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.
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%
- Characters.Capitol Critters: She's far more emotionally sensitive than everyone except Max. This is a bit partial-context, but I think it fits
- 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.
- Characters.Squid Game Gi Huns Team: The Team: The Chick: Ji-yeong, a strange but compassionate girl who helps Sae-byeok to open up.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- AdamAndEvePlot.Video Games: Left 4 Dead: And in the sequel, when Rochelle dies: Smurfette
Nick: There goes repopulating the earth.
- 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
- 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.
- Characters.Castelo Ra Tim Bum: Smurfette
- Biba, as the only girl in the main group.
- Cacau, being the sole girl in the group.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Fanfic.Dark Titans: This was Akane throughout the Tokyo arc her presence seemed to only make the situation worse. More like The Load
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- Literature.Operation Firebrand: Five-Man Band: Trieu Nguyen, former biathlete and Olympic sharpshooter. Team sniper and medic. nothing about kindliness
- Music.Chthonic: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Doris (Ms. Fanservice) ZCE but that parenthetical trope indicates misuse
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?
- 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.
- AudioPlay.Were Alive: Pegs.
- 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.
- Characters.Ather City: commented out
- Characters.Detective School Q: commented out
- Characters.Exalted Exalted Of Creation: The Chick: Badass edition. commented out; also male
- Characters.Fractale: commented out
- Characters.Landsharks: commented out
- Characters.Tom Gates: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Amy Porter
- 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
- 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.
- Fanfic.Equal And Opposite Attraction: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Konoka
- Fanfic.The Other Side Of Tomorrow: Future Libby, to an extent since she is the most feminine of the adult female cast.
- Fanfic.Gate Thus The Dominion Fought There: Five-Man Band misuse that had been transplanted to The Team, now cut
- Fanfic.Spectrum Reports In Wartime: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Ana
- Fanfic.The Other Side Of Tomorrow: Future Libby, to an extent since she is the most feminine of the adult female cast.
- Film.Carry On Spying: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- Film.GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra: Five-Man Band: The Chick — Scarlett
- Franchise.Emily The Strange: Five-Man Band: The Chick: Willow
- Literature.The Abandon Trilogy: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- Literature.Black Dogs: commented out
- Literature.Everwild: two hidden examples from a hidden (now axed) FMB tree
- Literature.Eve The Awakening: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- Literature.The Saxon Stories: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- 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
- 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.
- Music.Galneryus: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- 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).
- 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.
- Roleplay.Raishon: Five-Man Band: Suzy FMB tree since deleted
- Series.Danger 5: Five-Man Band: Pierre: The Chick. also male
- Series.Caroline In The City: Five-Man Band: Charlie
- 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
- VideoGame.Brigandine: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- VideoGame.Lost In Blue: Skye
- 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
- Webcomic.Olympic Dames: Despite being one of the few males, Adam is obviously the chick. also male
- WebComic.What Do You Do: Five-Man Band misuse that had been transplanted to Cast Calculus, now cut
- WesternAnimation.Adventures Of The Gummi Bears: cut Five-Man Band misuse
- WesternAnimation.Sky Dancers: Five-Man Band: Camille FMB tree since deleted
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
Letting ~Chloe Jessica know the thread was made. Anyway, I could get behind merging with The Heart.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Merge.
This thing has been a thorn in the side of the community for a decade now, not only because of the arbitrary gender restriction but because of the weird emphasis on being a part of a Five-Man Band (which meant that it technically couldn't stand alone). I could stand to disambig it with things like The Heart, The Load and Smurfette Principle, while moving the correct examples into The Heart.
So... basically yeah I'm with the OP.
Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 6th 2022 at 4:06:08 AM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I'm fine with disambiguating between those.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 6th 2022 at 4:57:51 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
I edited my post slightly, though the actual argument I made didn't change. 
the Retromancer
Thinking disambig is the safer option here.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Could we turn this into a Trope In Aggregate about female characters on a team being The Heart?
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
The issue is that there is no real pattern there. Girls can be The Heart, they can also be any other role in a team, just like guys can be. At a certain point, it becomes too broad and meaningless.
My take is that both are possible, the page can be disambiged but the correct examples would be moved to The Heart.
Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 6th 2022 at 4:15:08 AM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Tea, Coffee and Hot Chocolate
I agree with it being an unnecessarily gendered Smurfette Principle version of The Heart, but I'm split between merging or disambiguating.
Edited by PresidentBrit on Dec 6th 2022 at 9:21:58 AM
TV Tropes ruined Faust's life
Showtime!
Merge with The Heart
Absolute destiny... apeachalypse?
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
Joke's on you — I edited my post to change "those two" to "those", so now it should be future-proof.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 6th 2022 at 5:01:14 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Touché...
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
...Anyway, I'm positive The Heart is just a regular trope and not a Trope in Aggregate, but regardless of that, I think "The Heart, but female" is The Same, but More Specific.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
I prefer a disambiguation for the record—I generally do in TRS threads like this, as disambiguations capture more possible uses.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Agreed
CG for short
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
To disambiguation, I agree with Mayor's reasoning.
Disambig or merge is fine. Don't feel strongly either way in this case.
❀ Mint, Nuts, and Waffle ❀
for disambiguating.
disambiguation
disambiguate and add a paragraph to The Heart’s description that talks about its gendered tendencies if not there already
The Chick has always been heavily tied to its role in the "classic" Five-Man Band, which was originally literally just "the girl", which, along with its many other problems, made it redundant with The Smurfette Principle. As more teams with multiple girls appeared, as well as attempts to shoehorn male characters into The Chick role, it ended up evolving into The Heart, with a side of "when there are Two Girls to a Team, this is the more girly one, or the one that doesn't fit the other FMB roles as well". (Some of the entries in the misuse folder on Chick Check seem to also incorporate being non-combat-focused, but not necessarily The Load, or having a high density of Always Female tropes.) It's never really had much of a coherent tropable definition, and if we aren't treating the "classic" FMB as a thing anymore, it's a wonder that this page has outlasted it.
That said: looking at The Load, I feel like it has some problems of its own, namely that despite not officially being YMMV it's written very negatively to the point it almost reads as "Damsel Scrappy but gender-neutral". If we're looking for a page to put female equivalents of the Non-Action Guy I don't think that's a good one to pick, and I'm not sure such a page would exist if this one got deleted; note that The Chick is the page that Non-Action Guy seems to treat as its own Distaff Counterpart. That may be something worth Yarding. There may also be something to the combination of "female + Non-Action Guy + The Heart or Morality Pet", which I feel like is closer to what the page is actually getting at.
Edited by MorganWick on Dec 7th 2022 at 4:56:41 AM
Man in the Yellow Hat
I hate to kill such a long-lasting trope, but I propose merging with The Heart.
There's so much I wish I could take back.
Should what to do with Dark Chick be discussed here, since it's so tied to The Chick?
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
The Chick is already massive, and Dark Chick likely has different problems that need to be tackled separately.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
Yeah, Dark Chick would have to get its own TRS thread with its own wick check due to how much this thread is already dealing with with just The Chick.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
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?
To-do list:
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:
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%
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 30th 2023 at 8:44:35 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.