History Main / NerdGlasses

* [[AmbiguouslyJewish Filburt]] [[SuperOCD from]] ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' is a downright ''extreme'' example of this. So much so, in fact, that his signature nerd shades even end up [[LamarckWasRight being passed on to his sons]].

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Elaine "Delta Spike" Fleischer wears Nerd Glasses and a lab coat in a deliberate attempt to invoke the HotScientist trope. She's also a GeniusDitz known as the "Explosion Queen" around the labs.

* Sheldon from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' is the owner of a chain of weapon stores called Ammo Knights. He wears thick, binocular-looking glasses.

Compare BespectacledCutie. You may also be interested in the other GlassesTropes.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that {{nerd}}s wear glasses. Usually ugly, unflattering glasses. There are several types of glasses that are signifiers of deeply-entrenched nerd-dom:

* Chunky black plastic (tape on the bridge optional), sometimes chunky tortoiseshell plastic instead--as worn by the classic {{Nerd}}, though these have lately come back into fashion again, style being a CyclicTrope

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In a cast chockablock with {{Nerd}}s, Leonard is the only character to wear NerdGlasses, in the "thick black plastic" variety. Interestingly, the Finnish name for the show happens to be ''Rillit huurussa'' which literally means "Frosted glasses".

** Recurring character [[{{Nerd}} Osgood]] wears large glasses with chunky plastic frames.

* Eugene, WebVideo/MatthewSantoro's {{nerd}}y clone, wears these.

** The {{nerd}}y InsufferableGenius Colin wears rectangular black glasses with very thick frames.

* Ghoulia Yelps of ''Toys/MonsterHigh'', the smartest girl in school and Cleo De Nile's best friend and all-around personal assistant, wears a pair of thick, white cat-eye glasses decorated with rhinestones (though not conspicuous enough to push them into ImpossiblyTackyEyewear territory).

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': TheDollEpisode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS05E10Chinga Chinga]]" has a SadistTeacher named Jane who slaps an autistic girl because she has a tantrum (true, she's a CreepyChild with a PerversePuppet, but still) and would like to [[BurnTheWitch burn her mother]]. Jane's glasses exhibit nearly every feature of the Nerd Glasses: very unflattering, with thick coke-bottled lenses and strangely-shaped large chunky frames. Could she be ''more'' unlikeable?

%%* {{Hipster}}s.
* As mentioned above, these were very popular in the [[TheFifties 50s]] for women up to the early [[TheSeventies 70s]]. Many famous stars sported these as well. Nowadays, they indicate someone who is hopelessly, intentionally or "ironically" [[note]]Not really a true example of irony, but hipsters typically don't know or care[[/note]] unfashionable.
%%* Dame Edna's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dame_Edna_%286959716988%29.jpg "face furniture"]].

* Sheldon from ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' is the owner of the local weapons store. He wears thick, binocular-looking glasses.

* The ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' episode "Bubblevision" revolves around Bubbles getting glasses to correct her poor eyesight to fight a giant ant; due to how she looks with the glasses on, Blossom and Buttercup repeatedly tease her and call her names like "nerd" and "dork", causing her to feel humiliated. The Professor, however, does ''not'' laugh at her and tells her it shouldn't matter what her sisters think and what matters is she needs to fight crime, and she musn't let what they say get to her.

* [[AmbiguouslyJewish Filburt]] [[SuperOCD from]] ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' is a downright ''[[UpToEleven extreme]]'' example of this. So much so, in fact, that his signature nerd shades even end up [[LamarckWasRight being passed on to his sons]].

* Gordon Freeman from ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' has a pair of these. However, instead of losing them once he starts ripping zombies apart with a crowbar, he keeps them and becomes a BadassBookworm.

[[caption-width-right:254:A must-have accessory for a HollywoodNerd.]]

* Chunky black plastic (tape on the bridge optional), sometimes chunky tortoiseshell plastic instead--as worn by the classic HollywoodNerd, though these have lately come back into fashion again, style being a CyclicTrope

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In a cast chockablock with {{Hollywood Nerd}}s, Leonard is the only character to wear NerdGlasses, in the "thick black plastic" variety. Interestingly, the Finnish name for the show happens to be ''Rillit huurussa'' which literally means "Frosted glasses".

** Recurring character [[HollywoodNerd Osgood]] wears large glasses with chunky plastic frames.

* HollywoodNerd Bill from ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' wears a large, clunky, unflattering pair.

** Human-world Twilight Sparkle wears these in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames''. Unlike her pony counterpart, she really needs those as she's BlindWithoutThem. AdjustingYourGlasses is a CharacterTic for her.

* WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'s iconic [[FanNickname Manstopper Glasses]], a pair of large, round glasses. She's an intellectual girl who considers herself to be SurroundedByIdiots.

Compare {{Meganekko}}. You may also be interested in the other GlassesTropes.

* Monty from ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' is the smartest kid in class and, at least in the first game, the only one to wear glasses. While it's impossible to make out details due to the game's pixelated artstyle, they seem to be rather large and have a thick, black bridge.

** Recurring character [[HollywoodNerd {{Osgood}}]] wears large glasses with chunky plastic frames.

* In a behind the scenes segment for ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', Creator/DrewCarey mentions that he needs to get in costume. He then simply switches from a pair of wire-rim glasses to his iconic Nerd Glasses.

* In the early seasons of the show, Adam Savage of ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' wears large, chunky plastic glasses that even other members of the team call "coke-bottle lenses". He wears smaller frames in later seasons, but they're still thick, black plastic.

%%* {{WesternAnimation/Daria}}'s iconic [[FanNickname Manstopper Glasses]].
%%* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': Peabody and Sherman.
%%* Tootie of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''.
%%* Emma of ''WesternAnimation/FourEyes'' who is also the star wears such a pair.
%%* Ron Stoppable's mom, and a few other female characters, tend to wear these kinds of specs in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''.
* A rare robotic example; in ''WesternAnimation/AnimalMechanicals'', Komodo, the Mechanicals' BadassBookworm, is designed to have chunky, square eye-pieces that are treated (and even referred to InUniverse) as glasses. They especially pop since they're the only part of his design that's blue[[note]]Komodo is mostly red, yellow, and white[[/note]].
* Jay of ''WesternAnimation/ZekesPad'' wears thick red glasses and is arguably the smartest character in the show [[SurroundedByIdiots (though there wasn't really any competition)]].

* New US military recruits who report to their respective boot camps are not allowed to wear any prescription eyewear they bring with them. Within the first week, they are prescribed a pair of durable yet unflattering thick brown specs called BC (birth control) glasses (or, alternately, [=BCDs=], for BC Devices or BCG for Birth Control Goggles). So named because wearing them in public is the surest form of birth control known to man.
** Comedian Drew Carey, who did a hitch in the Marines, has made this type of glasses part of his public persona. Lampshaded in the (full) second opening of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', where Drew's glasses are broken and by his friend's advice he replaces them by going to the nearby Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and stealing Buddy Holly's.
** Adam Savage of ''Series/MythBusters'' wears this style of glasses while filming, though he tends to wear more subdued glasses when off the set. FridgeBrilliance or FanWank: That particular style of glasses would also grant him some additional protection in the [[OncePerEpisode occasional event]] where something might explode.
** The official "BCD" prescription eyeglasses were changed in 2012 to a more 2012-friendly eyeglass style. In 2014, eventually, they did away with mandating official eyewear in favor of a broad permission on "conservative" civilian prescription eyeglasses for all uniforms, as long as they're not "trendy" or otherwise garish.
* Mac Lesggy, [[http://www.m6.fr/emission-e_m6/presentateur-452900-mac-lesggy.html host]] of the French science show ''[=E=m6=]'', still wears thick-framed glasses, though they are now tamer than his once-iconic [[https://i.f1g.fr/media/eidos/orig/2020/03/01/XVM71ffbd0a-56ed-11ea-b68e-c494a10977e5-300x200.jpg zebra-framed glasses.]]
%%* {{Hipster}}s
* As mentioned above, these were very popular in the [[TheFifties 50s]] for women up to the early [[TheSeventies 70s]]. Many famous stars sported wearing these as well. Nowadays, they indicate someone who is hopelessly, intentionally or "ironically" [[note]]Not really a true example of irony, but hipsters typically don't know or care[[/note]] unfashionable.

* Actor Creator/HaroldLloyd first helped popularize horn-rimmed glasses in America in the 1920s.
* Creator/JeffGoldblum, {{CloudCuckoolander}} and popularizer of the GibberingGenius trope in his films, is myopic and prefers the "chunky black frames" style of these offscreen, but plays with this trope in that he prefers the upscale brand Jacques Marie Mage. The glasses became so associated with him in TheNewTens that in 2021 he collaborated with [=JMM=] on a limited-edition frame, [[https://jacquesmariemage.com/goldblum/ "The Jeff"]]. In a note included with each pair, Goldblum muses that the wearer might [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman start acting like him]] ("Well, if so, have fun as you try out a few obtuse phrases.").

* An unusual case of PurelyAestheticGlasses appears in ''VideoGame/Persona5'': After the MiscarriageOfJustice that lands him on probation at the start of the story, the protagonist starts wearing big, clunky circular glasses to appear more mild-mannered. He takes them off when reading, whenever he's in the Velvet Room, and whenever he's in the [[MentalWorld Metaverse]], and he can see perfectly fine without them. An actual case where the user ''does'' legitimately need glasses, meanwhile, is the extremely [[{{Hikkikomori}} shy and anxiety-ridden]] Futaba Sakura, a [[WrenchWench programming prodigy]] and [[GamerChick nerdy gamer]] who spends all of her time on the computer.
%%* Ernie Eaglebeak from ''VideoGame/TheSpellcastingSeries''.

* In the world of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', the word 'binoclard'/'bino' - a French word for a wearer of glasses, with a connotation similar to 'four-eyes' - is used whenever, in our world, we would say 'geek' or 'nerd' (e.g. tabletop role-playing games are described as 'binoclard stuff'). This shows off both the role that FantasyCounterpartCulture France has had in the game's 'immigrant melting-pot fantasy' setting, but also implies that glasses aren't that commonly seen.
** Kim Kitsuragi has atrocious eyesight which forces him to wear big bino glasses, which he views as 'mostly just cumbersome'. Despite his elegant dress sense and socially insightful personality, the combination of the glasses and his Seolite ancestry lead to him getting stereotyped as AsianAndNerdy, which he is subtly defensive about. The player [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential can]] also make fun of his glasses and call him a "bino", which [[NoSell doesn't get a rise out of him]].
** An item in the game is a pair of "Mega-Bino's Prescription Lenses" which are beige plastic square frames with impenetrably thick Coke-bottle lenses. The description comments that beige does not look good on anyone and that they are 'nausea-inducing hell glasses', but they give you a +2 boost to your Encyclopedia skill due to letting you 'unleash your inner bino'.
** The link between binoclard-dom and being a geeky loser is so common in the setting that in ''The Final Cut'', the infra-materialist reading group refer to a rival Communist tendency - the Mazovian Economists - as "the Econoclards".

* Liam from ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' wears these. He’s also a socially awkward third wheel for Jade and Dash at his introduction, and it is unclear how much of his awkwardness is intentional.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this is {{Invoked}} as Sarah is [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-07-04 given]] a pair of [[PurelyAestheticGlasses costume]] nerd glasses.
* Tarvek in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' wore a pair of these as a child but had upgraded to his current pince nez set by the time he went to Paris to study.

** Eridan, contributing to his {{Hipster}} appearance. You could make a case for John and Jake having this type of too, though to a lesser degree.
** Aranea is a lady nerd and exhibits 1970s fashion sense.

* Holly from ''Webcomic/LightningMadeOfOwls'' has this as her defining feature.
* Amber in early ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' until she got a {{Makeover}}, with a LampshadeHanging that she'd discovered nobody even ''made'' glasses like that any more.

** Eugene from ''Webcomic/WeakHero'' is an obvious nerd and MrExposition, and sports a pair of square browline glasses.

%%* David Kalla wears these to show off his adorkableness.
* Eugene, [[WebVideo/MatthewSantoro Matt Santoro's clone]], wears these.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Principal Brown, Mr. Robinson, Granny Jojo, Colin, Dr. Butt, Dexter, Joan, the Nurse, the Librarian, and Tree Librarian, Hot Dog Guy, Dr. Old Man Reaching For A Jar Of Olives, the Soulless Office Worker, Paperball, Phil, and Razor wear glasses.
* Steve Smith of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' In the unaired pilot he had much nerdier looking round glasses, but for the main series they were retooled into rectangular black framed ones, resembling what are commonly known as emo or hipster glasses. He is mentioned as being far-sighted yet doesn't seem to have a problem seeing without them on the occasion that he breaks them. It is likely he exaggerates his condition because he feels smarter wearing them.
* Tina, the awkward oldest daughter of Bob Belcher of ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' wears them.
* Penny Sanchez on ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'' has quite thick frames but she's no less adorable with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'': Dexter has thick framed glasses that double as EyeGlasses. He is also a ChildProdigy and ScienceHero and owns a huge underground laboratory. Dexter's rival Mandark wears thick framed glasses as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': ButtMonkey Gus Griswald is a stereotypical geek kid with high-water pants and thick-framed glasses, and LovableNerd Gretchen Grundler has huge thin-framed round glasses that show off her adorkableness.
* Shelton Klutzberry in ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements''. In one episode it's revealed they're so heavy they cripple his posture and distort his voice; without them he instantly turns into an unwilling ChickMagnet.
* [[AmbiguouslyJewish Filburt]] [[SuperOCD from]] ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' is a downright ''[[UpToEleven extreme]]'' example of this.
** So much so, in fact, that his signature [[NerdGlasses nerd shades]] even end up [[LamarckWasRight being passed on to his sons]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'': Chuckie has glasses with extremely thick frames, although as a preliterate child his nerdiness is primarily manifest in his visual appearance (RummageSaleReject and later braces) and more timid personality.
%%* Velma of ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. She's just not Velma without those chunky square lenses.
%%* As revealed via flashback Peter Parker from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' used to have these.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', A.K. "Daring Do" Yearling wears these while incognito.
** [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicRarity Rarity]] wears these when she's working.
* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'': Junko wore big round glasses during his childhood on his home terra, where he was seen as a nerd; he sometimes uses them for reading. And the Terradon scientists' round goggles evoke the appearance of stereotypical nerd glasses and hugely magnify their eyes.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Connie Maheswaran, a geeky friend of Steven's, originally wore large thin-rimmed glasses. She needed them due to being BlindWithoutEm, but after "An Indirect Kiss", thanks to Steven's healing saliva, her eyesight is restored to normal and no longer needs them. She still wears them but without the lenses, so her parents don't get upset, but eventually explains it to them after about a year and stops wearing them entirely.

* The ''Film/{{Tron}}'' films go a little wild with these. Aside from Flynn and Dillinger, almost every other human member of the cast has thick, ''very'' [[TheEighties '80s]] nerd glasses. {{Justified}} as this ''is'' a software and electronics company, and ExploitedTrope in the first film as the thick glasses help distinguish the human Users from their cyberspace counterparts, but {{Downplayed}} as of ''Film/TronLegacy'''s ARG as Lora apparently got contacts or Lasik, Alan's frames are wire-rim and more subdued, and Roy (in the extras) still has a pair of coke bottle glasses. {{Averted}} with Sam, who apparently has 20/20 vision in or out of cyberspace. In the AlternateContinuity [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh video game sequel]], however, Alan still has thick and unflattering glasses and son Jet has black-framed "hipster" glasses in the analog world, but TheGlassesComeOff once they hit cyberspace.

* ''Literature/{{Nerdycorn}}'': [[TheProtagonist Fern]] wears a pair of glasses with big, thick rims. Some of the unicorns mocked them by putting a pair of donuts up to their eyes.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In a cast chockablock with {{Hollywood Nerd}}s, Leonard is the only character to wear NerdGlasses, in the "thick black plastic" variety. Interestingly, the Finnish name for it happens to be ''Rillit huurussa'' which literally means 'Frosted glasses'.
* ''Series/BlackSails'': 18th century pirate Dufresne wears small, round, wire-framed glasses, which establish him as the ship's nerdy, noncombative accountant.
%%* Young Reid in ''Series/CriminalMinds'' and adult Reid, too, in the earlier seasons.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Tenth Doctor's PurelyAestheticGlasses.
* When Drew Carey did a behind the scenes segment for his show, ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', he mentions that he needs to get in costume. He then simply switches from a pair of wire-rim glasses to his iconic Nerd glasses.

** Dr Harrison Wells wears glasses with thick plastic rims that are black on the upper half and clear on the lower half. They manage to suit him very well, despite being obvious nerd glasses that [[SmartPeopleWearGlasses help to indicate]] that he is a genius even compared to the other highly intellectual characters. Flashbacks to before [[spoiler: Eobard Thawne [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] the original Harrison]] show him wearing similar glasses with completely clear frames that look significantly dorkier.
** [[spoiler: Wells' Earth-2 doppelgänger]] wears similar glasses, although he tends to save them for when he's working in the lab. As a more [[MinoredInAsskicking action-oriented character]], he often goes glasses-less.
** [[InsufferableGenius Hartley Rathaway]] and [[TheProfessor Martin Stein]] are the only other characters anywhere close to Wells' intellectual league, and they also wear black plastic glasses.
* Lily on ''Series/HannahMontana'' wore these during an UnwantedGlassesPlot.
* Early in the run of the show, Adam Savage of ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' wore large, chunky plastic glasses that even other members of the team called "coke-bottle lenses". He wears smaller frames in more recent seasons, but they're still thick, black plastic.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Whenever Samantha Carter appears in an AlternateUniverse scenario, she tends to have this. One dorky AlternateTimeline Daniel also had thick-framed nerd glasses, to contrast with the regular glasses the character wears, which were large-framed nerd glasses — but by this point in the series, Daniel had undergone enough character development to no longer be dorky, and to emphasize the extreme dorkiness of the alternate version they needed something different.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Atropos in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E17MyHeartWillGoOn My Heart Will Go On]]" has these, as does Ed Nelson in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS08E11LARPAndTheRealGirl LARP and the Real Girl]]".
%%* Robbie from ''Series/{{Victorious}}''.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': TheDollEpisode "Chinga" had a SadistTeacher named Jane who slapped an autistic girl because she had a tantrum (true, she was a CreepyChild with a PerversePuppet, but still) and would like to [[BurnTheWitch burn her mother]]. Jane's glasses exhibited nearly every feature of the Nerd Glasses: very unflattering, with thick coke-bottled lenses and strangely-shaped large chunky frames. Could she be ''more'' unlikeable?
* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', Clark's glasses were originally a set of dark brown tortoiseshell browline glasses. In later seasons he switched to a more modern and stylish pair that didn't work nearly as well at hiding his identity.
* On the Nickelodeon television show ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', Simon Nelson-Cook (More commonly known by his nickname Cookie) has Black Glasses with Tech fitted on them.
%%* In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E21Ragtag "Ragtag",]] agents Coulson and May wear these as part of their "nerdy executive" disguise when visiting Cybertek.
%%* ChildProdigy Galina on ''Series/DaddysDaughters'' wears giant glasses.
%%* ExtravertedNerd Steve Urkel from ''Series/FamilyMatters''.
%%* Bill from ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' wears them.
%%* Uncle Junior on ''Series/TheSopranos'' wears these. Dominic Chianese, who played Junior, said that these glasses pretty much ''were'' Junior.
* Dr. Daniel Jackson, the AdventurerArchaeologist of ''Series/StargateSG1'', wears large wire-framed glasses. In fact, looking at how the use of Daniel's glasses changed over time is an interesting way to visualize his character development. His initial characterization was as a naive, dorky academic and the unfashionable hair and glasses emphasize this, but over time as the character [[TookALevelInBadass toughens up]], many of the "dorkiness markers" are dropped. By the last few seasons, Daniel apparently wears contacts 20-30% of the time, and finally in season 10 his glasses are replaced with more fashionable ones, which fits with the BadassBookworm character type he has picked up.
[[/folder]]

* Music/ElvisCostello, at least early in his career, when he seemed to be consciously projecting an awkward[=/=]Music/BuddyHolly style.
* Andy Fletcher from Music/DepecheMode wore a pair during the band's early days: [[https://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4mvzi9UPq1qm5gdno2_500.jpg]]
* Mark Mothersbaugh of {{Music/Devo}}. You may notice that the band tends to dress identically, save Mark with his glasses/goggles; this is because he has been legally blind since a child and can't see much without them.
* John Frusciante, formerly of Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, never wore the glasses onstage with the band, but off stage and in most of other performances, they're almost always present.

* Lisa Loeb's glasses are a major part of her public image.
* {{Music/Morrissey}}, occasionally.

* Jarvis Cocker alternated between these and contact lenses during {{Music/Pulp}}'s heyday. Nowdays, the specs are an integral part of his image.

* John Flansburgh of Music/TheyMightBeGiants wears these most of the time, so much that it became part of his image. His bandmate, John Linnell, later started wearing the glasses but unlike Flansburgh, he usually doesn't wear them on stage or in publicity photos.
* Rivers Cuomo of {{Music/Weezer}}.

* Havi from [[Podcast/GaysInCapes QDND]] has this as one of his defining features. They're not exactly flattering on him, but his {{The Glasses Gotta Go}} transformation doesn't actually go any better.

* Wrestling/JimCornette, a non-athletic nerd who made money taking pictures of wrestlers before buying his way into the business with help from his mother. Best known for managing Wrestling/BigVanVader and Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress.
* Jamison, the dyed-in-the-wool ultimate mark who dressed like a nerd and wore glasses like a nerd. Several times, the repaired glasses had to be repaired after he got punched ... right in the glasses.

%%[[folder:Toys]]
%%* Ghoulia Yelps of ''Toys/MonsterHigh''.
%%[[/folder]]

* Jeff of ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' wears the classic thick square frames. They go well with his suit and bowtie and bowl cut, and he's a GadgeteerGenius ''extraordinare.'' They're also OpaqueNerdGlasses, as seen on both his clay model and sprite.
* Lloyd of ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' wears the round glasses, and they double as OpaqueNerdGlasses. He's extremely pasty, with a strong interest in computer software, and a he's frequent target of bullying at his elementary school. The ''[[AllThereInTheManual MOTHER Encyclopedia]]'' mentions that they're his prized possession and that he's never seen without them, and that's a point of pride for him.
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the Four Eyes trait increases the Courier's Perception with glasses, but [[BlindWithoutEm decreases it without them]]. The ''Old World Blues'' DLC introduces [[MadScientist Dr. Klein's and Dr. Mobius']] glasses, which boost Intelligence and provide bonuses to the Courier's Repair and Explosives skills respectively.