| 1 | [[quoteright:300:[[Film/ShesAllThat https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wgfqiu6y_0_l.jpg]]]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:300:Like magic! Hollywood magic.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''Like in one of those movies, you know? When they take off their glasses and put down their hair. "Why, Miss Finch, you're beautiful."'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Creator/NeilGaiman''', ''Fragile Things'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | A stock plot: an [[HollywoodHomely ugly duckling]] goes off in private, [[TheGlassesGottaGo loses the glasses]], [[LettingHerHairDown takes down her hair]], [[MakeoverMontage maybe gets a little makeup and some nicer clothes]] and finally [[SheCleansUpNicely returns as a swan]]. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Another version of this would be "Miss Jones Syndrome", where a dowdy, bespectacled woman switches to contacts, [[ShakingHerHairLoose shakes loose her hair]], and is told by the unrequited object of her affections, "Why, Miss Jones, you ''are'' beautiful." |
| 10 | |
| 11 | This is mainly possible because most of the "ugly" women on TV or in the movies are [[HollywoodHomely beautiful actresses in bad clothes]], though it also has something to do with Hollywood's unforgivingly narrow standards of physical attractiveness, particularly for women. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Story-wise, it's a nice little way of advancing AnAesop about how looks aren't everything, while [[BrokenAesop saving the hero from actually having to go out with an ugly girl]] (see also: SweetAndSourGrapes). |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Opposed by NerdsAreSexy, and is directly contrasted by UglyAllAlong. See SheIsAllGrownUp for the related prettification of a {{childhood friend|Romance}}. Contrast JustTheWayYouAre, where a character is beautiful to begin with, and UnnecessaryMakeover, where a character's new appearance is disliked. The trope, SheCleansUpNicely, often differs in that while the girl in question might like rough casual clothes or work gear most of the time, she knows damn well she can look stunningly good when she wants to be. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | See also IJustWantToBeBeautiful as the reason this trope exists. Compare with IJustWantToBeSpecial and IJustWantToBeLoved when beauty isn't the only thing they desire and get before being revealed as beautiful all along. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | See also ClarkKentOutfit, and FanServicePack. Contrast IronyAsSheIsCast, where this is always the potential, but it is never tapped. ProgressivelyPrettier is applying a similar change to a character without much in-universe reaction (it's for the audience's benefit), because it's done either gradually or between adaptations. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Nowadays, straight examples [[DiscreditedTrope are becoming less common]], but the trope is still used from time to time. When it is, the work will often claim that beauty is less important than the CharacterDevelopment or other plot changes that unlock it--which [[BrokenAesop may or may not]] be convincing. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | While the trope is usually considered AlwaysFemale, male examples do exist, along the lines of a slob or nerd cleaning up his act, getting a haircut and trading in the dirty wifebeater or ''Franchise/StarTrek'' T-shirt for Armani or Savile Row [[SharpDressedMan items]]. Or, in more recent works, an unhappy CampGay and/or UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} character may get a classic makeover just like the typical female ugly duckling, and then be just as beautiful at the prom in a PimpedOutDress. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!Examples: |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 31 | * A Diet Soda commercial features [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys The Bad Boy]] with a bit of EroticEating in the background for emphasis, when he accidentally knocks down a sheltered and spectacled schoolgirl, loosening her hair and glasses, thus bringing this trope into play. |
| 32 | * Often used in many ads with "Before" and "After" pictures - a simple cure for baldness can turn a depressing nerdy guy into a hunk by not just fixing his hair, but his eyesight (causing him to lose the glasses), his skin, his clothes, his glum frown into a confident smile, etc. |
| 33 | %%* A Verizon commercial does this with the power of NFL Mobile as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYEhwadRhLU Andy]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jQjPWTfv1w Jane]] show. |
| 34 | [[/folder]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 37 | * The hentai manga ''[[WereSlut Were-Slut]]'' combines this trope with ClarkKenting (and, perhaps, a more subtle form of lycanthropy). After main character Kimiko swallows the Beauty Stone, she becomes so beautiful that she gets flak from her teachers about wearing make-up and has to hide her gorgeous looks behind her usual nerd-glasses. This also keeps people from realizing that she's the Were-Slut, a side-effect of the expired Beauty Stone that... well, it's hentai, so it should be obvious by now. Also subverted by the fact that the boy she took the Beauty Stone to seduce was already in love with her and she only needed to have more confidence in herself (or just be blindly in heat) to make him her boyfriend. |
| 38 | * In ''Kodomo no Jikan'', we have Shirai, much to the shock of her co-workers. |
| 39 | * Subverted in the Hideshi Hino manga ''Skin and Bone''. The main character goes from obese to skinny, but still retains the same {{Gonk}} face. |
| 40 | * In ''Manga/BeautyPop'', this pretty much covers all the girls Kiri makes over. Kanako's second makeover may be the closest to note, though, as it is revealed that her dowdy looks distracted people from her how perfect her hair, skin and nails are thanks to the instruction she's been taking from the SP in regards to their care. |
| 41 | * Male example played for laughs in ''Manga/{{Beelzebub}}'': delinquent gang leader Tatsuya Himekawa sports a gigantic pompadour and a pair of tacky shades, but when he's forced to take off the glasses and let down his hair, he could pass for [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth's]] kid brother. No one recognizes him until his hair goes back up. |
| 42 | ** Played for more laughs because, despite the girls raving about how handsome Himekawa looks with his hair down, he persists in subverting the trope by ''keeping'' the ridiculous hairdo and shades for no particular reason at all. |
| 43 | * In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Guts thinks of Casca as a soldier, it isn't until she dolls up for the ball after their major victory that he realizes that she is beautiful. The other men at the ball (who didn't realize she was female until that point) agree with him, enough that she has to make her escape. |
| 44 | ** Hell you probably think of Guts as a downplayed male example, his [[TheBerserker attitude]] and attire dissuade women and people in general from finding him attractive (especially in comparison to [[{{Bishounen}} Griffith]]). However Guts much like Casca looks great in [[SheCleansUpNicely formal wear]] and is considered handsome by women if they get a good look at him. |
| 45 | * A male version would be Charden from ''Manga/BlackCat'' who wears glasses and a top hat. When he takes these off he turns out to be a handsome blonde man with flowing curls. |
| 46 | * Lolopechka from ''Manga/BlackClover'' usually has a sloppy appearance with unkempt hair and unattractive glasses. However, when she formally dresses up and remove her glasses in her appearance as the princess of the Heart Kingdom, she's downright gorgeous. |
| 47 | * Subverted in ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal'' where Rin (who is attractive, just too young) takes down her hair and tries to talk seductively to Manji in order to prove that she can be mature and lady-like. Manji simply bursts out laughing at her and mocks the trope itself. |
| 48 | * In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Mayuri Kurotsuchi of all people gets a shower scene where we find that under all his war paint he is actually hot. |
| 49 | * The [[CoolMask Gasmask]]-wearing, minor character Busujima from ''Manga/BusoRenkin''. [[spoiler:With a combination of SamusIsAGirl.]] |
| 50 | * Subverted in ''Manga/CaseClosed''. An IdolSinger is killed through poison by his beautiful soon to be ex-manager, who is also his ex-girlfriend, because he treated her like garbage and lots of his abuse was about her physical features. Turns out he did this because she had cosmetic surgery to please him, but [[JustTheWayYouAre he liked her "ugly" original face better]] and heavily blamed himself for her change. |
| 51 | * In ''Anime/CodeGeass,'' Nina Einstein, who looked extremely dorky and nerdy in the first season, returns in the second season with an updated look, that she looked quite beautiful. |
| 52 | * This is the case for {{Mangaka}} Marie Buraidaru in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'', once she loses her OpaqueNerdGlasses. Minako is genuinely shocked to see how pretty she is, and notes that Marie [[ArtImitatesLife looks exactly like the heroine]] of the MagicalGirl manga she draws. |
| 53 | * ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Inosuke Hashibara is a BloodKnight WildChild who fights like an animal and wears the hides of beasts, including a boar's head that covers his entire head. Underneath that boar's head, however, is a very soft and effeminate face framed by shoulder-length black hair. |
| 54 | * In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Miranda Lotto lacked confidence in herself and suffering from the stress of being [[OnlySaneMan the only one]] not affected by the time loop affecting her town. It wasn't until she got her Innocence and became confident in her abilities (not to mention LettingHerHairDown and SheCleansUpNicely) that we truly see how beautiful Miranda was. |
| 55 | * Vincent Law from ''Anime/ErgoProxy''. At the beginning he has EyesAlwaysShut, a round face, and looks kinda short and dumpy. Some episodes later, after becoming a wanted man, he changes completely: he opens his eyes, musses his hair, loses some weight, stands up taller, and voilà! |
| 56 | * Eureka from ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' definitely deserves an honorable mention when she is not wearing her hairpin, as well as her long hair version in the movie ending. Renton is wise to fall for her. |
| 57 | * ''Manga/FoodWars'': Nao Sadatsuka is normally a rather creepy-looking girl who goes around hunching over, giggling like mad and with her hair a mess. When she gets "purified" by Hisako's dish in the Fall Classic, she looks [[https://image.myanimelist.net/ui/OK6W_koKDTOqqqLDbIoPAjLTP_HhKLCHLZ1Ybv5FR0U like this]]. It only lasts for a brief time, though. |
| 58 | * In ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' (or at least in the ''Overload!'' manga spin-off) Kaname's best friend Kyoko is normally cute, but apparently looks like [[http://www.mangatoshokan.com/read/Full-Metal-Panic-Overload/senfgurke2/25/15 this]] with her hair down and her glasses removed. Played with in that the group of creepy fanboys stalking her aren't interested in her like this because they have a fetish for her "glasses and braids" look, although Kaname thinks she's adorable. |
| 59 | * To show that this trope is not restricted to women, Mitsukake from ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' was first seen with long unkempt hair and a Grizzly Adams BeardOfSorrow. When he saved Miaka and the gang and revealed his real face, he was male model gorgeous. |
| 60 | * Chika Ogiue of ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}''. Normally, her strange paintbrush hair and baggy clothes mar her appearance, but occasionally she lets her hair down, puts on more form-fitting clothes, and [[{{Meganekko}} swaps her contacts out for glasses]] and turns out to be quite attractive. |
| 61 | ** Katou can also be considered this, as she turns out to be quite beautiful when that long, shaggy mop of hair isn't covering her face. |
| 62 | * In episode 228-229 of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' (yes, they made a parody of ''VideoGame/LovePlus''), the one person no one ever expected to be that hot was [[spoiler:Pinko]]. |
| 63 | * [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Manga/GirlFriends2006''. Mari is very plain and unfashionable before she meets Akko, but it seems more like Mari already wanted to pay more attention to make-up and fashion but didn't know what to do, and the emphasis is much more on the sheer fun of this new world Akko introduces to her. Later, someone comments that Akko induced this trope in Mari, and Akko initially agrees but then changes her mind, saying that Mari was always cute. |
| 64 | * In ''Manga/GlassMask,'' Maya, who is usually described as "plain-looking", is cast as a beautiful princess opposite [[TheRival the beautiful Ayumi]]. Everyone thinks it's a complete miscast, and are extremely surprised by Maya's first appearance on stage. It only lasts as long as the stage makeup does and weirds out her friends. |
| 65 | * ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'': The titular character is a man who constantly walks around in armor and has a somewhat off-putting personality due to lack of social skills. The mystery surrounding him led a lot of people to make conjectures about his appearance, some even wondering if he might be a goblin in disguise. In the end of Volume 1, he takes off his helmet in front of the guild for the first time and, to the surprise of almost everyone,[[note]]His childhood friend isn't surprised, since she sees him bareheaded regularly[[/note]] he is an extremely handsome man described as having the "features of a warrior" ([[TakeOurWordForIt though his face is never fully shown]]). From there onwards he becomes the series' premiere MrFanservice and since his face is never shown, the shots instead focus on his built musculature. The anime adds to this by having him have a very deep voice to add to his rugged adventurer charm. |
| 66 | * Parodied in ''Manga/HayateCrossBlade''. Inu, who starts off looking like something that would make ''Manga/TheWallflower's'' Sunako look normal, is given a makeover by her sister-in-arms Momoka. While she does look a lot prettier with her hair done up, she's still considered creepy by her peers thanks to her...odd mannerisms (and matching SpeechBubbles, which don't go away after her makeover). |
| 67 | * One ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'' chapter features a NewTransferStudent that looks like a [[{{Gonk}} short, pony-tailed monkey in human clothes]] who wastes no time trying to [[CasanovaWannabe flirt with all the girls in Nube's class]] despite their obvious disgust to his appearance. Then Nube finds out that he's actually a member of an all-male {{Yokai}} species who must breed with human females and will do anything to win their love. The student admits this and decides to return to his homeland to train, whereupon he sheds his human disguise and reveals himself to be a {{Bishonen}}. |
| 68 | * Yura from ''Manga/HoneyHunt'' when she loses the glasses and does something with that hair. |
| 69 | * In ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' Sophie believes herself to be ugly. It doesn't help that other girls agree, and she's wearing clothes a good 50 years out of date. Howl, however, can see her as her true self and comments that she's beautiful, which she denies, at which point her temporary change back to a young girl ends. At the end, Sophie ditches the ugly hat, gets some new clothes, and LettingHerHairDown, [[spoiler:which becomes silver. She breaks the curse, realizing her value and admits to Howl that she believes her silver hair to be beautiful]]. |
| 70 | ** Of course, a witch turns her into a hunched over old lady for much of the movie, although the curse seems to come and go. |
| 71 | * ''Manga/{{Hyakko}}'': |
| 72 | ** Torako may not be really ugly, but her tomboyish demeanor usually lets her be outshined by girls like Ayumi--until she decides to get loose while posing for some photos. |
| 73 | ** Tsubomiya Inori plays this straight. Her usual [[StringyHairedGhostGirl Sadako]]-like appearance tends to repel people, but when Torako peels back her forelocks and gives her a makeover...[[http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo186/slayer545/snapshot20081127005821.jpg wow]]. |
| 74 | * Subverted in ''Manga/IdatenJump'': a handsome, brilliant fighter deliberately [[ObfuscatingStupidity hides his good traits and pose as a complete nerd]] to protect his secret identity from his enemies. |
| 75 | * Played with in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. Shirogane is already a fairly handsome young man, but most of the students find him intimidating due to his ExhaustedEyeBags giving him a constant DeathGlare. When he finally gets a good night's sleep after his term as president is over, the rest of the students suddenly find him a lot easier to approach, but Kaguya finds herself ''less'' attracted to him due to him no longer conforming to her fetish. |
| 76 | * Aikuro Mikisugi of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' manages to pull off one such transformation in [[http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc402/sparkysharps/mikisugi.gif under two seconds]] simply by ditching the OpaqueNerdGlasses and running a hand through his hair. He does it several more times (and even [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn starts removing his clothes as well]]) before [[spoiler:finally ditching the disguise altogether.]] |
| 77 | * Used in ''Manga/KimiNiTodoke'': the protagonist, Sawako, becomes very pretty when she smiles genuinely –- as opposed to her forced smile, which [[FaceOfAThug scared everyone away until she entered high school]]. |
| 78 | * [[spoiler:Dekomori Sanae]] from ''Literature/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', after [[spoiler:she leaves her dellusions on episode 12]]. |
| 79 | * In the anime ''Manga/LoveHina'', Narusegawa Naru goes from looking like a total nerd to being beautiful by removing her NerdGlasses and taking her hair out of massive braids. Then again, her "ugly" state is a deliberate act intended to drive off unwelcome male attention. |
| 80 | * The title character in the ''Anime/LupinIIIPartII'' episode [[Recap/LupinIIIS2E28 "Revenge of La Nerd"]] is a female detective flirting with the oblivious Zenigata. She usually wears a formal outfit. with thick glasses and her hair tied in a bun. When she plans to infiltrate Lupin's hideout, Zenigata objects that she's not pretty enough for Lupin to invite her inside. Cue her going inside her car, changing into a more revealing outfit, takes off her glasses, puts on makeup, and lets her hair down. Zenigata was shocked by her beauty. |
| 81 | * Delightful example from Episode 8 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', [[spoiler: where it's applied to [[{{Bishonen}} Tieria]] [[AttractiveBentGender Erde]]. Ditch the glasses and that pink... ''thing'' for a gorgeous dress and hair extensions? [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer Why, Miss Erde,]] [[StupidSexyFlanders you're beautiful]]]]. |
| 82 | * In ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid'' this trope is played in the classic fashion. The ClassRepresentative takes off her glasses, lets her hair down, and the object of her affections (who doesn't recognize her) almost immediately [[MeetCute bumps into her]], and thinks about how cute she is. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't recognize ''him'' without her glasses. |
| 83 | * In one ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' filler arc, there was the minor villain Fuuma Kagerou. He pretty much looked like a gorilla with a huge overbite in his first appearance. Then he, literally, [[OneWingedAngel shed his body and was revealed to be a quite beautiful]] [[SamusIsAGirl girl]]... Of course, since [[MeaningfulName Kagerou's]] general powers and abilities were inspired by the mayfly, this also meant that her remaining lifespan was reduced to a few hours through this act. |
| 84 | * A subtle subversion is Chisame Hasegawa of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. In her daily school life she is a bespectacled computer geek, allegedly with bad skin. But at home she takes off her glasses, combs out her hair, and takes digital pictures of herself in costumes, which she then photoshops to clear up her skin and increase her bustline -- and becomes the virtual idol "Chiu" on her website. Of course, her teacher Negi insists that she's cute enough as-is, [[AdorablyPrecociousChild but he's ten]], what does ''he'' know? Her problems with her appearance may be one reason she seems to prefer remaining in the form of a ten-year-old via the age pills, during the Magic World arc... |
| 85 | ** Asuna's friends are also rather surprised at [[SheCleansUpNicely how normal and even elegant]] Asuna can look without her hair ornaments, dressed normally and not kicking people in the face. |
| 86 | * The ''[[Anime/NGKnightLamune40 Lamune & 40]]'' series makes this into a RunningGag; when {{Meganekko}} Cocoa removes her glasses for any reason, everyone in the immediate area has this trope hit them hard -- and she just says "What?" as she puts them back on. |
| 87 | * Megumi "Nodame" Noda from ''Manga/NodameCantabile'' is actually a very attractive lady when she washes her hair and doesn't dress in mold-afflicted dirty clothes--and also refrains from shouting at the top of her lungs all the time or making silly faces. |
| 88 | * Sumireko Sanshokuin aka "Pansy" of ''Literature/{{Oresuki}}'' isn't exactly ugly, but male lead Joro thought she looked rather creepy with those thick glasses and hair tied in twin braids. Then she takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and unbuttons her blouse to reveal [[HiddenBuxom a pretty well-endowed figure]], and he's left completely flabbergasted by her beauty. |
| 89 | * Skewed a bit in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'': when Haruhi Fujioka's NerdGlasses come off, the members of the titular club are startled to realize that she's really quite attractive -- but Tamaki still thinks she's a [[{{Bifauxnen}} boy]] (unlike the other club members, who figured it out during the day). |
| 90 | ** Inverted the following episode when the club members managed to find a picture of Haruhi sporting long hair and in a schoolgirl uniform, and they question just how such a pretty girl could turn into someone so mousy and boyish looking (to which Haruhi replied that she cut her hair after some mischievous kid stuck bubblegum into it). |
| 91 | * Another male example appears in ''Manga/PandoraHearts''. After he gets an ImportantHaircut and loses the OpaqueNerdGlasses, [[spoiler:Leo]] is revealed to be [[{{Bishonen}} quite]] [[WhatBeautifulEyes beautiful]] after all. |
| 92 | * [[spoiler:Brief]] from ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' is revealed to be this in a [[SheCleansUpNicely Cleans Up Nicely]] scene. |
| 93 | * In ''Manga/{{Phoenix}}'', Uzume was an ugly woman being held as a prisoner by Chinese soldiers. After marrying Sarutahiko, she reveals that she's actually very beautiful and that she disguised herself as an ugly woman so that the soldiers wouldn't rape her. |
| 94 | * In ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'', Kuranosuke becomes convinced that Tsukimi is one of these, and decides to give her a makeover to prove it. Tsukimi was not amused, because she and the rest of the Amars think that making yourself over is like going over to the 'enemy' i.e. the side of the trendy people. |
| 95 | ** Kuranosuke thinks every girl is a princess but is quite realistic in that, while he may think that way, he knows most of the world does make assumptions based on appearance. |
| 96 | * Played with fairly mercilessly in an episode of the ''Manga/RamenFighterMiki'' anime where our heroine meets a scary teacher who looks like a StringyHairedGhostGirl. Even her attempts to look friendlier just make her scarier. However, she has the ability to become quite attractive and give off an extremely friendly vibe, ''but apparently only while she's eating ramen''. |
| 97 | * One of Akane's pet peeves in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is that, although female Ranma looks very ordinary in the standard, unisex Chinese uniform (which is tailored for Ranma's male form anyway), "she" is actually a beautiful woman otherwise. (Not to mention Ranma's apparently unconscious, instinctive ability to do both sexpot and {{Moe}} at will...) |
| 98 | ** Not surprisingly, Ranma's mother, Nodoka, appears as an [[GenericCuteness attractive, but nondescript woman]] in a kimono most of the time. When she lets her hair down, she goes from "pretty" to total babe in two seconds flat. |
| 99 | ** Inverted by Mousse, who initially comes off as a Bishonen, but is a total moron who requires thick Coke-bottle glasses to function properly. |
| 100 | ** Near the end of the series there is a BeachEpisode where [[TeamMom domestic mother figure]] Kasumi appears wearing the second-tiniest bikini in the entire episode (only raving loony Kodachi wears a smaller one), and accidentally wins a beauty contest (in which all the other girls have entered, and for which she is acting as a "card girl") when the (mostly male) audience decide they like her best. |
| 101 | ** Minor example is Ukyo when she decides to dress like a girl. Even though every guy starts drooling over her, it's only a minor example because she was plenty cute enough already. |
| 102 | * ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' has a one-off character, Princess Dia, who wore NerdGlasses. Once they were knocked off her face she was revealed to follow this trope. In the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] the Sailor Senshi wonder if this trope would apply to Umino if he removed his specs, complete with a {{Bishonen}} Umino ImagineSpot. [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/NaokoTakeuchi [[spoiler:the trope does indeed apply to Umino too]]. |
| 103 | * Downplayed with Ophiuchus Shaina in ''Manga/SaintSeiya''. She's ''far'' from unattractive, but hides her face behind a mask to be more intidimating, leading Seiya to believe she probably looked like the devil underneath. Then he breaks her mask during their fight, revealing she has a rather delicate and feminine face to complement her body. Seiya even comments on how beautiful she really is. |
| 104 | * Played with in ''Literature/TheSaintsMagicPowerIsOmnipotent''. When Sei Takanashi is transported to another world and into the kingdom of Slantania, the court sees that she's haggard, pale-skinned, and looks seriously ill, thanks to her exploitative office job. After a few weeks of proper rest, nutrition, and sunlight, she "transforms" into a healthy, strikingly beautiful young woman. About the only intentional intervention was Sei creating an eye-bag cream out of herbs but even then, she didn't realize she could cure her vision and let her stop using her eyeglasses. |
| 105 | * Kaede of ''[[Manga/ShinozakisanKiWoOtaShikaNi Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san!]]'' is a bespectacled otaku, so it's quite a shock to Akina when she sees how pretty Kaede is when the glasses come off. |
| 106 | * ''Manga/SilverSpoon'': |
| 107 | ** [[spoiler:Tamako]], though it was hinted at before the kids returned from summer break. Subverted in that she immediately goes back to the way she was before; she really doesn't care what others think of her. |
| 108 | ** Hachiken's ancestress in a flashback chapter to medieval times. She's a narrow-eyed girl with a FaceOfAThug who is mistaken for a man at first, but it eventually becomes apparent that she's actually squinting because she needs glasses. |
| 109 | --->'''Hachi:''' Here, try to put these on...\ |
| 110 | '''Toku:''' Hum, thanks... ''[puts the glasses on and stops squinting her eyes]''\ |
| 111 | '''Hachi:''' TOKU-SAN, WILL YOU MARRY ME?!\ |
| 112 | '''Toku:''' Eh? Oh, sure. |
| 113 | * Likewise, in ''Manga/StrawberryOneHundredPercent'', Toujou Aya becomes better looking by letting her bangs down, and beautiful by taking off her glasses and unbraiding her hair. |
| 114 | * One episode of ''GO-GO Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}!'' features a rare male example with Spaceytchi. After washing himself and removing his black outfit, the girls find him much more attractive. |
| 115 | * In ''Manga/TheWallflower,'' Sunako, who shuns light and all forms of beauty, abruptly transforms from SuperDeformed creature into an AloofDarkHairedGirl when her friends are threatened or she has a brief bout of self-confidence. |
| 116 | * Gender flipped in ''Anime/XamdLostMemories'': Raigyo is first introduced as a [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raigyobefore.jpg funny looking bloke in desperate need of a shave and a haircut]]. Then, about two thirds into his introductory episodes, he decides to go and ''get'' that shave and haircut and...well, ''[[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raigyoafter.jpg damn]]''. Newcomer Akiyaki [[StupidSexyFlanders spends a good fifteen seconds just ogling stupidly]] before it even registers in his head that it's really the same guy. |
| 117 | * In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Carly wears OpaqueNerdGlasses and is unfortunately BlindWithoutEm unless her SuperpoweredEvilSide is in control. Misty pulls her glasses off at one point and says she is beautiful. Her SuperpoweredEvilSide is absolutely gorgeous, and Jack Atlas even takes a moment to admire her when they first clash. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 121 | * Parodied in ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'', when a "modernised" version of this trope (in a ShowWithinAShow that's now shown) involves a woman taking off her contact lenses to be revealed as beautiful. |
| 122 | [[/folder]] |
| 123 | |
| 124 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 125 | * Broadly speaking, most super heroes with secret identities invoke this trope deliberately, making themselves look dowdier in civilian life so people won't connect them with their hero selves. Once in a while this will get lampshaded by someone innocently suggesting to [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] or [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Diana Prince]] that they could really be quite attractive if they ditched their glasses, stood up straighter, etc. |
| 126 | * ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': In her Linda Lee Danvers/[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Linda Lang]]/[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth Kara Danvers]] SecretIdentity, Kara dyes and braids her hair and wears glasses in order to look like an inconspicuous, average, geeky brunette instead of a stunningly beautiful blonde with an athletic build. |
| 127 | * ''ComicBook/IronMan'': When Pepper Potts first appeared, she had freckles and looked like a teenager. Several issues later, she "got a makeover" and became the more better-known version of the character (in terms of looks). |
| 128 | * ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'': A bizarre example with Jeanne-Marie Beaubier and her alter-ego Aurora. Aurora wears her hair loose, and no glasses; Jeanne-Marie has a tight bun and "glasses you barely need for reading" (as her brother put it). While Jeanne-Marie is hardly ugly, she looks much more strict and severe than free-spirited Aurora. It reverses the trope, in that her (long lost twin) brother first saw her as Aurora, then was shocked to see her do up her hair and put on glasses ''on purpose'' to look less attractive. This is no Clark Kenting, either; she has multiple personality disorder, so this trope works to draw the line between two different people. |
| 129 | * ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'': Meggan, who would go on to become ComicBook/CaptainBritain's girlfriend (and eventually wife) was introduced as a funny-looking, furry outcast in a dystopian alternate dimension. It eventually turned out that she was both an empath and a reflexive shapeshifter whose appearance reflected her feelings and the way everyone around her felt about her. She only seemed twisted and ugly because that's the way her home dimension treated her, but once Cap was nice to her for a while, she turned into a cross between Creator/MarilynMonroe and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Galadriel]]. |
| 130 | * ''ComicBook/HowardTheDuck'': Winda Wester is very beautiful, but has a [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome heavy speech impediment]] and quite a weird personality. |
| 131 | * ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'': This trope does not feature within the story itself, but comments made by Alex Wilder (who reacted with dumbfounded shock upon seeing her after a year long gap) and several flashbacks (During one of which Karolina suggests that [[TheGlassesGottaGo she get contacts]]) reveal that Nico Minoru went through this transformation. Also one of the few instances that combine it with a [[PerkyGoth major change in aesthetic]]. |
| 132 | * ''ComicBook/SheHulk'': One theory about gamma radiation is that it transforms a human's body to match submerged emotions and feelings that he or she had tried hard to ''keep'' submerged. So while the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] was the embodiment of Bruce Banner's inner angst and anger as a result of his unhappy childhood at the hands of an abusive father, She-Hulk was Jen's uninhibited, feminine side that she so much wanted to let show, meaning the gamma rays simply made her the AmazonianBeauty she was within. |
| 133 | * ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'': When Ellen Dolan is first introduced, she's a dowdy college girl with her hair up, glasses, and a geeky fiancé. By the end of the story, the Spirit lets her hair down and removes her glasses... and then steals a kiss from the lovely girl. Needless to say, she dumps the fiance soon after. In [[Film/TheSpirit the movie]] by Creator/FrankMiller, Ellen starts out beautiful. |
| 134 | * ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': A male version. Laurie comments that the nerdy Dan looks quite handsome without his glasses. |
| 135 | [[/folder]] |
| 136 | |
| 137 | [[folder: Fan Works]] |
| 138 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11435837/4/The-Everyone-Hates-Me-Blues The Everyone-Hates-Me Blues]]'' Cho Chang lampshades it when she offers to trade makeup tips for Arithmancy tutoring from Hermione. |
| 139 | -->'''Cho:''' You ever see those stupid Muggle romantic comedies, where the pretty, but geeky girl gets a makeover and all she has to do is take off her stupid glasses? That'll be you! |
| 140 | * ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': Justified with Rei, whose [[UncannyValleyGirl abnormally still body-language and lack of affect]] were down to the tranquilisers Gendo cajoled Ritsuko into prescribing so that she'd be more biddable. Once she's off those, and even before her SignificantWardrobeShift, Asuka notices the difference and realises to her surprise that "Wondergirl" is actually ''cute''. And then a bit later on she [[SheCleansUpNicely tries on a party dress that flatters both her complexion and her figure]], and shoots past "cute" all the way to [[ClosetKey "made Asuka realise she was bisexual"]]. |
| 141 | * In ''Fanfic/OffTheLine'', when Vincent was a boss mob, his head was circled with jagged horns and had claw-like hands with leathery wings. He was a Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette with visible veins on his skin with his hair covering his face, giving him a very demonic appearance. When he's changed into a pet mob, he loses the horns, the claws and the veins and gets some color in his skin. He's noted to be very good-looking. |
| 142 | * In ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/go-devil-dante/art/Lteration-page-1-26340616 Lteration]]'', a short Death Note Doujinshi, a rare male example happens when light gets fed up and forcibly combs L's hair, commenting that L actually looks kinda cute. |
| 143 | [[/folder]] |
| 144 | |
| 145 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 146 | * Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' when the protagonist has the [[BrainlessBeauty pretty]], [[TheDitz ditzy]] ([[ObfuscatingStupidity yet secretly highly intelligent]]) female lead ''put on'' her glasses and scrunchie her hair into a ponytail... and he finds her profoundly more beautiful than before. |
| 147 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', Violet was initially an EmoTeen that hid behind her long, black hair and wore dark clothing. After her CharacterDevelopment, she holds her hair back with a hairband and wears much brighter clothing, resulting in her looking much more attractive than before, enough so that her crush Tony notices. The [[WesternAnimation/Incredibles2 sequel's]] improved animation quality further helps with this, giving her [[FanservicePack longer hair, a more attractive face and slightly wider hips]]. |
| 148 | * ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' has Stella, the skunk, who "looks like a nest and smells like a swamp" until [[WeNeedADistraction she's called upon]] to {{distract|edByTheSexy}} Tiger, a purebred Persian cat, by passing herself off as a lovely cat...and turns out, it just took a haircut and a dye-job to reveal how beautiful she was. |
| 149 | * Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' when beautiful human Princess Fiona is transformed by a kiss into her true form, an Ogre. Arguably, the words of her curse can be interpreted to mean she would transform into the form of her true love. Also played straight: Shrek finds Ogre Fiona beautiful. |
| 150 | * In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Vanellope Von Schweetz is rather cute, even with her waif clothing and unkempt hair. When she [[spoiler: transforms into a princess once she crosses the finish line of her game Sugar Rush]], she becomes radiant. But she prefers how she looked before. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 154 | * Done subtly in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' with Jane and inverted with Angela. At the start of the film Creator/ThoraBirch wears a lot of makeup to reflect how unhappy she is. As she starts dating Ricky and becomes a bit happier, she gradually wears less makeup as the film goes on. Mena Suvari then wears gradually more makeup as the film goes on, to reflect us finding out why she isn't so desirable. |
| 155 | * Visible in ''Film/BatmanReturns''. Who knew that getting thrown off a building, trashing her own house, and tearing up her clothes to make a catsuit would change dowdy secretary Selina Kyle so much? The book of the movie explains it's her self-confidence that makes her able to wear clothes that really suit her. |
| 156 | * Used in the rival bookstore scene of ''Film/TheBigSleep'' (1946), where Marlowe "transforms" the lady bookseller. |
| 157 | * ''Film/BladeRunner'' used this trope to good effect; when the replicant Rachel took down her hair (admittedly, she wasn't wearing glasses, as she was an android with perfect vision) she revealed herself to be beautiful and, in keeping with the theme of the film, more human. |
| 158 | * Allison's makeover at the end of in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' - that is [[BrokenBase if you are one of the few]] who see it as this, in contrast to the majority who see it [[UnnecessaryMakeover as this]]. |
| 159 | * Referenced directly and mocked in ''Film/Carrie2002'', when the jock replies to his girlfriend's request to take Carrie to the prom. |
| 160 | -->'''Tommy:''' Can we make a rule that if it worked in a Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie, we can't do it real life?\ |
| 161 | '''Sue:''' What are you talking about?\ |
| 162 | '''Tommy:''' Some dumb chick-flick where he tries to turn this ugly girl into a prom queen, except she's really a supermodel and we're not supposed to notice because she's wearing glasses or something. |
| 163 | * Male example in ''Film/DeathRace2000'' [[spoiler: Frankenstein is dressed in all leather to disguise his supposedly horrific scars and burns and has a [[TheMask mask]] where you can [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/56/3c/e0/563ce0d48a371aa86d24907a54a95d38.jpg see the damage]] around his eye. His LoveInterest removes his mask and discovers... he [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRNCZ4V0KpvwWbhOOEBxsDUeghabSInfwuGWQUmdENcoFhvN-mo looks]] completely fine, the horror getup was a act for Frankenstein’s racing career]]. |
| 164 | * Creator/ElizabethMontgomery, of all people, pulls this in ''When The Circus Came To Town''. Dull, colorless Mary hasn't had much of a life, living in a small town caring for her mother, so when Mom dies Mary decides to join the circus. Having spent the film learning to overcome lifelong inhibitions, she literally unpins her hair at the end. It's supposed to be an affirmation of freedom, but owing to Elizabeth's expression it comes off more like Instant Sexpot. |
| 165 | * In ''Film/FrenchKiss'', Creator/MegRyan is certainly cute and perky, but when she dons a blue dress and wears a $150K diamond necklace, Luc (played by Creator/KevinKline) says, "''Now'' who is the goddess?" |
| 166 | * In ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}'', when tomboyish Louise (Creator/NatalieWood) first gets beautiful clothes and has her hair done, she looks in the mirror, and incredulously says: "I'm pretty. I'm a pretty girl, Mama." |
| 167 | * This shows up in ''Film/TheHottieAndTheNottie'' when the repulsive best friend is given a makeover. Although the actress is made up with things like rotting teeth, warts, and fungus, you can still tell she normally looks great. |
| 168 | * Inverted in, of all things, ''Film/HowToMarryAMillionaire''. Poor Marilyn Monroe [[BlindWithoutEm is all but blind without her glasses]], but never wears them because she's afraid of men not liking her. When she finally meets her true love, he puts her glasses ''on'' and tells her that she's beautiful. |
| 169 | * In ''Film/TheInvisible'', Annie spends the first hour of the film wearing a black wool cap pulled low and all black clothes, looking like the picture of a teenage thug. Then, hiding out in a crowded club, she pulls off the hat and lets her long wavy hair loose and tosses her face up, reveling in the music and anonymity, and Nick just walks around her and stares at how suddenly beautiful she is. |
| 170 | * All Creator/JenniferGrey has to do is take off her mousy cardigan and put on some lipstick to become a sex kitten in ''Film/DirtyDancing''. |
| 171 | * Mahana in the 1969 short film ''Film/JohnnyLingo'' is constantly called ugly. After the titular character buys her dowry for eight cows, she's suddenly beautiful. Lingo explains that "she was always beautiful" and delivers AnAesop about self-worth. |
| 172 | * Subverted in ''Film/{{Legend 1985}}'' for many fans, who [[SexyVillainsChasteHeroes consider Mia Sara more attractive as "Dark Lili" than "Princess Lili"]]. The fact her EvilCostumeSwitch is [[SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains skimpier]] and gets a NavelDeepNeckline certainly didn't hurt.) |
| 173 | * A brilliant parody of this trope is used in the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' spoof ''Film/LoadedWeapon1''. A plain, dowdy woman takes off her glasses, bends over and shakes out her hair, and when she looks back up, she's a completely different actress -- supermodel Creator/KathyIreland, in fact. |
| 174 | * In ''Film/TheMirrorHasTwoFaces'', the frumpy plain Jane professor played by Music/BarbraStreisand gets fed up with her husband's obliviousness to her (although they did agree to a strictly platonic marriage), and spends the several weeks that he's away dieting, hitting the gym, and going to the beauty salon. By the time he returns, she looks terrific and has the self-confidence necessary to dump him. |
| 175 | * ''Film/MissCongeniality 2'' plays with the trope: At first, Creator/SandraBullock tells a school girl to put her hair up because it will enhance her features better and that "people care about people who care about themselves". But at the end of the film Bullock meets the girl again and, [[AnAesop having learned her lesson]], takes the bow out of the kid's hair and says "I know that people care about people who care about themselves? but I really don't care about those people". |
| 176 | * ''Film/TheMummy1999:'' Evelyn starts off the movie with the costuming department trying their darndest to make her actress, Creator/RachelWeisz, look like a frumpy librarian. Then, before setting out on a journey into the Egyptian desert she switches clothes and loses the bun and glasses, and Rick O'Connell is appropriately stunned. |
| 177 | * Toula from ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding'' started out as, in her words, "Frump Girl", but then she got contacts, changed her look, let her hair down (or at least arranged it more attractively), and started classes at a nearby college. |
| 178 | ** Though in this case, it's less of a broken aesop than normal, since when Ian meets Toula again after her makeover, he says "I remember you. I don't remember frump girl, but I remember you", implying that he liked her in the first instance anyway. |
| 179 | ** The DVD commentary with the writer/lead actress also clarifies that the "makeover" was about Toula becoming more confident with herself as she developed her own identity outside of her parents' restaurant; it wasn't solely about looking pretty so she can catch guys. |
| 180 | * In the ''Film/NightWatch'' film, the latent sorceress Svetlana is portrayed as your typical "librarian" with an average hairdo and glasses. Cut to the sequel, ''Film/DayWatch'', where she finds out about her magical abilities, she now wears her hair down and throws away the glasses. Suddenly, she is extremely attractive to the main character, not to mention a lesbian make-out scene in the shower. |
| 181 | * Parodied in ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'' (whose main plot followed ''Film/ShesAllThat''). The main character, Janie, a "rebellious" artist who is [[HollywoodHomely seen as ugly]] by all the other characters, gets a makeover by a popular girl. Before she begins, the popular girl warns Janie, "this may seem a bit crazy..." She then proceeds to take off her glasses and pull down her hair. Suddenly, everyone acknowledges her beauty, and she even gets her own slow-walk down a stairway shot, complete with music. Also parodied before that when she's nominated "hardest to make into the prom queen" because she has "glasses, a pony tail and paint-covered overalls". Candidates stated as "easier" to make over are an albino folksinger, twins joined at the head, and a hunchback. |
| 182 | * The movie that arguably originated this trope, ''Film/NowVoyager'' (1942), also served to [[UnbuiltTrope subvert it]] in anticipation. Creator/BetteDavis plays an overweight, dowdy, bespectacled, poorly dressed woman who's also [[ShrinkingViolet painfully shy]], unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her widowed mother. When she loses weight, takes off her glasses, and buys fashionable clothes... she's still shy, unsocialized, maladjusted, and bullied by her mother. |
| 183 | * ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'', twice! First, when Mia is shown without glasses for the first time, and secondly, and more famously, after her extreme makeover. |
| 184 | * In ''Film/{{Rocky}}'', on Rocky and Adrian's first date, when Rocky takes off Adrian's glasses and hat: |
| 185 | -->'''Rocky:''' I always knew you was pretty.\ |
| 186 | '''Adrian:''' (''disbelieving'') Stop teasing me. (''begin the makeouts!'') |
| 187 | * ''Film/ShaolinSoccer'' subverts this not once but twice. The heroine, originally a rather ugly girl with terrible skin, gets a makeover in the hopes of attracting the hero, but the result is almost as bad; she ends up with streetwalker-thick makeup, '80s big hair and shoulder pads. Eventually she goes through a second transformation where she gives up on the makeup, etc., and shaves her head bald -- and looks better than ever (one wonders what happened to the bad skin). |
| 188 | ** This is rather common in Creator/StephenChow movies, in that almost all of his love interests have either physical flaws, or are characteristically flawed. One of the most memorable moments in Chow's movies before he became vastly famous was the ending scene of ''Film/GodOfCookery,'' where the comically homely female street chef got an extreme makeover after he alleged death. The actress playing the role, however, is a famous Chinese pop star in real life, so her final appearance in the movie actually had her to do away with her faux ugly makeup. |
| 189 | * ''Film/ShesAllThat'', a modern SpiritualAdaptation of Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw's ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', updated the Eliza Doolittle character from a LowerClassLout to the HollywoodHomely nerdy art student Laney Boggs, played by Creator/RachaelLeighCook. The protagonist Zack, challenged in a bet with his friend Dean that he can make Laney into the prom queen within six weeks, obliges. The result is an example of this trope so famous that it provides the page image, and many parodies of this trope will likely reference it in some form. |
| 190 | * Happens to a male teacher in ''Film/{{Sleepover}}''. Julie advises him to loosen his tie and take off his glasses, also messing up his hair a little. A woman at the club immediately shows an interest in him. |
| 191 | * For about a quarter of the runtime of ''Film/SomeFreaks'', Jill is overweight and dressed in a deliberately off-putting semi-"punk rock" style (including piercings and green hair worn in an "undercut"). Partway through the film, she graduates high school and moves to college in California, where she loses 50 pounds, stops wearing her piercings, keeps her hair long and in her natural blonde color, and dresses more conventionally. She surprises her high school boyfriend with the changes, but he likes her better the old way - he keeps trying to tempt her off her diet, to the point of trying to trick her into eating some extremely fatty homemade mac and cheese, which leads to their breakup. It's also notable that even after her makeover, she's still considered heavy enough to be invited to a frat's "cattle call", a frat party where all attendees must invite a fat girl. |
| 192 | * In ''Film/SpiderMan1'', Peter Parker loses his eyesight problems when he gains his spider powers, so he stops wearing glasses. Mary Jane notices his beautiful blue eyes, of course. |
| 193 | -->'''PodCast/RiffTrax:''' Well, I won't be needing a shirt anymore; it's the [=McConaughey=] look from here on out! |
| 194 | * Fran in ''Film/StrictlyBallroom'' who has an acne problem at the start of the movie goes through a similar transformation, although Shirley has been on at her to treat her skin with product for the first half of the film. |
| 195 | * The scene in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' where Clark Kent is in Lois's apartment with her (off-screen) getting ready for their date. He is debating whether to reveal to her that he is Superman, and the actor straightens his posture, removes his glasses (OK, he doesn't let down his hair, it isn't a perfect example of this trope), does something to his expression, and becomes the ''extremely'' attractive Superman. Lois (still off-screen) says something and he changes his mind, transforming instantly back into the nerdy and relatively unattractive Clark. An excellent piece of acting by Creator/ChristopherReeve. In the original comics, Lois [[LovesMyAlterEgo loved Superman]] because she compared shy, clumsy, and cowardly (after all, he disappeared at the first sign of danger!) Clark against, well, [[PhysicalGod Superman]]. |
| 196 | * Subverted in 1962's ''Film/ThatTouchOfMink'', starring Creator/CaryGrant when Gig Young tells a plain looking secretary to take off her glasses and let her hair down, and is disappointed to get the same woman with a bad squint and messy hair. [[ThisIsReality "Gee, it always works in the movies!"]] |
| 197 | * Central to the plot of the 1989 Creator/TonyDanza film ''Film/ShesOutOfControl'', in which an overprotective father discovers his 15-year-old daughter has undergone this kind of transformation while he was away on a business trip, and can't cope with its results and side-effects. |
| 198 | * Although she was never supposed to be "ugly" (just plain) the character of Jamie Sullivan in ''Film/AWalkToRemember'' has a moment during the scene in which she performs in the school play; as she takes off a black cape she is revealed in a blue silk dress, along with full hair and make-up for the first time. |
| 199 | [[/folder]] |
| 200 | |
| 201 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 202 | * ''The Rough-Face Girl'', an Algonquin story recorded at least as early as 1884. A girl becomes ugly from tending the fire all the time and getting the fire's sparks and soot all over her (or alternatively, deliberately scarred by her abusive sisters). She gets ridiculed by her cruel sisters and neighbors. But she alone can pass the Invisible Being's SecretTestOfCharacter, and is revealed to be beautiful once she washes all the soot off (or alternatively, is healed of her scars). |
| 203 | * Thanks to her FairyGodmother and a PimpedOutDress, this happens to ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}''. This is also the case in many related FairyTale variants, such as "Katie Woodencloak," "Donkeyskin," and "Cap o' Rushes." (Aarne-Thompson Type 501a, to fairy-tale scholars.) A male version would be "Scurvyhead", a blonde prince who keeps his hair covered on purpose so he won't be recognized and just tells everybody he has dandruff. |
| 204 | [[/folder]] |
| 205 | |
| 206 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 207 | * In ''One Lonely Night'' Literature/MikeHammer is infiltrating a ring of DirtyCommunists, one of whom is a dowdy, plain-looking girl whom he flirts with to get information. She later turns up at his apartment in "a dress that looked like it had been painted on" -- it turns out she's a case of Drop Dead Gorgeous Underneath. |
| 208 | * In Neil R. Selden's ''The Great Lakeside High Experiment'' the main character decided that she and her male friends should pick a "nowhere girl" from their school and see what happened if they gave her a makeover and treated her like they were best friends. When the girl in question gained some self-confidence and started dressing better, one of the boys became attracted to her and when the main character got jealous and let the cat out of the bag the whole thing pretty much blew up in their faces. |
| 209 | * Creator/TanithLee: |
| 210 | ** The (initially) unnamed protagonist of ''Literature/TheBirthgrave'' awakens in strange circumstances with no memory of who she is ([[spoiler:she later discovers that the mysterious name "Karrakaz" that she's been hearing for a while is in fact her own]]), and believes she must be hideous because of the startled reactions she sees on the faces of the first few men she meets. For this reason, she wears a mask for most of the book. It's only toward the end that she is finally persuaded to remove it, and discovers what the reader has probably already guessed. |
| 211 | ** In ''Literature/ElectricForest'' a homely, deformed woman is offered a chance to exist in a beautiful body, with the understanding that she will care for her old body in stasis, and do whatever her benefactor says. Things proceed something like Creator/JamesTiptreeJr's "The Girl Who Was Plugged In", only to find that [[spoiler:the beautiful body was her actual, original one. She'd been transferred to the ugly one earlier and mind-controlled to believe it was the real her for an government experiment. It gets even weirder!]] |
| 212 | ** In ''Literature/TheSilverMetalLover'', the girl's controlling mother has been giving her ''drugs'' to make her unattractive. When she stops taking them, her natural appearance is just about what you'd think. |
| 213 | * Lampshaded in a Colin Forbes novel when the protagonist encounters a female librarian and thinks of those spy movies where the communist IceQueen takes off her glasses and lets her hair down at the end to become a sexy capitalist. He asks the librarian to take off her glasses, but she remains dowdy. |
| 214 | * In ''Limelight'', Penny Green removes her glasses in an effort to blend in with an upscale crowd despite being acutely myopic only to have her journalistic rival tell her that she should never wear them while Inspector Blakely babbles "...so you must wear them. But not wearing them from time to time is also agreeable." |
| 215 | * Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/TheMovingFinger'' does this when [[spoiler:Jerry takes Megan to London]]. |
| 216 | * ''Literature/AirAwakens'': Vhalla, a modest library apprentice, is not very feminine, likes wearing leggings and a tunic, never makes up, and has trouble with her frizzy hair. And then a prince invites her to a ball. Following her makeover at the hands of servants, not to mention a tailor-made dress, she turns out to be stunning. |
| 217 | * There's a touch of this in Lawrence Block's ''Literature/ArielBlock''. Ariel and klutzy Erskine are PuppyLove in the making (although they'd both disagree because they're friends). Ariel notes in her diary, after describing a warm, funny conversation they've had, "What he should really do is get contact lenses when he's older. His eyes are really quite attractive." |
| 218 | * In book three of ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', when Nathaniel first sees Kitty's aura as Bartimaeus sees it, he exclaims, "You're beautiful!" to which she replies sarcastically, "Only just now?" |
| 219 | * ''Literature/Burned2010'' reveals [[spoiler:that if Rephaim chose good and became human, he would look "hotter then an Oklahoma blacktop in the middle of the summer". Just how attractive he could be is the only thing Aphrodite and Stevie Rae can agree on]]. |
| 220 | * ''Literature/DeepSecret'' toys with this. Maree is fat, mousy, has a thin nose and thick glasses, and isn't especially known for her gorgeous dress. [[spoiler:However, when Rupert falls in love with her, his perceptions change, and he finally realizes that she's beautiful, even if her physical appearance hasn't changed.]] |
| 221 | * During ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' Will, seeking to call attention to himself with a stunt, proposes just this to [[{{Tomboy}} Patience McCray]], the toughest jock in the school. If he pays to get her a makeover and pretty clothes and she hangs on to his arm at his party, he'll look like he's tamed her and she'll show up the more feminine girls at school. Patience smiles sweetly, says she's never been so insulted in her life, and punches him. |
| 222 | * In ''Literature/FreakyFriday'', Annabel claims at the start of the book that her little brother was the one who inherited all of her parents' good features. But when she and her mother [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]], her mother takes the day off to get her hair cut, her braces removed, and her wardrobe updated, and the transformation is so dramatic that Annabel's crush Boris doesn't recognize her when she comes by and only refers to her as a mysterious "hot chick". |
| 223 | * ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', when Hermione straightens her hair for the Yule Ball. That, and she got her buck teeth magically fixed earlier with a spell. There could also be a spoof of this when Hagrid "dresses up" for Madame Maxime. He tried to comb his hair, but comb teeth get all tangled up in it. He also wears a hideous furry suit. |
| 224 | * Played straight with ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', with a bit of Ugly Duckling thrown in. When she was young she actually was rather unattractive (never quite "ugly," per se, but tall and gangly and generally plain), but in recent years (starting a year or two before the first novel, ''On Basilisk Station'') she has begun to grow into her looks, and is now described by most characters as having a sharp-edged and exotic beauty. The problem is that, with prolong, it took her ''sixty years'' to finally get to this point, so her self-image as an ugly child is pretty much carved in stone, compounded by the additional factors of an AttemptedRape in her childhood and having a mother who has always been regarded as gorgeous. When Honor finally accepts that she ''might'' be more attractive than she has always thought, she begins to use makeup and dress for style and realizes how much she has changed since her youth. |
| 225 | * Played with in ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle''. Sophie never saw herself as pretty and lacked the confidence and self-esteem to see it, though many characters would argue with her that she was. In fact, a curse that turned her into an elderly lady helped Sophie gain confidence and appreciate herself for who she was. |
| 226 | ** She also felt that her two sisters are prettier than her. |
| 227 | * ''Literature/JaneEyre''. Jane is written as poor and plain. She's called ugly numerous times by antagonists, so you expect it'll be like SheCleansUpNicely when she's with Rochester. But the point of the story is that Rochester likes her looks ''because'' she's not conventionally pretty, because he knows that ''he'' is not. |
| 228 | * Fanny Price in ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. Once her cousins go off and leave the neighborhood without its most prominent belles, everyone starts to realize that Fanny not only looks very well when some attention is paid to her appearance, she's very pleasant company too. |
| 229 | * Vin in ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' starts the series as a street thief who deliberately tries ''not'' to look attractive to keep the men from noticing her. Then she gets recruited by a group of heroes and given dresses and a beauty treatment to allow her to infiltrate the nobility. She looks ''stunning'' when she lets herself. |
| 230 | * Elena in ''Literature/TheNeapolitanNovels''. As an adolescent, she has quite a bit of angst over not being as attractive as her childhood friend Lila. Once she moves away to college, gets better clothes and loses the acne, however, everyone in Naples and elsewhere seems to agree she's very pretty. Remarkably subverted, however, in that rather than the narrative dwelling on how her looks have improved, she seems to simply stop being so concerned about her appearance, except when she's trying to impress Nino, her long-term crush. |
| 231 | * Creator/NeilGaiman's short story ''The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch'' plays with this: "Miss Finch" is not the title character's real name, but the narrator calls her that because, |
| 232 | -->"... it's what I thought when I first saw her... Like in one of those movies. You know. When they take off their glasses and put down their hair. 'Why, Miss Finch. You're beautiful.' " |
| 233 | ** Since this is a Gaiman story, the circumstances under which she takes off her glasses and puts down her hair turn out to be bizarre, surreal, and strangely disturbing. |
| 234 | * Played with in Creator/PeterSBeagle's ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'', near the end of the book, the hard-luck, middle-aged Molly Grue puts her hair down, and the narrator says "she was more beautiful than [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman the Lady Amalthea]]" - because the narrator is following the thoughts of [[spoiler: Schmendrick]], who has fallen in love with her. |
| 235 | * In Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/BeautyARetellingOfBeautyAndTheBeast'', Beauty is convinced at an early age that she's homely and avoids mirrors throughout her adolescence because of her self-consciousness. The Beast's castle is completely without mirrors or even still water, making it that much easier for her to avoid seeing herself; she is thus pleasantly surprised when at the end of the novel the (former) Beast points her at a mirror and she sees that she's bloomed over the course of the book into a very lovely young woman. |
| 236 | * ''Literature/TheSagaOfTuck'' characters spend an awful lot of time trying to convince [[spoiler:Jill]] that she looks pretty in a dress and make-up. Several characters later sign up for the cosmetology vocation course simply to work the "magic" out for themselves. |
| 237 | * ''Literature/SecretSanta2007'': Shawna's sister Chloe looks like "the BEFORE girl in makeover adds," but after she ''does'' get a makeover for the winter dance, she's described as "very pretty." |
| 238 | * In ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace,'' a collection of ''Franchise/StarWars'' short stories based around aliens in the background during the first half of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' the story about the "fat dancer" (remember her?) "{{re|tcon}}veals" that her species stores water (like a camel). By the end of a trek through Tatooine's desert after Jabba's death, she's thin and beautiful. Notable in that she considers herself to be quite attractive both before and after the trek. |
| 239 | * Implied in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' books, when [[SweetPollyOliver Alanna]] decides to break disguise for one night and attend a royal ball. Bonus points for making specific references to 'looking like Squire Alan in a dress' and 'doing something with Squire Alan's hair' to achieve the full effect. Although since Alanna is clearly described as being not ugly but not ''stunning'' either, it's more of an affirmation that she can actually look and act convincingly feminine if she wants. |
| 240 | * In Darren Shan's ''Literature/TheThinExecutioner'', we see a rare example that doesn't involve a change in appearance [[spoiler:when Jebel has his pick of all the women in Wadi and he chooses the dowdy servant girl Bas over the Wadi princess Debbat]]. |
| 241 | * ''Literature/TheUglyDuckling'', Creator/HansChristianAndersen, 1843. A large grey bird hatches in a duck's nest. He gets teased because he looks bad for a duckling. The ugly duckling runs away, matures, and discovers he's a beautiful swan. |
| 242 | * Mary Brown's fantasy novel ''Literature/TheUnlikelyOnes'': The amnesiac "Thing". She has been cursed and enslaved by an evil witch, who forces her to hide her face behind a leather mask whenever she is out among people. The mask, combined with the fact that she's usually walking hunched over due to terrible stomach cramps brought on by the witch's curse, causes the general population to think she's a hobgoblin in service of the witch. The only ones allowed to see her without her mask are her four {{Animal Companion}}s, who have no concept of human beauty and honestly can't tell whether she is ugly or not. Of course, any reader who has even ''remotely'' paid attention can guess that the girl is stunningly gorgeous behind her mask, but for most of the novel Thing really has no reason to think of herself as anything but ugly. |
| 243 | * ''Literature/{{Watchers}}'' by Creator/DeanKoontz. Norma. She's the daughter of an emotionally abusive mother and she's terrified of men. During the course of the book, she gets an ImportantHaircut and suddenly everyone raves about how gorgeous she is. |
| 244 | * ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': {{Discussed|Trope}} in [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/content_page/9/372-the-big-idea The Big Idea]] with Delta Spike: |
| 245 | --> Harlan had a brief flash of déjà vu, looking at Delta Spike. Then he realized that she was the picture of a Hollywood ‘Girl Scientist’, the one who’s supposed to be a drab little geek, but you know that the second that she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, she’s absolutely gorgeous. Delta Spike had long glossy black hair that was tied up in a style that really didn’t suit her. She wore a pair of thick clunky-looking black frame glasses that couldn’t have done a better job of disguising her classic features if she’d designed them for just that task. Still, she smiled prettily enough. |
| 246 | * Elphaba from ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' is an odd-looking, bony woman with green skin, made worse by her terribly bland fashion sense. At first, Galinda can't find anything interesting about her aside from her silken, black hair. Later on, Galinda coaxes Elphaba to put on one of her hats and realizes out that there is something to Elphaba after all. She describes it as a "strange exotic quality of beauty". It is later mentioned that Elphaba does resemble her DudeMagnet mother Melena a lot. It's unsurprising that Fiyero, and Galinda herself, fell for Elphaba. |
| 247 | * In ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', Meg Murry wears glasses and has mousy hair. After an emotional talk with Calvin, one of the most popular guys at her school, she cries and Calvin takes off her glasses, and comments that she has "dream-boat eyes." He then tells her to not let any other guy see her pretty eyes. Later in the series, she actually became prettier and married Calvin. |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 251 | * The MTV show ''Made'' had a number of episodes where a {{Tomboy}} or nerd girls wanted to become homecoming queen and are given a coach to transform them into one. The most startling transformation was Kitty from season 4. She was a genuinely geeky but sweet girl with an anime obsession who wore glasses, and baggy clothes and was madeover into an incredibly ''gorgeous'' girl with a great body who proceeded to win second place in her high school beauty pageant. |
| 252 | * In the Mexican telenovelas "Alcanzar Una Estrella II" and "Sonadoras", Laura and Lucia go through this after their makeovers. |
| 253 | * ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'': Hanna was overweight when part of Alison’s gang, but after Alison went missing Hanna worked extra hard to lose weight and weigh less than Alison, which by the start of Sophomore year she managed. After this, Hanna took the missing Alison’s place as the most popular girl in High school. |
| 254 | * Mona was slightly overweight in her Freshman year, and had braces and glasses and wore her frizzy hair in either bunches or pigtails. Mona was desperate to be well-liked and upset when Hanna stopped hanging out with her so she could spend time with Alison, and as Alison realised how much Mona wanted to be popular, she sought out to make her as unpopular as possible and Mona then had no friends, eventually getting Mona to resent Alison and her friends. However, after Alison went missing Mona lost weight, had her braces taken out, straightened her hair and removed her glasses. She then joined her friend Hanna in becoming the two most popular girls in school. |
| 255 | * An episode of ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' had something similar to this with Pugsley's teacher. |
| 256 | * ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryMurderHouse'' plays this for pathos when Addie, who appears to have Down Syndrome, wants to "look pretty" for Halloween, wearing the makeup Violet put on her, instead of wearing the ugly rubber mask her mom wants her to wear. Her mom is furious at Addie for doing this, but eventually, reluctantly lets her daughter go out without the mask. |
| 257 | * A parody of this trope was done on the first season episode of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', "Visiting Ours". G.O.B. has to seduce his father's secretary, and in the process he tells her to take off her glasses and let down her hair, revealing her to be cross-eyed with bad, poofy hair. |
| 258 | -->''"OK, keep the hair, back on the glasses."'' |
| 259 | ** What makes this a more thorough subversion than usual is the fact that with her glasses and done up hair, she is reasonably attractive, but without them she becomes rather unnerving looking. |
| 260 | *** Ironically, Creator/JudyGreer is in fact quite attractive in real life. Fans speculate that the show was intentionally trying to make her incrementally more attractive with each new appearance (sometimes with justifications, like her stealing a bunch of money for breast augmentation surgery) until by her final appearance on the show she's pretty smokin' hot -- but everyone still treats her the same way. |
| 261 | * Felicity Smoak from ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' once had to let her hair down, lose the glasses and dress sexy to infiltrate a casino. She looked gorgeous, to nobody's surprise. |
| 262 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' |
| 263 | ** As Willow neither wears glasses nor her hair in a bun, this is done by changing her out of her overalls-'n-jumpers outfits she wore through the first three seasons. In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E5Homecoming Homecoming]]", she looks gorgeous in her formal gown and in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", she astonishes the boys when she puts on [[AlternateSelf Vampire Willow]]'s [[OfCorsetsSexy sexy black leather outfit]]. Examining her chest, she says "Oh. Look at these." And do they ever! |
| 264 | ** The first time was in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween Halloween]]". Buffy convinces Willow to dress a little more racily for Halloween and Willow proceeds to put her hair up, apply a bit of make-up and wear a midriff top with black mini skirt and boots. She eventually feels too self-conscious and goes out wearing a BedsheetGhost costume over the outfit. At the end she tosses the costume away and walks more confidently in the original outfit just as her future boyfriend Oz drives by and notices her. |
| 265 | --->'''Oz:''' Who ''is'' that girl? |
| 266 | ** Inverted in the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E4IncaMummyGirl Inca Mummy Girl]]". Willow wears a dowdy and unsexy Eskimo costume to a cultural party and remarks that maybe she should have worn something sexy. However, Oz ends up noticing her because of the costume. |
| 267 | ** The trope is lampshaded in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E20GoFish Go Fish]]" with Buffy herself, who confronts Angelus while drawing out the small stake she was holding her hair bun in place with, letting her hair fall in the process. Angelus immediately mocks the trope, saying "Why, Ms. Summers! You're ''beautiful''!" |
| 268 | *** This trope could also be applied to Xander in "Go Fish". He spends the majority of the series in rather unflattering clothes, and goes undercover ("Not under much," as Buffy says) on the swim team. Cordelia, Buffy, and Willow [[EatingTheEyeCandy are rather stunned to find out that Xander has a good body when in a Speedo]]. |
| 269 | * ''Radio/TheBurnsAndAllenShow'': In "Ugly Duckling", Gracie decides to give Ronnie's HollywoodHomely brainy friend Mildred a makeover and send them to the prom together. |
| 270 | * An early episode of ''Series/CharlesInCharge'' ("A Date With Enid", broadcast 12/05/84) featured some [[PlayingWithATrope play with this trope]]. Enid, a classic early-80s girl nerd with ugly glasses and hair up in an awful style, is Douglas' first crush. She expresses a desire to be more attractive to him. Citing the old "take off glasses and shake out hair, voila she's beautiful" cliche, Enid fears that it won't be that easy for her. They spend the entire episode trying things to prettify her that fail horribly, only to discover at the end all she had to do was... take off her glasses and shake out her hair. Of course, the twist is that Douglas now thinks they "ruined" her... |
| 271 | * An episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' ("Abnormal Psychology") had Diane trying to get Lilith and Frasier together by asking Lilith for a hairpin to fix the refrigerator door. Frasier scoffs at her transparent methods, but Lilith lets her hair down, and the two are instantly inflamed with lust for each other. |
| 272 | * Annie in ''Series/{{Community}}'' seems to be undergoing an on-going process of this trope; it's suggested in her backstory that, as well as being a rather neurotic nerd, she had problems with weight and acne which she's only overcome relatively recently, which coupled with her various neuroses and self-esteem issues mean that she doesn't fully realize exactly how attractive she really is. |
| 273 | * ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' had a notable inversion in the episode where Theo's teacher (Brazilian superstar Sonia Braga) came to dinner at the Huxtables' home. Prior to her appearance onscreen Theo had been describing her in unflattering terms, but when she finally arrives she is (to his shock and surprise) stunning. She ''stays'' stunning until she has to be "Teacher" again with his parents, at which point she casually puts her long hair up into a bun and puts on heavy glasses. She doesn't stop being beautiful, but the transformation is still impressive. |
| 274 | * In ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' episode ''Somebody Has to Play Cleopatra,'' Miss Harding is a kindergarten teacher that goes from HollywoodHomely to stunning in ten seconds flat by discarding a baggy blouse, [[TheGlassesGottaGo losing her eyeglasses,]] and LettingHerHairDown to get into the role of Egyptian Queen. It works so well that none of the wives will let their husbands play Mark Antony, and Laura later says she's going to have Miss Harding banned from any role except script girl. |
| 275 | * ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': In the non-canonical ''The Beginning'' (released as a made-for-TV film in 2005), 18-year-old Daisy is portrayed as a mousy nerd, complete with unkempt hair, bifocal glasses, heavy sweaters, and plaid clothes along with baggy jeans. Then she applies for a job at the Boar's Nest and decides to shed all this for her trademark tight short-shorts, her hair let down, and no more glasses. |
| 276 | * In ''Series/FamilyMatters'' S5:E23, Steve's Aunt Oona from Altoona comes for a visit. She appears just as awkward and nerdy as Steve himself. Harriet takes pity on her and gives her a makeover, which reveals her to be as beautiful as Donna Summer. Because she ''is'' Donna Summer. |
| 277 | * Male example: In one episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir,'' Hillary has a glasses-wearing boyfriend who she thinks looks better without them and makes him not wear them. This is only revealed after he [[BlindWithoutEm accidentally rams Will's car]]. |
| 278 | * In the ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' episode [[Recap/GhostWhispererS2E6TheWomanOfHisDreams “The Woman Of His Dreams”]], the [[WoobieOfTheWeek episode’s ghost]] keeps appearing in Jim’s dreams. When he finds her name and attends her funeral to get more information for Melinda, he finds out that he was actually knew her in high school. Back then, she was a shy wallflower with glasses and frumpy clothes. But at the time of her death, she had become a beautiful and successful fashion model, and that version of her is the one that appears to Jim, which is why he didn’t know who she was before. |
| 279 | * On ''Series/GilligansIsland'', a homely girl shows up on the island... and when given a makeover, looks exactly like Ginger Grant. Given that both characters were played by Tina Louise, people really should have seen this one coming. |
| 280 | * Averted in ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' when Lane gets contacts because she didn't like the shadows her glasses cast in some promotional pictures for her band. Her appearance isn't a concern at all, her style doesn't change, and her boyfriend Zach actually finds her ''less'' attractive without her glasses. Rather than trying to make an aesop out of it, Lane casually switches between glasses and contacts for the remainder of the series, with no further attention drawn to it. |
| 281 | * Lizzi in the ''Series/{{Greek}}'' episode "See You Next Time, Sisters!". Who knew that a straightening iron and a power suit could give a girl such confidence? Though it was less a confidence issue and more busting her out of her PluckyOfficeGirl position to her boss, Tegan. |
| 282 | * Alex from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. A bespectacled, cute-at-best comic book nerd? Sorry, that position is already taken, and we've got quotas to fill. If it was just his "new identity" with a shave and one less pair of glasses, it would be debatable, but then that ShirtlessScene came out of left field... |
| 283 | * ''Series/{{Jake 20}}'' featured an almost painfully ridiculous invocation of this trope in episode 6 "Last Man Standing", wherein Diane Hughes (the NSA doctor tasked with monitoring Jake's nanite functions) accompanies an ailing Jake to a wedding to look after him. Despite the fact that Keegan Connor Tracy (the actress portraying Diane) is almost unfairly good-looking, they pull this trope with her by straightening her hair and removing her glasses. The reveal is impressively goofy. |
| 284 | * Inverted in an episode of ''Series/LoveAmericanStyle'', a new young executive is constantly [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted]] by his SexySecretary, played by Carol Wayne. Whenever she is in the room he becomes a bumbling moron and is in danger of getting fired for incompetence. However, when he learns that she needs heavy glasses to read fine print, he asks her to wear them around the office all the time since he doesn't find her attractive when she has them on. |
| 285 | * An episode of ''Series/MacGyver1985'' ("Twice Stung") references the cliche- for his next trick, Mac needs a woman's glasses, her hairpins, and the top three buttons of her shirt (upper cleavage level). She complies and it turns out to be part of the con that they're pulling. |
| 286 | * In the second season ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' episode "The Nowhere Affair", a THRUSH computer picks an ugly duckling sexy THRUSH scientist to seduce Napoleon Solo, in the hopes of reversing the EasyAmnesia that was induced when Solo took "Capsule B" before his capture by THRUSH. The scientist does the statutory transformation from geeky to hottie by, of course, taking off her ugly glasses and white lab coat and LettingHerHairDown. |
| 287 | * Subversion in an episode of ''Series/MidsomerMurders:'' A character, after [[spoiler:killing off her love rivals]], takes off her glasses, shakes down her hair, and goes looking for the object of her affection. He's creeped out, and when he learns what she's done, horrified. |
| 288 | * Subverted in, of all places, ''Series/TheMuppetShow''. Miss Piggy was doing her usual routine of flirting with the male guest star-- in this case, John Denver: |
| 289 | -->'''Piggy:''' "Oh please, I would love to see you with your glasses off, Johnny, take them off for me please?"\ |
| 290 | '''Denver:''' (Removes his glasses.)\ |
| 291 | '''Piggy:''' (pause) "Put 'em back on, Denver." |
| 292 | * Lisa Zemo of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide,'' former epitome of the image of the nerd with no fashion sense, big glasses, and chronic nasal problems, became "hot" when she returned after a season break with "a new haircut, new clothes, new contacts, and new allergy medication." And instead of her crushing on Cookie as she used to, it was now the other way around. |
| 293 | * Parodied in an episode of ''Series/SeansShow''; "Tie your hair up. Now, put on these glasses. My God, you're beautiful!" |
| 294 | * ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': |
| 295 | ** Inverted in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage The Cage]]", in which it is ultimately revealed that Vina's GaussianGirl beauty is, quite literally, only an illusion. |
| 296 | *** Her beauty ''was'' real, before she became horribly disfigured when her ship crash-landed on the planet, and she became older; the Talosians simply restored it via the illusion. It's made into AnAesop in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI The]] [[Recap/StarTrekS1E12TheMenageriePartII Menagerie]]", when Pike also becomes horribly disfigured, and Spock risks everything to also give Pike the illusion of his former beauty. |
| 297 | *** Beauty and ability to move around and actually ''do'' stuff. Pike was horribly debilitated, Vina less so but not enviable (Pike makes a light blink once for yes and twice for no, and that's the extent of his functionality. Vina... think scoliosis or polio, when it comes to movement.) |
| 298 | *** Also illogical since Vina says [[AnatomicallyIgnorantHealing they put her together wrong]] because "... they had never seen a human being." However, except for their giant heads, the Talosians look exactly like us, so they really should have been able to do it right.[[note]]This might be a holdover from an earlier draft of the script, in which the Talosians were supposed to be humanoid crabs, and were changed to humans with big heads for budget reasons.[[/note]] |
| 299 | ** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E6MuddsWomen Mudd's Women]]" does this with a beautification drug. A woman realizes she doesn't need it and her confidence was what was truly responsible for her attractiveness when she's given a placebo. (Turns out to be a BrokenAesop, though: Apparently, "confidence" completely re-does one's hair and makeup, makes the lighting more flattering, and even generates a [[GaussianGirl soft focus]] effect.) |
| 300 | * ''Series/That80sShow'' actually managed to do this right by taking the very attractive Creator/ChylerLeigh and putting her in so much heavy goth punk rocker makeup that she truly did become unrecognizable, allowing her natural beauty to shine more effectively for the rare occasions where she was seen without the punk makeup. |
| 301 | * Another Male example: In an episode of ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'' the titular character decides to makeover an art student with glasses, shaggy hair, and a bad wardrobe. Of course, his handsome face and nice body always existed, and Raven begins to crush on him as soon as he finishes the transformation. |
| 302 | * A variation occurs in the ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' episode “Freak the Freak Out”. Cat and Jade get banned from a karaoke club after protesting the results of a singing competition between them and an untalented girl named Hayley who ends up being the owner’s daughter, and as a result wins the club’s singing competition (decided by her father) every night. To get revenge, Jade and Cat show back up and bet Hayley and her friend that anyone they pick from the audience could beat them in a crowd-decided singing competition. The girls [[BatmanGambit pick the obvious choice]]- a rather hideous looking nerdy girl named Louise. Unfortunately for them, it’s actually Tori in a disguise (prosthetic nose, glasses, fake teeth…) that she removes as she sings, revealing her actual good looks along with a great performance that easily defeats Hayley. |
| 303 | * In ''Series/TheWire'' Bespectacled stripper turned confidential informant Shardene Innes is given "the gift of corrected vision" (contact lenses to replces her oversized Coke-bottle glasses) by the Baltimore PD to help her better spy on her bosses. She looks much more attrative and confident. After the case she starts dating the detective who was her handler. |
| 304 | * In ''Series/WordOfHonor'', Zhou Zishu disguises himself as a scruffy, homeless man and wears a fake face to ensure that his former assassination organization would not come after him. But once the mask comes off and Zhou Zishu starts dressing nicely, Wen Kexing, Cheng Ling and Gu Xiang all remark and are stunned at how handsome he is. |
| 305 | * This trope happens just around mid-run of SoapOpera ''Series/YoSoyBettyLaFea'', where the titular protagonist, who has been considered ugly since birth, embraces a makeover. Interesting because the makeover is treated more as a metaphor of her newly gained maturity (and she resists at some stages), because not everybody thinks she looks prettier now, and because it happens by slow steps: first she gets a new hairdo; then she trades her ugly, horn-rimmed glasses for a pair of cute, modern, minimalist glasses; then she gets rid of her bad-fitting clothes and gets more fashionable ones; and in the last chapter of the soap she finally gets rid of her orthodontics treatment and shows the results. Notably averted (dream sequences aside) in the US version's ''Series/UglyBetty'' since she doesn't seem to have many hang-ups about her body and her odd fashion sense is an expression of her individuality (although they will be addressing the braces soon). |
| 306 | * Series/Zoey101 deconstructs this in "Quinn Misses The Mark". After Quinn learns her long-term boyfriend Mark dumped her for a pretty girl named Brooke, she [[BeAWhoreToGetYourMan glams herself up in an effort to win him back]]. Quinn immediately becomes a head-turning beauty among other students who are asking her out from the moment they lay eyes on her. While Quinn enjoys the attention, Zoey and Lola [[TrueCompanions tell these new suitors to buzz off since they know they wouldn't have given her a second look before the makeover and tell her to go back to her old self]]. Her plan tragically fails when Mark hates what she did and tells her he dumped her because he and Brooke have more in common, causing Quinn to break down knowing it's really over for good. Logan, of all people, is the one who snaps her out of it giving her a JustTheWayYouAre speech despite the fact she looks like the girl she usually dates. |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[folder:Manhwa]] |
| 310 | * ''Manhwa/PigBride'' is about a young girl cursed with a facial deformity unless she can win over her destined boyfriend. At least, that's what she thinks, [[spoiler:but it turns out that underneath the mask she's really a beauty]]. |
| 311 | [[/folder]] |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 314 | * Music/DougStone's No. 1 country hit from 1991 "In a Different Light," which featured an outwardly ugly female co-worker of an office boy -- her hair worn in a bun, thick glasses and unfashionable business suits. The guy fantasizes about taking her out and one night actually does. When the two have sex, he sees her in all her beautiful glory -- with no glasses, "your hair falling down, and love in your eyes." |
| 315 | * Implied with the witch in "The Princess Who Saved Herself" by Music/JonathanCoulton. |
| 316 | * "She Blinded Me With Science" by Music/ThomasDolby nods at this trope with the isolated line: "Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!" |
| 317 | [[/folder]] |
| 318 | |
| 319 | [[folder:Music Videos]] |
| 320 | * Played {{anvilicious}}ly straight in Music/TaylorSwift's music video for "You Belong With Me". Taylor starts out in a HollywoodHomely "Nerd" get-up, which of course ends up being more attractive than the Conventional Beauty she becomes to turn her boy's head at the HighSchoolDance. |
| 321 | * "She's Got Legs" by Music/ZZTop as well. Their video for "Sharp-Dressed Man" gender-switches the same idea. |
| 322 | * Music/KatyPerry's nerdy character Kathy Beth Terry in "Last Friday Night" gets an 80's makeover for the party. Not explained how she ended up back in her original getup after passing out. |
| 323 | [[/folder]] |
| 324 | |
| 325 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 326 | * Avoided in ''Theatre/{{Hairspray}}''. Tracy Turnblad is short and overweight and her make-over can only do so much. Then again, she became popular before the make-over, which is more of a perk of already being popular, by winning the crowd over due to her upbeat attitude and dance ability rather than looks. The love interest, Link Larkin, likes her because she makes him grow as a person, and because he's narcissistic enough to be beautiful enough for both of them. Tracy's mother, Edna Turnblad, is traditionally played by a man, compounding the problems. Her husband, however, doesn't even notice the make-over, as he is in love with her no matter what (and he's as thick as a 1960's bomb shelter door when it comes to noticing things). |
| 327 | ** There were casting calls for a local production of the play in Argentina. Even though the ad for the casting calls clearly demanded overweight teenagers for the role of Tracy, some skinny/normal girls ignored this and auditioned for the role anyway. |
| 328 | ** With regards to Edna, in her case it's really a "Fabulous All Along" moment. |
| 329 | * ''Theatre/{{Heathers}}'': The protagonist Veronica. After offering her forgery services to the titular clique in exchange for getting the school bullies to stop harassing her, the Heathers notice that she is an extremely pretty girl and decide to give her a typical "makeover." |
| 330 | -->'''Heather C:''' You know, for a greasy little nobody, you do have good bone structure.\ |
| 331 | '''Heather M:''' And a symmetrical face. If I took a meat slicer down the center of your face, I'd have matching halves. That's very important. \ |
| 332 | '''Heather C:''' (sung) And you know, you know, you know... this could be beautiful. Mascara, maybe some lip gloss, and we're on our way. Get this girl some blush, and Heather I need your brush! Let's make her beautiful! |
| 333 | * The character of Phoebe in ''Hoodwinks''. She is introduced as the secretary with her hair up in a bun, glasses and wearing a baggy shawl. At the end of the play Clete takes off her glasses, pulls her hair down and unwraps the shawl to reveal a fashionable gown, saying "I always knew you were a pretty girl, Phoebe". This happens before the ending musical number. |
| 334 | * Liza Elliott undergoes this sort of transformation at the end of the first act of ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark''. It's not such a surprise to the audience, since her glamorous self has already appeared in two {{Dream Sequence}}s. |
| 335 | * Parodied in ''Theatre/MeAndMyDick''. Joey finally decides that he loves Sally, and even thinks that maybe she wouldn't be quite so ugly without her glasses. He removes them...and she immediately goes cross-eyed, prompting him to put them right back on. |
| 336 | * Played mostly straight in the musical ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' where the very green Elphaba quite literally lets her hair down, takes off her glasses, and dons some lipstick before being told, "Why, look, miss Elphaba, you're beautiful" by her roommate. However, other than the Love Interest, no one seems to notice. |
| 337 | ** It is then subverted: Elphaba rushes from the room in tears, shows up the next day in a flirtier wardrobe, and earning everyone's notice ''because'' they know exactly how her roommate "fixed" her. Elphaba's future love interest then tells her that she really doesn't have to change herself, she's just fine. She never follows Glinda's makeover tips again, seeing as the costume department is too busy slowly transforming her into the Wicked Witch of the West. |
| 338 | ** Then in Act II, |
| 339 | --->'''Elphaba:''' I just wish...\ |
| 340 | '''Fiyero:''' What?\ |
| 341 | '''Elphaba:''' I wish I could be beautiful... for you.\ |
| 342 | '''Fiyero:''' Elphaba...\ |
| 343 | '''Elphaba:''' Don't tell me that I am, you don't need to lie to me.\ |
| 344 | '''Fiyero:''' It's not lying! It's... uh... it's looking at things another way. |
| 345 | [[/folder]] |
| 346 | |
| 347 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 348 | * ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'' has Jataro Kemuri, who spends all of his onscreen time masked [[spoiler: thanks to his AbusiveParents constantly telling him how ugly he was]]. But after he loses to Komaru and Toko, the mask gets pulled off, revealing that he's actually pretty cute. Then the Monokuma Kids tear him apart. |
| 349 | * ''[[spoiler:Tink]]'', of all people, turns out to be this at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}''. |
| 350 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:Midna was cursed into her diminutive impish guise, and has a rather more shapely and statuesque humanlike true form]] which is then only seen in the epilogue. |
| 351 | * Emma Emmerich suddenly attracts Raiden's interest when she takes off her glasses in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', but it's a subversion when it's shown she's just wearing empty frames because she likes glasses, and she doesn't care whether or not she's prettier without them. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' does this twice, to male characters - first when Otacon switches to contact lenses at Naomi's suggestion, and secondly when Johnny takes off his mask and darkens his hair, revealing that all this time he looked like a ridiculously {{Bishonen}} version of Solid Snake. |
| 352 | * Chie Satanoka from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' she spends most of the game being treated as HollywoodHomely and Chie is jealousy of Yukiko and Rise for being more feminine and desired than her. [[SheCleansUpNicely Of course the moment Chie puts on a kimono and make up]] at the new year event, the player character notes (what the fanbase already knew) that [[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQdWw30IB3urIC1C4BOBxylaQMR-SWlFMCLVkVBHTjPCeGC9CrS she looks absolutely radiant]] |
| 353 | * [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:349Feebas.png Feebas]] from ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' isn't exactly a looker. However, if its beauty is maxed out or its traded with the Prism Scale, which was added in Generation V in order to bypass ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' not having Contests, it turns into the beautiful [[http://s4.zerochan.net/Milotic.full.1140930.jpg Milotic]]. |
| 354 | ** There's also The Oddish line in regards to Gloom, which is pretty much the least aesthetically pleasing. Evolving it into Bellossom is nothing short of an ugly duckling story. Even Vileplume seems like more of a reversion to Oddish's cuteness. |
| 355 | ** Popplio is nothing short of a ugly duckling story. Initially it has a goofy [[NonIronicClown clown]] look with a very large GagNose. It's first evolution stage [[MagicIdolSinger Brionne]] is significantly cuter, before becoming a [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Primarina]], a very elegant and feminine seal siren/mermaid who sings songs. Popplio's GagNose also gets smaller through evolving to emphasize it's transformation from clown-like seal to a CuteMonsterGirl with [[LongHairIsFeminine long hair]]. |
| 356 | * Ingrid Hunnigan from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. Leon even comments on it. |
| 357 | * Latooni Subota from ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' wears eyeglasses during the first half of the first game, being a shy and quiet gothic lolita of some sort. One time, her friends make her wear girly clothes and take out her glasses, that attracts many of the Hagane's crew members. |
| 358 | [[/folder]] |
| 359 | |
| 360 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 361 | * In ''VisualNovel/DramaticalMurder'', Clear wears a full-face gas mask at all times because his father told him that his face would be too disturbing for people to look at. In his route, Aoba persuades him to finally take the mask off, and... you guessed it, the only thing about Clear's face that disturbs him is how [[PrettyBoy distractingly pretty]] it is. [[spoiler:The real reason his "father" had him wear the mask was to prevent him from being recognized as an android, as he looks identical to his evil android "brothers" who work for the BigBad.]] |
| 362 | * Becca from ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'' wears dowdy, conservative clothes when she is introduced, and she puts herself in the “not pretty” category. However, when she is wearing an evening gown, or even a t-shirt and jeans, she clearly looks quite nice. |
| 363 | * In ''VisualNovel/{{Nameless}}'', this happens with Eri in Yuri's route. Barely anything about her apperance changes; she brushes her hair before school and puts in a hairclip she got from Yuri and a bit of make up and the ''entire'' school begins to call her Swan Princess and comments on how beautiful she is. Despite her being pretty cute to begin with. |
| 364 | * In ''VisualNovel/SonoHanabiraNiKuchizukeWo'', Kaede goes through this in the second game. It works so well that she qualifies for the trope, EvenTheGirlsWantHer. |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 368 | * ''WebAnimation/AttackOnMika'': |
| 369 | ** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogIjS7RAlYI I was left behind by my family, but a handsome gang leader saved me?!]]'': The messy-haired Ai Sonozaki gets a makeover from Taketora's beautician friend and is revealed that she's pretty. |
| 370 | ** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD_mkXkL8ko She was hiding her true self... But what was she really hiding from?]]'': After being shoved into the pool by [[AlphaBitch Rikan]] and her friend, the shy, freckle-faced Kana Takagi emerges as a beautiful girl, much to both bullies' confusion. Turns out [[spoiler:she used makeup to hide it under a "plain girl" facade.]] |
| 371 | ** ''[[https://youtu.be/F3YlFR2_23k My classmate looked down on me because I was a middle school graduate..]]'' [sic]: When Taizou left Tomoya and Nagisa behind after [[JerkJock Taizou]] set him up a blind group date and both went to an izakaya for some drinks, Nagisa revealed her pretty face when she took off her glasses and face mask. The reason Nagisa wears them is that [[spoiler:she was tired of so many guys asking her out because of her looks.]] |
| 372 | ** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBh3RCPlkL8 They excluded me from the after party for being fat and smelly, so...]]'': Daichi was mocked by Taizou, Aira, and Ririna for being a fat introvert at a match-making party. They were no kinder to Lui who is plain-looking and wears glasses. Later, it was revealed that the looks were a façade and took off their glasses. Daichi was muscular, and Lui looked beautiful without their fake looks. Ririna and Aira tried to get together with Daichi but he rejects them in favor of Lui. |
| 373 | * On ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', in the [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs10.html tenth issue]] of Strong Bad's independent comic ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'', a frumpy gal known throughout the series as "The Ugly One" gets made up for her birthday: she trades in her usual clothes, hairstyle, and glasses for more stylish ones, and even Strong Bad is impressed by the transformation: "Woah! Did ''I'' draw that new hotness?" |
| 374 | * ''WebAnimation/MangaAngelNekoOka'': |
| 375 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju_vHuE78gw Akira]] is often ridiculed for his plain appearance, though that all changed when he was trying to buy new clothes after entering high school, he was then scouted by a woman to be a model. After getting a make-up, Akira turns out to be an attractive man and is now a successful model. |
| 376 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysxrbuIdOM Shizuka]] thinks she's ugly due to the abuse she was getting from her mother and older sister. She was eventually persuaded into getting a make-up by Akira, revealing her to be a beautiful woman. |
| 377 | * ''WebAnimation/MangaSoprano'': In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHA8jZaxXgM High school girls who fool around with makeup look down on beautiful women with no makeup]]'', Mina shoves Kanade into the pool because Alto dumped the former in favor of the latter. When Kanade emerges from the pool, she's revealed to be pretty. |
| 378 | * ''WebAnimation/ManiManiPeople'': |
| 379 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOj6ia9-sio Yuna]] wore OpaqueNerdGlasses and is plain-looking. When her boyfriend Rikuto's bullies dared her to strip, she stripped to her bikini and it revealed her beautiful body. |
| 380 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPT6_EwWWI Riko]] came to a forced date with Kanata, in plain clothes and glasses. During their date, Riko is revealed to be daughter of the CEO of Manidai and the company officials dressed them both in nice clothes revealing Riko to be beautiful. |
| 381 | * ''WebAnimation/ReinasRoom'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2H7jtZFcQQ Hanako]] was a plain girl. When Yutaro forced her to play Juilet in a Romeo and Juliet play, she dressed up nicely for the role and everyone saw how beautiful she was. Yutaro tried to confess to her after the fact, but she rejected him. |
| 382 | [[/folder]] |
| 383 | |
| 384 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 385 | %%Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1615 Played with]] in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''. |
| 386 | %%* Mentioned and averted in [[http://www.yousayitfirst.com/comics/index.php?date=20100102 this]] ''Webcomic/YouSayItFirst'' |
| 387 | %%* Guineas, from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is a rare male example. |
| 388 | %%* Lampshaded in [[http://www.pvponline.com/comic/2001/08/12/sun-aug-12 this]] ''Webcomic/PvP'' strip. |
| 389 | * In ''Triquetra Cats'', Rain Soricha in her adopted civilian life wore a pair of [[NerdGlasses thick spiral lensed Nerd Glasses]]. When she becomes a super powered magic user, she removes them to reveal big sparkly doe eyes, which takes everyone by shock. |
| 390 | * Shaenon Garrity does it straight (more or less) in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' in the ''Tin Soldier'' story arc, when dumpy little Marcie of the Department of Irradiation gets a makeover from Tip Wilkins. Her glasses get changed to better glasses, her hair stays up in a perm, but the rest of the trope plays out precisely, including everyone suddenly seeing her as sexy. On the other hand, Dr. Lee already looks extremely sexy with her hair ''up'' and her glasses ''on''. No makeover needed there. |
| 391 | * Discussed in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1880 this]] ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip: |
| 392 | -->'''Marigold:''' I fucking '''hate it''' in movies and TV shows where they have the nerdy weirdo girl and all they have to do is comb her hair and put on some makeup and all of a sudden she's '''so beautiful how did we ever not notice before'''. That's not how it '''works''' in real life. It's '''bullshit'''. |
| 393 | ** And, ironically, played straight with ''Marigold herself''. Her appearance issues mostly stem from bad hygiene and grooming and [[IAmNotPretty even worse self-esteem]]. When she does clean herself up, ''everyone'' is impressed. |
| 394 | * Subverted in [[https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/4782084/ this]] page of ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate''. |
| 395 | * Played straight in ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell,'' where Lindesfarne helps Fiona in this way. Later inverted, when Fiona undoes the change to escape unwanted attention -- and going negative, by developing huge ears that she considers unflattering. |
| 396 | * Ping of ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' [[http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=1007 attempts]] an inversion, and [[{{Meganekko}} fails]]. |
| 397 | * [[Webcomic/{{Narbonic}} Helen Narbon]] finds herself complaining: "Leave it to me to live in a [[GenreSavvy defective fictional universe]]." Of course, the real problem is that she did not lose the glasses. |
| 398 | * Done with shameless {{Anvilicious}}ness in ''Webcomic/NipAndTuck'', where Thelma enters a beauty contest... and things go drastically bad half-way through. Cue one near-{{Narm}}ish "pep talk" from Tuck and "Gosh, I am beautiful!" |
| 399 | ** This was actually a followup to her previous "metamorphosis," when she suddenly began wearing less dowdy clothes, changed her hair, etc.... and actually ''scared off'' her romantic interest, Tuck, with her sudden transformation. |
| 400 | ** Later discussed [[http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00772.html here]] |
| 401 | * Karen from ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' ''is'' quite good-looking after her makeover...but the "inner beauty" part? [[ManipulativeBastard Forget it]]. |
| 402 | * Amber in ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' manages to pull this off without losing the glasses, just getting new ones. |
| 403 | ** The hairstyle and more flattering clothing helped, but the point still stands. Especially since they weren't that different from what she wore previously. |
| 404 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'''s Gwynn is a classic example of this, with artist Pete Abrams going to significant lengths to render her more attractive, including redefining the shape of her face. |
| 405 | * Gerard from ''Webcomic/WeakHero'' is a male inversion. In the present day he sports an unflattering green bob that [[EyesOutOfSight covers his eyes]] and gets him nicknamed variations of Broccoli Head. A flashback then reveals that, just a year prior, he was a gorgeous PrettyBoy with a "bad boy" fashion style (slicked-back hair, studded ears, and a leather jacket) that made him a major ChickMagnet. Then he hit the DespairEventHorizon, part of which caused him to receive nasty scarring above his eye, and he changed his look entirely to distance himself from his old persona and ensure he stood out as little as possible. |
| 406 | * Hanged Man from ''Webcomic/TheManorsPrize'', in backstory. In the past she was unpopular and couldn't get with guys, but after a makeover and a self-esteem boost, she became much more successful romantically. |
| 407 | [[/folder]] |
| 408 | |
| 409 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 410 | * The entire concept is demonstrated on [[http://thisisindexed.com/2010/10/you-can-learn-a-lot-from-a-rom-com/ this]] {{Indexed}} card. |
| 411 | [[/folder]] |
| 412 | |
| 413 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 414 | * Parodied by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick in the ''Film/TeenWitch'' review. She starts out with a prim, buttoned white shirt, the usual pigtails and her glasses. Then Madonna starts playing, she loses the shirt (she's got something on under it, don't get excited boys and girls), takes off the glasses and shakes out her hair. [[SubvertedTrope BUT THEN]], she puts on a weird top, does her hair in a side-ponytail and puts the glasses back on, making her look ridiculously 80s-ish. |
| 415 | * Played straighter by WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, who hated how he looked as a kid and young teenager, but now is relieved to be a PrettyBoy adult who gets a lot of attention (whether it's creepy/rapey or the nice kind). |
| 416 | [[/folder]] |
| 417 | |
| 418 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 419 | * ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': |
| 420 | ** Double Subverted in the ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' parody episode, where Chelsea, a girl interested in Steve, lets down her hair and takes off her glasses to reveal... an unkempt afro and beady eyes. DoubleSubversion in that he still finds her attractive. Possibly moreso. |
| 421 | ** Subverted in an episode featuring a Kathy and Hoda style morning show, only drunker and crueler. They take a dowdy woman and when she comes out after the makeover, looking better, they say "Oh, we've got another one!". They then display a sign saying "Unsalvageable" and pull a cord dropping her into a trapdoor. |
| 422 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries The New Batman Adventures]]'' episode [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE13MeanSeasons "Mean Seasons"]] plays it straight as a twist. A villain going by the name "Calendar Girl" kidnaps various fashion and cosmetics bigwigs in order to exact her revenge from them. The villain wears a metal mask that conceals her face completely and constantly fumes about how the industry has ruined her, especially her beautiful face. At the end of the episode, [[spoiler: it is revealed that she is still beautiful, but is so distraught and obsessed by her perceived flaws that she believes herself to be immeasurably hideous.]] |
| 423 | * On ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh,'' the last two episodes just sort of mocked this trope. Joan is already quite good-looking, and as Abe tries to find her "hidden beauty" he just insults her unintentionally. |
| 424 | * In the Creator/ComedyCentral series ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether,'' Clara's retarded cousin "Bleh," who normally wore confining clothes and a protective helmet, turns out to be more than "not just hot-- but ''retarded'' hot" because of her slack jaw and dual lazy-eyes making her look impossibly sexy for a "normal" girl. |
| 425 | * Subverted repeatedly on ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}''. She ''is'' pretty, but has chosen to not play it up because she thinks doing so would be vain. Averted outright at least once though, when Daria was getting fitted for a wedding dress and the seamstress said her body had no curves, making it impossible to fit the dress right. And the dress hung off her like a smock for the rest of the episode. |
| 426 | * A straight (if over-the-top) example occurs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' in which Cornfed meets a secretary who morphs into a supermodel when she undoes her hair/takes off her glasses. |
| 427 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' plays this with [[ButtMonkey Meg]], who goes from a girl who's so ugly that people commit suicide by burning themselves to death rather than look at her to a very attractive woman. Meg eventually abandons it after becoming conceited, being humiliated on national television, and deciding that it is too hard to maintain. |
| 428 | * A scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones On the Rocks'': Wilma walks into the bedroom with her hair down and in skimpy clothing, complete with {{Sexophone}} accompaniment. Fred at first seems to react according to the trope, but it turns out that Wilma was blocking his view of the TV. |
| 429 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', gargoyles have differing views of beauty compared to humans. While having a strong respect and appreciation for Elisa, Goliath never noticed how beautiful she was until she was transformed into a gargoyle. |
| 430 | --> '''Goliath''': "I never realized just how beautiful you are." |
| 431 | --> '''Elisa''': ''(amused)'' "Are you saying you thought I was ugly?" |
| 432 | --> '''Goliath''': "Uh, well, that — [[ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject Careful, updraft!]]" |
| 433 | * For the first two seasons of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' Hawkgirl always wore a [[http://www.andrewapproved.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/hawkgirl.jpg Wolverine-like mask giving her black dots for eyes]] and you never saw her whole face. At the end of the season two episode "Wild Cards" she sits at the bedside of an injured Green Lantern in the Watchtower. The two have been building a romance for the past two years. Green Lantern finally takes off her mask and she's revealed to be [[http://chaplainandrews.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/temp_jl_hawkgirl_unmasked.jpg absolutely gorgeous]] with beautiful green eyes. |
| 434 | ** In an episode of ''Unlimited'', ComicBook/{{Huntress}} jokingly declares ComicBook/TheQuestion (Vic Sage, the male one) to be the ugliest guy ever to wear a featureless mask all the time. Even after the RelationshipUpgrade, she still hadn't seen his face. In part of the season finale, Q is beaten to within an inch of his life. He lets her remove his mask to kiss him, and he remarks that she was right on her joke. [[Heartwarming/JusticeLeague She still finds him attractive.]] |
| 435 | * Sheldon from ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements'' is a scrawny, weak Nerd, who walks with a hunch and has a Jerry Lewis-esque voice...until he takes off his glasses and we find he is incredibly muscular with a stronger and more masculine voice. It turns out that his glasses are so heavy they act as weights and keep his from walking upright. Subverted when Todd tries to see if Sheldon's sister is the same, only to walk away trembling when he finds out that she's not. |
| 436 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' episode "Mystery Solvers Club State Finals", the principal of the school (where the finals are held) looks very professional and...well, not '''un'''attractive. Yet it's not until she saves a life from drowning that she feels "alive!" She tosses off her glasses, releases her flowing hair from [[PrimAndProperBun bun-captivity]], and possibly the top button on her coat becomes undone, becoming the kind of school official whose office a teenaged boy wouldn't mind being sent. |
| 437 | * Another straight if over-the-top example occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where Lisa is inspired to take dancing lessons. She and Marge are watching a film where the male protagonist chooses a woman named "Lisabella" to be his dance partner. She initially looks very bookish but on removing her glasses, LettingHerHairDown and having the top buttons of her blouse pop off is revealed to be stunning. |
| 438 | * ''[[WesternAnimation/SixTeen 6teen]]'': A brief gag in the fourth episode features Jonsey complaining that there are no hot girls in the nerdy store he's currently in, only for one of the nerd girls to let her hair down and correct her posture so she can blow him off more effectively. |
| 439 | * Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "The List". Kyle convinces one of the ugly girls to take off her coke bottle eye-magnifying glasses. Turns out that her eyes are tiny and practically on the sides of her head. |
| 440 | -->'''Kyle''': Let's just... put those back on. |
| 441 | * Gwen Stacy in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''. Seriously, she went from one of the cast's dowdiest female members to flat out gorgeous. Mary Jane was too kind. Though because of this [[OnlySixFaces she just looked like a blonde version of MJ]], and [[NerdsAreSexy many of the fans preferred how she looked]]. |
| 442 | * ClarkKenting with ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, who in her "Kara Kent" identity wears a wig and glasses, in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. |
| 443 | * Starfire is an odd example in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Transformation". She's beautiful to begin with, but the change she undergoes in the episode (which is similar to Tameranian puberty, but more extreme in her case) turns her ugly - temporarily. When it's over, she's not only beautiful again, she's ''far'' more powerful, as if the short "ugly period" was needed to strengthen her powers. |
| 444 | [[/folder]] |
| 445 |
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