Basic Trope: A character is so ugly that whenever they look at a mirror, the glass cracks or shatters.
- Straight: Bob looks in the mirror and it instantly cracks.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is so hideous that the mirror destroys itself in a fiery explosion.
- Bob is so ugly that everything he looks at breaks, not just mirrors.
- Downplayed: Bob is merely average looking and his glance at the mirror causes it to gain a slight, barely noticeable crack.
- Justified:
- The mirror was enchanted to break whenever anyone ugly looked in it.
- The mirror is supposed to improve the viewer's appearance, Bob's ugly mug puts too much strain on it.
- Inverted:
- Bob's ugliness causes broken mirrors to repair themselves.
- Bob shatters mirrors when he looks at them because he's so ungodly handsome.
- Seeing his reflection in the mirror causes the hideous Bob to shatter.
- Subverted:
- Bob looks at the mirror and nothing happens.
- Bob cracks mirrors but it isn't ugliness but a side effect of sonic powers means even his breathing is strong and focused enough to damage mirrors.
- Correlation fallacy, strange as it may sound, Bob simply had the unusually unfortunate luck of always looking at a mirror just as it was about to break.
- Double Subverted: The mirror doesn't break until Bob makes a face.
- Parodied: Bob's reflection is self-aware and pleads for his life before the mirror shatters.
- Zigzagged: It varies whether or not Bob's ugliness will cause the mirror he looks in to shatter.
- Averted: Ugliness is never indicated by having mirrors crack or shatter.
- Enforced: "We want to show that Bob is considered ugly without making him look hideous, so how about we use the old gag where a character breaks a mirror by merely looking at it?"
- Lampshaded: "That's the fifth mirror I've broken this week. At this rate, I'll never be able to shave or brush my teeth!"
- Invoked: Bob deliberately breaks the mirror after seeing how hideous he is.
- Defied: Bob either somehow lives his life without ever using mirrors or has a sorcerer cast a spell enabling mirrors to withstand his ugliness.
- Discussed: "Why is it that they have that joke where the ugly guy looks at the mirror, only to cause it to break?"
- Conversed: "Must be really hard for that guy to shave or brush his teeth if he can't see what he's doing."
- Implied: Bob is denied permission to use a friend's bathroom, said friend complaining that the last time he let Bob use his bathroom, the mirror was broken.
- Deconstructed: Because ugliness causes mirrors to break, those who aren't conventionally attractive find themselves unable to shave, brush their teeth, or do any other form of hygienic grooming that requires being able to see one's face.
- Reconstructed: Special appliances are made so that ugly people don't need mirrors to shave or brush their teeth.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is offended by the mirror breaking and threatens to sue it for shattering in front of him.
- Played for Drama: The shattering causes broken glass to fly into Bob's face, seriously hurting him.
Get back to Mirror-Cracking Ugly before your face causes this page to shatter.
