[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/future-haircut-465x465_1453.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right, top to bottom: [[Series/UFO1970 Lt. Ellis]], [[Film/TronLegacy Quorra]], [[Series/{{Cleopatra2525}} Cleo]], [[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Lt. Valeris]], [[Series/{{Lexx}} Xev]], [[Series/{{Farscape}} Chiana]], [[Film/GalaxyQuest Laliari]], [[Film/TheFifthElement Leeloo]].\\
[-[[http://loopydave.deviantart.com/art/your-future-haircut-199796037 Image]] by [[http://loopydave.deviantart.com Loopydave]]]]-]

There's something about the clean lines of a bob, particularly with bangs, that suggests a sci-fi setting. Despite the style dating back to the 1920s ([[TwentiesBobHaircut and being the defining hairstyle of the timeframe]]), they tend to be more of a [[SixtiesHair '60s feel with the geometric trim]] popularized by the hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, and they are still seen as a little bit rebellious and progressive. After all, LongHairIsFeminine, so short styles can be shorthand for a more gender-equal society. Additionally, the simple, straight lines fit in well with an AsceticAesthetic, marking the character as belonging to that timeframe. As a bonus, a bob is still longer than most popular male hairstyles, so it can mark a female character as more liberated without going all the way into BoyishShortHair.

What's more, [[SimpleYetAwesome short hair tends to cause fewer problems with zero-g, helmets, space suits, and other heavy equipment]]. As far back as the 17th century, the Parliamentarians in the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar earned the nickname "Roundheads" from their bob-like haircuts, closely cropped around the head, which symbolized their simplicity in contrast to the [[BlingOfWar flamboyance]] of the aristocratic Cavaliers. For centuries, the bob has been known as a very simple, low-maintenance haircut for both men and women, something that would likely still be true centuries from now.

Unlike its SisterTrope the TwentiesBobHaircut, '''Sci-Fi Bobs''' are almost always mathematically straight edges and hair without curls. FashionableAsymmetry is also common, one side of the bob being longer than the other.

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!!Examples:
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* The Spanish [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfkQ2W1ST8 Neutrex]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rld7fxAhRG4 advertisements from 2005-2006]] feature a blonde woman in white and blue clothes from the future bringing a powerful bleach that will leave your clothes spick and span.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIsmbVasU30 2009-2010 commercials]] have a new woman from the future, this time with a shorter bob and blue hair.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angel-links_5390.jpg Meifon Li]], the main character and leader of a SpacePirate-fighting service from ''Anime/AngelLinks'' has a short bob.
* RobotGirl, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/R._Dorothy_Wayneright.jpg R. Dorothy Wayneright]] from has a ''Anime/TheBigO'' has a bob.
* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': While the series is more along the lines of UrbanFantasy than ScienceFiction, it does borrow the sci-fi aesthetic for its {{Alchemy|IsMagic}}, including giving the main heroine, [[ActionGirlfriend Tokiko Tsumura]], a traditional sci-fi bob hairstyle.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bebop_faye_valentine_6499.jpg Faye Valentine]] from from Sci-Fi Noir series ''Anime/CowboyBebop''.
%%* Lenalee Lee from ''Manga/DGrayMan'' sports a varient of this as her hair starts growing back from [[BoyishShortHair being boyishly short]] at the end of the 2006 series, and carries over into the 2016 sequel, ''Hallow''.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GITS-SAC.jpg Motoko Kusanagi]] from ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'', a {{cyberpunk}} setting.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reIayanamI_4815.jpg Rei Ayanami]], one of the three main characters and [[HumongousMecha mecha]] pilots, from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. This style carries over to the ReiAyanamiExpy.
* [[RobotGirl Android]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cis_Unit_5488.jpg Cis]] from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', Judge Hershey's practical bob hairstyle is her most noticeable physical trait.
* ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'''s has had a variety of haircuts, from long flowing locks past her shoulders to butch crewcuts, but her most famous by far is a bob.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Glynda Goodwitch, as seen in an old photo of her and the rest of the Sector Seven Research Team, had this hairstyle in the past in ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant'', with Sector Seven itself being a research division of the kingdom of Atlas, which is about as Sci-Fi as the world of Remnant gets.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification fanart of GLADOS (who is a robot) from ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' almost always has her with a white bob haircut and YellowEyesOfSneakiness.
* Lampshaded in ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'' where B'Elanna Torres has "the bob cut preferred by girls who had to wear space helmets on a regular basis."
* Fem!Kirk Prime in ''Fanfic/WrittenInTheStars'' has this hairstyle. It's averted with her counterpart, however.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* The [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aeonflux102705_93.jpg title character]] in the sci-fi dystopian film ''Film/AeonFlux'' sports a short bob cut.
* The eponymous character from ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' has a slightly longer bob that always falls perfectly back into place.
* [[http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Evangeline-Lily-as-Hope-Van-Dyne-in-Ant-Man.jpg Hope van Dyne]] from ''Film/AntMan1'' sports the same bob cut as her late mother, Janet van Dyne AKA The Wasp, a superheroine with shrinking powers thanks to the Pym Particle and a suit. At the end of the film, [[spoiler:it's stated that she will become the next Wasp with the updated suit her father Hank had created in secret]]. By the time of the next film, [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange she's grown it out]].
%%* [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/58/13/ae/5813ae6399cac90c8baf4a5aa7c4a867.jpg Pris]] from ''Film/BladeRunner'' combines this with EightiesHair.
* Sonmi~451 and the other fabricants in the ''Film/CloudAtlas'' movie.
* Rookie judge [[http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/dredd-image09.jpg Cassandra Anderson]] sports a blond wavy bob while she's taught by Judge Dredd in ''Film/{{Dredd}}'' how to deal with Ma-Ma's criminals in her building in [[CrapsackWorld Mega City One]].
* ''Film/TheFifthElement'''s Leeloo has unnaturally bright orange bobbed hair. Unusually for this trope, it's fairly messy.
* Laliari in ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' sports a bob cut while in human form.
* Miss Namikawa in ''Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster'', along with every other Xilian woman.
* BigBad [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/irinaspalko.jpg Irina Spalko]] sports this style in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', perhaps fittingly seeing as the film is an homage to the 50's style sci-fi b-movie.
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Intimefairuse_161.jpg Sylvia Weis]] female lead from the Sci-Fi Action/Adventure film ''Film/InTime'' has a pageboy haircut. Her grandmother also has one.
* [[http://www.jurassicworld.com/sites/default/files/2016-10/claire_1440x653%20%281%29.jpg Claire Dearing]] operates ''Film/JurassicWorld'', a resort and dinosaur natural park with the highest technology, with a mandatory, though [[FieryRedhead fiery]], bob cut. Her clean and smooth hair gets [[http://i.imgur.com/UqE3Yym.jpg gradually dirtier and wavy]] as she gets more into jungle and dinosaur action.
* In the movie ''Film/NottingHill'', Julia Roberts played fictional actress "Anna Scott", who wore one of these while starring in [[http://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/default/4785f960213ec/Notting-Hill-1999-movie-props.jpg a fictional SF movie "Helix"]].
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pacific_rim_mako_6282.jpg Mako Mori]], female lead and HumongousMecha pilot, from ''Film/PacificRim'' has a bob cut with blue highlights.
* Friday in the 1964 film ''Film/RobinsonCrusoeOnMars'' is an uncommon male example.
* In ''Film/{{Solo}}'', Qi'ra's initial hairstyle is this, though it's a bit softer and messier than most examples. By the time she meets Han Solo again following a TimeSkip of three years, [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange she's grown her hair out]].
* Quorra from ''Film/TronLegacy''. She combines this with FashionableAsymmetry.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]'': Benny Summerfield, of the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' and later her [[Franchise/BerniceSummerfield own series]], started with short hair, and subsequently seems to have grown it out to about bob length.
* Several characters of both genders in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series are described as having shorter hair than is strictly fashionable, ranging from a bob cut all the way to shaved heads, specifically because loose hair floating around in a zero-g and/or industrial environment can be both inconvenient and potentially dangerous. On the planet [[CultColony Masada]], male spacers (there are no female Masadan spacers) can be easily identified by their short hair and clean-trimmed facial hair, in contrast to everyone else having long hair and beards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* As befitting [[AmbiguouslyEvil her]] [[TheSpymaster character]], [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/3/38/RosalindPrice-Lash-Transport.jpg/ Rosalind Price]] in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has either this or PowerHair as her go-to look.
* In the 2053 section of ''Series/Bodies2023'', Iris Maplewood (along with some of her colleagues) wears a variation on this trope -- a rather severe undercut. It perhaps isn't terribly attractive by 2023 standards, but it marks her setting down as a future where things are different, and fits a servant of an authoritarian regime.
* The title character in ''Series/Cleopatra2525'' has a blonde bob.
* Chiana and other female Nebari from ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' combine this with [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe White-Skinned Space Babe]]. Like Leeloo, it's a bit more messy than typical for the trope, but ''Farscape'' (which takes place in the present day, only far from Earth) does have a UsedFuture aesthetic.
* [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human Robot]] Werther from ''Series/GuestFromTheFuture'' is a Rare Male Example.
* Rachel on ''Series/OrphanBlack'' has a harsh bob , which differentiates her from the rest of her clones, as well as differentiates her as being seemingly the only clone working for Project DYAD.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The AI computer Hilly (she's just a head on black screen) from "Parallel Universe" wears Sci-fi Bob Haircut. In the third season, she became a regular when the crew's computer Holly decided to take her likeness and make a gender swap. In the later episodes, however, her hair was longer.
* Sapphire from ''Series/SapphireAndSteel'', especially when she gets a severe bob circa Assignment Three.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** Many Vulcans in the ''Star Trek'' franchise wear their hair this way, including Lt. Valeris, although there are exceptions. The Vulcans are, at least initially, a much more technologically advanced race than the humans.
** Lt. Saavik defies the trope in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', wearing her hair long.
--->'''Kirk:''' Lieutenant, are you wearing your hair differently?\\
'''Saavik:''' It is still regulation, Admiral.
** Bajoran officer serving on the ''Enterprise'' Ro Laren in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. She has dark hair and wears a bob without bangs.
** Dr. Beverly Crusher from ''The Next Generation'' has rather long red hair most of the time, but she bobbed her hair for one season.
** Android Lal was created by Data as a blank slate, even in terms of species. Lal chose to look like a young human woman with pale complexion and black hair in a short bob with bangs.
** Christine Chapel on ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' has a wavy blond, almost white, bob that occasionally has subtle pink streaks.
** [[http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1339635!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_970/hh.jpg Carol Marcus]] in the rebooted series, starting with ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. She has a blonde simple bob.
* In ''Series/UFO1970'', Lt. Ellis and her compatriots in SHADO's moon base wear a purple wig as part of their uniforms.
* ''{{Franchise/Whoniverse}}'':
** ''Series/DoctorWho'':
*** Borderline example. The Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman had a messy bobbed haircut (by Vidal Sassoon) which would have looked radical and futuristic by early 1963 standards. By today's standard, it looks unremarkable.
*** Zoe Heriot, introduced at around the same time as Lt. Ellis, has this. She is a science-minded companion to the Second Doctor, who he met in a space station in the future.
** Quill from ''Series/{{Class|2016}}'' has a menacingly exact blonde bob. The show has a contemporary setting, but she is an alien in human disguise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Bobbed white haircuts are the default hairstyle for the [[AmazonBrigade Sisters of Battle]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}''.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'s'' iconic envoy, [[https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5ljrp?Meet-the-Iconics-Navasi Navasi]] sports a dyed purple bob cut.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* [[http://www.halopedia.org/images/9/99/Evolution_of_Cortana.jpg Cortana]] from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series is an advanced military AI whose holographic avatar tends to have bobbed hair, particularly in the original ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''.
* Maya, the Siren class from ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', has an electric blue bob cut.
* One of the preset characters from the first ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', Natalia Dubrovhsky, has one, and it is on the female character by default since there's only one model for male and female player characters each.
** Your PlayerCharacter can have this in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}''.
* When [[spoiler:EDI takes control over Dr. Eva's body]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' she gets [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ME3EDIBot_111.png a metal bob haircut (Picture spoiler for Mass Effect 3).]] She explains that it is not "hair" in the strict sense but a memory-shape metamaterial used to simulate hair. She just prefers to gather it into a protective bob shape when not using it for anything else.
* The first ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', secret agent Orchid had a bob hair hair-style which fits in well with futuristic setting of that game (it's far enough in the future that genetic engineering, energy weapons and advanced bionics are fairly common).
* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mirrors-edge-03.jpg Faith]], the protagonist from ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'', which takes place in a PostCyberpunk setting, has a black bob haircut.
* The default appearance of the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/racasceal_1773.jpg RAcaseal]] class in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' is a {{fembot}} with the top portion of their heads shaped like bobbed hair.
* The villainous team from ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', Team Galactic, has a futuristic and space theme, and its low-ranked members wear outfits that resemble space suits. All of them, male and female, have teal bowl cuts.
* DEMI from ''Subverse'' has one although in her case it's actually part of her metallic body. Unsurprising given her inspirations mentioned above, Cortana and [[spoiler:EDI]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''WebComic/CassiopeiaQuinn'' has Madison Vrax, who wears her hair this way.
* ''WebComic/{{Melonpool}}'': An alternate-timeline Jalea had to become ship's engineer; she has a much shorter hairdo than the primary timeline's as long hair around machinery [[ByTheHair proved a spectacularly]] [[TraumaticHaircut bad idea]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Imperial Governor Arihnda Pryce has a bob haircut, combining this with the [[GoodHairEvilHair "Communist bob"]] often worn by female villains.
[[/folder]]
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