Left: The one who fires off glorious magic spells.
Center: The one who builds the best gadgets.
Right: The one who punches things real hard.
Center: The one who builds the best gadgets.
Right: The one who punches things real hard.
Blossom, commander and the leader
Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter
Buttercup, she's the toughest fighter
Powerpuffs save the day!
Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter
Buttercup, she's the toughest fighter
Powerpuffs save the day!
— Ending Theme, The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
While this is not an Always Female group dynamic trope, it often applies to females more so than males. This trope is a type of Power Trio where one is smart, one is tough, and one is conventionally pretty, popular, and/or feminine.
Often, to give "Beauty" a skill beyond her looks, she also acts as the Team Mom, The Kirk, or the mediator when the other two get into their frequent fights. She may also be the one who is socially adept and has the least qualms with going undercover and/or using her feminine wiles for the group's benefit, while "Brains" has technical skills but is socially awkward, and "Brawn" struggles with any obstacle she can't beat into submission. "Beauty" can also be the trio's financial backer by way of her own wealth or a rich daddy or (ex)husband.
Often Color-Coded for Your Convenience as the Brainy Brunette, the Fiery Redhead and the beautiful but Dumb Blonde (keeping with giving them a skill, sometimes they can also be an example of Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold). Contrast though as the Blonde, Brunette, Redhead tend to be portrayed as flaws while Beauty, Brains and Brawn are good.
When they form a Big, Thin, Short Trio, usually the big one will be the brawn, the thin one will be the beauty, and the short one will be the brains. When they form a Town Girls trio, usually the femme one will be the beauty, the butch one will be the brawn, and the neither will be the brains.
A villainess twist to this trope could be made, should the three be a Terrible Trio. The Brawn is typically the toughest villainess (bonus if she's also a Tomboy), or a pretty hefty-sized girl with only a mild restraint over her emotions. The Brain is very clearly the smartest albeit analytical villainess. She invokes a lot of Badass Bookworm tropes and may or may not be attractive, depending on the writer. The Beauty however is more-or-less the most devious and manipulative between them, especially when it comes to people. She's very often an Alpha Bitch or a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, who keeps her trio focused or at least on speaking terms.
Keep an eye out on Spear Counterparts to the trio, though (for example, the Rowdyruff Boys). The male counterparts will often replace the "Beauty" with the "Bad Boy", a Goth or rebellious guy who is courageous instead of being particularly smart or strong.
See also: The Hecate Sisters, The Three Faces of Eve, Four-Girl Ensemble, Brains and Brawn. Subtrope to Brains Versus Brawn.
Compare Town Girls for a similar concept, and given its definition, the pairings between both tropes typically go by this:
- Butch = Brawn
- Femme = Beauty
- Neither = Brains
Example subpages:
Other examples:
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Advertising
- A print ad for Metropolitan Life had the Peanuts female characters, Marcie, Peppermint Patty and Lucy for a woman's oriented commercial message with them as Brain, Brawn and Beauty respectively. Only here, the ad is clearly being sarcastic about Lucy even while being completely true about the other two.
Asian Animation
- Noonbory and the Super 7
- Cozybory - Beauty (the most feminine Super Sensor, an artist and Drama Queen)
- Lunabory - Brains (the levelheaded peacekeeper)
- Jetybory - Brawn (a Pint-Sized Powerhouse with a Hair-Trigger Temper)
- Z-Squad: The Main Trio
- Haemi: Beauty (The most feminine of the trio)
- Jeanie: Brains (Smart and logical)
- Chaney: Brawn (The most hot-blooded and tomboyish of the trio)
Comic Books
- The Batgirls
- Barbara - Brains (The Smart Guy of the Bat-Family, a world-class hacker, and the most mature)
- Stephanie - Beauty (The Cutie, who's generally the most sociable and friendly)
- Cassandra - Brawn (The best fighter, the most muscular, is quieter and Book Dumb)
- Gen¹³
- Sarah - Beauty (Lipstick Lesbian, also the most femininely dressed of the girls)
- Roxy - Brawn (Likes motorcycles, has sharp tongue, and loves to smoke)
- Caitlin - Brains (Possibly because of her straight "A" student background, she also serves as unofficial leader)
- The Gotham City Sirens can all be considered the Beauty physically, however.
- Catwoman - Brains (A clever, manipulative Classy Cat-Burglar, who knows how to get what she wants.)
- Harley Quinn - Brawn (The not-so Dumb Blonde who's known for her violence and iconic hammer.)
- Poison Ivy - Beauty (The most feminine with beautiful powers that compliment her seductive nature.)
- Josie and the Pussycats - the Rock Trio
- Josie - Brains (the most level headed of the group and The Leader)
- Melody - Beauty (She's not bright and the prettiest of the three. She's largely unaware of all the attention she gets)
- Valerie - Brawn (She's the tomboy of the trio who usually protects the others from unwanted male attention)
Fan Works
- Between My Brother and Me: Mors Omnibus has the trio of Y(vonne) M(ay) D(awn)
- Yvonne - Brawn (the snarky knife-wielding Marionette Master)
- May - Beauty (the elegant Perky Goth vampire with the parasol she wields like a sword)
- Dawn - Brains (The perky Mission Control Playful Hacker — even though she could also double as Brawn with her enhanced arm strength)
- The three alicorns in Celestia's Rocket Adventures serve as this:
- Celestia qualifies as the Beauty, as her appearance, good looks and majesty serve as a cover for her power and experience, something which fools Giovanni into thinking that she's little more than a pretty curiosity.
- Twilight serves as the Brains, as she is quick to devour any knowledge of the new world that she's in and put it to practical use.
- Luna, being heavily active against Team Flare and leading a small army of Pokémon at the time she was reunited with her fellow Princesses, acts as the Brawn. Of the three, she's the most eager to take the fight to the enemy.
- Child of the Storm has Harry's female friends:
- Hermione - Brains (she's the academic)
- Diana - Beauty (the stunningly pretty Empath Nice Girl - albeit one you don't want to annoy)
- Carol - Brawn (the fiery Action Girl who'll go bare-knuckle with a werewolf the size of a battle-tank, albeit with an excellent tactical brain)
- In the Discworld of A.A. Pessimal, canonical genius wizard Ponder Stibbons finds, to his surprise, that Assasin Johanna Smith-Rhodes really likes him. Scroll forward a couple of decades and they are happily married with three daughters who fit this pattern. In order of birth, they are:
- Rebecka (Witch) - the clever, restrained, reasonable one (Beauty)
- Famke (student Assassin) - the aggressive, combative, one (Brawn)
- Ruth (artistic and musical) - the one with ideas, talent and a genius streak (Brains)
- In Finding a Place,
the Sirens are this. Sonata is the beauty (she's just as much of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing as her canon counterpart), Aira is the Brawn (the muscle of the three), and Adagio is the Brains (the intelligent leader and schemer).
- Horseshoes and Hand Grenades has different ones. For example:
- Kamen Rider Club Girls (Horseshoes and Hand Grenades)
- Cosmic Hunting Dogs (Month of Sundays)
- Sapphire Eleanor Rose Suzette De Mont Vs Canon - the three female members of the MSEA we see the most of.
- October: Brains; she's The Leader of the MSEA and generally makes all the decisions
- Aphrodite: Beauty; she's a lovely young thing who's not much into physical combat—instead, she's a Cute Witch
- Charlie: Brawn; she carries a BFG and is always eager to do the dirty work
- A Rare Male Example with the three most prominent male characters of The Story of Apollo, Daphne and Luca: An Italian Tragedy:
- A Thing of Vikings has Hiccup and his two wives, Astrid and Wulfhild.
- Hiccup is the Brains. He's a prodigy, polymath and inventor capable of building technological marvels and innovations that revolutionize Berk and change the face of industry, trade, communication, and warfare.
- Astrid is the Brawn. Her battlefield talents and strategic mind allowing her to command Berk's armies, figure out new ways of using dragons militarily, and act as shield and sword for Berk.
- Wulfhild is the Beauty, having far more political knowledge and diplomatic talent than either of the other two. She also proves to be a skilled treasurer and administrator, able to keep the ever-expanding empire of Berk running behind-the-scenes to allow the other two to focus on what they do best. And she often serves as The Heart as the most socially adept of the three.
- Callista, Aldonza and Zapana, the three saboteurs in Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash who do the most damage to Circe and Marc's wedding, serve as this:
- Callista is the most attractive of the three, to the point where Marc outright views her as gorgeous and contemplates adding her to his harem—to his claw-laden detriment.
- Aldonza is the most intelligent, going hand in hand with her existence as a fox caninoid. She organizes the evacuation of civilians once the attack begins, is ranked an admiral in her organization's space navy, and identifies the best way of destroying a magic-proofed mech that was keeping them occupied.
- Zapana is pure brawn. She admits during the fight with the above mech that if she wanted to, she could easily throw it into orbit. Her golfing the mech across the street with what is stated to be a "portion" of her full power shows that it's not an exaggeration.
Films — Animation
- Arlo the Alligator Boy: The three female characters of Arlo's gang:
- Furlecia — Beauty; an Action Girl furball who brings on the sass.
- Bertie — Brains; a good-natured Gentle Giant who's the most competent.
- Alia — Brawn; a tough tigress with crazy driving skills.
- The three female explorers from Atlantis: The Lost Empire:
- Helga Sinclair — Beauty; the beautiful, but cold-hearted lieutenant and Commander Lyle Rourke's second-in-command.
- Audrey Ramirez — Brawn; the tough, young team mechanic.
- Wilhelmina Packard — Brains; the elderly head radio operator.
- Following Helga and Rourke's betrayal, Kida Nedakh, the Princess and eventual Queen of Atlantis takes Helga's place as the Beauty instead.
- Batman: Assault on Arkham: The Suicide Squad (Task Force X):
- Amanda Waller — Brains; the strict mastermind of the squad, with an iron-clad grip on their actions.
- Harley Quinn — Beauty; a giddy, flirtatious Psychopath who's actually quite cunning.
- Killer Frost — Brawn; One of the more short-tempered members, who can dish out as much as she can take.
- In Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Batman encounters a mysterious new vigilante, Batwoman, and narrows her identity to three suspects: Mafia Princess (and Bruce's love interest) Kathy Duquesne, Gadgeteer Genius Dr. Roxanne Ballantine, and Officer Sonia Alcana. The big twist at the end is that all three women were working together and sharing the Batwoman mantle, using a voice modulator to sound the same. Batman correctly deduced that they all brought something unique to the table: Kathy provided the money, Roxanne the gadgets, and Sonia the combat training (as well as being the Team Mom). To tie them with this trope, Roxanne is Brains, Kathy is Beauty, and Sonia is Brawn.
- Brave: The three main women.
- Princess Merida — Brawn; the Fiery Redhead who lacked most (if any) traits of a stereotypical princess.
- Queen Elinor — Beauty; Merida's mother who tries her best to teach her daughter proper etiquette.
- The Witch — Brains; an eccentric and business-minded old sorceress that neglects the details of her spells.
- The three female lead cars from Cars:
- Sally Carrera — Beauty; the resident district attorney and Lightning McQueen's love interest.
- Holley Shiftwell — Brains; British spy car, Finn McMissile's female partner and Mater's love interest.
- Cruz Ramirez — Brawn; young racing trainer-turned racecar and Lightning McQueen's successor.
- Chicken Run: The main chickens, minus Ginger.
- Babs — Beauty; The Ditz, naïve and good-natured.
- Mac — Brains; the team engineer, building all the gadgets used in their plans.
- Bunty — Brawn; a Boisterous Bruiser, best egg layer in the farm, also the most cynical.
- Despicable Me: The three adoptive girls of Felonious Gru:
- Margo — Brains; oldest sister, the most intelligent, mature and sarcastic.
- Edith — Brawn; mischievous tomboy, with a rebellious attitude and a fondness for destruction.
- Agnes — Beauty; youngest of the trio, the most joyful and tender of the family.
- Encanto: This applies to the Madrigal family in various ways.
- The three mothers:
- Brains — Alma. She's the matriarch of the family who expects every member to receive each of their gifts.
- Beauty — Julieta. She's easily the most serene and compassionate of the mothers.
- Brawn — Pepa. She's a very hyperactive lady whose gift even consists of weather.
- Julieta and Augustin's three daughters:
- Isabela (Beauty) — The "perfect" and "prettiest", who uses her gift to bloom beautiful flowers.
- Mirabel (Brains) — The protagonist and only family member without a gift. She wears Nerd Glasses and relies on her intelligence instead of any special gifts.
- Luisa (Brawn) — Has Super-Strength as a gift and the build to match.
- For the gifted girls from the third generation (meaning Mirabel is out), Isabela and Luisa are still the Beauty and Brawn, respectively, where they're now joined by their intuitive and secretive cousin Dolores, who instead acts as the Brains for them.
- The three mothers:
- The Good Dinosaur: For the most prominent female dinosaurs:
- Beauty — Ida. She the matriarch of the Apotasaurus family who watches over her and Henry's children.
- Brains — Libby. As Henry and Ida's only daughter, she's shown to have her own wits and stealthiness.
- Brawn — Ramsey. Being a Tyrannosaurus rex herself, it's natural that she's very strong.
- Hoppers: This applies to the lead female human trio.
- Beauty — Mabel Tanaka. She is a Nature Lover who tries to make other people recognize the essence of Mother Nature itself.
- Brains — Dr. Nisha. Other than being a scientist herself, she's also something of a Deadpan Snarker, making blunt quips whenever she feels it.
- Brawn — Dr. Sam Fairfax. She's the genius behind the Hoppers technology, a system that lets humans communicate with animals, which is also a very labor-intensive project.
- The Incredibles: This applies to the stand-out middle-aged women (meaning Edna Mode is out):
- Brawn — Elastigirl/Helen Parr. As a Super herself, it's natural that her primary duty as such is crimefighting, even using her Rubber Woman nature to her advantage when needed.
- Beauty — Mirage. She seems to be an archetypal Femme Fatale, but she's surprising Affably Evil for someone who's working with Syndrome.
- Brains — Evelyn. As one of the Deavor siblings (alongside Winston), she's a Gadgeteer Genius who's behind DevTech's numerous technological creations. She's also the real Screenslaver.
- Inside Out: Riley Andersen's original female emotions are more or less Zig-Zagged in this category, but approximately speaking:
- Beauty — Sadness. She recognizes and understands that Riley herself needs to be more open about her vulnerability.
- Brains — Disgust. She is pretty witty when it comes to selectivity, especially when it comes to determining what's best for Riley.
- Brawn — Joy. Being the commanding member amongst them, she's naturally the most active of Riley's emotions.
- KPop Demon Hunters: The HUNTR/X trio:
- Rumi — Beauty; The Face of the band.
- Zoey — Brains; the rapper-songwriter.
- Mira — Brawn; The Dance Battler, tallest of the girls and also wields a massive melee weapon.
- The Lorax (2012): This applies to the most stand-out female Thneedvillians.
- Beauty — Audrey. She's a Nature Lover who desires to deviate herself from the old Thneedvilian tradition of using artificial oxygen.
- Brains — Mrs. Wiggins. She's Ted's mother who wants what's best for her son, though she would later support his ecological cause.
- Brawn — Grammy Norma. She's the most hyperactive of her family, so much so that she even Drives Like Crazy.
- The three sororities participating in the Scare Games from Monsters University:
- Python Nu Kappa (beauty) — A sorority composing entirely of identical-looking Alpha Bitches.
- Eta Hiss Hiss (brains) — A Goth-based sorority who relies entirely on stealth and cleverness.
- Slugma Slugma Kappa (brawn) — A sorority composing entirely of athletic cheerleader-like female monsters.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish: Team Friendship makes up a Two Guys and a Girl example.
- Brawn — Puss. Impulsive, brave and adventurous.
- Brains — Kitty Softpaws. Similar to Puss but is more rational and stealthier than he is.
- Beauty — Perrito. A Precious Puppy who acts as The Heart of the trio.
- Tangled: This applies to the standout female characters throughout the film.
- Brawn — Princess Rapunzel. Even though she has been isolated from the outside world in 18 years, she substitutes this with several indoor activities while inside the tower, such as handling her hair well, painting the walls, playing with Pascal and even running around said tower. Once she finally goes outside said tower for the first time since her infancy, she gets more physically active than before, especially when she revisited her actual homeland, the kingdom of Corona.
- Brains — Mother Gothel. While beauty is arguably her most definitive trait, being obsessed over looking good and staying young, she's also a keen Manipulative Bitch herself, using others for her own selfish interests. This case includes continuously gaslighting Rapunzel about the outside world's strict dangers just for her Sundrop-infused hair, to recruiting Patchy and Sideburns Stabbington to get back at Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert.
- Beauty — Queen Arianna. As Rapunzel's biological mother and The High Queen of Corona, she never stops loving her daughter. Even when a young Rapunzel gets selfishly captured by Gothel, this doesn't stop Arianna herself from hoping that her and King Frederic's daughter would come back to them, as demonstrated when she lifts up numerous floating lanterns, something which Rapunzel has incidentally wished to visit for her 18th birthday.
- Toy Story:
- For the most protagonistic human-based female toys:
- Brains — Bo Peep. Even for a porcelain doll herself, she's notably intuitive for other toys, and is shown to be quite witty herself on occasion.
- Brawn — Jessie. As the feistiest member of the Roundup Gang, she's also very physically ready, especially when it comes to helping others.
- Beauty — Barbie. True to her real-life toyline, not only is she a beauty, but she's also openhearted to others.
- This is applicable to the current female toy antagonists.
- Brawn — Stretch. She is a rubbery octopus toy who acts as some sort of a strongwoman for Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear's gang.
- Beauty — Gabby Gabby. She is a 1950s vintage pull-string doll who desires in being played by a child, and is surprisingly kind herself.
- Brains — Lilypad. She is a frog-themed digital tablet who is capable of handling her functions, including giving Bonnie Anderson a social life she deserves.
- For the most protagonistic human-based female toys:
- Turning Red:
- The most stand-out female Lee family members:
- Beauty — Mei. She's The Baby of the Bunch who's excited about the Boy Band 4*Town and slowly accepts her red panda heritage.
- Brawn — Ming. She's naturally a highly active businesswoman (specifically, a temple curator), and is a very Doting Parent towards Mei.
- Brains — Grandma Wu. She's outwardly, yet persistently serene because she wants to maintain her composure as Sun Yee's descendant.
- Mei's friends:
- Beauty — Miriam Mendelsohn. Mei's loyal, sisterly and kind Best Friend.
- Brains — Priya Mangal. Snarky, stoic and into gothic literature.
- Brawn — Abby Park. The most feisty and aggressive.
- The most stand-out female Lee family members:
- Zootopia: The three most prominent female characters since the beginning.
- Beauty — Gazelle. A glamorous, beloved pop-star with a caring personality, and wants peace and harmony between every single species.
- Brains — Dawn Bellwether. A bespectacled sheep who is the mastermind behind the first film's conflict of predators going savage.
- Brawn — Judy Hopps. A Badass Adorable policewoman who will not rest until the bad guys are arrested.
Films — Live-Action
- Bachelorette:
- Reagen — Brains, the Ivy league graduate who is so capable it's scary
- Gena — Brawn, The Lad-ette.
- Katie — Beauty, the ditzy Fashionista.
- Birds of Prey (2020) has the three founding members of the titular group.
- Dinah Laurel Lance / Black Canary — Beauty; An alluring, stylish lounge singer.
- Helena Bertinelli / Huntress — Brawn; A tough biker and crossbowwoman.
- Renee Montoya — Brains; An experienced detective from the GCPD.
- Charlie's Angels (2000) (the movies)
- Natalie - Beauty (even described as The Pollyanna by the film crew)
- Alex - Brains (Asian and Nerdy, the academic overachiever of the group)
- Dylan - Brawn (the most tomboyish of the trio, the opening intro establish her as being something of a rebel in her youth)
- The Duff: Basically how Bianca and her friends are described in the beginning.
- Jess — Beauty, "the kind one" and The Fashionista.
- Casey — Brawn, "the tough one" and very athletic Spicy Latina.
- Bianca — Brains, a geeky honor student.
- Halloween (1978):
- Lynda — Beauty; the stylish cheerleader and the only one seen having sex.
- Laurie — Brains; the most responsible and studious of the trio.
- Annie — Brawn; the most assertive and brash friend of the group.
- In the Girls with Guns action film, Killer Angels, the Blue Angels consists of the members:
- Beauty: Yau-li / Yolanda, most feminine of the trio, a long-haired Girly Bruiser who gets to go undercover as a singer during her undercover assignment, but when it comes to taking names she is a devil with a machine gun.
- Brains: Rosa, Yolanda's Bespectacled Cutie sidekick, strategist, and partner who backs her up during infiltrations and assists in planning the mission.
- Brawn: Amy, eldest of the trio, who fights first ask questions later and can beat up mooks with ease.
- The Sound of Music: The three oldest Von Trapp daughters
- Liesl — Beauty (The Ingenue)
- Brigitta — Brains (The Cute Bookworm)
- Louisa — Brawn (The Tomboy)
- Star Wars: The female protagonists from each trilogy:
- Padmé: Beauty. Kind-hearted, diplomatic (for the most part), and highly feminine.
- Leia: Brawn. Aggressive and the series' first Action Girl.
- Rey: Brains. A Genius Bruiser who is very knowledgeable of machinery.
- Three male examples in the film Spears, once the protagonists team up.
- Jeff is The Charmer, who makes his money through conning lonely women, and is the most conventionally attractive of the three (Beauty).
- Kian is a private investigator, who's also wise enough to know when to call their losses (Brains).
- Cormac is a weapons dealer, with an aggressive personality and a desire for the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique (Brawn).
- The Wizard of Oz has three male examples who go with Dorothy to see the titular character for what they wish for:
- The Scarecrow wants a brain (Brains) and is the most clever of the trio.
- The Tin Man wants a heart (Beauty) and cries so often that he's constantly in danger of rusting.
- The Cowardly Lion wants courage (Brawn) and despite his Adaptational Wimp status from the books has no issue fighting off the Winkie guards to steal their uniforms.
Literature
- Avalon: Web of Magic:
- Kara — Beauty; she's so focused on looking good and otherwise girly Adrianne calls her 'Barbie'. Her original function was to power up the others, not mediate. That was Emily's job.
- Emily — Brains; she's the one with The Plan to protect the forest or thwart the Evil Plan.
- Adrianne — Brawn; a tomboy and so action forward Kara calls her 'Xena'.
- Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield has this with the adopted three sisters:
- Pauline is glamorous, with beautiful blonde hair and charisma to be an accomplished actress. She often gets roles over better rounded performers because of her looks and charisma (Beauty).
- Petrova is more concerned with engines and books, and is the most sensible of the girls. Dance wise, she's the most technically proficient as well, even if she lacks the enthusiasm for it (Brains).
- Posy has extreme raw talent for ballet (an incredibly physically demanding pursuit) and is bold enough to get herself hired by walking in and insisting on an impromptu audition (Brawn).
- The Braided Path trilogy:
- Kaiku: Brawn — Noted tomboy who used to compete with her brother at everything. She also a capable fighter, and that's before she masters her kana.
- Asara: Brains — A manipulative shape shifter who uses deception to get what she wants, and will take on both male and female forms to suit her needs.
- Mishani: Beauty — A high class lover of arts and the girly girl to Kaiku's tomboy. While she's not beyond murdering people, she's more likely to use subtle methods such as poison, and uses diplomacy to net allies in the fight against the Weavers.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A male example consisting of the three boys who won a trip to Wonka's factory.
- Charlie Bucket is a kind, well-mannered and the most behaved kid on the tour (beauty)
- Mike Teavee is incredibly snarky and very knowledgeable about all things in television, especially in later adaptations (brains)
- Augustus Gloop is a big, fat kid who takes pride in how much he eats (brawn)
- Circleverse: The three main female characters could fit into it, while their foster brother Briar fits a little bit into all three (being handsome, tough and clever in a street-smart sort of way).
- Sandry: Beauty (thread based magic, clothes designer and politician)
- Tris: Brains (weather based magic, book worm)
- Daja: Brawn (metal work/fire based magic, smithy).
- Dancing Shoes by the same author has this lineup with the three cousins being raised at a dancing school:
- Dulcie, the vain and ambitious star child whose looks are praised by everyone is Beauty.
- Rachel, who is bookish, responsible and the favourite of their governess is Brains.
- Hilary is lively, athletic and enjoys fun dancing like cartwheels and jazz fitting Brawn.
- The Discworld witches (in addition to being The Hecate Sisters):
- Granny Weatherwax: Brains (the leadernote and the best at using "headology".)
- Nanny Ogg: Brawn (the most likely to use physical force on a villain and also very much "impulsive and pleasure seeking".)
- Magrat Garlick: Beauty (well, "decently plain", but the youngest and the one who ties the other two together: "Without Magrat, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg got on one another's nerves. With her, all three had been able to get on the nerves of absolutely everyone else in the whole world, which had been a lot more fun.")
- The Ember Blade:
- Beauty: Orica, a Sard lutist who sings songs and has her own bodyguard.
- Brawn: Fen, the group's hunter and archer, who learned to survive on her own at a young age.
- Brains: Shared by Vika and Mara. Vika is a druid with an extensive knowledge of plants, magic and the Nine Aspects in Ossian religion. Mara is a schoolteacher of young girls with her specialty being more scientific fields.
- The Finishing School Series:
- Sophronia is the Brains, being the best of the group at planning and at figuring things out.
- Dimity is the Beauty, being the most attractive of the group and the one most interested in fashion and social graces.
- Sidheagh is the Brawn, being the most physically capable and the best fighter of the group.
- Aphrodite, Athena and Artemis of Goddess Girls are this.
- Aphrodite - Goddess of Beauty (Beauty)
- Athena - Goddess of Wisdom (Brains)
- Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt (Brawn)
- In the H.I.V.E. Series, Laura, Lucy, and Shelby embody this.
- Lucy Dexter: Beauty - serves as The Face due to her Compelling Voice and is also a Romantic False Lead to Laura.
- Laura Brand: Brains - a Gadgeteer Genius and Cute Bookworm.
- Shelby Trinity: Brawn - and Action Girl who acts as an Always Save the Girl towards Laura, who is kidnapped in every volume.
- The Prophecy of the Stones
- Jade — Brawn, the hot-tempered duelist.
- Opal — Brain, level-headed and well-read.
- Ember — Beauty, sweet and kind reminder that Heart Is an Awesome Power.
- Implied in Plato's The Republic, which includes three castes, in which men and women are included equally.
- Guardian women — concerned with Forms and philosophical, brains
- Auxiliary women — concerned with physically guarding the city, do gymnastics, and look up to men, brawn
- Money-making/common women (and probably how he saw most Athenian women of his day) — concerned with the appearances of things, not how they really are, beauty.
- A Song of Ice and Fire has the Stark women:
- Catelyn — Brains. Provides counsel to Robb during his rebellion.
- Sansa — Beauty, which is admired by numerous characters.
- Arya — Brawn. She's a rebellious tomboy who practices fencing.
- Shallan and her two other personalities Veil and Radiant in The Stormlight Archive split these aspects between each other.
- Beauty — Radiant is the most conventionally attractive, but Shallan is the friendliest and the best at getting people to like her, while Veil is the best at talking and tricking people into doing what she wants. Shallan is also the mediator, as the original personality.
- Brains — Shallan is the best at thinking on her feet, while Veil is more street savvy and Radiant is ruthlessly pragmatic. After one of Veil's plans goes awry, Shallan realizes that since Veil and Radiant come from her, they can't be smarter than she is.
- Brawn — Radiant was created to be a warrior (since Shallan's traumatic past prevents her from using her Shardblade and Veil was unavailable to learn), but Veil is capable in a scrap as well, and loves her a good drink.
- Elderly versions in Yulia Voznesenskaya's There Lived an Old Lady Who Wore Green Boots:
- Angelina "Lika" (Beauty) is slender, elegant, very naïve and sentimental, still retains a good deal of her former loveliness, and writes romantic poetry.
- Agnia "Agunya" (Brains) is sensible, wise and rational, the leader of the three friends.
- Varvara "Varezhka" (Brawn) is the healthiest and toughest (and fattest) of the three women.
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before has the Song sisters.
- Margot - Brains, the oldest and smartest sister, who also doubles as the Team Mom of the family.
- Lara Jean - Beauty, referred to Kitty as the prettiest of the sisters, and has a quite a few admirers.
- Kitty - Brawn, the boisterous and sometimes rebellious youngest sister.
- The Big Bad Ensemble sisters of Wings of Fire are this.
- Blaze — beauty, beautiful and concerned with her appearance and charisma and not the smartest dragon you'll ever meet
- Blister — brains, known for being a clever Manipulative Bastard who wants to win the war via her plans
- Burn — brawn, huge and physically strong, prefers dealing with threats by just killing them right away
Music
- The Caramella Girls, according to their official profiles:
- Vera (Brunette): "More athletic and bolder than the other girls" (Brawn)
- Mindy (Blonde): "An upbeat and social girl" (Beauty)
- Nadine (Purple-haired): "More calm and reserved than the other girls, her dance moves are more graceful than Mindy and Vera's" (Brains)
- Mis-Teeq:
- Sabrina was The Fashionista, and frequently changed her hair colour the most (Beauty).
- Su-Elise was the one with organisational skills, and the best business sense (Brains).
- Alesha was the aggressive rapper (Brawn).
- TLC directly invoked this trope with their 1994 album CrazySexyCool: Left Eye, the aggressive and tomboyish rapper was "Crazy" (Brawn); Chilli, the most conventionally feminine of the trio and often Ms. Fanservice in their videos, was "Sexy" (Beauty); and T-Boz, the calm and collected lead singer, was "Cool" (Brains).
Professional Wrestling
- LayCool, whenever they were joined by Vickie Guerrero.
- Layla - the feminine dancer, ditzy and with a fondness for sparkly gear (Beauty).
- Vickie - the Official Consultant to Smackdown, frequently abusing her power to employ Loophole Abuse (Brains).
- Michelle McCool - the multiple time Women's Champion, a self-professed tomboy and athlete, with a desire to hurt and humiliate enemies (Brawn).
- The NXT stable Beautiful Fierce Females.
- Summer Rae - the glamorous Diva, with a Barbie doll inspired appearance (Beauty).
- Charlotte Flair - the technically proficient athlete who was often The Chessmaster (Brains).
- Sasha Banks - the ruthless, aggressive Blood Knight (Brawn).
Tabletop Games
- Legends of the Wulin: In the Tale of the Three Maidens' Answers, three concubines search for ways to preserve their value to the king. The first makes herself a wise and reliable advisor to the king (Brains), the second developed techniques for preserving and enhancing her beauty (Beauty, obvi), and the third joined the Wulin and became a powerful warrior (Brawn). The book mentions that how it turned out for each of them depends on the point the storyteller wishes to make.
Toys
- Diva Starz: Of the whole group, fashionable Alexa is the beauty, tech-savvy Tia is the brains, and sporty Nikki is the brawn.
- Honey Girls:
- Risa is the beauty, being creative and having a love for dancing.
- Viv is the brains, having a love for science and has even built a robot that could play a drum like her.
- Teegan is the brawn. While she is just as girly as the other two, she is known to have a fondness for sports.
Web Animation
- Disventure Camp: The season 2 trio made up of Ally, Tess, and Hunter fits this.
- Tess - Beauty: one of the nicest characters by the time of All-Stars, along with studying for art school.
- Ally - Brains: a gamer girl who also starts showing a more strategic side in All-Stars.
- Hunter - Brawn: a challenge beast.
- The three male Sins on Helluva Boss (not counting Lucifer, who has as of yet to cross over from Hazbin Hotel):
- Asmodeus - Beauty: the sexy and attractive King of Lust who encourages people to show off their best physical features.
- Mammon - Brains: Downplayed; not the brightest candle in the drawer, but a surprisingly shrewd and talented businessman.
- Satan - Brawn: the strongman of the Sin Ring "Circus" and the most physically imposing.
- Note that if Lucifer were included, he would become the Beauty as he is cute and surprisingly alluring, and Asmodeus would join Mammon as the Brains, being a Gadgeteer Genius and more generally intelligent than Mammon.
Webcomics
- Angel Moxie: As seen in the page image.
- Riley - The one who builds the best gadgets.
- Tristan - The one who punches things real hard.
- Alex - The one who fires off glorious magic spells.
- Drowtales
- Zala'ess Vel'Sharen - Beauty (she's used her beauty to seduce men and has dozens of children and is the most likely to flaunt her physical assets, also the clan diplomat)
- Sarv'swati Vel'Sharen - Brawn (leader of the Sharen army and a formidable fighter in her own right)
- Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen - Brains (mastermind behind the conspiracy that killed her mother, as well as The Chessmaster who's manipulated her other sisters into fighting each other)
- Grrl Power Played straight AND subverted. Maxima is the brawn, and Dabbler is the brain. However ALL powered female heroes are staggeringly beautiful, with viewer preference being the only difference. Dabbler has a slight advantage due to her natural succubus aura. Even non-powered (she's tech based) Sydney is only plain because she's compared to the rest of the team.
- M9 Girls!
- Karlita/Pink Starlight - Beauty. She is the Valley Girl and The Fashionista of the group, though she is a closeted bookworm.
- Any/Blue Destiny - Brains. She is the leader of the group, and the most dedicated to science in the team.
- Pato/Purple Space - Brawn. The Dead Pan Snarker, she can transform into the material she touches. She usually prefers transforming into metal.
- Princess Chroma:
- May - Beauty. She is sweet and innocent and initially Leopold thought she would be the obvious choice for being Princess Chroma.
- April - Brains. She is the Only Sane Woman of the group.
- June - Brawn. Tomboyish and belligerent, she is the antithesis of a Magical Girl. Still, she is the protagonist of the comic.
- Rosebuds:
- Maria Gonzalez - Beauty; she's a bubbly, fun loving ditz.
- Maricela Gonzalez - Brains; despite being the youngest (only 8), she's very wise and gifted enough to be in Maria's class at school.
- Rosa Gonzalez - Brawn; the oldest of the sisters and very strong, with a somewhat intimidating personality.
- Skin Horse: Shaenon herself said the main characters "possibly" fit into this trope.
- Tip - Beauty, the Ethical Slut psychologist who prides himself on looking great in a dress. Note - he's not female, just a crossdresser, The Pornomancer and surprisingly badass at times.
- Sweetheart - Brains, the enhanced-intelligence spitz who enjoys filing and organization.
- Unity - Brawn, the nanotech zombie with zero attention span who likes killing things.
Web Original
- DSBT InsaniT: Kayla's the Beauty, Portica's the Brain, Martha's the Brawn of the gal-pal trio.
- Kayla has the traditionally "cute girly girl" personality to her, and she isn't much help in a fight or very intelligent.
- Portica, even disregarding her psychic powers, she is clever in combat and one of the more sensible ones.
- Martha is surprisingly good at physically fighting, despite being so nice, especially when in her element.
- Helluva Boss: The three imp assassins for I.M.P (Immediate Murder Professionals)
- Blitzo - Beauty, due to his obsessions with the art world, especially musical theatre.
- Moxxie - Brains, as he is the most level-headed member of the team, and the Only Sane Man.
- Millie - Brawn, with her specialty in hardcore melee combat.
- When it comes to the three recurring male imps Fizzarolli takes over as the Brawn.
- The three Demon Lords introduced thus far:
- Asmodeus/Ozzie - Brains, the Demon of Lust who's a smarter than he looks even if a Hypocrite.
- Queen Bee-lzebub - Beauty, the Demon of Gluttony and a generous character, she's fun yet reasonable in her antics.
- Mammon - Brawn, the Demon of Greed and a selfish, repellent pig of a sin. Easily one of the more evil Demon Lords, who clearly cares only for himself and whatever money he can make.
- Human Kind Of
- Iris - Beauty. A woman who may look childish, but she has great looks.
- Judy - Brains. A nerdy teenager who discovers she's half-alien, has a bunch of science stuff in her room, is the only one who seems engaged in science class, and has a bit of a lab set up in her basement.
- Cory - Brawn. Judy's Only Best Friend who loves her Bizarre Alien Biology so much and is the capable fighter.
- Reconstruction Zone: From Episode 3 onward, we have cutesy, girly Vivi Celege (Beauty), intellectual Linsey Zonings (Brains) and hammer-wielding Wrench Wench Lilak Hammerhead (Brawn) for the major female characters.
- Red vs. Blue: The women of Project Freelancer
- Beauty - C.T. While she’s one of the more tragic characters in the Freelancer Arc, she's downright beautiful when she smiles◊. Word of God has also confirmed she wears the bulkiest chest plate because she’s quite busty.
- Brain - Carolina. Shes the team leader, and comes up with most of the mission plans. She’s also the Director’s daughter, so some of the intellect could be genetic
- Brawn - South. shes headstrong and quick to anger.
- Beauty - C.T. While she’s one of the more tragic characters in the Freelancer Arc, she's downright beautiful when she smiles
