History TheSmurfettePrinciple / Webcomics

** In a VERY early interview, when asked about V's gender, Rich indicated that he had originally "totally smurfetted" the group, and then decided to run with the androgeny after so many fans commented on it. However, he has never SPECIFICALLY used a gender for him.

* Amongst the {{Redshirts}} of "Ice" in ''Webcomics/MonsterOfTheWeek'':

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* ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'': The titular quintet of {{Super Soldier}}s has one female member, Lola Lamb. Coincidentally, she's also the only one who had an adverse reaction to the Genocide Project's BioAugmentation and was [[HandicappedBadass left wheelchair-bound]] with brittle bones. [[spoiler:Zig-zagged when they induct a new member, Caera Shou.]]

* Terra the earthworm is introduced in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'' after the [[InteractiveNarrator Interactive Author]] initially didn't want any female characters. He ''wanted'' his three male characters to remain romantically frustrated, but when it became clear HoYay would be the inevitable result, he relented and added her. To spite his characters, he made her a lesbian, so the guys would ''still'' be frustrated. The cast grows somewhat over time (six characters at the end), but Terra remains the only female in the whole strip.

* In ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' [=LaBelle=] is the only female in her pack, and when she leaves it she joins up with another group that consists of all males outside of herself. Han is the only woman employed as one of King Samrick's Royal Justiciars.

* In ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' [=LaBelle=] is the only female in her pack, and when she leaves it she joins up with another group that consists of all males outside of herself. King Samrick's Royal Justiciars is another group with only a single woman who is named Han.

* Terra the earthworm is introduced in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'' after the [[InteractiveNarrator Interactive Author]] initially didn't want any female characters. He ''wanted'' his three male characters to remain romantically frustrated, but when it became clear HoYay would be the inevitable result, he relented and added her. To spite his characters, he made her a lesbian, so the guys would ''still'' be frustrated. The cast grows somewhat over time (six characters at the end), but Terra remains the only female in the whole strip.
* The primary protagonist group of ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'' would be Fighter, Thief, Red Mage, and Black Mage, plus White Mage. Of the five, only White Mage is female, and she only shows up occasionally.

* Female characters in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[AvertedTrope heavily outweigh the male ones]] both in numbers and importance. This is a [[InvokedTrope deliberate attempt]] to correct the male-heavy presentation of the Drow in the ''Forgotten Realms'' setting, despite their matriarchal society. It also easily demonstrates just how flexible female characterization can be at its best, and how unnecessary this trope tends to be.
* ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'' has an almost all-male cast. Out of half-a-dozen protagonists, only one is a girl and the another recurring woman is a villain.
* This is lampshaded early on in the ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' where Kickback claims that viewers had complained that the comic didn't have any female characters and uses this as a justification to vote to change Laserbeak's gender to female. Somehow.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s eponymous group consists of four males, one female, and an elf (although elves tend to have genders in this series, the androgyny of Vaarsuvius is a RunningGag). Other female characters have become prominent, notably Celia, but the six-character band has, at most, TwoGirlsToATeam.
* ''Six Pack of Otters'' is something of an interesting case. We have not yet been introduced to all six of the Otters that the title implies...but of the five that we have met, four are male. And the fifth, female Otter's presence is felt mostly by the other four (male) cast-member's reaction to her: she's not unseen, but she hasn't had a whole ton of screen-time either. Made unusual because the setting is a college campus (i.e. there's no particular reason that the setting should include few females).

* Terra the earthworm is introduced in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero'' after the [[InteractiveNarrator Interactive Author]] initially didn't want any female characters. He ''wanted'' his three male characters to remain romantically frustrated, but when it became clear HoYay would be the inevitable result, he relented and added her. To spite his characters, he made her a lesbian, so the guys would ''still'' be frustrated.

* In ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'', of the 4 people (and one penguin) living in the main characters' house, Lilah is the only female.
* Inverted heavily in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', where the female characters heavily outweigh the male ones both in numbers and importance. This is a deliberate attempt to correct the male-heavy presentation of the Drow in the ''Forgotten Realms'' setting, despite their matriarchal society. It also easily demonstrates just how flexible female characterization can be at its best, and how unnecessary this trope tends to be.
* The first two arcs of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' are basically just Elliot and Tedd doing stuff with Sarah appearing once or twice. However, this ends up massively subverted in the end as the next three major arcs introduce five more characters, only one of which is male.
* A LampshadeHanging occurred in [[http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20060113.html this]] ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'' strip, along with heavy mocking and a fourth wall breakage.
* ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'' has an almost all-male cast, with only one of the main characters a girl and another woman being a recurring villain.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' does an excellent job of averting this. The core groups of characters, such as the kids and the trolls are perfectly gender balanced. This tends to hold true for minor character groups (such as the Exiles, and, to a lesser extent, the guardians) as well. The only places where it's in effect are the Midnight Crew (0:4) and the Felt (1:14). Additionally, ascensions to God Tiers have been keeping the balance too, even with a degree of leaning to females.
** Also balanced with regards to the individual importance of characters. Out of the 12 trolls, 3 of the female trolls are major - [[LargeHam Vriska]], [[TeamMom Kanaya]] and [[AmoralAttorney Terezi]], and with 3 major male trolls - [[TheHero Karkat]], [[TheStoner Gamzee]] and arguably [[TheChick Tavros]]. All of the A1 trolls have been shown as God Tier, though mostly from alternate timelines.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s eponymous group consists of four males (all of whom are better in melee than ranged), one female (ranged), and an elf (whose androgyny is a RunningGag, and who is not very good at physical combat at all), though other female characters have since become prominent ''supporting'' cast members, notably Celia.
* Inverted in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', where Marten was for a long time the only male character in the main cast, with five female characters all making frequent appearances. The cartoonist tends to {{lampshade| hanging}} this in TheRant whenever a new female character shows up: "Because all I need is another female character".
* Six Pack of Otters is something of an interesting case. We have not yet been introduced to all six of the Otters that the title implies...but of the five that we have met, four are male. And the fifth, female Otter's presence is felt mostly by the other four (male) cast-member's reaction to her: she's not unseen, but she hasn't had a whole ton of screen-time either. Made unusual because the author of the comic is female, and the setting is a college campus (i.e. there's no particular reason that the setting should include few females).
* Early on in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Zoë was the only female character in the cast, and played the role of OnlySaneMan compared to the zany Riff & Torg and the SociopathicHero Bun-bun. Later on, however, Zoë's friend Gwynn joined the cast, as did female alien Aylee and female [[TalkingAnimal talking ferret]] Kiki. Combined with plenty of women being among the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, this trope hasn't been in effect for some time.
* Linda Concarne is the only female regular in ''Webcomic/TriangleAndRobert.'' Of course, no one can accuse her of being MsFanservice, since the characters are all shapes. She's a rectangle.
* Erin is pretty much the only female character in the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' webcomic ''Webcomic/UGMadness''. Then again, it IS a webcomic about a game with a predominantly male player base. Erin herself is very much aware of this, and thus has a very strong drive to prove herself.
* To the extent that ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has regular characters at all, Megan is the only female one. (And since it's a StickFigureComic, if she weren't called by name now and then [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics the only way to tell would be by her hair]].) Though by the same [[{{Pun}} token]], there's no way of knowing the stick figures with no indicated gender are male either.
* Terra the earthworm in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero.'' This is lampshaded by the fact that the [[InteractiveNarrator Interactive Author]] initially didn't want any female characters because he wanted his male characters to remain romantically frustrated. When it became clear HoYay would be the inevitable result, he relented and added her — and made her a lesbian, so the guys would ''still'' be frustrated.
* The entire cast of ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'' contains a grand total of four female characters (White Mage, Kary, Bahamut's witch girlfriend, and princess Sara), only one of which is a major one. She is also the WhiteMagicianGirl, not quite a main character and by a wide margin the least powerful character. However, this is almost undoubtedly a result of the source material or a deliberate parody thereof.
** [[spoiler:However, in the end she kills the BigBad without the help of the men, who were too incompetent to do it themselves. This does not change the fact that every other important character is male, save one villain.]]

* Inverted in ''WebComic/{{Amazoness}}!'', which is set in the mythical Amazon city of Themiskyra in which men are not allowed to step foot. The only men who have shown up so far are nameless mooks who exist only to be killed by the Amazons in battle. There is the matter of [[spoiler:Eutropia who is biologically male but psychologically female.]]

* This is lampshaded early on in the ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' where Kickback claims that viewers had complained that the comic didn't have any female characters and uses this as a justification to vote to change Laserbeak's gender to female. Somehow.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s eponymous group consists of four males (all of whom are better in melee than ranged), one female (ranged), and an elf (whose androgyny is a RunningGag, and who is not very good at physical combat at all), though other female characters have since become prominent ''supporting'' cast members, notably Celia.

* Inverted in ''WebComic/{{Amazoness}}!'', which is set in the mythical Amazon city of Themiskyra in which men are not allowed to step foot. The only men who have shown up so far are nameless mooks who exist only to be killed by the Amazons in battle. There is the matter of [[spoiler:Eutropia who is biologically male but psychologically female.]]

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'', where Marten was for a long time the only male character in the main cast, with five female characters all making frequent appearances. The cartoonist tends to {{lampshade| hanging}} this in TheRant whenever a new female character shows up: "Because all I need is another female character".
* In ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'', of the 4 people (and one penguin) living in the main characters' house, Lilah is the only female.
* The first two arcs of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' are basically just Elliot and Tedd doing stuff with Sarah appearing once or twice. However, this ends up massively subverted in the end as the next three major arcs introduce five more characters, only one of which is male.
* Inverted heavily in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', where the female characters heavily outweigh the male ones both in numbers and importance. This is a deliberate attempt to correct the male-heavy presentation of the Drow in the ''Forgotten Realms'' setting, despite their matriarchal society. It also easily demonstrates just how flexible female characterization can be at its best, and how unnecessary this trope tends to be.
* Linda Concarne is the only female regular in ''Webcomic/TriangleAndRobert.'' Of course, no one can accuse her of being MsFanservice, since the characters are all shapes. She's a rectangle.
* Terra the earthworm in ''Webcomic/OneOverZero.'' This is lampshaded by the fact that the [[InteractiveNarrator Interactive Author]] initially didn't want any female characters because he wanted his male characters to remain romantically frustrated. When it became clear HoYay would be the inevitable result, he relented and added her — and made her a lesbian, so the guys would ''still'' be frustrated.
* Six Pack of Otters is something of an interesting case. We have not yet been introduced to all six of the Otters that the title implies...but of the five that we have met, four are male. And the fifth, female Otter's presence is felt mostly by the other four (male) cast-member's reaction to her: she's not unseen, but she hasn't had a whole ton of screen-time either. Made unusual because the author of the comic is female, and the setting is a college campus (i.e. there's no particular reason that the setting should include few females).
* Early on in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Zoë was the only female character in the cast, and played the role of OnlySaneMan compared to the zany Riff & Torg and the SociopathicHero Bun-bun. Later on, however, Zoë's friend Gwynn joined the cast, as did female alien Aylee and female [[TalkingAnimal talking ferret]] Kiki. Combined with plenty of women being among the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, this trope hasn't been in effect for some time.
* To the extent that ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has regular characters at all, Megan is the only female one. (And since it's a StickFigureComic, if she weren't called by name now and then [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics the only way to tell would be by her hair]].) Though by the same [[{{Pun}} token]], there's no way of knowing the stick figures with no indicated gender are male either.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' does an excellent job of averting this. The core groups of characters, such as the kids and the trolls are perfectly gender balanced. This tends to hold true for minor character groups (such as the Exiles, and, to a lesser extent, the guardians) as well. The only places where it's in effect are the Midnight Crew (0:4) and the Felt (1:14). Additionally, ascensions to God Tiers have been keeping the balance too, even with a degree of leaning to females.

* Inverted in ''[[http://amazoness.co.uk/ Amazoness!]]'', which is set in the mythical Amazon city of Themiskyra in which men are not allowed to step foot. The only men who have shown up so far are nameless mooks who exist only to be killed by the Amazons in battle. There is the matter of [[spoiler:Eutropia who is biologically male but psychologically female.]]