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The coolest she'll get for the next 60 episodes...

"Frailty, thy name is woman."
Hamlet

A supposedly modern heroine who, under closer scrutiny, doesn't live up to her reputation. An Action Girl with very low standards you would never hold a male hero to: a Faux Action Girl. She's established from the very beginning as a powerful, capable hero... and never does anything heroic. She has a well-grounded reputation as a strong fighter in her field... and always fails in the line of battle. Her talents and skills are well known to fellow characters but rarely if ever seen by the viewers.

Her status only exists as an established reputation and depends heavily on Genre Blindness; she never acts like the modern heroine she's supposed to be. Sometimes, the only way she qualifies as anything more than the 'damsel in distress' is if you Take Our Word For It. If the writers are feeling merciful, however, the Faux Action Girl can be relied on to actually defeat her share of Mooks - or, in rarer cases, an enemy chick, should the hero be chivalrous, most likely on a Day In The Limelight episode. Nevertheless, the plot will demand otherwise.

The key is the disproportionate hype, whether she's overrated or underperfoming.

If she's a superhero, she'll be the one in danger far more often than her male contemporaries, even though, logically, given her powers, she shouldn't be. If she's a tomboy, she'll be overshadowed by The Libby and the like and instructed in a repetitive Family Unfriendly Aesop to learn to cope with the stereotypical-but-correct status quo. If she claims she doesn't need the hero, she will get kidnapped and saved by him.

If she's the protagonist, her most common purpose is getting into What An Idiot moments to deliver An Aesop. If she's a supporting character, despite her tough and powerful reputation, it's still always up to a male hero to save her. Ironically, villainesses are never in danger of bearing this label; whatever the threat they pose, they tend to live up to their reputation.

The Worf Effect used too many times on a legitimate Action Girl may turn her into a Faux Action Girl.

Please note that a Faux Action Girl is someone who has a reputation as a fighter. If she is just a girl captured then she's a Distressed Damsel. Also, the trope in itself has gone into massive Flanderization thanks to Double Standard: it seems that now even a legitimate Action Girl can't lose a single fight without people screaming "HOW DARE SHE!". Even worse you can't have a legitimate backseat female character who's supposed to be an ActionGirl who is less competent, skilled, whatever than a main male character.

Usually a form of Informed Ability: Most of these girls have big reputations and great past exploits but never quite match up.

Also contrast with Chickification, in which the producers take an Action Girl and don't even make the pretense of making her a Faux Action Girl, instead going straight for turning her into The Chick. See also Standard Female Grab Area, because heaven forbid that an Action Girl could take someone's hand off their wrist.

Like the Standard Female Grab Area and Staff Chick, this trope is often caused by writers who want females in their action show, but are unwilling (or not allowed) to show a woman being hit by a man. In many cases, the Faux Action Girl will suddenly develop into an actual Action Girl when faced with a female opponent (because a Cat Fight is just fine), only to return to Faux status as soon as that fight is over.


Examples:

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  • Her name was Blair Williams, played by Moon Bloodgood (Jumping Jesus, they should have just used her REAL name! It's awesome!), and being being subdued by about half a dozen full grown men with hand weapons is excusable. In T2, Sarah Connor was subdued by a couple of psych ward orderlies, and NO ONE could mistake her for being a faux action girl. The fact that Marcus , who is a terminator, renders the assailants about as dangerous as a pack of 6 year olds with wiffle bats is more of a testament to his great strength stemming from the fact that he is indeed a nigh impervious death machine (remember Arnold taking out an ENTIRE POLICE STATION single handedly in T1?) than to William's vulnerability.

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