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1'''Basic Trope''': A female character falls in love with or feels very attracted to a "bad guy" (i.e. a male character with dysfunctional, aggressive or outright criminal character traits), usually choosing him over a "NiceGuy".
2* '''Straight''': Alice falls in love with Bob, a convicted criminal.
3* '''Exaggerated''':
4** MonsterFangirl
5** YouSexyBeast
6** Alice falls in love with {{Satan}}.
7** A female who's InLoveWithYourCarnage.
8** FetishizedAbuser
9** ...[[IncompatibleOrientation even]] the [[IfItsYouItsOkay lesbians]].
10* '''Downplayed''':
11** She rejects Charles, a consummate NiceGuy, for being too boring in favour of a JerkAss, for a while, at least.
12** A girl prefers an outwardly [[TallDarkAndSnarky sarcastic or belligerent]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold guy who isn't really "bad"]] over a conventional gentlemanly NiceGuy.
13** Alice is interested in a BombThrowingAnarchist because she agrees with his cause and ignores his personal problems.
14* '''Justified''':
15** She fell in love with him because [[LikeParentLikeSpouse her father]] [[AbusiveParents abused her]], thus resulting in a cycle of attraction to abusive men.
16** She's hardly a paragon herself; BirdsOfAFeather [[UnholyMatrimony flock together]].
17** Alice believes she can [[ICanChangeMyBeloved "fix"]] her [[DracoInLeatherPants boyfriend]] with the PowerOfLove and [[MoralityChain mold him into The Perfect Guy over time]]; in other words, she's LovingAShadow.
18** Alice and Bob are {{Childhood Friend}}s, so Alice knows that, despite Bob's reputation, he's not all bad.
19** Bob is an obvious JustifiedCriminal who gained [[SourOutsideSadInside something of a mean streak]] due to the way society treats ex-cons; he's nice to Alice because [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe she's nice to him]].
20** Alice is a very narcissistic and completely delusional girl who wants to be loved by a horrible man because she wants to feel "ultra special" and wants to make other girls envious of her. She's also persuaded criminals make the best protectors.
21** Alice has incredibly low self-esteem and thinks she deserves Bob's abuse.
22** Alice has repressed aggressive tendencies herself, and she tries to live them out through Bob.
23** Alice suspects that all men are cruel and hateful, and she [[AtLeastIAdmitIt prefers ones who are upfront about it.]]
24* '''Inverted''':
25** DoggedNiceGuy
26** SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
27** VillainessesWantHeroes or VillainousCrush, for an exaggerated inversion.
28** A woman falls in love with an insufferably righteous KnightTemplar.
29** TurnedOffByTheJerkass
30** Alice constantly attracts bad boys even though she doesn't have any particular interest in them.
31* '''Gender-Inverted''':
32** [[DatingCatwoman Bob the hero falls in love with Alice the villainess]].
33** [[DefrostingIceQueen Good Boy Loves Cold Girl]].
34** The NiceGuy is only a ChickMagnet for Bad Girls.
35** [[FetishizedAbuser Alice]] treats Bob like a slave, [[RomanticizedAbuse and Bob madly falls for her]].
36** BeAWhoreToGetYourMan
37* '''Subverted''':
38** The woman seems to have fallen for the bad boy... but she's actually into the NiceGuy, he was misinterpreting all the signs.
39** The man was a HeroWithBadPublicity.
40** [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim The so called "nice guy"]] [[UnreliableNarrator sees the guy as worse than he really is]].
41** Her LoveInterest is a bad boy, but she appreciates his good qualities more than his dark ones.
42** The woman is initially attracted to the bad boy until his more negative qualities get more visible. At that point, she breaks up with him.
43* '''Double Subverted''':
44** ...but, later, she falls for him anyway.
45** Bob is a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.
46** It turns out that the guy, telling us that the "nice" guy was an UnreliableNarrator, is the ''true'' UnreliableNarrator!
47** Alice was [[PolishTheTurd trying to make him sound better]] for her parents. She's truly only interested in his bad qualities.
48* '''Parodied''':
49** A woman falls in love with a man because [[FelonyMisdemeanor he forgot to pay a parking ticket]] ([[PokeThePoodle or some other similarly minor "bad" trait]]), this making him a "bad boy" in her eyes.
50** A man goes to ludicrously extreme lengths to present himself as a "bad boy" in order to attract a woman's interest. This includes [[WouldHurtAChild kicking babies in the face]], [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals setting kitties on fire]], blowing up buses full of nuns, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking playing whiny protest songs from the '60s]]. '''It works!'''
51** There's an entire dating app entirely devoted to women who want to date criminals.
52* '''Zig Zagged''':
53** Alice has an obvious crush on her friend Bob, the bad boy of the school (he has yet to tell anyone but Alice that he just likes the fashion), but then Bob's put into a situation that is out of the law's hands. Alice is against all of this, [[AntiHero seeing that it's changing him]], and abandons him. Later, she gets attracted to him anyway. She's also attracted to [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Charles]] and Bob gets a new friend, [[OutlawCouple Diane]]. Charles has his eyes more on [[BadassBiker Diane]] than on Alice. The Creators try to get the Yaoi demographic by introducing Eddy who's involved in a HoYay LoveTriangle with Bob and Charles. [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Alice and Diane]] also have their own LesYay going on.
54** Alice is in love with Bob the {{Jerkass}}, but then it turns out Charles the so-called "nice" guy is an UnreliableNarrator who is in love with Alice. It turns out the person who called Charles out was the real UnreliableNarrator all along. However they weren't lying about Charles making up all that stuff up about Bob. Then it turns outs he wasn't making all that stuff up, Bob was just picking on Charles because he hates his guts.
55* '''Averted''':
56** There is no single "bad boy" character; the woman's romantic options are between flawed, but decent men.
57** Alternatively: No one chooses Bob due to how mean he is.
58** Alice is that rare anomaly who actually ''hates'' bad boys. She truly wants {{Nice Guy}}s, albeit ones who are not too "boring" or overly deferential.
59* '''Enforced''':
60** "We need to soften this criminal character up, so he has a reason to clean up his act. Maybe make one of the supporting female characters fall for him?"
61** "Hmm, this show needs more drama... I know! Why don't we have one of the female characters fall in love with this criminal?"
62** "Don't the fangirls always love the bad-boy/good-girl romance?" "Yeah!" "So let's do that!"
63* '''Lampshaded''': "Of course she loves him; everyone knows bad boys are sexy!"
64* '''Invoked''':
65** A guy tries to build up a bad boy image to get a girl to like him.
66** DatingWhatDaddyHates[=/=]ShockValueRelationship
67* '''Exploited''': ReformedRakes
68* '''Defied''':
69** "What, you think your attitude turns me on? No, thanks, unlike the girls that fawn on you, I have self-respect AND standards."
70** "Sorry, a nice girl like you shouldn't be with a guy like me."
71* '''Discussed''': "It's weird, isn't it, how women seem to be really attracted to bad guys?"
72* '''Conversed''': "That character is ''dreamy''! He's such a rebel!"
73* '''Implied''':
74** "My first boyfriend was a real jerk... so was my second... and the ones after that. Hmmm."
75** Alice constantly rebuffs every NiceGuy she meets as "boring", but it's not clear what kind of guy she actually wants.
76* '''Deconstructed''':
77** A woman falls in love with a bad boy and starts a relationship with him. He then treats her just as badly as he treats anyone. At best he exploits her infatuation to get what he wants, be it sex, money, favors, etc. At worst he's abusive, and/or his antics put Alice's safety and legal status at risk.
78** The bad boy turns out to be an AxCrazy sociopath who has an obscene outlook on life. The woman's very safety is jeopardized.
79* '''Reconstructed''': A woman falls in love with a bad boy and starts a relationship with him, because he treats everyone ''except'' her badly. In fact, he's pretty sweet on her.
80* '''Played For Laughs''': Alice becomes a MonsterFangirl of the town's convicts to the point of becoming an AbhorrentAdmirer that they all try to avoid as she stalks them constantly in hopes of having sex with any of them.
81* '''Played For Drama''':
82** A woman can't resist getting into abusive relationships due to having an abusive father growing up. Her desires reflect her need to be loved by the cruel men in her life.
83** As Alice keeps on going out with Bob, it awakens a dormant criminal streak in her that would have never manifested if she had stayed clear from him. Alice becomes a consummate criminal herself and remains so all her life long and raises her children into being criminals too, even her daughters.
84** Alice inadvertently becomes caught in Bob's criminal escapades and either gets hurt by his rivals or arrested as an accessory to his crimes. Bonus points if ''she'' gets arrested and he doesn't.
85----
86Back to AllGirlsWantBadBoys.

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