This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Why does this trope page seem to assume that a good looking, smart, or funny person could never be unpopular? I've certaily known smart people who were unpopular, and in school I was told by many teachers and a few peers that I was funny even as many of my other peers picked on me. This trope may be more truth in television that everyone here seems to assume.
I think shows like Buffy and Smallville do a better job with this than some teen drama. Because in an action show to the outside observer it can seem like if you associate with those people something horrible will happen to you.
This troper feels like something to the tune of "people hate each other out of jealousy" should be mentioned to partly explain why the Libby and her crew so often hate those who are smart, funny, talented, attractive, etc.
Nobodymuch I don't think Kim Possible qualifies. While Bonnie occasionally gets a nod that Kim doesn't, Kim is as legitimately popular as possible when she spends almost all of her free time frantically jetting across the world.
I indeed just added "** Actually, the show you linked to is Kim Possible, in which the titular character is cited many times to be "popular". Bonnie is just the one worried the most about the social food chain and Kim's main non-"villain" antagonist." to line 32 and added "** That wasn't because of unpopularity, it was because Bonnie was wearing the latest fashion while Kim was in her normal clothes. Later when Kim wore the new popular clothes, she was told that she couldn't pull it off despite creating the national hit herself." as a contingent to Kim Possible, but "Janitor 216.41.197.137" just undid all of it! I was factual and accurate; what the heck?
fleb:...Because while accurate, it's pure Natter. The Kim Possible example is rightfully deleted now because it's not an example, as you said.
This trope really bugs me, because the Cool Loser is described as unpopular, but is always way more popular than actual uncool kids (like me). They always have at least one friend (I had none) and though they're supposedly being bullied, it's an occasional incident rather than something that happens every single day, multiple times a day (like real bullying). There's a reason bullied kids so often kill themselves or lash out, and it's because bullying is so much more relentless than TV shows suggest and the victims of bullying often have no friends, no support at all.
