History Main / TrueLoveIsExceptional

* Subverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. Iino falls in love with Ishigami despite him having a lot of characteristics that she finds to be a major turn-off (he disregards the rules, is mean to her, and doesn't take school seriously). The dramatic irony of the situation is that everything else about him matches up with what she wants ''exactly'', she just can't see it like the other characters and audience can. [[spoiler:The same is true of Ishigami-- while he prefers bubbly, kind, openly friendly girls, he's too fixated on Iino for the cast to ignore and the story likewise reveals that he's had her in mind since middle school. His ideal scenarios also involve things that Miko has been shown to enjoy or do.]]

* Subverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. Miko falls in love with Ishigami despite him having a lot of characteristics that she finds to be a major turn-off (he disregards the rules, is mean to her, and doesn't take school seriously). The dramatic irony of the situation is that everything else about him matches up with what she wants ''exactly'', she just can't see it like the other characters and audience can. [[spoiler:The same is true of Ishigami-- while he prefers bubbly, kind, openly friendly girls, he's too fixated on Miko for the cast to ignore and the story likewise reveals that he's had her in mind since middle school. His ideal scenarios also involve things that Miko has been shown to enjoy or do.]]
-->'''Miko''': After all, a type is nothing more than a set of preferences. It's got nothing to do with who you actually fall in love with.

See also LadykillerInLove -- where the character falling in love ''at all'' is exceptional, and TrueLoveIsAKink. Subtrope of OOCIsSeriousBusiness.

* One ''Comicbook/AstroCity'' comic focuses on a man haunted by dreams about a strange woman, later revealed to be his wife who was [[RetGone retconned out of reality]] as a casualty from a villain's attempt to RetGone superheroes. One thing that confuses him about his "dream girl" is that she really isn't what he would normally think of as his type; one of his friends notes the same thing about his own wife.
* Heather Douglas, Marvel's telepathic Moondragon has one of the more convoluted stories, starting off as a manipulator who would sometimes use sex as a weapon and always was involved with males. Then to her own surprise, she fell in love with Rick Jones's wife Marlo Chandler, but that did not work out. Marlo eventually returned to Rick, and to ensure her future happiness, Heather "confessed" that she thought she had subconsciously made Marlo fall in love with her in the first place. Phyla-Vell, the cosmically aware daughter of Captain Marvel (the first one, with Phyla herself being the fourth), was so moved by that self-denying lie that she fell in love with Heather, who thus unexpectedly found her true love after all.
* One also could put ComicBook/SpiderMan and Mary Jane Watson in this category, especially as MJ in her original form was not even intended to be a serious love interest by the creators. Here it took the tragic death of Gwen Stacy, which also affected Mary Jane deeply, and a few other twists and turns until the two realized how well they fit together and could finally tie the knot.

-->-- ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' about '''Ben''' whose girlfriend is a short blonde.

* In Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', Marianne wants to find a man who is as demonstrably passionate about life as she herself is. She finds it in Willoughby, but when he turns out to be a callous rake who [[spoiler:seduced and abandoned a young woman, leaving her pregnant and destitute]], and then abandons ''her'' in favor of marriage to a rich woman, she instead finds her happiness with the older Colonel Brandon - a quiet, serious, well-mannered man who is much less outspoken about his feelings.

-->--''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' about '''Ben''' whose girlfriend is a short blonde.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': Princess Fiona dreamt of having a typical storybook ending with her PrinceCharming, who would slay the dragon and climbed to the highest room in the tallest tower and break the curse that turned her into an ogre at night. She ends up falling in love with Shrek, an ogre who is a far cry from PrinceCharming, and when the curse breaks she ends up becoming an ogre permanently (which doesn't really bother her since her mannerisms were ogre-like in both of her forms). In the sequel, when Shrek offers her the chance to live their HappilyEverAfter in beautiful human forms, can you guess what Fiona's response is?

* ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDogSeries'': In ''Black Mask'', Sirius claims to prefer "blondes with loose morals", preferably Muggles or muggleborn. He ends up falling for Colette Battancourt, a sheltered, ProperLady Pureblood witch that his family wouldn't disapprove of too much. Lampshaded by Regulus, who asks his brother what he likes about Colette since she's the type of girl Sirius would normally find boring.

* Subverted in ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar''. Miko falls in love with Ishigami despite him having a lot of characteristics that she finds to be a major turn-off (he disregards the rules, is mean to her, and doesn't take school seriously). The dramatic irony of the situation is that everything else about him matches up with what she wants ''exactly'', she just can't see it like the other characters and audience can. [[spoiler:The same is true of Ishigami-- while he prefers bubbly, kind, openly friendly girls, he's too fixated on Miko for the cast to ignore and the story likewise reveals that he's had her in mind since middle school. His ideal scenarios also involve things that Miko has been shown to enjoy or do.]]
-->'''Miko''': After all, a type is nothing more than a set of preferences. It's got nothing to do with who you actually fall in love with.

* One ''Comicbook/AstroCity'' comic focuses on a man haunted by dreams about a strange woman, later revealed to be his wife who was [[RetGone retconned out of reality]] as a casualty from a villain's attempt to RetGone superheroes. One thing that confuses him about his "dream girl" is that she really isn't what he would normally think of as his type; one of his friends notes the same thing about his own wife.

* In ''FanFic/{{Shatterheart}}'' [[spoiler: R!]]Syaoran believed that he would always love sweet Sakura, only to fall in love [[spoiler: and eventually get engaged with]] with Kurogane who is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* In ''FanFic/AtGatesEdge'' Roy Mustang is a consummate [[TheCasanova Casanova]] whose type tends to be men and women that he can easily charm without effort and immediately sleep with him. He [[LadykillerInLove falls hard for]] [[CuteGhostGirl Edward]] who is a stubborn, hard-to-impress {{Tsundere}} who takes commitment very seriously, but is physically incapable of touching due to being a ghost.
* In the first chapter of ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'', Asuka stated that she wasn't supposed to fall for a meek, insecure boy like Shinji:
-->"I don't know! I just keep thinking about it! I'm not supposed to be attracted to boys like you! I'm supposed to want a real man like Kaji! I'm not supposed to be wondering what it would feel like to kiss you, to have your arms around me! It's not supposed to feel this good to do it! It's not supposed to feel so good to be lying here with you! I shouldn't want this to never end..." Her outburst ran down into confusion. "Why is it you?"

* In the ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'' series "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/179123 2nd Time Around]]", April finds herself musing that Donatello was always the turtle she sought out when she was a child in her father's lab, hinting at their deeper connection even before the mutagen gave him sentience, leading to him becoming her secret partner in her new private investigator business and the two eventually becoming [[InterspeciesRomance lovers]].
* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''Series/{{Heroes}}'' crossover series ''Fanfic/{{Interventions}}'', Spike forms a strong bond with Nikki/Jessica as he represents an unconventional blend of what each of her personalities want in a man after D.K.'s death, with Nikki needing a good father figure for Micah while Jessica prefers the 'bad boys'.

* In ''Fanfic/AMonstersNature'', this applies to both Caitlyn and Brandon, as Caitlyn can't ignore her feelings for Brandon even as she wishes he wouldn't kill people and Brandon makes it clear more than once (in his own unconventional way) that he genuinely loves Caitlyn despite his regularly-expressed belief in his own superiority over the rest of the human race.
* In ''[[Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDogSeries Black Mask]]'', Sirius claims to prefer "blondes with loose morals", preferably Muggles or muggleborn. He ends up falling for Colette Battancourt, a sheltered, ProperLady Pureblood witch that his family wouldn't disapprove of too much. Lampshaded by Regulus, who asks his brother what he likes about Colette since she's the type of girl Sirius would normally find boring.

* This appears to be set up for ''Literature/ConfessionsOfGeorgiaNicolson'' -- despite Georgia's claims that only "Sex Gods" need apply to be her boyfriend, her closest and most constant relationship is with Dave "The Laugh." While he's not as attractive as Georgia prefers, and lacks the status symbols of both Robbie and Masimo (a car/scooter, sings in a band, older than Georgia), she can't stop thinking about him (often remarking mid-monologue "How did Dave The Laugh get in there?") and shows surprising maturity in her reactions to him; Georgia can be [[NoSympathy ludicrously insensitive]] to most people, but she genuinely fears hurting or offending Dave in any way, not out of pride for herself but out of an honest regard for his feelings.
* In the ''Literature/SpyHigh'' books by A.J. Butcher, super-wealthy JerkJock Ben has only ever dated girls equally as privileged and physically gorgeous as him (which in the first series brings him together with Lori), but ultimately falls in love with Cally, who although kind and loving is a wrong-side-of-the-tracks former delinquent and grew up in comparative poverty.

* In Creator/JaneAusten's ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', Marianne wants to find a man who is as demonstrably passionate about life as she herself is. She finds it in Willoughby, but when he turns out to be a callous rake who [[spoiler:seduced and abandoned a young woman, leaving her pregnant and destitute]], and then abandons ''her'' in favor of marriage to a rich woman, she instead finds her happiness with the older Colonel Brandon - a quiet, serious, well-mannered man who is much less outspoken about his feelings.

* In ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Polgara the Sorceress]]'', Polgara has had genuine romantic feelings for two men in her past (and loved one of them) -- Kamion, the first Rivan Warder, and Ontrose, a Wacite Arendish knight. Both were urbane, polished, cultured, well-spoken, courtly, and ''definitely'' noble. Though Ontrose in particular became something of a LostLenore to her, the man she ultimately married, thousands of years later, is... a plain-spoken, straightforward, unpolished, honest, hardworking blacksmith with no aristocratic connections whatsoever named Durnik.
* ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'': Aisha Udgard often said to her father that she wouldn't marry a man weaker than her, which considering that she's the strongest warrior of her tribe would set the bar pretty high. However, she ends up falling for Souma, a man who's not only weaker than her, but for whom she also serves as his bodyguard, after the disaster struck the God-Protected Forest and he brings in the Elfrieden army to aide in humanitarian rescue work and personally uses his living poltergeist powers to help search for survivors.

* Mulder's minor love interests in ''Series/TheXFiles'' tended to be tall, leggy, and blonde or brunette. In the end, he winds up with Scully, a petite redhead.
* Charlotte on ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' spent the first seasons looking for her prince charming and eventually found Trey, who was everything she ever dreamed of, and married him. When she and Trey were divorcing she chose her divorce attorney, Harry, specifically because he was everything she ''didn't'' want in a man, and therefore she felt free to be as aggressive as possible during the divorce. Harry turned out to be her true love.

* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Penny always dated the dimwitted JerkJock type. Her on-again-off-again relationship with Leonard made her realize what she really wanted was a NiceGuy who challenged her intellectually (in other words, Leonard).
** In one of her "off again" phases, we got to see her current boyfriend. Who was dumb as a post and pretty self-absorbed. He was ''friendly'' enough, just apparently incapable of understanding other peoples' feelings. Which basically made him Sheldon without the high IQ.
-->'''Penny:''' Dammit, Leonard! You ruined dumb guys for me!

* ''VideoGame/MyCafe'' has Lucas falling in love with Emily despite finding out via experiments that their compatibility is minus 99.

* Blair on ''Series/GossipGirl'' veers back and forth between jerkasses (Carter, Jack) and (apparently) sweet guys (Nate, Lord Marcus, Louis). Both types treat her like crap. However, resident {{jerkass}} Chuck is the only one who she's interested in for longer than a night.

->''"I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?"''
-->-- '''Benedick''', ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''

If the protagonist of a love story HasAType at the start of the story, their final True Love will not be of that Type. The guy who prefers the ProperLady will end up with the {{Tsundere}}, the girl who only gets turned on by "[[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boys]]" will end up with a [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan nice guy]], and occasionally the (mostly) straight person will end up with [[IfItsYouItsOkay someone of the same gender]].

* The truth of this trope depends where you stand in the [[ShipToShipCombat Shipping Wars]], but all of ''Series/{{Angel}}'s'' [[LoveInterest romantic interests]] were petite blondes (Buffy, Darla, Kate, Nina) with the exception of voluptuous brunette Cordelia. Who, for at least part of the time he was interested in her, had dyed her hair blonde. Dude has a type.

* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Penny always dated the dimwitted JerkJock type. Her on-again-off-again relationship with [[HollywoodNerd Leonard]] made her realize what she really wanted was a NiceGuy who challenged her intellectually (in other words, Leonard).