Basic Trope: A fighter in full armor or some other form of gender-masking attire is revealed to be female.
- Straight: Bob is saved by a warrior wearing a full suit of armor. The warrior is revealed to be Alice when she takes her helmet off.
- Exaggerated:
- The armored warrior appears to be the pinnacle of masculinity. Underneath the armor is Alice, an incredibly feminine woman.
- It isn't revealed that Alice is a woman until the very end of the last episode.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is saved by one of a clan of ninja. He only finds out the identity later, much less the fact that it's Alice, a female.
- Even though Bob is never told about the identity of the savior at first, there're enough clues for him (and/or audience) to assume this warrior is in fact female, like her feminine voice, body type, etc.
- Justified:
- Alice's armor suit is either designed for men or designed in a very unisex manner.
- Practical armour is typically cumbersome and not designed in a manner so as to identify its wearer as female, unlike most fantasy "female armour". "Boobplate" armour, for example, is likely to direct force inwards and towards the sternum, not away from the body; the Chainmail Bikini offers little protection of vital organs, a helmet and visor obscures the face, etc.
- Inverted:
- A warrior in very sleek, feminine-looking armor takes off their helmet. Inside the suit is Bob.
- We're led to believe that The Hero is out to Save the Princess, but when he finally pulls off the rescue, we see him rescue Prince Bob.
- Alice, the boyish-looking Action Girl, is revealed to have once been the famous hero Albert, having pulled a Sweet Polly Oliver to join the then all-male hero team, before eventually disappearing for some reason (and, obviously, resurfacing just in time for the team's membership to be opened to females as well).
- Or, more simply, Alice, while very clearly female, later turns out to also be an important and/or famous person within the setting that everyone genuinely believed was male simply because no one was ever given a reason to assume otherwise.
- Subverted:
- "Alice" later reveals himself to be an effeminate man named Alex.
- Alice is Robot Girl or Humanoid Alien.
- Double Subverted:
- "Alex" is then revealed to be a Sweet Polly Oliver pulled by Alice in order to get the armor in the first place.
- It turns out the Powered Armor Alex has been wearing is a character on her own, as she's an advanced AI named Alice.
- Even if Alice is not human, she is still technically female.
- Parodied:
- Alice's "gender-concealing" armor is nothing more than a hat or a set of eyewear. Before the reveal, she is treated like a man despite obviously looking like a woman.
- Alice mannerisms and speech (even if it's muffled by the suit) are incredibly girlish. Yet, everyone gets shocked when she removes the armor for the first time.
- The Genre Savvy heroes are shocked to find out that the badass named Alex in the face-concealing helmet who just saved their lives is actually a man, because they've watched enough TV to expect a girl to be under there.
- Bob angrily insists that he is not sexist for presuming someone named an obviously masculine name like "Dave" is a man.
- Zig Zagged: Alice has different sets of armor that may or may not hide her gender. Also, she is a Bifauxnen underneath and fools some people but not others.
- Averted:
- Alice's gender is made known to the viewers before she starts kicking butt in a suit of armor.
- Alice's gender can be recognized by her armor.
- The warrior never takes off their helmet.
- Enforced: The author thinks the book needs role models for girls.
- Lampshaded:
- "Wait, you're a girl?!"
- "What do I have to do, put pretty pink ribbons on the chainguns? YES, I'M A GIRL! GET OVER IT!"
- Invoked: Alice's peers are sexist, so she disguises herself in a bulky suit of armor, kicks ass, then intentionally reveals herself in order to prove a point.
- Exploited: Empress Evulz's attack on what was presumably an all-male group utilizes some substance that targets the Y-chromosome. Alice, inside the power armor and not having a Y-chromosome, pretends to be afflicted so that when Empress Evulz's forces pass her not-dead body, she gets up and pours a ton of rounds into their backs.
- Defied:
- Alice deliberately uses one of the aversions of this trope to make sure that nobody mistakes her for a guy.
- Bob quickly learns that women can be just as capable as men on the battlefield, and only uses gender-neutral pronouns until they reveal their identity.
- Discussed: "Hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if that big armored guy over there turned out to be a girl?"
- Conversed: "This is one of those moments where a tough guy swoops in, saves the day...and turns out to be a girl."
- Implied: A mysterious knight in full suit of armor encounters a succubus, and the latter's sexy charm doesn't seem to work on her opponent. Because we never find out the knight's gender, its left ambiguous of whether its Incompatible Orientation or being female.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice has never before been seen without her armor, thus does all her work with everyone under the assumption she is a man. After The Reveal, the supporting characters take her less seriously, and feel she is "less up for the task" while ignoring her previous achievements to the contrary.
- Alice gets put under hot water for putting up a false identity.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice proves herself as a much more than capable warrior in a Take That! to the men who doubted her.
- Bob and/or other characters are actually more impressed and defend her with said achievements.
- Alice never meant for it to be a false identity and is able to point out how that was their own assumptions.
- Played For Laughs: Alice's armor even changes her voice... When she's in her armor, she speaks with basso profundo.
- Played For Drama: Alice is a seemingly-insignificant background character on Bob's side, and at the same time a Mysterious Protector who saves Bob's life at the most hopeless moments and is shown to have ties to The Omniscient Council of Vagueness. The entire story builds up to The Reveal of Alice's identity, motives... and the fact that she's a woman.
Wait a minute, Samus Is a Girl?
