Dark Chick

Right To Censor


Simply put, the Evil Counterpart to The Chick. Just as the heroic Chick represents diversity and an emphasis on emotion, so, too, does the Dark Chick. He/she (the gender ratio is fairly evenly split) is the member of the villainous ensemble that adds a certain indescribable quality. How it does this can vary. Most frequent is for the member to be a Token Minority (relative to their peers; it's not unheard of for this member to be a Token White or The One Guy), acting out their status to an excessive degree. For example, if this member is the Dark Action Girl in a male dominated organization, she'll also base a lot of her actions and dialogue on how she is breaking gender stereotypes. If it's a Scot in an otherwise English group, expect her to be wearing a red plaid kilt and speaking with a thick Glaswegian accent while perpetually drunk.

This member is often defined based exclusively on their relative personality beyond ethnic and gender stereotypes, though. If the other members are deadly serious, this is the member that constantly jokes around and pokes fun at the other members, much to their irritation. If all the members of the group are in it for the money or power, this is the person that's just in it for the hell of it. It's fairly frequent that the other members of the organization either don't take this member seriously and/or even actively hate them, but put up with them because they get results or are needed for some facet of the plan.

However, also as frequent is for this member to be defined by their tactics. If the other members revolve their plans around stealth infiltration to get things done, this is the member whose plan involves a 'distraction' - often involving them and a small explosive device. If the organization involves manipulating people through blackmail, then this is the member that seduces people to further the plans. Also common is for this member to factor emotion into their tactics moreso than the other members. Instead of setting up a Batman Gambit based on the logical actions and reactions of the parties involved, they instead set up emotional strife that has little to do with their roles but sets up their actions.

This character archetype almost always overlaps with at least one other. Most often, this is an Enigmatic Minion that is given a large amount of importance. A female Dark Chick will often also be The Baroness, a Dark Action Girl, The Vamp, a Femme Fatale, a Perky Female Minion, or an Alpha Bitch. Prone to the Heel Face Turn when they either realize that they just aren't fit for villainy or find that being a hero would be even more fun. If the Dark Chick is female and romantically linked with the main villain this chance rises to a near certainty.

The Dark Chick is an integral part of the Five-Bad Band dynamic. It's also the predominant type of member that shows up in the Quirky Miniboss Squad, where pretty much everybody overlaps with this. It's also not impossible for the Dark Chick to show up in a Five-Man Band in place of The Chick. In any case, they are liable to becoming The Face because of their said difference.

The Chick + Dark Chick = Designated Girl Fight

Examples of Dark Chick include:

Anime & Manga

  • Garma Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam.
  • Ninja heir Kyoichi Kunugi in Real Bout High School. His nickname, "Kunoichi" (which basically means "female ninja"), drives the point home.
  • Both Kanon Maldini and Nina Einstein (mix of this and Evil Genius) from Code Geass fulfill this role for Schneizel El Britannia.
  • Tayuya from Naruto. Foul-mouthed, arrogant, and one of the least effeminate ninja the Sound village have ever produced (and one of the only females), she hates her teammates at least as much as she hates the enemy. Also a Dark Action Girl, based on the impressively kinetic face-punching she inflicts on the titular character.
    • Later on there's Karin, who is part this and Evil Genius. Her teammates abilities are mostly purely offensive or defensive, but hers are based on tracking and analysis (with some stealth and an emergency healing power). She's also mostly there because she wants to be with Sasuke (a lot).
    • Zetsu and Konan both serve as this for Akatsuki: almost everyone else in the organization is based on offensive power, their role seems to be more on support and reconnaissance (though Konan eventually gets a chance to demonstrate her substantial fighting skills).
      • As did Mad Bomber Deidara before his untimely death. Unlike the other Akatsuki he had no loyalty to their leaders, and didn't care about their cause either, serving because he was forced to, and because of his desire to practise his explosive art.
  • In Chrono Crusade, this role can either fall to Rizel (a Dark Action Girl whose tactics depend mainly on controlling people like puppets while the other warriors in the group are more direct) or to Shader (a Perky Female Minion who doubles as the team's Evil Genius and rarely does any fighting—and, in fact, doesn't seem to even like fighting in the manga).
  • Soi in Fushigi Yuugi fulfills this role for the Seiryuu seishi.
  • In Black Cat Echidna Parass, Villainous Teleporter and Love Martyr to The Big Bad serves this role among the leadership of The Apostles Of The Stars. The only girl among the leaders, and present due to her crush on Creed, she's definitely the odd one out.
  • Aaronerio Arrurei and Zommari Leroux are the Dark Chicks of Aizen's army in Bleach. Both are Token Minorities (Eldritch Abomination and Scary Black Man respectively) both are far less than stable, even for Arrancar, and both are definitely weird.
  • Yumi, Neutral Female and ex-Hooker with a Heart of Gold is only a member of Big Bad Shishio's group in Rurouni Kenshin because she's in love with the psycho (who does, in fact, reciprocate). She's more or less an Anti-Villain is a group of villainous fighters, and serves as a Cool Big Sis to The Dragon during most of her on screen appearances.
  • Zoisite/Zoycite of the Shittenou in Sailor Moon, especially in the English dub where she had some serious schadenfraude.
    • Mimete from the Witches 5 in Sailor Moon S. She was definitely more concerned with meeting celebrities than villainous deeds. Her constant failures led to Tellu eventually killing her by shutting the power off from a television program that increased her powers. Yikes.
    • Fisheye from the Amazon Trio.
    • PallaPalla of the Amazoness Quartet.
  • The Ginyu Force from Dragon Ball Z has a male example in Guldo. He's the smallest and weakest but makes up for it with less conventional powers, stopping time by holding his breath and telekinetically freezing his opponents while he beats them.
  • LadyDevimon from both Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion gives us Akagi Ritsuko, who, like her mother, is "a woman to the end", including killing all the clones of Rei because Gendo chose them over her.
  • Sloth in th first series of Fullmetal Alchemist. In the second series at least, the second Greed fills the role instead as a male version of the Dark Chick, complete with a Heel Face Turn
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: Mai Valentine is this to Dartz's following the mental breakdown she suffered at Dark Marik's hands, being the only female member of his gang, as well as totally brainwashed. Among the Big 5, Crump fills this role, having a pathetic backstory and a truly strange obsession with penguins (although he's a Not-So-Harmless Villain when it comes to actually dueling).


Comic Books

  • Scarlet Witch in the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
    • Destiny in Mystique's New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
  • The second Trickster in The Flash's Rogues. He's a Tagalong Kid who's one joke away from being freeze-rayed.
  • Superboy-Prime never believed in the Sinestro Corps' cause. This lead to betrayal motivated by revenge.
  • Moonstone / Ms. Marvel in the Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts.
  • Wallace has two in the Sin City story, Hell And Back. Blue Eyes poses as the friend to The Chick in order to seduce and kill him. Mariah is more hands-on and simply tries to kill him on the spot. There is also Maxine in that story but she works behind the scenes. All three women work for the same organization and make catty comments about each other quite a bit (Blue Eyes mostly does it in a seperate story).
  • Amora, the Enchantress, a villain of Thor's, particularly when she was in the original incarnation of the Masters of Evil.


Film


Literature


Live-Action TV

  • In Power Rangers, the villainesses tend to mix this with Dark Action Girl.
  • And in Super Sentai, they have a lot!(The list is as long as that for Dragons)
    • Farrah in Bioman
    • Zonnette in Carranger
    • Shibolena
    • Shelinda in Gingaman, she has reputation for most revealing outfit in the series.
    • Venus in Gogofive
    • Lira
    • Tsuetsue
    • And conversely, Lamie in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. In fact, since Battle Fever J, it became pretty much the norm for the villains to have at least one of these in the team, and the same holds true for the entire Power Rangers franchise.
  • Mio Kuroki from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
  • Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially as part of The Whirlwind, amongst Angelus, Darla, and Spike.
  • While she isn't seen very much, Degrassi the Next Generation gives us Amy, who is mostly known for being Sean's rebound and giving Jay gonorrhea, which he then gave to Alex and Emma.
  • On Leverage, Parker is the Dark Chick of the Anti-Villain Protagonists. The team all have, by season 2 at least, the desire help people for its own sake. But most of the crew are very sane and, although they enjoy the thrill of the chase, they really, really enjoy spending their earnings and living the high life. They also tend to be able to lead relatively normal lives aside from the addiction to con-jobs. Parker, meanwhile, is the loon who enjoys having and fondling money itself, rather than spending any of it. She enjoys the job itself more than any vacation and she has no understanding of any kind of life outside of committing crimes for their own sake.


Theater


Videogames

Webcomics


Western Animation

    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.