To each their interest.
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls;
It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world.
It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world.
— The Kinks, "Lola"
Basically, a couple, or at least a pair, consisting of a very feminine-looking/acting boy and a very masculine-looking/acting girl. Often comes from pairing the Action Girl with the Non-Action Guy and with doses of Crossdresser, Bifauxnen, Ambiguous Gender, Attractive Bent-Gender, Unsettling Gender-Reveal, Viewer Gender Confusion, Dude Looks Like a Lady, Even the Guys Want Him and Even the Girls Want Her. Common in Gender Bender and "Freaky Friday" Flip series. Occasionally, House Husbands and their wives will fall under this trope.
Compare to Understanding Boyfriend, Pitbull Dates Puppy, and Violently Protective Girlfriend. Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, Tomboy and Girly Girl, and Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple work on a similar principle, but with two characters of the same gender. The Useless Boyfriend trope can be the result of this, but not always. Most likely are Cultural Rebels. Subtrope of Stereotype Flip.
This trope is also a strong inversion of Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl.
Important Note: While this is usually a straightforward trope, examples can still get subjective in regards to whether or not the woman is masculine enough or if the man is feminine enough. Keep a few points in mind when editing:
- Physical fitness and combat abilities relative to each other is irrelevant; what matters here is their comparative enthusiasm for these things.
- If the boy is immature, it needs to be in a feminine way, and if the girl is mature, it needs to be in a masculine way, and vice versa.
- The girl does not have to be a tomboy, and the boy does not have to be a sensitive guy. A Dark Feminine female and/or Noble Male can also invoke this trope.
- Being ambiguously gay or ambiguously lesbian is not a requirement for the boy and the girl in question to fit this dynamic.
- If the only context is that the boy is a wimp while the girl is action-oriented, it is not enough.
- The girl and the boy in question do not have to be in a romantic or sexual relationship. All that is needed for them to qualify is that they know each other to some degree, and have personalities opposite to their respective genders' expectations.
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Art
- Subtly done in Winslow Homer's painting "A Temperance Meeting", which visually inverts traditional gender roles with its stern-faced, powerfully-built milkmaid and effeminate-looking, bashful farmhand.
Comic Books
- Wonder Woman:
- John Byrne loves this trope, always matching a super-heroine with a waifish guy who serves her. Even managed to stick this trope in during his run of Wonder Woman (1987).
- In general, Wonder Woman's relationships with non-super powered men like Steve Trevor or even Batman, scream this trope. Since Diana metaphorically "wears the pants" in each relationship, the best guys like them can do is hold her back and be a cautious moral guide when it comes to mankind, due to her belonging to a Proud Warrior Race. Though this only became apparent in later adaptations as the proud warrior aspect of her character is a relatively new and often controversial addition and she was more of a Girly Bruiser in previous continuities.
- Most continuities maintain Artemis' masculine woodsy hunter nature and her twin brother Apollo's feminine artsy lover nature from the original mythology while also having them generally appear together.
- Downplayed but Gambit and Rogue have shades of this, mostly because Gambit is only couple degrees higher than a Badass Normal being a swift thief with kinetic explosion ability while Rogue is an immensely strong Power Parasite Flying Brick whose Story-Breaker Power puts her leagues above him, despite them being depicted as a Battle Couple. Personality-wise, Gambit is cautious, tactical, and wears pink while Rogue is headstrong, tomboyish, and stubborn. Nationality also gives credence to this trope as Gambit is from the French-center of New Orleans while Rogue is from Mississippi with her brash southern accent clashing with the Gambit's French tones. Rogue also often reverses the Bridal Carry with Gambit. Ironically being with Gambit lets Rogue actually becomes more feminine and stops being such a Shrinking Violet.
- Archie Comics:
- Betty and Archie from the main Archie Comics series at times have this dynamic, Depending on the Writer. When Archie's car breaks down, Betty fixes it. And there are two comics where they enter a team surfing competition.
- In "Topsy Turvy," Archie tries to lift Betty but isn't strong enough, so Betty resolves this by lifting Archie. They win.
- In "Star Stunt," Archie is strong enough to carry Betty, though he and Betty slip up during practice. During the contest, they encounter a wave, and Betty quickly recovers and Archie lands on her shoulders, and she keeps him up without a problem. They win the contest as a result.
- Samantha and Bingo from That Wilkin Boy are Expies of Betty and Archie who fit even better. Samantha is physically very strong, while Bingo is a weak musician. This trope may explain why her father never succeeded in breaking them up or getting her to date a manlier man.
- The Cabot twins from Josie and the Pussycats: Alexander is a rich fashion plate (or a coward in the Animated Adaptation), while Alexandra is mean and aggressive.
- This gets played with sometimes with Moose and Midge. While Moose normally exhibits standard jealous male behavior in regards to his girl, it is often suggested that Midge wears the pants in their relationship.
- Harley Quinn and the Joker are a romantic example in their later adaptations. Harley is an Ax-Crazy, Cute and Psycho Genki Girl with a Brooklyn Rage that tends to use her hammer and brawn to fight and can be rough with people. The Joker is a flamboyant Laughably Evil Faux Affably Evil guy who let his weapons do the fighting for him and is usually effeminate around others.
- In most variations Clark Kent aka Superman is a mild-mannered Momma's Boy from Kansas while Lois Lane is an outgoing, fiery determined city girl. Ironically Clark being more meek made his masculine alter ego Superman more attractive to Lois despite hanging out with Clark every day (or vice versa, depending on the continuity). They worked it out in the end though.
- Possibly Redlance and Nightfall from ElfQuest, although the elves don't quite go for the same kind of gender stereotyping that humans do. More to the point, the siblings Suntop and Ember. When trying to get a studio to do an animated version of the comic, Executive Meddling said that you can't have a calm guy and a tomboyish girl, and this is one of the reasons the author quickly abandoned that studio.
- The New Gods Mister Miracle (escape artist and acrobat from New Genesis) and Big Barda (renegade Apokoliptian gladiator) are in many ways a Happily Married version of this.
- Robin (1993):
- Tomboyish basketball player Callie Evans, who is shaping up to be quite The Lad-ette as her high school career draws to a close went on multiple dates and was close friends with the much more emotional Non-Action Guy Sebastian Ives.
- Robin himself with his frequent love interest Spoiler; Tim Drake is an emotionally open, sensitive guy who's girlfriend, Stephanie Brown, is a playful, cocky tomboy.
- Dale and Andrea from The Walking Dead. Dale's not feminine, but physically he isn't strong. Andrea is the sharpshooter, more energetic and take-charge personality.
- Yorick and his love interest finally get together near the end of Y: The Last Man. He compares them to the main couple of Moonlighting (a UST-filled detective series starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Sheperd), but takes great care with specifying SHE is the Bruce Willis equivalent.
- The Flash: Wally West and Jesse Quick are a non-romantic duo like this; Wally's The Heart and wears his emotions on his sleeve, who runs on The Power of Love. Jesse is studious and aggressively workaholic, known for being much less personable than him and the other Flash boys. His wife, Linda Park, is also a touch more masculine than he is, being a Passionate Sports Girl who often playfully chided Wally for not being a fan of sports.
- Princeless has the Rebellious Princess Adrienne, who wears armor, wields a sword, and rides a dragon; and her weak, sensitive brother, Prince Devin, who'd rather read poetry than fight. Both are failures in their father's eyes for this.
- The Witch Boy: Aster is a sensitive boy who prefers quiet activities within the homes and gardens. Charlie, his confidante, is an energetic girl who enjoys sports and road biking.
- The Cardboard Kingdom: Jack is a Wholesome Crossdresser who pretends to be an Evil Sorceress while his sister Sam is a Tomboy who's fantasy counterpart is a small, goblin creature with no feminine traits.
Comic Strips
- Peanuts: Initially, Patty and Violet's aggressiveness (both when they liked him and when they didn't) was meant as a foil for Charlie Brown's nature as a loser and a doormat. But then Shermy, who was also mean to Charlie Brown, was displaced by Linus and Schroeder, who are largely sensitive and introverted, while the girls' side gained the often ill-tempered and violence-prone Lucy and full-on Tomboy Peppermint Patty. Even Charlie Brown's own little sister Sally turned out to be an outspoken, in-your-face type. Of note is that of the four unrequited crushes in the strip, three are a girl pursuing a boy (with varying degrees of aggressiveness), and the fourth involves a character who's never even seen because frankly, that's the only level below being Charlie Brown.
Films — Live-Action
- In The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Tick wears a wedding dress and his wife wears a tuxedo to their wedding.
- All About E: E and Matt. She's an Action Girl and tomboy lesbian, Matt's Camp Gay while decidedly the opposite.
- Dating Amber: Downplayed and lampshaded when Eddie asks Amber to walk more feminine and she retorts, "what, like you?" and whacks him over the head. She is the outspoken, aggressive, hot-tempered and bold one in the pair. He's quiet, very shy and reserved.
- Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Platonic Life-Partners Edgin (a knitter, musician, and charismatic noncombatant) and Holga (a hot-tempered and brusque fighter from a warrior culture) are the Feminine Guy and Masculine Girl respectively.
- Enola Holmes: Enola and Tewksbury, as much as Victorian gender roles allow. Enola is the Masculine Girl, a Spirited Young Lady who resists etiquette and finishing school and is trained to fight, while Tewksbury is the Feminine Boy, a well-heeled aristocrat who ran away from his family's plan of going off to the army, and a Nature Lover who knows his way around local flora and cooks for himself and Enola while on the run.
- In Fargo, Marge Gunderson trails a couple of sociopathic kidnappers in her third trimester. Her melancholy husband keeps house and paints ducks for a hoped-for Post Office commission.
- In Impromptu, George Sand is, by 19th century standards, a Lad-ette, and she takes the lead in her relationship with Chopin. Frederic Chopin is a frail, sensitive, Bishōnen musician.
- Let It Snow: Angie, who goes by "The Duke", takes on the traditionally masculine role in her friendship with Tobin, who's a somewhat more feminine guy. She's more assertive with a tomboyish look, he's reserved and concerned with his appearance (causing a mishap while shaving his chest).
- There was a short film featured on Logo that showed a Gender Flip of a heterosexual wedding. The bride wore a black pantsuit; the groom wore a white tuxedo and veiled top hat and held the bouquet as his mother walked him down the aisle. He was also kind of short. Even among the wedding-goers, all the men wore different suits while the women were dressed more low-key.
- In Marketa Lazarová, Alexandra is a wild beauty, who rides horses like a man would and flays animals herself, while her lover Kristian is a Pretty Boy and a Sheltered Aristocrat.
- Peter Quill and Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy), Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne (Ant-Man), and Peter Parker and Michelle Jones (MCU Spider-Man Series) from the Marvel Cinematic Universe all follow this dynamic to some extent. Quill, Scott, and Peter are not afraid to show emotions whereas Gamora, Hope, and Michelle are all more hardened to the point of being The Stoic. In all three pairings, the man is also less aggressive than the woman.
- In Mean Girls, Janis Ian and Damian Leigh are best friends. Damian is a feminine gay man and Janis is a relatively masculine woman. Janis is bullied by Regina George for supposedly being a lesbian, based purely on her characteristics and fashion sense.
- In Norbit, there's Norbit and his first wife, Rasputia. Norbit is a shy, kind and sensitive Nervous Wreck and Extreme Doormat who doesn't have a mean or violent bone in his body where as Rasputia is a dominant, intimidating, aggresive and downright abusive Fat Bitch who doesn't shy away from causing physical harm.
- In On Moonlight Bay, Marjorie (Doris Day) is a baseball-playing tomboy. Bill is a college-educated intellectual. While Marjorie grows out of dressing like a first baseman, she still retains a lot of the personality (including fixing a car when it breaks down on a date, then driving off without Bill when he tries to claim credit for it).
- Tomboyish nanny Chessie and Annie's sensitive butler from the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, who are both apparently straight. This could have been a good example of avoiding gay-stereotyping characters; however, the fact that they fall in love with each other immediately upon meeting (when neither was previously shown to have feelings for people of the opposite sex) also has some rather unfortunate anti-gay undertones by today's standards.
- Queens of the Dead: Butch Lesbian Dre and Sam, her Camp Gay friend (who is also a drag queen). She's more confident in facing the Zombie Apocalypse and takes charge, including killing some, while he shrinks from violence while focusing more on simply surviving.
- Rat Race has the no-nonsense helicopter pilot Tracy Faucet partnering up with the sensitive attorney Nick Schaffer during the events of the game itself.
- Some Kind of Wonderful has best friends Keith and Watts, the former a shy and sensitive Starving Artist, the latter a Ladette drummer going through a Green-Eyed Epiphany.
- In Michael Bay's Transformers (Film Series), its original couple consists of the no-nonsense Wrench Wench Mikaela Baines and the neurotic Chosen One Sam Witwicky.
- A foster siblings variation with Raven and Charles Xavier in X-Men: Apocalypse. Both are mutant activists, but they use different methods when saving the world one mutant life at a time—the sister is more "active" and the brother is more "passive." Mystique is a forthright Action Girl who travels around the globe and regularly employs violence to free mutants who are in physical danger; she tells Caliban that she doesn't care what they do with their newfound liberty. Professor Xavier, on the other hand, is a sweet Non-Action Guy who remains at his home/school and coaches his mutant students on how to master their inherently hazardous abilities so that they're no longer a threat to themselves or to others, while at the same time nurturing them as individuals. In the final scene, Raven assumes a stern, no-nonsense approach when training the X-Men for combat, whereas Charles will continue to educate their minds and provide emotional support.
Literature
- The Ahriman Trilogy has sensitive, brooding Simon with militant bruiser Zoe.
- Animorphs has the very aggressive and assertive Blood Knight Rachel and her love interest, the mild-mannered Broken Bird Tobias.
- Anita Blake: Anita herself prefers male clothing, with limited/no make-up, is muscular and heavily scared. Micah, Nathaniel and Jean-Claude, among others, have long hair, low muscle bulk and delicate facial features.
- Nathaniel had to change his workout to stop bulking up, as it made him less flexible.
- Anita's favoret robe looks like a men's smoking jacket.
- Short King Micah and Anita have an agreement that he won't cut his hair if she doesn't.
- After dumping Anita (the second time) Richard hacks off his hair. Mostly because he was depressed, but partly because he knew she loved it.
- In Another Note, Naomi Misora acts as L's "shield" and teaches him how to fight.
- Marcus and Caitlys in The Arts of Dark and Light would be a somewhat downplayed example. Caitlys is not exactly unfeminine, but she is a Magic Knight from the elves' secular culture, while Marcus is a kind-hearted and devout scholar type without combat experience (when they first meet). She saves him from villains several times, including once when he tried to Save the Villain and got backstabbed for it (whereas she wanted to just kill the guy all along).
- Baccano!:
- Timid, chronically anxious All-Loving Hero Jacuzzi Splot and his Pyromaniac Violently Protective Girlfriend Nice Hollystone.
- Impulsive Blood Knight Mexicano Samurai Maria Barcelito and the passive, soft-spoken (though plenty disturbing) Torture Technician Tick Jefferson
- Seven-foot-tall, ripped Ladette aging and reserved, Reluctant Ruler Luchino B. Campanella.
- Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts: Identical twins Yuuko (masculine girl) and Hideyoshi (feminine boy) Kinoshita. While Yuuko is typically feminine in traits (such as being good at cooking), her personality fits this trope because of her aggressive, prideful, arrogant, quick-to-anger, and competitive behavior. Hideyoshi, on the other hand, is calm, helpful, and supportive. Ironically, he is also much more popular than Yuuko, much to her dismay, because of his looks.
- The Braided Path: Kaiku and Tane from the first book. She's a tomboy who grew up competing with her brother in just about everything, and later turns out to have fire powers due to being Aberrant. He's a healer and a trainee priest of Saramyr's earth goddess who poisoned his father after he raped Tane's younger sister.
- Jesse from Bridge to Terabithia is a quiet boy who spends his time drawing and is in love with his school's art teacher. His best friend Leslie is a boyish-looking Outdoorsy Gal. Jesse is Mistaken for Gay by his parents, due to his interest in art combined with the fact his Only Friend is a girl, while Leslie's tomboyishness makes her ostracized at school. Both elements were changed in the 2007 adaptation.
- By our standards, this is the default in the world of A Brother's Price. Men being so rare they are kept protected and secluded, and internalize a set of gender roles that encourage softness, vulnerability, passivity, physical attractiveness, and affinity for the domestic sphere, while women run the world and are just about universally more assertive, daring, and calculating. A little girl in tears over a cut on her knee is even told that big girls don't cry. By his world's standards, Jerin is actually rather feminine, as he works to escape when captured and does know how to ride horses, pick locks, read, and use a gun — although he's quite stricken when he actually fires it.
- The two azi (roughly, clone servants) Florian and Catlin in Cyteen. Florian is sensitive, social, and a Friend to All Living Things, while Catlin is cold and militaristic. While they're both bodyguards, Catlin specialises in battle, whereas Florian is better at setting and disarming traps.
- Discworld:
- At first sight, King Verence II and Queen Magrat from (among other novels) Lords and Ladies are more Feminine Boy, Feminine Girl. But when push comes to shove Magrat has Hidden Depths and can transform into an Action Girl. Verence's "hidden depths" came when he was made King and actually took an interest in his subjects and how to improve their lives with the latest advances in agriculture.
- In Monstrous Regiment, The Squad is led by the nervous, book-smart Non-Action Guy Lieutenant Blouse, and Polly, the point of view character, is a Bifauxnen Action Girl pulling a successful Sweet Polly Oliver. The story actually contains several female characters who are more butch than Lieutenant Blouse.
- Conina in Sourcery in contrast to scrawny Non-Action Guy Rincewind, who actually began to develop a crush on her despite it not going anywhere.
- In the Dragon Rider (1997) series, Lola is a daredevil Action Girl. Twigleg, by contrast, is timid, sensitive, and much more at home with books and computers than with having hair-raising adventures. However, he and Lola often have to work together (as he is the only other person small enough to fit into Lola's miniature aeroplane). By the second book, A Griffin's Feather, they have become close friends, and Lola is highly protective of Twigleg.
- Durarara!!: Celty and Shinra. Celty works a courier, rides a motorcycle, has Super-Strength, and doesn't have a head. Shinra works as a Back-Alley Doctor, is a Househusband when off the job, is a Bishōnen, and barely has the strength to knock Celty's helmet off of her neck.
- Avasrala from The Expanse is a foul-mouthed, no-nonsense, tough alpha politician. Her husband is a gentle, philosophical academic.
- Kissen from The Fallen Gods Trilogy is foul mouthed, cynical and hot tempered as she goes around the world killing gods who have gotten too demanding and destructive. Elogast is a former knight turned baker, who tends to be calmer and more soft spoken, albeit while struggling with PTSD.
- Maia and Csethiro in The Goblin Emperor. Maia is a polite, soft-spoken, Silk Hiding Steel Non-Action Guy, Csethiro is a blunt and assertive fencing enthusiast and Violently Protective Fiancee.
- In The Grace of Kings, Gin Mazoti and her friend/lover Luan Zya fit this contrasting pairing. Gin disguised herself as a boy when younger and continues to shave her head and wear masculine dress as an adult. While she is very well-read on military strategy, she's characterized by being a very hands-on military leader with an emphasis on dirty tricks picked up from growing up on the streets. In contrast, Luan Zya was (briefly) disguised as a girl as a boy, and grew up pampered in an aristocratic family. Despite their being stripped of their holdings, Zya maintains the wide-ranging education he received as a boy as well as somewhat affected court manners, and as an adult, is a Non-Action Guy whose military contribution is in the form of gadgetry and war-room strategy.
- This is a central theme in the Annie M. G. Schmidt story Het Fornuis Moet Weg ("The Stove Has To Go"). It's about a girl who wants to become a carpenter and a boy who wants to become a stay-at-home dad. They argue about it with grownups who are moving an old stove out of the house. Eventually, one of the grownups gets an idea: the stove can be seen as a symbol for the old times when a lack of modern household appliances meant that work around the house took all day and gender roles stayed reinforced. Because of modern luxuries, women now actually have time to study and choose their own careers, so there shouldn't be a need anymore for gender roles to stay as they were. The story is considered a children's classic in The Netherlands.
- The Hetty Feather series has a non-romantic example. Heroine Hetty is tough, feisty, outspoken, opinionated, proactive, and sometimes physically aggressive; while her foster brother Gideon is shy, passive, sensitive, fearful, and cries easily. Lampshaded in one scene where they are told that upon leaving the Foundling Hospital, Hetty will be sent to work as a housemaid and Gideon sent to the Armed Forces. They both agree they would each rather go into the opposite profession.
- Older Than Steam, even: in 1620 England, in response to a pamphlet entitled Hic Mulier, or The Man-Woman, which discussed the evils of women who dress and act like men, another pamphlet was published, Haec Vir, or The Womanish Man, stating that women would stop acting like men when men stopped acting like women.
- Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games are often called "the Star-Crossed Lovers from District 12" because of their romance while in the Hunger Games, where only one can survive. Katniss is a determined fighter and an excellent archer. Her strategy is to put on a brave face so as to not appear weak. Peeta is more expressive of his emotions as seen in his tear-stained face, artistic talent, and public confession of love for Katniss.
- I Became the Villain the Hero Is Obsessed With: Shin Haru is a Flying Brick superheroine who takes a courageous, blunt approach to everything. Her nemesis/Stealth Mentor, Da-in, is a sly, evasive Support Party Member whose taboo attractiveness and Hidden Heart of Gold evokes the "if only I could redeem her" fantasy.
- Infinite Stratos: The biggest badass Ace Pilot Chifuyu Orimura living with her little brother and main protagonist Ichika Orimura for the majority of their lives. He is the series Househusband who takes care of all the housework while she earns the money for both of them.
- Jeeves and Wooster: Bertie Wooster and some of the women who set their sights on him. Bertie is sweet-tempered, non-combative, and a bit of a dandy. He has an unfortunate tendency to attract women with frighteningly assertive personalities.
- In Jessica's Ghost, Francis is an introverted boy who's interested in fashion, while Andi is an athletic girl with a Tomboyish Name who used to think she was a boy, according to her mother.
- Early in the Last Herald-Mage Trilogy, the very feminine Vanyel feels that the only person who truly loves him and tries to help him is his far more butch older sister Lissa. Their family tends to produce manly men and womanly women but there's at least one Action Girl in every generation who takes after her brothers, including having their harsher facial features, and the family's used to that. Unfortunately that means when Lissa goes to join the army, she leaves Vanyel behind.
- A non-romantic example in Little Women between Jo and Laurie — she's a no-nonsense, unmannered writer who feels uncomfortable in the presence of females, talks about her gender in a manner incredibly reminiscent of transgender people today, and finds sentimentality utterly repellent. He's an artist and a musician, is stated many times to have an acute sense for the beautiful, is initially (before his best friend stirs up his mischief and college gives him a gutter mind) described as always sweet and gentle, a hopeless romantic to the point of total despair when his heart is broken, and unfailingly sentimental. Just to clarify: Yes, Jo is the girl and Laurie is the boy, and those are both nicknames of their own choosing.
- The Lunar Chronicles:
- Cinder is a jaded Wrench Wench while Kai is a diplomatic and soft-spoken gentleman.
- Scarlet is a Fiery Redhead and The Gunslinger who was hardened after some Parental Abandonment and was raised on a farm, while Wolf, although an exceptional fighter, is extremely quiet and shy.
- In Mistborn: The Original Trilogy, there are elements of this in the relationship between Vin (a blunt Action Girl assassin) and Elend (a thoughtful, bookish nobleman). It's not completely straight — Vin does have a girly side and Elend will get dangerous if sufficiently motivated — but the trope can definitely be seen here.
- In The Moomins, Little My (a tough and plucky tomboy) and Sniff (sensitive, cowardly and delicate) is a non-romantic example.
- Moribito: Balsa is a veteran Action Girl and The Stoic. Her childhood friend, Tanda, is a gentle House Husband who honed his healing skills by patching up her wounds over the course of 20 years.
- Mortal Engines: Tom and Hester fit this trope, especially in the first half or so of the first book of the series. Hester hides her emotions, doesn't talk much, is a badass Action Girl, and is used to dealing with the rough world beyond the cities without complaints. Tom, on the other hand, is sensitive, emotional, naive, and is constantly shocked by the rough-and-tumble world around him. As the series goes on Tom becomes tougher, while Hester sometimes shows quite a bit of her emotional side, so this trope isn't always in effect — though there are still parts in the later books where Tom very clearly fills the more traditionally "feminine" role in the story, with Hester acting "masculine". For example, towards the end of Predator's Gold — for much of the book Tom seems to fit the "masculine" mold more so than Hester, but towards the end, Hester becomes very protective of Tom, keeps him out of harm's way, and plays the macho action-hero while Tom fills a more sensitive and support-oriented role.
- Both boys and both girls in The Mysterious Benedict Society are platonic examples. Sticky is panicky, soft-spoken, and sensitive while Constance is a sassy Bratty Half-Pint. Reynie is a mild-mannered bookworm while Kate is an energetic Action Girl.
- Classic and surprising example: Christine and Raoul from The Phantom of the Opera. Out of the couple, Christine is described as "the strong one" of the relationship. She just has better fortitude than Raoul, and she might be physically stronger than him given that Christine overpowers Raoul twice in the novel to protect him from Erik, also Raoul is quicker to emotion than her being apt to burst into tears more frequently. Although to be fair Raoul is good with a pistol and actually wounds Erik, but regardless Christine is still the one who saves Raoul from her titular Stalker with a Crush's wrath. When this trope is subverted and Christine is more typically fearful it's a sign of how much the fear of Erik has gotten to her. Averted in the stage and movie adaptions where Christine goes through Chickification and Raoul becomes a badass Master Swordsman.
- Phenomena has the elven twins Alk and Ilke. Alk is gentle, mature, prefers reading compared to adventure, and doesn't really like fighting. Ilke on the other hand loves sparring, lies sometimes, is quick to action, hates admitting it when she's scared, loves adventure, and is all around a bundle of fun. This also makes some conflict between them as Alk fulfills the prophecy because he has to but prefers being with his girlfriend, while Ilke follows her heart and wants to save their people and others who are victims to slavery because she wants to. It's not a gender inverted Women Are Wiser either as Ilke does pick up things they have been taught even though she maybe daydreamed through the lesson.
- This description of a young couple from The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium by Gerald Durrell:
Perry and Marjorie, hand in hand, entered the restaurant. Marjorie was a handsome lady who did look a little like a Gauguin maiden, and Perry was a willowy, delicate, and rather beautiful young man in the Byronic style.
- Pinky and Rex about a boy whose nickname was Pinky (his favorite color was pink) and Rex, a girl who liked dinosaurs and soccer.
- The Protector of the Small series has Kel, a stoic girl dedicated to becoming a knight and fighting injustice, and her friend Neal, a healer-turned-knight who often uses White Magic to help his friends and is constantly lovesick over court women.
- In the Ravenor novels, Patience Kys and Carl Thonius are described this way. Hyper intelligent, scholarly dandy Thonius is frequently referred to as a pussy, frequently by Patience herself, a vicious battle telekine. This might be entirely fair, as the novel mentions that anything short of an Astartes in full battle plate is a pussy compared to Patience Kys.
- The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong: Tianlang-Jun is a demonic ruler and Su Xiyan a human cultivator, but unexpectedly, he's naive and carefree, while she's known to be cold and ruthless. Observing the couple, Zhuzhi-Lang likens the former to a "pampered young [lady], who had run away from home and was ignorant of the world" and the latter to "one of those wealthy young masters in plays, with their distinguished statuses and heaps of money".
- Sky Pride: Tian Zihao is small, quiet, and as a side-effect of his body reforging, permanently smells nice. He uses yin-aspect open palm martial arts. His friend, Hong Liren, uses fire and an aggressive spear art, both considered yang-aspected.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth, aesthetically at least. Jaime is said to be so handsome it spills over into "pretty" territory (although he's also widely regarded as the greatest living swordsman prior to losing his right hand, at least), while Brienne is known for her unattractiveness and her un-lady-like habits of wearing armor, wielding a sword, and beating the crap out of people who piss her off. They form something of an uneasy Battle Couple in A Storm of Swords. As people have observed, one of the fun things about them as a pairing is that they are very much a "beauty and the beast" couple… but which one is which changes depending on if you're talking about looks or about personality.
- An additional example is a sibling pairing rather than a romantic one — Jojen and Meera Reed. Jojen is a frail, sensitive and psychic boy, and Meera, a physically-inclined girl who protects him.
- Another sibling dynamic, Theon and Asha, also qualify.
- Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, Jon Snow's possible real parents, also had this dynamic. Lyanna was a brave tomboy who loved to ride and was almost certainly the mystery knight known as the Knight of the Laughing Tree at the Tourney at Harrenhal. Rhaegar, a bookish, melancholy Long Haired pretty boy, while a noted swordsman, was a musician first and foremost, who only became a warrior because he believed the prophecy of the Prince Who Was Promised applied to him (and wasn't as good as Robert Baratheon, as was demonstrated fatally at the Battle of the Trident).
- Star Wars Legends: Depending on the Writer, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker. When Timothy Zahn writes them, Luke is the sweeter, gentler one who prefers to avoid violence when possible, is always giving second and third chances, and is very open emotionally. Mara is more hostile to the world, blunt and direct and not about to let herself be jerked around, much more fiercely independent, and untrusting.
- Swan's Braid & Other Tales of Terizan: Terizan is a tomboy lesbian thief who's best friends with the effeminate Ambiguously Gay Poli, a male sex worker.
- Femysade and Aqib in A Taste of Honey. Femysade is taller and stronger than Aqib, has a no-nonsense attitude, and spends her time studying mathematics and physics, while Aqib is — and remains for all his life — a slight, rather weak boy who prefers to avoid conflict and work with animals. Femysade expressly chooses him as her husband because Weakness Turns Her On but later leaves Aqib and their daughter behind to pursue her scientific interests, while Aqib stays behind and takes care of Lucretia. Also, during prayer dances, everyone prefers his performance because it's more feminine — and submissive — than those of more skilled dancers.
- In a very unusual setup for a Romance Novel, Nora Roberts' Tears of the Moon has as its romantic leads Shawn, a sensitive songwriter and pub cook, and Brenna, a feisty, tomboyish handywoman.
- Things Fall Apart has shades of this with Nwoye and Ezinma, the two children of Okonkwo who get the most focus. Nwoye is the oldest of all his kids, but is too sensitive to live up to Okonkwo's expectations of a manly man; meanwhile, he outright says that Ezinma should have been a boy, as she's more assertive and prone to getting her way.
- The main couple in Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks have shades of this, at least in terms of gender roles — Paul is boyish but virginal, beautiful and compared to Sleeping Beauty, and the Lady is older, independent, mature, compelling and in charge.
- Toradora!: Ryuji and Taiga have aspects of this in personality, but it contrasts with their appearance. Taiga is small ("looks like a doll") but has a brash, loud and angry personality. Ryuji has the Face of a Thug but is generally quiet and enjoys housework (especially cleaning but also cooking).
- Venus to Mamoru!: Ayako's the violent, Tsundere Person of Mass Destruction who gives off Huge Schoolgirl vibes in her attempts to act more feminine (not at all helped by the Absurdly Powerful Student Council constantly teasing the two about their relationship), and Mamoru's a cute boy who takes all the craziness around him with a gentle smile.
- In Warrior Cats, Ivypool and Fernsong. Ivypool is a she-cat and one of the toughest fighters in the Clan, who survived literal Training from Hell, while Fernsong is a gentler tom. Ivypool wasn't certain about having kits since she didn't want to spend a whole six moons in the nursery, but they decided that once the kits were weaned, Fernsong would move into the nursery to take over their care until they became apprentices. His name is also often considered feminine by fans since both halves of it have been used more often for female characters.
- Wings of Fire pairs forgiving, born-diplomat Clay with Peril, an emotional and easily annoyed soldier.
- Yumegari implies that Tatsumi's dead parents were like this. The Action Mom mother was the active yumegari who drove into people's dreams/subconscious and a Lethal Chef, the father watched over his wife's work as her yumemori and was a Supreme Chef (and Tatsumi pretty much describes her dad as a male Yamato Nadeshiko).
Manhua
- No Doubt In Us: The Empress is the daughter of a military family and is herself skilled in martial arts, the Emperor is terrible with all things martial, but is well studied and skilled in music and poetry.
Manhwa
- The Breaker: Ji-Nie as the Fiery Redhead, Hot-Blooded, leather-wearing tomboy bodyguard to the kinder, gentler Shi Woon.
- Demon Diary: Raenef and Erutis are a platonic version. They're more or less equally androgynous (he's the one with longer hair).
- Hot Blooded Woman: Haji and Shinwoo. Downplayed in that he's not overly feminine, but he's certainly much calmer and more well-mannered compared to his overly macho, lad-ette girlfriend.
Music
- HoneyWorks:
- Downplayed in "Nakimushi Kareshi". Len is the sensitive crybaby who is always crying over simple stuffs, but while Miku is not shown to be a tomboy, Len describes her as "the strong one", as she's always the one to comfort him when he cries.
- Koyuki Ayase and his Second Love Ryou Ogino from the Confession Executive Committee ~Love Series~ . The latter is a Tomboyish Statuesque Stunner who is adored by many female underclassmen due to her cool personality. The former is a Bishōnen Shrinking Violet who used to be teased by his classmates for being too feminine.
- In Barry Louis Polisar's "My Mommy Drives a Dump Truck", the narrator's mother is the breadwinner of the family and always drives the car, while the father is a House Husband who cooks, cleans, sews and takes care of the children. The mother even grew a beard at some point.
- Androgynous, by The Replacements and also covered by several artists such as Crash Test Dummies, Joan Jett, Miley Cyrus, and Laura Jane Grace, is a rather sweet song about a couple who like to dress as the opposite sex.
- Molly by Carrie is about a man being feminised by his more assertive partner.
Passiveness turns her on, when she's strapped on.
- Dar Williams' "When I Was A Boy" is a heartwarming take on this. The narrator is a woman who, as a child, thought she was a boy because she didn't conform to gender roles. Her parents discouraged her from climbing trees, not wearing a shirt, and going out by herself, constantly telling her that she needed to find a "nice boy." In the final verse, she tells the man she's on a date with that she knows all his tricks and submits to his superiority, only for the man to admit that he was into feminine things as a child and was similarly forced to be more masculine.
- "Just Give Me a Reason" is a duet between Pink
◊ and Nate Ruess◊ of the band fun.
- Martha's "Sleeping Beauty" is about a brother and sister with this dynamic, who are nonetheless expected to conform to their parents' expectations.
Your football boots,
My football knees,
I hate the shoes they bought for me,
Inside gets boring but when I showed I had an interest in rugby,
They laughed at me. - The song "Not An Apology" by Bea Miller is sung from the perspective of a punk girl who forms this trope with her boyfriend. It's quickly shown that they couldn't handle each other's contrasting lifestyles, and so the girl chose to break up with him.
"You're such a chick, it makes me feel like a dude."
- Played for Laughs in novelty song "Masculine Women! Feminine Men!", which portrays 1920s androgynous fashion trends as sending gender roles off a slippery slope:
Sister is busy learning to shave,
Brother just loves his permanent wave,
It's hard to tell 'em apart today.
Myths & Religion
- Classical Mythology:
- The twins Apollo and Artemis might be considered such, but only by modern standards. Apollo is sometimes thought of as a Bishōnen (as the god of "beardless youth") and He is the god of, among other things, music and art. He also spends a lot of time with the Muses. To classical Greeks, however, he was all man. Artemis, meanwhile, is a wild Action Girl who spends most of her time hunting in the wilderness. But she's also the goddess of childbirth and infants, and of chastity and girlhood itself.
- Hercules and Queen Omphale. He was ordered to serve her for a year as punishment for a crime. She ordered him to wear women's clothes and spin cloth while she had fun strutting around in his lionskin and waving his club. Keep in mind that Hercules did that only because he was forced to and his real personality is very manly.
- In Kabbalah, the Tree of Life has pillars to either side, with the Pillar of Severity containing the spheres of Binah, Gebura and Hod and the Pillar of Mercy containing Hokma, Chesed and Netzach. The spheres of Binah, Gebura and Hod are associated with strictness, severity, knowledge and power and are also considered feminine. The spheres of Hokma, Chesed and Netzach are associated with creation, kindness, mercy and victory and are considered masculine. The dichotomy between Gebura and Chesed is possibly the best example of this trope, with Gebura (which literally translates to "strength" or "severity") being associated with what people usually consider to be masculine things, like courage, war and anger and Chesed (which translates to "lovingkindness") being about softer qualities like equanimity and friendship. Gebura is also red and Chesed is blue, making this a form of Red Oni, Blue Oni. To give you an idea, Project Moon personifies the spheres quite accurately.
Pro Wrestling
- "Exotic" Adrian Street and Miss Linda. Adrian was one of the most successful wrestlers to use the Gorgeous George gimmick, and Linda played a feminine inversion of the gimmick by being tough, aggressive, and dressing in black leather. Successors include Rico Constantino and Miss Jackie and Paradise and CJ Lane.
- IWA Puerto Rico had rivalries where Barbie Boy and Queen Adonis were the feminine men while La Amazona and Juliette The Huntress were the masculine women. Albeit, an even more masculine woman, in Killer Kat, often teamed with Barbie Boy, as did the very feminine (but still violent) La Morena. The World Wrestling League later dusted off the Juliette\Barbie Boy feud when Barbie Boy tried to claim the Diosa's Title belt his old partner La Morena had left vacant before the new champion could be decided in an upcoming match between Santana Garrett and Andrea Mother at Wrestlefest. Juliette, now going by Ivelisse VĂ©lez, took exception to Barbie Boy trying to claim another women's belt after he and Queen Adonis fought over IWA's while most of the women went to WWC, and took him on in the ring. Her victory caused WWL to name her the new champion and task her with defending it against Santana and Andrea when they arrived.
- Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella. Santino also got a bit of this when he started dating Tamina as well but that didn't really last long.
- Maxine and Derrick Bateman from NXT Redemption. They had an abusive relationship where Maxine would physically abuse Derrick but then coddle him, until his friends staged an intervention, after which Maxine entered a more healthy relationship with the more manly Johnny Curtis...until Curtis became a flamenco dancer, anyway.
- Ivelisse Velez was the more masculine half of her Lucha Underground Tag Team with XO Lishus. Velez isn't the most masculine woman imaginable, especially not post FCW revival and NXT, where she was basically forced to look more conventionally feminine and retained some of that look even into The Temple, but she still wrestles in basic sports bras, tights or leotards with kick pads. XO Lishus wrestles more dolled up and in a woman's two piece cheerleading outfit. Velez does have a few acrobatic moves, but she's mostly grounded, methodical and a fairly vicious striker who favors Choke Holds while Lishus isn't just more of a highflier but dances, twerks and makes prominent use of his ass in his offense. This trope was downplayed, however, when the two became a Power Trio with the more masculine, if sleazy Joey Ryan out of mutual dislike of Jack Evans.
Radio
- In A Prairie Home Companion: Lake Wobegon, where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."
Roleplay
- In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, this is the dynamic that Zia has with two of her male friends, Ivan and Ciro. Zia is athletic, cheerfully crass, and isn't afraid to throw down either physically or verbally. By contrast, Ivan is quiet, thoughtful, and physically unfit, whilst Ciro is kind-hearted, reluctant to fight, and has various feminine hobbies like cooking and cleaning.
Stand-Up Comedy
- Nate Bargatze has a routine that starts "My wife is the man of our house", and describes how repairmen always assume he's the person they should be talking to, and he has no idea what they're talking about. After a conversation with a plumber in which he didn't even know what a water heater was, the plumber asked "Is your husband here, by any chance?" and Nate replied "Yeah, she's around here somewhere. She's probably in the shed."
Theatre
- William Shakespeare:
- Romeo and Juliet by their time's standards. Romeo is the one with emotional reactions for better or worse, whereas Juliet is more practical and stages their doomed escape. In fact, Romeo's Hot-Blooded nature puts both of them into HUGE trouble when he kills her cousin, Tybalt, to avenge the death of Mercutio, and Juliet is the one who, with the help of a local priest, tries to brew a plan to get both of them out of it. Romeo kills himself with poison, which is considered a feminine way to commit suicide, whereas Juliet uses Romeo's dagger, which was a weapon used typically by men.
- This applies to some degree to many of the lead couples in Shakespeare's comedies; the woman is typically wittier and more practical, and the guy is emotional in different ways (Hot-Blooded, brooding, etc.)
- Played with in Macbeth, with Lady Macbeth being the more aggressive and ambitious of the two. In fact, as soon as she finds out about the witches' prophecy she immediately begins formulating how to kill Duncan. While Macbeth is torn with internal guilt about his feelings, she's the one that goads him into doing it by questioning his manhood and saying he has no courage. Of course, after the murder, they "switch back" with Macbeth turning into a kill-crazy tyrant and Lady Macbeth so wracked with guilt that she goes insane.
- A case can be made for Elphaba and Fiyero in the stage version of Wicked. He's a Fun Personified, foppish slacker who previously existed primarily to be Glinda's arm candy, and she's a practicing witch, rebel, and active civil rights activist.
- Princess Winifred the Woebegone and Prince Dauntless the Drab from Once Upon a Mattress. Winifred is a plucky Tomboy Princess who likes to wrestle, crosses the castle moat by swimming through it, and is nicknamed "Fred". Dauntless, on the other hand, is an innocent, sensitive guy, is the more romantic of the two, and is so meek that the idea of him confronting his evil mother is seen as genuinely shocking.
Tabletop Games
- In chess, the queen represents the most powerful piece in terms of moving around the board and capturing opposing pieces while the king is largely ineffectual and must be protected.
Visual Novels
- Danganronpa:
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri are a non-romantic (aside from a little Ship Tease) example. It's based on personality rather than appearance; Kirigiri is aloof, proactive and willing to take risks, while Naegi is friendly and understanding, but more passive. Kirigiri is also taller than Naegi (granted, he is the second shortest in his class, along with Aoi Asahina, And she saved his ass a bunch of times during the game. There's a reason the fandom considers Naegi the heroine and Kirigiri the true hero, after all.
- In the sequel to both this game and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Danganronpa 3: The same couple makes a reappearance, having survived the last game. Their relationship has clearly developed into something more romantic, but personality-wise, they're pretty much the same. Kirigiri is also Naegi's superior in the Future Foundation.
- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: While averted in terms of appearance, Kaede Akamatsu is assertive, is quick to take a leadership role, and is paired with the shy and reserved Shuichi Saihara.
- In Fate/stay night, Saber has spent her entire life playing the role of king, has excellent swordsmanship skills, and is uncomfortable around her emotions, while Shirou has little combat ability but takes great pleasure in and excels at domestic tasks such as cooking, much to HER pleasure. The fact that, despite this dynamic, Shirou still insists on taking up a Stay in the Kitchen attitude (at least at first) which generates a lot of the sentiment among the fandom, which leads them to miss how Shirou's reasons behind that are... well, more complex.
- Hatoful Boyfriend has best friends Hiyoko and Ryouta. Ryouta, the boy, is a gentle, very caring "vegetarian male" who loves cooking and frequently crossdresses in fetishistic maid or magical girl costumes for his various jobs. Hiyoko, the girl, is a tough, impulsive cavewoman who can't concentrate without red meat in her belly (mostly from animals she kills either bare handed or by smashing with weapons).
- Shion and her crush Satoshi from Higurashi: When They Cry play this despite first glances. Shion is Hot-Blooded, a frequent tease, is prone to being overprotective of others, and is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak. Satoshi is a pretty-looking, yet frail boy who is voiced by a woman.
- Little Busters! has Kurugaya and Riki. While Kurugaya is definitely feminine in appearance - via her Buxom Beauty Standard figure - she's a very competent, intelligent, intimidating Action Girl who loves to dote on her cute classmates as a Cool Big Sis. Riki, being a rather short, feminine-looking, shy guy, is very much included in her 'cute classmate' category. This causes him a bit of angst in her route as he feels like he should be acting cooler for her, but Kurugaya genuinely enjoys taking care of him, and by the end, he's happy with seeing her occasional cuter side.
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations: Ron & Desireé DeLite. Ron's an effeminate, shy, lovestruck man who looks way younger than he is. Desireé's a fun-loving, motorbike-riding, adventurous woman. Subverted when you learn that Desireé first fell for Ron when he protected her from a mugger. A Double Subversion occurs when you find out that he rescued her through high-pitched shrieking and wildly flailing about, and that it was Desireé that leaped into action first.
- In Tavern Talk, Rhea, a gruff dwarf lady, and Kyle, a dandy vampire, first appear at Wayfarer's Inn together.
Web Animation
- Battle for Dream Island has Cake, who is In Touch with His Feminine Side and Pie, who is a Mellow Fellow. Their voices are even suited for the other gender.
- Inanimate Insanity has Ascended Fanboy Fan and Gadgeteer Genius Test Tube. When it comes to raising Fan's egg, the two take different approaches: Fan nurtures and cares for the egg and forms a much closer bond with it to the point where he's greatly upset by Test Tube taking it away from him before his elimination, while Test Tube runs tests on it and knows what it needs to survive, but doesn't bond with it as much as Fan.
- Metal Family: Glam and Victoria have this dynamic, with Victoria being a muscular biker who uses a lot of profanity, while Glam is more slender, and enjoys ballet in addition to metal rock and also works as a violin teacher for rich kids.
- RWBY has Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Nora is a cute Boisterous Bruiser with NO INDOOR VOICE, but her actions tend to be as loud as her words. Ren, on the other hand, serves as The Stoic and The Quiet One compared to his childhood friend. He also cooks for his team, adding to his femininity.
- Shishihara has Sota and Yurika. Sota is a feminine boy and does traditionally feminine things, while Yurika is his athletic childhood friend and isn't as good in feminine things such as cooking.
- Helluva Boss has Millie and Moxxie. The former is a badass Action Girl and Violently Protective Wife who can hold her own in battle, while the latter is a soft-spoken, typically non-violent imp whose wife pegs him.
Webcomics
- Lezhin's Korean BL webtoon Blood Bank's Humpty Dumpty is an androgynous slender boy with soft features. His grandmother Ghost has a masculine face and huge muscles.
- High Class Homos: Prince August is soft-spoken and shy, while princess Sapphia is rebellious, outgoing, and isn't averse to conflict at all.
- The Joy (Badass Normal Action Girl) and The Sorrow (sensitive spirit medium) in The Cobra Days are a mild version of this, although Sorrow became a bit manlier in later strips.
- In Digger, due to the matriarchal nature of hyenas, gender roles are reversed and this arrangement is the norm rather than the exception. One character, a scrawny skin painter, has to compete with every other male in the tribe for the affection of their strongest warrior. This is based on real life, where hyenas are basically matriarchal and males tend to be pretty battered.
- Zombie children Bridget (Cute Bruiser) and Alphonse (master of Cower Power) from Far Out There are a non-romantic example.
- In Gunnerkrigg Court, Parley is a loud, roughhousing Magic Knight who's One Head Taller than her Non-Action Guy boyfriend Smith. For bonus points, she starts as a Loving Bully towards him before she works herself up to confessing her feelings for him.
- Hello from Halo Head: Achilles is Incorruptible Pure Pureness Cute Kitten, while his love interest, Mars, is a brash Jerkass with a Charles Atlas Superpower who dresses like a Badass Biker.
- How To Be a Dragon:
- The two main dragon characters are best friends Swordfish and Pondhopper. The male Swordish is a Friend to All Living Things who spits water instead of fire, isn't interested in conforming to typical dragon behaviors, and says that he would rather be a witch. The female Pondhopper is a more traditional dragon who is excited by the idea of growing up to be a menacing force of destruction destined to die in battle against a heroic knight and live on in legend.
- Pondhopper's parents are also like this. The female Avoryx is a huge white dragon with black eyes and teeth and a serious personality while her mate Grym is tiny compared to her, is vividly colored, has a fluffy mane, and is a total Drama Queen who acts like he has been mortally wounded when one of his nails is broken.
- Last Res0rt toys with this when it comes to Jigsaw and Slick — Jigsaw's a bit of a tomboy (her main team color is light blue), while Slick's not above dressing in harem wear (and his team's main color is purple). Of course, they're not quite an Official Couple.
- MĂ©nage Ă 3 has a non-romantic example in Zii and Gary in early issues. (Things get more complicated later on.) Zii is a promiscuous punk rocker with very masculine traits, while Gary is an awkwardly dorky virgin who has serious problems with being assertive.
- Borderline example in The Order of the Stick. While Haley is not overly masculine, she is much more direct and goal-oriented than her boyfriend, the ditzy and sensitive Elan. Even after Elan Took a Level in Badass, she's still a better fighter.
Haley: I really don't like where this is heading.
Elan: Don't worry. You'll keep me safe. - The Muscle Girl Next Door has the scrawny Tsundere Dalia who outside of studies is an excellent cook, pining over next-door neighbour Ruby, a very buff young woman, who regularly weightlifts.
- Siblings Maria and Rudy Strongwell from Rain (2010) are a slightly Downplayed example. Maria is a tough and feared tomboy while Rudy is an effeminate, flamboyant, and sassy kid. As the comic goes on, we learn that Maria has quite a lot of stereotypically feminine interests/hobbies and that while Rudy certainly plays into the Gay Best Friend stereotype a lot more, he is much more defined by his Cannot Keep a Secret tendancies and impulsive behavior than any stereotypical Camp Gay traits.
- In Two Guys and Guy, Guy and Wayne are this, evidently.
- Homestuck:
- Tavros and Vriska. Tavros is a sweet, shy, kind boy with low self-esteem and a great love of animals and fairies. Vriska is an aggressive, dominating Munchkin and a Jerk with a Heart of Gold with emphasis on the 'jerk'.
- Karkat and Terezi fit this as well. Karkat's interests are heavily wrapped up in romance and feelings; he loves romance stories, is always eager to help others with relationship issues, and is somewhat passive and manipulative when it comes to getting things done. Terezi's interests fall more on mystery-solving and law enforcement, which is noted to be something of a violent pursuit in Troll society (given that the Trolls are an extremely violent race by nature, this is saying something), and is the more action-oriented and aggressive of the two.
- In Girls with Slingshots, Zach is jokingly called the "girl" of his relationship with Hazel, because he's more sedate, mature, and wants to settle down and start a family, while Hazel is a rowdy, irresponsible boozehound. Their differences ultimately prove irreconcilable.
- Siblings Cucumber and Almond of Cucumber Quest: He's a sensitive mage and very much does not want to be a hero while she's an aggressive swords-woman who Jumped at the Call.
- Peanut and Grape Jelly Sandwich of Housepets! have this sort of dynamic. Peanut is a soft-hearted and sweet comic book nerd whereas Grape is a tough and sarcastic tomboy.
- In Sticky Dilly Buns, Ruby and Andy grow into something like this pattern. Andy may be a well-muscled professional lifeguard, but people respond more to his looks than his personality in a way that would look classically sexist if he was a girl, and turns out to be borderline asexual, while Ruby, despite being something of an introvert, is more proactive (eventually being the one to initiate a sexual relationship), can look aggressive because of her insecurities and touchiness, and usually dresses in a relatively plain but smart style. In the end, although they have genuine mutual affection, she's using him for stress relief while he just wants her to be happy.
- The main trio in Castoff consist of: Arianna, the Action Girl Bounty Hunter mage with No Social Skills whose favoured spells list begins with Magic Missile Storm, Vector, a Cute Bookworm Shrinking Violet who honestly wants to make friends and Frankie, a Genki Guy NaĂŻve Animal Lover who hates being violent.
- They are later joined by Rori, a hammy Trap Master with Sticky Fingers and a Tomboyish Ponytail. And also by more conventionally feminine Marina.
- In Widdershins Harry, the gruff, somewhat unsocial former policewoman turned freelancer and a bona fide Action Girl who Hates Wearing Dresses, forms a fast partnership with Sidney, a lovable, friendly, chatty Keet Non-Action Guy flamboyant wizarding school drop-off with his heart on his sleeve.
- In Yeonwoo's Innocence, the shy, delicate-looking Yeon-woo, who is often mistaken for a girl, has a crush on the tall, strong-featured Ha-seol.
Web Original
- In the original fiction version of Keit-Ai, Tomoyuki the "Cherry Boy" is an asthmatic and oftentimes bullied effeminate boy whose earliest childhood memory was him crossdressing. Meanwhile, (either version of) the super-athletic "Amazon Queen" Seiko is the captain of her sports club (in Tomoyuki's universe, it's the Karate Club and in AU Seiko's universe, it's the Judo Club).
Web Videos
- The Nostalgia Critic:
- The Nostalgia Chick and The Nostalgia Critic. She's The Lad-ette sociopath who fights dirty and gets turned on by weakness. He's a girly, weepy psychopath who likes to be dominated.
- Also done in Suburban Knights with Lupa/Critic when she's out of character. She pulls Critic around by his tie, will teach him how to be ladylike whether he likes it or not, and eventually pulls out a gun against the enemies while he's learned his "bending like a girl" lesson.
- The Heavy Metal review gives us him and Diamanda Hagan. She's a Butch Lesbian, he goes for manicures and eyebrow waxing.
- The Nostalgia Critic's attraction to toppy women is so strong that there was one girl he dated that made even his parents worry, and if you know about his parents, that says a lot.
- Rebecca Stoné and Tacoma Narrows in Demo Reel, as she's a Lady Drunk berserker who'll genuinely try to kill you if you hurt anyone she cares about, while he's the Only Sane Man who likes the fact that he looks good in a dress and finds it better to talk things over. She and Donnie also fit the dynamic.
- Parodied in this (NSFW) YouTube video, where the girl dresses up increasingly like a guy.
- Mystery Skulls' animated music video for their single Ghost features Lewis, a pink ghost who makes decisions based on his emotions, and Vivi, a blue girl with strong arms (she can carry a man and a dog with no sweat) and a strong appetite.
- Played in a very literal and disturbing way in Punishing Psychiatry - when the protagonist looks at her parents, the mother becomes a phallic figure, while the father warps into a mound of tits with a crotch-like mouth. Yeah, it's that kind of video.
- Kittisaurus has DD and TT fill this dynamic. DD is a gentle and fluffy cream colored male cat with a very soft mew and calm demeanor. TT is a tough, grey female cat with a rather raspy meow and a tendency to punch whoever comes near.