History Main / TroubledbutCute

* Duncan and Chase from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''.

* Duncan from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama''.

* In ''Fanfic/TheStoryOfApolloDaphneAndLucaAnItalianTragedy'' we have the charming and exhuberant [[SadClown Alberto Scorfano]], who is still struggling with his concept of family and jealousy management [[ParentalAbandonement due to being abandoned by his biological father and living alone on Isola del Mare for a whole year]] and [[spoiler: the fact of having a love rival in [[BigJerkOnCampus Vincenzo]] for Luca's affections]].

** The main character applies, with his [[HeadphonesEqualIsolation ever present headphones]], [[FreudianExcuse sad past]], [[TheQuietOne reclusive attitude]], and, finally, his [[PeekABangs damn]] blue [[EmoTeen hair]]. He's also a ChickMagnet.

* ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'' has Toriko Nishina. [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest Her parents are dead]]. Her tutor, whom she is obviously smitten with, Satsuki Uruma, has gone missing in a nightmarish alternate dimension known as Otherside. She's shy and introverted around people she doesn't know. And while she does a good job of hiding all of this behind a cheerful personality, there are moments where the cracks show through, such as when her new friend, Sorawo Kamikoshi, tells Toriko that she doesn't want to risk her life in Otherside anymore after a couple of close calls. Toriko offers Sorawo her share of the money they make bringing back objects from Otherside to try and convince her, and when Sorawo still turns her down, Toriko rushes back into Otherside alone to try and find the missing Satsuki.

*** Abed suffers from an {{ambiguous disorder}}, has multiple mental breakdowns, as well as a tenuous grasp on reality at times, and comes from a broken home while also being "freaking adorable", with numerous women showing attraction to him.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'': Sagara Sousuke. Although he's not "troubled" in the normal rebellious sense, and more just plain troubled. It's pretty obvious that the poor boy has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and an automatically violent personality that he can't control. His extreme paranoia has him doing things like bombing his school, planting land mines everywhere, and pointing guns/shooting at people. All of this is [[ComedicSociopathy played for laughs]], and he [[AngstWhatAngst tends not to angst]] (considering his past and current situation, he angsts ''remarkably'' little). And despite all this, ''any'' girl (or [[EvenTheGuysWantHim guy, even]]) who has watched him or gotten to know him well enough seems to [[ChickMagnet fall for him]] - even the series' resident {{Tsundere}}. On one occasion, Kaname was kidnapped by a group of thugs who planned to back him into a corner. He retaliated in a way so nightmarish that, that particular episode wasn't aired for a while because of a similar incident in real life. Then, when she got kidnapped AGAIN by the Yakuza, Sousuke went after her with a rival gang clad in '''theme park mascot suits converted into powered armors'''. Seriously, who would convert theme park mascots into powered armor and try to sell it to the military and law enforcement sector, then wonder why didn't it sell? He first stole the suit while trying to keep an eye on Kaname while she was at an amusement park and decided to make it more useful in the future by upgrading it. He's dumbfounded by it not selling because his raised-by-wolves attitude left him without a sense of aesthetics, so he didn't realize just how silly it looked.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'' almost all the characters are troubled but cute.

[[folder: Arts]]

%% * ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'': Former BadassBiker and SexSlave Riki is a male BrokenBird.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Frank Castle is a [[VigilanteMan murderous vigilante]] [[CrusadingWidower whose goal is to avenge the murder of his wife and children]] and is a [[ShellShockedVeteran mentally disturbed war veteran]]. He is also a [[TallDarkAndHandsome tall and attractive brunette who's in incredible shape.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sasuke completely misses the look (or at least, the dress code), though - that turtleneck, shorts, and knee-socks combination fairly scream "scrawny kid". Then again, {{Ninja}} are ''supposed'' to cultivate an unassuming personal appearance, even if, in fiction, [[HighlyVisibleNinja they usually don't]]. [[spoiler:He gets...better when he gets an [[BadassLongCoat Akatsuki trench coat]] and a KillEmAll attitude later on.]]

* ''Art/TheFallenAngel'': Lucifer is painted as a handsome, muscled young man. His expression is one of humiliation, rage, and pain because he has just betrayed (and been dumped by) the [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} God]] he loved so much.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': Kyo Sohma, an antisocial [[ArrogantKungFuGuy martial artist]] with DontYouDarePityMe attitude who's obsessed with beating Yuki. Tohru seems to genuinely like him, though, and in his defense, he ''does'' have a good FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: his mother was DrivenToSuicide, his father rejected him completely after that, and being the [[BalefulPolymorph cat]] of the [[BigScrewedUpFamily Sohma clan]] has brought him lots of unhappiness, Akito's scorn, and an uncertain future.]]. His reason for obsessively trying to beat Yuki doesn't make him a bad guy at all: [[spoiler:Akito said that if he beat Yuki fairly (at anything), he won't be locked in isolation until he's dead.]] His general issues with Tohru are revealed at the very end of the manga to be the result of how [[spoiler:he could have stopped her mother Kyoko from being hit by the car, but grabbing her would have caused him to transform into a cat. He blamed himself for being a coward (a running theme in his CharacterDevelopment) and thought her dying words were her blaming him and telling him to stay away from Tohru (in reality, Kyoko was trying to ask him [[DeclarationOfProtection to protect Tohru]], but she was dying at that moment and couldn't finish).]]

** Shinjiro Aragaki, though he's not a Chick Magnet. The UpdatedRerelease takes it [[UpToEleven well past eleven]] in the [[DistaffCounterpart female protagonist's]] path. This is played with, though. [[spoiler:Despite all of his troubles (the ones he [[StoicWoobie doesn't complain about]]), it's made clear that he's a ''very'' nice guy (downright {{Moe}}, even!) and that quite a bit of his jerk-like behavior is because he's fairly certain that he doesn't have much time left.]]

* Franchise/{{Batman}}. Has attracted a number of women, including villains, and is the TropeNamer for DatingCatwoman. But he also lost his parents at a young age, he suffers from SurvivorsGuilt, has seen some of the orphans he took in and [[spoiler:his own son]] die, and another [[spoiler: become a Main/SerialKiller]]

* ComicBook/{{X23}}. Troubled is an understatement. She was created to be a living weapon, tried to rebel against her training, ended up as a teenage prostitute, and then, after joining Xavier's School, ended up conscripted to ComicBook/XForce, a squad created specifically to kill people that ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} deemed a threat to mutantkind, which has alienated many of her very few friends. The books make it very clear that Laura is a very beautiful young woman: several characters have outright called her hot, when planning to pull a GrandTheftMe on her Miss Sinister expressed satisfaction she would be getting a very attractive new body, and she caught the attention of both pretty boy Hellion ''and'' the time-displaced teenaged Cyclops, before eventually getting together with ''the'' pretty boy of the X-Men, time-displaced teenaged Angel (and this despite being on a team with the teenaged ''ComicBook/JeanGrey'').

* ComicBook/ThePunisher: Frank Castle is a [[VigilanteMan murderous vigilante]] [[CrusadingWidower whose goal is to avenge the murder of his wife and children]] and is a [[ShellShockedVeteran mentally disturbed war veteran]]. He is also a [[TallDarkAndHandsome tall and attractive brunette who's in incredible shape.]]

** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' adds in pre-superheroism [[Comicbook/{{Storm}} Ororo Munroe]], a thief struggling to get by in the streets of Cairo, who accepts to be taken under the wing of a supervillain without problem.

** Feanor of {{Literature/The Silmarillion}} however is the logical conclusion of this trope.

%%* Mitchell from ''Series/BeingHuman''. He's TheAtoner. Then he's the [[spoiler:BigBad]]. Things get pretty messy.

*** Abed suffers from an [[AmbiguousDisorder ambiguous disorder]], has multiple mental breakdowns, as well as a tenuous grasp on reality at times, and comes from a broken home while also being "freaking adorable", with numerous women showing attraction to him.

%% * Series/DoctorWho:

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': Daryl Dixon grew up in a poor and abusive family, is kind of an aloof and brooding loner, as well as a tough and aggressive fighter, but is extremely loyal and caring towards the people who are close to him, and often shows his kind and vulnerable side. He becomes the show's BreakoutCharacter, especially after his CharacterDevelopment in season 2.

* Miguel Caballero Rojo in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 6'' is the black sheep of his family who keeps on picking fights, arguing mostly with his parents, and running away from home at an early age. But in all this, he has a soft spot for his sister.

* ''Manga/KamisamaKiss'': Tomoe is a LittleBitBeastly {{Bishounen}} {{Kitsune}} and Manga/InuYasha {{Expy}} that is a RetiredMonster (ex-demonic bandit and warlord to be exact) with a DarkAndTroubledPast that has slowly mellowed into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* ''Series/NipTuck'': Christian Troy is shallow, [[ExtremeLibido sex-obsessed]], and in the [[BastardBoyfriend habit of treating his sex partners like dirt]] -- but he's also [[{{Hunk}} handsome]], successful, and ''really'' [[SexGod good in bed]], plus the [[FreudianExcuse unexpected vulnerable streak]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Sasuke completely misses the look (or at least, the [[HollywoodDressCode dress code]]), though - that turtleneck, shorts, and knee-socks combination fairly scream "scrawny kid". Then again, {{Ninja}} are ''supposed'' to cultivate an unassuming personal appearance, even if, in fiction, [[HighlyVisibleNinja they usually don't]]. [[spoiler:He gets...better when he gets an [[BadassLongCoat Akatsuki trench coat]] and a KillEmAll attitude later on.]]

** Big Boss is an EvenTheGuysWantHim character, known for his charisma, presence, and magnanimity, who has had romantic and pseudo-romantic relationships with both women and men. He killed his mentor and spends the rest of his life attempting to come to terms with it and trying to stick it to TheMan...who turns out to be an actual character ([[spoiler:his former best friend!]])

* Kevin in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' is the "beautiful disaster" incarnated, but Gwen falls for him in spite of that (maybe it was one of the reasons). Although he is reputed as a Womanizer, the only other girl who shows some interest on him is Jennifer Nocturne, and in the [[''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' sequel.]]

%% * ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'':

%%* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' presents [[FanNickname FemShep's]] potential male love interests, in order of least-to-most emotional baggage: Jacob (refuses to be thought of as a "baggage guy") -> Kaidan (TrainingFromHell, BlessedWithSuck) -> Garrus (CowboyCop with a lot of survivor guilt come the second game) -> Thane (former assassin who made his first kill when he was twelve). Now, where Liara would fit on this scale is another question...

* Marceline from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. She has a LOT of issues. It would take us a day, if not a week to go through them all.