History Main / UnconvincinglyUnpopularCharacter

* Kyoya Hibari from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn''. In character polls, he has consistently been rated as the [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorite]] and the [[{{Bishonen}} hottest guy]] in the series, and was ranked #1 within the top 10 for "Anime guys you would marry". Yet in the series itself, ''no one'' has taken ''any'' semblance of romantic interest in him (save a 1-year-old child, and even then, it had to be explained that she only had a crush on him because he looked like her teacher). He's a JerkAss BloodKnight AloofAlly that is only a member of the FiveManBand due to a loose connection to the 1st Cloud Guardian that he resembles. And that didn't stop the girls in the school from swooning over him. Not to mention he's uber powerful and strong, and most likely very rich. He's a loner entierly by his own choice, and hates groups.

** He's also very well respected by basically everybody in NoMoreHeroes2, to the point of idolizing. He even gets a couple of fangirls.

* Kyoya Hibari from ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn''. In character polls, he has consistently been rated as the [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorite]] and the [[{{Bishonen}} hottest guy]] in the series, and was ranked #1 within the top 10 for "Anime guys you would marry". Yet in the series itself, ''no one'' has taken ''any'' semblance of romantic interest in him (save a 1-year-old child, and even then, it had to be explained that she only had a crush on him because he looked like her teacher). He's a JerkAss BloodKnight AloofAlly that is only a member of the FiveManBand due to a loose connection to the 1st Cloud Guardian that he resembles. And that didn't stop the girls in the school from swooning over him. Not to mention he's uber powerful and strong, and most likely very rich.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] however, because he's a loner entierly by his own choice, and hates groups. As despite his attempts to live up to this trope, the rest of the cast want him around (except when he's threatening to kill them, of course) and he is very popular and influencial in Mamori.

* [[SpiderMan Peter Parker]] is (to the reader) a handsome, highly intelligent, funny guy who used to be HappilyMarried to a [[HeroesWantRedheads stunning red-haired supermodel]], and now is a relatively successful freelance photographer (he was retconned to have won a pulitzer for his picture taking skills). In real life, he'd be amazingly popular...most likely OneOfUs. In MarvelUniverse Manhattan, though, he's all but completely ostracized from his peers because...well...he's [[ThisLoserIsYou Peter Parker]]. Though it's more true in adaptations like ''Comicbook/UltimateSpiderMan'' and the various animated series; in the original comics, he was only really ostracized when he was a teenager, and during that time he was a very shy kid prone to glaring angrily at the In-Crowd while muttering how they'll all learn one day. Once he grew up and actually ''became'' handsome and funny, did he get friends. It's only after One More Day that he became this, when it removed his marriage, his career, and his social skills and had everyone treat him like crap for no apparent reason.
** Then it's averted, by the new Big Time era, complete with his alter ego Spider-Man beginning to become a trusted and respected hero amongst New York.
* For some reason, this is played straight in the ''XMenEvolution'' tie in comics, written by Devin Grayson (yes, [[NightWing THAT]] Devin Grayson), in that twice people refer to the Xavier kids as freaks or make a deal about how 'weird' they are...despite the fact that Jean is shown to be VERY popular in the actual TV series, and Scott and Kurt, while not shown as particularly popular, are shown to be very good at [[NiceGuy making girls dig them]]. While it's once mentioned that Jean is considered 'Ok', and someone makes reference to having a crush on Scott, it really comes off as weird that it's made into a minor plot point despite it never coming up in the series...until, you know, TheReveal, but the comics are based before that happening.

* In BackToTheFuture, Marty [=McFly=] is an Adorkable guitarist played by MichaelJFox. Possibly justified in that the loser nature of his family and his friendship with the town outcast might tend to drag him down the social ladder a bit.
** Though the only person who's shown to consider him a loser is his asshole principal, who seems to think this about everyone.
* An adult example: JimCarrey's character in ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' is allegedly a loser ... even though he works as a TV reporter and his girlfriend is played by Creator/JenniferAniston. Played with in that one of the film's key themes is how unappreciative he is when he actually has a good life - ''he'' sees himself as a loser, but hardly anyone else does.
* In ''RebelWithoutACause'', our hero is an alienated HighSchool outcast. He's played by JamesDean, who was a loner in real life, making it TruthInTelevision.

* Creator/JKRowling even makes a few stabs at this in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series. Harry's famous, a pretty nice guy, and is regarded as a hero. Yet in ''Chamber of Secrets'' he's ostracized because he can talk to snakes, in ''Goblet of Fire'' he's ostracized for entering the Triwizard contest ("Harry is a cheating cheater!"), and in the next book he's looked down on because he's the only one who notices ''there's a frickin' war going on.'' In the sixth book, he ''does'' become hugely popular, but finds it annoying.
** FridgeLogic: From the ''Chamber Of Secrets'' to the ''Order Of The Phoenix'', '''nobody''' (and this is not limited to men of political power like Fudge or to the wizarding-world [[TheDon closest thing to a mob boss]] like Malfoy, even petty bullies are not bothered) seems to have the slightest hesitation from bullying and humiliating the Boy Who Lived. Even as [[BullyingADragon they know the Dark Lord himself fled in front of him]].
*** Well, that's the point: if they can bully the kid who defeated the Dark Lord himself, then they're more powerful than the Dark Lord. Especially once they figure out that he has no interest in fighting back, they pick on him and bully him even more.
** Ron fits this trope even better than Harry. By the age of 13, he's helped Harry defeat Voldemort (in one form or another) twice, and has been given an award for special services to the school. He's a DeadpanSnarker who's best friends with the ChosenOne, his brothers are all ultra-cool (Except for Percy. Nothing can make him cool), and it's implied that he's at least moderately attractive. While he isn't a straight-A student, he's not described as stupid by any measure. ''And'' he fights a bunch of adult Death Eaters, and becomes star player in a cup-winning House Quidditch team. He's still not treated as particularly cool though. Apart from Harry, Ron should be the most popular kid in school among everyone but the Slytherins.
*** Explained by Hermione in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' that Ron gets pushed off to one side in favour of Harry because of Harry's fame. Besides the other students in their year who have classes with them and some friends of Ginny's, no one spends enough time with Harry or Ron to realise that Ron is cool, too - they're just in awe of Harry.
*** His family is another problem. As mentioned above, all of his older brothers are ultra-cool, but Ron can't (or at least, feels like he can't) ever live up to them or find a particular skill that sets him apart. Even some of the things that make him "cool," like Quidditch, are things his brothers were already well-known for before him. Throw in that his other best friend/[[spoiler:eventually girlfriend/wife]] is a verifiable genius and he's just generally OvershadowedByAwesome, though by the end of the book series, he's perfectly okay with that, because he got the girl.

* Kent McFuller in the novel ''Literature/BeforeIFall''; He is one of the few people who isn't in awe of the popular girls and [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil can see the titular character Sam for who she really is underneath]]. He seems a ''lot'' happier then the popular kids and is well-liked enough to throw his WildTeenParty that becomes an important event in the book.

* [[{{Literature/Twilight}} Bella Swan]] is an inversion of this. She's socially awkward, clumsy and generally uncool, but everyone warms up to her the minute she gets to town and soon enough she has her own little circle of friends.

* Buffy in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', although she was initially accepted by the in-crowd before her weird behavior, such as accidentally pulling a stake on Cordelia, led them to disowning her. In the end, she only really had two friends at school - Xander and Willow.
** In "The Prom", however, Buffy receives a special Class Protector award for saving the other students' lives on a regular basis.
** Xander is also a case of thise, as he's attractive, friendly and funny, but has no friends except Willow and Buffy and everyone looks down on him because he lacks any shred of confidence in himself (he gets better). Only the science geeks are lower on the social ladder.
* Sabrina in ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': Despite being an attractive do-gooder and a model student, she was treated with contempt by both Libby and Vice-Principal Kraft. Libby at least might have seen Sabrina as a threat to her own popularity, but Kraft... [[SadistTeacher well some people are just jerks.]] That and he dated her aunt.
** Aside from just plain being evil, Libby hated Sabrina because she was jealous of her. She tried many times to steal Sabrina's boyfriend, Harvey, and practically leaped for joy every time there was a chance that Sabrina didn't get a perfect grade. In the episode "When Teens Collide" after Sabrina and Libby switch personalities, a couple of popular cheerleaders explain to Sabrina that while everyone likes Sabrina for being nice, smart and pretty, Libby is popular because everyone fears her.

** Seth Cohen is clearly an attractive, talented, funny and ridiculously rich young man, yet he couldn't get a date for most of his life, despite living in a town full of golddiggers, and was constantly being beaten up by jocks. Not only this, unlike the majority of examples on this list, he apparently had ''no'' friends at all prior the arrival of Ryan.
*** It's implied that Seth would probably be popular if he lived anywhere besides Orange County. This is particularly obvious when he briefly moves to Portland, and apparently has no trouble making friends. It's just that he's surrounded by people who are pompous and shallow. There is also a suggestion that he can be slightly self-centered and petty despite himself sometimes.

* Clark Kent from ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': played by an underwear model, became a football hero, occasionally works at school newspaper, and is friends with the multi-billionaire Lex Luthor (who himself is popular), yet is still viewed as a loser. This also extends to Chloe Sullivan who, despite being a very attractive blonde, head of the school newspaper, and sporting enough popularity to become Prom Queen, is still looked down upon by the {{Alpha Bitch}}es. This is probably due to the Wall of Weird and frequently exposing liked people.
** Except that Clark was never stated to be unpopular, he just prefers to keep a lower profile than many. In the first season Pete even mentions his popularity as a reason why he would be good as class president.
** Chloe also gets a bit of what's due to her when Jonathan Taylor Thomas' character refers to her and Lana equally as "the two hottest, smartest girls in school".
*** Chloe is actually something of a subversion. In the Prom episode, it's revealed that Chloe is actually a lot more popular than she realizes. It turns out that although Chloe is well-liked, the resident AlphaBitch and her GirlPosse hate Chloe's guts because of the fact that Chloe holds their social structure in contempt and arguably because Chloe's reporting work at the newspaper (which they seem to ''really'' despise) resulted in several members of the popular clique being jailed or institutionalized ever since Season 1, and they refer to Chloe's paper as a "geek rag." Meanwhile, when Clark secretly nominates Chloe to be Prom Queen, it turns out the SilentMajority of Smallville High students had secretly been rooting for [[OneOfUs Chloe as sort of a hero to the outcasts of the school.]] Indeed, Clark actually says "Everyone's been trying to break out of the stereotypes that they've been forced into...and you're the rallying cry."

** There's actually some [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation discussion]] that Carly actually does suffer this whilst the other two don't. Sam has shown to be involved with a gang of troublemakers, and Freddie has about a dozen clubs that he gets kicked out in ''iMeet Fred'' that he arguably gets back in eventually, whilst Carly has nothing. She was shown studying with Wendy once and Gibby is the only one apart from Carly and Sam that has regular contact with her.

* All of Team Kimba (the protagonists) in the WhateleyUniverse, even though the group contains some of the hottest girls([[GenderBender -ish]]) on the entire campus. One of them is regarded as possibly the hottest girl on the ''planet'' (she's part Sidhe and has a Faerie glamour). They live in the dorm that's regarded as the campus loonybin (it's not). Before their mutant manifestations, many of them were 'losers' for one reason or another.
** Part of their isolation is that they seem to live up to the dorm's reputation, particularly Generator and Shroud. Tennyo has the stigma of being a Section 33 (fighting her is an automatic expulsion for anyone involved), so people are afraid of her. Phase is a Goodkind, and therefore people are as trusting of him as we would be of Draco Malfoy at a party for muggle-borns. The group as a whole attacked the Alphas (who are supposed to be the best, most popular kids on campus)for no apparent reason early in their first term, and they're the only non-Hawthorne students who actually enjoy going over to Hawthorne to visit the students there.

* Optimus Prime suffers from this in ''TransformersAnimated''. While on Earth he's viewed as amazingly cool and a hero, on Cybertron he's a loser and a nobody - his only defining feature there being that he's in charge of other losers, dropouts and failures. This does nothing for his self-esteem.
** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that the only other Autobots who even seem to know what Optimus and co. have been up to either think it's best to keep the whole issue of Earth in the background ([[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Ultra Magnus]]) or hate his guts ([[JerkAss Sentinel Prime]]). Even if word did get out, who would believe that a nobody commander in charge of a maintenance crew went up against [[BigBad Megatron]] and not only lived, but ''won''? ''TWICE''?
** The end of the season finale does have the team return to Cybertron, and upon leaving their ship are hailed as heroes and cheered by a huge crowd, so apparently word has gotten out.

* [[WesternAnimation/{{Daria}} Daria Morgendorffer]] [[ArcWords doesn't have low self esteem]], she just has [[SnarkKnight low esteem for everyone else]].
** Her best friend Jane as well.
** Lawndale High in general seems to operate on an odd version of this trope (possibly even an {{Inversion}}): everybody has their proscribed social niche (Daria and Jane being [[InformedLoner loner outcasts]]) which are thought of as being rigid, but actually get ignored pretty easily. For example, popular kids like [[TheCheerleader Brittany]] and [[DumbJock Kevin]] associate with her all the time and are almost always nice (unless they insult them by accident), but would balk at actually calling them "friends."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' has an interesting inversion. Most of the leads have ''reason'' to be losers: with [[CowardlySideKick Gus]], [[ChildProdigy Gretchen]], [[WildChild Spinelli]], [[FatComicRelief Mikey]] and even [[HollywoodHomely T.J.]] having 'uncool' qualities. (The only exception is Vince.) Despite this, they are called the most popular kids on the playground. Uncool Populars anyone?
** Then again, their popularity does vary throughout the series. Some episodes they're heroes and in others (such as "The Ratings Game"), utter rejects. This usually depends on whether they conform to the laws [[SeriousBusiness of the playground]]. In the end, the gang sticks together because they're each other's only real friends.

** Taylor Townsend, a stunning, whip smart, witty young lady who is so unpopular she is reduced to following around Seth (and Summer) for want of a friend. Granted, her well meaning but hyper personality might be a little hard for some to take...

** Though the only person who's shown to consider him a loser is his asshole principle, who seems to think this about everyone.

This often leads up to a big payoff, when the Cool Loser is briefly given a moment when they realize that more people ''do'', in fact, like them more than they thought (usually when they are unexpectedly honoured at some manner of ceremony, such as a graduation). It's not explained why those honouring didn't [[CannotSpitItOut demonstrate this in some way]] earlier, but it often comes in the form of a [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming sweet gesture]].

* Ned and Mose in ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''

* Freddie on ''Series/iCarly'' gets this, whilst Carly does not. Sam appears to be feared more than respected, so is similar to Carly, but in a different way.

* In BackToTheFuture, Marty McFly is an Adorkable guitarist played by MichaelJFox. Possibly justified in that the loser nature of his family and his friendship with the town outcast might tend to drag him down the social ladder a bit.

*** Explained by Hermione in ''GobletOfFire'' that Ron gets pushed off to one side in favour of Harry because of Harry's fame. Besides the other students in their year who have classes with them and some friends of Ginny's, no one spends enough time with Harry or Ron to realise that Ron is cool, too - they're just in awe of Harry.

* In BackToTheFuture, Marty McFly is an Adorkable musician played by MichaelJFox.

* Candi from the CiemWebcomicSeries may be really pretty and all, but the town of Viron just gets a [[EvilFeelsGood real thrill]] out of being very abusive to her. While she is a closet nympho, she does her best to control her urges, and keeps her releases restricted to her monogamous relationships. Still, she gets treated like a slut frequently, [[UrbanLegendLoveLife by those who would have no way of knowing anything about her actual level of experience]]. Given that some of the region's residents are clearly {{Brainwashed}} by the Hebbleskin Gang, Candi has [[JustifiedTrope an excuse]] to not want a whole lot of friends.

** Minako is a tomboy who tend to beat up anyone pissing her off enough. That tends to scare away most people...

** The fact that Stacey is implied to be rich (rich enough to afford pay-per-view anyway) and throws awesome parties may have something to do with it.

** The fact that Stacey is implied to be rich (rich enough to afford pay-per-view anyway) and throw awesome parties all the time may have something to do with it.

* Ned, Mose, and Cookie in ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''

->''Peter Parker was just an attractive, intelligent, likable, athletic, well-dressed teenage loser.''
--> -'''WebVideo/HonestTrailers''', ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan''

* Toru Mizushima from ''IrisZero'' manga. He is quite handsome, very smart and good-hearted, yeti s constantly mistreated due to his Iris Zero status. You'd think that his ability to figure things out despite not having Iris would impress people, rather than make him target for bullies. It may be justified by his “Minimal Exposure” policy, which means he tries to stand out as little as possible.

** Xander is also a case of thise, as he's attractive, friendly and funny, but has no friends except Willow and Buffy and everyone looks down on him for no well-articulated reason (Is it because his family is dirt poor? Is it because he likes geeky comic books? What?). Only the science geeks are lower on the social ladder.

*** His family is another problem. As mentioned above, all of his older brothers are ultra-cool, but Ron can't (or at least, feels like he can't) ever live up to them or find a particular skill that sets him apart. Even some of the things that make him "cool," like Quidditch, are things his brothers were already well-known for before him. Throw in that his other best friend/[[spoiler:eventually girlfriend/wife]] is a verifiable genius and he's just generally OvershadowedByAwesome.