Leia is a capable character, but she is not a badass. The trope is fine, just the character you like doesn't happen to fit it. Square Peg Round Trope.
edited 12th Jan '11 10:55:21 AM by CrypticMirror
The Other Troper
Um, did you not see me also state there might be another trope where she does fit?
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.
Leia doesn't fit because her first introduction to us is as a distressed damsel. That is her entire purpose for the first half of Star Wars. She proves her badass chops later, but that's not what the trope is pertaining to. A Badass in Distress is a person who you would not expect to see in the situation they're in. Usually self-reliant and capable, for a brief amount of time, they're juxtaposed as being helpless and in need of rescue.
That's the difference, so I say make a new trope...if you haven't already.
edited 7th Feb '11 10:52:22 AM by KingZeal
Eh, I think we have this already. It's just Distressed Damsel + Took a Level in Badass.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Not exactly, no.
Gumi-chan
Bump...
I was thinking about how in the Star Wars movies, Leia is kind of a Distressed Damsel, but unless she's clearly outmatched, she is still capable of taking care of herself.
Yet this does not fit under the definition of Badass in Distress, which is when a badass character eventually ends up in distress for the purpose of trying to make them seem not too badass to be credible. Should we expand the trope to fit her and characters like her, or make a new one?
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.