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Main Nerds Are Sexy Discussion
Thinking of suggesting a redefinition/rename to Trope Repair, since this trope has nothing specifically to do with nerds. See Trope Talk discussion for further reasoning?
The following examples were purged because of vagueness. If they are readded, please mention when in-story they were mentioned or advanced as being attractive because of their nerdiness:
(Hint: If you have to mention "fans," any sort of reality show, and/or use the word "character" in the wrong context, that goes in Troper Tales, not the main page!)
(Also note that foldercontrol isn't working for some reason, and that the Web Original folder is within the Webcomic folder, again for some reason I can't fathom.)
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Anime and Manga
- 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...
- Villain character Szayel Aporro Granz also falls under this despite being widely considered a complete monster. If you look sexy enough in glasses, fans will politely ignore that you are trying to kill them.
- Bonus points for Szayel's glasses being a part of his Hollow mask and therefore attached to his face. They may not even have lenses...
- Villain character Szayel Aporro Granz also falls under this despite being widely considered a complete monster. If you look sexy enough in glasses, fans will politely ignore that you are trying to kill them.
- Don't forget Uryu Ishida, ranked #1 in Karakura High in terms of academics. Chicks must dig capes...
- 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
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- Seems like Verde of the Arcobaleno in his adult form was a Hot Scientist.
- Ila, Rune Soldier Louie's absolutely drool-worthy Unlucky Childhood Friend.
Comic Books
- Dr. Henry P. McCoy, former Avenger, current X-Man filed under "Beast". Several PhDs. Erudite, intellectual, witty. Also fuzzy.
- 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.
- Caitlin Fairchild from Gen 13.
- Peter Parker, aka Spider Man, is a bonafide Chick Magnet despite being considered a nerd.
- Except when he pretends he's in Saturday Night Fever.
- 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.
- Barbara Gordon, otherwise known as Batgirl/Oracle, from DC Comics.
Film
- Ben Campbell, played by Jim Sturgess, in the movie 21.
- 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.
- "This one time at band camp..."
- Trillian, as played by Zooey Deschanel, in The Film Of The Book of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy(see page image), whose outfit in her first main story scene seems to have been scientifically designed to drive nerds of both sexes crazy.
- The fanboys of Fanboys. Especially Windows, who is the sweet one and gets the girl in the end, played by Jay Baruchel.
- Attempted in Uwe Boll's Alone In The Dark film, where he cast leathery controlled-substance receptacle Tara Reid as a sexy scientist. She is utterly unconvincing in either aspect of the role.
Literature
- 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 Even The Guys Want Him).
- Athena from Classical Mythology, the Greek goddess of both war and wisdom, is generally portrayed this way in modern depictions (e.g. Xena Warrior Princess).
- Arabian Nights: Scherarzade is a master of Arabian folklore and makes storytelling in bed quite the turn on. She also manages it, knowing that she will be beheaded if she doesn't perform perfectly. In other words the main theme is that Badass Bookworms are sexy.
- 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.
- Hermione in the Harry Potter series, at least in the later books and very much so in the films.
Live Action TV
- 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 Francisco 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.
- Bones: Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan: brilliant scientist, Ph.D holder, and sexy Deschanel sister
- 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.
- Speaking of Palmer, Michelle Lee definitely believed in this trope, as she spent three seasons secretly fooling around with him.
- 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.
- Jordana Brewster AKA Dr Jill Roberts
- Bryce?
- Jordana Brewster AKA Dr Jill Roberts
- Also his ex, what's her name. The one from Stanford.
- Ivy of the Dollhouse. Subverting The Igor trope since 2008.
- And Bennett.
- Topher Brink.
- And Bennett.
- Don't forget Spencer Reid. He is one of the sexiest nerdy geniuses ever.
- Criminal Minds and no mention of Garcia? For shame!
- And do not forget the Patron Saint of this trope, Tina Fey, and her show 30 Rock.
- Heroes has Gabriel Gray.
- You mention Heroes and yet skip over Masi Oka, almighty ruler of this trope?
- You mention Heroes and yet skip over Mr Muggles?!
- You mention Heroes and yet skip over Masi Oka, almighty ruler of this trope?
- Philemon inCaprica, also Zoe's "Rachel" persona.
- Chuck, in Pushing Daisies.
- Eli Loker in Lie To Me, weirdly his radical honesty thing is quite a turn on.
- JD from Scrubs.
- Wash. The man plays with plastic dinosaurs and is arguably the least combat-ready member of the crew. Even those dorky Hawaiian shirts can't make him less sexy.
- Simon. Oh my, Simon. He's a gentleman, a brilliant doctor, and bloody gorgeous.
- For the love of God, Kaylee.
- Saffron of Absolutely Fabulous. Only Sane Woman, always in cardigans, big glasses, Hermione hair and somehow really sexy.
- Ronnie Gardocki on The Shield.
- David and Darlene (who was nerdy and a tomboy) on [1].
- On Glee Sam can speak Navi.
- The only thing that keeps you from wanting to strangle Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch's way of making the character so damn sexy.
- Nikki Cox' character Tiffany Malloy from Unhappily Ever After.
- Ginn in Stargate Universe, math genius and computer wiz who's also a hot redhead.
- Steve Urkel from Family Matters. Well, it's more of the studio audience's reaction to him. Although Laura ends up falling for him.
Video Games
- 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.
- Playing as a female, there have also been options such as Rick, Louis (practically a male Meganekko), and Jin.
- Safiya in Neverwinter Nights 2 Mask of the Betrayer is a capable transmuter/golemcrafter, which is probably the closest any non-gnome in that universe gets to being a scientist. She is also quite attractive, if you can get past the whole shaved-bald-and-tattooed-with-mystic-runes thing.
- 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. Fluffy auburn hair, nice physique, and huge blue eyes behind even huger glasses? Being the only guy in the entire kingdom who understands the game's lost Starfish Language? Hello.
- 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.
- Naoya from Devil Survivor is a programming Bishounen.
- Morgan Freeman in Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.
- Fate Stay Night technically has Rider when she's in her 'at home' mode, but before becoming an actual nerd, she wore it for a reason: She is a Medusa spirit, the glasses negate the effect of her Breaker Gorgon Noble Phantasm on allies.
- And also from Nasuverse, Ciel in Tsukihime. While she's not an Action Girl, she has pretty good scores in school, easily qualifies for a Badass Bookworm.
- Jennifer from Disgaea has shown to be both highly intelligent and, er, well endowed...
- Dexter from the MMO Fusion Fall so very, very much.
Webcomics
- 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.
- Most sparks are sexy. Especially to each other.* 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 off more of a Wrench Wench vibe, like here.
- Most sparks are sexy. Especially to each other.
- Ki from General Protection Fault is a genuinely sexy female nerd. Ki seems to think this of her husband Nick as well. Possibly the rest of the cast too. Even the sentient slime molds if you're into that sort of thing.
- Male version: Doctor Horrible.
- Codex from The Guild, played by Felicia Day who also played Penny from Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
- Turns up in Survival Of The Fittest, but one of the recent examples is Orn "Dutchy" Ayers, a very, very beautiful Icelandic Immigrant who has a huge interest in comic books. Who goes both ways. Naturally, most of the board love him.
Western Animation
- Ghost Writer from Danny Phantom. He only appeared in one episode, but remains one of the most popular character with the fangirls. * 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.
- Cody from Total Drama Island is considered a geeky pervert in the show, but is the most popular character among the fangirls. This also applies for Noah.
- While Harold may seem to avert this (according to fans who would prefer the other two), Leshawna "just can't resist those little man-biceps of his". Awwww!
- Kowalski, the resident genius among The Penguins Of Madagascar, seems to be the penguin with the most fans.
- In Transformers Animated, the entire Ministry of Science is portrayed by fans to just a big mash-up between absolute brilliance in all fields of science, and The Beautiful People. See for yourself.
Other
- This T-shirt.
- "Nerd Lust", a parody of Pink Floyd's "Young Lust", on Goat Boy's Myspace Blog
- Computer Engineer Barbie. What?
- Invoked in a Best Buy commercial. The teenage boy getting a laptop (with which you "get a Geek") zeroes in on the cute female Geek Squad member. "Bingo!"