the girl right in front of them. |
| 66 | * The good guys organization, Hero Association, in ''Anime/OnePunchMan'', has all manners of heroes of either gender with myriad of powers and abilities, but this trope still applies to its most powerful members: TheHero Saitama obliterates his enemies with his punch (yes, [[CurbStompBattle singular]]), while Tatsumaki the esper uses her [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to pulverize her enemies while barely making any gesture. |
| 67 | * Iska and Alice from ''Literature/OurLastCrusadeOrTheRiseOfANewWorld''. Iska is a superhumanly fit guy who fights with magic swords while Alice is an astral mage with [[AnIcePerson ice powers]]. |
| 68 | * Inverted in ''Manga/OutlawStar.'' Of the four crew members who typically see combat, the two women (Aisha and Suzuku) are melee fighters while the men (Gene and Jim) fight with guns most of the time. |
| 69 | * ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'': Both subverted and played straight, depending on the character. |
| 70 | ** Ashitaka uses a bow as his primary weapon but is equally skilled with a sword. |
| 71 | ** Lady Eboshi and the people of Iron Town - especially the women - are skilled with rifles, and occasionally use hand cannons when a heavier payload is required. |
| 72 | ** San primarily uses a spear and knife. |
| 73 | * Inverted with [[OutlawCouple Liza and Grash]] in ''Anime/ProjectAKo: The Vs.'' Grash is a BadassNormal who uses conventional weapons, but Liza has SuperStrength on par with [[CuteBruiser A-ko]]. |
| 74 | * All the fighters in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' are female, for [[MagicalGirl obvious reasons]], but only the {{tomboy}}s--Sayaka and Kyouko--use melee weapons (or [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks thrown swords]]). Mami, the TeamMom, uses magical guns and ribbons; Madoka, TheHeart, has an EnergyBow [[spoiler:and doesn't directly fight anyone in the [[GroundhogDayLoop final timeline]]]]. Homura is an ActionGirl, not especially feminine or tomboyish, so she uses ''manly'' ranged weapons--non-magical guns and explosives. |
| 75 | * Inverted in ''Literature/RebuildWorld''. The protagonist Akira distains melee combat, and gets into multiple OpposingCombatPhilosophies arguments with female members of TheSquad who specialize in melee. When the NinjaMaid Kanae defeats a monster with fancy martial arts moves using her PowerFist and powered boots, Akira asks WhyDontYouJustShootHim. |
| 76 | * In ''Manga/ResidentEvilTheMarhawaDesire'', this is downplayed and inverted when Piers and Merah team up. It's downplayed in that they're both equipped with firearms. It's also inverted because [[ActionGirl Merah]] is also equipped with a kukri, making her better suited for melee combat (her acrobatics also help) than Piers, who, due to his lack of melee weapons, is dedicated to sniping at a distance. |
| 77 | * Rhi'a from ''Anime/SandsOfDestruction'' is TheGunslinger in a show where every other character fights melee. However, this list of other characters also includes Morte, a girl with a {{BFS}}, which she's [[HairTriggerTemper quick to use]] to smash things (and it usually ''is'' [[BloodlessCarnage smashing, rather than cutting]]). The two of them tend to fight each other quite often, too. The [[Manga/SandsOfDestruction manga]] drops Rhi's guns and normally keeps her a NeutralFemale, but the one time she does join a fight, she uses her [[BreathWeapon Dragon Breath]] for a ranged attack. |
| 78 | * [[BrotherSisterTeam Shannon and Raquel]] Casull in ''Literature/ScrappedPrincess''. Shannon is a swordsman, Raquel is a sorceress. |
| 79 | * Lina (Mage) and Gaurry (Swordsman) in ''Literature/{{Slayers}}''. Probable aversion, given that Lina is no slouch with a sword herself. |
| 80 | * ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Inverted with the main couple: [[WorldsStrongestWoman Yor]] fights almost exclusively upclose, while her husband [[TheSmartGuy Loid]], while no slouch himself, is more associated with firearms. |
| 81 | * Inverted in ''Manga/SummerTimeRendering'': |
| 82 | ** Shadows are much stronger and faster than humans, but Shadow Ushio, Hizuru, [[spoiler: and later Tokiko and Shadow Mio]] all have the means to move into close quarters and engage them with their fists, sledgehammers, or knives. Mio, the only outlier, uses Sou's aerosol flamethrower in the one fight she's involved in. |
| 83 | ** Shinpei, Sou, Nezu, and Totsumura are all regular humans who need to keep a distance from the shadows for their own safety, so they typically fend them off with ranged weapons such as modded nail guns, makeshift incendiary weapons, and firearms. [[spoiler: Even after inheriting Ryuunosuke's abilities from Hizuru, Shinpei opts to hang back and provide covering fire until the final battle, where he takes up the sledgehammer after his shotgun fails to hold Shide back.]] |
| 84 | * ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Of the opening crew, Simon (drill), Kamina (katana), Yoko (rifle). When Yoko gets the controls of a robot, the Dayakaiser, it has a giant cannon on it; Gurren Lagann, by contrast, typically fights with [[ThisIsADrill a giant friggin' drill]], with its ranged options being used once, maybe twice before being sidelined in favour of Giga Drills. |
| 85 | * Inverted in ''Manga/ThouShaltNotDie'' where Kuroi generally sit in the back lines and wait for a moment to move in to use his MindRape powers while Mashiro is focused on physical enhancement and therefore a front-line brawler and berserker. |
| 86 | * In ''Manga/WorldTrigger'', Tamakoma 2's frontline fighters include Yuuma, a dual wielding swordsman, Osamu, who wields a broadsword and a medium ranged shooting trigger, [[spoiler: and Hyuse, who fights with a katana and a similar shooting trigger]]. Meanwhile, their sniper Chika conceals her position from afar and takes shots at their opponents using various sniper rifles and shooting triggers with enhanced ranged thanks to her massive Trion reserve. |
| 87 | * Averted with shades of this trope nonetheless present in the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' franchise. There is absolutely zero correlation between deck type/strategy and the duelist's gender in all installments, but while male duelists will have a female monster or two at most in their decks, female duelists have far more female monsters by far, some even having a deck consisting entirely of female creatures (the Harpies) or warriors or spellcasters. |
| 88 | [[/folder]] |
| 89 | |
| 90 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 91 | * ''ComicBook/BodyBags'': Mack "Clownface" Delgado and his daughter Panda. Mack dual-wields huge knives, Panda uses various firearms. |
| 92 | * ''Franchise/DCComics'': |
| 93 | ** ''ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld'': The archers and swordsmen of House Citrine are all female and male, respectively. It's averted with the women of House Amethyst, who like to get up close and personal with their enemies. |
| 94 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Inverted with ComicBook/TheJoker and ComicBook/HarleyQuinn. The Joker most often uses guns in his crimes, and Harley is best known for her [[CarryABigStick mallet]]. |
| 95 | ** Inverted with ComicBook/GreenArrow and ComicBook/BlackCanary when they are teamed up. Also slightly averted as Dinah has a ranged option with her [[SuperScream Canary Cry]] while Oliver later learns sword-fighting. |
| 96 | * ''Franchise/GIJoe'': The sword-wielding Snake-Eyes with Scarlett and her crossbow and throwing stars. Also averted in that Snake isn't above using a gun when the situation calls for it, and Scarlett is such a good hand-to-hand combatant that she was the early team's martial arts instructor. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'': Invincible and Atom Eve. Invincible is a FlyingBrick and LightningBruiser who fights up close, while Eve relies on her ability to psionically transmute matter. |
| 98 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': |
| 99 | ** ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': |
| 100 | *** We have the twins ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}, who punches things very [[SuperSpeed fast]]; and the ComicBook/ScarletWitch, who makes motions with her hands and warps reality. |
| 101 | *** Inverted with ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and his ex-wife ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}. Hawkeye's an archer, the best in the world, in fact; Mockingbird's a fighter who prefers to fight with her battle staves, and is one of the best fighters in the Marvel Universe, at least on the same level as ComicBook/NickFury and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica (and that's [[BadassAbnormal before gaining their respective powers]]). Given his past relationships with ComicBook/BlackWidow and ComicBook/SheHulk, and his recent relationship with Spider-Woman, Hawkeye in general seems to have a thing for women who can do the punching while he does the shooting. In a bit of a subversion, all of those women ''are'' exceptional marksswomen or have potent ranged superpowers while Hawkeye is a phenomenal martial artist in his own right, it's just that their fields of speciality are an inversion. |
| 102 | ** ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': In the ''ComicBook/LastDaysOfMagic'' event, when all of Earth's sorcerous community lost their spell-casting, they found out enchanted weapons still work so Stephen and company armed themselves. While Stephen and the other male sorcerers got melee weapons like a battle-axe, Magik and Scarlet Witch took a shotgun and Thomas submachine gun respectively. This choice is especially interesting in the case of Magik, who's a MasterSwordsman. |
| 103 | ** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Reed and Sue Richards when they go in BattleCouple mode: Reed using his RubberMan powers to attack up close (well, for a given value of "close") while Sue blasts things from a distance with her invisible forcefields. |
| 104 | *** This was actually inverted in their earliest appearances, as Reed used tech while Sue turned invisible to attack. |
| 105 | ** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': The Scorpion and his 90s DistaffCounterpart Scorpia. Scorpion had SuperStrength and a cybernetic scorpion tail that let him inject venom or spray HollywoodAcid at close range (as well as making a useful bludgeon). Scorpia, by contrast, had PowerArmor with "claw" blasters in the wrists and a tail blaster, letting her fight at range. |
| 106 | ** ''ComicBook/XMen'': |
| 107 | *** [[ZigzaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] with ComicBook/{{Colossus}} and his sister ComicBook/{{Magik}}. Illyana is a teleporter and sorceress; while her older brother Piotr hits things really, really, ''really'' hard. Although she usually needs time to teleport and only has her full complement of sorcery when she's in Limbo, so she ends up relying on slicing things up with her soulsword. On the other hand, Colossus is also known for [[FastballSpecial launching his own allies at enemies]]. |
| 108 | *** Generally inverted with ComicBook/{{Rogue}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit|MarvelComics}}, however. Rogue is a FlyingBrick (while she had Carol Danvers' powers anyway), so she usually flies in and decks an enemy with a power punch; Gambit, on the other hand, prefers throwing energized objects, usually poker cards, at them. |
| 109 | * ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': Jesse Custer and his best mate Cassidy beat people up, while Jesse's girlfriend Tulip guns them down. |
| 110 | * ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'': The male characters are Nightmaster who fights with a magic sword, Blue Devil a stuntman and actor who was transformed into a demon with super strength and durability, Ragman whose possession of evil souls can grant him super strength and Detective Chimp who, as shown in his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of [[AxCrazy Karnevil]] is much stronger than a normal human. On the female side, we have Enchantress and Nightshade. The former is a cunning and powerful sorceress while the latter fights with [[CastingAShadow shadow]] powers that allow her to teleport or form constructs. |
| 111 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'': While the male heroic characters (the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix Crew) primarily fight hand-to-hand, Amy Rose's weapon of choice is a crossbow. |
| 112 | * ''ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'': A gender-inverted example occured when Optimus Prime teamed up with Windblade. Optimus uses his signature Ion Blaster in fights, while Windblade uses a sword because she's from the colony of Camus, which eschews guns in favor of swords and polearms. |
| 113 | * ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'': Andrea quickly becomes an elite sniper whose skills prove invaluable to Rick's group, even though she had no firearms training or experience before the zombie holocaust. |
| 114 | * ''ComicBook/WarlordOfMars'': In the 6-part volume ''Lords of Mars'', after being transported to Barsoom, Jane is thought how to use a rifle and proves herself a natural. It becomes her weapon of choice for the remainder of the story, while Tarzan and John Carter use either swords and knifes or their bare hands. Earlier in the same story, Tarzan tries to use a rifle for the first time and fails miserably. |
| 115 | * ''ComicBook/XenozoicTales'': Downplayed with Jack Tenrac and Hannah Dundee. While Jack is usually going for GoodOldFisticuffs, he's used rifles quite often. Hannah has a tendency to go for shooting someone with a rifle, but she also came from a highly educated tribe of hunter-gatherers who had limited access to high technology so she's well-experienced in stabbing things with spears and other sharp objects. |
| 116 | [[/folder]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 119 | * In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Jirou has this relationship with Izuku when paired up together during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise. Izuku's spider-powered abilities make him an ideal frontline fighter who's equal parts [[LightningBruiser strong, fast, and tough]], making him the "Smash". While Jirou has been trained to box, she can't come close to his physical strength and relies on the debilitating effects of her sound-based Quirk to disorient her foes and support him by gathering info with her SuperHearing. |
| 120 | * Disregarded in ''Fanfic/AvengerGoddess'' during Diana’s early training sessions with the Howling Commandos as Diana finds that she prefers to fight hand-to-hand, to the point of explicitly stating that she doesn't like guns. |
| 121 | * The overall dynamic on Team RNJR in ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'' follows this trope. Ragna has a SinisterScythe[=/=]{{BFS}} MorphWeapon and likes to mix it up [[SwordAndFist with some hand-to-hand]] while Jaune uses a simple sword and shield combo. Meanwhile Ruby uses a scythe/SniperRifle for mid-to-long-range combat and Noels use of Bolverk makes her a LongRangeFighter, with it being stated that ''[[CripplingOverspecialization Ruby]]'' can trounce her in hand-to-hand. |
| 122 | * Taken literally with the [[spoiler:Item Gods]] in ''Fanfic/FailToTheKing''. Tav (a staff) and Phoenix (a spear) seem like the odd ones out until you remember that -by ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' mechanics- a staff user's normal attack can only be used from one square away, while a spear can attack from two. |
| 123 | * In ''Fanfic/HorseshoesAndHandGrenades'' and its subsequent sidestories, male and female characters fight with diverse weaponry. Since there are so many of them, it can be divided into different ways: |
| 124 | ** For Kamen Riders, Riderman and Kamen Rider Den-O Rod, Gun and Wing Form technically attack from the distance. Kamen Rider Amazon, Joker, Nadeshiko and Den-O Sword, Axe, and Super Climax Form all worked when they were in close combat. |
| 125 | *** And when they weren't in Kamen Rider Form: Chosuke uses his fists to punch the lights out of people and JK had a pair of guns filled with rubber bullets. |
| 126 | ** The female characters also varied: Yuki, Miu, Yayoi, Rumi, and Haruka all use weapons that let them attack up close. Tomoko, Erin, and Mari were better suited in the back. |
| 127 | ** Inverted in ''Month of Sundays'', Abe and Taira wielded swords and axes while Ibuki used a ''kusarigama'' to ensnare his opponents. Teruhiko also fights by shooting spikes and using a sonic howl. Miura later comes in but since he has the power of the Aries Zodiarts, he also steps back to use his sleeping powers on the opponent. Rumi, as stated above, charges toward opponents with a vaulting pole, kicking them in the face for good measure. |
| 128 | *** Shingo and Hina Izumi also invert this: Shingo, being a policeman, fires his rifle at the enemy. Hina punches people in the face. |
| 129 | * Inverted in ''Fanfic/MassEffectHumanRevolution'', where the guys of the [[BadassCrew Deep]] [[SemperFi Eyes]] are the riflemen while Jane TheSquadette is the melee specialist. |
| 130 | * Basically comes up in ''Fanfic/FrozenTurtles'', as the Turtles, Kristoff, Casey [[spoiler:and Sven]] all rely on hand-to-hand combat while April and Elsa use their powers in a fight; Anna initially improvised using swords, but as the series continues she tends to ‘borrow’ Kraang guns when she has to fight with the others. |
| 131 | * PlayedWith in ''Fanfic/MellorineMellorine''. Luffy, Zoro and Usopp are subjected to a magical GenderBender, which complicates matters when they're subsequently attacked, as Luffy and Zoro find that their muscle mass and center of balance have shifted considerably. Sanji later notes that of the trio, Usopp's fighting style is likely impacted the least by the change. However, this doesn't stop Luffy or Zoro from tackling the enemy head-on in their usual fashion, setbacks be damned, while Usopp hides -- the physical impact the change has had upon his body pales in comparison to the [[HeroicBSOD psychological impact]]. |
| 132 | * ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': {{Inverted}} to "Guys Shoot, Girls Smash" for Kyril and his band of apprentices. While all five are more than capable of close quarters with their [[MixAndMatchWeapon trick weapons]], only the male Hunters (Kyril, Hugh, Soren) are shown to regularly use firearms or the ranged mode in their trick weapon, like [[BowAndSwordInAccord Simon's Bowblade]] and Reiterpallasch (a gun-rapier hybrid). |
| 133 | * In ''Fanfic/OliviaGoesWest'' (a crossover between ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''), this trope is inverted when [[CrossoverShip Fievel and Olivia]] try to rescue Olivia's father from [[spoiler:Jebediah's gold mine]] a second time and are armed by helpful Mousehicans with a tomahawk and a bow. Fievel figures that due to his previous experiences with [[BratsWithSlingshots a slingshot]], he would make better use of the bow, leaving Olivia to pick up the tomahawk. |
| 134 | * In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'' this is averted. The women, when they fight, use a fairly diverse arsenal of weapons, such as a gun (Mary), a dagger (Ebony), a sword and a spear (Clarisse), and a club (Annabeth and her opponent). Among the men, most use swords, but also can use an axe ([[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco]]), [[DualWielding a sword and spear]] (Literature/{{Percy Jackson|and the Olympians}}), or a sniper rifle (Grover). |
| 135 | * ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'' is a ''Manga/SoulEater'' fanfic that provides yet another inversion in two [=OCs=], [[SiblingTeam Tsuji and Rowena Ricardsen]]. Tsuji is an archer and works best supporting people from a distance while Rowena has SuperStrength and prefers close-range combat with her oversized sledgehammer. |
| 136 | * {{Averted}} and {{Lampshaded}} in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11568253/7/Supernova Supernova]]'' where [[Manga/OnePiece Vivi]] figured Nami would be a long-ranged support fighter due to her "magic" (clima-tact) and wouldn't be much good in a close-up fight. Not only was Nami originally a staff fighter but she casually does a hundred squats with an 800-pound weight on her shoulders. |
| 137 | * Essentially applies in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]", with Kate Bishop focusing on her arrows while Peter Parker gets in close to fight his foes directly; Yelena Belova alternates between shooting from a distance or fighting human-level foes in hand-to-hand combat. |
| 138 | * ZigZagged with ''Franchise/{{Tron}}: Endgame Scenario'': [[Film/TronLegacy Sam and Quorra]] mostly play it straight, even if she's certainly no stranger to close combat. [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Jet and Mercury]] are an inversion, as Mercury is a BloodKnight who prefers a close-quarters fight with her rods, and Jet is relatively weak in melee combat [[FriendlySniper and devastating at sniping range]]. |
| 139 | * Simultaneously acknowledged and defied by Katniss and Glimmer in ''Fanfic/ValkyrieOnFire'', as Glimmer favours hand-to-hand combat- whether unarmed or with weapons- while Katniss is more skilled at archery. |
| 140 | [[/folder]] |
| 141 | |
| 142 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 143 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': Played straight for most of the movie where Merida's weapon of choice is the bow and arrow, while male characters mostly use swords. There is one scene, though, which shows Merida is a pretty good swordfighter, too. Also, Elinor mixes it up in her bear form. |
| 144 | * ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Ralph punches things, Felix hits things with a hammer, and Calhoun fires guns. Yet this isn't really played straight, as Calhoun's firearms are treated as just as dangerous as actual firearms. Plus she can throw a mean punch when she has to. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 148 | * ''Film/BladeTrinity'': ActionGirl Abigail Whistler uses a compound bow while the title character has a sword. |
| 149 | * ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'': Inverted. [[spoiler: When Marty and Dana are trying to get out of the underground facility beneath the cabin, Marty gets his hands on two weapons. He keeps the gun for himself... and gives the knife to Dana. The inversion is somewhat justified in that Dana, who had to either survive or be killed last in order for the ritual to work, was marginally safer - except that neither of them knew that at the time.]] |
| 150 | * ''[[Film/DragonHeart Dragonheart]]'': Inverted with Kara and Brother Gilbert; she is shown wielding knives and axes while he is an archer. Partially justified in-universe; as a monk - and something of a pacifist - he had no real combat training, and wielding a bow simply requires keen eyesight and sufficient muscle power to pull back the arrow. |
| 151 | * ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'': Inverted. Cage prefers the shooting weapons while Rita wields a {{BFS}}. |
| 152 | * ''Film/Hellboy2019''. Inverted. Although Alice eventually starts using a handgun, most of the time she's seen punching the crap out of her opponents while Hellboy and Daimio focus much more on their guns. |
| 153 | * ''Film/TheHungerGames'': Katniss is a skilled archer, while Peeta is a wrestler whose main skill is physical strength. The rest of the Tributes mostly fall into this gendered divide as well, with the exception of Marvel, whose skill with thrown spears is his hallmark (and the method behind his only on-screen kill). |
| 154 | ** Further complicated in ''[[Film/CatchingFire Catching Fire]]''. Joanna Mason wields axes (mostly hand-to-hand but can throw them if necessary), Enobaria’s weapon of choice is a sword, and the twins Cashmere and Gloss are seen training with throwing knives. |
| 155 | * ''Film/KingArthur2004'': Guinevere is a Woad (i.e. Pictish) warrior-maiden and mostly fights using a bow and arrow, while Arthur fights with his signature sword Excalibur. Arthur is no slouch with a bow, however, and Guinevere does get in on some melee action during the film's final battle. |
| 156 | * ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': While both Max and Furiosa show ability in both melee and ranged combat, Furiosa is definitely [[ImprobableAimingSkills the better shot]] of the two, while Max does more damage against the War Boys close up, including going toe-to-toe with Rictus Erectus and an implication of what he did offscreen to the Bullet Farmer and his mooks using a [[KukrisAreKool kukri]] and a fuel can. |
| 157 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:'' Plenty of examples where the trope is played straight, and just as many where it's inverted. |
| 158 | ** Mostly inverted with Iron Man: While Tony Stark's suit is capable of withstanding major physical blows, he mostly relies on distance weapons (lasers, miniature rockets) when in battle. [[spoiler:Played straighter with Pepper Potts' Rescue suit in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', which relies almost exclusively on distance weapons.]] |
| 159 | ** Partially inverted with Black Widow and Hawkeye: She's skilled with guns, tasers, and high-tech weapons but a phenomenal martial artist. He's good with knives, staffs, and even swords, but phenomenal with a bow. |
| 160 | ** Mjolnir, the hammer wielded by Thor[[spoiler:, Captain America, and Dr. Jane Foster (a.k.a. The Mighty Thor)]], is utilized both ways; blunt-force attacks up close and shooting lighting from a distance. |
| 161 | ** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'': The Maximoff siblings. Pietro uses his SuperSpeed for hit-and-run close combat tactics, while Wanda fights from a distance with telekinesis and energy projection. |
| 162 | ** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': Invoked, lampshaded, and inverted. |
| 163 | --->'''Peter Quill:''' ''[to Gamora]'' It's just that swords were your thing and guns were mine. |
| 164 | ** ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'': Both played straight and inverted, depending on the character. |
| 165 | *** T'Challa, King of Wakanda and the titular character, is a highly trained martial artist. |
| 166 | *** The Dora Milaje, an all-female elite special forces unit, use spears. |
| 167 | *** The all-male Kingsguard also use spears, but theirs have the ability to shoot energy bolts. |
| 168 | *** Erik Killmonger is skilled in both hand-to-hand combat and firearms use. |
| 169 | *** Shuri wields vibranium strike gauntlets (essentially handmounted sonic cannons) in battle against Killmonger. |
| 170 | *** Nakia fights hand-to-hand but also wields energized ring blades that can be thrown. |
| 171 | *** The Jabari tribe are less technologically advanced than other Wakandans, so both men and women fight with wooden hand weapons. |
| 172 | *** Everett Ross pilots a hover craft and shoots down enemy ships attempting to flee across the border. |
| 173 | ** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'': When she fully assumes her mother's mantle as the Wasp, Hope van Dyne still relies on her close-quarter combat skills, but her suit is equipped with "stingers" (laser gauntlets) that she can fire from a distance. This is in contrast to Scott Lang's Ant-Man, who was [[Film/AntMan1 previously established]] to rely almost entirely on close combat, assisted by communication with various ant species'. |
| 174 | ** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' |
| 175 | *** The Talokans - who apparently include both men and women among their combative ranks - mostly use hand weapons like spears and staffs. [[spoiler:Yet they also possess enough technological know-how to create small, hand-held explosives that release deluges of water when thrown and burst.]] |
| 176 | *** Riri Williams (a.k.a. Ironheart) [[spoiler:uses her Stark Tech-inspired suits to fight from a distance 90% of the time. Even when Okoye and Shuri trespass into her dorm room, she maintains her distance and chucks portable heaters at them.]] |
| 177 | *** [[spoiler:When she fully steps into the role of Black Panther, Shuri fights up close much more often than before, but her suit is equipped with collapsible strike gauntlets that allow her to fire powerful sonic waves from a distance when necessary.]] |
| 178 | * ''Film/OurFriendPower5'': While the male turtles are all taught Taekwondo, Yesular instead relies on her magic wand, and is generally less involved in combat scenes. |
| 179 | * ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'': Inverted. When Snow White fights in the climactic battle, she does so with sword and shield while her childhood friend William spends the entire movie fighting with bow and arrow. |
| 180 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 181 | ** In the original trilogy, the only characters who use lightsabers are all male, and Leia is the only one whose blaster bolts never miss. |
| 182 | ** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'': During the battle of Geonosis, Anakin wields a lightsaber and Padme uses a blaster. However, there are female lightsaber-wielding Jedi in supporting roles during that battle. |
| 183 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': Zig-zagged. For the most part, [[InvertedTrope Rey uses a staff and Finn uses a blaster.]] However they don't use those weapons exclusively since Rey does use a blaster later on and [[spoiler:they both, at different points, use Anakin's lightsaber, with Rey being the last.]] |
| 184 | * ''Film/{{Willow}}'': Takes it both ways. Mad Mardigan prefers a sword over all else but is willing and more than able to use a crossbow, and Sorcia's primary weapon is a bow and arrows but she carries a rapier that she is rather skilled with. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 188 | * ''Literature/TheAsteriskWar'': |
| 189 | ** The main pair of Ayato Amagiri and Julis von Riessfeld. He's a MasterSwordsman with a {{BFS}}, while she mainly fights at range with fireballs and booby traps. She has a rapier [[LaserBlade Lux]] as well, but it's mainly a weapon of last resort. |
| 190 | ** Also true of the robots AR-D and RM-C: he is a heavy brawler who favors [[CarryABigStick a gigantic hammer]], while she is a lightweight flier who fights with guns. [[spoiler:That is until they go all CombiningMecha and RM-C gives up her weapons to AR-D, where he becomes able to shoot the head of his hammer at his opponents.]] |
| 191 | * ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': It’s hard to tell if this trope is played straight, zig-zagged, or inverted most often. While there is a general attitude of women not directly participating in battle - hence why they tend to be shooters - there are notable exceptions, and men are just as likely to fight at both close and long ranges, depending on the situation. |
| 192 | ** ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'': |
| 193 | *** Jadis is shown wielding a butcher’s knife and an iron lamp post bar as impromptu weapons. In London she uses the bar to club police officers, and in Narnia throws it squarely into Aslan’s face (which doesn’t even make him blink). |
| 194 | ** ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': |
| 195 | *** Peter Pevensie is given a sword and shield by Father Christmas, which he uses in the Battle of Beruna and treasures for the duration of his reign. |
| 196 | *** Susan Pevensie’s gift is a bow and quiver of arrows. Although she doesn’t fight in the battle, she gains a reputation for excellent marksmanship during her reign. |
| 197 | *** Allied with the White Witch at the time of the gift-giving, Edmund Pevensie does not receive a special weapon, but is later given a sword to participate in the battle. |
| 198 | *** Lucy Pevensie is given a small dagger to defend herself, but only in great need, as she’s also entrusted with the MagicAntidote and plays the role of medic following the battle. |
| 199 | *** The White Witch wields a stone knife both as a sacrificial tool and weapon in battle against the Pevensie brothers and the army of Aslan. |
| 200 | ** ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' |
| 201 | *** Aravis Tarkheena carries a scimitar with her throughout her journey, and is described as having an interest in archery and other things deemed typically “male” by her society. |
| 202 | *** During the battle of Anvard, Lucy Pevensie is the only named female participant and shoots alongside the other archers. Male participants in the battle are described as using both melee weapons and bows and arrows, depending on the role they happen to be playing. |
| 203 | ** ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'' |
| 204 | *** Caspian himself is trained in both swordplay and archery, but prefers the former during most engagements. |
| 205 | *** Reepicheep the talking mouse wields a miniature rapier and has the fiercest battle spirit among all Caspian’s supporters (while he is male, at barely 2 feet tall, any sort of distance weapon would be essentially useless against larger opponents). |
| 206 | *** Dwarfs (all male) are described as wielding blades and/or bows as the situation may warrant, and Trumpkin is shown to be equally competent with both. |
| 207 | ** ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' |
| 208 | *** Eustace Scrubb is a cousin of the Pevensies’ who starts out as a pacifist (and something of a jackass), but over the course of the story learns some basic skills at swordsmanship out of necessity. |
| 209 | *** Except for the later addition of Lucy, the crew of the titular ship is all male, and both archers and swordsmen are mentioned among their ranks. Lucy herself is mentioned as wielding a bow on a few occasions. |
| 210 | ** ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' |
| 211 | *** Puddleglum the marshwiggle and Eustace carry both swords and bows throughout the journey, while Jill Pole carries a knife. Puddleglum is competent enough with the latter to hunt for food, and it’s mentioned that Eusatce had received some archery training during his previous adventure. |
| 212 | ** ''Literature/TheLastBattle'' |
| 213 | *** Upon being freed by Eustace and Jill, King Tirian arms them all in preparation for a rescue mission. While he and Eustace take swords and shields, and Jill is given a bow and arrows, she’s also armed with a hunting knife, as no sword light enough for her was available. |
| 214 | *** One group of renegade dwarfs, disillusioned with both Tirian’s cause and that of his enemies, end up shooting at the soldiers of both armies in the final Battle of Stable Hill. |
| 215 | * ''Literature/ClockpunkAndTheVitalizer'': Features a downplayed setup at first: The Vitalizer smashes [[MindOverMatter telekinetically]] while Clockpunk attempts shooting with her weak gun. [[spoiler:Subverted during the latter half of the story, since Clockpunk dumps her gun to [[TheBait occupy]] The Vitalizer while the superweapon he's after is moved. Once she has him at her mercy, ''she's'' the only one doing any smashing.]] |
| 216 | * ''Literature/CodexAlera'': Inverted with the BattleCouple of Bernard and Amara- he's an archer, she's a swordswoman. That said, Amara's fighting style relies on using speed and flight to deliver a single killing strike and get out of combat range again rather than the blow-trading which this trope associates with masculinity. Likewise, while Bernard is a MasterArcher, his specific weapon dramatically emphasizes his brute strength rather than his skill or finesse. |
| 217 | * ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Played straight more often, but occasionally inverted throughout the series. |
| 218 | ** District 1: Marvel is good with spears, both in close combat and thrown; Glimmer is an amateur archer; Gloss uses a knife to slit Wiress' throat. |
| 219 | ** District 2: Cato can wield a sword with brutal efficiency; Clove is a beast with throwing knives; Enobaria is skilled with both swords and knives. |
| 220 | ** District 4: Finnick Odair can wield spears and knives very effectively, but his signature weapon is a trident paired with a net. |
| 221 | ** District 7: Joanna Mason is highly skilled with axes, both in close combat and thrown, but struggles to use a gun effectively. |
| 222 | ** District 11: Rue is shown to be highly adept with a slingshot. |
| 223 | ** District 12: |
| 224 | *** Katniss Everdeen is an archer and occasional knife-thrower. In ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}'', she also shows proficiency with a gun. |
| 225 | *** Peeta Mellark is a skilled wrestler and excels in hand-to-hand combat. Also displays some skill wielding a knife. |
| 226 | *** Gale Hawthorne learned archery skills from Katniss and later wielded a gun during the Second Rebellion. |
| 227 | ** District 13: Nearly all soldiers, male or female, wield guns. |
| 228 | |
| 229 | * ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'': Uses an interesting variation. Ralph and Lois both learn how they can weaponize their aura's against Atropos. To achieve this, Ralph makes a hand movement identical to a karate chop, while Lois makes a finger gun and pretends to shoot. |
| 230 | * ''Literature/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': |
| 231 | ** {{Enforced}} in the MagicalLand of Folsaria. A person's mana capacity is proportionate to their physical size (which would normally favour men), but most Folsarian men enter the workforce too young to learn magic properly. Since magic weapons and armour draw on the user's mana to function, this resulted in them developing a stratified military where women train as [[SquishyWizard lightly-equipped mages]] (and more frequently advance to officer positions), while men function as heavy infantry. |
| 232 | ** And then {{Inverted}} in Ancient Forthorthe [[HereThereWereDragons back when magic still existed there]]. Abundant resources mean that both male and female mages exist, though men tend to be more prominent due to their greater mana. Likewise while uncommon, female knights are not unusual, with one even being considered [[WorldsBestWarrior the greatest swordsman of her age]]. |
| 233 | * ''Literature/KateDaniels'': Zigzagged. Most of Kate's friends (and her LoveInterest) are super-strong shapeshifters, but [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in that Kate herself is known as a [[HeroesPreferSwords swordswoman]] who's as deadly as any of them. DoubleSubverted because Kate is actually a MagicKnight with growing magical power, who simply FightsLikeANormal to hide her past. |
| 234 | ** Played straight in ''Magic Strikes'', where Kate forms a GladiatorGames team with six shifters. Among those other six, the two women are the only gunfighter and mage. |
| 235 | * ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'': Inverted. [[ActionGirl Dhampinella]] is an unarmed hand-to-hand combatant ([[TheBigGuy and a darn good one]]) while [[TheLancer Joseph]] is TheGunslinger by choice and only fights unarmed if he has to. Neither [[NonActionSnarker Mediochre]] nor [[NeutralFemale Charlotte]] fight much, but in the first book, Mediochre borrows one of Joseph's guns and Charlotte clubs someone with a rock and occasionally struggles up-close-and-personal with {{Mooks}}. |
| 236 | * ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'': Played straight with the main male and female protagonists. Simon is a swordsman[[note]]well, he starts out a NonActionGuy but learns the sword across the trilogy[[/note]] and Princess Miriamele is an archer (and the cover of the last book has both posing with their respective weapon of choice). However, when they travel together during the last book, they ''do'' start training each other in the other's weapon. |
| 237 | * ''Literature/MonsterHunterInternational'': Owen Zastava Pitt, the main protagonist, uses [[ICallItVera Abomination]], a [[MoreDakka fully-automatic]] Saiga-12 shotgun with a {{bayonet|Ya}} ([[SilverHasMysticPowers silver-inlaid]], of course), while his [[FriendlySniper wife]] and other [[ActionGirl female characters]] tend to use longer-ranged weapons. Earl Harbinger, [[spoiler:being a werewolf]], plays it straighter. |
| 238 | * ''Literature/{{Relativity}}:'' Overcast (the male) uses a gun while Zephyra is a karate expert. |
| 239 | * ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'': Averted in the first book. When Alanna and Jonathan go against an ancient group of evil spirits, Alanna is the one who uses the sword, while Jon maintains their magic shields. |
| 240 | * ''Literature/SpiritHunters'': The two guys are samurai while both girls are spellcasters. However, Sura is also good with spear and shortsword and Chiri is decent with a pair of kama. |
| 241 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: |
| 242 | ** [[BattleCouple Luke and Mara]] often fall into this pattern when fighting together, especially before she becomes a full Jedi, though even after she is still more likely to use her blaster than Luke. |
| 243 | ** ''Literature/FateOfTheJedi'': Luke and Ben tend to fight with their [[LaserBlade lightsabers]], while Vestara and Jaina tend to fight with [[ShockandAwe force lightning]] and from [[OldSchoolDogfight a star-fighter]], respectively. For example, in ''Vortex'', [[spoiler: Vestara throws her lightsaber to an un-armed Luke, then starts shocking Abeloth.]] |
| 244 | ** It took Leia ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy five years]]'' after ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' for Luke to build her a lightsaber, and even then only because Han basically bullied them into it. And it was many more years before she was even marginally competent with the thing. |
| 245 | * ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'': Men are the infantry, women are the pilots. It's explained that women have been discovered to have better reflexes. |
| 246 | * ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Has Birgitte Silverbow and Gaidal Cain. And for the SwordAndSorcerer approach, Aes Sedai[[note]]particularly Green Ajah, since they're the combat specialists[[/note]] and their Warders. |
| 247 | [[/folder]] |
| 248 | |
| 249 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 250 | * ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': Inverted in the first season, both in the present day and in flashbacks. Kovacs can smash if necessary but seems to prefer guns. In flashbacks, he's paired with his sister Rei, who can shoot if necessary but will use a sword if at all possible. In the present day, he's paired with Ortega, who gets fond of smashing things [[spoiler: after she gets a super-strong cybernetic arm.]] |
| 251 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': |
| 252 | ** Inverted. As with their above comic selves, [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver]] is an archer with ImprobableAimingSkills, while Canary, in season 2, [[spoiler: is a former member of the League Of Assassins]], capable of killing entire rooms of people. Like most inversions, Ollie's just as good at fighting, if not on her level, and she's no slouch with a bow either. |
| 253 | ** Played straight with Ollie's island friends. Slade is a [[BladeEnthusiast sword nut]] ASIS combat specialist who likes to get up close with his kills, while Shado is an archer capable of casually hitting targets, and teaches Ollie how to shoot. Like above, she's also a great fighter, and he's a crack shot with rifle or pistol. |
| 254 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Both played straight and inverted, depending on the character. |
| 255 | ** Arya Stark possesses archery skills (which she specifically lacks in [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the books]]), but still favors her sword most of the time. |
| 256 | ** Theon Greyjoy frequently uses a bow in Season 1 but uses a sword more often in later seasons. |
| 257 | ** Jon Snow favors a sword 90% of the time, while his love interest Ygritte of the Free Folk is an exceptional archer. |
| 258 | ** Anguy of the Brotherhood Without Banners is an exceptional archer. Justified in-universe as he hails from the Dornish Marches, a region which has long produced the best bowmen in the Seven Kingdoms. |
| 259 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Inverted. Male deputies Raylan Givens and Tim Gutterson are noted for their skill with guns, while their colleague Rachel Brooks is far more likely to deliver a brutal baton-beating than pull her sidearm. |
| 260 | * ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Inverted with the duo of Ace / Kamen Rider Geats and Neon / Kamen Rider Na-Go. As Kamen Rider Geats, Ace uses guns while Neon relies on melee weapons such as claws and a hammer. |
| 261 | * ''Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation'': All five turtles are trained in hand-to-hand combat but while the male turtles [[SwordAndFist use melee weapons]], the sole female turtle Venus [[KungFuWizard uses magical attacks in conjunction with martial arts]]. |
| 262 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Prince Charming's main weapon is a [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]]; Snow White's is a bow and arrow. Most of the other characters also follow this trope, with the female villains being spell-casters while male villain Captain Hook primarily uses his hook (though he does use a gun on [[spoiler:Belle]]), supporting female hero Granny using a crossbow and Emma, having grown up in our world in the modern day, preferring to use a pistol (though when she does embrace her storybook heritage, it's with [[BowandSwordInAccord both of her parents' weapons]]). The only exceptions are Rumplestiltskin (male, spellcaster), Mulan (female, swordfighter), Robin of Locksley (male, archer) [[spoiler:Though "Robin Hood" plays this straight as of Season 7 as ''she's'' the daughter of the legendary archer with comparable skill]] and Red (female, [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]). |
| 263 | * ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Miles's main weapon? A katana. Charlie's main weapon? A crossbow. Episodes like "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E2ChainedHeat Chained Heat]]" show this trope in action. Even when Charlie ditches the crossbow for a gun by [[Recap/RevolutionS1E10NobodysFaultButMine episode 10]], she's still shooting. |
| 264 | * ''Series/StrangerThings'': Plays this trope straight via a subverted inversion. Jonathan plans to use a gun on [[spoiler:the monster]], while Nancy practices strikes with a baseball bat. After they both actually try the gun on old cans, though, Nancy proves to be a superior shot, so they trade weapons. |
| 265 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' / ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': |
| 266 | ** ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'': The only one two-girl series to adhere to this trope giving, the girls a slingshot and satellite dish, while the boys get a drill, rod, and tomahawk. Every other team has, at best, only one female long-range fighter and one of the boys often has a gun. |
| 267 | ** ''[[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaigers]]'': Each ranger wields a SwordAndGun, but they pass them around freely as needed. This has Blue using standard dual swords and Yellow using hers as an EpicFlail. Meanwhile, Pink uses standard dual guns with Green using his surroundings just as often, if not more, than the guns. |
| 268 | ** ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', [[TheSmurfettePrinciple the only girl]] gets a bow, while the others get a sword, an axe, a couple of knives, a polearm of some sort, and [[ImprobableWeaponUser a flute that makes trumpet noises and doubles as a knife]]. That last one gets his own sword, too, [[DefectorFromDecadence when he's evil]]. |
| 269 | ** ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'': |
| 270 | *** Zeo Zord I and Zeo Zord II, piloted by Katherine and Tanya. Described as the “arsenal”, they are essentially munitions platforms on wheels, armed with a plethora of cannons and missile launchers. |
| 271 | *** Zeo Zord III and Zeo Zord IV, piloted by Rocky and Adam. Described as the “driving forces”, they pull the first two zords via enormous chains. In their first battle, Zord IV headbutts enemy aircraft out of the sky, while Zord III catches one in it’s mouth and crushes it. |
| 272 | *** Prince Gasket, eldest son of King Mondo of the Machine Empire, is highly proficient with his sword, while his wife Archerina’s combat speciality is clearly denoted by her name. Conversely, Gasket’s sword can fire energy bolts from a distance, and Archerina’s bow can turn into a sword for close combat. |
| 273 | ** ''Series/ResshaSentaiToqger'': Partially inverted, where not only does the whole team use each other's weapons regularly, but the girls have a [[CarryABigStick hammer]] and [[WolverineClaws claw]] while one of the boys has a gun. |
| 274 | ** ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'': lmost all heavy cutting/chopping or melee weapons are given to male Rangers, with a possible exception of Yellow's main weapon being a large claw-like slicing device. However, her brother is the one that gets the big heavy axe. |
| 275 | [[/folder]] |
| 276 | |
| 277 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 278 | * Among the ConceptAlbum characters of Music/AngusMcSix, Angus wades in with his CoolSword, while Amazon Queen Thalestris prefers a longbow. |
| 279 | [[/folder]] |
| 280 | |
| 281 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 282 | * Of the five signature Solars in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the girls are a mage and an archer, while the guys are a brawler the size of a house, a master swordsman, and a kung fu {{Ambadassador}}. |
| 283 | * The supervillain The Denier enforces this for his mooks in the ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' module ''School of Hard Knocks'': his male minions get equipped with axes, the female ones with guns and grenades. |
| 284 | * The iconic characters of ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' tend to be notably even-handed with regard to their gender-to-class distribution. Sure, you have a muscular male fighter and a slinky female sorceress, but you also have a male wizard and a female barbarian (who uses a slain giant's shortsword as a ''two-handed greatsword''). |
| 285 | * The High Elves in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' had numerous elite infantry units, but the shootiest of them was the all-female Maiden Guard of the Everqueen. |
| 286 | * In ''TabletopGame/TheWitcherGameOfImagination'' dryads, a OneGenderRace, start with very high ''Shooting'' skill in their {{splat}}, while being the only race with no starting melee skills in said splat. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 290 | * ''VideoGame/{{Absinthia}}'': Inverted. Of the Katti Town trio, Sera is the physical fighter, Thomas is the mage, and Jake is more balanced between physical and magic damage. |
| 291 | * In ''7 Blades'', the player can choose between two playable characters - a guy with a sword (or seven, per the title) or a girl with a gun, which she [[ICallItVera nicknames 'Kittykat']] |
| 292 | * In ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', it's a downplayed case. Female characters start with a penalty of -1 to Strength, with an equal bonus to Constitution. The problem is that this also decreases the maximum Strength a female character can normally reach by one (from 20 to 19), and the benefit from maxing out your Strength at 20 is doubled bonus damage, making female characters eventually fall behind in melee damage in the late game. While female characters can take a background perk during character creation to correct for this, this naturally prevents them from taking a more beneficial perk, making male characters the superior choice for a melee-focused build. This logically would push people playing female characters to invest in ranged and magic options instead, although they aren't really better than their male counterparts in those areas. |
| 293 | * Played straight in the first ''VideoGame/{{Avadon}}'' game: The male Blademaster and Shadowwalker classes are oriented towards physical combat, while the female Sorceress and Shaman classes tend towards support from the rear. Inverted with the sequel's party members; the Blademaster and Shadowwalker are both female, while the Shaman, the newly titled Sorceror, and the newly added Tinkermage are all male. Meanwhile the player character's gender can be chosen independently of class from the second game onwards. |
| 294 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/AxiomVerge'' and [[VideoGame/AxiomVerge2 its sequel]]. Trace in the first game utilizes the high-tech Axiom Disruptor gun and various other guns, while Indra in the second game uses a variety of melee weapons, primarily axes. |
| 295 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' with the Origin Characters: Gale is a Wizard and Wyll is a Warlock, classes that favor magic, while Astarion is a Rogue who specializes in attacking enemies from stealth. Meanwhile, Lae'zel is a Fighter and Karlach is a [[TheBerserker Barbarian]], while Shadowheart is a [[CombatMedic Cleric]] who is equally adept at using magic and melee weapons. |
| 296 | * In ''VideoGame/TheBannerSaga'', this comes into play. All the female characters who join your party are archers while the vast majority of the men who join are melee warriors. Rook does both and Eyvind is a sort of exception in that he can cast long-ranged spells. He still can club enemies with his staff. The [[VideoGame/TheBannerSaga2 sequel]] both doubles down but also averts it some. It doubles down with the Horseborn race who fit the trope to a T (male horseborn use flails while female horseborn use throwing spears.) It is averted though with the introduction of Folka who is a spear and shield-wielding warrior and Zefr who is mostly a support character but who can stab enemies with her spear (though she is so weak that it is generally advisable not to). |
| 297 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', the all-female Umbra Witches wields guns, and while we don't see as many Lumen Sages in the series, the few seen all have been shown to wield melee weapons. However, this trope ultimately only applies ceremonially, as Umbra Witches are very much capable of pummeling their enemies with fists and heels, while Lumen Sages can cast a variety of spells to fry their targets from afar. |
| 298 | * Your initial party in ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion'' works like this, featuring Garlot the (lance-wielding) knight, Jenon the swordsman, and Siskier the archer. From the point the party begins to expand, though, you accumulate lots of heavy-hitting melee ladies and a couple of ranged-fighter men. |
| 299 | * Played straight with ''VideoGame/BloodKnights'', a HackAndSlash actioner where you play as a VampireHunter and a vampire, Jeremy and Alyssa (in that order), and could swap either around during gameplay. As Jeremy you DualWield swords, and as Alysa you fire [[GunsAkimbo crossbows akimbo]]. |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'' zigzags this with a few of its partymembers and opponents. Kotaro plays it straight by using his fists as weapons, but it gets inverted with Shogo and a male protagonist, who use guns, and Mifue, who uses a hammer. On the antagonists' side, Sweet-P and Wicked use long-range weapons like a bow and bombs, and the male Ike-P uses machine guns, while Shadow Knife uses a close-range knife. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare'' subverts this trope. Resident ActionGirl Ilona apparently used to work as a sniper for Spetsnaz, which would make you think she's more of a long-range fighter in-game. However, when we see her in combat, she ''never'' uses a sniper rifle and uses the standard assault rifle loadout of the male characters, and is in fact the only character in the entire game to engage in extended hand-to-hand combat [[spoiler: when she fights Hades]]. |
| 302 | * Initially played straight in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' where the [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Unlucky Childhood Friend]] uses guns and the RebelliousPrincess uses bows. Then averted by the cavewoman who simply uses GoodOldFisticuffs, [[spoiler: and the male sorcerer whose Tech attacks are all ranged spells (in contrast to the other two guys and the robot on the team.)]] |
| 303 | * In ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'', the first two basic units are the swordfighting male Barbarians and the female Archers. Averted with the flame shooting Wizards and the close combat Valkyries. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/ConquerorsBlade'' began its life with the hero weapon classes divided into unisex, male-only, and female-only. Predictably, the male-only classes included the huge, brute-strength Poleaxe and Glaive heavy weapons, while the two female-only classes were the Shortbow and the assassin-style Dual Blades. This was corrected in Season I, when all classes (even the especially brutish Maul) were made available to player characters of both genders. |
| 305 | * ''VideoGame/DarkDevotion'' inverts this trope with the DualBoss Elinor and Aureus: Inseparable Wardens. Elinor wields a spear and fights at close range, while Aureus wields a bow and keeps his distance from the player. |
| 306 | * Arguably zigzagged (at least in the sense of seeming to avert it, only to play it straight) in ''VideoGame/DeadIsland''. There are four playable heroes, and there's both a melee male & female duo and a ranged male & female duo. However, the male heroes are the blunt weapon specialist and the throwing weapon specialist, whilst the female heroes are the gun specialist and cutting weapon specialist. The gun specialist also specialises in using cutting melee weapons as well. |
| 307 | ** Then the sequel ''VideoGame/DeadIslandRiptide'' adds one more hero... a male character whose specialty is ''beating zombies to death with his fists''. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series: |
| 309 | ** ''VideoGame/Diablo1997'' has a female Rogue who functions best as an archer, and a male warrior and wizard. |
| 310 | ** In ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', the two close-quarters combat classes - the Barbarian and the Paladin - are male. The Sorceress is a ranged combatant, and the Amazon specializes in bows, javelins, and spears - only the latter is close-quarters. The Assassin and Necromancer inverts this dynamic where the former has an entire skill tree for martial arts and wields a katar by default while the latter summons minions, casts bone and poison skills, and curses enemies. |
| 311 | ** While ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' allows players to choose the gender of any class they play, this trope is reflected in the iconics of each class -- the Barbarian and the Monk, the primary melee fighters among the Nephalem, are male; while the Demon Hunter and the Wizard, the primary ranged attackers, are female, though the Witch Doctor and (added later) Crusader invert this dynamic. |
| 312 | * In ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', Etna's default weapon is a spear (semi-ranged) and she is shown using a gun in cutscenes. However, she's still much more melee-oriented than Flonne, the WhiteMagicianGirl / Archer / [[LeakedExperience Battle Mage]]. The female PlayerMooks have a variety of proficiencies as well depending on job class. |
| 313 | ** It's inverted for the humans, however: Captain Gordon, '''Defender of Earth!''' uses a gun and Jennifer uses her fists. |
| 314 | ** In Etna's cameo in ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'', she gets a [[GatlingGood huge-ass minigun]] instead. |
| 315 | ** Played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' with bare-knuckled Adell and gun-toting Rozalin. |
| 316 | ** And in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'', Sapphire comes with a gun, but she also has proficiencies in bow and [[AxCrazy Ax]]. |
| 317 | ** Played straight again in ''VideoGame/Disgaea5'' with fistfighting Killia and gunslinging Seraphina. |
| 318 | * ''Franchise/DragonAge'': |
| 319 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' plays this mostly straight. You can get up to eight members on your team; two men with huge swords, clubs or axes, one man with a dagger-sword combination, and one man with shield and sword filling the Tank role. Then there are two women who are mages, one who's intended as an archer, and a ''golem'' who punches things to death. [[spoiler: That last one used to be a dwarven woman, but is now rather ambivalent about the whole idea of gender.]] |
| 320 | ** However, the ExpansionPack ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'' averts this with the two rogue party members: the male rogue Nathaniel is better suited as an archer, and the female rogue Sigrun is meant to duke it out in melee (however, thanks to readily available {{Skill Point Reset}}s in ''Awakening'', you can re-spec them at any time). You also get one female sword and shield warrior, Mhairi. The ''Witch Hunt'' {{DLC}} also pairs a female warrior with a male mage. |
| 321 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' again averts this with Aveline and Isabela--a brawny "[[StoneWall Guardian]]" warrior and a swashbuckling PirateGirl, respectively. Of the four ranged party members, only one is female (the mage Merrill). Played straight with Hawke's siblings - Carver is a swordsman, Bethany is a mage. |
| 322 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has nine companions, three from each class ([[FighterMageThief Warrior, Mage, Rogue]]), and one female character from each set of three, so technically the game averts this since the one female melee fighter (Cassandra) is proportional to the number of male melee fighters, as are the two female ranged fighters (Vivienne, Sera) to the number of male ranged fighters, although it should be noted that Vivienne is a MagicKnight making her more melee-focused than her fellow male mages, and inversely, Cole is a rogue who specializes in dual-wielding daggers, although you can equip him with a bow. |
| 323 | * The classes of ''VideoGame/DragonNest'' sort of falls into this. The male classes, Fighter and Cleric, are both pretty up close and physical. Meanwhile, the female classes are Archer and Sorceress, who are both mostly ranged. |
| 324 | * [[MightyGlacier Ness]] and [[GlassCannon Paula]] in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''. However, the character whose ''physical'' attack is ranged is Jeff. |
| 325 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 326 | ** Heavily {{Downplayed|Trope}} in terms of the PlayerCharacter throughout the series, at least until it did away with classes and attributes starting with ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. The starting Skills (including weapon skills) were determined by the race of character, regardless of gender. However, gender did account for differences in the starting ''Attributes'' (Strength, Agility, etc.). Males in the races with gender attribute differences tended to have higher starting physical attributes, making them (initially) better with melee weapons while females tended to have higher starting mental attributes, making them (initially) better spell casters. The difference is small enough to be made up within the first level or two if you so choose, leading to {{Purely Aesthetic Gender}}s. |
| 327 | ** In the series' backstory, LostOrphanedRoyalty and future Queen of Morrowind, Barenziah, was the [[RulingFamilyMassacre sole survivor of her noble Dunmeri family]] and was placed into foster care with the Imperial loyalist Count and Countess of Darkmoor until she became of age to take over as [[PuppetKing Vassal Queen]]. She Played With the trope, as she wanted to train in combat with the sons of the Count and Countess, but was forbidden. She was given a bow to practice with instead. However, when the adults weren't around, she would spar with the boys and bested them more often than not. |
| 328 | ** The inner Circle of the Companions faction in ''Skyrim'' play this straight: the men (Farkas, Vilkas, and Skjor) all prefer to wield swords while the female Aela prefers to use her bow. Zig-zagged, however, by [[PlayerCharacter the Dragonborn]] being mostly exempt from this dynamic. |
| 329 | ** Inverted by the [[LivingGasbag Netch]], the males of which can shoot poison while the females have stronger physical attacks. |
| 330 | * ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' plays this straight with the exception of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Lance]], who mainly uses guns and ranged attacks. In the case of Anna, who wields a set of bows almost as large as her, the trope's usual implications are averted, as the other party members repeatedly note that she must be extremely strong to be able to use them effectively. |
| 331 | * In ''VideoGame/EvilIslands'', 99% of male humanoids on all three islands are warriors with close-range weapons, while 99% of all female humanoids are archers or mages. The exceptions can be counted on the fingers of two hands. They are Zak (depending on the player, since he is the PlayerCharacter), Rint the Archer, Tka-Rik, Rinas, the army scout leader, Fairakh, the two male necromancers and Sakhilia. |
| 332 | * The relationship of Vanguard-Reyvateil as a BattleCouple in the ''VideoGame/ExaPico'' games is this. The male vanguard attacks enemies at close range while a female reyvateil shoots magic from afar. |
| 333 | ** Although it's partially averted with the female vanguards, all of which wield melee weapons: Krusche wields a chainsaw, Amarie a combination between a bow, dual swords and a lyre; and Cocona a hairclip that turns into a bladed battle scepter (''[[VideoGame/ArTonelicoIIMelodyOfMetafalica Ar tonelico II]]'') and a duet of laser tonfas (''[[VideoGame/ArTonelicoQogaKnellOfArCiel Ar tonelico III]]''). |
| 334 | ** ''VideoGame/ArNosurge'' follows this but has a wrinkle. The guardians here (Earthes and Delta) have both long and short-range weapons. Earthes, in particular, uses guns exclusively. |
| 335 | * Inverted with the companions in ''VideoGame/FableII'': [[CarryABigStick Sister Hannah]], the Hero of Strength; [[TheGunslinger Reaver]], the Hero of Skill; and [[EthnicMagician Garth]], the Hero of Will. |
| 336 | * In ''VideoGame/FairyBloomFreesia'', Listine (the second boss) fights with his sword, while his partner Shynie (third boss) uses her agility and a [[FlechetteStorm limitless supply of knives]]. |
| 337 | * Played straight with the two [[OriginalGeneration original characters]] from ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''. Kogoro uses blades, Mii uses guns. |
| 338 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. Your humanoid male companions are a mechanic who uses {{revolvers|AreJustBetter}}, a ColdSniper, and a doctor who uses [[EnergyWeapon energy weapons]]. Your humanoid female companions are a mutant assassin who uses a helicopter blade as a {{BFS}}, a scavenger armed with a PowerFist, and a cowgirl with a ShortRangeShotgun. This carries over to the DLC as well; in ''Honest Hearts'', the female companion uses gauntlets while the two males prefer .45 pistols, and the only companion in ''Dead Money'' who has a default weapon other than fists is a male ghoul with a 9mm pistol. |
| 339 | ** This is also true with ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', where of the male companions include a former raider who uses a [[MoreDakka fully automatic assault rifle]], a ghoul with a ''sniper shotgun'', and an intelligent Super Mutant with a [[GatlingGood Gatling Laser]], (not that any of them have a problem using melee weapons) while the two female companions include a cybernetic Brotherhood of Steel Paladin wielding a [[CarryABigStick Super Sledge]] and a depraved former slave whose default range weapon is pitifully short-ranged double-barrel shotgun but is ''very'' proficient in close quarters combat. [[note]] Butch, a hoodlum from Vault 111, doesn't really fit either, as he doesn't seem significantly more proficient in either weapon type.[[/note]] |
| 340 | * Played straight in a lot of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games, where not everyone can use everything. |
| 341 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': While all the characters' builds are fairly customizable, Maria's starting equipment is a bow while the other core party members, all of which are men, start off with melee weapons. The other female party member [[{{Pirate}} Leila]], however, prefers knives. |
| 342 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': Rosa uses a bow and is the only character who does so, and all three female characters are mages. Note that Gilbert/Edward/[[MemeticMutation Spoony]] uses a harp. |
| 343 | *** Note that Edward and [=Paladin!Cecil=] ''can'' use bows, as can Palom and Porom, but there's usually little reason to equip them thusly. The bow and arrow is actually the most useable weapon in the game, with rods (usable by Rydia, Tellah, Palom, and Porom) being a close second. Rosa is the only character restricted to bow use, which in turn makes use of her "Aim" skill. |
| 344 | *** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' balances this out by adding five new female party members (Luca, Ursula, Harley, Izayoi, and Brina) that use close-ranged weapons. However, the latter three are still frail, so it's recommended to put them in the back row, making this a downplayed inversion. |
| 345 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': Fairly open due to the system which allows all characters to use melee and ranged weaponry as well as magic. Early in the story, however, the only characters able to use magic are Terra and Celes, both female. |
| 346 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is an interesting exception: Of the three dedicated missile fighters, Barret and Vincent are male while Yuffie is female, but the hand-to-hand combatist and the dedicated mage, Tifa and Aerith respectively, are female. |
| 347 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' mixes and matches. All of the female antagonists use ranged attacks, and all of the male antagonists have at least one melee attack, but there's one ranged and two melee attackers of each gender among the six main characters, and one melee and two ranged attackers among the three males played in flashbacks. |
| 348 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' continues the trend of exceptions: Two {{White Magician Girl}}s (both of whom can use ranged attacks and summon magic) and a melee fighter round out the females, while the males have a thief, a black mage, a martial arts mercenary, and a knight. Quina's gender is unknown and even called "s/he" throughout. |
| 349 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' The females are a thief who uses melee attacks, a black mage with a ranged attack, and a standard WhiteMagicianGirl with a (uselessly weak) melee attack, who, like the two before, can use summon magic. The guys have physical attacks, but the ranged fighter is a guy. |
| 350 | *** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' how each character (All of whom are female) attacks depends on the dress-sphere (Job class) they use, but the default spheres- warrior, thief, and gunner- include two melee attackers and one ranged. |
| 351 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', one of the few ''Final Fantasy'' games where everyone can equip anything, Fran, Ashe, and Penelo have stronger magic skills (Penelo having the most MP) than Vaan, Balthier, and Basch, who are stronger with physical attacks (Basch has the least MP). |
| 352 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' tends towards flipped genders. Sazh and Hope are both males that use ranged weapons (guns and a boomerang, respectively), leaving Snow as the only melee-centric male with his fisticuffs. Fang is a woman who uses a short-range lance, while Vanille uses a fishing rod to attack from afar. Lightning's gunblade can smash or shoot, but she seems to favor the blade part. |
| 353 | *** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' plays it notably straighter. Both party members have the ability to smash and shoot, as Serah's sword can become a bow and Noel's swords become a javelin. However, the creators specifically gave Serah a bow to "preserve her femininity". |
| 354 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' inverts this with the Leveilleur siblings. [[{{Deuteragonist}} Alphinaud]] is a tactician and an arcanist, who stays back, casts spells, and uses a summoned [[{{Familiar}} Carbuncle]] to fight for him (and later switches to remote-controlled ranged [[AttackDrone Nouliths]]). His sister Alisaie on the other hand is a [[MagicKnight Red Mage]] and prefers a more direct approach. |
| 355 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' gender inverts this in ''Episode Prompto'', [[GuestStarPartyMember Aranea]], uses a polearm while Prompto stays back and attacks from a distance with guns. |
| 356 | ** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', male units have an extra 7% boost to their HP and 25% boost to their physical attack, whereas female units have an extra 7% boost to their MP and 25% boost to their magical attack. As such if you want to get the most out of your units in this game, it's best to play this trope straight and have your male units stick to physical jobs while having your female units stick to magical jobs. Among the special units this still applies, with only Ramza and Cloud being exceptions, as those two have the female MP/MA bonus in addition to their male HP/PA bonus, which makes them the only units in the game naturally good at fulfilling a physical/magical hydrid role. |
| 357 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'''s only female race, the Viera, have pretty much all magic and ranged classes, except the Fencer and Assassin. The sequel's Gria have more melee abilities, though one cheap way to win is to have a Gria Hunter fly to the highest point and have her shoot all the enemies. |
| 358 | * Partially invoked by ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe''. The Amazon, Tyris Flare has a long-sword, but is the weakest of the three characters in combat, and is much better with her [[SmartBomb screen-clearing magic attacks]]. The Dwarf, Gilius Thunderhead, and Barbarian Ax Battler have quite a few more direct attacks, but weaker magic. |
| 359 | * The ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' franchise usually played this straight. The three females from the first two games were all magic-based. ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' subverted it hard, giving us [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Princess]] [[CuteMonsterGirl Sveta]], who has the strongest physical strength of any [[GameBreaker character in the series.]] |
| 360 | * {{Inverted|Trope}} with [[BrotherSisterTeam Alex & Ash]] in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber''. Alex, the sister, fights up close with a {{chainsaw|Good}}, while Ash, the brother, provides fire support with guns, which he either brings himself or picks up from dead enemies. |
| 361 | * While both protagonists of ''VideoGame/HuntedTheDemonsForge'' are capable of shooting or melee, Caddoc is a melee specialist while E'lara is the ranged specialist. |
| 362 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/ImmortalSouls''. Technically John and Raven both have both ranged and melee attacks to use, but Raven is most commonly depicted in the game's advertising as wielding a large ornate medieval-style sword, while John is more commonly shown dual-wielding typical modern-day revolvers. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'', Aya has a bow and tiny dagger, Capell a gladius. |
| 364 | * ''VideoGame/IronMarines'': |
| 365 | ** Almost all the female {{Hero Unit}}s are ranged attackers with the exception of Guiying who fares far better in melee combat. Averted with the male heroes who have a mix of ranged and melee attackers. |
| 366 | ** The army units with the longest range are the female snipers as compared to the male Rangers and Engineers who have a far shorter range. The mech units with the longest range is the female-piloted Shellstorm as compared to the mid-range Flamewalker and the melee tank Brawler, both with male pilots. It's ZigZagged with the [[TelepathicSpacemen Emyprean]] units -- While the straight-up melee Guardians are male, the female units are the support class Diplomats, while the ranged units are the male Channelers. |
| 367 | * Inverted multiple times in ''VideoGame/ItTakesTwo2021''. |
| 368 | ** In the workshop level, May uses a hammer head to smash objects while Cody uses a set of nails to toss at targets from a distance. |
| 369 | ** In the castle level, May becomes a knight with a flaming sword while Cody becomes a wizard with long-range ice powers. |
| 370 | * ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'' have Baby O'Hara, the only female member of the squad. Granted, all of them have projectile attacks, but for Baby? At least 80% of her moves are long-ranged, owing to her seemingly endless supply of throwing knives... |
| 371 | * ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' has more than a few noteworthy exceptions, such as [[VideoGame/FatalFury Blue Mary]] (special agent with a combat style involving various submission holds and throws), Vice (grappler who relies on brute force and has very few moves that ''aren't'' command throws), and Vanessa (six-foot-tall female [[BoxingBattler fist-fighter]]). There's also a few downplayed or zig-zagging examples, as seen with Leona (stoic mercenary with various explosives who can also [[RazorSharpHand slice people to ribbons with her hands]] and possesses close-range energy projection), Shermie (another grappler by default--this time based on Japanese ''puroresu''--who abandons her throws for longer-ranged [[ShockAndAwe electrical attacks]] in [[SuperMode Orochi Mode]]), and Angel ([[FlashStep nimble]] striker-grappler hybrid who specializes in ConfusionFu via her [[DifficultButAwesome Unchain Circle]] roulette of special attacks). |
| 372 | * Though all three of the playable characters in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' wield Keyblades for melee attacks, Aqua, the lone female, is singled out as being an exceptional mage, and most of her unique moves and abilities are spell-based. |
| 373 | * ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': {{Inverted}} for the most part, especially if you play a female protagonist. The two male soldiers come with their own blasters (the Republic soldier is specced for GunsAkimbo blaster pistols while the Mandalorian comes with a BFG blaster cannon). The small Twi'lek thief comes with her own vibroblade while her big Wookiee buddy comes with a bowcaster (ranged). The droids (who use he/him pronouns) use blasters. Two of the three recruitable Jedi are women and the male Jedi is a SquishyWizard who uses a lightsaber, but is better off staying back and casting Force powers. |
| 374 | * ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': While Joel can use guns and Ellie can sneak up on enemies with her switchblade, it's clear that Joel is better in the thick of it with melee weapons, while Ellie is a great support with a hunting rifle or a pistol. [[spoiler:During the winter chapter, where you play as Ellie, it's made abundantly clear that Ellie is not that great in one-to-one confrontations either with clickers or human enemies, and it's better to either use guns or to sneak up on them.]] |
| 375 | ** Subverted in the [[VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII sequel]]. Abby is a strong, muscular woman, who can deal massive damage with melee weapons, though again, she can also use guns. Her companion is Lev, who very clearly favors staying behind her and using a bow. |
| 376 | * ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': At one point, just under half of the ranged champions, while a bit less than a fifth of melee champions, were female. Riot has since evened the ratios somewhat. |
| 377 | ** As a meta example, Riot also [[https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/v7tohs/according_to_riot_97_of_female_players_play/ibmw78c/ revealed]] female players heavily prefer to play ranged champions. |
| 378 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': Downplayed. While Spyro and Cynder broadly the same range of abilities, Spyro has a higher health gauge than mana meter while Cynder is the other way around, encouraging use of the former as a more physical attacker and of the latter as relying more on her ranged elemental breaths. |
| 379 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 380 | ** In the first five games, Link wields BowAndSwordInAccord, and Zelda uses a little magic (more in ''The Ocarina of Time'', less in ''A Link to the Past'', none at all in the others). In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', as well as ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', Princess Zelda fires off Light Arrows to stun the [[BigBad final boss]] so that Link can slash away at it with his sword. |
| 381 | ** This was how it was in [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 the cartoon version too]], with Zelda regularly getting to fight and favoring a bow when she did. |
| 382 | ** Enforced again in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', where Linkle, a female version of Link, wields [[GunsAkimbo Crossbows Akimbo]]. |
| 383 | ** In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'', Link fights primarily with swords and spears while Zelda makes use of the Sheikah Slate and [[spoiler:the Bow of Light]]. |
| 384 | ** Zelda's typical dynamic is given a subtle nod in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', where a Royal Bow can be found hanging on her bedroom wall in Hyrule Castle. |
| 385 | * ''VideoGame/LeifengPagoda'' plays this straight with its playable heroes. The protagonist, Meng-jiao, is a swordsman who fights primarily with a Chinese ''jian'', while his main ally, the huntress Xue-er, doesn't have melee attacks but can spam bladed discs like no tomorrow. |
| 386 | * In ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'', both of the male party members have no offensive spells and rely on melee attacks for damage, while both female party members are the offensive magicians of the party. Furthering this trope, Jerin is the only member who can use bows, which make up for their low damage by hitting all enemies in a group. Lufia ''can'' attack physically, if you want to let her magical talents go to waste. |
| 387 | * In ''VideoGame/LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals'', the only shooting weapons are guns, which can only be used by Artea and Dekar. While Selan's magic is much more useful than her physical attacks, Tia is a dedicated smasher. |
| 388 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 389 | ** You can both play this straight and invert it, depending on Shepard's combat class. For example, played straight with Soldier Male!Shepard and [[SquishyWizard Liara]] as his teammate/love interest, but inverted with [[FoeTossingCharge Vanguard]] Female!Shepard and [[FriendlySniper Garrus]] as her combat partner/love interest. |
| 390 | ** Inverted with human teammates in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Ashley is a soldier, Kaidan is a support character better kept to the back ranks. |
| 391 | ** Also inverted with [[WrenchWench Tali]] and Garrus: Tali carries a shotgun, while her best friend/possible lover Garrus is a sniper. He teases her about it when she says fighting husks is easy because "they just run up to us!" and he counters that he's a sniper and "[she's] the one who likes things at short range." |
| 392 | * ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair'': Kate can equip bows and staves, while Owen can't. Conversely, Kate can't equip axes or swords, while Owen can. Kate also has far more offensive magic than Owen. |
| 393 | * In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2'', Max's signature weapon is a Beretta pistol, a fairly short-range, close combat weapon. Mona's signature weapon is a sniper rifle. |
| 394 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' plays this straight with some of its characters. [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Sniper Wolf]], for instance, is the only female member of Foxhound and the group's crack sniper. There's also [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Quiet]], a sniper who usually covers Snake from a distance while he infiltrates and fights up close. Even [[QuirkyMinibossSquad the Skulls]] have the females always as snipers while the males always fight up close. Averted with [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater the Boss]] whose skill in hand to hand combat is legendary while the crack sniper of her unit is a very old man. |
| 395 | * The EliminationPlatformer ''Metal Saver'' plays this absolutely straight with its player characters: the boy (Hanbit) punches and kicks enemies while the girl (Narae) shoots them. |
| 396 | * Each of the male protagonists in ''[[VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might & Magic: Heroes VI]]'''s campaign mode have Might-oriented classes as their defaults, with Sandor being a barbarian, Anton being a knight, and Kiril being a heretic, while the women, Irina and Anastasya, have the magic-oriented Monk and Necromancer classes respectively. Downplayed in that the player has the option of switching their hero's class at the start of the campaign. |
| 397 | * In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'', this is averted for human characters, as any hunter can use any weapon, and ''inverted'' for the signature BattleCouple monsters of the first game, the Raths: Male Rathalos is a flying wyvern that keeps watch from the air while its' mate Rathian patrols her territory on the ground. The actual moves used by them reflect this during gameplay, as Rathian is more fixated on using ground-based attacks, usually only taking flight to administer a tail-swat with her poison stingers or to deliver clawing strikes, and saves most of her fireballs for ground-to-ground fire, whereas the Rathalos is much more prone to taking to the sky to blow fireballs, even having a sequence in which he will circle the battlefield from very high up, lobbing a series of fireballs at hunters before returning to closer range. |
| 398 | * ''VideoGame/NobodySavesTheWorld'': The first two forms unlocked after ranking up with the Rat form are the tough-looking, armored, masculine Guard who fights with a sword and heavy stomp attacks and the more feminine Ranger with [[LongHairIsFeminine long braided hair]] who shoots arrows from afar. Though later forms can vary, and your AbilityMixing capabilities (which allow any form to use both ranged and melee attacks) make the point moot. |
| 399 | * ''VideoGame/NocturneRebirth'' inverts this with the FinalBoss. [[spoiler:Khaos]] can only attack with spells while [[spoiler:Shylphiel]] is a MagicKnight with a {{BFS}}. |
| 400 | * In ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'', the starting male class is a swordsman, while the starting female class is an archer. In general, males are better in the front row, though at the most advanced classes, they get some use in the back row. |
| 401 | * ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has only classes that fit this trope by default: ranged characters (Witch, Ranger) are female while close-combat characters are male (Marauder, Shadow, Templar, Duelist), with a class capable with any form of combat (Scion) also being female. Due to how character building works, it's entirely feasible to make a Duelist or Shadow into an archer, a Shadow or Templar into a spellcaster, or a Ranger into a close-range swashbuckler. In the lore, during the Purity Rebellion, the Karui forces led by Kaom was at a disadvantage against the Eternal Empire's troops led by [[MasterArcher Marceus Lioneye]] because old Karui tradition forbade men from fighting with projectile weapons. Kaom managed to [[LoopholeAbuse get around this problem]] by sending off his niece, Hyrri, and a group of Karui women to have them trained in archery, leading to a decisive victory as Lioneye never saw it coming. |
| 402 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/PerfectWorld'': Fourteen character classes exist between six playable races. Two of those classes are AlwaysMale (Barbarian and Edgerunner, both melee-oriented and Strength-based), and two are AlwaysFemale (Technician, which is Dexterity-based, and Venomancer, which is Magic-based; both are chiefly ranged-combat based). For the remaining ten classes (Assassin, Blademaster, Duskblade, and Seeker are chiefly melee; Archer, Cleric, Mystic, Psychic, Stormbringer, and Wizard are chiefly ranged) [[PurelyAestheticGender character gender is a purely aesthetic concern]]. |
| 403 | * Tends to vary in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series: |
| 404 | ** Between the ''VideoGame/Persona2'' duo logy, Ulala (a boxer), Eriko (a fencer), and Lisa (kung fu practitioner) fight up close, but all three are also far better suited to magic. The other two women with ranged weapons (Maya and her pink handguns, Yukino and her razorblades) are the same in that regard, and while Eikichi uses a concealed machine gun, his magic is low. |
| 405 | ** With the exception of the female protagonist added in the [[VideoGameRemake PSP]] version, all of the females of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' play this straight to some degree. Yukari plays it the straightest (uses a bow and arrow; has the highest magic stat in the game), and Mitsuru and Aigis are variations of it (Mitsuru uses a rapier, but like Yukari, is far better suited with magic, and Aigis is a physically-inclined robot who uses guns and other artillery). Then there's [[NeutralFemale Fuuka]], who provides support and doesn't fight at all. |
| 406 | ** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' again gives us Yukiko (throws fans and is the resident BlackMage) and Naoto (uses guns and also good with magic), but averts it with Chie, a kung-fu enthusiast whose move pool is mostly physical, albeit fitted towards a CriticalHitClass to contrast Kanji's plain brute force. |
| 407 | ** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Ryuji and Yusuke are both better at melee than casting, while Ann and Haru are better at magic. Though Makoto ends up pretty good at both. It is inverted with Kasumi and Joker's Showtime Attack, where Joker peppers the enemy with gunfire, while Kasumi goes in for a series of sword slashes. |
| 408 | * In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'', male characters start with higher melee attack power, while females are better at techs and ranged attacks. That said, the difference is so tiny that the practical effect is all but nonexistent. |
| 409 | * In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the male-only mon Gallade specializes in the Attack stat, is [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Psychic/Fighting]], and all his damaging moves are melee attacks of the "Physical" type. His counterpart Gardevoir, which can be either gender but looks feminine, was originally Psychic only and later [[RetCon given]] the Fairy-type, specializes in Special Attack and all its damaging moves are ranged and of the "Special" type. |
| 410 | * ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' - The Prince wields a large sword and the dagger of time, Farah uses a bow. |
| 411 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris''. One attack animation depicts the female Elle punching and another depicts her male twin Jay shooting a fireball. |
| 412 | * ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2:'' Inverted when you are playing as Barry and Natalia. Barry is an adult man and uses guns as his main weapon. Natalia is a little girl, and her only weapon is a brick. She can throw it, but it is more powerful if used close-up for stealth attacks. |
| 413 | * Averted in ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'' as any character can use Bows, but Claudia definitely fits this due to her High Battle Point (BP) and BP Regen at the end of the game and the high-end techs for Bows use a large amount of BP, she even starts off with a bow. |
| 414 | ** Her bodyguard, Gray, uses a sword as his default weapon, though. Even moreso if you play as him, since Falcata, his ultimate weapon, is a {{katana|sAreJustBetter}}. |
| 415 | * Rhi'a from ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' is TheGunslinger in a game where every other character fights melee. However, this list of other characters also includes Morte, a girl with a {{BFS}}; she's part of a BattleCouple with knife-wielder Kyrie, whose LimitBreak involves throwing several knives. You could almost argue that the two of them are inverting the trope since he doesn't have to get up close to deal damage, even if throwing isn't precisely shooting. |
| 416 | * ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' hasn't got that many female characters to begin with, but about half of them are primary ranged weapon wielders. The female characters also account for all but one of the games' ranged weapon users in total. |
| 417 | * Inverted in [[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun: Dragonfall]]: Eiger is TheBigGuy and Glory is all about close combat. Later played straight with Gobbet and [=Is0bel=] in ''Shadowrun: Hong Kong''. |
| 418 | * In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' toys with this. Vyse and Enrique, both male, use [[HeroesPreferSwords swords]], and Drachma uses a hook hand. Aika, a female, attacks with a boomerang, but Gilder, a male, uses guns. Fina's weapon, Cupil, can either smash or shoot depending on what form he's currently in. |
| 419 | * While not really a female, "Princess" Kenny in ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' uses a bow as her weapon. |
| 420 | * In the original ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'', the Inkling Boy Toys/{{Amiibo}} unlocks challenges involving the melee-style Roller weapon, while the Inkling Girl unlocks challenges with the sniper-like Charger weapon. Averted with the actual gameplay, though, where an Inkling's gender has no effect on their equipable weapons, [[PurelyAestheticGender or anything else, really]]. |
| 421 | * ''VideoGame/StarOcean'': |
| 422 | ** Inverted in [[VideoGame/StarOcean1 the first game]]. Ilia Silvestri is a frontline martial artist while Ronix is an archer and BlackMage. |
| 423 | ** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' has two variations centered on swordsman Fayt. Sophia plays the sorcerer role in a SwordAndSorcerer combination, while Maria uses a gun. |
| 424 | ** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'' plays this almost painfully straight. [[TheHero Edge]] fights primarily with a sword while [[TheLancer Reimi]] uses a bow almost exclusively. |
| 425 | * The "cover" image for ''[[http://www.swtor.com/rothc Rise Of The Hutt Cartel]]'', an expansion to ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' depicts a female character DualWielding blaster pistols and a male character sporting a lightsaber and a clenched fist. |
| 426 | * ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' has a loose example with Ibuki. She usually has weapons that have to be thrown such as Kunai, Bombs, Smoke Bombs, and Shiriken. When she is with a male character she is associated with such as Guy and Birdie they both use physical power against their opponents (especially Birdie who can smash an opponent into the ground) they usually form this trope. Even with most of her female friends such as Makoto, R. Mika, and (to a lesser extent) Sakura are physical fighters who can complete this trope with two female examples. |
| 427 | * Inverted with the dual BigBad[=/=]s of ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 4'': Mr. Y fights with a submachine gun, a rocket launcher, and grenades; while Ms. Y fights with a sword that she can [[ShockAndAwe imbue with lightning]]. |
| 428 | * ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'': [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]: |
| 429 | ** Scabs, whose girl members wield baseball bats, while the guys use assault rifles and grenade launchers. |
| 430 | ** Fizzco robots; despite being robots and [[AmbiguousGender having no actual sex to speak of]], the Rifle Bots have masculine voices and the Blade Bots have feminine ones. |
| 431 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/SuperChariot'', with the Princess wielding a sword to fight while the Fiance uses a slingshot. |
| 432 | * ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' has Boom Boom and Pom Pom, [[TheDragon the Dragons]] of the game. Boom Boom attacks with his fists while Pom Pom throws boomerangs. |
| 433 | * The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series does this fairly often. The [=KoRyuOh=] in [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Alpha]], canonically piloted by Brooklyn, is primarily Melee-oriented while Kushua's [=RyuKoOh=] form uses ranged magic. However, [=RyuKouOh=] and Kusuha are much more powerful in melee, as their finishers involve a giant massive sword, while Bullet and [=KouRyuOh=] use a spear. In [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Compact 2/Impact]], You have the paired team of Kyosuke (Alt Eisen) and Excellen (Weiss Ritter), which is repeated in Alpha 2 with Arado (Wildwurger) and Seolla (Wildfalken). [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsMX MX]] (and [=KoRyu/RyuKo=]Oh) played with the idea by having the combination being a single machine that transforms from one form to the other depending on the situation. In ''MX's'' case, this was reserved for the MidSeasonUpgrade. |
| 434 | ** Similarly, entries with a choice of protagonists will often assign the female to the FragileSpeedster Real Robot whereas the male pilots the brawny Super-type. Indeed, Kusuha is pretty much the ONLY female in the series solely associated with super robots (though [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ Z2's]] lack of a super robot original and Esther's nagging implications of importance may lead to her getting one as well). |
| 435 | *** She gets a speedy Real in ''Saisei-hen'', But you can choose Crowe's MidSeasonUpgrade, and it does not necessarily have to be the brawler. |
| 436 | *** [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsJudgment J]] allows the player to subvert this by choosing the machine separately, but given that Touya starts as [[Anime/MazingerZ Kouji Kabuto]]'s classmate, while Calvina begins aboard the ''[[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Nadesico]]'', they're definitely steering you that way. |
| 437 | *** Out of the two 'Real Robot' choices, however, Calvina's stats and abilities suit the power-fist using Coustwell, whereas a Real Robot-pilot Toya (by default) has a higher ranged stat and Assail/Rush Attack, a spirit command that is utterly useless for the same machine, but a godsend for the Weissritter-expy Bellzelute. |
| 438 | *** ''Original Generation: The Moon Dwellers'' solidifies it by putting Calvina in the Bellzelute and Toya in the Super Robot Granteed. |
| 439 | ** Subverted in ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'', where Haken is a gunslinger while Kaguya is the one to swing a big sword. |
| 440 | *** [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]], actually. Many of Haken's attacks are using his melee gun, or at point-blank range, and many of Kaguya's attacks deal with swarms of projectiles. |
| 441 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': |
| 442 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'', the hordes of [[{{Mook}} Fighting Wireframes]] that appear in [[MultiMookMelee Multi-Man Melee]] come in male and female varieties. The male version attacks head-on, while the females prefer to hang back picking up items to use against the player. This does not apply in [[HarderThanHard Cruel Melee]] mode, which has no items and turns both types of Wireframes into hyper-aggressive DemonicSpiders. |
| 443 | ** ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU U/3DS]]'' has 3 types of customizable ''UsefulNotes/{{Mii}}'' characters, a Brawler, a Gunner, or a Swordsman. In the trophies (and the Fighting Mii Team lineup) both the Swordsman and the Brawler are male Miis, and the Gunner is a female Mii. |
| 444 | ** Inverted in terms of Smash newcomers [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Robin and Lucina]]: Lucina is the skilled swordfighter, while Robin prefers spells over swords. And while Robin has a female variant as well (who plays this trope straight with Chrom in her [[LimitBreak Final Smash]]), male Robin is the default gender of the two. [[DownplayedTrope To a lesser extent]], Lucina also inverts this when compared to Marth (of whom she is a MovesetClone) - her blade's power isn't concentrated into its tip like Marth's is, so her fighting style is less focused on keeping enemies at arm's length. |
| 445 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' with the Zuul. Male Zuul are {{Squishy Wizard}}s, powerful psychics but not that tough in CQC. Female Zuul on the other hand are combat monsters capable of fighting PoweredArmor. |
| 446 | * Subverted in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Most characters have a combination of melee and ranged attacks, with the exceptions of Regal, who is a physical attacker (with a single healing spell), Raine and Genis (female WhiteMage and male BlackMage, respectively) and Presea, who despite being a small girl, is the game's resident MightyGlacier. |
| 447 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2''. Daphnis the WholesomeCrossdresser {{Meido}} shoots. His master Elissa TheOjou carries [[CarryABigStick a huge hammer]]. |
| 448 | * The dual plotlines in ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'' centered around a male and female protagonist, respectively. The girl specialized in long-range magical attacks, although she was also equally competent with her RingsOfDeath. |
| 449 | ** Ironically enough Mint is very proud of her dropkick and it's her ''first'' resort in cutscenes on anything that she can get near to, even things that she would be better off nuking from a distance. |
| 450 | * ''VideoGame/{{Torchlight}}'' has these archetypes with the male Destroyer and Alchemist with the female Vanquisher as a nod to its [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Spiritual Predecessor]] (although the class roles are technically flexible). |
| 451 | ** ''VideoGame/TorchlightII'' allows you to select your character's gender but official media often sticks to having male Berserkers and Engineers with female Outlanders and Embermages. |
| 452 | * In ''The Return of Ishtar'', the sequel to ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'', Gil focuses on fighting enemies up close with his sword, while Ki focuses on ranged attacks with her magic skills. |
| 453 | * {{Inverted}} in ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh''. Mercury relies on her Rods (think a cross of escrima sticks and a cattle prod) while Jethro's arsenal is primarily {{DeadlyDisc}}s, firearm type weapons, and Ball grenades. You ''can'' use the Disc or the Rods as melee weapons, but Jethro isn't very effective with it. |
| 454 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile2Silmeria''. [[TheHero Alicia]] uses a sword while [[TheLancer Rufus]] uses a bow. |
| 455 | * In the second ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' game, his girlfriend Sylvia is playable as a secondary character (rather than being a bonus mode as in the first) and uses a gun instead of punches. |
| 456 | * In the first half of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonOne'', Lee uses a fire axe while Carley is a crack shot with her Glock. Both have proven useful in saving multiple people and getting people out of trouble. |
| 457 | * ''[[VideoGame/WarCraft WarCraft III]]'': |
| 458 | ** Night Elves have only two melee units, one is male, the other... kinda looks like one (though the species has no sexes and does not reproduce at all). All their ranged units (save one) are female. Their heroes are two male, one each for ranged and melee. |
| 459 | *** Rather inverted in spirit if not letter within the background - with the men of the race being asleep for centuries as part of their druidism studies, the Night Elves' military troops were entirely women while men were largely support casters (well, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Druids of the Claw turning into]] {{bears|AreBadNews}} as they see fit notwithstanding) for long until attrition, time and the necessities of MMO character customization relaxed this divide. |
| 460 | ** Humans, Naga, and Undead have only one female unit each, which is ranged. Female heroes for these races are all ranged. |
| 461 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' with the Necramechs. The masculine Voidrig is a dedicated ranged fighter with lots of abilities that keep enemies out of arm's reach and transforms into a [[TheTurretMaster devastating defensive turret]]. The feminine Bonewidow is a brutal melee fighter, who wears (not wields, ''wears'') a tower shield and wields an Ironbride greatsword...[[OneHandedZweihander one-handed]]. |
| 462 | * ''[[VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide Warhammer: The End Times: Vermintide]]'': Played straight, inverted and subverted in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbREAF-wmEg release trailer.]] While all the heroes have both melee and ranged abilities, the male Dwarf Ranger Bardin and Empire Soldier Kruber dispatch the [[RatMen Skaven]] with melee attacks, while the female Bright Wizard Sienna kills them with ranged magic. The male Witch Hunter Saltzpyre inverts it, preferring to use guns, while the female Waywatcher Kerillian subverts it by using both arrows and Elven blades to fight. |
| 463 | ** In the second game, it's still generally the case that the male characters have stronger melee capabilities than the female ones; Sienna is always dependent on her sorcery, being a relative SquishyWizard in close combat due to her weak melee options,[[note]]Emphasis on ''relative''; like the rest of the [[BadassCrew Ubersreik Five]], she'll still invariably rack up hundreds of kills per mission with her swords, daggers, maces, and crowbills.[[/note]] and Kerillian is mostly a GlassCannon relying on enchanted bows or dexterous blades. However it's downplayed by Kerillian's Handmaiden class; while she's more dependent on dodging than the male characters' designated "tank" classes (Foot Knight Kruber, Witch Hunter Captain Saltzpyre, and Ironbreaker Bardin), she's still an armored LightningBruiser who is as adept with ranged as melee, and her talents are best applied to two-handed melee weapons like polearms,[[note]]Which she's depicted wielding in the class select screen and promotional material.[[/note]] battle axes,[[note]]Kerillian's "glaives" are more like mislabeled Lochaber axes and bardiches; meanwhile most of her "spears", with two-foot edged heads, are closer to historical glaives.[[/note]] and greatswords. Elves being naturally taller and more agile than most humans, [[ShownTheirWork she even uses proper HEMA stances like Schlussel to maximize the advantages conferred by her leverage and reach.]] |
| 464 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has no gender restrictions on class; any class can be either gender. However, a demographic study showed that female players on average prefer ranged DPS and healing over tanking or melee. |
| 465 | ** NPC-wise, centaur males are just about always physical fighters, centaur females are just about always casters. Their hunters are also males, though, so centaur guys occasionally do shoot arrows. |
| 466 | ** Naga also fall into this trope, with the more monstrous-looking males exclusively melee fighters, and the more humanoid and elegant females exclusively casters. This may have some lore justification, in that the Naga queen was well known to be a powerful mage, and may not have held men in general in high regard. It's implied the men are far less intelligent than their women, hence brute strength vs study-intensive magic. |
| 467 | * Played straight inn ''VideoGame/YokaiHunterShintaro''; the titular protagonist, Shintaro, uses his katana to slice and dice for the entire duration of the game, while his protege, the kunoichi Akane uses her limitless supply of throwing knives. |
| 468 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/YsOrigin'': [[SquishyWizard Hugo]] relies mainly on bombarding the enemy with magic missiles from afar. [[ActionGirl Yunica]], lacking any sort of magical ability, gets in close and goes to work with her axe ([[spoiler: or later on, [[AncestralWeapon her father's greatsword]]]]). |
| 469 | [[/folder]] |
| 470 | |
| 471 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 472 | * Inverted more in retrospect than directly in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend''. In the first game [[ContemporaryCaveman Hiyoko]] and [[TeenSuperSpy Yuuya]] can hook up and become a BattleCouple, but they're rarely shown in combat. The second game has Yuuya happily using firearms, while Hiyoko sometimes uses melee weapons - everything from an [[ImprovisedWeapon uprooted mailbox]] to various intentional weapons, though apparently she uses even edged ones like a club - but is entirely adept with fists and feet, too. [[JustifiedTrope Of course,]] given the fact that Yuuya (and 90% of the population) is a [[ShapedLikeItself bird-sized]] bird, and Hiyoko is a HugeSchoolgirl [[TokenHuman human]], this would only make sense. |
| 473 | * Inverted in ''VisualNovel/SteamPrison'' due to cultural differences: the heroine Cyrus, coming from a culture where firearms are almost unknown, continues to use her sword once she's retained as Eltcreed's bodyguard; both Eltcreed and Ulrik use handguns, which are widespread in the Depths and have rendered swords mostly obsolete there. On Ulrik's path, Cyrus tries to learn how to use a gun and Ulrik later asks her to train him with a sword, only for each of them to discover that they have absolutely no aptitude with the other's weapon and are better off sticking with what they know. |
| 474 | [[/folder]] |
| 475 | |
| 476 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 477 | * ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' inverts it with SiblingTeam North and South Dakota. Big brother North favors the sniper rifle while his sister South prefers to fight up close. |
| 478 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 479 | ** Inverted in that Lie Ren, a male fighter, uses 2 sub-machine guns as weapons, where as his partner Nora Valkyrie uses a giant hammer. |
| 480 | ** Inverted by Roman Torchwick and his female sidekick Neopolitan. Roman usually spends his time shooting at people with his gun-cane (though he can hold his own in close combat), while Neo is an expert hand-to-hand combatant, and her umbrella doesn't seem to have any ranged capabilities at all (unusual in this series). |
| 481 | * ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': Inverted with Millie and Moxxie. Moxxie is a sniper and the OnlySaneMan while his wife Millie is a CuteBruiser who prefers knives and occasionally battleaxes. This actually gives him some trouble with his in-laws, who are of the opinion that [[DiscriminateAndSwitch Guys Smash, Girls Also Smash]]. |
| 482 | [[/folder]] |
| 483 | |
| 484 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 485 | * BattleCouple Ace and Freeda in ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'' play this straight when battling a giant chimera. [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/10/24/epiphany/ Freeda whips out a blaster and starts shooting, while Ace tries to...wrestle it]]. |
| 486 | * ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'' inverts this with the major characters. Jon is a gunslinger and prefers to have as much distance as he can (at one point he fakes fleeing a battle in terror so that he can take up a sniping position) and Ian is a mage. Sarine and Sara are also both mages, but Sarine usually dual-wields short swords while Sara primarily uses her magic for SuperSpeed. |
| 487 | * ''Webcomic/TheGodOfHighSchool'' averts this with the main trio by having all three main characters smash. Mori and Daewi do it with their fists while Mira does it with a sword. It's played straight with Priest Axley and Priest Saturn though. |
| 488 | * Played straight with the Pre-Scratch Kids in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' (John and Dave use hammers and (1/2)swords, Rose and Jade use needlewands and rifles[[note]]although Rose started out with knitting needles as melee weapons[[/note]]). Completely thrown out the window with the trolls and Post-Scratch Kids. |
| 489 | * Inverted in ''Webcomic/NightmareFactory''. Emai is a body manipulator who prefers a more hands-on approach to fighting, while Kreyul can't be violent without bleeding from the mouth. He has more indirect abilities, such as teleportation and using his drawings to tell the future. |
| 490 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': ActionGirl Haley is the order's archer and the [[AmbiguousGender androgynous]], possibly genderqueer Vaarsuvius specializes in ranged magical attacks. The guys are all melee fighters - even the bard, once he gets the Dashing Swordsman PrestigeClass. |
| 491 | * Played fairly straight in ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'' with the main four group members. The trope was averted for a while with their fifth member [[TheLadette Pauline]] the [[BarbarianHero barbarian]], [[spoiler: until she died.]]. Later subverted when Lenny took levels in Ranger and Jordie joined the group as a cleric. |
| 492 | * Inverted in ''Webcomic/TheSenkari'' where both Freija and Rachel smash (With sword and spear respectively) while Val is in charge of a company of archers. |
| 493 | %%* Played straight with Jason and Jessica in ''Webcomic/StrawberryDeathCake''. |
| 494 | * Subverted with BattleCouple Salva and Andraz in ''Webcomic/{{Sunbird}}''. Andraz is a large man who shoots a crossbow, Salva is a tiny woman who prefers ''axe fighting''. |
| 495 | * ''Webcomic/Trevor2020'': Among the medical team, Dr. Maddison & Purdy get their hands on [[DeusAxMachina a fire axe]], while Enid makes good use of the gun she brought to work. |
| 496 | [[/folder]] |
| 497 | |
| 498 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 499 | * ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': While Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein have an even spread of genders between their melee and spellcaster classes, Bell's Hells do fall into this. [[PintsizedPowerhouse Orym]], [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Chetney]] and [[TheBigGuy Ashton]] are all male (or masculine-aligned in [[NonHumanNonBinary Ashton]]'s case) melee fighters who tend to get up close and personal with their targets, while [[ShockAndAwe Imogen]], [[{{Druid}} Fearne]] and [[MakeThemRot Laudna]] are all female spellcasters who fight at range. [[CombatMedic Fresh Cut Grass]] falls in the middle, as they're a genderless robot who mostly focuses on healing and buffing the party, and fights using a mix of ranged spells and a circular sawblade they can attach to their arm. |
| 500 | * While ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'' has a correct balance of male smashers and shooters, the ten-ish female characters are a different story: Couette, Elyx and (according to the novels) Kary are healers, Gaea and Roxana magic users, Gaea's reroll, Ivy and [[spoiler:Nazetrîme's real incarnation]] do distance DPS. Saphir can do both as a paladin but is more BarrierWarrior oriented [[spoiler:until she has to replace Fantöm as her team's tank]]. The only female characters with actual hand-to-hand combat-oriented classes are Golgotha, Omega Zellette and Nazetrîme [[spoiler:who's not using her real character]], and the two latter only lasted a handful of episodes in the web series. |
| 501 | [[/folder]] |
| 502 | |
| 503 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 504 | * ''WesternAnimation/AngelWars'': The main characters' team acts this way, with Kira armed with a crossbow that fires energy projectiles, and Eli armed with a katana. Inverted with their superiors, Paladin and Arianna, who fight with throwing stars and a spear, respectively. |
| 505 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Averted. [[KungFuWizard Benders]] of both genders freely mix short-range and long-range attacks. Non-benders can be either. While [[DeviousDaggers Mai]] sticks to knife throwing, [[BadassNormal Ty Lee and Suki]] are both melee fighters. Sokka, the main non-bender on the good guy's team, fights at both distances (his signature weapons are a sword and a boomerang). |
| 506 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Most benders are both close range and mid-range, including Korra. Lin Bei Fong, Jinora, and Ikki tend to favour long-range attacks, though they do get close and personal when called for it. [[BadassNormal Asami]] fights hand-to-hand as a nonbender. |
| 507 | * ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': Played with. Of the three main protagonists, Sypha is the TokenWizard who fights with ElementalPowers while Alucard is a {{dhampyr}} swordsman and Trevor is good at hand-to-hand combat and various weaponry. However, Sypha also fights right beside them (ie. isn't shielded by the fighting) while Alucard's teleportation and levitating sword, and Trevor's WhipSword, also allow them to fight at a distance if needed. |
| 508 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Notoriously {{inverted|Trope}}, where [[ActionGirl Turanga Leela]] uses martial arts while [[NonActionGuy Fry]] either uses laser weapons or some form of passive self-defense. |
| 509 | * ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash'': Seems to have done this to Comicbook/SheHulk, giving her [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/07/17/marvel-animation-comic-con-sdcc-2012-jeph-loeb-avengers-assemble/ "energy-projecting punches"]], while the boys (mostly) just hit things. Subverted in Comicbook/RedHulk's case, since his gimmick is going to be having lots of guns. |
| 510 | * ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': In ''Cool Hand Johnny'', Susan and Mary use freeze rays to immobilize a squad of attacking robots, then Johnny and Dukey go to town on them with baseball bats. |
| 511 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Inverted when Mr. Cat (and Stumpy on occasion) uses bazookas and guns, and Kaeloo and Pretty beat up whoever they're fighting. |
| 512 | * ''WesternAnimation/NutriVenturesTheQuestForTheSevenKingdoms'': In the Red Kingdom, Theo immediately takes to swordplay while Lena arms herself with a bow and arrows. |
| 513 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Star is a MagicalGirl princess who mostly uses her staff to blast her opponents, while Marco is a BadassNormal who engages his opponents in hand-to-hand combat with karate. |
| 514 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Inverted with BattleCouple Steven and Connie - Steven mainly fights [[SupportPartyMember defensively]] and [[StoneWall supportively]], with his attacks being either magical disabling effects or [[ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks throwing his shield]], while Connie uses a {{BFS}}. |
| 515 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Averted in an interesting way with the BattleCouple of Robin and Starfire - he's a BadassNormal with an array of ranged and close-combat weapons, and she's a FlyingBrick with both SuperStrength and the ability to fire energy blasts. Both are equally capable of smashing ''or'' shooting. For the rest of the team, Cyborg (who has superstrength and a sonic cannon) also does both, but Beast Boy tends to turn into big, powerful animals to fight at close range, while Raven, though her mystical abilities make her probably the most powerful member of the team, tends to fight from a distance and stay out of direct combat. The Titans pretty much cover the whole spectrum of this trope. |
| 516 | * ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'': Averted with White Tiger who specializes in slicing her foes with her electric claws. Inverted for the Frightful Four; Wizard, The Claw, and Trapster use range attacks, while Thundra is TheBrute who does all the smashing. |
| 517 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': The two females of the Brotherhood of the Tofu -- Evangelyne and Amalia -- primarily attack from a range, Evangelyne with her bow and magic arrows, and Amalia with her control over plant life. The males -- Ruel, Yugo, and Sadlygrove -- favor more close combat. SixthRanger Cleophelia subverts this somewhat; she uses sometimes a hand crossbow but also is enthusiastic in hand-to-hand fights. |
| 518 | * ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': The Winx girls usually blast their opponents with magic while the male Specialists have to fight with swords and other weapons. |
| 519 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': In the first season, the male members of the Team are either straight hand-to-hand combatants or include hand-to-hand with their weaponry while the female members fight with telekinesis and a bow-and-arrow. This is more balanced come season 2, where melee female heroes are introduced to the Team in the 5-year gap. Furthermore, although Artemis is primarily long-range, she has been shown to be quite good in close-hand combat. Her sister definitely prefers it, fighting with swords. |
| 520 | [[/folder]] |
| 521 | |
| 522 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 523 | * NFL player Mitch Unrein is married to Olympic Trap Shooter Corey Cogdell. |
| 524 | * The Chinese "chu-ko-nu" repeater crossbow was a stereotypical woman's weapon (per the c. 1700 military manual ''Gujin Tushu Jicheng'', "it is a handy little weapon that even the Confucian scholar or palace women can use in self-defence"). Part of this was because it was ranged, but it was also because it was easy to for even a weaker person to use due to its very low draw weight. The drawback, also noted in the manual, was that it was useless against armor, had a very limited range, and wasn't that lethal even when it did both hit and penetrate. The manual therefore said that the bolts had to be tipped with poison, another typically feminine weapon. The c. 1637 encyclopedia ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' said it was most useful as a weapon for housewives (or timid men) defending their homes (or some kind of fortified dwelling) from unarmored bandits. |
| 525 | * Market research company Quantic Foundry, which researches motivational behavior in video gamers, [[https://quanticfoundry.com/2016/02/02/fps-roles/ found that in FPS games]], female gamers prefer long-range stealth by a statistically significant higher margin than male gamers, and the opposite is also true with male gamers going for short-range aggressive combat at a higher rate than females. A [[https://quanticfoundry.com/2016/10/05/combat-approaches/ second report]] backed up these conclusions as it also found another statistically significant difference with males much more likely to take a "rush in" combat approach compared to females. |
| 526 | [[/folder]] |
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