Freaky Is Cool

"But you're better than normal. You're abnormal."

— Fry, Futurama, The Cyber House Rules

A character, moping about being weird, eventually finds someone who likes them because they're different.

The person is usually a child, under the natural assumption that kids have little prejudice, but also find anything with a strange appearance kinda cool. If the befriender is older it may be that they are a Nightmare Fetishist, and are fascinated by things other people find strange or creepy.

Sometimes, this only happens because the person the weird person befriends is blind.

Freakiness Shame is a subtrope. See also Ugly Cute and What Measure Is a Non-Cute?. If someone has a lot of pets that qualify under this, you have a Fluffy Tamer. If a character decides against curing some handicap for this reason, this is Keeping the Handicap.

Compare Prefers the True Form.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Himeka Saiki is a firm believer of this. So much so that she's dissatisfied with being regarded as a singing prodigy because, rather than be a "mere" genius, she wants to be an abnormal genius. She tries to invoke this by engaging in oddball activities when intracting with others, but all it really gets her is a reputation for being socially clumsy. She's initially reluctant to date a seemingly Ordinary High-School Student like Rentarou, but the moment she hears he already has 25 girlfriends, she's on board.
• The Dangers in My Heart: While checking out his room, Yamada finds some of Ichikawa's non-fiction books about the psychology and hearts of murderers. He's horrified and nervously explains what they are expecting the worst out of her response... which is that it's "Cool!". On top of that Yamada casually lays down next to Ichikawa on his bed and asks him what's on her mind (Based on the psychology part, just to be clear. She's not a murderer).
• In Durarara!!, a young man named Shinra is infatuated with a female Dullahan that he and his father have been sheltering for the last twenty years. The fact that she's missing a head just makes her cuter in his eyes.
  • Shinra's fascination with the weird doesn't just stop at Celty. While most people are reasonably afraid of Shizuo's combination of Super-Strength and what appears to be some severe rage disorder, Shinra's reaction consists of following him around like a lost puppy all through school and going, "That was awesome! I bet it has some crazy scientific explanation. Can I do a full body examiaaaAAHH AAH ARRGH, MY ARM!...Okay, so that's a "no" then? How about just a blood sample?"
  • Celty herself also ends up fangirling Shizuo during his fight against Saika's 'children', much like how Shinra did when he and Shizuo were in high school. It also doubles as a case of Wowing Cthulhu since she's a Dullahan.
    Celty: He's so strong... No, he's terrifying... No, he's awesome!
• Happens to Lucy of Elfen Lied when, as a child, she's befriended on two occasions by other children who think she looks cool, being blissfully unaware of her frequent lapses of psychotic misanthropy and ability to tear people apart with her mind. Both occasions end in tragedy for all involved, and generally cause her to slip into even deeper depths of loathing for humanity and callousness concerning harming and killing them - with one crucial exception.
• During the Cursed Island arc of Fairy Tail, this is Natsu's reaction to seeing the cursed villagers transformed into monsters. Foreshadowing of the fact that he himself is one (not figuratively), literally.
• This trope is the emotional crux of Kimi ni Todoke: It's a pretty normal rendition of the story Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy...with one important change; the 'most popular guy,' Kazehaya, is a very compassionate boy who likes her quiet Sugar-and-Ice Personality and doesn't want to change her.
• For all of her life, the title character from Kotoura-san was ostracised by nearly everybody she knew, as a consequence of being a telepath who oftentimes had difficulty distinguishing between people's thoughts and their outward speech, and therefore had a tendency to blurt out private information without realizing it. She grew up friendless and was raised by her grandfather after her parents divorced each other and disowned her. It wasn't until she started high school when she encountered Manabe, who reached out to her in spite of everything, that she ever saw any change in her circumstances. In fact, he quite enjoyed the fact that she could read his mind, as he liked to imagine her in sexually compromising positions solely to tease her. At one point, when a cold left rendered her unable to read minds at all, he found that it was no fun to fantasize about her unless she could see it.
• In Negima! Magister Negi Magi, "freakiness" is part of the reason Setsuna never reveals that she's part demon and has wings (her wings are white instead of black like they're supposed to be, and she was cast out from her relatives as a result). When she does reveal them for the first time with that admission, Asuna incredulously points out the obvious: The wings are cool, and to humans she looks like an angel.
• One Piece:
  • This is a defining trait of Luffy. When Luffy and Sanji notice that Chopper is a reindeer man that can change into a large form, they conclude he must be a monster, sending Chopper running off in shame, right before Luffy and Sanji mention that such a thing also sounds awesome. Later on, when the crew meets Brook, a living skeleton, on a derelict ship, playing a haunting tune, most of them were freaked out. Luffy, on the other hand, immediately asks him to join their crew.
  • For her entire life, Charlotte Pudding's third eye has been considered monstrous by everyone who sees it, and constant abuse over this drove her to become murderously insane. She's come to hide it under her hair and even uses revealing it as a weapon; apparently her targets tend to be shocked by a pretty woman having such a hideous facial feature and she uses that moment of distraction to kill them. When Sanji sees it for the first time, he tells her she looks even more beautiful that way. This was such an unexpected thing to hear that she collapses, and with her, multiple plans.
• Ranma ½:
  • Most of Ranma's male schoolmates have stated opposition to him losing his Gender Bender curse. This is only evident in the manga since none of them find out about it in the anime until one of the last episodes. Then again, it's all but explicit that the reason they object is that they like to ogle Ranma-chan; Nabiki is known to sell racy photos of "her" to just about the entire male student body, so they know that if Ranma gets cured, their porn supply disappears. The anime version also has the male members of Ranma's classroom interfere in his efforts to cure Hinako because they're afraid that she'll be stuck in her child form and so they won't ever see her sexy adult form again. Nabiki also once suggested to Akane that Ranma's curse is going to be "a lot of fun on your honeymoon."
  • When Ukyō found out about Ranma's curse, her reaction was to literally keep switching him/her back and forth with hot and cold water, remarking, "This is so fun/cool!"
• Slayers: Even though Zelgadis hates having ugly skin due to his nature as a chimera, Amelia thinks he's cool.
  • In a flashback in Slayers: Evolution-R it's shown how children who used to be friendly with Zelgadis now run away from him shouting "Monster!". These were the same children who were shown happily playing with wolf-man Dilgear and fish-man Noonsa without batting an eyelid. In this case, it's justified because Dilgear and Noonsa, while monstrous, are natural beings. Zelgadis is a chimera, an unnatural fusion of three creatures, so he is still monstrous by the standards of their universe.

Comic Books

• Marvel Universe:
  • Often experienced by Nightcrawler in the X-Men franchise. Every time he feels a little put off by his appearance (basically he looks like a Big Red Devil except with short blue fur), he meets someone who really likes it, usually an available woman whose fetish is, coincidentally, pointed tails, blue fur, and Cute Little Fangs. This is enough of a theme in his life that "chicks dig the fuzzy guy" is the default view on Kurt's appearance; it only starts being portrayed as genuinely freaky when it's his turn in the X-Men Angst Hotseat.
  • Beast is also popular with women much of the time, especially during his stint with The Avengers. There's just something about blue fur and Cute Little Fangs. Brains don't hurt either, plus he's a Walking Shirtless Scene and quite ripped even by superhero standards.
  • Beast's fellow Avenger, Tigra the Werewoman, is equally popular with the men.
  • Ben Grimm from Fantastic Four, with his (very attractive) blind girlfriend Alicia Masters. Hell, everybody loves Ben Grimm. While he frequently jokes about being "the idol of millions", it's actually true; the Thing is in-universe one of the most popular superheroes around.
• Secret Six: Ragdoll and Black Alice share this view.
  Ragdoll: It just goes to show that sometimes the scars are on the inside, like with Luthor and that Vandal fellow, and my friends, too. Which is much less fun and only half as sexy. I pity them, to man, if you must know. Better to be odd and whole than normal and broken, I always say. Rats. I sure hope I start to decompose soon!
  Alice: Now, Ragdoll. He's creepy and deformed and geeky and effeminate and all covered in twisty scars. That's so hot.
• Disney Adventures magazine once ran a Simpsons one-shot comic about Lisa venturing under the school to discover mutant substitute teachers. The mutants loved to teach but were forced to hide underground ages ago because people were afraid of their hideous appearance. Lisa assures them things are different now... and the last page shows one of the mutants substituting for Mrs. Krabappel's class. Children cry out, jump, Bart shouts out "He's a mutant freak!"... and then they erupt into cheers, shouting how cool it is, and "Teach us everything you know, Freak-Man!" And the mutant smiles, shedding a happy tear.

Fan Works

• All For Luz Reaction: Eda reacts with shock and excitement that the Alternate Universe they're watching has humans gaining superpowers.
• In Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail, Lexi (a sentient book capable of separating his pages into a human form, and having just been made up into what is an expy of Specter) is intrigued with Chloe Cerise's love of the macabre and untapped talent in writing horror stories, something that Chloe has been trying to hide due to everyone she knows only wanting her to be into Pokémon.
  • Back home, Chloe's little brother Parker also finds Chloe's writing to be amazing and even encouraged her to make more stories.
• In the House fanfic "Invasion of the Cuddy Snatchers" House finds out he was having sex with a shape-shifting alien who had taken on Cuddy's appearance (we never find out what it really looked like) — and isn't upset about it in the least. He even says, "Cool."
• In Manehattan's Lone Guardian, when Leviathan first meets Gray, it's while the former is a bipedal pile of sentient metal that's heavily damaged to the point her insides can be seen. Gray, being heavily into horror, is undeterred; the meeting makes her heart race, but nothing more. And Drama Heart, who runs a horror-centric theater, is straight-up excited.
• In the Jackie Chan Adventures fic Queen of All Oni, not only do we have the canon Hak Foo, but Jade, who LOVES how she looks creepy now, and likes her new powers a LOT.
  • In fact, after a Smug Snake Evil Sorcerer named Lung (Daolon Wong's old apprentice), kidnaps her and tries to break her to his will with Cold-Blooded Torture, nearly killing her, she comments that practically the only positive part of the experience was that it resulted in her looking even creepier (and just in time for Halloween).
• A similar case in another Project Dark Jade fic, Webwork, where Jade positively loves being a humanoid spider demon since now she is super strong, fast, durable, and has access to powerful magic. Two of her three minions feel the same.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, Joey Wheeler assures Mako Tsunami "You're not a freaky fish guy, you're the freaky fish guy!"

Films — Animation

• In Turning Red, Mei becomes popular because of her red panda transformation.

Films — Live-Action

• In Hellboy (2004), where Hellboy hangs out with a little kid. It's a little less used in the second one, where Hellboy's some combo of urban legend come true, celebrity, and feared monster. Who is also ugly.
• Subverted by the horror film May. The title character meets a semi-Goth filmmaker artist type who finds her No Social Skills quirkiness attractive. As it turns out, she screws up, badly, by revealing her strangeness to the point where she just freaks him the hell out.
• Tim Burton's career thrives on this trope and the people who love it.
• Another instance of this trope going awry comes in Mary-Lou's fondness for the quiet, odd Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth: Early on in their relationship, she says "You know Tommy, you're a freak. I don't mean that unkindly. I like freaks. And that's why I like you." She becomes his mistress, but she doesn't know the basis for his oddness — he's actually a well-disguised Rubber-Forehead Alien. Their relationship is already struggling when he reveals his true form to her, and she reacts with horror and revulsion.

Literature

• In The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jakob was attacked by a magician and left with permanent black-and-gray bands on his face as a result. He spent the next few years as a recluse, refusing to leave his family's home. Bartimaeus barely notices the "hideous" bands and assumes that they were intentional. Apparently men from Zimbabwe's Banja tribe will actually pay magicians to use that spell on them because they think it looks attractive.
  Bartimaeus: Anyway, from their point of view, you look extremely eligible. (Beat) Except for your hair, which is pretty bad. But so's my master's, and it doesn't stop him from flouncing about in broad daylight.
• Hypatia in Baudolino, who is revealed to have goat legs under her dress (her father was a satyr). Baudolino is already so in love with her by that point that he decides they're beautiful.
• The Fablehaven series has Raxtus, a tiny, gay fairylike dragon. Never accepted among his own species, he becomes a great ally for the humans, because he's one of the only friendly dragons in the whole series.
• Michael from the Knight and Rogue Series is so freaked out by the idea of humans using magic that when he gains the ability thinking about it can make him sick. Fisk is too logical, and to a degree, too fascinated, by the magic to think of it as anything other than a gift.
• In The Secret of Platform 13, everybody except Raymond thinks that the nuckelavee's lack of skin is absolutely amazing. One troll child who sees it immediately decides that he wants to become a doctor.

Live-Action TV

• In Big Wolf on Campus, Lori thinks the werewolf thing is kind of hot.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Oz is attracted to Willow because of her shyness and social awkwardness.
• The Doctor, from Doctor Who. They often react this way themself to the Monster of the Week and stands around cooing over it when they probably should be running. It gets lampshaded (negatively) in "Midnight."
• Friends: Phoebe gets fired from singing to children at a library because the staff think her songs are too creepy. It turns out the kids loved her because she's honest with them about subjects like "where does the meat in burgers come from?" and "why Grandma doesn't visit anymore".
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys does this with centaurs. In one anvilicious episode about prejudice, a maligned centaur travels into town and gets lots of hard glances even with Herc around... except for a bunch of little kids who think a guy with a horse for a butt is pretty awesome.
• Legion: In "Chapter 22", Charles Xavier asks Gabrielle if she thinks his telepathy is weird.
  Gabrielle: Are there others like you?
  Charles: Maybe. I don't know. Do you think it's odd?
  Gabrielle: A little. But I like odd.
• Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, several times counting both in the TV series and the movies.
  • And amusingly, his best friend in the series itself is blind. (Though he can "see" via a technological aid, and Data is actually a lot cooler to look at than most other people because he has this freaky electromagnetic aura and other cool stuff...)

Music

• "Rock 'N' Roll Nigger" by Patti Smith from her album Easter redefines the racial slur "nigger" as a badge of honor for rebellious outsiders.
  Outside of society, they're waitin' for me
  Outside of society, that's where I want to be
• Eels' Beautiful Freak has the song "Beautiful Freak".
  Some people say you have a problem
  But that problem lies only with them.
  Just cause you are not like the others
  But that is why I love you.
• The image Lady Gaga tries to propagate in her music and fashions.
• The P!nk song "Raise Your Glass" is pretty much an ode to weirdos.
  So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways!
• Frank Zappa promoted freakiness in his work, most famously on Freak Out. He also said: "Without deviation from the norm, progress isn't possible."
• The early Punk Rock movement was freaky and different until punk also received a particular uniform and style you needed to adopt to be considered punk. Johnny Rotten didn't like this evolution at all.
• The popularity of a lot of eccentric musicians, despite their odd music; behaviour, fashions, and outer appearance is a result of this trope: George Clinton, Marilyn Manson, Frank Zappa, Klaus Nomi, Björk, Syd Barrett, Daniel Johnston, The Bonzo Dog Band, Insane Clown Posse, Slipknot, The Fugs, Nina Hagen, Sun Ra, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lydia Lunch, Tiny Tim, Yma Sumac, David Bowie, Genesis Breyer P Orridge, John Zorn, The Plasmatics, Lee Scratch Perry, Moondog, Nico, Yoko Ono, Oingo Boingo, The Residents, Tom Waits, Rob Zombie,...
• German Folk-Ska Band Vroudenspil has the song Hexenjammer, which features a witch and a black guy who are both shunned by society, but accepted by the pirates.
• Marillion's "Whatever Is Wrong With You":
  We need to talk.. about the wedding cake, and the wet-suit
  We need to talk.. about the policeman down the hall
  You're truly strange
  But it wouldn't do for us all to be the same
  Whatever is wrong with you
  Is so right for me

Pro Wrestling

• Back in the 1980s, one of Championship Wrestling From Florida and the USWA's attractions were "Freaks & Geeks", a monstrously large power stable made up of the usually heel and monstrous Kamala, Dragon Master, Awesome Kong (not that one), Leatherface, four of the seven Moondogs (Rex, Spot, Cujo, Rover) and Eddie Gilbert.
• ECW's "Sideshow Freaks" stable (Johnny Swinger, Bilvis Wesley The Muskateer, The Prodigy, Prodigette, and Simon Diamond) some of whom would later turn face.
• The viewpoint of The Freaks Of Nature Pete Madden and Mad Man Pondo in Midwest Renegade and Juggalo Championship Wrestling.
• For a few years during his most face-ish time, one of Kane's mottoes (thus emblazoned on some of his merchandise) was "FREAKS RULE!". For his own part, Kane is an abnormally large, strong, and tough man, with hideous burn scars that caused him to wear a mask when he went out in public. (In a later storyline, the scars were revealed as purely a figment of his imagination and psychological trauma after being burned and raised...oddly, but that's just another type of freakiness.)
• Rachies Adam Flash and Danny Rose, whose most high-profile exposure came in CZW, openly referred to themselves as a Family Of Freaks.
• Il Cognito's self-proclaimed "Freakshow" stable in the Australian Wrestling Federation, a gathering of supposedly rejected "freaks".
• Big Daddy Bravo and Buck Nasty, the two men who make up "The Freakshow" of Top Rope Promotions, though it's harder to be cooler or freakier than Demolition, who they've had to compete against.
• Mistress Belmont, the "freak" half New England Championship Wrestling and later, Pro Wrestling Syndicate tag team "Freaks And Geeks". She possessed blue hair, red eyes, heard voices and preferred battering her opponents with chairs, whips, and goggles to wrestling but it did not stop her from turning face.
• Jeckles The Jester and "The Warlord Of Weird" Sinn Bodhi actually competed to see who was the "true freak" of Vendetta Pro Wrestling. Well, Jeckles did, Bodhi more viewed Jeckles as a Worthy Opponent. Quite a few fans do find Jeckles pretty creepy, but they often cheer for him anyway.
• The fans at FIP events tend to chant "Freak!" in support of Rhett Giddens.

Roleplay

• In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Luna is one of the few not to have a negative reaction to Jenna's new The Worm That Walks form, finding it cool rather than frightening.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: Tieflings (demon-bloods), overlapping with Freakiness Shame, have +1 Intelligence and Charisma (and -1 Strength and Wisdom) in AD&D 2. Example: factol Rhys of the Transcendent Order is goat-legged, but it's not like her portraits left everyone guessing why she has Charisma 18 (on a scale of 3-18 for humans). Especially one in The Factol's Manifesto — looking best when in action is normal for Cyphers, and calling her "Action Girl" would be an understatement.

Toys

• Monster High: Their slogan is "Freak just got Fabulous"

Video Games

• One of the audio logs you can find in BioShock 2 is a love note to one of the Little Sisters from a little boy who thinks her glowing yellow eyes are pretty. D'aww.
• In Ensemble Stars!, due to the events of the War the previous year and his very unique upbringing, Kanata thinks of himself as more monster than human and relates heavily to weird-looking, ugly deep-sea creatures. When he shows one to Kaoru in a management event, he claims not to like them but says that Souma does, and indeed Souma adores Kanata even though he is the only member of the cast who truly believed he was a God and not human and is eternally grateful to him for 'teaching him the value of the ocean' no matter how weird it all is.
• Rider of Fate/stay night. Despite actually being cursed for being as attractive as she is, she's still immensely shocked to hear Shirou admit she's quite beautiful. Also in reference to her eyes, which apart from the dangers they can cause are also apparently incredibly beautiful, though she also seems to feel that they are freakish in appearance.
• Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams: Giana feels at home in what some would call the nightmarish landscape, thus she appears as her normal bubbly-looking self there. However, it appears the dreamy landscape is so sickeningly sweet that she turns into Punk Giana in a desire to stomp everything into the ground.
• Shepard and Jack's romance in Mass Effect 2. Jack is an Ax-Crazy criminal who is genuinely shocked that Commander Shepard would ever show interest in her. Depending on the player's patience, Shepard can show Jack how much he truly cares for her as a person rather than viewing her as a freak.
• In the epilogue of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Raiden finally meets his son, who initially recoils upon seeing him. Raiden asks if he's scared, but the kid says he thinks Raiden's like a comic book superhero. Apparently he was watching (or told about) Raiden's big scenes. He even flourishes his toy katana like Raiden did in MGS2.
• In the Puyo Puyo series, a few characters are fascinated rather than freaked out by Sig's big red arm. To give some examples, Amitie calls it "neato", Jaan goes as far as to try to turn her arm red, and Raffina somehow thinks Sig's arm is like that due to him exercising too much and considers it nice fashion.

Webcomics

• Used in Dominic Deegan in regards to Nimmel. Normally, he keeps his facial scar hidden under his hair. But when he meets the werewolves of the Winter Archipelago, he finds that they think scars are cool. Later on, he styles his hair so that the eye is always visible.
• Drowtales: In a flashback to how they met, a pre-tainting Naal'suul finds Kiel'ndia Eating Lunch Alone at school and, after learning about her "friends" (which is the readers), is amused and tells her she likes "weird". Kiel'ndia believes this is how they became friends, but Naal'suul reveals she saw Kiel'ndia as more of a jester back then; they didn't really become friends until Kiel'ndia kept talking to her after her tainting, despite her growing emotionally distant and isolated from everyone.
• Girl Genius: Upon seeing Vole's new body, DuPree just lights up in delight. She even describes his monstrous new form as "gorgeous".
• El Goonish Shive:
  • The cast aren't easily freaked out, to the point where Goonmanji in "Newspaper" failed to impress them much. Especially Tedd. In-continuity, he wasn't even surprised when his crush turned out to be a shapeshifter and commented on various hybrid forms she assumed later exclusively in fetish terms. His reaction when Susan demonstrated magic-related knowledge?
    Tedd: Yeah. Do you have creepy psychic powers that you haven't told us about? Because that would be cool.
  • Sort of played with in regards to Ashley. While she is reassured by Liz telling her there's nothing wrong with being weird, she's taken aback when she discovers that Grace doesn't think her fantasies are weird because nobody's ever said that to her before.
• Gunnerkrigg Court. Where to start? Ah, right, from the first page.
  • Attitudes toward the folk "with a predetermination towards etheric sciences" in the Court... vary. Anja hid from her crush the fact that she's a magic-user (not that being put in Chester house wasn't a telltale sign). Surma advised her to solve this problem by ignoring it. When a shrub-dog attacked them and Anja bounced it away with a "purple bubble thing", Donald thought it was cool.
    The author's comment: See, he's into it, Anja.
  • Jack has finally figured out that he's got a crush on Zimmy, of all people, a be-fanged and hollow-eyed girl who has no control over her ability to inflict reality-warping nightmares on other people (same nightmares she suffers constantly herself) and who acts like a massive jerk to absolutely everyone so they'll keep their distance for their own safety.
• Used in one particular Sam & Fuzzy, where a newly turned werewolf decides to remain one rather than being turned back to human because he and his girlfriend are "into that". Sam doesn't see the appeal.
  Sam: Why did I decide to help people? People are disgusting.
  Devahi: Prude.
• Slightly Damned:
  • Throughout the series it has been implied that the Angel Kieri Suizahn and the Demon Buwaro Elexion had a relationship sparking between them. Buwaro has a blatantly monstrous appearance with a large pair of goat horns, sharp claws, a mouth full of fangs, and glowing red eyes. Kieri is afraid of Buwaro at first but the two become friends. After a little bit of drama regarding Buwaro's birth condition that causes him to become a violent, bloodthirsty monster if he ever loses his pendant the two finally admit their love for each other and share a kiss. When the two start dating officially it's shown both Angels and Demons frown upon their relationship.
  • A traitorous angel claims that they switched sides because they think that demons are cool. They deny that they are in love with their demon friends and claim that Buwaro and Kieri's relationship is gross, but it is very obvious they are lying.

Western Animation

• B'wana Beast, of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, has the power to make instant Mix-and-Match Critters. Most characters look at his pigeonrats and spiderhorses and call him "eccentric", except Captain Marvel, who's a ten-year-old kid.
  Captain Marvel: A kangaroo and a lizard?
  B'wana Beast: Yep.
  Captain Marvel: An earthworm and a rhinoceros?
  B'wana Beast: Easy.
  Captain Marvel: A dog and a... a slightly smaller dog?
  B'wana Beast: Do you really have to ask?
  Captain Marvel: Awesome!
• Ben 10
  • In the original series we had Kai, Ben's first crush. Deconstructed in that she was really only interested in him because of the freaky affliction he was experiencing in that episode, and rather bluntly tells him she's no longer interested after it wears off.
  • In Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Julie really seems to enjoy weird things from having a boyfriend who can turn into different aliens and a pet who can turn into literally anything, also finding enjoyment in the heroic activities, usually giving a grin when she's fighting with Ben or Ship.
• Sam in Danny Phantom. She loves all things strange and unique, so she is immediately excited and drawn to Danny being half-ghost long before he eventually got around to accepting himself for his abnormality. She also got on his case when he temporarily gave up his powers and became normal again in the Grand Finale, though she was probably more disappointed that Danny gave up being a hero.
• A city-wide phenomenon in the animated pilot for Defenders Of Dynotron City. Dr. Mayhem invented the mutation-inducing Proto-Cola to terrify the populace... but everyone loves it, and the cool effects it has. The very first minutes show a nuclear family where dad has four arms, mom has an eyeball for a head, and their kid has two heads, and they all think it's swell.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
  Wilt: Hey, how ya doing? Name's Wilt.
  [Mac and Bloo stare up at Wilt for a long time]
  Wilt: Yo, guys! Hello? Oh, I get it. Is cool, is cool. I know I'm all broken, with the wonky eye and the stubby arm. Probably freaks you out, huh? Don't worry, I'll get someone else...
  Mac & Bloo: [awed] You're taaaall!
  Wilt: Oh, well, yeah.
  Bloo: You should play basketball.
  Wilt: Oh, well, actually I used to... sure. So, how about that tour?
• Futurama: when one of Fry's friends gets singled out for being different, Fry will inevitably stand up for them and defend them for being unique because that is what makes them special to him. This probably has a lot to do with him being from the 20th century. Everything in the 31st century is new and cool to him, even things most people of the future consider abnormal or unappealing. His attitude is perhaps best exemplified in the very first conversation he has with Bender:
  Bender: You really want a robot for a friend?
  Fry: Yeah. Ever since I was six.
• Gargoyles uses this trope quite a bit, most notably when Hudson befriends a blind man (though he later learns that the man figured out he wasn't human).
  • Don't forget Elisa and Beth's conversation about Gargoylian(?) beauty, right after Beth first meets them. And possibly Derek's wards, the people who live in the sewer/tunnel systems.
• Subverted in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Grim befriends a Goth lady who's enamored with his macabre and misanthropic disposition. However, when he reveals himself as the Grim Reaper, she freaks out and runs away screaming.
• Apparently, when Hak Foo goes through certain magical procedures that increase his powers in Jackie Chan Adventures, and doesn't care about the side effects. Noted when Jackie fought him after he became Daolon Wong's servant.
  Jackie: Look at yourself, Hak Foo. You've become Daolon Wong's servant, his slave. Is this how you want to spend your life? As a freak?
  Hak Foo: Yes.
• Kim Possible herself invokes this in the episode where Ron accidentally suggests the creation of a love ray. After seeing its effects he frets about the idea that Kim might have one.
  • Heck, Kim even made it clear that she found Ron weird but liked him anyway when they first met in Pre-K.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Pinky Pie loves Discord's cotton candy clouds that rain chocolate milk, but Fluttershy is the only pony whom truly apprecciates Discord's chaotic magic and accepts him for what he is, much for his surprise. Spike and Big Mac eventually learn to enjoy his powers, too, when they realize how much lively Discord can make a simple RPG game.
• The Patrick Star Show: In "Olly Olly Organ Free", everyone loves Patrick's horrific, appliance-filled body because of the useful tools he has built in, like a hair dryer and a pencil sharpener. Cecil and Bunny even try eating furniture so they can look like him.
• Sanjay and Craig: Sanjay and Craig love Darlene's gross hospital stories, and in "Brett Venom, M.D." they sneak into the hospital and are fascinated by all the freaks they find there.
• In Teen Titans (2003), Beast Boy's reaction on first finding out that Cyborg is half-machine: "Cool!"
  • In the comics, Beast Boy himself was something of a Teen Idol, despite his green skin and hair. (In the comics, he originally lacked the Nightcrawler-esque Pointy Ears and Cute Little Fangs — but they've been showing up in recent versions.) He also starred in a TV series. Yeah, that Gar Logan.
  • A scene in the comics, also replicated almost verbatim in the TV series, had Cyborg — bummed because of his state — get cheered up by running into a kid with a prosthetic hand who gushes that Cyborg's parts are much cooler because they're "all shiny and stuff"... and not, say, because he's a frikkin' superhero who saves the world.
• Total Drama:
  • Revenge of the Island:
    • Cameron finds things such as Dakota's mutation or Mike's multiple personalities to be fascinating.
    • Zoey admittedly likes oddballs, and actually likes Mike's split personalities, claiming that it means there's more of him to love.
  • Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race:
    • Crimson and Ennui are entranced by all things dark and scary, and the only time they come close to showing excitement is during a trip to Transylvania. Crimson comes so close to expressing outward happiness that Ennui has to pull her back.
    • They also take a liking to Devin when he comes bitter and depressed.
    Ennui: When did Devin become so... cool?
• Not only is Amanda Sefton in X-Men: Evolution okay with the way Nightcrawler looks, his appearance is what made her pursue him in the first place. In fact, her statement after seeing his true form was, "Did you know blue is my favorite color?" After all, chicks dig the fuzzy dude.
  • Zig-zagged with Cyclops and Jean. When they first met Nightcrawler, he was completely cloaked. When they saw his hand (which has two fingers and a thumb), they slightly recoiled in surprise. However, when Kurt showed his teleporting ability as well as his full appearance, they found him cool.

Real Life

• Jerry Lewis, in France.
• Ask the Transhumanists. They even founded their own movement: Extropianism.
• Cyberpunks, Ravers and Cybergoths.
• When not Wangst, this is basically the appeal behind Goths, especially to casual non-goths and children.
• Just take a look at the fringe end of the tattoo, piercing and body-modification scene. We're talking transcutane implants here. Horns. Claws. People who have appeared on Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
  • Not to mention the multiple people who have cut their tongue partly in half so they can look more like snakes. Apparently you can learn to cross the two halves over each other like two separate... limbs or something.
    • Gives a whole new meaning to the old American Indian saying "He's talking with a split tongue".
  • Mr. Paul Lawrence, a.k.a. The Enigma, and his Cat Girl-ish wife.
• The Juggalos apply this to the Monster Clown look.
• Deep-sea fish in general... ask around a bit, and most people who know what a stoplight loosejaw or a coelacanth is will start spouting trivia. And there's probably a Hagfish, Lamprey, and Leech Anti-Defamation League somewhere.
  • The Praya dubia will explode if it's not kept under enough water pressure.
  • Vampyroteuthis infernalis (a.k.a. Vampire Squid from Hell) has quite the fandom as well.
• While not precisely "freaky", Christopher Titus mentioned that he was one of the most popular kids in his class as a kid because, instead of furniture in his living room^note  his father was divorced multiple times, so alimony ate a lot of the monthly budget, he had an inflatable raft. "I can actually be Captain Crunch!"
• The term ''Monsterf*cker'' (or ''teratophilia'' if you're the more polite sort) refers to literal Nightmare Fetishists who find monstrous qualities in appearance and style (such as extreme body mods, monster cosplays or gothic fashions based on supernatural creatures) attractive. Unlike the examples listed under Monster Fangirl, such individuals are unlikely to be attracted to humans with monstrous morals such as serial killers, as it is the outwardly-monstrous qualities that are the source of attraction.

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"Groovy."

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