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Ms. Fanservice

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jessica_rabbit_smoking_9465.jpg
"I'm not bad...I'm just drawn that way."

"Don't I have a beautiful body?! DON'T I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL BODY?!?"
— Andrea "Andy" Carmichael during a Heroic BSoD, The Goonies

A female character who provides a significant amount of Fanservice (aimed at straight men, though obviously bisexual women and lesbians can appreciate it as well), ranging from simple revealing of cleavage, midriff, shoulders or legs, to shots of her curves, hips or derriere (even when covered). She'll usually have a body that invokes Buxom Beauty Standard or Impossible Hourglass Figure.

Her clothing is mainly there to accentuate her figure. Her wardrobe mainstays are bikinis/swimsuits, lingerie, fishnets, stockings, garters, short skirts, equally short shorts, thigh high boots or stiletto pumps, and low-cut dresses and shirts. Alternatively, she might be covered from head to toe, thus showing no skin at all, but her costume will be tight and stretchy enough to show her bust and the outline of her hips. Bonus points if she's The Tease. In general, she will appear more often in merchandise aimed towards straight men to further attract straight men to the product, with vice versa being the case for Mr. Fanservice.

There are several types of Ms. Fanservice:

Either way, the camera seems to have the hots for her, and the viewing audience is expected to feel the same way. While the way a Ms. Fanservice is presented can come across as sexist if handled badly, there is nothing inherently wrong with the trope itself, nor does it necessarily ruin her character. The real trick is to give her a genuine, fleshed-out personality and a meaningful role in the story beyond being eye candy, instead of having her exist solely as a Flat Character. (Besides, being "flat" usually doesn't fit this type of character.) If the Ms. Fanservice has a particularly cruel personality (usually a villain), is set on the Squick situation, and/or leads to Nightmare Fuel or Nausea Fuel, she also qualifies for Fan Disservice.

Please note that there is no requirement to be single to fit into this trope. Many of these characters are married. For the Spear Counterpart, see Mr. Fanservice. If she also sleeps with most of the crew, she either Really Gets Around or is a Good Bad Girl. Subjected to multiple Double Standard tropes, especially if she gets a nice dose of Character Development or Hidden Depths aside from her hot looks, and yet the fandom refuses to see them (or remembers nothing else about them).

Compare Head-Turning Beauty, and contrast the Token Wholesome. See also Chorus Girls, Lovely Assistant, Science Hero's Babe Assistant.

Examples subpages:

Other examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Advertising 
  • The Cadbury's Caramel Bunny herself, who's defined by an alluringly calm and laid-back voice (courtesy of Miriam Margolyes!), and a body with a slender and curvy build.
  • The M&M's Premium adverts play up Ms. Green's Ms. Fanservice role to a ridiculous degree, which is lampshaded by Red, Blue, and Yellow's reactions. One advert ends with them melting, while Ms. Green's performance in another makes the bulb on Blue's stagelight explode in surprise.
    Comic Strips 
  • Ms. Buxley, from Beetle Bailey. She was even more so earlier in the 1970s and '80s.
  • Edda from 9 Chickweed Lane she's often seen in various bikinis, dresses that show off her figure, or in her ballet outfits.
  • Princess Aura in Flash Gordon often served this role or at least as much it was allowed in the 30s. Subsequent adaptations such as Dynamite Entertainment's◊ managed to pull it off more freely.
  • Liz, Jon Arbuckle's girlfriend in Garfield. Seen here◊. Yes, Garfield has fanservice. It's a new day. She's played in the movies by Jennifer Love Hewitt. So, yeah.
  • Older Than Television: Almost any female character in Li'l Abner (which started in 1934) who wasn't an old lady, especially Daisy Mae, Stupifyin' Jones, Moonbeam McSwine and the Wolf Gal.
  • Tiffany, The Alpha Bitch from Luann, is this for the strip, being panned by online fans, considering the head writer is over 60, and Tiffany's a teenager. One memorable strip featured her in a string bikini, and most of the time she's just in a cheerleader outfit. However, in the 2010s, control of the strip shifted to the creator's daughter, and bikini sightings have become less and less frequent.
  • Modesty Blaise frequently depicted its title character in various states of undress, contrary to her name.
  • Aunt Fritzi from Nancy is typically depicted as a very attractive woman. Arguably even more so during the later part of Guy Gilchrist's run of the strip as he began putting her in more revealing clothing... often for no real reason.
  • Brooke McEldowney's comic strip 9 Chickweed Lane had, and continues to have, a strong fanservice element to it in its depictions of female characters, most notably Edda. The later spin-off Pibgorn appears to be some 80% fanservice: The starting point of this strip is a menage à trois among an unassuming bespectacled pianist and musical arranger, and two devastatingly gorgeous supernatural entities who are devoted to him: a dark succubus called Drusilla and a red-haired faerie called Pibgorn. Neither entity wears very much at the best of times and the casual reader might suspect the script is written to get them naked as often as possible. Reprints of the strip in comic book form tend to add extra bonus material.
  • June Morgan, the wife and nurse of Rex Morgan, M.D., drawn with a Patrick Nagel face and...prominent attributes.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Greek Mythology contains certain examples:
    • The Greek goddess Aphrodite was intended to be this as the goddess of love and beauty, and naturally, the literal personification of Fanservice. However, she suffers heavily from The Worf Effect, as many mortals were often claimed to be more beautiful than her. Aphrodite's Roman counterpart Venus was the personification of beauty, and is often depicted as naked in artwork, including Sandro Botticelli's famous The Birth of Venus.
    • Atalanta is a sexy huntress who took an oath of virginity and refused to marry. Neither of these vows lasted, with many myths pointing out she had two sons from two different relationships and marrying the man who beat her in a foot race. There is even an ancient piece of artwork depicting her in the Ancient Greek equivalent of a bikini.
    • Artemis, goddess of the hunt and eternal maiden, is often depicted hunting au naturel or bathing in the wilderness. As popular as the subject is in art, it's not something you'd want to see in person, since she was a Reluctant Fanservice Girl who would deliver Disproportionate Retribution on anyone who stumbled across her bathing. (However, it should be noted that in other variants of these stories, the punishments were meted out for Attempted Rape.)
    • Helen of Troy, World's Most Beautiful Woman. Known idiomatically as "The face that launched a thousand ships"; there was a war fought over her, after all.
    • The nymphs were a whole race made of this trope. They were depicted as eternally youthful and nubile maidens who completely embraced their sexuality in contrast to the chaste wives and daughters of civilized society. There is a good reason why many heroes took them as wives and many gods also had them as occasional lovers, and where the word "nymphomaniac" originated from.
  • The apsaras in Hindu Mythology were the equivalents to nymphs from Greek myths. They were charming and seductive female spirits are often depicted with their breasts bare and with their ankles and wrists adorned in gold, and they were able to enthrall both mortal and immortal men with their beauty.
  • Astarte in an extremely popular Canaanite goddess.
  • There's also Freyja of Norse Mythology. She's the Norse goddess of love, beauty, lust, gold and female warriors. She's described in most myths as a blue-eyed blonde with a voluptuous body and ample bosom. She also Really Gets Around, apparently. She typically wears loose, flowing white dresses (sometimes described as very thin). . . but also frequently slaps on a breastplate and sword over it to become a Lady of War.
  • Ishtar is another classic case from Mesopotamian Mythology.
  • Adam and Eve are the only characters from The Bible which were depicted nude or almost-nude in art even during the most prudish periods of history, because even the most prudish Christians can deny neither their importance in Christian canon nor the importance of nudity for their characterization.
    • Early artists also used this as a justification to study human anatomy and nude arts.
    • The bride of Song of Solomon (also known as Song of Songs) serves as this role for her groom, and their relationships are depicted as pure and consummate. The Nipple and Dimed trope is also played straight in the song.
    • Although in Hebrew folklore and an alternate reading of the bible story, Eve was only God's second choice. His first created wife for Adam, Lilith, had too much of a mind of her own and was too upfront sexual. God is said to have reassigned her to Satan as the Ur-Example succubus, wiped Adam's mind clean with Brain Bleach, and had a think as to what He could do with a spare rib. Lilith is still around, as a demoness of untramelled sexuality.

    Pinball 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Las Diosas Del Ring, who have been known by many names over the years such as Edecánes de CMLL, escort luchadores to the ring, inform fans of falls and entertain during downtime. WCW Monday Nitro would have a similar group, The Nitro Girls and nWo had an Evil Counterpart group when it was trying to takeover WCW\become it's own promotion. AAA also had a sign carrier group, which it notoriously put Dark Angel in after she lost her mask in LLF. She jumped ship to CMLL when it wanted to rebuild it's women's divisions and offered more opportunities to wrestle.
  • Miss Elizabeth was by far the best known of the fanservice types, although by today's standards she's closer to Token Wholesome. Sunny raised the bar on what was considered to be fanservice, and then Sable pretty much codified the "Diva" archetype.
  • WEW, Women's Extreme Wrestling, was both affectionately and derisively known as "Women's Erotic Wrestling". Wrestling wise, it has respectable alumni to boast about. April Hunter, Mercedes Martinez, Lexie Fyfe, Lucy Furr, Cindy Rogers, Alexis Laree, Sumie Sakai and Jazz are just a sample and they competed in everything from the expected one falls to the diving table breakers but WEW also hired a slew of playboy models and strippers with no wrestling ability who were only there to titillate the audience and, occasionally, give a heel an easy target to cripple. (which would lead to a baby face having to save or avenge them)
  • True to its acronym, TNA Wrestling had dancing women in cages to fulfill this role when they started out. Truer to what the letters actually stand for, some wrestlers took exception to it, forming "Bitch Slap" in an effort to get rid of them. It did not work but TNA ended up dumping them anyway, apparently losing interest in a regular female presence. Even as women gradually crept back into prominence, this trope was not really in play since the company was aiming for a more "family friendly" image on Fox Sports Net...but then came a quartet of 'em calling themselves The Beautiful People - Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Lacey Von Erich, and Angelina Love. Impact had moved to Spike TV so "family friendly" went back out the window; fanservice was in.
  • TNA also offered a subversion, at least a subversion in theory. A battle royal for a company contract where everyone wore the same outfit and the winner would be the only person not to be stripped down to their undergarments. So yes, lots of woman flesh but the person who stuck around would (in theory) be showing the least.
  • Between an annual diva search lasting from 2003 to 2007 bringing in a slew of models and an "exhibitionist" on their so called revival of ECW, WWE used to be loaded with these types. Similarly to TNA's time with Fox Sports Net, WWE turning Monday Night Raw and its pay per view programing PG reduced their reliance on this trope. But then from NXT came Aksana, whose presence on Smackdown was always preceded by a sexophone before she arrived and attempted to seduce her boss with with speeches loaded with innuendo, some of it being accidental due to a limited grasp of English, a lot of it not.
  • TNA had another subversion in Alissa Flash, who would come out to the ring in a half unzipped leather jacket, and, during the course of her match, zip it back up. Sounds lame? Well it's easy to think that just reading about it but the reactions she got from crowds indicated it was working very well.
  • After Christy Hemme retired from wrestling and became a ring announcer, the camera performed a long, slow pan up the length of her body as she introduced a matches. She normally wears something skimpy anyway.
  • Jade Chung's outfits when she started as a wrestler/manager/valet were all very skimpy/showing off her legs, usually consisting of a crop top of some kind, a short skirt (even when wrestling), Chinese dresses, and modified bikinis. All of these were custom made by her to fit her preferred image. Later on in her career, however, Real Women Don't Wear Dresses rules applied, and Chung switched to pantsuits when managing, and more conventional tights/outfits when wrestling.

    Sports 
  • It isn't uncommon for female mixed martial artists, even otherwise straight-laced ones, to show off their fight-condition bodies for the camera during weigh-ins. Felice Herrig, though, considered weigh-ins (especially pre-UFC) a great time to get her fanservice on. She's done such things during weigh-ins as come out in cavewoman lingerie, or somehow shimmy out of a set of yoga pants.

    Theatre 
  • A rare classical music example: the title character of Richard Strauss's 1905 opera Salome does a famous dance, the Dance of the Seven Veils, during which she takes off the eponymous veils until, by the end, she's (supposedly) naked. Most productions don't expect the soprano to actually get naked and generally go with underwear or a bodystocking but whenever one does (such as Maria Ewing - NSFW) it's always a sensation.
    • In Zemlinsky's opera Der König Kandaules, the titular king Kandaules persuades the hero Gyges to gaze upon his (the king's) beautiful young wife Nyssia when she's undressing. The ensuing nude scene has a lot to do with why the opera, although written in the 1930s and 40s, didn't get premiered until 1996. In case you're wondering, karma bites Kandaules in the ass when, in the third act Gyges owns up to the deception, and Nyssia is so taken with his honesty and so disgusted with her creepy husband's pimp tendencies that she persuades Gyges to kill Kandaules, and promptly crowns Gyges king instead.
  • Similarly, the title character of Olga Neuwirth's opera American Lulu, loosely adapted from Berg's Lulu, wears skimpier and skimpier clothing as the show goes on. Culminating in Fan Disservice: she undresses completely for her last client and he stabs her to death and leaves her naked body in a dumpster.
  • Magda from Tanz Der Vampire, who spends most of the show in various forms permutations of the Impossibly-Low Neckline and a very skimpy nightgown. Then there's her finale costume, which seems designed to show as much skin as possible while still using the idea that extra fabric is sensual. The result? A corset-bodiced dress with lots of cleavage, a short skirt, and a transparent blouse and overskirt.◊
  • Interestingly, some versions of Little Shop of Horrors tend to give Audrey a nightgown or very short skirt (think 60s nurse uniform skirts) for the scene where she dies, and when she's placed upon Audrey II and the puppeteers start moving the tongue to get her down, the audience gets a pretty good view. Notable since she could just be placed any old way and fall down his gullet however she wanted.

    Web Animation 
  • Helluva Boss: Verosika Mayday, from head to toe. Being physically attractive and sexually alluring comes with being a succubus, and boy does the show make that very clear. Her attitude is near-permanently sultry and sensual even when acting as an insulting bitch, she's one of curviest and bustiest females among the entire female cast, and every one of her outfits is deliberately designed to bring focus to her sexy body.
  • Virtual YouTuber Kaguya Luna has a Cleavage Window as part of her attire, which reveals her to be quite busty. In fact, there was one video which involved her contemplating doing exercises to make her breasts larger.
  • Lobo (Webseries): Darlene Spritzer shows some cleavage at Big Ahmet's.
  • The title character from Oishi High School Battle, with an extreme example of No Dress Code with a short skirt, exposed midriff, beautiful pink hair, sweet face, and breasts that are literally weaponized.
  • RWBY:
    • Yang Xiao Long, who the song "Red Like Roses" refers to as "Yellow beauty burns gold". Her primary outfit in Volumes 1-3◊ shows off a bit more of her figure than the rest of the cast, with some exposed cleavage. This gets downplayed from Volume 4 onwards, as while she's still attractive and her outfits tend to show some skin, they're still much more concealing than her original outfit.
    • Pyrrha Nikos◊. Her combat outfit features a miniskirt, corset, low neckline, and thigh-highs. She's also noticeably taller, curvier, and more athletic than most of the other girls at Beacon.
    • Invoking the trope Evil Is Sexy is The Heavy, Cinder Fall. She is a beautiful, curvaceous woman who waltzes around in a slinky red dress that shows off her legs and her shoulders, not to mention the attention bestowed upon her by the camera in this scene◊. It doesn't exactly hurt that she has a very sultry voice courtesy of real life Ms Fanservice Jessica Nigri.
    • Jinn is very curvaceous, with a classic hour-glass figure, and the chains draped around her waist are balanced against the curve of her hips. She wears jewelery on her body, such as braces, anklets, earrings and necklaces, but she is otherwise completely naked. When she first manifests, Qrow doesn't know where to put his eyes and tries to avoid staring at her.
    • Emerald Sustrai has one of the more revealing outfits in the show, to the point where it looks like a bikini. Even her more modest outfit in later volumes still has an Impossibly-Low Neckline and a bare midriff.
    • Later volumes also have Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Neopolitan veer into this direction as well. Even Salem gets this.
    • Carmine Esclados from After the Fall is a fit, beautiful woman with long, red hair wearing a midriff-exposing crop-top, mini shorts, and thigh high boots. Notably, when Coco first sees her, she's unable to stop staring.
  • The tenth episode of "Sci-Fi Guys" (from the creator of Retarded Animal Babies) had Spandy, who was remarkably beautiful wearing just pasties over her nipples. Literally her first appearance on screen is showing her massive breasts. It's later revealed that having sex with her creates a black hole.
  • Parodied with Kurokawa from Senpai Club. She literally always has her panties showing and her breasts are prone to jiggling.
  • In Spooky Month, Skid's Absurdly Youthful Mother Lila gets scenes in her pajamas and a shirt that says "Look into my eyes." Guess where the eyes are on the shirt.
  • Dustbunny from TOME, who was already good-looking in TTA, but got even hotter with a Navel-Deep Neckline showing a black bikini.
  • Nephthys from Xombie, with a beautifully toned and volptuous body, large breasts and butt, and beautiful shiny lips, eyes, and hair.

    Web Original 
  • Protectors of the Plot Continuum Agent Louise becomes this when they land in the water, and she's Going Commando in a white top.
    Narto: Yeah. As I said, she makes a very nice elf.
    I was polite, though, and didn't stare. "Ah, Louise," I said, "your top... uh..."
  • SMG4 has a few examples, namely Saiko and Belle, who have rather shapely looks, midriff-exposing outfits and a glimpse at their cleavage. Ironically, despite dressing more modestly than either of them, Melony winds up trumping them both in terms of size.

    Web Videos 

 
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Video Example(s):

Frolaytia's Workout

Major Frolaytia works out while giving a briefing.

Example of:
Workout Fanservice

Natalya Ivanova

Bayonetta

SloMo

Meet Minerva Mink

Red Hot Riding ...

Vs. Camilla

Shing!

Jessica Rabbit

Gratuitous Brea...

Business Suit S...

Why Does This H...

Alternative Title(s): Miss Fanservice, Testosterone Brigade Bait

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Frolaytia's Workout

Major Frolaytia works out while giving a briefing.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (8 votes)

Example of:

Main / WorkoutFanservice

Media sources:

Report

Frolaytia's Wor...

Natalya Ivanova

Bayonetta

SloMo

Meet Minerva Mink

Red Hot Riding ...

Vs. Camilla

Shing!

Jessica Rabbit

Gratuitous Brea...

Business Suit S...

Why Does This H...