History Main / NiceGuysFinishLast

What happens when a character gets a little too overanalytical about the tropes DoggedNiceGuy and AllGirlsWantBadBoys. He will conclude, logically, that since he's such a wonderful nice man, the only reason a girl would reject him is that all women are dumb and would rather date the JerkAss. Expect much PlayingTheVictimCard.

Depending largely on whether or not the character is meant to be shown as likable, others will either sympathize with him or call him out on really not being that much of a nice guy at all.

* In ''Fanfic/TheStalkingZukoSeries'', the author, dissatisfied with how Aang got together with Katara in ''Series/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' complains about [[OfficialCouple the pairing]] being a way to reward Aang for being a "[[DoggedNiceGuy Nice Guy]]". Unsurprisingly, Katara ends up getting together with [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Zuko]].

->''"Nice guys finish last, bad guys have a blast! Take his money - grab his honey - dump that loser fast!"''
-->-- '''Lyrics in "Eugene, Eugene", ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold''''''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}}'', the protagonist, Elliot, starts out as one. Definitely PlayedForLaughs when he asks to be "the most sensitive man in the world."

-->'''Grigg Harris:''' Women never go for the nice guys.
-->'''Jocelyn:''' Please, men say that, but when you get to know some of these men who complain the most, you find out they're not as nice as they think they are.

-->'''Stan:''' Wait. Peggy Brandt? "Ask Peggy"? You printed one of my letters. "Nice guys finish last"?
-->'''Peggy:''' That was you?! We got tons of mail about that letter [...] there are literally thousands of women out there looking for a guy like you!
-->'''Stan:''' Really?
-->'''Peggy:''' Oh yes! I'm one of them...

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/ICarly'': Freddie invokes this by trying to prank order a ''fishy pizza'' to his teacher's house in front of Carly. When the pizza place calls back, he panics and runs away.
** Actually ''works'' in ''iStage An Intervention'' when he pulls a prank on Sam after she pulled one on her. Carly is impressed, but Freddie lacks the confidence to follow through and try to ask her out.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler - probably the nicest character on the show and the one who gets the least action dating-wise - lampshades on this, quipping that someone saying he's a nice guy means ''I'm going to be dating a [[{{AllGirlsWantBadBoys}} chain smoking alcoholic]] and complaining about them to you''.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* [[http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-1280/ Girls With Slingshots]] Jim goes on a tirade that "nice guys never get laid" to four perfectly normal guys who ''are'' getting laid. They are not amused.
** Unfortunately this would have worked better if the normal guys had not been actually ''bragging'' about getting laid in front of [[UnintentionallySympathetic Jim]].

* [[http://xkcd.com/513/ XKCD]] presented a comic featuring a nice guy going over his modus operandi.
** Though the "nice guy" in question is less "nice guy" and more StalkerWithACrush, since his plan is to ensnare the girl in an insidious AllTakeAndNoGive relationship.
-->'''Nice Guy''': When you have problems, night after night, I'll be there for you. Selflessly. I'll tear down the jerks you date and wait for you to realize how good I am for you. That only '''I''' will ever understand you. You won't want to hurt my feelings, and I won't ever hurt the issue. I'll tell myself it's because I "value our friendship". Bit by bit, I'll make you depend on me. You'll think about how long it would take to build this kind of connection again. And in a moment of weakness, and loneliness, you'll give in. It'll feel comfortable and natural. You'll quietly revise your definition of love and try to be happy. And sometimes you will be. Only the wistfulness in your gaze and the tiny pause before you say "I love you" will hint that this wasn't the ending you'd hoped for.

[[AsYouKnow Of course]], the '''real''' reason nice guys finish last... [[spoiler: [[DoubleEntendre Is because their partner finishes first]]!]]

* Subverted in ''{{Anime/Doraemon}}'', Nobita (with a streak of JerkWithAHeartOfGold) is the first one among the gang to get married. He and [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Shizuka]] are engaged during university and they eventually marry while the rest are still bachelors (although the rest eventually marry shortly later, judging from their sons' age being roughly around Nobisuke).

* Bolin from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. He's the {{nice|Guy}}, {{fun|Personified}}, [[PluckyComicRelief goofy guy]] while his brother Mako is the serious, more work focused one. One guess who leading lady Korra goes for. [[spoiler: It's Mako, who spends time going after Korra [[YourCheatingHeart while dating someone else]]...]] [[spoiler:And in the finale, Korra ends up with Asami, the girl Mako was seeing.]]

What happens when a GenreSavvy character -- or just one who is [[TaughtByExperience jaded from lack of romantic luck]] -- gets a little too overanalytical about the tropes DoggedNiceGuy and AllGirlsWantBadBoys. He will conclude, logically, that since he's such a wonderful nice man, the only reason a girl would reject him is that all women are dumb and would rather date the JerkAss. Expect much PlayingTheVictimCard.

* Bolin from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''. He's the {{nice|Guy}}, {{fun|Personified}}, [[PluckyComicRelief goofy guy]] while his brother Mako is the serious, more work focused one. One guess who leading lady Korra goes for. [[spoiler: It's Mako, who spends time going after Korra [[YourCheatingHeart while dating someone else]]]].

* ''SomethingPositive'' has Mike declare this, as he whines about acting like a girl's friend, only to have her fall for some better-looking guy who actually asked her out, rather than the creepy guy who was pretending friendship so he could get something out of it.

* Subverted in an Archie comic book back in the 70s, where the school participating in a citywide athletic marathon, and Riverdale High's star athlete Reggie is felled by a sprained ankle. Archie has to take his place and in every event, he eats the other participants' dust coming in second and third. But Dilton Doiley has been crunching the numbers, noting that on total points alone, Archie has put Riverdale High in the lead and he winds up winning the marathon.

The trope name is a [[BeamMeUpScotty misquote]]. There are several supposed sources and original quotes (and ironically one of the people that is often cited as the origin of the quote was a JerkAss baseball manager who repeatedly lost to his genuinely kind and BenevolentBoss rival), but the fact that it's a misquote is the only certain thing.

* While it might have been misquoted, in terms of career, [[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904823804576502763895892974.html some studies]] have found that it's true, with people considered more disagreeable more likely to get hired and make more money in their lifetimes. Some have boiled it down to basically if a person is a little bit of a JerkAss, they're more likely to A) feel entitled to a promotion, raise, etc. and B) actually ASK for it. When applying it to a person's love life, however, it gets a little more tricky, with a big problem being most people tend to confuse "Nice Guy" with "Doormat."

* A podcast in ''Website/TheArtOfManliness'' explores this, noting that the "nice guy" is not always as nice as he thinks, often believing his own good nature allows him to act passive agressively. This is especially when it comes ot the myth of AllGirlsWantBadBoys.

* A common rebuttal to self-identified "nice guys" who use this argument as a thinly-veiled cover for EntitledToHaveYou is that being nice-- ''genuinely'' nice, that is, not "nice"-- is a minimum qualification, not the be-all end-all. In other words, okay, let's grant for the sake of argument that you're nice. What else do you have going for you? Being intelligent, or funny, or emotionally balanced/open, or insightful, or fun to be around, or romantic, or well-read, or passionate about causes, or a thousand other traits are all much more interesting than the basic human niceness of, say, holding the door open for someone or listening to them talk without being an ass to them[[note]]which, technically, falls more under the category of "inoffensive" than "nice"[[/note]]. Thus, you may sometimes see this statement turned around as "Nice guys don't finish last; ''boring'' guys do."

[[AsYouKnow Of course]], the '''real''' reason nice guys finish last... [[spoiler: [[DoubleEntendre Is because their partner finishes first]]!]]

----

What happens when a GenreSavvy character-- or just one who is [[TaughtByExperience jaded from lack of romantic luck]]-- gets a little too overanalytical about the tropes DoggedNiceGuy and AllGirlsWantBadBoys. He will conclude, logically, that since he's such a wonderful nice man, the only reason a girl would reject him is that all women are dumb and would rather date the JerkAss. Expect much PlayingTheVictimCard.

->''Nice guys finish last, bad guys have a blast! Take his money - grab his honey - dump that loser fast!''

What happens when a GenreSavvy character gets a little too overanalytical about the tropes DoggedNiceGuy and AllGirlsWantBadBoys. He will conclude, logically, that since he's such a wonderful nice man, the only reason a girl would reject him is that all women are dumb and would rather date the JerkAss. Expect much PlayingTheVictimCard.

The trope name is a misquote. There are several supposed sources and original quotes (and ironically one of the people that is often cited as the origin of the quote was a JerkAss baseball manager who repeatedly lost to his genuinely kind and BenevolentBoss rival), but the fact that it's a misquote is the only certain thing.

* Stanley Ipkiss from ''Film/TheMask''. He grows out of it by the end of the film, where he learns how to still be a nice guy without being a pushover.

* A common rebuttal to self-identified "nice guys" who use this argument as a thinly-veiled cover for EntitledToHaveYou is that being nice-- ''genuinely'' nice, that is, not "nice"-- is a minimum qualification, not the be-all end-all. In other words, okay, let's grant for the sake of argument that you're nice. What else do you have going for you? Being intelligent, or funny, or emotionally balanced/open, or insightful, or fun to be around, or romantic, or well-read, or passionate about causes, or a thousand other traits are all much more interesting than the basic human niceness of, say, holding the door open for someone or listening to them talk without being an ass to them[[note]]which, technically, falls more under the category of "inoffensive" than "nice"[[/note]]. Thus, you may sometimes see this statement turned around as "Nice guys don't finish last; ''boring'' guys do.

* A common rebuttal to self-identified "nice guys" who use this argument as a thinly-veiled cover for EntitledToHaveYou is that being nice-- ''genuinely'' nice, that is, not "nice"-- is a minimum qualification, not the be-all end-all. In other words, okay, let's grant for the sake of argument that you're nice. What else do you have going for you? Being intelligent, or funny, or emotionally balanced/open, or insightful, or fun to be around, or romantic, or well-read, or passionate about causes, or a thousand other traits are all much more interesting than the basic human niceness of, say, holding the door open for someone or listening to them talk without being an ass to them[[note]]which, technically, falls more under the category of "inoffensive" than "nice"[[/note]].

The trope name is a misquote. There are several supposed sources and original quotes, (and ironically one of the people that is often cited as the origin of the quote was a JerkAss baseball manager who repeatedly lost to his genuinely kind and BenevolentBoss rival) but the fact that it's a misquote is the only certain thing.

* In ''Bedazzled'', the protagonist, Elliot, starts out as one. Definitely PlayedForLaughs when he asks to be "the most sensitive man in the world."

* Implied throughout ''TheJaneAustenBookClub''. Lampshaded when Grigg has this conversation with Jocelyn.

* [[JimCarrey Stanley Ipkiss]] from ''Film/TheMask''. He grows out of it by the end of the film, where he learns how to still be a nice guy without being a pushover.

* Subverted in ''{{Anime/Doraemon}}'', Nobita (with a streak of JerkWithHeartOfGold) is the first one among the gang to get married. He and [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Shizuka]] are engaged during university and they eventually marry while the rest are still bachelors (although the rest eventually marry shortly later, judging from their sons' age being roughly around Nobisuke).

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Subverted in an Archie comic book back in the 70s, where the school participating in a citywide athletic marathon, and Riverdale High's star athlete Reggie is felled by a sprained ankle. Archie has to take his place and in every event, he eats the other participants' dust coming in second and third. But Dilton Doiley has been crunching the numbers, noting that on total points alone, Archie has put Riverdale High in the lead and he winds up winning the marathon.