History Main / CombatStilettos

** Lampshaded in ''WitchesAbroad''. Magrat ends up wearing the high-heeled 'glass' slippers. She slips, loses a slipper, and screams, "How the hell is anybody supposed to walk in these?!" Then she pulls off the other one and runs for it.

In RealLife however, tall stiletto heels are hard to walk in. And that's walking at a slow pace on a hard, level surface. Running, and any movement on soft ground--let alone trying to fight--in heels is a good way to break an ankle. It is something of a dying trope nowadays; many female characters will get redesigns that incorporate more realistic footwear. Even if it includes heels, they'll be thicker and not as high.

* Female characters in ''{{City of Heroes}}'' have a number of footwear options ranging from flat soles to combat boots to platform shoes to stiletto heels.

In RealLife however, ''tall'' stiletto heels are hard to walk in. Trying to fight in heels is a good way to break an ankle. It is something of a dying trope nowadays; many female characters will get redesigns that incorporate more realistic footwear. Even if it includes heels, they'll be thicker and not as high.

In RealLife however, ''tall'' stiletto heels are hard to walk in. Trying to fight in heels is a good way to break an ankle. It is something of a dying trope nowadays; many female characters will get redesigns that incorporate more realistic footwear. Even if it includes heels, they'll be thicker and not as high. Because women flying though the air, picking up cars or shooting lasers from their eyes only becomes ridiculous when they wear high heels at the same time.

* ''{{Tekken}}'': Nearly every female character has fought in high heels at some point.

* The girls from ''WinxClub'' wear these in their fairy forms, and sometimes run while wearing them. Not very often tough, because they fly more. They don't wear [[FootFocus any shoes at all]] in their later forms.

* Due to author Mamoru Nagano's everpresent fascination with genderqueers, a great many of the [[HumongousMecha Mortar Headds]] from ''TheFiveStarStories'' have stiletto-esque heel-struts built into their legs. Actually becomes a plot point in one story arc, when two characters use their mech's collapsible heel-struts to slip out of an opponent's gripping attack.
* [[HotAmazon Boa Hancock]] from ''OnePiece'' sees nothing wrong with kicking people in the face with her highheels in the middle of a warzone.

* ''CityOfHeroes'': For females, most footwear options have stiletto heels to them, where in a male character the same clothing choice would be flat. Yes, one of the female heroine's natrual abilities seems to be kicking ass in six-to-eight inch heels. The other is the MostCommonSuperpower.

* Sakuya Izayoi, the [[CharacterTitle Perfect and Elegant]] [[{{Meido}} Maid]] of the ''{{Touhou}}'' franchise. Especially noticable in the fighting games, where she uses those high heels to kick and stomp on her opponents.

[[caption-width:250: Look at her [[strike:[[MostCommonSuperpower boobs]]]] [[FreudianSlip BOOTS!]]]]

->"[[FetishFuel I'll punish you in high heels!]]"\\
-- '''Sailor Mars''' (in a one-off [[InTheNameOfTheMoon pre-battle speech]]), ''SailorMoon''

->''You going to wear that while [[TheyFightCrime you fight crime]]? Those heels could be deadly weapons.''
->--'''Arsenal''', ''TeenTitans''

** In ''JLA: Year One'', {{Flash}} once asked Black Canary about her high heels and if they are not impractical for fighting crime. [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v137/stardrifter001/junk/blackcanaryflash.jpg Her reaction]] was to grab the wings of his mask and [[TakeThat turn his mask 90° around, blinding him.]]

* Everyone in ''{{Tarot Witch of the Black Rose}}''. The comic exists entirely on Fanservice, so it's to be expected.

* For GothamCitySirens, Catwoman has added heels to her formerly sensible costume. Made extra stupid because she's supposed to be having a crisis of confidence in her abilities so making [[RoofHopping roof hopping]] and her usual [[SheFu acrobatic fighting]] harder is [[CharacterDerailment not really in character]].

* You'd think the relatively sexless Alien/Predator universe would be immune to such silliness, but it's not quite so: The action figure for comics lead Michiko Noguchi (a human Weyland-Yutani employee adopted into a Predator clan) features ridiculous combat stilettos in Predator-armour fashion. She's also been whitewashed (from a Japanese woman into Kate Moss). Failure all around.

* Cherry Darling in ''{{Grindhouse}}'', at least on the leg that hasn't been replaced with an assault rifle. Justified because she's a stripper who never actually makes it home from her shift. That's [[InsistentTerminology go-go dancer]]!

* ''{{Watchmen}}'' the Movie shows the impracticality of this, when Silk Spectre's boots slip out from under her, as she's trying to fight off the Comedian's rape attempt. On the other hand, her daughter seems to have no problem fighting in them during the prison breakout scene.

* In the DresdenFiles, [[FemmeFatale Lara]] sprints several blocks in impractical shoes. Harry {{Lampshades}} this. [[spoiler: Several pages ''later'', she hammers the heel through an attacker's head.]]

* Scully on ''TheXFiles''. OK, so she's only 5'2", but the footgear issue was lampshaded in the episode "Hollywood A.D.", when the actress playing Scully asks her how it's possible to run in heels that high (which Scully does have to do on the job).

* BionicWoman reboot.

* Referenced in an episode of GilmoreGirls.
--> '''Girl''': So girls go on adventures too?
--> '''Lorelai''': And they go in heels.
* Nikki (as [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Jessica]]) of ''{{Heroes}}'' fame pulls this off [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome spectacularly]]: after effortlessly throwing three burly security guards to the ground, she places her stiletto heel against the temple of the one that's still concious to get information out of him, threatening to stomp down and stab his brains if he doesn't talk.

* Sarah in {{Chuck}} ''always'' wears heels. This troper is particularly reminded of the time she ran ''through a fountain'' in four-inch leather boots.

* CityOfHeroes - For females, most footwear options have stiletto heels to them, where in a male character the same clothing choice would be flat. Yes, one of the female heroine's natrual abilities seems to be kicking ass in six-to-eight inch heels. The other is the MostCommonSuperpower.

* The worst offender of all is undoubtedly Lei-Fang from ''DeadOrAlive''. Then again, considering the series' rather...[[ImpracticallyFancyOutfit ''bent'']] [[WaifFu view]] [[SheFu of]] [[FanService reality]] when it comes to female characters...

* Another male example is [[FinalFantasyII The Emperor]] in ''[[{{ptitlefjcz80qe}} Dissidia: Final Fantasy]].'' It's been part of his design before that if you look at the Amano art, but they were actually emphasized in one cutscene.

* Mai Hem in ''[[{{Perfect Dark}} Perfect Dark Zero]]'' wears heels, along with a {{stripperiffic}} dress.

* Miranda and Samara from ''MassEffect 2''. Rather jarring after the practical footwear all the female party members used in the first game. Samara takes this trope literally and breaks someone's neck with her heels.

* Millenia from ''GrandiaII'' takes this to utter extremes. Not only does she always fight in her high-heel boots (to be fair, with her stat, she is less of a melee fighter than TheArcher and SquishyWizard), but she also has a LimitBreak attack called "Heel Crush", wherein she walks up to an enemy, uses a platform of HardLight to lift herself just above their head, then stomps it viciously several times, inflicting heavy damage. Did we mention she is a full-time FetishFuelStationAttendant?

* Often seen in Gundam shows that have female giant robots, they will have boobs and stilettos for some reason I can't fathom.