History Main / AdaptationalAttractiveness

Related to HollywoodHomely. See also RaceLift, which normally doesn't have the same effect, and ProgressivelyPrettier, when something similar happens without an adaptation. When this is done to a real life person, it's HistoricalBeautyUpdate. Frequently occurs when a character is PromotedToLoveInterest. See also AdaptationalSkimpiness, BigBraToFill, HotterAndSexier, and BeautyInversion. If the casting directors wanted the character to be ugly but an attractive actor gave the best audition, it's AbilityOverAppearance.

* When the English language Music/{{Vocaloid}}s (Most using Stock Photos as box art) were released in Taiwan, their box arts were changed to be younger and anime style, and in the case of Sweet Ann, more attractive. This move was quite baffling in the case of Big Al, who was already an attractive anime style man to begin with.

** Characters who have scars in the original story don't have them in the play, resulting in Shireen not having her grascale scar and Tyrion's face looking fine despite "The Siege of King's Landing" covering events that got him disfigured in canon.
** Tyrion is extremely ugly in the book and played by an actor older than the character on TV. Combine the lack of scars mentioned above with a CrosscastRole, and you end up with the character looking quite young and smooth-face compared to his canon counterparts.

Related to HollywoodHomely. See also RaceLift, which normally doesn't have the same effect, and ProgressivelyPrettier, when something similar happens without an adaptation. When this is done to a real life person, it's HistoricalBeautyUpdate. Frequently occurs when a character is PromotedToLoveInterest. See also AdaptationalSkimpiness, BigBraToFill and BeautyInversion. If the casting directors wanted the character to be ugly but an attractive actor gave the best audition, it's AbilityOverAppearance.

* Pretty much anything adapted by {{Takarazuka}} will do this to just about any character. For instance, their adaptation of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' made Kanryu and Saito much prettier than in canon, [[{{Bifauxnen}} for obvious reasons]]. Hell, they even managed to do it to UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln!

** ''AdaptationalAttractiveness/Contact''

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' franchise, in general:
** Ganondorf goes from a scary-looking walking tank of a man to being much more handsome, if still imposing.
** Dark/Shadow Link goes from a shadowy featureless thing with glowing red eyes to basically Link's normal appearance but with a black tunic.
** The Gerudo lose the big pointy noses.
** Fairies go from balls of light with wings or cartoonish sprites to beautiful tiny women.
*** The Great Fairies are a partial example: In ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Majora's Mask'' they were ''supposed'' to be beautiful women clad only in vines, but the limitations of the graphics and high-pitched voices put them squarely into the UncannyValley. No such limitations with fanart, though.
** Even ''Epona'' frequently gets softened, going from a mighty horse to something more ''Franchise/MyLittlePony''-esque.
** Wolf Link from ''Twilight Princess'' similarly becomes significantly cuter than the game's beast of war who defeats Poes by ripping the souls out of them.

* ''Fanfic/ABeaconInTheDark'': Midoriya in the original manga is constantly described as plain-looking by everybody and his adorable status never translates in-universe. In this fic, Midoriya starts working out much earlier and as a result, his muscles are much more voluptuous, and, for a reason never explained, the clothes he has are much more form fitting and showcase it proudly. The art style also helps to showcase both his adorablebeness and hotness to other characters, and many people praise his looks. In fact, All Might even scoffs at [[MythologyGag Midoriya being called plain-looking]].

* When the English language Music/{{Vocaloid}}s (Mmost using Stock Photos as box art) were released in Taiwan, their box arts were changed to be younger and anime style, and in the case of Sweet Ann, more attractive. This move was quite baffling in the case of Big Al, who was already an attractive anime style man to begin with.

[[quoteright:350:[[Magazine/{{MAD}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/madbookmovie111.jpg]]]]

* Downplayed in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12435293/1/Dark-Light Dark Light]] in regards to Inko Midoriya. In canon, stress from Izuku not having a Quirk caused her to overeat and put on weight. Here, Izuku develops a Quirk when he's five so she never starts stress eating and later starts exercising with him to lose any weight she had put on.

Although sometimes it's who can play the part best, while finding actors who look like the way the characters are described can be problematic. Because let's face it, how many ugly actors -- and still fewer ''actresses'' -- are there?

[[folder:Theater]]

Related to HollywoodHomely. See also RaceLift, which normally doesn't have the same effect, and ProgressivelyPrettier, when something similar happens without an adaptation. When this is done to a real life person, it's HistoricalBeautyUpdate. Frequently occurs when a character is PromotedToLoveInterest. See also BigBraToFill and BeautyInversion. If the casting directors wanted the character to be ugly but an attractive actor gave the best audition, it's AbilityOverAppearance.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[GoshDarnItToHeck Gee whillikers!]] They're SleepingSingle, too!]]

* The painting ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_and_the_Sirens Ulysses and the Sirens]]'' by Herbert James Draper, which shows a dramatic depiction of that event, portrays the Sirens as lovely temptresses, rather than the hideous bird-women they are in mythology. (The painting also shows them more aggressively trying to seduce the sailors; the ones in myth were never stated to leave the safety of their island while singing.)

* In the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' franchise, in general:

* In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], the Gorgons -- Medusa and her two immortal sisters -- are described as so ugly that people turned to stone from just looking at them. None of their depictions from Greek vase paintings to modern movies lives up to that image; however, in some cases Medusa actually [[GorgeousGorgon looks classically beautiful apart from her snake-hair]]. There's normally conflicting myths about Medusa's appearance, some sources describing her as a hideous monster, others saying Aphrodite ironically made Medusa retain her mortal beauty and others offering a compromise where Medusa was both beautiful and terrible at the same time.

* In ''Phantom of the Opera'', the original book has the Phantom (Erik) wearing a full mask, and his face behind the mask extremely grotesque. He is described as deformed. In the stage musical, the deformities are limited to half his face, and the portion of his face not covered by the half-mask is handsome. This was done because full face prosthetics inhibited the actor's singing. It also often makes the deformed side actually look worse in comparison- from a skull in the book to a handsome man who appears to be ''rotting'' on one side. The fact that his hair turns out to be a wig, and that he's bald except for a few ratty, diseased-looking wisps of gray hair even on the good side, also makes the deformity makeup pretty effective in the final scene.

* In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' franchise, in general:

Although sometimes it's who can play the part best, while finding actors who look like the way the characters are described can be problematic. Because let's face it, how many ugly actors -- and still less ''actresses'' -- are there?

* In the movie ''Film/TheFearlessVampireKillers'', Count von Krolock was a sharp-dressed but otherwise plain aristocrat. In ''Theater/TanzderVampire'', the musical adaptation, he became MrFanservice extraordinaire. Getting played by a variety of handsome musical actors certainly helps.

* Pretty much anything adapted by {{Takarazuka}} will do this to just about any character. For instance, their adaptation of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' made Kanryu and Saito much prettier than in canon, [[{{Bifauxnen}} for obvious reasons]].

* In [[Literature/HarryPotter canon]], Neville Longbottom's grandmother Augusta was a frail old lady ([[NeverMessWithGranny albeit one more dangerous than she appears]]). In ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'' she's a middle-aged blonde who's just starting to grey and has significant muscles from her hobby of making bronze statuettes. WordOfGod states that it made little since for her to be a frail old lady when she's only in her sixties and wizards easily live twice as long as muggles.