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You're Not My Type

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"Sorry, you're not my type, and I'm more than a little disturbed to think I might be yours."
Daniel Jackson, Stargate SG-1, "Prometheus Unbound"

A rebuff for unwanted sexual advances that is designed to make it clear that the speaker isn't interested in what the person they are addressing has to offer. In many cases, this Stock Phrase is used to get the addressee out of the speaker's hair, or to indicate that the character on the receiving end is too good (or not good enough) to spark their desire. A common retort may be "You have a type?", especially if the original speaker is known to be the type that Really Gets Around.

Needless to say, this is quite often Played for Laughs.

In some cases, though, this trope may be used to ratchet up the creepy factor when a rapist or pedophile has captured the protagonist. While the phrase spoken in this manner highlights the particular perversions of the villain in question, it can also serve as a means to relieve the audience that, while the villain may have some violent plans in mind for the hero, an on-screen sexual assault is not imminent.

If the addressee doesn't take the hint, this may lead to an Unrequited Love Lasts Forever situation. If the character on the receiving end is the protagonist, it is not uncommon to have a Hooked Up Afterwards reveal later on.

See Stock Phrase. Compare All Love Is Unrequited, Incompatible Orientation, and Dude, She's A Lesbian.

A supertrope of Sorry, I'm Gay, in which the phrase is used as part of The Reveal that a character is gay or lesbian (whether or not said statement is actually true.) Note that if a gay or lesbian character is talking to someone of their preferred gender but they're still not interested for some other reason, the example would instead be a part of this trope.

Of course for this to happen someone has to have a type in the first place.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Used in Bleach by Szayelaporro Granz during his fight with Renji. Since the dialogue changes from the Japanese anime, English dub, or the English comics, he either says this word for word, denies being gay, or makes an ambiguous statement that could be interpreted multiple ways. In any translation, he rejects Renji after mistaking Renji's actions as flirtation.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler:
    • While it's not shown, this kind of interaction may have happened in Hinagiku and Miki's past. Miki seems to be playful about the relationship, and Hinagiku is still good friends with her, it doesn't appear that it was destructive to their friendship. When Hinagiku starts showing amourous feelings for Hayate, Miki seems to be one of the forerunners of assisting her, a sign of this trope being applied and I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
    • When Nishizawa first approaches Hayate asking him to go out with her, he claims to be only interested in 2D girls.
  • Negi's father Nagi is shown having this conversation with Evangeline during a flashback in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, first saying that he isn't into little girls, then that he isn't into old hags when she points out her real age, not to mention that he was already Happily Married to Arika at the time. UQ Holder! revealed that they did in fact end up getting married post series (as for what happened to Arika, it's never specified).
  • One Piece:
    • When Lola proposes to Franky, he turns her down by saying he's too super for her.
    • Played for Laughs when Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi says this is the reason that she won't marry Vander Decken. Considering that he's been harassing her for over ten years by using his Devil Fruit power to throw objects at her from large distances, forcing her to hide away in a castle out of fear, practically everyone is surprised this is her main concern.
    • Shirahoshi does it again during the Reverie when various princes from around the world propose to her. Her brothers quickly intervene to stop her from accidentally starting an international incident.

    Comic Books 
  • Sin City: Subverted by Roark Jr., a pedophile serial killer who could only get it up from hearing his victims scream. When he captures Hartigan and Nancy (who almost became one of his victims years ago), he smirks that she's no longer his "type" now that she's an adult, but he's willing to make an exception to get revenge on both of them.

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 
  • The Headhunt manages to find the one person in the Star Trek universe with no interest in Orion females: Dul'krah, of Clan Korekh, who has himself injected with a chemical that blocks her pheromones.
    "And without that, your form does not attract me: you have too few horns."
  • In the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf story "The Smurf Impersonators", when Hogatha is revealed as the fake Smurf and is exiled from the village by Papa Smurf, Duncan McSmurf is surprised that Hogatha disguised as a male Smurf didn't try to come upon him in that form, and Tapper says that he's not her type to be attracted to anyway because he's still a Smurf. Duncan pretends to be offended at this, that not even a witch like her would be attracted to "a real Smurfsman" like him.
  • In the Kim Possible fic "Match Ado About Nothing", this is ultimately the reason Deidre Lusional, the self-proclaimed "Matchmaker", fails to bring Kim and Shego together; despite her certainty that the two women belong together, even when she hits them with a "Sappho Ray" that turns them gay, neither woman are attracted to each other.

    Films — Animation 
  • Inverted in the first Shrek film, as the eponymous character (an ogre, though his features are obscured by armour and soot) rebuffs Princess Fiona's claims that, as her hero, he must be her true love:
    Donkey: With Shrek? Whoa, whoa, whoa... You think, you think that Shrek is your true love?
    Fiona: Well... Yes.
    [Shrek and Donkey look at each other and burst into laughter]
    Fiona: What is so funny?
    Shrek: Let's just say, I'm not your type. All right?
    Fiona: Well, of course you are. You're my rescuer.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In The Alphabet Killer, when the eponymous serial rapist/murderer (who happens to only target pre-teen girls with Alliterative Names) captures the female cop who has been hunting him, he laughingly says this while driving to the place where he plans to kill her and dump her body.
  • In the 2007 Nancy Drew movie, Ned is worried Nancy will fall for someone else, telling he had a dream where she forgot about him for "the guy from Smallville" Her attempt to console him doesn't work.
    Nancy: Don't worry about that guy from Smallville. He's not my type.
    Ned: You have a type?
  • From Casino Royale:
    Bond: Don't worry, you're not my type.
    Vesper: Smart?
    Bond: Single.
  • Played for Laughs in this exchange between the acerbic pair in Six Days, Seven Nights:
    Quinn Harris: If it makes you feel any better, you're not my type.
    Robin Monroe: Oh good, why?
    Quinn Harris: You talk too much. You're opinionated. You're stubborn, sarcastic, and stuck up! Your ass is too narrow and your tits are too small.
    Robin Monroe: Hey, you wanna know why you're not my type?
    Quinn Harris: Nope.
  • 10 Things I Hate About You: While trying to figure out what kind of man Kat would be interested in, Cameron and Michael determine she likes "pretty guys like Jared Leto.” Used for comical effect when they later insinuate to Patrick that he isn't her type.
    Cameron: Here's another problem. Bianca said that Kat likes pretty guys.
    [they stare at each other]
    Patrick: [affronted] Are you telling me I'm not a pretty guy?
    Michael: ...He—He's very pretty!
    Cameron: Yeah, I—I just wasn't sure. I—I didn't know.
    Michael: This is a gorgeous guy! [to Patrick] You're a gorgeous guy.
  • The Master of Disguise has one of these early in the film, when the hero Pistachio (yes, that's his name) meets a girl named Sophia.
  • At the beginning of Kopps, Jacob's blind date ends after two minutes with the woman saying this sentence.
  • A Most Wanted Man. Irna teases fellow intelligence agent Gunther that he fancies the pretty blonde lawyer they're tailing.
    Gunther: Not my type.
    Irna: What is your type?
    Gunther: You are Irna, you know that.
    [pulls her into a Fake-Out Make-Out as the lawyer passes; Gunther is eyeing the lawyer as they're smooching]
  • Queen of Outer Space. The masked yet shapely Queen Yllana Does Not Like Men, but when she orders Captain Patterson brought to her for a private audience the possibility of a Sex–Face Turn is raised. Naturally the Handsome Lech volunteers for the assignment, but Patterson quips that clearly he's not her type. Unfortunately she turns out to be not his type either, when she removes her mask to reveal a hideously scarred face. Queen Yllana does not take his rejection well.
  • The Founder: Played for laughs during the first meeting between Ray and the McDonalds brothers.
    Ray: I want to take you out to dinner!
    Dick: Well, you're not really my type.
    Ray: No, you and your brother. I want to hear your story.
  • Inverted in SAS: Rise of the Black Swan. Grace Lewis suspects (correctly) that the mysterious "player" interrupting their operation is the boyfriend of Dr. Sophie Hart.
    Sophie: Never met him. But if you'd be kind enough to introduce us I'd love to take him out to dinner. He's starting to sound like my type.
  • The Last King of Scotland: Amin proudly declares his love for Scotland, but adds that he's not fond of the women, claiming that red hair is disgusting to Africans.

    Literature 
  • In one Ciaphas Cain short story, Cain uses this as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner when he shoots a chaos cultist who tried to seduce (and allow a demon to possess) him.
    "Sorry, I prefer blondes." BLAM!
  • In The Black Magician Trilogy Dannyl says this to an Inchani woman who wants to make him her slave and tell him that she likes to "reward" her favorite slaves.
  • The Heroes of Olympus: Nico says this to Percy at the end of The Blood Of Olympus. The fandom loves to joke about this moment.
  • Done rather painfully in Seeds of Yesterday, the last sequel to Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews. Cathy's three children — her biological sons Jory and Bart and her adopted daughter Cindy — are all together again for the first time in a few years, and Cindy has blossomed from awkward teen to lovely young college student. Bart is visibly taken aback by her transformation. Cindy approaches him rather hopefully, wanting to put their childhood enmity behind them, but he misinterprets her intent (or pretends to) and says coldly, "You're not my type."
  • Used a couple of times in Loyal Enemies:
    • Played for Laughs in various instances of so-called mortal enemies werewolf Shelena and monster hunter Veres telling each other as much, unasked for. Shelena claims that scrawny and half-dead isn't her type, and who likes Tall, Dark, and Handsome anyway? And Veres informs her that blonde and foul-mouthed is nothing anybody would want. Guess who becomes the Official Couple by the end of the book.
    • Played for Drama twice in a row when Shelena is chained naked in the villain's dungeon. Etvor tells Shelena that all of her attempts to look unbreakable aren't going to make her his type, but she's good enough to rape and to produce werewolf-hybrids anyway. Shortly after, freshly face-heel-turned Veres comes waltzing down to declare that no matter what she may have tried, running around naked in front of him or nursing him back to life while threatening to kill him afterwards anyway would never make him fall for her because it shows that she is ruled by animalistic instincts and has no real heart for love, and that's disgusting and not his thing. Veres, at least, was bluffing and talking bullshit out his nose because he needed time to weave a spell to free Shelena and the villains were listening in.
  • Sacred Monster: A variant of this is done when Jack gets involved in a paternity suit when he is, in fact, innocent of impregnating (or even sleeping with) the woman. He wins the case by having his second wife and several past lovers in the courtroom stand up and then gesturing for the jury to look between them and the (relatively unattractive) plaintiff while emphasizing the disparity in their level of poise and sophistication. The jury rules in Jack's favor, but his wife (who he genuinely loves) divorces him, partially for this display of sexism.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Not The Reveal, but on The Commish one of the officers is outed as gay and the others start giving him a hard time. At one point he says to his police partner, "What, are you afraid I'm gonna come on to you? News flash, you're not my type."
  • In Battlestar Galactica (2003): Admiral Cain has her former lover Gina imprisoned, tortured, and raped for being a Cylon. When Gina confronts her Cain says "Frak You", and Gina simply replys "you're not my type" as a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
  • Lost had a semi-infamous instance where Tom of the Others tells Kate that she wasn't "his type". It took the show a while, but it finally officially confirmed that, yes, he was gay.
  • In the 1980's cop show Hunter, a Bounty Hunter shows an interest in Hunter's partner Dee Dee McCall. Hunter tells him curtly, "She's not your type." The bounty hunter smirks and says they're all his type.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In the evil Mirror Universe, Mirror!Worf is keeping Mirror!Garak chained up as his prisoner. Garak complains that when he served Intendent Kira at least he was able to "please her" (it's clear he means sexually). Worf yanks him close and growls in his ear, "You are not my type."
  • CSI: NY: Aiden does this to Danny, though without the exact phrase.
    Aiden: I'm way outta your league, Messer.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In the first season of Angel, Kate's father suggests the possibility of Kate and Angel getting together. Kate responded, "He's not my type. Or I'm not his. There's definitely a type involved, and it's the wrong one." Quite probably a Stealth Pun referring to blood typing.
  • In the first episode of Danger 5, two of our heroes are getting beaten up by Hitler's Bodyguard Babes, then Pierre (The Casanova of the team) is shown chatting up the woman who's supposed to be fighting him. When the rest of Danger 5 burst in and shoot the women, Pierre takes a submachine gun off them and casually guns her down, saying this line.
  • On Seinfeld, Jerry dates a woman who is revealed to have dated and been dumped by Newman; the only reason he gives for why he dumped her was, 'She wasn't my type'. It drives Jerry mad that he's dating a woman that even Newman found unacceptable.
  • Friends: This is Monica's response to Chandler suggesting he could be her boyfriend, stating she needs someone older and more mature. Despite that, a year later they become intimate, as well as the longest-running couple of the gang, even becoming Happily Married.
    Monica: I need someone like Richard or Pete. Someone older...mature.
    Chandler: Oooh, am I not mature enough for you. (Beat)
  • Inverted in one Burn Notice episode when the writers toy with some Foe Romance Subtext between Michael and Detective Paxson.
    Fiona: Was that flirting or does she hate you?
    Michael: I am not her type.
  • In Halt and Catch Fire, Cameron uses these exact words when Donna teasingly suggests that they pose as a lesbian couple to get a better deal when buying a house.
  • Blake's 7. In "Space Fall", the Number Two of the prison ship implies to Jenna that the voyage will be a lot more comfortable if she shares his cabin. She whispers her reply in his ear and gets cuffed across the face.
    Jenna: That one's going to give us a hard time.
    Vila: And you've improved his mood no end. Why couldn't you be nice to him?
    Jenna: He's not my type.
    Vila: You can't afford to be choosy now.
    Jenna: Why else would I be talking to you?
  • Game of Thrones. When Jaime Lannister uses this trope regarding a couple of serving girls who are interested in him, Bronn has to provide the obligatory jibe at Jaime's well-known interest in his sister Cersei. "Not blonde enough?"
  • Stargate SG-1: In "Prometheus Unbound", Daniel Jackson is captured by an alien Kull Warrior who has taken over the ship. When said Kull Warrior comments on Daniel being "very attractive", Daniel is suitably repulsed (for the record, beneath that shiny black armor they're pale, mind-controlled crypto-zombies) and says that he's really not Daniel's type. Thankfully for him, it turns out that Samus Is a Girl. The person underneath the armor, a Space Pirate named Vala Mal Doran, is very pretty, if a bit loopy (and does later become a love interest for Daniel).
  • Arrowverse:
    • Arrow: Rene Ramirez tries to flirt with Thea Queen only to get coldly rejected. A couple of episodes later he is wondering why she doesn't like him, and thinking that maybe there's an alternate timeline where they get together, only for Thea to overhear and say he's not her type.
    • Batwoman (2019): In "Drink Me", Nocturna is so obviously turned on by fighting Batwoman that our heroine has to inform her that murderous villains are not her type.
    • The Flash (2014): Played for laughs in "Elseworlds, Hour One" when Oliver Queen and Barry Allen wake up and find they've each become the other. They have trouble getting their friends to believe them, including Iris who says that the idea is ridiculous as 'Oliver' (actually her husband Barry) is not her type, despite her gushing over the real Oliver Queen when she met him in an earlier episode.
    • Legends of Tomorrow. In the pilot episode Sara Lance starts a Bar Brawl when a burly thug hits on her, and she responds that while he's not her type, his girlfriend definitely is.
  • Person of Interest: The psychiatrist treating Root had difficulty believing she's in contact with a godlike Artificial Intelligence until she reveals a number of embarrassing facts about him that she shouldn't know, including that he's written online fantasies involving his own patients, but not about Root because "apparently I'm not your type."

    Video Games 
  • In the JRPG Knights of Xentar, One character responds to the seductive advances of a Cat Girl with "Sorry, not my type. Or species."
  • In Liberal Crime Squad, when failing a seduction attempt, one of the possible responses from the target is: "You're not my type, I like the sane."
  • In Knights of the Old Republic, Juhani and Dak Vessar's falling out was started this way. Dak told Juhani that he was in love with her. She told him she couldn't return his feelings. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as though Juhani was able to explain (or that Dak could comprehend) why - it's strongly implied that Juhani is a lesbian.
  • In Mass Effect 3, this is how Samantha Traynor rejects male Shepard if he tries to flirt with her.
    Traynor: I'm sorry. I try to be friendly, but... you're not really my type. Remember how I liked EDI's voice?
  • Star Trek Online: This line appears on the dossier card of one particular Orion female duty officer:
    Jinnea: I'm not interested in "off-duty research". At least not with you.
  • Soul Series: Cassandra in 2 has this, usually against male opponents.
  • Blood II: The Chosen uses the phrasing, though for a different purpose (Caleb using it as a metaphor for I Work Alone) and with the recipient hitting back pretty well.
    Gabriella: I need to go with you, find out what's goin' on.
    Caleb: You're not my type.
    Gabriella: Hah, looked in the mirror lately? You're no catch yourself.
  • Dead In Vinland: When Cisse makes his affection for Moira known, she turns him down this way. Her type? "I like them tall and dumb. And good in bed." She can decide to return his affection later, depending on player decisions.
  • In Sam & Max Hit the Road, an ineffective click on a female character will prompt Sam to snark "She's not my type." Doing the same to a male character also prompts "He's not my type."
  • In Collar × Malice, Enomoto says this to Ichika in a spur of the moment, offending her greatly and causing her to say the same thing back to him. He tries to laugh it off but it's obvious he is hurt by it.

    Webcomics 

    Western Animation 
  • Archer is delighted to get a "Honeypot" mission (seducing an enemy agent) until he finds the target is a gay male Cuban agent. Archer blatantly comes on to him in an outfit that would be an embarrassment at a Pride parade, and the Cuban, a suave gentleman, rejects him outright, saying "You're not my type". Naturally, Archer is offended and yells "I am everyone's type!"
  • In one episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, Babs and Montana Max fall under the influence of Cupid's arrows, thanks to Cupid going on vacation and entrusting Concord to carry out his duties. They're actually on the verge of getting married, and Buster is frantically trying to snap her out of it.
    Buster: He's not your type! He's not even your species!
  • Totally Spies!: Clover has stated on numerous occasions that she is not interested in dating nerds, preferring strong, muscular, and handsome men. And while Clover is not a bully that openly looks down on and picks on nerds, she makes it clear she's not interested in them and sometimes even resents when it seems that she's a geek magnet. In "The Iceman Cometh" and "Totally Mystery Much?", where Daryl and Martin Mystery were interested in her, she turns them down because they're nerds; ironically, the events of the episodes cause Clover to reconsider her thoughts on dating them, only for them to reject her because they lost interest in her.
  • Looney Tunes: In the short "Quacker Tracker", Daffy Duck tries to catch Speedy Gonzales by disguising a roving grenade as a female mouse. Speedy is attracted to the decoy, but when it turns out to be in love with Daffy, he remarks "I guess I'm not her type."


 
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Alternative Title(s): Not My Type, You Are Not My Type

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