[Bruce Wayne steps off the plane]
Lois Lane: ... absolutely gorgeous!
A character is being spoken of by another character. Suddenly, the person being talked about walks through the door and the complainer is utterly awestruck mid-sentence. This happens most often at some sort of formally arranged event (especially dress parties where everyone is in cocktail gowns and tuxedos, or something similar), with friends joking that a friend of the opposite sex would be completely out of place, only to find out that She Cleans Up Nicely.
A subtrope of Distracted by the Sexy. Related to Love at First Sight, but only when the characters haven't met before. Sometimes caused by the strange energy field emanating from The Pornomancer. Often happens to the Deadpan Snarker, the cynic, a Jerkass, or someone similar, who you wouldn't expect to act that way. This also often sometimes happens between friends, especially if the two characters are long term Just Friends. Frequently accompanied by Revenge of the Nerd. For other tropes about someone showing up just as they’re being talked about, see And Here He Comes Now and Right Behind Me.
Examples:
- Ranma ½: Ranma does this a lot.
- In The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee & Ditko) #25, Peter reluctantly agrees to go on a blind date with the daughter of one of his aunt's friends. He avoided it for weeks beforehand, assuming that the girl needed to go on blind dates because something was wrong with her. He talks to his aunt as he opens the door... only to gasp as he sees a red-headed model, Mary-Jane Watson, for the first time.
- When Sam walks into the dance hall in A Cinderella Story no one recognises her because they assume she wouldn't have been that attractive.
- Happens to Emily while she's snarking about Andy's lack of fashion sense in The Devil Wears Prada. Unfortunately for Emily, Andy undergoes a Makeover Montage when nobody's looking.
- Lonestar and Princess Vespa do this to each other in Spaceballs.
- Harry Potter's stunned reaction to the dressed-up Hermione in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
- Firefly: Inara's priceless reaction to Mal and Kaylee arriving at the ball in "Shindig".
- In a season one episode of Friends, Joey tricks Monica into going on a date with some guy; when they arrive at the bar, Monica finds out that Joey had never actually met the guy in question.
Monica: For chrissakes, Joey, for all we know, this guy could be horribly—
[handsome guy walks in]
Monica: —horribly attractive. I'll be shutting up now. - In iCarly, Carly and Sam keep making fun of Freddie's AV friend, Shane. Until they actually meet him and find out he's Mr. Fanservice.
- In the Jessie episode "Break-Up and Shape-Up", Jessie brings up an ex-boyfriend of hers from high school, Ted Hoover, whom she describes to Emma and Zuri as "heavy, hairy in the wrong places, [and] slightly smelly". Emma informs her she's invited him over, and Jessie is shocked to find out that he's become stunningly handsome.
- This is how Jordan Sullivan is introduced in Scrubs. When J.D. is assigned to treat an influential member of the hospital board, he thinks that it's going to be a grumpy, unpleasant, elderly man. His narration abruptly changes when he discovers the board member is actually a highly attractive late-30s woman.
- In one episode of Three's Company, Mr. Roper asks Jack to go on a date with his niece Karen to show her around town. Jack turns him down and shares a good laugh with Janet and Chrissy about what a girl with Mr. Roper's homely looks would look like — then Karen shows up and turns out to be a stunningly beautiful blonde. Jack immediately changes his mind about not taking up Mr. Roper on his request.
- In FoxTrot, this is pretty much Paige's reaction when, dragged along to see The Lord of the Rings, she first sets eyes on Legolas.
- The song "Granger Danger" in A Very Potter Musical begins with Ron talking about how ugly Hermione is, only for her to walk into the room mid-sentence and stun the room with how She Cleans Up Nicely. This song was actually the inspiration for the entire play.
- Happens to Cindy in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, when Jimmy shows up in a tux for a wedding. Libby has to snap her out of it.
- Played for Laughs in Glenn Martin, DDS, where Glen develops a "man crush" mid-sentence on an environmentalist he figured would be a dirty bum.
- In one episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter has no one to go to prom with and moans as his aunt tells him she set him up with a friend's niece. He mentions all the red flags he's about this girl and shudders as he goes to open the door... only to trip over his words as he sees a cute red-head, Mary-Jane Watson, for the first time.
- In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", Squidward has his face smashed in. When healed, everyone goes gaga for him with a great many variations on "So... handsome..."
- The page quote comes from the Superman: The Animated Series episode "World's Finest", in which Lois Lane criticizes Bruce Wayne while waiting for him to arrive in Metropolis, and is lovestruck the moment she sees him.
