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Duplicate Trope: The Chick

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To-do list:

  • Since consensus was to disambiguate The Chick between other tropes, particularly The Heart, examples need to be moved elsewhere if possible, and cut if they don't fit anywhere else.

    Original post 
Note: This thread was proposed by Chloe Jessica.

The Chick acknowledges on its own page that it's a duplicate. Its correct usage is just "The Heart, but a girl", which isn't a meaningful distinction because the narrative purpose of the role is the same regardless of gender. It's also often frequently misused as The Smurfette Principle and The Load, and it's a ZCE magnet because of its former status as a component of the nonexistent Five-Man Band classic. About the only thing it's got going for it is that it's a Trope of Legend, but even legends can be killed.

My suggestion: disambiguate between The Heart, The Load, and The Smurfette Principle, move valid examples.

Chick Check results:

  • Correct usage (still overlaps with The Heart): 7/72, 9.7%
  • Misuse: 23/72, 31.9%
  • ZCE: 41/72, 56.9%
  • Unclassified: 1/72, 1.9%

Wick check:

A wick check to see if The Chick's usage overlaps significantly enough with The Heart to suggest a merge.

Wicks checked: 72/72

Usage:
Correct, but overlaps: 9.7%
Misuse: 31.9%
Zero-context: 56.9%
Unclassified: 1.3%

    open/close all folders 

    Correct usage, but overlaps with The Heart (7/72) 
  1. Characters.Capitol Critters: She's far more emotionally sensitive than everyone except Max. This is a bit partial-context, but I think it fits
  2. Characters.Captain Planet And The Planeteers: She takes much more of a passive role than Linka does, and acts as a calming influence on the other planeteers.
  3. Characters.Squid Game Gi Huns Team: The Team: The Chick: Ji-yeong, a strange but compassionate girl who helps Sae-byeok to open up.
  4. Literature.Time Of Death: Played with as Emma is definitely The Heart of her group but is also the most intelligent and level-headed one.
  5. PonyPOVSeries.Tropes E To H: Five-Man Band: The Chicks: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the quirkiest, and the gentlest member respectively. They're are also both The Heart of the team.
  6. Sandbox.Characters Final Fantasy VII Playable Characters:
    • By being The Heart of the team that keeps them together.
    • Shares this role with Tifa, she's similarly kind and caring and at times gives the party the strength to keep fighting.
  7. Webcomic.Gun Kitty: Yumi fits this role with ease. She's the social glue of the group, a ray of sunshine that is able to keep Ace and Ruana on good terms. Her role is minimal in the group, being more so there to encourage the group rather than exploring her own story.

    Misuse (23/72) 
  1. AdamAndEvePlot.Video Games: Left 4 Dead: And in the sequel, when Rochelle dies: Smurfette
    Nick: There goes repopulating the earth.
  2. Anime.Burst Angel: Meg, both in the social interaction sense and the Damsel in Distress sense. Kyohei, in the Non-Action Guy sense. nothing about kindliness; other half is male
  3. Anime.Ni No Kuni: Kotona. Her character arc mainly resolves around Haruto and Yu fighting over her, [[spoiler:Haru to kill Astrid to save her and Yu to protect Astrid.]] Kotona herself has little say over the events and is just there for them to fight over. Astrid is a little better but not by much.
  4. Characters.Castelo Ra Tim Bum: Smurfette
    • Biba, as the only girl in the main group.
    • Cacau, being the sole girl in the group.
  5. Characters.Domina: She's not quite a member of the team, but Derek and Laura try and keep her out of harm's way. The Load potentially
  6. Characters.Kid Cosmic: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Emerald Wing, who contrasts Crimson Vision and the rest of his team's seriousness with his own goofier personality. not the definition; male
  7. Characters.Star Trek Picard: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Dr. Agnes Jurati is the sole non-combatant and the most emotionally fragile. She becomes the love interest of Rios. nothing about kindliness
  8. Characters.Tex Willer: The other three have practically brough him up together. While they shrug off their own wounds and mostly stay calm about each other's injuries, something happening to Kit allows them to show more emotion. Also he sometimes acts as a mediator between the friendly arguing of Tex and Carson The character is more of a team morality pet, they act as glue because everyone cares about them, not because they're kind
  9. Fanfic.Dark Titans: This was Akane throughout the Tokyo arc her presence seemed to only make the situation worse. More like The Load
  10. Film.Secret Society Of Second Born Royals: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Roxana. Her invisibility powers and personality lend themselves well to this - as does her blossoming possible relationship with Matteo. nothing about kindliness
  11. Film.Sleepers: Carol, by virtue of not being a sleepernote . She's been a friend since childhood to all of them and the girlfriend of at least two of them — Michael when they were kids and John as adults. Her undying loyalty to the boys may have helped make their rough post-Wilkinson's lives that little bit happier if nothing else. nothing about kindliness or being the emotional centre of a Five-Man Band; "may have" sounds like Weasel Words
  12. Film.The Italian Job 1969: Lorna, the only woman in Charlie's team. After the Aston and the Jags get destroyed by the Mafia, he decides it's too dangerous for her and puts her on a plane home. Context fits The Smurfette Principle better; nothing about kindliness or being the emotional centre of a Five-Man Band.
  13. Five-Token Band: A white female lead. Love interest/designated crush of the White Male Lead. And all too often she's white and blonde too. If there are powers or vehicles of any sort, she's associated with air/wind, flight or water. nothing about kindliness
  14. Literature.Operation Firebrand: Five-Man Band: Trieu Nguyen, former biathlete and Olympic sharpshooter. Team sniper and medic. nothing about kindliness
  15. Music.Chthonic: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Doris (Ms. Fanservice) ZCE but that parenthetical trope indicates misuse
  16. Music.Jonathan Young: Brass is The Chick[[note]]albeit using 'they/them' pronouns[[/note]], while doing little directly towards the conflict aside from employing their large hammer against a few guards, it's clear that their optimism and support keeps the others, especially Strider, going. They also show the least interest in violence, simply using their hammer, unlike Wolf who is a Blood Knight and Strider who trains hard to gain skill with a sword. misuse, not a woman, should be under The Heart
  17. Series.Blue SWAT: Sara Misugi/Agent #071, Purple armor: The Lancer; a By-the-Book Cop who's also the lone female. misuse, Smurfette Principle, can't be both The Lancer and The Chick; not a ZCE because it's in the description
  18. Series.Maid Marian And Her Merry Men: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Robin. He's cowardly, ineffectual, and self-centered, but he's also the friendliest and most soft-hearted. And occasionally Gentle Giant Rabies, who's very sweet-natured and loving, plays this role. male
  19. ScoobyDoo.Tropes A To M: Daphne: The Chick: She can talk, stumble into secret passages, and become the monster's Damsel in Distress. part of a cut Five-Man Band tree, but misuse anyway, probably The Load?
  20. The Chick: Film folder: Judy in Night of the Living Dead is rather noteworthy in that her character was created specifically because the crew were enchanted by how cute the actress was. "Cute" is not enough if there is no context on kindliness or being the emotional support of a Five-Man Band; even the main page of The Chick has more than one misuse — this example isn't the only one.
  21. VideoGame.Desperados III: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Kate O'Hara, the only one with only no lethal options except her gun, whose skillset focuses on seduction and distraction. Context fits Heroic Seductress better; nothing about kindliness or being the emotional centre.
  22. VideoGame.Emo Game: Butt-Monkey: Chris Carrabba in the first game, being The Chick of the seven man group. Brett Detar in the sequel as the tagalong attention-seeking guy nobody wants in the group. misuse, male, also why would being The Chick make you a Butt-Monkey?
  23. Webcomic.Runewriters: Tarri, so far. Her family is quite overprotective since she was born deaf, and have made Sev her bodyguard. That she wanted to head out for Rusanne with Sev shocked everyone. She's not much of a fighter and is so far the only major character not to have any kind of magic. nothing about kindliness or being the emotional centre of a Five-Man Band.

    ZCE (41/72) 
  1. AudioPlay.Were Alive: Pegs.
  2. Awesome.Metal Fight Beyblade Zero G: "Sakyo Kuroyami, master of the Left-Rotation Bey: The Dark Knight Dragon, RONIN DRAGOON". He beats Takonosuke and every member of The Team (except Maru). In reverse order: (Takonosuke, Ren, Eight, Shinobu, and Zero), in that order. Though you have to give credit to Takonosuke and Zero. The former managed to actually push back against his beyblade, and the latter overcame his breaththrough attack.
  3. Characters.Ather City: commented out
  4. Characters.Detective School Q: commented out
  5. Characters.Exalted Exalted Of Creation: The Chick: Badass edition. commented out; also male
  6. Characters.Fractale: commented out
  7. Characters.Landsharks: commented out
  8. Characters.Tom Gates: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Amy Porter
  9. DarthWiki.PMC: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Player 1's adopted little brother. His unlockable remote-controlled ship (Sleipnir) has incredible firepower, a tiny sprite, and a tinier hitbox. Unlocked by either finishing the game in one credit with a mission score of 90 or higher, or losing the game without any credits remaining enough times to get to 9 credits. no explanation of Heart-ness; male
  10. FairyTail.Tropes A To E: Dream Team: Pretty much implied with the combined Fairy Tail Team in the Grand Magic Games arc, as Mirajane put it, consisting of Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Laxus and Erza.
  11. Fanfic.Equal And Opposite Attraction: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Konoka
  12. Fanfic.The Other Side Of Tomorrow: Future Libby, to an extent since she is the most feminine of the adult female cast.
  13. Fanfic.Gate Thus The Dominion Fought There: Five-Man Band misuse that had been transplanted to The Team, now cut
  14. Fanfic.Spectrum Reports In Wartime: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Ana
  15. Fanfic.The Other Side Of Tomorrow: Future Libby, to an extent since she is the most feminine of the adult female cast.
  16. Film.Carry On Spying: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  17. Film.GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra: Five-Man Band: The Chick — Scarlett
  18. Franchise.Emily The Strange: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Willow
  19. Literature.The Abandon Trilogy: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  20. Literature.Black Dogs: commented out
  21. Literature.Everwild: two hidden examples from a hidden (now axed) FMB tree
  22. Literature.Eve The Awakening: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  23. Literature.The Saxon Stories: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  24. Literature.Time Of Death: Played with as Emma is definitely The Heart of her group but is also the most intelligent and level-headed one. already relies on The Heart pothole for context
  25. Manga.Sumire 16 Sai: Renge Ohyama - An Ordinary High-School Student who always was bullied and never had any real friends. She almost gets drafted into being the gofer for the school's hoodlums, but gets rescued by Sumire, whom she befriends.
  26. Music.Galneryus: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  27. Podcast.The Penumbra Podcast: Five-Man Band: As of Season 3, the Carte Blanche crew fits this, with Buddy as The Leader, [[spoiler: Vespa]] as The Lancer, [[spoiler: possibly Juno]] as The Chick, [[spoiler: Jet]] as The Big Guy and Rita as The Smart Guy. (Fittingly, [[spoiler: Peter]] doesn't fit, but he does make a good Sixth Ranger).
  28. Psychic Strangle: In The World Ends with You, Neku did this to Shiki after being misled that she is the one who dragged him into the Reapers' Game. Fortunately he didn't go all the way with it.
  29. Roleplay.Raishon: Five-Man Band: Suzy FMB tree since deleted
  30. Series.Danger 5: Five-Man Band: Pierre: The Chick. also male
  31. Series.Caroline In The City: Five-Man Band: Charlie
  32. TabletopGame.Transhuman Space: Antoine Cohen's press team can be seen as a cross-gender Beauty, Brains, and Brawn, with Antoine (The Chick can be male and smart in this setting), Ludwig Braun (The Big Guy), and Tamara Chuikova (The Smart Gal). also implying that The Chick must be stupid
  33. VideoGame.Brigandine: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  34. VideoGame.Lost In Blue: Skye
  35. VideoGame.Shantae: Keeping with the game's whole "girl power" theme, Bolo serves as this. would be misuse even if it had context because Bolo is male
  36. Webcomic.Olympic Dames: Despite being one of the few males, Adam is obviously the chick. also male
  37. WebComic.What Do You Do: Five-Man Band misuse that had been transplanted to Cast Calculus, now cut
  38. WesternAnimation.Adventures Of The Gummi Bears: cut Five-Man Band misuse
  39. WesternAnimation.Sky Dancers: Five-Man Band: Camille FMB tree since deleted
  40. WMG.Jack Septic Eye: The other game is one that involves mathematical equations that decide what group of people go through a particular route, leaving behind characters he'd also be fond of, particularly June.
  41. Wrestling.Tammy Lynn Sytch: Ironic considering she started demanding more prominent roles for females, but after two years this was the most prominent position she had for most of her career.

    Other/Unclassified (1/72) 
  1. EveryoneHasStandards.Western Animation: Codename: Kids Next Door: Downplayed with Heinrich von Marzipan in the episode "Operation: C.A.R.A.M.E.L.". Known for his obsession with the sweetest candy. he manages to extract the most prized qualities from the members of Sector V to create the sacred golden caramel (said to be the sweetest candy of all). When he eats a caramel made from Numbuh 3's Cheerfulness, he finds them to be too sweet.


Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 30th 2023 at 8:44:35 AM

Libraryseraph Cross-wired freak from Canada (Five Year Plan) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
Cross-wired freak
#76: Feb 24th 2023 at 9:19:30 AM

[up][up] The problem is that it's as much reliant on the scrapped FMB outlines as it is the presence of The Chick

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WarJay77 Discarded and Feeling Blue (Troper Knight)
Discarded and Feeling Blue
#77: Feb 24th 2023 at 11:12:22 AM

...I know, but that's why I said we could put a note about the new FMB format and how this page is an artifact but it's all just in good fun.

Anyway we should probably discuss this elsewhere, like the FMB Cleanup.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
GoldenCityBird from the UK Since: Oct, 2018
#78: Mar 24th 2023 at 8:40:27 AM

Managed to get the wick count below 1000.

TRS Wick Cleaning
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#79: Mar 24th 2023 at 8:57:48 AM

[up] [awesome][awesome][awesome]

More specifically, 999 to go.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Mar 24th 2023 at 11:57:55 AM

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#80: Mar 24th 2023 at 11:25:09 AM

What should we do with the Locked Pages entry? Also, should we lift the lock or keep it locked?

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#81: Mar 24th 2023 at 11:26:51 AM

[up] Lift the lock and remove from Locked Pages IMO.

EDIT: Changed my vote.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Mar 24th 2023 at 2:27:08 PM

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#82: Mar 24th 2023 at 11:27:39 AM

It's not a trope anymore so we can lift the lock.

Macron's notes
GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#83: Mar 24th 2023 at 11:34:07 AM

I unlocked the page and Berrenta removed its Administrivia.Locked Pages listing.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Libraryseraph Cross-wired freak from Canada (Five Year Plan) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
Cross-wired freak
#85: Mar 30th 2023 at 6:23:09 AM

What should we do with the remaining sandboxes, since they're all projects/wick checks?

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GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#86: Mar 30th 2023 at 6:44:21 AM

[up]I'll handle them. I forgot to archive this thread's wick check, so I'll do that, and the wick check for Dark Chick can probably stay the same since this thread will probably be referenced if that trope gets a thread.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#87: Mar 30th 2023 at 6:59:07 AM

Double posting because I cut sandboxes that appeared to be abandoned (one for rewriting The Chick's description, which is no longer needed now that it's no longer a trope, some sandboxes left over from the Five-Man Band TRS thread from 2021, and I think that's it), and I left Sandbox.Featured Tropes, Sandbox.TRS Queue, and wick check sandboxes alone because those wicks were gathered before it was disambiguated and might as well be archival since they're referencing what it used to be (with the wick check sandboxes and Sandbox.TRS Queue probably referencing this thread as part of an argument; I didn't look over them specifically), plus I left Sandbox.Five Man Band because its purpose is to be used by the Five-Man Band cleanup thread to rewrite bad examples, all of which were from before the 2021 TRS thread, which got rid of the role requirements before this thread got rid of the page for one of the roles from the old definition (while the sandbox predates the TRS thread by two years, it's still linked to in the cleanup thread's header, so I'm assuming it wasn't abandoned like the ones I felt more sure about cutting).

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 30th 2023 at 9:01:11 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#92: Apr 7th 2023 at 8:08:27 PM

Removing this trope has really resulted in a deep-clean of the rest of the Five-Man Band, it seems. At least just from tracking the sharp declines in wicks across the set.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
He/Him
#93: Apr 7th 2023 at 9:02:39 PM

Said Five-Man Band entries were all ZCEs

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Apr 7th 2023 at 9:02:50 AM

Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#95: Apr 8th 2023 at 5:01:01 PM

<100. The rest of them I'd rather defer to someone who's more decisive. Sure does feel good to zap those 5MB ZCEs.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
He/Him
#96: Apr 8th 2023 at 6:17:16 PM

I think we should definitely add In Touch with His Feminine Side to the disambig as well. Given how some of the wicks I was removing used The Chick on male characters who are stereotypically girly.

Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#97: Apr 8th 2023 at 7:26:32 PM

[up]Feel free to add it.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
AudioSpeaks2 He/Him (Greenhorn) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
He/Him
#99: Apr 8th 2023 at 7:43:55 PM

We've cleaned it all up.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Apr 8th 2023 at 7:44:54 AM

Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
Add Post

Trope Repair Shop: The Chick
9th Dec '22 4:14:34 AM

Crown Description:

Concerns have been raised that The Chick is The Same But More Specific to The Heart (The Heart, but female), and merging with it has been suggested. What should be done with it?

Total posts: 100
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