History Main / UnnecessaryMakeover

* ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'': One of Tootie's most notable characteristics in her original ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddparents'' is her UglyCute appearance in that despite having girlish pigtails, glasses, and teeth bracers, she nevertheless has a lot of fans. Tootie's adult appearance in the live-action film, on the other hand, is widely considered to be unnecessary with virtually all aspects of her UglyCute appearance (including her glasses) making her look as if she's just another NiceGirl LoveInterest. It got to the point that a flashback to a live-action young Tootie is certainly a lot more recognizable than her adult appearance.

* Danny of ''Webcomic/{{Roomies}}'' shouts at his TV about this. Thankfully, Joe's prophecy appears to be coming true these days.

* ''Manga/{{Horimiya}}'' has Miyamura decide to get his shoulder-length hair done into a shorter, more boyish cut, because he wants to look the part of 'Hori's Boyfriend' and avoid her being teased for dating someone who '[[http://40.media.tumblr.com/a46b3b4a90f547dc974be91467177cb8/tumblr_mz7fsm2o3v1rkid7co4_500.png looks like him]]'; several of his classmates say they prefer his shorter hair. Fans tended to disagree, preferring the longer hair. Even in-universe, Hori herself thinks he should not have done that [[spoiler:to the point that she leaves a bite mark on the back of his neck the first time they have sex to encourage him to grow it back out]].

** The short [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE1YQPaAYBM "Body Care and Grooming"]], which featured a disheveled college girl "made over" to show the value of grooming in one's dating life. Crow and Tom Servo held a mock debate in the skit after the short, arguing over whether she looked better neat or "sloppy". They riff on the guy going after the "madeover" girl and saying, "Uh, excuse me, I couldn't help but notice how much you look like everyone else!"

* WWE Diva Wrestling/{{Aksana}} made the unwise decision to go from [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evilbabes/images/8/84/Evil_Blonde_Aksana.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160402225559 blonde]] to [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/evilbabes/images/8/8d/Aksana_Profile.png/revision/latest?cb=20160517213226 brunette]]. This is a polarizing one, however, as just as many prefer her with dark hair as they do with blonde. What makes this especially odd is that the hair and costume change was brought on by a gimmick switch - going from ditzy foreigner to FemmeFatale. The actual character was pitched by Wrestling/KarleePerez for herself, and it was just given to Aksana for no apparent reason.

* [=FakeFactory's=] Cinematic Mod for ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' gave the old Source engine a serious kick in the pants, allowing for far more beautiful environments. While these were applauded, fans everywhere raged at the inclusion of the author's version of Alyx Vance. The mod replaces Alyx's down-to-earth, realistic appearance with a new model based on real-life supermodel Adriana Lima, wearing a midriff-baring shirt and exposing her cleavage. Later versions removed her bra, showing Alyx's nipples through her shirt. Many ''Half-Life 2'' fans revolted at the changes, because the entire reason she was popular was because she ''wasn't'' a Sports Illustrated pinup girl and more of a GirlNextDoor[[note]]Who just happens to be a skilled resistance member and hacker and have a giant robot dog[[/note]].

** It's a plot point twist where we discover who Princess Zelda is and not a proper makeover so it serves as more of a visual cue than an intentional makeover, and for that reason wouldn't be this except that the in-game reaction in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' is [[spoiler:that Tetra is]] much prettier as Zelda. Many feel she looked better as [[spoiler:Tetra the pirate girl]]. It's more the in-game reaction that evokes this trope because it's not meant to be an actual makeover, but merely [[TheReveal a revelation]]. But then again, there was no need to have her clothes change from [[spoiler:her cute pirate outfit]] to a typical Princess Zelda dress since only the identity was revealed, but we guess a text revelation isn't as dramatic. It's telling that in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'', she not only stays in her original identity throughout the entire game but expresses disdain at being called "Zelda".

** Inverted in [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/650011-can-i-be-drawn-better this parody comic]], where the artist leaves it a stick figure, saying "You are already perfect." The stick figure is pleased with this.

* Danny of ''Webcomic/{{Roomies}}'' shouts at his TV about this [[http://www.itswalky.com/d/20041111.html here]]. Thankfully, Joe's prophecy appears to be coming true these days.

* As the page image shows, Allison Reynolds, Creator/AllySheedy's character in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', has this happen to her. Many people just find her cuter as the "[[CloudCuckooLander Basket Case]]". It's one of the most famous examples in movies, [[MisaimedFandom but it's also a rather misunderstood element]] -- in the film, Allison is a closet AttentionWhore, whose behaviors and manner of dress is meant to draw attention to herself without having to ask for it or acknowledge that she's lonely. She's a loner with no friends, not a {{Goth}} or {{Emo}} kid who dresses as a way of self-expression or identifying with people like her. Her makeover is partially about accepting affection and kindness from another person (the AlphaBitch Claire, in this case), and partially about openly acknowledging that she wants attention and human interaction by tucking back her hair and changing her concealing make-up and clothing. A lot of fans also miss that the pink clothes post-makeover was something Alison already owned and had on underneath (which was confirmed by the film's costume designer).

* Franchise/{{Barbie}} movies have a tendency to fall under this, due to the films frequently portraying Barbie and her friends in colorful {{Pimped Out Dress}}es, even when [[InformedPoverty her character is supposed to be poor.]] As a result, the difference between [[WesternAnimation/BarbieInThePrincessAndThePauper Erika]]'s princess dress and her pauper dress is barely visible, [[WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle Liana and Alexa's]] peasant dresses are nearly as fancy as the princesses ones, and [[WesternAnimation/BarbiePrincessCharmSchool Blair's]] waitress attire and princess-in-training attire look ''almost identical''.

* Lady of the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series was changed from an appropriately moody teenager with a ''slight'' tomboyish Catholic Schoolgirl-esque moe look (due to purple spandex shorts and her 'skirt' being made of ammo for her guns) in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening third game]] to... just another busty woman with AbsoluteCleavage and flawless skin, having her dress less modestly than ''Trish'' in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 fourth game]]. Her minimal role in the fourth game's story didn't help either, so fans were surprised at her ''[=DMC4=]'' role focusing more on {{Fanservice}} appeal. Fortunately, this is [[AuthorsSavingThrow rectified]] in ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry5 DMC5]]'' where her proportions and clothing style return to what they originally were in the third game.

* Lady of the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series was changed from an appropriately moody teenager with a ''slight'' tomboyish Catholic Schoolgirl moe (due to purple spandex shorts and her 'skirt' being made of ammo for her guns) to... just another busty woman with AbsoluteCleavage and flawless skin, having her dress less modestly than ''Trish''. A lack of a role in the fourth game didn't help either. Fortunately this is rectified in the fifth game where her proportions and clothing style returns to what it originally was in the third game.

* Creator/KristenStewart's character in ''Film/TheCakeEaters'' gets one when her aunt takes her to the hairdressers for the day. She asks for something sexy and new. She goes into the shop as a sweet looking thing with RapunzelHair and comes out with the most unflattering shaggy bowl cut imaginable. Her aunt calls it "rock star" while the audience has a decidedly different reaction.

* A curse in ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'' causes Virginia to suffer RapidHairGrowth to get RapunzelHair. Wolf takes a magic ax to it...and cuts her hair completely short. It was shoulder length originally, but Wolf cuts it to a pixie length. For a few fans, this was just too drastic a change. Especially since Virginia was shown to be very unhappy with the result.

* ''{{Series/Angel}}'' - Cordelia's haircuts from mid-Season 2 up until Season 4 have a lot of scratched heads from fans. Creator/CharismaCarpenter was getting annoyed with the upkeep of her RapunzelHair and asked to cut it shorter. She's since poked fun at the first few attempts, but fans agree that the style it was by Season 5 was much better.

* As the page image shows, Allison Reynolds, Creator/AllySheedy's character in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', has this happen to her. Many people just find her cuter as the "[[CloudCuckooLander Basket Case]]". It's one of the most famous examples in movies, [[MisaimedFandom but it's also a rather misunderstood element]] -- in the film, Allison is a closet AttentionWhore, whose behaviors and manner of dress is meant to draw attention to herself without having to ask for it or acknowledge that she's lonely. She's a loner with no friends, not a {{Goth}} or {{Emo}} kid who dresses as a way of self-expression or identifying with people like her. Her makeover is partially about accepting affection and kindness from another person (the AlphaBitch Claire, in this case), and partially about openly acknowledging that she wants attention and human interaction by tucking back her hair and changing her concealing make-up and clothing.

* Hermione's transformation for the school ball in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' doesn't work as well as in the book because actress Creator/EmmaWatson was already good looking to begin with.
** Subverted in the sense that while Creator/EmmaWatson is a good looking actress, it was still interesting to see Hermione dressed up in a more formal getup, than the typical Hogwarts uniform and/or cardigan and jeans.

* Caused by FashionDissonance for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KlUPvF3ao4 truly tragic makeover]] in ''Just One of the Guys'', wherein a perfectly normal and nice looking young man is transformed into a horrific Eighties Dude.

* In ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'', Geena Davis' character Valerie is upset that her fiance is sexually disinterested in her; her best friend decides the answer is a makeover. The movie is half parody, and the best friend is incredibly ditzy AND thinks being blonde is the key to all happiness (which in this universe...it is), so it fits. The morning after Valerie finds out the ''real'' reason Ted isn't spending more time with her (namely, he's cheating on her), she returns to her original look.
* Al Pacino's character in ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'' convinces Charlize Theron that she needs to give herself a makeover. She ends up giving herself an unflattering bob and a brown color that adds years to her face. This results in her looking quite unhealthy and disturbed-looking (though given the plot of the movie, that was probably the point).

* Creator/KristenStewart's character in ''The Cake Eaters'' gets one when her aunt takes her to the hairdressers for the day. She asks for something sexy and new. She goes into the shop as a sweet looking thing with RapunzelHair and comes out with the most unflattering shaggy bowl cut imaginable. Her aunt calls it "rock star" while the audience has a decidedly different reaction.
* Valerie Boyd, the teenager in "The World of Henry Orient" always wore a 19th-century style outfit complete with a Victorian England coat (despite it being TheFifties) and a shaggy wild hairstyle that looked boyish yet not unfeminine. But then at the end of the movie she had a complete makeover. Many fans thought she looked more like a generic cutie after, losing the wild, untamed girl look about her.
* The protagonist of ''Head Over Heels'' was already beautiful and practically doesn't change after the model roommates make her look like a model.

* ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'': One of Tootie's most notable characteristics in her original ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddparents'' is her UglyCute appearance in that despite having girlish pigtails, glasses, and teeth bracers, she nevertheless has a lot of fans. Tootie's adult appearance in the live-action film, on the other hand, is widely considered to be unnecessary with virtually all aspects of her UglyCute appearance (Including her glasses) gone in addition to her GenkiGirl antics leaving her as just another NiceGirl SatelliteLoveInterest. It got to the point that a flashback to a live-action young Tootie is certainly a lot more recognizable than her adult appearance.

* Short-lived reality series ''The Swan'' was an extreme example. The premise was taking a group of plain, middle-aged women and giving them cosmetic surgery on top of fashion makeovers. It's not that the makeovers were completely unnecessary, but the extent to which they went: one woman had a tummy tuck, butt lift, inner thigh lift, dual facelift, upper lip lift, upper and lower eye lift, endoscopic brow lift, *deep breath* rhinoplasty, breast implants, and breast lifts. In the big reveal, the women also had professionally-styled hair and makeup, and beautiful dresses; they would have probably looked every bit as lovely with ''just'' the fashion makeovers and not cutting themselves open 11 different ways. On top of all that, the show had a ''competitive'' aspect as well. In follow-up interviews years later, many of the women ended up in a worse mental state than before they went on, and most of the married ones got divorced because their husbands felt like they were suddenly married to a stranger. It should come as no surprise that the show was ravaged by critics for the message it sent; ''Entertainment Weekly'' in 2010 went as far as to call it the worst reality show ever produced.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E9TheCyberHouseRules The Cyber House Rules]]", Leela has surgery to replace her one eye with two. Fry liked her better before the surgery. Leela eventually decides to have surgery to revert the change. (Hey, StatusQuoIsGod.)
** The episode, however, was worth it for the line where Leela gives an ultimatum to her plastic surgeon boyfriend: "Listen, buddy. By the end of the day, ''one'' of us is [[EyeScream gonna have one eye!"]]
** It also gives a rather nice moral about conforming one's appearance. Leela spends the entire episode celebrating that she's average and just like everyone else but ultimately realizes that being different was who she was. Notice that [[OneTruePairing Fry]] is the one who supports that, while the plastic surgeon boyfriend ultimately is too narrow-minded to do anything that fits outside of the norm, to the point at which he wants to perform plastic surgery on a ''child'' so she looks more normal and thus fit for adoption.

* A male example would be Otacon switching his glasses for contacts in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' because it makes him look "more handsome". The general consensus was relief when he put his glasses back on and started looking [[NerdsAreSexy sexy and sophisticated]] again instead of mildly dorky.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has a RareMaleExample right at the beginning of the movie, when Steve Rogers shaves off the BadassBeard he grew in the [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar previous movie.]] The vast majority of fans thought Cap looked ''great'' with facial hair (albeit for very different reasons for [[RatedMForManly male fans]] and [[EstrogenBrigade female fans]]) and mourned its absence in ''Endgame''. In this case, it may have been necessary for plot-related, spoilery InUniverse reasons, to make it easier for Cap to [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext impersonate his past self.]]]]

* In one of the final episodes of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', Kanan Jarrus went clean-shaven, cutting not only his padawan braid but also his BadassBeard (even past the goatee he had in the first two seasons). And ''man'' does he look terrible with it. Fangirls and fanboys alike reacted with almost unanimous dismay, and fanart of him is practically guaranteed to feature his original hairstyle. Although it's done for [[ImportantHaircut important in-story reasons]] and represents a significant milestone for his character, he's barely recognizable and looks about twelve years old without the beard. Some people even joked that it's the kind of haircut you'd expect [[spoiler: a blind man]] to end up with when cutting his own hair.

* Short-lived reality series ''The Swan'' was an extreme example. The premise was taking a group of plain, middle-aged women and giving them cosmetic surgery on top of fashion makeovers. It's not that the makeovers themselves were unnecessary, but the extent to which they went: one woman had a tummy tuck, butt lift, inner thigh lift, dual facelift, upper lip lift, upper and lower eye lift, endoscopic brow lift, *deep breath* rhinoplasty, breast implants, and breast lifts. In the big reveal, the women also had professionally-styled hair and makeup and beautiful dresses. They would have probably looked every bit as lovely with ''just'' the fashion makeovers and not cutting themselves open 11 different ways. On top of all that, the show had a ''competitive'' aspect as well. In follow-up interviews years later, many of the women ended up in a worse mental state than before they went on, and most of the married ones got divorced because their husbands felt like they were suddenly married to a stranger. It should come as no surprise that the show was ravaged by critics for the message it sent; ''Entertainment Weekly'' in 2010 went as far as to call it the worst reality show ever produced.

* Short-lived reality series ''The Swan'' was an extreme example. The premise was taking a group of plain, middle-aged women and giving them cosmetic surgery on top of fashion makeovers. It's not that the makeovers themselves were unnecessary, but the extent to which they went: one woman had a tummy tuck, butt lift, inner thigh lift, dual facelift, upper lip lift, upper and lower eye lift, endoscopic brow lift, rhinoplasty, breast implants, and breast lifts. In the big reveal, the women also had professionally-styled hair and makeup and beautiful dresses. The women would have probably looked every bit as lovely with ''just'' the fashion makeovers and not cutting themselves open 11 different ways. On top of all that, the show had a ''competitive'' aspect as well. Many of the women ended up in a worse mental state than before they went on, and most of the married ones ended up getting divorced because their husbands felt like they were suddenly married to a stranger. It should come as no surprise that the show was ravaged by critics for the message it sent; ''Entertainment Weekly'' in 2010 went as far as to call it the worst reality show ever produced.

* Short-lived reality series ''The Swan'' was an extreme example. The premise was taking a group of plain, middle-aged women and giving them cosmetic surgery on top of fashion makeovers. It's not that the makeovers themselves were unnecessary, but the extent to which they went: one woman had a tummy tuck, butt lift, inner thigh lift, dual facelift, upper lip lift, upper and lower eye lift, endoscopic brow lift, rhinoplasty, breast implants, and breast lifts. In the big reveal, the women obviously had gorgeous hair, makeup, and dresses as well, making you wonder if they would have looked just as lovely with ''just'' the fashion makeovers and not all the plastic surgeries. On top of that, the show had a ''competitive'' aspect as well. Needless to say, many of the contestants ended up in a much worse mental state afterwards. It's no surprise that the show was ravaged by critics for the message it sent; ''Entertainment Weekly'' went as far as to call it the worst reality show ever produced.

** An odd example happens in Season 1 of ''Canada's Drag Race''. For the second runway, the queens had to redo their first time ever in drag with their present-day skills (complete with photos for comparison). For Kyne, whose first time in drag was dressing as [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ursula]] for Halloween, the remake somehow looked ''worse'' than the original, leading to her elimination.

* In the first season of ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'', the {{drag queen}}s were tasked with giving glamorous makeovers to a group of tomboyish female martial artists. The challenge ended up being ''very'' lopsided since there were maybe two {{Brawn Hilda}}s; the rest were already fairly attractive and simply needed help with makeup and walking in heels. Needless to say, when Rebecca Glasscock won the mini-challenge and was tasked with choosing her own and the others' partners, she picked the prettiest one for herself and the most challenging one for her rival Shannel.

** The now-defunct Gay.com once did a makeover special in collaboration with ''Out'' magazine. For one of the men featured, he was an average guy in flannel and was already attractive in his "before" pic. But in his "after" pic, he was dressed in pretentious [[TheFashionista fashionista]] clothing and his hair had about five gallons of product in it. His "before" pic looked far more comfortable and natural versus the CampGay ensemble in the "after."

Because mainstream fiction pays much less attention to the attractiveness and fashion choices of men than women (not to mention women's fashion being considerably more complicated), women are far more likely to have their appearance fussed over in this manner than men, though it can still apply to male characters, such as a scruffy roughneck shaving and going for a bland "professional" look.

* Played for drama in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' when a rock star ended up murdered as revenge for dumping a woman who had plastic surgery in order to look more conventionally beautiful. In this case, he considered the make-over unnecessary; ''she'' didn't.

* Parodied in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI from [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Spongebob]]. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, who were fairly average-looking for the [=SpongeBob=] universe, come out of the makeup trailer as horrible, stapled, rubber-banded monstrosities.

** It also gives a rather [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped nice]] moral about conforming one's appearance. Leela spends the entire episode celebrating that she's average and just like everyone else but ultimately realizes that being different was who she was. Notice that [[OneTruePairing Fry]] is the one who supports that, while the plastic surgeon boyfriend ultimately is too narrow-minded to do anything that fits outside of the norm, to the point at which he wants to perform plastic surgery on a ''child'' so she looks more normal and thus fit for adoption.

** Rapunzel's hair being cut is actually a plot point though, not something done just to appeal to fans of short-haired brunettes. Not that it matters to marketing, but unlike a lot of examples here, the change wasn't ''unnecessary'' per se, just unpopular.

* ''Film/Catwoman2004'' pretty infamously decided that ''Creator/HalleBerry'' of all people needed to be made over twice over. As her civilian identity Patience Phillips, she starts off as [[UnkemptBeauty endearingly messy and unkempt]], then gives herself a very 2000's-era short hairdo and [[UncannyValley overly-smoothing makeup]] (which was very clearly done in an attempt to make herself as {{ComicBook/Catwoman}} when she needs to be rendered in CGI seamless), which ''maybe'' could be excused given her [[CharacterDevelopment character evolution]] from a ShrinkingViolent to a more outwardly confident woman. Less excusable was what they did to her actual Catwoman outfit: her BetaOutfit of a black leather jacket, black pants and DominoMask -- even if she lacks her usual cat ears -- has been seen as a much more attractive and overall better adaptation than the infamously {{stripperiffic}} garb she ended up with, almost universally blasted for [[FetishRetardant trying too hard to be sexy]].

* ''Film/Catwoman2004'' pretty infamously decided that ''Creator/HalleBerry'' of all people needed to be made over twice over. As her civilian identity Patience Phillips, she starts off as [[UnkemptBeauty endearingly messy and unkempt]], then gives herself a very 2000's-era short hairdo and [[UncannyValley overly-smoothing makeup]] (which was very clearly done in an attempt to make herself as {{ComicBook/Catwoman}} when she needs to be rendered in CGI seamless), which ''maybe'' could be excused given her [[CharacterDevelopment character evolution]] from shy to confident. Less excusable was what they did to her actual Catwoman outfit: her BetaOutfit of a black leather jacket, black pants and DominoMask -- even if she lacks her usual cat ears -- has been seen as a much more attractive and overall better adaptation than the infamously {{stripperiffic}} garb she ended up with, almost universally blasted for [[FetishRetardant trying too hard to be sexy]].

* ''Film/Catwoman2004'' pretty infamously decided that ''Creator/HalleBerry'' of all people needed to be made over twice over. As her civilian identity Patience Phillips, she starts off as [[UnkemptBeauty endearingly messy and unkempt]], then gives herself a very 2000's-era short hairdo and [[UncannyValley overly-smoothing makeup]] (which was very clearly done in an attempt to make herself as Catwoman when she needs to be rendered in CGI seamless), which ''maybe'' could be excused given her [[CharacterDevelopment character evolution]] from shy to confident. Less excusable was what they did to her actual Catwoman outfit: her BetaCostume of a black leather jacket and pants and DominoMask -- even if she lacks her usual cat ears -- has been seen as a much more attractive and overall better adaptation than the infamously {{stripperiffic}} garb she ended up with, almost universally blasted for [[FetishRetardant trying too hard to be sexy]].