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alt title(s): Geeks Are Sexy 
It's not easy being geeky.
We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the Hottest Woman in the World, but she wears glasses because she is the Smartest Woman in the World.
— Michael Bay's "Rejected" Dark Knight Script -Cracked
Ooh, I need a nerdy woman!
Ooh, I need a nerdy gal!
Despite however many typically-sexy female characters are in a series, a common gag is to have the male characters fixate instead on some inconsequential minor female character. The character may only be cute in a "plain" way, but the men will all happen to find her uniquely charming.
Very common with girls who wear glasses. Different from the Hot Librarian in that the "librarian-ness" is what makes them attractive.
Incidentally, no putting yourself on this list. This means you! We all know being a troper automatically makes you twice as sexy, no need to further document the phenomenon.
See also Hollywood Geek, Hot Scientist, Geeky Turn On, Nerdcore, and Give Geeks A Chance.
Examples:
- Pretty much any Meganekko who features prominently in her series (Read Or Die, Victorian Romance Emma, Azumanga Daioh, etc.) Lampshaded in the Emma manga omake, which reproduces the scene where Emma takes off her glasses, only for the cast to loudly insist she not remove her Charm Point.
- Though to be fair an Anime Meganekko does not have to be a prominent character and still often deemed quite attractive. (As Prima/Lorelei from Pokemon is a great example.)
- Nadia The Secret of Blue Water featured an entire on-board fanclub for an obscure, plainly cute nurse character.
- Nodoka and Yue of Mahou Sensei Negima tend to fit this, sometimes described as flat-chested and not attractive in a "Sexy" way, They're both also two of the series' most popular characters (they may even subvert First Girl Wins).
- Unless you consider Anya, Nodoka is the First Girl, due to Asuna being Negi's aunt.
- Haruna could also count, although she's more on the Otaku end of the Nerd Spectrum.
- Chisame/Chiu also falls under the very deliberately Otaku end (even falling in with Haruna at various conventions.) Word Of God seems to be pushing her up the ranks of "those who most like Negi", much to her chagrin.
- Not to mention that, the few times we've seen it, even without Photoshopping her pictures she has a rather 'curvy' figure.
- There are also Chao Lingshen and Hakase (not as popular, but with Mad Scientist appeal) - with Loads And Loads Of Characters, there's bound to be an abundance.
- In Suzumiya Haruhi, Yuki seems to have a large "fanbase" within the story, exactly because Nerds Are Sexy. Kyon finds her appealing too, although not at the scale of Mikuru.
- Jou Kido from Digimon Adventure 02. He was really awkward as a 12-year-old in season one, but damn if he didn't grow up well! Also, Koushirou. Not only are shorter people smarter, they're hotter, too!
- Matsu from Sekirei, but then again, it is Sekirei. That, and she wears an outfit similar to a Cheongsam.
- Bleach's Ise Nanao, 8th Division Vice-Captain.
- Don't forget Uryu Ishida, ranked #1 in Karakura High in terms of academics. Chicks must dig capes...
- Fate Stay Night technically has Rider when she's in her 'at home' mode
- Psycho Busters has Joi.
- Irie Shouichi of Katekyo Hitman Reborn can be considered this, if you get past his light awkwardness when he's not playing The Dragon He's pretty much a Meganekko. The fans were pleased when they saw this
 .
- Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury is consistently rated the most popular character in Sailor Moon by a long shot.
- Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask is also very popular, and has some decidedly nerdy intrests.
- Later in the series, Naru and Umino start dating, and it's definately not because Umino has good looks. It may not hurt that Umino tried to save Naru from a Monster Of The Week once...by dressing up as Tuxedo Mask and throwing tempura shrimp at it. Yeeeeah, didn't work.
- Even Dragonball runs into this trope, as a number of girls in Orange Star High (particularly Erasa) spend much of their screentime trying to undress Son Gohan with their eyes. Jerk Jock Sharpener isn't very pleased to learn that he's runner up to "Nerd-Boy".
- Naruto's Hinata Hyuuga is a classic shrinking violet-type nerd and one of the main love interests of the title character. She's also a moe lust object for a hell of a lot of fans,despite being terminally shy and always bundled-up in a parka or jacket,because it fails to disguise her Most Common Superpower.
- Taken to the extreme as the premise of The World Only God Knows. Keima Katsuragi is a proud nerd who spends all his time playing video games and prefers 2D girls over real girls. Yet his vast knowledge of Dating Sims has made him an expert at getting girls to fall in love with him (in order for him to exorcise the evil spirits possessing them...It Makes Sense In Context!).
- Gertrude Yorkes of Runaways is somewhat chubby and an insufferable nerd. But her boyfriend adores her.
- Kitty Pryde. Nerdy, sexy ninja.
- She had a male counterpart in Doug Ramsey, too. They used to date! Then he died.
- Amadeus Cho, the 7th smartest person on Earth (as verified by a soap company - oh, and Reed Richards). Managed to win the heart of a Perky Goth Amazon Gorgon girl.
- Caitlin Fairchild from Gen 13.
- Peter Parker, aka Spider Man is a bonafide Chick Magnet despite being considered a nerd
- Carlie Cooper, a new supporting character in Amazing Spider-Man, is also one; she's so far gained the attraction of Peter Parker, Vin Gonzales (Peter's former roommate), and Johnny Storm.
- Not Another Teen Movie has Jamie who is supposedly nerdy even though all she really does is paint, wear overalls, wear glasses, and have pigtails.
- There is a scene in a used bookshop in The Big Sleep: Humphrey Bogart spends an afternoon in an antiquarian bookshop with the clerk (Dorothy Malone). An unexpected rainstorm, a bottle of rye, and the line "I'd rather get wet in here", transforms Malone from book-worm to babe, who closes the shop an hour early (and the film fades to black).
- Ben Campbell, played by Jim Sturgess, in the movie 21.
- A variation of this was also done in the Life Time Movie Of The Week Where The Heart Is where Natalie Portman's character falls for the "library guy".
- Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) in the late 90s remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan. She's an insurance investigator who hunts down art thieves. The audience's introduction to her starts with her legs.
- In How To Marry A Millionaire, Marilyn Monroe's character avoids wearing much-needed glasses as long as she can to retain her beauty. When her love interest finally persuades her to put them on, he immediately says, "You're crazy."
- "This one time at band camp..."
- Maggie Gyllenhaal in pretty much everything she does, but Secretary in particular.
- Tanguy is a nerdy intellectual but he manages to chat up attractive girls (mostly Asian ones) with ridiculous ease.
- Male Version: Michael Moscovitz from The Princess Diaries. He is a nerd throughout the entire book series. He moves to Japan at the end of Book Seven to build a robotic arm that will effectively PERFORM HEART SURGERY and when he returns he is said to, literally, have a body like Christian Bale's (see EvenTheGuysWantHim)
- In The Hunt For Red October, it is stated that Jones, the sonar technician of the USS Dallas, because of his nerdy looks and knowledge, gets enough action on the beach to "wear down a squad of marines".
- Princess Marya in War And Peace. Her eyes are described as being most beautiful whenever she smiles, but otherwise she's quite plain and Nikolai has no clue at first why he likes her.
- Spark, the petite glasses-wearing deviser girl at Whateley Academy in the Whateley Universe. Even the fact that all she does is obsess about building devises doesn't keep Reach from pursuing her.
- Meg Murry, from A Wrinkle In Time and sequels. To quote Calvin O'Keefe, her soon-to-be boyfriend: "You just keep wearing those glasses. I don't think I want anyone else knowing what dream-boat eyes you have." And it really doesn't hurt that they're both extremely intelligent.
- Doctor Who as portrayed by David Tennant, known for his Geek Chic suit, tennis sneakers and glasses. He's the first actor to play the role who has so far been popular enough to challenge Tom Baker for the title of Best Doctor Ever.
- Arguably Peter Davison's Doctor as well.
- Lampshaded in the mini-episode "Time Crash" when the Tennant & Davison Doctors meet. Tennant expresses his admiration for Davison (semi-in character) gushes that he got the idea for wearing glasses he doesn't need to look smarter from Davison's incarnation.
- Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood had Toshiko Sato, who dealt with everything technological, and although she is every bit the awkward nerd, she somehow gets at least as much action as the others in the team. Even Jack. And that's saying something.
- Project Runway Season 5. Two words: Leanne Marshall.
- And to kick it up a notch: Diana Eng from Season Two. Girl actually used the words 'rotating polarity' in a dead serious context on a fashion runway. A guaranteed cute nerd girl first.
- Not to mention that when the girl gets liquor in her...she becomes Dirty Diana.
- This is pretty much the entire point to The Big Bang Theory. The boys on the show don't get laid in spite of their geekiness (except Sheldon, for whom sex is less exciting than video games), they get laid pretty much because of it.
- The Tag Line is "Smart is the new sexy".
- Smallville's Chloe Sullivan definitely falls under this trope. Also helped by the fact that the main Love Interest doubles as The Wesley and the actress playing Chloe is at worst Hollywood Homely.
- Seriously, the actress has made it onto one or two "Hottest 100 celebrities," lists. Not bad for a supporting actress on Smallville.
- Not to mention, she's one of the best characters of the entire show (that says something, trust me). She almost became a Canon Immigrant into the comics, but they just couldn't find a way to fit her in there.
- Allison Mack also does the voice for Power Girl in the animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies movie. Hot.
- The Myth Busters. Kari included.
- David Henrie◊, who plays Justin, in Wizards Of Waverly Place. The nerdy boy that builds robots, collects action figures and can't do more pull-ups than his younger sister. Surprisingly (or not), in the tv show he has a lot of girlfriends.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Although Xander, Willow, and Wesley are all sexy nerds in their way, it's Giles who's sexy because he's a nerd. Or, as a love interest put it, "a sexy fuddy-duddy".
- Played with later in the series when Xander comments that smart girls are hot, and Willow who at that point is a lesbian mournfully asks him why he couldn't have figured that out when they were in 10th grade (i.e. during the time Willow had the hots for Xander).
- 'Cause heaven forfend she not still be interested.
- And actually, they did hook up once in season 3. However, due to Whedonitis they were technically cheating and had to make amends to their partners, which took the rest of the season, in addition to staying separate from each other. This despite the fact that they'd been making "googly eyes" at each other since season 1 and each one's relationship had only really happened because they couldn't admit they were into each other. Thank you, Joss Whedon, for throwing characters the emotional Idiot Ball.
- Angel also had Fred (Winnifred), the nerdy yet cute science girl who joined the cast late in the second season. During the third season, her sexy nerdiness had two of the male leads fighting over her for half the season.
- Stargate SG-1 presents an Alternate Reality Episode in which Samantha Carter is a frumpy, awkward nerd. Alternate O'Neill still thinks she's hot.
- You mean she's not a frumpy, awkward nerd with a bizarre resemblance to Hillary Clinton in the normal show?
- An earlier Parallel universe introduces Doctor Carter, where she didn't join the Air Force. Being a long haired Nerd not in the military means the USMCJ doesn't apply. So the Cannon Ship goes all the way, with O'Neill and Carter being married. At least till Alternative O'Neill got blown up.
- On NUMB3RS, Charlie asks Amita on their first date after she solves a particularly tricky mathematical analysis. Later they find out that math is really all they have to talk about, but this doesn't seem to be a problem since they're still together.
- And FBI agent Megan has a relationship with professor Larry.
- Ahem, "Luckily, I speak l33t," "That's so hot."
- CSI:NY- Lindsay Monroe has a relationship with Danny. Stella attracts stalkers.
- On the original CSI, the Grissom-Sara attraction began way back before we meet them in the series, when Sara attended a forensics lecture Grissom was giving. It might have ended there if Holly Gribs hadn't been killed and Sara not called to Vegas from San Fancisco to take her place, kicking off 6 seasons of Will They Or Won't They?. All of Grissom's other potential Shipping partners - Lady Heather, the guest anthropologist, Sofia curtis - were also very brainy.
- Drake And Josh: One of Drake's earliest Girls Of The Week.
- And now that Josh Peck has hit himself with the pretty stick...
- NCIS. Abby. That is all.
- ...only if you somehow forgot about 'McGee'!
- Palmer is pretty damn hot too when he's seen briefly shirtless.
- Daniel Faraday from LOST, who even has a fanclub called 'A.D.O.R.K.A.B.L.E'.
- One episode of Flight Of The Conchords has Murray get a crush on his office's tech support woman. And then sing a song about her, naturally.
- The eponymous character in Chuck.
- Also his ex, what's her name. The one from Stanford.
- The X Files. Gillian Anderson became the pin-up of choice for straight male nerds everywhere. David Duchovny did the same for the ladies.
- Ivy of the Dollhouse. Subverting the Igor trope since 2008.
- Lampshaded in The IT Crowd when Roy and Moss make a Nerds Are Sexy calendar and it ends up being less "hot supermodel with glasses" and more "fat bloke with his shirt off".
- Real Life example: Hannah Arendt.
- And Tina Fey. She's arguably several times hotter with her glasses on, and I don't know why.
- Kari Byron from Mythbusters.... Mrrrowww!
- Dr. Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara!◊
- Seth Meyers and Bill Hader◊, SNL's resident dreamboats. They write comic books. Case closed.
- After single-handedly winning the 2009 series of University Challenge for Oxford's Corpus Christi College (till they got disqualified for fielding an illegible player in the final), Gail Trimble◊ got asked to do a "tasteful" photoshoot for lad's mag Zoo. She declined the offer.
- Masi Oka. Fluent in three languages, does charity work for One Laptop Per Child, has a BS in Computer Science from Brown, was nominated for an Emmy, is a former programmer/computer animator for Lucasfilm, and pretty darn sexy.
- Danica Mc Kellar. Remember Winnie from The Wonder Years? She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA, majoring in mathematics, co-authored a scientific paper and has her name attached to the "Chayes-Mc Kellar-Winn theorem". And judging from the covers for her books "Math Doesn't Suck" and "Kiss My Math"(aimed at middle-school girls to encourage math proficiency), she's still pretty damn attractive.
- Stephen Colbert. The man plays Dungeons And Dragons and was given the shield of Captain America!
- Carol Vorderman certainly qualifies, but Rachel Riley has killed this troper's ability to think, let alone play along with Countdown.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal[1]◊, Zooey Deschanel[2]◊, Judy Greer[3]◊, Amber Benson[4]◊, Melanie Lynskey(Kiwi nerd!)...[5]◊
- Arguably, Zooey Deschanel is more 'cute indie chick' than 'sexy nerd'. Still amazingly hot though.
- Also, you can add Loading Ready Run's Kathleen De Vere [6]◊ to that list. Did I mention she has an extremely sexy voice?
- Felicia Day.
- Us.
- Jennifer. Jason. Leigh.
- Seth Green. Siiiigh...
- Vin Diesel is a big D&D fan.
- Gordon Freeman. Even Action Girl Alyx Vance gets shy around him.
- For that matter, Alyx herself - remember Dog, the minivan-sized robot that follows her around? Her father built him as a puppy-sized companion. Everything since that is her work.
- Most Harvest Moon games have a librarian or some other girl with glasses as a potential bride. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is the only one that has a girl with glasses that you can't marry. This editor does not think it is a coincidence that it's also amongst the lowest-regarded in the series.
- Playing as a female, there have also been options such as Rick, Louis (practically a male Meganekko), and Jin.
- Don't forget the Doctor (Trent or Alex, depending on the game) — smart, serious, studious, and sexy.
- Nerdy to the core, being both an engineer AND an anime otaku, Otacon of the Metal Gear series is a profoundly woobie fan favorite. He swaps out his glasses for contacts halfway through Metal Gear Solid 4, but since he does so for such an endearingly nerdy reason (a pretty girl told him to!) this doesn't bother many people (it helps that a big part of his character development is swapping the contacts back for glasses). With his glasses on, it should be noted that even his step-sister wants a piece of him.
- The Sorrow may be a little creepy, but if The Boss gave birth to his child, he must be one sexy, sexy man.
- Lucca from Chrono Trigger is the poster girl for sexy nerds in video games. A brilliant literally fiery, purple-head meganekko, wielding a pistol and a hammer. Complete with a woobie-ish backstory and a motherly side. Nice!
- In an unusual twist, though, her looks aren't really noticeable until the helmet comes off - not the glasses.
- Shad, the resident nerd in The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, is as popular with fans of that series who love geeks as Otacon is with fans of MGS.
- Patchouli Knowledge of Touhou. Being Really Seven Hundred Years Old and a Hikikomori in her library for over a hundred years with a penchant for Magitek, this trope is the entire basis of her popularity.
- Super Robot Wars's Ryusei Date is the epitome of otakuness, having more interest in the features of whichever Fembot was currently in the hangar than real girls. Nevertheless, Latooni Subota and Mai Kobayashi fall for him, the former going as far as imitating his geeky speech out of affection. Ryusei himself doesn't seem to mind, though.
- Philia Felice from Tales Of Destiny is a really nerdy priestess, complete with nerd glasses, who have a penchant of inventing self-made bombs. However, that turns out to be one of her charms (she also admits that if she's plain looking without her glasses), including her nice personality as well as her voice.
- Naoya from Devil Survivor is a programming Bishounen.
- Morgan Freeman in Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.
- Bayonetta. 'NUFF SAID!!!
- After finding out about this, Fox Trot's Jason Fox once tried to make himself as un-nerdy as possible because Girls Have Cooties.
- Alice from Loserz thinks so. See this strip.
- And Adam from the same strip actually is a sexy nerd (although he usually hides it - being a gaming nerd, not being sexy). See here.
- Tales Of MU takes this to the logical extreme — Amaranth is a physically perfect nymph, naked except for her glasses, who believes in science in a world of magic-based technology. Beyond the mere nudism, nymphs in MU follow the more open version in regards to sex and sexuality (the ultimate origin of the term nymphomania) — although Amaranth treats it as an enjoyable part time job / chore more than anything.
- It's later discovered this is because of a teenage geek messing with the process that created her, creating the ultimate geek fantasy girl — a confident, polite nudist who will put up with ANYTHING and literally can't get enough sex. Oh, and she's a geek, too. Unfortunately, he was too shy to talk to her afterwards, which left her in the dark about the whole thing.
- Agatha Heterodyne combines Meganekko, Mad Scientist, and even a bit of Hot Amazon with the Most Common Superpower to be an incarnation of this trope. And for those looking for hot nerd-guys, there's Gilgamesh and Tarvek.
- In Dresden Codak, some of Kimiko's outfits (or lack thereof) very nearly reach Ms Fanservice levels, except she's a shy, misanthropic Mad Scientist so it's OK. Sometimes gives of more of a Wrench Wench vibe, like here.
- Velma from Scooby Doo. Played with in The Movies (...not what we meant).
- Also,Edd from Ed Edd N Eddy,well..In◊ the◊ eyes◊ of◊ yaoi◊ fans◊..
- Ghost Writer from Danny Phantom. He only appeared in one episode, but remains one of the most popular character with the fangirls.
- In the episode of Batman The Animated Series where the Riddler reforms (or rather, attempts to), he ends up with quite a few women fawning over him. Unless that's an example of All Girls Want Bad Boys.
- In Totally Spies Sam the red head is the nerdiest one of the bunch and considered by a lot of fans to be the sexiest one of the group.
- Dexter of the Oh Boyz from Kim Possible. Doubles as the Token Minority of the group.
- Dr. Egon Spengler. The Real Ghostbusters. Oh, yes. Arguably this troper's first crush, but not her LAST crush on a nerd.
- See also: Dr. Henry P. ("Hank") Mc Coy from the sundry X-Men Animated series. Especially X-Men: Evolution. *Oh*yesplzkthx...
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