History Main / UnconvincinglyUnpopularCharacter

* The Honest Trailer for ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' put it best:
-->"Peter Parker is an attractive, intelligent, likable, athletic, well-dressed ''teenage loser''."

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'': Mia Jones is the would-be [[AllGuysWantCheerleaders spicy cheerleader]] but being a teen mother stands in the way until she becomes a model.

* ''Manga/HoshinEngi'': Taikobo is an [[{{Bishonen}} adorable]], hilarious, good-hearted, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld young-looking immortal]] that's insanely smart, and manages to come up with genius tactics to save the day. Yet absolutely no halfway decent women has ''any'' romantic interest in him throughout the entire series... save for a ''hideous'' {{Gonk}} that [[AbhorrentAdmirer disgusts everyone]] (including and ''especially'' him). Sure, he's a CelibateHero that has no interest in romance... but it's not like he's always ''announcing'' it and letting everyone know, and there's no real reason why ''no one'' is interested in him.

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': Taikoubou is an [[{{Bishonen}} adorable]], hilarious, good-hearted, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld young-looking immortal]] that's insanely smart, and manages to come up with genius tactics to save the day. Yet absolutely no halfway decent women have ''any'' romantic interest in him throughout the entire series... save for a ''hideous'' {{Gonk}} that [[AbhorrentAdmirer disgusts everyone]] (including and ''especially'' him). Sure, he's a CelibateHero that has no interest in romance... but it's not like he's always ''announcing'' it and letting everyone know, and there's no real reason why ''no one'' is interested in him.

* ''Fanfic/TheSimpsonsTeamLASH'': Anastasia Burns is beautiful, smart, charismatic, good at gymnastics, and most importantly, the wealthiest student at Springfield Elementary. In spite of that, the popular girls at Springfield Elementary all dislike her, and she doesn’t seem to have many friends. The main factor that drives people away from her seems to be [[BornInTheWrongCentury how out-of-touch she is with modern trends]].

* The title character in ''ComicStrip/{{Dustin}}'' is referred to be rather good-looking, witty (or snarky) and is a college graduate. However, he also is a HollywoodDateless BasementDweller who wears cargo shorts most of the time.

Similar to HollywoodHomely and HollywoodDateless, and a very frequent protagonist of HighSchool shows, this is when a character who is smart, funny, fashionable and good looking is portrayed as being much less popular than they would be in real life, to the point of threatening WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Done deliberately to limit the [[LimitedSocialCircle circle of friends/cast]] as much as possible, thereby erasing the hassle of writing multiple, varying characterizations, while at the same time making the main character likable to the viewer. If this character is female, she is frequently a target of the AlphaBitch. If this character is male, he is often the target of the BigJerkOnCampus, the JerkJock and/or TheBully.

* Flash Sentry is a [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap likable]], handsome, wealthy guy that is a star player on the boys' tennis team, plays the guitar and has a ton of friends in ''Fanfic/PersonaEG''. But is otherwise treated as a social pariah. Justified because he's a victim of cyberbullying and is friends with other targets.
** The Main Six are ones as well, despite all of them being beautiful, nice and in prestigious positions (Rainbow Dash is captain of the soccer team, Rarity runs her own business, etc), everyone talks behind their backs and spread terrible rumors about them.
* The main characters in Blog/AskTheMainFour are not very popular in school due to the notorious schemes that they are often associated with.
* ''Fanfic/AGreatAndPowerfulHeart'': Jasper is a very knowledgeable, resourceful, and brave colt who can make flames ''with his horn'', and he's despised and bullied by his hometown. As it turns out, [[spoiler: [[JustifiedTrope Promise is a community run by Earth Pony supremacists]], who mistreat poor Jasper for being a unicorn. Thankfully, Trixie does see potential in Jasper,and having bonded over the course of the story, [[HappilyAdopted adopts the colt to take him out of his toxic environment]] ]].
* ''Fanfic/CurseOfTheDualshock'': Shelly is an inverted example; her FourthWall breaking habits can be found annoying (Especially by Rocky), but is respected due to her kindness.

* Ian Lightfoot from ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' is an InkSuitActor of Creator/TomHolland and an overall likable guy yet starts out with no friends at school, though this has less to do with being perceived as a “loser” and more because of shyness and embarrassment around his nerdy brother. When he does work up the courage to invite some classmates to his birthday party, they show interest.

* ''Film/TheBabysitter2017'' [[ZigzaggingTrope Zigzaggs]] it with Cole, who's a reasonably good, albeit nerdy looking, 12-year old kid. He also happens to be buddy-buddy with his hot teenaged babysitter, Bee. Sounds good, right? Except Cole is nearly everyone's victim - from the neighborhood bully (Jeremy) picking on him ''and'' egging his house, to the aforementioned babysitter turning out to be the leader of a Satanic cult (Bee's friends from highschool) which wants Cole ''dead''. But by the end of the film, Cole has become [[ActionSurvivor an unlikely hero]] by defeating Bee's cult and he now has first girlfriend: his 12-year old neighbor, [[GirlNextDoor Melanie.]]
* ''Film/MeanGirls'':
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in Janis Ian's case. She's good looking, smart, and funny -- and [[FormerFriendOfAlphaBitch used to be friends with Regina]]. Then her reputation was destroyed by [[MistakenForGay a rumor that she was a lesbian]], and she now [[TheSnarkKnight willingly embraces outsiderdom]]. The producers were actually reluctant to cast Creator/LizzyCaplan as Janis because they thought she was too pretty for the role but settled by giving her a goth/alternative look that would justify the popular girls avoiding her.
** Subverted by the protagonist Cady, who starts out as this but quickly becomes popular and powerful to the point that she can become the new AlphaBitch.
* An adult example: Creator/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. PlayedWith since one of the film's key themes is how unappreciative he is since he actually does have a good life (in his defense, he's more just pissed about a recent bout of misfortune in his career). He overcomes this when he takes on the role of God and gets a dose of humility.

* This trope crops up frequently in the roles of Creator/HaileeSteinfeld, with films such as ''Film/TheEdgeOfSeventeen'' and ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' having her play a dorky young woman who has few to no friends.
* {{Deconstructed|CharacterArchetype}} from both ends in ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' with Veronica Sawyer and Jason "JD" Dean. The cool, witty, attractive, and [[TheSnarkKnight gloomy]] Veronica is the kind of character who ''would'' be the Cool Loser heroine in any number of teen comedies... except here, she's a member of the titular GirlPosse. Her personality, though, eventually fractures her relationship with the Heathers, leading to her friendship with the film's ''other'' example, JD. He's a handsome tough guy dressed in black who's named after Creator/JamesDean (himself listed above), the kind of guy who would be the edgy male hero in a teen movie... and his EstablishingCharacterMoment is him [[AxesAtSchool bringing a gun to school]] and [[HollywoodBlanks firing blank rounds]] to scare off a pair of JerkJock bullies. ''Yeesh.'' No wonder he's an outcast.

* 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. However, various reasons pop up for his unpopularity:
*** In ''Chamber of Secrets'' he's ostracized because he can talk to snakes (an ability called Parseltongue). However, the ability is associated with Salazar Slytherin, who wasn't the nicest of people and the ability tends to be associated with deviants.
*** In ''Goblet of Fire'' he's ostracized for entering the Triwizard contest ("Harry is a cheating cheater!"). Though it's more of Malfoy and his cronies promoting this and once Harry completes the First Task, most of the issues die down.
*** In ''Order of the Phoenix,'' he defended himself and Dudley from Dementors and due to the events of the last book, he and Dumbledore have begun getting slandered by the Ministry of Magic and various others.
*** Inverted in the sixth book, he ''does'' become hugely popular, but finds it annoying and exhaustive to deal with.
** Ron. 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 a 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 large reason for this. As mentioned above, most of his older brothers are quite cool and all have accomplished or are accomplishing many things in their own fields. This means that 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 is a verifiable genius and he's just generally OvershadowedByAwesome. Hinted at by his looking in the Mirror of Erised, which reveals his desire to surpass them all and explored by how the above two gives him some self-esteem issues (that the Horcrux in Book 7 exploits ''viciously.'')
* ''Franchise/PerryMason''. His only admirer is his secretary, Della Street. This one ''especially'' boggles the mind, considering that he's an incredibly rich, handsome, powerful, world famous lawyer that is well known for being on the side of justice. He has hundreds of attractive, young female clients, who go through life and death situations with him, where he's always there to comfort and save them in their time of need. Yet ''none'' of them ever fall for him. If they flirt with him, it's always because they're just trying to manipulate or trick him. Apparently, no woman during those days wanted to chase and marry an insanely rich, prominent lawyer.
** [[HoYay Luckily he has Paul]].
* The ''Series/EerieIndiana'' books attempt to justify this: the charming but unpopular town bum, liked only by the main characters, used to be the mayor before he [[{{Curse}} irritated a witch]].
* In Maggie Furey's ''Literature/{{Shadowleague}}'' books, it's mentioned that Kazairl and Veldan were seen as this when they were young in Gendival.
* The ''entire'' main cast of ''Literature/{{Stuck}}'': Tre, Allie, Nora and Max being the largest examples.
* ''Literature/BeforeIFall'':
** Kent [=McFuller=]. 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 than the popular kids and is well-liked enough to throw his WildTeenParty that becomes an important event in the book.
** There are hints Sam's little sister Izzy will grow up to be like this - she refuses to go to speech therapy for her lisp, even though the other kids laugh at her and she dresses rather oddly.
* Francis from ''Literature/TheTraitorGame'', possibly as a result of being friends with Michael.
* The book ''Literature/TeenIdol'' puts this trope under a microscope, almost to the point of Deconstruction. Main character Jenny is nice, smart, well-liked and pretty in a GirlNextDoor-type of way but is not a member of the popular, Beautiful Elite. The book is all about her realizing that just because she's not in the popular crowd or the AlphaBitch doesn't mean she's not popular. In fact, she's so well-liked by everyone that she's actually the most popular girl in school and has way more power than the JerkJock or the AlphaBitch
* In ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', Bella Swan is an inversion. 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.

* Literature/JessicaDarling tends to consider herself the biggest loser alive, as well as being hideously ugly and a failure at everything. The observant reader may however notice that plenty of people seek out Jess' company and opinions, that even her [[AlphaBitch bitchier]] friends claim that she's got a perfect body ([[ACupAngst well, with one major exception]]), that she's a top student ''and'' a star athlete, and that plenty of boys develop crushes on her. Eventually she gets called out on it by some ''actual'' losers, who counter her defense that she hated all her supposed high school "friends" by asking, basically, "yes, but did anyone actually hate ''you''?"
* Played with in the Creator/BenElton novel ''Past Mortem'', in which the protagonist -- much to his surprise -- is revealed to have been an unwitting example. He always considered himself a dorky loser with few friends who bullies tended to pick on, but later in the story one of said bullies actually admits that the only reason he picked on the protagonist was because the protagonist, unlike the messed-up bully, was always secure and confident in himself and never felt the need to put on airs, and he was actually a lot more respected than he had actually thought.
* In ''Literature/DorkDiaries'', Nikki and her friends are some of the least popular kids in school despite being cute, bubbly, and charismatic girls. Although that's likely because the school AlphaBitch hates their guts and deliberately made them unpopular.
* ''Literature/MenoMaleCheCiSei'': Deconstructed with Allegra. She's considered one of the hottest girls in her school (being even compared to ''Creator/JessicaAlba'' in appearance), and has an attractive and outgoing boyfriend, but is an outcast with no friends. This is justified, as she's reclusive, insecure, plainly dressed, an underachiever with no interests or talents whatsoever, and is rumored to be crazy because of her bad home life. She has no problem attracting guys with her looks, she just doesn't fit in any group.
* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg and his best friend Rowley were considered the cool losers. However, after Rowley gets his [[InjuredLimbEpisode arm broken from the Big Wheel accident]], he became popular.
* ''Literature/GhostGirl2021'': Zee is this InUniverse. Nellie flat-out states that, despite Zee having no friends besides Elijah and regularly being made fun of, people still like her, find her funny, and hang onto her every word.

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': {{Deconstructed|CharacterArchetype}} in the episode ''[[Recap/ThirtyRockS3E5Reunion Reunion]]''. Liz Lemon saw herself as a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold in high school, a girl with few friends who coped with harassment from the AlphaBitch by [[DeadpanSnarker retreating into a sarcastic wit]] that became her trademark into adulthood. However, when she goes to her ClassReunion years later, she finds out ''why'' she had so few friends, and that was because her constant put-downs caused her classmates to see her as TheBully and hate her. Her so-called friends were acquaintances who only hung around her due to proximity, and the supposed AlphaBitch was actually a ClassPrincess who tried to reach out and befriend her (surprise, surprise, her friendliness was actually why she was so popular in the first place). She even had to go therapy to cope with the abuse Liz inflicted on her. The episode ends with Liz [[HeelRealization realizing]] that she's the SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp.

* ''Series/{{Awkward}}'': The whole series could be summed up as Cool Loser Jenna Hamilton realizing how cool she actually is.

* ''Series/DarkOracle'': Lance Stone although this is at least partially deliberate on his own part. He's capable of being socially functional, but his interests in role-play and video gaming, combined with an antisocial streak and the fact that his girlfriend, Sage, is one of the most picked on girls in the school keep him pretty isolated.

** In the episode "Original Song," the Glee club, minus Rachel, write a Cool Loser anthem for New Directions appropriately called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB9m2mdg1cs "Loser Like Me."]]

* ''Series/HannahMontana'': Miley's alter-ego and her best friend Lilly. Both are self-professed "losers", even though they have the social skills and good looks to be popular (and, in fact, in an "alternate timeline" episode where Miley never met her, Lilly has become the school's AlphaBitch). One can only assume that Miley is purposefully pretending to be mediocre in an effort to better disguise her pop-star persona. When she is being Hannah Montana, she has a robust social life and frequently attends large parties. This still doesn't explain Lilly, though. (On the other hand, the third part of their trio, Oliver, is the epitome of social awkwardness... perhaps hanging out with him is enough of a social blight to bring Miley and Lilly to the bottom.)
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Claire's friend Zach. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the student body seemed to [[MistakenForGay regard him as homosexual]], and this ''was'' a bunch of high school students we're talking about.

* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'': Zig-zagged with both Simon and Will. While Simon is attractive and Will is witty, both of them are extremely awkward around the opposite sex and constantly find themselves in various states of public humiliation, so it isn't that hard to see why they aren't considered popular. And even for all their unpopularity, [[HollywoodDateless both of them, particularly Simon, are able to attract the interest of girls pretty regularly]].

* ''Series/TheNanny'': Despite the fact that eldest daughter Maggie is, according to Fran, a gorgeous, thin, blonde, heiress with legs up to ''here,'' her crippling shyness and insecurity has left her a complete and total outcast. By the end of the series, with Fran's guidance, she's able to shed this and become quite popular.
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'':
** Ned is cute, clever, friendly, open towards everyone and gives great tips, but he isn't very popular.
** Moze played with the trope. Even if she has the looks, the personality, great grades, and is the ace of several school teams, she is not part of the popular crowd. In early episodes she struggles to make female friends, and mainly hangs out with Ned, Cookie or other not-so-cool kids. However, she's much more popular than she realizes; in the episode "Popularity" she finds out that she is in the Top 10 of a popularity list on the school's website, but she eventually finds the other "cool" students annoying and prefers hanging out with her old friends.
** Averted with their friend Cookie who is an ExtravertedNerd.
* ''Series/TheOC''
** 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 himself sometimes.
** 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.
* ''Series/{{Popular}}'': Samantha. Despite being gorgeous and smart, she was unpopular. A snarky recapper on Website/TelevisionWithoutPity actually pointed out that for all her supposed outsiderness Sam generally had more stylized hairstyles and make up than the actually popular Brooke, who looked like she just ran a comb through her hair every morning.

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': Despite being an attractive do-gooder and a model student, Sabrina 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.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** Clark Kent 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 is a subversion and she 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". 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 [[JustForFun/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."
* ''WebVideo/SororityForever'': Julie. This may be justified by the fact that Bridget, the head of Phi Chi Kappa, takes a disliking to her for her rebellious and inquisitive tendancies..

* ''Series/TeenWolf'': Scott and Stiles are both introduced as nerdy social outcasts who have [[{{OnlyFriend}} no friends apart from each other]] and are picked on mercilessly by the school's JerkJock. Although they ''are'' rather dorky and awkward, it doesn't cancel out the fact they're both fairly good-looking and nice guys, Scott is one of the sweetest, kindest characters on the show and Stiles is very witty and intelligent. Somewhat justified as they may have had more acquaintances before the show started, but got distracted by the werewolf mess and only hung out with people who knew the truth. (Which was only the two of them to begin with). The pair also had difficult upbringings - with Scott's dad walking out and Stiles's mum passing away - which might have isolated them.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'':
** The lead character is witty, attractive, fashionable and generally benevolent. Veronica's unpopularity is ostensibly due to her father's insistence that local hero Jake Kane was a murderer. It wasn't until later on, when she becomes more than a little infamous for her ability to figure things out, that she regained some respect -- her TenMinuteRetirement at the beginning of the second season proves that. Once again, ''Buffy''-style, at the end of the second season, she's given a minor ovation from her classmates as she accepts her diploma. In Veronica's case, it's arguably on purpose. She's pissed at them for essentially abandoning her when she needed her friends the most. The ones she eventually forgives are generally the ones who had their own issues regarding Lily's death (Logan and Duncan are pretty much the list). The theme song was well-chosen.
** Wallace Fennel, Veronica's best friend is also an example of this. He's at best marginally popular, despite being the star on the basketball team, very nice, funny and dating the super hot daughter of a baseball legend. In Wallace's case, it's at least partly intentional. As he said, he'd rather hangout with the chick who cut him down when duct-taped to the flag pole than the people who just stood and laughed at him.
* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Played with in that Alex seems to deliberately seek out this status. In fact, it seems to be a staple of Creator/DisneyChannel [[MadeForTVMovie original movies]], glaringly so in ''Alley Cats Strike'', wherein the otherwise cool captain of the school bowling club is regarded as some sort of misfit outcast (that is, until the movie's main events kick into gear).
* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Fox Mulder. On the one hand, a TallDarkAndSnarky Oxford-educated FBI agent. On the other, a basement-dwelling conspiracy theorist with a porn habit. This manages to average out into Cool Loser.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'': Jeremy and his gang are not particularly popular for no apparent reason.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Even when this play is not set in High School, the Gascons are the {{Cool Loser}}s that de Guiche, the JerkJock, is trying to pick on with help of his GirlPosse, De Valvert. The Gascons are all proud of being [[ImpoverishedPatrician losers]] and of being cool.
[[/folder]]

* Travis Touchdown of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' is a ranked assassin with a LaserBlade, a really CoolBike, and a bone to pick with [[WorldsStrongestMan ten of the most dangerous people]] in Santa Destroy/"California"/[[ConvenientQuesting America]]. He's also an unemployed, foul-talking {{otaku}} who, even at the top of his killing game, commands the respect of roughly no one.
** He fits the trope (jobless, only one friend), but the only opponent of his that outright disrespects him is Destroyman, for reasons not related to his social status. Most of the blatant disrespect that we see comes from Sylvia and Naomi, the former of which is more than just kind of a [[{{Jerkass}} bitch]] to begin with (with tones of the AlphaBitch) and the latter of which a bit of a [[DeadpanSnarker grouch]] and Cool Loser in her own right.
** Totally subverted in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', in which he's very well respected by basically everybody, to the point of idolizing. He even gets a couple of fangirls. It helps that he also undergoes CharacterDevelopment and becomes less of an ass. By the time of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'', he's a proper anti-hero who's assembled his own squad of TrueCompanions.

* Despite all of them being conventionally attractive and having qualities that in other societies (especially Western ones) would make them among the most popular kids in school (Joker/Ryuji having rebel spirits, Ann being a model, Yusuke having an eye for art, Futaba being a GamerChick, Makoto being an honors student, Haru loving gardening), due to the way Japanese society works, the Phantom Thieves of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' are all ostracized in some way that makes having friends apart from each other difficult.
** This is especially true for Joker, as despite being downright handsome and potentially being able to max out all his social stats, due to the black mark that is his assault record against a politician (which in Japan is akin to social suicide), everyone else just sees him as a thug.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Deconstructed with Lauren in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework''. She talks, dresses, and acts like a popular girl, and plus, she’s very attractive. However, the heavy context clues indicate that [[spoiler:she just pretends to be popular]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Jodie from ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}''. Sexy, a good artist, funny, but most people except the protagonists only want to have sex with her, or actively hate her. Of course, the girls mostly hate her because she sleeps with their boyfriends...
* Mike Cosley from ''Webcomic/{{Bardsworth}}'' was one of these in high school. When he gets to college ([[WizardingSchool magical]] college, at that), he's not as actively mocked as he was, but he isn't exactly Mr. Popularity.
* ''Webcomic/{{Nedroid}}'': Everyone, especially the main character Reginald.
* Ja Wangnan from ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''. Pretty cocky, pisses others off with ease, constantly fails the trials and has racked up such a debt that he wagered his vital organs on passing the next test.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* All of Team Kimba (the protagonists) in the Literature/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. 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.
* Blitzo from ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' is a seasoned gun-toting assassin, at one point dated a famous pop star, and is one of the few demons able to readily enter the mortal world by virtue of being on ([[AbhorrentAdmirer very]]) good terms with one of the most powerful beings ''in'' Hell. But he's also a complete weirdo who typically garners minimal respect from even his own employees or his adoptive daughter, let alone most other people he's seen interacting with - the only people who ''do'' seem to like him either don't know him all that well or are just as weird as he is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': Depth Charge treats the Maximals, especially Optimus Primal, as if they were this before they got sucked into a time hole to kick off the series. This comes despite Primal outranking Depth Charge and having more known friends, and not just because Rampage killed all Depth Charge's friends. Jerkass may have a point though, as the mission that the Maximals were on was treated as a low level one anyway (to hide its true purpose of [[spoiler: abandoning the immortal Rampage on a barren planet where he could do no harm.]]
* In the never-picked-up ''Crash Nebula'', the main protagonist is just as surprised as the viewer when he is informed of his immediate loser status.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'':
** While Tucker and Sam fit the bill, Danny seems to be a bigger loser than both put together for no other reason than the sake of it. That, and for a lot of scenes with the JerkJock and[=/=]or TheBully. His parents' reputation as [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents loony ghost hunters]] may have something to do with it.
** Valerie becomes a complete outcast after losing her wealth, to the point of initially having no friends to hang out with and EatingLunchAlone. This is despite still having her good looks, fashion sense, athletic skills, and social skills. She slowly veers into the Cool Loser archetype after developing a much nicer, more laid-back personality (at least as a high school girl and not putting her villainous side in consideration), but still remains unpopular and shunned, likely because her days as a nasty AlphaBitch [[ReformedButRejected left everyone giving her the cold shoulder]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'':
** 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 [[PopularIsDumb 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."
** Daria Morgendorffer [[ArcWords doesn't have low self esteem]], she just has [[SnarkKnight low esteem for everyone else]]. As Brittany puts it: she's not popular, but she's not unpopular enough that she can't associate with popular people.
** Daria's best friend Jane is very cool -in an alternative fashion- and it is clear in the show that she could be popular without much effort if she wanted, but she doesn't.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'': Lee Ping seems to be set up for this, even though he's an intelligent, friendly guy who doesn't fit into any one clique at his high school. Strangely, being blamed for a huge prank on the first day of school made him popular with the other kids while getting him detention (and grounded) for a year. Lee's friends care more for his popularity than he does as he's [[ClearMyName determined to find out who framed him for the prank]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy Turner starts out as a loser but eventually manages to gain quite a status in the eyes of his peers as the series progressed, though unfortunately that turns him into an inflated {{Jerkass}}. Granted he does temporarily degrade back into a Cool Loser whenever the plot or humour calls for it.
* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'':
** Max Goof, who had friends and a girl who liked him but also the occasional bully.
** Roxanne's friend Stacey from ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' is an {{Inversion}}--she has large glasses and braces but is the most popular girl in school and the class president. The fact that Stacey is implied to be rich (enough to afford pay-per-view in TheNineties at least) and throws awesome parties may have something to do with it.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'': You'd think a guy like Riff-Raff would have it made, given he's acknowledged as one of the toughest cats in Westfinster, has good looks, street savvy enough that he's the leader of his own gang, and has a hottie ''[[DudeMagnet like Cleo]]'' as his girlfriend. Yet, despite all that he has going for him, he's still a down-and-out alley cat who lives in a junkyard and his plans fail half the time because [[SurroundedByIdiots his gang is dimwitted]].
* Joseph Gribble (post-puberty) from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' is actually a completely justified example. He's tall, athletic and quite attractive, but he's just ''so'' awkward that he tends to act like a complete creep when talking to pretty much anyone. [[{{Foil}} This is in contrast to Bobby, who is short, fat, and relatively unattractive but manages to be pretty popular through sheer charisma.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'':
** Jenny, a sweet girl, and the local super hero, gets bullied by the popular kids just because she’s a robot. But it is hinted at that if the school wasn't under the reign of two {{Alpha Bitch}}es, she wouldn’t be a outcast at all.
** Brad is an easygoing guy and has decent fashion sense, but he’s not too high on the popularity pole either. Being the show's resident CasanovaWannabe means that nearly every girl besides Jenny treats him like he's absolutely disgusting.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Most of the leads have ''reason'' to be losers: with [[CowardlyLion Gus]], [[ChildProdigy Gretchen]], [[WildChild Spinelli]], [[FatComicRelief Mikey]] and even [[HollywoodHomely T.J.]] having 'uncool' qualities but despite this, they are the most popular kids on the playground.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Although at first Morty Smith was bullied, later episodes show that Morty generally gets along well with classmates in spite of his nervous demeanour. This trope is at it's high point when he lets go of his "toxic" qualities in "Rest and Ricklaxation" he quickly becomes confident, socially adept, and supremely popular and well liked by everyone in his school. Even able to charm two very attractive older women. Albeit at the cost of his conscience and morality. Later episodes however establishes that he's also [[TheDreaded feared by his school]] because [[DoomMagnet he tends to bring some horrifying catastrophe with him]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson gets this on the [[DependingOnTheWriter occasional]] episode. There's no doubt he's the coolest character on the show, but his popularity in school (or even with the rest of the town) runs the gamut from adored by everyone for how awesome he is, to being a loner whose only friend is Milhouse.
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': Being an aversion of ThisLoserIsYou, the writers indirectly but clearly illustrate that the only reason Virgil only had about [[LimitedSocialCircle two or so friends at a time]] was because he was content with the friends he has.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Optimus Prime. 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. 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 series 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/TeenTitans2003'': Beast Boy is a superhero who's helped save [[CityOfAdventure the city]] hundreds of times, but whenever we see him interacting with anyone who's not a Teen Titan, he gets treated like shit. Of course, people in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' universe seem pretty blase about the whole superhero thing in general, since the Titans can go to a pizzeria in full costume and [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight no one bats an eye]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** PerkyGoth Gwen is the "loner" of the show, despite being very attractive and having a likeable personality. However, it seems to be voluntary on her part, as she doesn't care much for fitting in with the popular kids or following trends. She does start to grow out of it however.
** Noah seems to be an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]. He's a TeenGenius, AmbiguouslyBi, and a DeadpanSnarker, all of which could theoretically make him treated like a loser, but [[AllThereInTheManual his official bio and entry video]] show that he's class president and seems to be popular at his school, in part because he's smart enough to get on people's good side and use his snarky zingers effectively.
** Owen is another inversion. His overweight appearance, poor hygiene, and gross habits would leave him pretty low on the teenage popularity chain in theory, but he's one of the most well-liked people on the show amongst his fellow contestants, which is likely attributable to his NiceGuy personality.
* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw.'' Despite the main character being kind of dorky and [[BornUnlucky plagued with bad luck]], he's so [[AllLovingHero unbelievably nice]] that everybody at school is actually really friendly with him. (Except for [[TheCynic Bradley]], but even he's not too rude to his face.) [[TheJinx They just prefer to be friendly from a few feet away]], which is why [[UnfazedEveryman Melissa]] and [[OnlySaneMan Zack]] are his only really close friends.
* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'': Hercules is maybe a bit awkward socially, and he was bullied when he was younger. But now, he's a (mostly) sweet-natured hero in training and the son of Zeus. And yet, he is seen as a "loser" in school for no real reason, except that [[AlphaBitch Adonis]] wants it to be that way, so that nobody can challenge his popularity. Then again, Hercules is clearly happy with being friends with other outcasts like Cassandra and Icarus. Which may be enough to make his own popularity suffer.
[[/folder]]

Similar to HollywoodHomely and HollywoodDateless, and a very frequent protagonist of HighSchool shows, this is when a character who is smart, funny, fashionable and good looking is portrayed as being much less popular than they would be in real life, to the point of threatening WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

Similar to HollywoodHomely and HollywoodDateless, and a very frequent protagonist of HighSchool shows, this is when a character who is smart, funny, fashionable and good looking is portrayed as being much less popular than they would be in real life. Done deliberately to limit the [[LimitedSocialCircle circle of friends/cast]] as much as possible, thereby erasing the hassle of writing multiple, varying characterizations, while at the same time making the main character likable to the viewer. If this character is female, she is frequently a target of the AlphaBitch. If this character is male, he is often the target of the BigJerkOnCampus, the JerkJock and[=/=]or TheBully.

Unlike people who are HollywoodHomely, Cool Losers are not supposed to be considered unattractive, and unlike the nerd, the Cool Loser is not a geek or lacking in social skills. They just don't have many friends, don't get invited to the cool parties (in which case they can be at the heart of a PartySchedulingGambit), and are generally treated like losers by most of their peers.

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, (the few times it is, it's often explained as the rest of the student body fearing the AlphaBitch, JerkJock, or other BigManOnCampus so much, they didn't want to befriend the Cool Loser and become a target of their fury) but it often comes in the form of a sweet gesture.

A very common signal of the cool loser will often involve being a member of the school paper ([[Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch Sabrina Spellman,]] [[Series/{{Smallville}} Chloe Sullivan,]] etc). This is often seen as a gray area, doesn't carry the obvious negative "nerd" connotations of the Chess Club or the Mathletes, but also isn't seen as "cool" as sports teams or cheerleading.

Can also sadly be TruthInTelevision, since everyone is susceptible to bullying and ostracism, even kids and teens who are otherwise smart, athletic, good-looking, and/or outgoing. Most of the time, this can result from envy, nasty rumors being spread, or just plain KidsAreCruel. Another likely possibility is that they underwent AllTheOtherReindeer as children for whatever reason and both internalized their worthlessness and had the people they grew up continue to consider them losers. Hopefully it doesn't follow them past high school, but the lack of self confidence certainly can.

Not to be confused with the GracefulLoser and the SoreLoser, which are about a person's reactions to losing.

* In ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'', Bella Swan is an inversion. 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.

Can also sadly be TruthInTelevision, since everyone is susceptible to bullying and ostracism, even kids and teens who are otherwise smart, athletic, good-looking, and/or outgoing. Most of the time, this can result from jealousy, nasty rumors being spread, or just plain KidsAreCruel. Another likely possibility is that they underwent AllTheOtherReindeer as children for whatever reason and both internalized their worthlessness and had the people they grew up continue to consider them losers. Hopefully it doesn't follow them past high school, but the lack of self confidence certainly can.

* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Even when this play is not settled in High School, the Gascons are the {{Cool Loser}}s that de Guiche, the JerkJock, is trying to pick on with help of his GirlPosse, De Valvert. The Gascons are all proud of being [[ImpoverishedPatrician losers]] and of being cool.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'': You'd think a guy like Riff-Raffwould have it made, given he's acknowledged as one of the toughest cats in Westfinster, has good looks, street savvy enough that he's the leader of his own gang, and has a hottie ''[[DudeMagnet like Cleo]]'' as his girlfriend. Yet, despite all that he has going for him, he's still a down-and-out alley cat who lives in a junkyard and his plans fail half the time because [[SurroundedByIdiots his gang is dimwitted]].

* In ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'', our hero is an alienated HighSchool outcast. He's played by the '50s rebel icon Creator/JamesDean.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Although at first Morty Smith was bullied, later episodes show that Morty generally gets along well with classmates in spite of his nervous demeanour. This trope is at it's high point when he lets go of his "toxic" qualities in "Rest and Ricklaxation" he quickly becomes confident, socially adept, and supremely popular and well liked by everyone in his school. Even able to charm two very attractive older women. Albeit at the cost of his conscience and morality. Later episodes however establishes that he's also [[TheDreaded feared by his class]] because [[WeirdnessMagnet anytime he comes to school he'll bring some horrifying weirdness with him]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Although at first Morty Smith was bullied, later episodes show that Morty generally gets along well with classmates in spite of his nervous demeanour. This trope is at it's high point when he lets go of his "toxic" qualities in "Rest and Ricklaxation" he quickly becomes confident, socially adept, and supremely popular and well liked by everyone in his school. Even able to charm two very attractive older women. Albeit at the cost of his conscience and morality.

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'': {{Deconstructed|CharacterArchetype}} in the episode "Reunion". Liz Lemon saw herself as a MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold in high school, a girl with few friends who coped with harassment from the AlphaBitch by [[DeadpanSnarker retreating into a sarcastic wit]] that became her trademark into adulthood. However, when she goes to her ClassReunion years later, she finds out ''why'' she had so few friends, and that was because her constant put-downs caused her classmates to see her as TheBully and hate her. Her so-called friends were acquaintances who only hung around her due to proximity, and the supposed AlphaBitch was actually a ClassPrincess who tried to reach out and befriend her (surprise, surprise, her friendliness was actually why she was so popular in the first place). She even had to go therapy to cope with the abuse Liz inflicted on her. The episode ends with Liz [[HeelRealization realizing]] that she's the SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp.

* ''Series/StrangerThings'': All the kids in the Party are this, being friendly, witty, and fairly good-looking, but are portrayed as unpopular teen outcasts, despite the fact that they have a tight-knit group of friends, support from their community, and most of them are in a relationship.

** Roxanne's friend Stacey from ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' is an {{Inversion}}--she has large glasses and braces but is the most popular girl in school and the class president. The fact that Stacey is implied to be rich (enough to afford pay-per-view at least) and throws awesome parties may have something to do with it.

* The kids in ''Series/StrangerThings'' are friendly, witty, and fairly good-looking, but are portrayed as unpopular teen outcasts, despite the fact that they have a tight-knit group of friends, support from their community, and most of them are in a relationship.

Unlike people who are HollywoodHomely, Cool Losers are not supposed to be considered unattractive, and unlike the {{Nerd}}, the Cool Loser is not a geek or lacking in social skills. They just don't have many friends, don't get invited to the cool parties (in which case they can be at the heart of a PartySchedulingGambit), and are generally treated like losers by most of their peers.

Often overlaps with ThisLoserIsYou. See also {{Nerd}} and LonersAreFreaks. An InformedLoner is basically this, except they supposedly don't even want friends. See also WastedBeauty, where it is acknowledged that the character ''could'' be popular (because they're hot), but they have an "uncool" side that prevents them from being so.