When a character falls in love and/or lust - or at least develops a strong infatuation - based on admiration of another character's glorious deeds or sheer awesomeness. There may be an element of "do you want them or want to be them?", with the admired character serving as a role model as well as lust object. If the Memetic Badass is also a Memetic Sex God, this may be the reason why.

This is different from simply being attracted to someone who's Badass or extremely competent. If you find Solid Snake sexy because of his character development, his voice acting, or the tight Spy Catsuit but also appreciate his badassery, that is not this trope. If what really attracts you is his Determinator nature and ability to take on Humongous Mecha on foot, and the visible Fetish Fuel is just gravy, that would be this trope.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Misa from Death Note at first worships Kira, before even meeting him. Then she meets Light, and her admiration only deepens. After getting to know him better, she falls head over heels. Which most certainly has nothing to do with him being young and handsome.
• *Bleach: upon first seeing her, Soi Fon was awed by the woman who would later become her sempai: Yoruichi Shihouin. Years later, after becoming Yoruichi's personal bodyguard and protege, Soi Fon's admiration had become hero worship. The point where those feelings changed to "those" feelings is unclear, but there's no denying that Soi Fon has it bad for Yoruichi.

Literature

• Young Lancelot towards King Arthur, in The Once And Future King.
• Eowyn towards Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings.

Videogames

• Major Ocelot towards Big Boss, in Metal Gear Solid 3.