Sometimes writers love to tease us a little with who's nice and who's not so nice in the story. Not this time, though.
The character enters the scene and she's clearly trouble. Tall, slender, regal bearing, pretentious walk, looking down on everyone, long stiletto nails, wears all black, maybe with hints of red and pulls an icy, cutting sarcasm the minute she opens her mouth... That's right, we have a Bitch Alert and it's so blatant that you couldn't make it more obvious by having the words "Bitch Alert" flashing on the screen the moment she arrives.
Usually applies to the Alpha Bitch, Rich Bitch, Femme Fatale, and many other types of villainesses. Often associated with Noblewoman's Laugh to really drive the point home, usually to introduce the character without showing her in person.
This is a very obvious type of Establishing Character Moment.
Never applies to a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, since this one isn't hiding her bitchiness behind a sweet, welcoming face. Au contraire, she is rather pretty upfront and direct about it.
Compare Make Way for the Princess, the typical High School variation; and Card-Carrying Villain, who is unashamedly evil.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- "Campus Queen" Sayoko Mishima, from Ah! My Goddess. Her very first appearance consists of her leaving a trail of increasingly elegant suitors behind her without sparing so much as a glance, and mentally demeaning every single one of them. And that was before she got knocked down a peg by Belldandy.
- Belarus from Hetalia: Axis Powers is every bit as Ax-Crazy, pushy, sadistic, possessive and prone to childlike fits as her beloved brother, Russia, if not moreso. The thing is, Russia is a manipulative Cute and Psycho Stepford Smiler, while Belarus is always scowling, always says what vile things are on her mind, and threatens little Latvia with a knife before she's even officially introduced! Lithuania still remains oblivious though. Even after she breaks his fingers.
- Summer Polanski, the resident Hate Sink of Hollow Fields, makes her debut sucker-punching Lucy with an Extendo Boxing Glove. This won't be the last time she torments Lucy.
- I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School makes it clear Youdou is nothing but bad news from her introduction alone. On the last day of the summer break, Unoki happily reminisces about the time he's spent with Toramaru and realises this is the first time he's ever looked forward to a new school term. Then he hears a girl's voice from behind him; one he's all too familiar with, and freezes in terror. The girl laughs and asks him if he's finally found someone who doesn't treat him like dirt. He urges himself not to turn around, but as she gets so close he can feel her breath on the back of his neck, he reflexively turns his head and is met with an eerily calm, smiling face. The next day, when Toramaru comes to Unoki's house to pick him up, he's too afraid to even open the door.
- In Inu × Boku SS, Ririchiyo acts this way to every new person she meets.
- Boa Hancock, from One Piece, makes her grand entrance by kicking a kitten and demanding to know who placed a kitten in her path. Her debut only gets bitchier from there.
Comic Books
- The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016): As soon as she's introduced it's clear that Pamela Smuthers is a bitch. She poses with her hips canted, her arms crossed, her nose in the air with a sneer on her face, and is flanked by her Girl Posse as she talks down to Etta Candy.
Fan Works
- In The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan, the first day Nova goes back in time, he witnesses a scene caused by Shimmer Silvermane, where she is noted to carry herself as haughtily as possible. She then tries to seduce Nova, who doesn't bite, and he immediately dislikes her. This, unfortunately, causes her to follow him around trying to pester him for the rest of his time in the past.
- Bitches of this nature are rare at the Assassins' Guild School. Possibly because when the girls at this school all have access to sharp edges and are taught how to use them, a lot of necessary detente happens. Every so often there's a slow learner who can't get with the program and tries to lord it as Bitch Queen. As Deborah Rust quickly discovers,
they don't last long.
- Feralnette AU: Lila Rossi is associated with chains:
- When she first appears in Enough Rope, she latches onto Adrien's arm, black chains digging into his skin much like her fingernails are.
- When she introduces herself to Felix, she similarly grabs his elbow, and a shot from behind shows a chain running along the back of her arm up into her jacket while he silently looks at her and thinks 'red flag'.
- Fire Emblem Awakening: Invisible Ties: In chapter 3, Maribelle's prissy, snobby attitude does not make a good first impression with Robin.
Robin: [thinking] Yep. Definitely don't like her.
- Angie Fujioka in Pretty Cure Mother Nature sets herself up as quite a bitch (and Chiyo acknowledges it) in her very first scene.
- Total Drama Legacy: Just like her mother Heather (who provides the trope picture), when Emilia arrives on Pahkitew Island, she does it in a way that foreshadows her ruthless nature.
Then, suddenly, all eyes were drawn towards a certain black-haired girl wearing a red ruffled top and black shorts, as she landed ominously. "Emilia!" Chris exclaimed. "I’d recognize a daughter of Heather anywhere."
Film
- 17 Again (2009) has Naomi, Scarlett's best friend. Stays quite nasty.
- The Abyss: Lindsay's arrival is heralded by a literal Bitch Alert from one of the other characters.
Bendix: Oh no, look who's with them. The Queen Bitch of the Universe.
- Carolyn from American Beauty gets hit with this hard. Her first line to her daughter is, "Jane, honey, are you trying to look unattractive today?"
- Brian's scumbag mother from The Breakfast Club has only two lines and establishes herself as this so it comes as no surprise when we find out later on how bad his home life is.
- Taylor Fisher in Detention introduces herself with the following line:
"I'm Taylor Fisher. And I'm a bitch. Beauty, intelligence, talent, charisma, and Hoobastank. What? They're good."
- The trio of Heather, Bridget, and Kelly in The Final. They're established as very nasty from their first dialogue not even interacting with anyone. Then they act mean towards Emily. However, it gets turned on its head when Emily becomes the real villain and Bridget turns out to be not so bad.
- In Girl House, Kat introduces Kylie to Devon—the most popular girl in the house—while Devon is sunning herself by the pool. Devon immediately establishes her bitch credentials by cattily putting Kylie down; saying she looks far too wholesome to belong in the house.
- The Trope Namer is Heartbreakers when Max as "Olga" meets Tensy's housekeeper and says the line. The housekeeper does indeed become quite the problem for the women and they have to plant Tensy's jewels and cigarettes on her to get her fired.
- In The Hunger Games, the actress playing Glimmer manages to convey this just through the condescending smirk she gives Peeta when he's training.
- The Girl Posse from Jawbreaker gets this introduction. Played straight, as the original Token Good Teammate Liz breaks formation to help poor stomped-over Fern, who dropped her books.
- Legally Blonde gives us Enid Wexler, who introduces herself as a Straw Feminist and punches a nerdy guy. She's later one of the notable groups who snubs Elle and accuses her of being homophobic. Professor Stromwell is a subversion; she's given this introduction but it's revealed that she's really a Cool Teacher.
- A Little Princess (1995): Lavinia is shown looking furious when Miss Minchin announces to the class how wealthy Sara Crewe is,note as well as pranking Ermengarde by dipping her hair in pen ink.
- Holy hell, Dizzy from Starship Troopers. It's not until halfway through the film that she actually does something un-bitchy.
- Minnie from Ten Murder Island is basically this. Not right away, of course, but...about three minutes into the movie, if that, she makes it pretty clear. And it just gets worse as the movie progresses.
Literature
- Carrie: Most of the girls in Carrie White's class, given that our first impression of them is seeing them throwing tampons at Carrie in the school showers while she's having her period. Only Chris is truly nasty, though — Sue in particular spends the rest of the story trying to make up for what she did. The effectiveness of this trope is so pronounced in the first film adaptation, that many were convinced that Sue actually was a villain and in on the prank at the end.
- Elizabeth Elliot is a completely rude, pushy bitch who treats Jack Ryan with total hostility in her first appearance in the Tom Clancy book Clear and Present Danger. In fact, in the follow-up book (for those who didn't see her the first time) she gets a similar moment.
- In Companions of the Night, Regina doesn’t hide her true colors when she first meets Kerry, Ethan on the other hand…
- It doesn't take two seconds from Maeve's introduction in The Dresden Files for Harry to peg her as a sadistic, shallow, oversexed, immature, vapid monster. He's right about all but one of those. And the crime he's investigating is probably the only thing she's innocent of.
- Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter fame is a Rare Male Example. His first appearance (at the tailor's shop) immediately paints him as aloof, indifferent, and classist. His second appearance (on the train) is when he formally introduces himself, further insults Harry's friends, and cements his status as The Rival.
- The Howling (1977): In Marcia Lura's first scene, it's made clear she's not an especially savoury person because despite both Roy and Karyn being present - and them clearly being a couple - Marcia barely looks at Karyn unless she talks to her directly, addresses most of her words only at Roy and flirts with him. Marcia is polite enough when she talks to Karyn, but it's obvious to Karyn that she's trying it on with Roy without a hint of shame.
- A Song of Ice and Fire has a few bitches and bastards who are generally unafraid to broadcast the news, but the norm is for most of them to dig the smiles and Sheep's Clothing out when at official or public events, at least. Or when at the "selecting targets" stage. Outside of that? There is no possible way to misunderstand who you are dealing with, from the aggressive use of fashion onwards.
- The Royal Brat and Rich Bitch who is Cersei Lannister is an undisputed Queen Bitch who mostly takes the above route, for instance. So is Margery Tyrell, for that matter, even though Cersei out-bitches and out-spoils her on a regular basis by going for every soft target in the vicinity with a small or large sneer on her face, while Margery generally reserves her more overt claws for people like Cersei.
- Olenna Tyrell gave up on the subtle approach decades ago: you know she's in the room when other characters start to work hard at preventing themselves from reflexively wincing at her verbal put-downs. She's very generous with her exceedingly blunt, quick-fire observations.
- Kolkhis's entry to the Stag and Candles in The Virtu. Dressed as a lady, tall, slender, pale, and utterly cold. First question out of her mouth: "Is it true you're sleeping with him?" And it just gets worse from there.
- Sandpaw's first appearance in the Warrior Cats series. She snarls that Firepaw smells revolting, and then makes a comment about how he's a kittypet.
- There's no doubting what kind of person Amoral Attorney Judy Sherman is in Year Zero.
Live Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Delayed but ultimately played straight by Cordelia Chase. Her first scene is to helpfully share a textbook with Buffy in class and make friends with her. Then immediately after, she mocks Willow for having an unfashionable outfit — solidifying herself as the Alpha Bitch.
- This trope also applies to Buffy's psychology professor, who introduces herself as "the evil bitch-monster of death."
- Cordelia's carried over to Angel once, though in more of a good way. "Room W/a Vu", when Cordelia finally stands up to the evil ghost of Dennis's mom.
Cordelia: Here's what you're going to do. You're going to pack your little ghost bags and get your wrinkly, translucent ass out of MY HOUSE! 'Cause the bitch is back!
- In The Durrells, new landlady Vasilia, the antagonist of Series 2, announces her presence in the series by repossessing the Durrells' furniture on account of their not having paid the rent — and in an unnecessarily puppy-punting manner, to boot.
- The Kill Point: The female FBI hostage negotiatior. As soon as she walks into the room, it's obvious that she's desperately trying to prove her credentials but in the process just comes across as being unable to deal with the Hostage Situation intelligently. Everybody hates her, from the hostage takers to the Pittsburgh PD and SWAT.
- Every time Morgana entered a room in series three of Merlin you could almost hear the alarm bells go off. Ironic in a way, considering her role was also an inversion of Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: despite the evil smirk, no one ever noticed that she was plotting their deaths right under their noses.
- Northern Rescue: Mostly subverted with Gwen (whose also more of a Delinquent at worst than an Alpha Bitch). She's introduced honking her horn at Maddie on the way to school and trading insults with her, and they later have another insult match in the hallways at school. Then, a bit later in the episode, both of them are going for a meeting with a mutual friend and formally meet each other for the first time, both are a little embarrassed and defensive, but become more friendly by the end of the episode.
- Happens a lot on Reality TV. For example, Ivy Higa, in the eighth season of Project Runway, declared from the get-go that the show should be called "Project Ivy". The editors clearly signaled this as a Bitch Alert. She proceeded to act in a particularly bitchy fashion, even by the show's standards. She also never won a challenge.
- Libby in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Her first appearance is when Harvey looks like he's about to ask Sabrina to be lab partners - but she immediately butts in and says "I'll be your lab partner," establishing herself as not only a jerk but Sabrina's rival for Harvey. Her next scene has her antagonising Sabrina in the bathroom and telling her "from now on, you use the freaks' bathroom".
- Quite a few characters on Scrubs, notably Dr Miller. Special mention, though, has to go to Nina the Malpractice Attorney whose first scene involves hospital-wide panic at the mere thought of her arrival. Not long afterwards, she's given a musical number where she dances down the hallway of the hospital literally and viciously busting the balls of every male unlucky enough to be in her eyeline. She does so while smiling. She actually becomes one of the main characters' girlfriend but remains a massive bitch throughout the (short) relationship.
Professional Wrestling
- Ivelisse Vélez calls herself "The Baddest Bitch" in Lucha Underground.
- Ivory has done a photoshoot wearing a shirt that read bitch.
- On SHINE 9, Kimberly crossed out the letters on her Thing 2 shirt and marked on "Bitch 1".
- Lin "Bitch" Bairon of SMASH and later, Wrestling New Classic. But she'd make the distinction that she was a "beautiful bitch", not a "shit bitch" like The World Famous Kana.
- Luna Vachon would announce that "The Bitch Is Back" on Monday Night Raw after revealing herself as the manager of The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust. Jazz would also state this upon her return and entry into Theodore Long's Thuggin and Buggin Enterprises.
- Holy Joe, Melina. From her earliest days managing MNM, she never so much as tried to hide how nasty she was, which was pretty much the only good thing one could say about her for a while. Her "MNM" entrance said it all: strutting down a red carpet with two equally arrogant males in fur coats; that obnoxious, squealy, "Paparazzi" theme didn't help either.
- Mickie Knuckles proclaimed herself "the baddest bitch here" at PGWA A Call To Arms
- Nurse Veronica, Traci Brooks, Cheerleader Valentina, and Trinity, the TNA quartet known as "Bitch Slap".
- Those girls don't know what they're talking about. Rick Cataldo is a man, making him the baddest bitch of pro wrestling.
Theatre
- Fiddler on the Roof has Fruma-Sarah's entrance in the Dream Sequence, which according to Word of God is a homage to Katisha's entrance. Being a ghost doesn't make her any less haughty.
- La Bohème has Musetta's fancy-dress entrance in the middle of Act II, with her dragging along her human lapdog Alcindoro and doing everything she can to get Marcello's attention.
Marcello: Bring me a glass of poison! It's her!
- Katisha's melodramatic entrance in The Mikado's act one finale:
Katisha: Your revels cease! Assist me, all of you!
Chorus: Why who is this whose evil eyes
Rain blight on our festivities?
Katisha: I claim my perjured lover, Nanki-Poo!
Video Games
- Trisha of Bullet Storm shows right from the go that she's one of these, after beating a mook to death bitching out Grayson in the worst way.
- Enter Kira Nakazato (A.k.a. Kamikaze or "Kaze") from Need for Speed: Most Wanted who is one of the craziest members of the Blacklist the player has to go through to take down Razor. Hell, her portrait picture says it all. Kaze is extremely aggressive behind the wheel and doesn't mind indulging in Car Fu, and her forte - Cost to State, stands out.
- Nina Williams from the Tekken series. Her ending (when we first get a sense of her character) has her stealing one of her sister's shoes and slapping her in the face when the sister gets upset about it. Wow.
Webcomics
- Diane's introduction in El Goonish Shive reeks of this. She has shades of this at the start, but she ultimately turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold at worst as Characterization Marches On.
- In General Protection Fault, Trudy comes off as rather polite and good-natured during her interview with Dwayne, with an ear-to-ear smile plastered on her face. Some time later, Dwayne introduces Ki to Trudy and lets the two get to know each other. After Dwayne leaves, the two of them introduce themselves, shake hands, and then...
Ki: Why do I feel like I just shook hands with a denizen of the undead?
Trudy: (smirks) I usually have that effect on puny, inferior lifeforms. - Tripp visualizes Delia with snakes for hair when he meets her for the first time.
- WooHoo Subverted: Amy's first appearance is basically this, with glowing-evil eyes and all, but she turns out to be one of the more helpful characters.
Visual Novels
- In her first appearance, Cecilia from Daughter for Dessert gives off a bitchy vibe before even revealing her identity.
- Bethany from Melody is introduced while screaming at the protagonist for no apparent reason, and then kicking him out of the house.
Web Original
- In Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party, Charlotte Brontë's introduction has to be one of the most unexpected examples, and it efficiently tells us everything we need to know about her character.
Charlotte: (looking at her character's card for the murder mystery roleplay) Ugh, she sounds poor! (to Poe) Did you write this? Is this going to take very long?
- The Hire: Star, has the Driver describing The Star's "galaxy of talents", while we are treated to a closeup of her glove-bound hands, her sunglasses, and part of her face. If it wasn't clear from that, the Driver then goes on to explain that she is a "cu-""CAAAAAAAAARL!!!"
- Mai Valentine's first conversation with Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series prompts Tea to appear behind him and proclaim "Back off, bitch, he's mine!" with a Voice of the Legion.
Western Animation
- The first episode of Book Two of Avatar: The Last Airbender is an episode-long bitch alert for Princess Azula. She threatens injury or death to no fewer than three people over the course of a single episode, and is fantastically, unrepentantly, deliciously malevolent about it.
- On Gravity Falls, the first time Pacifica Northwest talks in "Double Dipper", it's to tell Soos to save time by just giving her the crown for winning the karaoke contest right away, mocking Mabel and her new friends Candy and Grenda in the process.
- Twinkles Sunshine, who has the role of Goldilocks in a movie made of the fairy tale, starts out as bitch from the first frame in which she appears in The Hair Bear Bunch episode "Whatever Happened to Goldilocks and the Three Bears."
Director: Now, Twinkles...
Twinkles: (testily) The name is Miss Sunshine! - When we first see Princess Cadance in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, her vicious glare that only Twilight could see is a surefire sign that she's bad news. And that she isn't really Cadance.
- Robot Chicken has the aptly-named Bitch Pudding, a general thorn in the side of Strawberry Shortcake or various others — she's nasty and swears up a storm any time she's on screen. She's become a fan favorite, however, to the point of even getting her own special, not to mention appearing in other sketches where she's thematically disconnected. The best part, though, is that sh'es voiced by Katee Sackhoff, of all people!
- Total Drama: Every generation of contestants has at least one bitch who leaves good PR to others.
- In "Not So Happy Campers - Part 1", Heather arrives at Camp Wawanakwa wearing intimidating sunglasses. When they come off, she gives the island and her fellow campers alike a Death Glare.
- Alejandro makes his grand entrance in "Celebrity Manhunt's TDA Reunion Show" by walking through the crowd of veteran contestants with his nose in the air and his arms wide. He knocks over Cody and ignores the high-five Chris tries to share with him even as the host cheerfully calls him his next big star.
- In her audition tape, Jo goes from confidently arguing she will win Total Drama to demanding she'll be handed the money outright because her victory is assured anyway. In "Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!", the first thing she does is threaten Scott. The second thing she does, after the boat is blown up, is show off her athletic skills with no regards for others. She knocks away the plank Staci uses to stay afloat and uses Sam as a jumping off point.
- In both Samey's and Amy's audition tapes, Amy's need to be better than and dominate Samey are loud and clear as she insults her and puts herself forth as the better twin. While still on the plane in "So, Uh, This Is My Team?", Amy twice demands Samey to switch seats with her, first because she's disgusted by Beardo, then because Jasmine's size intimidates her. When everyone has to jump out of the plane and Amy gets her parachute working, Samey holds on tight to her sister until Amy gleefully kicks her away.
- While en route to Pahkitew Island in "So, Uh, This Is My Team?", Sugar pins Topher against the wall and threatens to kill him by throwing him out of the blimp if his fidgeting scuffs her shoes.
- Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race: Taylor belittles her own mother Kelly as soon as they're onscreen in "None Down, Eighteen to Go - Part 1".
- Wander over Yonder: In 'The Flower', after being chased by a giant bee when trying to find the perfect planet to plant a flower, they eventually find one. Suddenly, a giant shadow looms over them, and Wander is worried that its the giant bee again, but Sylvia tells him its "the biggest B in the galaxy": Lord Dominator.
