Action Heroe Tropes

The Action Hero (the term is gender neutral) can be best described by the motto: any problem can be solved by the application of a foot to the right guy's ass. In other words, Action Heroes are characters who primarily use combat to achieve their goals in the story. Their most important characteristics are that they deliver ass-kicking on their enemies, and they do it personally. Action Heroes can use other methods to solve problems that cannot be beaten into submission, but when it comes time for the Final Battle, they know that Violence Really Is the Answer.

Even so, simply having a fight scene does not make a character an Action Hero. He or she must use combat in ways that directly relate to the plot, not just for incidental fighting or self-defense. If a character does not use combat to accomplish the primary goal, then he or she is not an Action Hero.

For example, I conceived of Sir Differel Van Helsing as being an Action Heroine, and in "The Beast of Exmoor" she certainly lives up to that conception, but in "Oak Do Hate" she shuns the use of combat to solve the problem through diplomacy. So sometimes she plays the Action Heroine and sometimes she doesn't (though this can be justified on the basis of character development and the difference in her ages between the two stories).

Action Fashionista -- kicking ass while dressed to the nine's

***** Eile and Sunny are clothes horses, who buy the best-looking outfits they can afford. Sir Differel wears $6000 tailored silk pants suits. Lady Margaret has dressed in the latest styles since she was a teenager. Even Vlad Tepes Drakulya dresses smartly. Also Jade from "Felis Ex Machina".

Action Girlfriend -- your girlfriend kicks ass better than you can

***** Eile and Sunny to each other; Differel to Victor Plunkett, her husband; Jade to January Ian "Jaim" Mariposa.

Action Mom -- your mother kicks ass better than you can

***** Medb hErenn, Eile and Sunny, and Differel whenever their children are in danger; Sunny's mother, Oda Jaegar.

Action Pet -- your pet kicks ass better than you can

***** Snowshoe Kitty; Medb's animal companions ["The Lions of Inganok"]; Mr. Mistoffelees ["Feline Savior"]; Differel's Wakiya in the Dreamlands ["Adventurer's Honeymoon"]; Bastet, the feline familiar of Jaim ["Felis ex Machina"].

Action Survivor -- a non-fighter finds himself in a dangerous adventure and must resolve it to survive

***** Eile started out as this when she first met Sunny; ditto Margaret to Differel.

Almighty Janitor -- the character with the lowest rank is the strongest, most skilled fighter

***** Vlad; while not a janitor, he ranks the lowest in the Caerleon Order. Differel treats him like a weapon, and he encourages that attitude (though she has trouble maintaining it at times).

Authority Equals Asskicking -- the higher a character is in a hierarchy, the better he is in a fight

***** Played straight with Differel and most of her senior staff, especially Aelfraed and Mr. Holt ["The Beast of Exmoor"]. Inverted with Vlad; he technically has no authority within the Caerleon order, but he is its most powerful member.

Battle Butler -- your servant kicks ass better than you can

***** Aelfraed Dalton Walters, the master of the Syles-Fairbairn commando dagger ["Feline Savior", "Man Friday", "The Beast of Exmoor"].

Beware the Nice Ones -- the nicer a character is, the more ass he'll kick when finally pushed too far

***** Eile of Team Girl ["The Temple of Ubasti", "The Golden Mushroom"].

Beware the Silly Ones -- the comic relief is the most dangerous character in the story

***** Sunny of Team Girl ["The Temple of Ubasti", "The Golden Mushroom"].

Bond One-Liner -- a character quips a pun or joke right after beating someone

***** Margaret is most prone to this, but Medb, Eile and Sunny, and Differel get their chances as well.

Braids of Action -- action heroines wear their hair in braids (that's how you know they're action heroines)

***** Medb wears a waist-long braid off either side of her head ["Barbarians R Us"].

Chef of Iron -- your chef or cook kicks ass better than you can

***** Madam Phillipa Trumbo, Differel's executive chef ["Gourmand Hag"]; Sunny's father, Maela Hiver; Sunny herself on occasion.

Contralto of Danger -- the lower a female character's voice, the more ass she can kick

***** Played straight with Medb and Differel, who have the lowest voices; also Eile compared to Sunny.

Damsel Out of Distress -- the damsel in distress rescues herself by kicking ass

***** Differel ["The Beast of Exmoor"] and Team Girl ["The Double Image"].

Dying Moment of Awesome -- a character's death is something to be proud of

***** Mr. Mistoffelees ["Feline Savior"]; Differel's first estate troops commander ["Man Friday"]; The Beast of Exmoor ["The Beast of Exmoor"]; Lt. Richard West ["Pyrrhic Victory"]; "Cowboy" ["The Denver Walker"]; Team Girl ["Survival and Sacrifice"].

Extraordinarily Empowered Girl -- an action heroine with a little something extra ordinary women do not possess; the fantastic expression of "girl power"

***** Medb knows magic ["Desperate Acts"]; Eile has enhanced strength, endurance, and speed thanks to a remnant population of vampiric parasites; Sunny has enhanced agility and keen senses of hearing and smell thanks to a low titre of a lycanthropic virus in her blood; Differel has inherited the iron will of her ancestor Abraham Van Helsing and the indomitable spirit of her Pendragon foremothers.

Fedora of Asskicking -- nothing says "I can kick ass" like a nice hat

***** Differel likes to wear berets and uses a wide-brimmed sunhat in the Dreamlands; Vlad wears a wide-brimmed planter's hat.

Girls with Guns -- stories about strong female leads being awesome with firearms

***** Team Girl: "Survival and Sacrifice"; Differel: "Man Friday", "Oak Do Hate", "The Beast of Exmoor".

Good Is Not Soft -- do not mistake kindness for weakness

***** Team Girl ["The Steel Gazelle", "A Typical Friday Night", "The Denver Walker"].

Hero Killer -- a villain so terrifyingly powerful that he strikes fear in the hearts of the characters; whenever he shows up, they are in danger of dying

***** The goal of any monster, at least those intelligent enough to have goals, is to destroy Differel either by devouring her alive, tearing her to pieces, or torturing (or raping) her to death ["Man Friday"; "Gourmand Hag"]. Inverted by Vlad, who is this to monsters.

Imperturbable Englishman -- total and utter equanimity in the face of mortal danger

***** Aelfraed ["Man Friday"]; his sister Mrs. Helena Widget (though she has something of temper) ["Feline Savior"]; Differel has her moments as well, but mostly she plays the Ice Queen; Margaret is quite good at bluffing monsters.

Invincible Hero -- this hero never loses

***** Vlad; he doesn't always win, but he cannot be destroyed, and he ALWAYS comes back! Medb also qualifies (except she can be destroyed).

Kick Chick -- a female character who fights almost entirely with her legs

***** The girly Vampire, Giovanna Mencia Borgia, is a master of a form of savate that emphasizes leaping kicks over punches ["The Christmas Vampires"], and she has taught it to Eile and Sunny.

Kicking Ass in All Her Finery -- an action heroine that fights while wearing feminine, pretty, opulent clothes

***** Margaret, and Team Girl when they dress in frilly girly clothes; subverted with Differel, who tends to rip her dress off instead; inverted with Medb, who fights in the nude. Played straight with Jade ["Felis Ex Machina"].

Lady of War -- a female fighter who retains an air of grace and reserve not usually associated with violence

***** Subverted and played straight with Differel; she tends to be this when participating in a duel of honor, otherwise she fights as dirty as she needs to to survive ["One-Percenter Vendetta"].

Ignored with Medb; though she is a highly skilled fighter, her great strength tends to override finesse and grace ["Gruff Tolls"].

Let's Get Dangerous -- a moment in the story when all the quirky, eccentric cast members stop being quirky and eccentric and start demonstrating a sudden ability to kick ass

***** Mr. Mistoffelees ["Feline Savior"]; Maggie King ["Fun 'n' Games"]; Team Girl ["Rhapsody in Orange"]; Ohbaeda ["The Lions of Inganok"].

Major Injury Underreaction -- a character reacts to great pain with a deadpan comment

***** Ohbaeda ["The Lions of Inganok"]; Vlad tends to be this way as well, but he's Made of Air.

Master Of All -- the best of the best of the best ... in EVERYTHING

***** Differel, hands down. Aelfraed is like this in many areas as well. Medb's extensive experience throughout her long life makes her surprisingly knowledgeable about a very wide variety of topics.

Minored in Asskicking -- an otherwise intelligent and wise character who can kick ass as well as or better than highly trained fighters

***** Dr. Padraic Trevelyan, Differel's childhood tutor. What's even more amazing is that he's paraplegic.

More Deadly Than the Male -- women kick ass better than men can

***** Medb, Team Girl, Differel, Margaret; duh.

Nerves of Steel -- a character can face the worst situations with the equanimity of cold tea; he is nigh-unshakable

***** Pretty much played straight with all my main characters except Medb. If Team Girl were to confront an indestructible unstoppable serial killer like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, Eile would most likely thump him in the chest and tell him to stop being a butt-head, but in situations where Eile is in a state of panic, Sunny can be icy calm. Despite her temper, Differel has the discipline and fortitude during a firefight to take her time to carefully aim before shooting. Margaret can flimflam monsters like a master grifter even as they roast her on a spit. Jade has the fortitude to participate in a Victorian Era autopsy.

Medb does not qualify because her ability to face down cosmic horrors comes from the fact that she is Nigh-Invulnerable.

Ninja Maid -- your maid kicks ass better than you can

***** Mrs. Widget rose through the ranks as a maid to become Differel's housekeeper, and along the way learned to kick monster ass.

One Riot, One Ranger -- when only one man (or woman) is sent to deal with a dangerous national crisis because he (or she) is the best qualified to deal with it

***** Team Girl to the US government and Differel; Differel to HM government; Vlad to Differel.

Plucky Girl -- brave and optimistic

***** Sunny; Eile also has her moments.

Powers Do The Fighting -- a character exerts almost no physical effort during combat but instead exercises his or her powers to defeat the enemy

***** Medb can mow down whole armies with a word and level whole cities with a song. Differel can just sic Vlad on any enemy that attacks her.

Rated M for Manly -- stories that are heavily dependent on things, situations, or actions that are stereotypically masculine

***** Medb: "Dark Vengeance", "The Lions of Inganok", "Gruff Tolls", "The Price of Folly"; Team Girl: "The Temple of Ubasti", "A Typical Friday Night", "The Peril Gem", "The Denver Walker", "Survival and Sacrifice"; Differel: "The Beast of Exmoor", "One-Percenter Vendetta"; Miscellaneous: "No Torrent Like Greed", "Felis Ex Machina", "Pyrrhic Victory".

Scarf of Asskicking -- nothing says "I can kick ass" like a neck wrap

***** Though not exactly a scarf, Differel has worn cravats since she was a teenager. However, Margaret and Team Girl sometimes wear scarves.

She-Fu -- the martial art that utilizes gymnastics moves as part of the fighting style

***** Averted with Medb and Team Girl. Medb is a brawler and a wrestler, who can lift an opponent over her head and toss him across a room. Eile is a boxer and Sunny knows some karate from her father, and Medb taught them Greek pankration, Hawaiian Kapu Ku'ialua, and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.

Zigzagged with Differel. Her Master-at-Arms Giles Holt taught her commando close quarters combat, jujutsu, and bartitsu, with an emphasis on rapid disabling and lethal force. However, so many opponents are so much more powerful than her that she incorporated her gymnastics training so she could keep them at a distance and prevent them from grappling her.

Margaret took dance lessons when she was younger, and she incorporated some of those moves into the training Differel gave her.

Waif-Fu -- the martial art that utilizes agility and precision strikes as part of the fighting style

***** Played straight with Differel and Margaret when they were children and teens, in that they weren't strong enough to take on even normal adults in a toe-to-toe slug match, so they had to rely on agility and precision strikes. Also subverted in that they fight dirty. Team Girl can be this at times, but more often subverted because their fighting techniques are more brute force, though considering that Medb taught them that perhaps is to be expected.

Silk Hiding Steel -- a proper lady kicks ass better than you do

***** Differel eats monsters for lunch (Aelfraed makes her breakfast), but when it comes to politicians she must walk a fine line between being "a mere woman" and breaking skulls. Hard experience has taught her how to balance aggressive negotiation with demure acquiescence. Margaret, on the other hand, is a master politician, having learned from her father, the Duke of Anglin. She can even use her feminine wiles to manipulate older, stuffier ministers.

Team Girl can be like this at times, using their gender and youth to make people underestimate them, but subverted in that generally they are less diplomatic. Averted with Medb; she just busts heads.

Jade, Jaim's detective partner and lover, is an actress by trade and an adventuress by profession. She has experienced things few proper Victorian ladies even dream of.

Specs of Awesome -- nothing says "I can kick ass" like a pair of glasses

***** Differel and Sunny both wear glasses, as do Aelfraed and Mrs. Widget.

Cool Shades -- nothing says "I can kick ass" like a pair of dark glasses

***** Vlad; sometimes Team Girl and Margaret; occasionally Medb.

Tranquil Fury -- an outward display of calm serenity hides an inner roaring rage

***** When Medb gives you the Kubrick Stare over her shoulder, you had better apologize instantly, or you'll be dead before you can utter your next insult. And even Aelfraed and the rest of the staff know enough to give Differel space when she displays the Ice Queen stare with the smouldering eyes. (Only Margaret and Victor can face down that expression and survive.)

Unflinching Walk -- a character walks away from a violent event without reacting to what happens behind him

***** In "The Temple of Ubasti", Eile walks out of the collapsed ruins of the temple as if nothing happened.

Warrior Monk -- a religious monk kicks ass better than you can

***** The Daughters of Cwenthryth are warrior nuns who fight pagans, heretics, and monsters alike, and are both admired and feared for their fanatical devotion. Pope Julius II excommunicated the order when it refused to give up fighting. It has never been rescinded, and neither have they repented, so in the eyes of the Church they are damned and condemned to Hell, a fate they accept without complaint. Each generation there is one among them who is specially consecrated and thereby permitted to wield Durendal, the Paladin Sword. The current owner, Walpurga, is the last of her order except for an aged Grand Mistress and a number of novices in training.

A popular legend among the warrior nuns states that when enough of them have been sent to Hell, they will rise up in revolt and overthrow Satan to end his rebellion and restore the rule of God.

Warrior Prince -- a prince kicks ass better than you can

***** Prince Charles; no, really! He actually saves Differel and Vlad.

Medb is the daughter of an ancient Irish High King.

As voivode, the real Vlad Tepes fits this trope well.

As a descendent of King Arthur, Differel could qualify as a distaff counterpart.

Margaret would be a Warrior Aristocrat.

Next week I will discuss Badass tropes.

And as long as we are discussing Action Heroes and Badasses, the weeks after that I will discuss Weapons and Combat Tropes.