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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

Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#26: Dec 7th 2022 at 7:01:57 PM

I personally lean towards merging, though I'm good with either

ElRise I fix my examples all the time from The Dying City (Season 2) Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
I fix my examples all the time
Hello83433 (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
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)
#29: Dec 9th 2022 at 4:15:17 AM

Hooked a crowner.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Negacube Since: Nov, 2018 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
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)
#31: Dec 12th 2022 at 6:41:33 AM

Calling in favor of disambiguating.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#32: Dec 12th 2022 at 7:07:35 AM

Made the announcement in the 5MB cleanup thread.

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
GoldenCityBird from the UK Since: Oct, 2018
#34: Dec 14th 2022 at 11:44:35 AM

Made a draft for the disambig page; does it look alright?


A link somewhere on the internet brought you here.

It may refer to one of these tropes:

If a direct wick has led you here, please correct the link so that it points to the corresponding article.


TRS Wick Cleaning
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition (Troper Knight)
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#35: Dec 14th 2022 at 11:45:05 AM

That seems fine. We can add more later if we have to.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
good-morning Lord Something, Forgetter of Cool Titles from Brazil Since: Nov, 2021
Lord Something, Forgetter of Cool Titles
#37: Dec 20th 2022 at 1:09:49 PM

Team Mom also seems like a good fit for the disambiguation page.

oh hey how are you doing?
GoldenCityBird from the UK Since: Oct, 2018
#38: Dec 22nd 2022 at 3:49:53 AM

Down to 4950 wicks. A surprising number of the main page wicks are referring to characters by trope rather than by name, even if it wouldn't be a spoiler to do so.

TRS Wick Cleaning
GoldenCityBird from the UK Since: Oct, 2018
#39: Dec 24th 2022 at 3:27:57 AM

I know it's been decided that Dark Chick would need its own TRS thread, but it seems literally impossible to get rid of all mentions to The Chick on that page without changing its description entirely. Anyone got any ideas?

TRS Wick Cleaning
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)
#40: Dec 24th 2022 at 5:06:50 AM

[up]I'm leaning toward removing the first paragraph entirely. I'd say the second paragraph would work fine as an opening paragraph because it covers The Heart, which was the main trope The Chick was determined to be redundant with.

Edit: I just went ahead and did it, but I wouldn't be against making more changes if necessary, since clarifying the description is the most we can do for now because if Dark Chick is brought to TRS in the future, it'll be a while until then due to the Queue's length.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 24th 2022 at 7:11:15 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
PurpleEyedGuma Since: Apr, 2020
#41: Dec 24th 2022 at 3:48:47 PM

14 wicks are on Five-Man Band, a locked page. How are we gonna dort that out?

badtothebaritone (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Snooping as usual
#42: Dec 24th 2022 at 4:10:16 PM

Request their removal in the Locked Pages thread in the FAQ subforum.

Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#43: Dec 25th 2022 at 12:01:50 AM

I added Girly Girl to the disambig because I came across a couple wicks (in Power Rangers examples) that seemed to be using it that way.

MadAboutLove97 Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#44: Jan 1st 2023 at 12:34:46 PM

I have a question about this cut. Should it be pinned to the bulletins like Names The Same (which has much less links to cut)?

Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#45: Jan 1st 2023 at 12:44:52 PM

[up] Not a bad idea.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#46: Jan 1st 2023 at 12:50:46 PM

I rather not. We don't want to overwhelm people with cleanup projects and Names The Same had almost double the wick when it was bulletined. We should at least wait a month or so after Names The Same is done before bulletining something else.

4K wicks is a lot but I think we can get it done without a bulletin.

Edited by MacronNotes on Jan 1st 2023 at 3:51:35 PM

Macron's notes
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)
#47: Jan 1st 2023 at 10:20:00 PM

I'd rather not, either.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Gosicrystal Since: Jun, 2016 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
#48: Jan 2nd 2023 at 5:42:54 AM

Can we delete zero context examples? Like the Hard-Work Montage pothole.

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)
#49: Jan 2nd 2023 at 5:47:32 AM

[up]Yes. ZCEs are deleted all the time with TRS cleanup if it isn't clear where they'd fit (if anywhere).

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
oneuglybunny useless legacy from Binghamton, New York, US Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: Abstaining
useless legacy
#50: Jan 2nd 2023 at 9:56:40 AM

Silly question, but: once The Chick becomes obsolete, won't that have a tangental effect upon Chickification?

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?

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