Basic Trope: An attractive man is romantically involved with an unattractive woman.
- Straight: Bob is very attractive, while his wife Alice has a conspicuous scar and a misplaced nose.
- Exaggerated: Bob is the gender-inverted version of World's Most Beautiful Woman (say, World's Most Handsome Man), his wife Alice on the other hand makes people's eyes melt with her face alone unless she wears a paper bag on her head.
- Downplayed: Bob is better-looking than normal; Alice is plain-looking.
- Bob is actually a plain-looking man. But he's an outright Hunk when compared to Alice.
- Alice herself is actually pretty, but she doesn't dress herself well and has odd mannerisms that make her repulsive to most men except the dashing and gentlemanly Bob.
- Bob is actually pretty unattractive himself. It's just that Alice happens to be uglier.
- Justified:
- Bob is blind.
- Bob loves Alice for her mind and great personality.
- Alice suffered a disease or injury that changed her looks for the worst, while Bob married Alice before her accident and he's nothing if not loyal.
- Bob is a Gold Digger and Alice (and her family) has an Arbitrarily Large Bank Account.
- All Men Are Perverts in the setting, so no matter how ugly Alice is, Bob still smitten toward her.
- Bob is a Nightmare Fetishist, so Alice's frightening appearance is considered attractive for him.
- Bob is a firm believer of Beauty Is Bad since he has bad experience from a vain but attractive woman, making him seeking less attractive women for his wife while Bob himself may still hires beautiful women only for sex.
- Alice used to be beautiful but she didn't age well or she let herself go over the years.
- Alice may not be beautiful, but she is steadfastly loyal and protective of Bob which is all Bob really wanted from a woman in the first place.
- Alice may not offer much in the looks department, but HOO BOY is she skillful in bed! Not mention she's got a banging body to make up for her lacking face.
- Inverted: Ugly Guy, Hot Wife
- Subverted: Alice's scar and misplaced nose are makeup and prosthetics for her current film role. She looks more attractive after cleaning up for the day.
- Alice gets plastic surgery to boost her attractiveness to be equal to Bob's.
- Alice decides to take initiative to improve her appearance. Overtime, she begins to dress well, improve her make up, and improve her manners, making her a good match for Bob.
- Double Subverted: ...Very slightly more attractive.
- The surgery was a failure and now Alice looks worse.
- The surgery was a success, but Alice is still nowhere near as attractive as Bob.
- Despite the work she did to improve her appearance, Alice's looks still don't equal Bob's.
- The surgery was a failure and now Alice looks worse.
- Parodied: Alice is a blatant Eldritch Abomination who people instantly recoil in terror at the sight of. Bob is completely immune to this effect for no reason or has a romantic case of Admiring the Abomination.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Nobody in the series in unattractive.
- Nobody in the series is attractive.
- Alice and Bob are not married and are just friends.
- Alice and Bob are both attractive as each other.
- Alice and Bob are both hideous.
- Enforced: The author is a feminist, and is trying to avoid female beauty standard.
- Lampshaded: "That's not something you see every day...a Pretty Boy with a not-so-pretty girl."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob is only interested in attractive women.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: People's commentary and speculations about why Bob is with Alice increase her insecurity.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice's insecurity makes her even more Adorkable and submissive, so they still meet the criteria of gender roles and be accepted anyway.
- Alice gets over the toxic messages targeting toward her, and learns to embrace her appearance which lead to self-acceptance, with plenty of Bob's support.
- Implied: We never see Alice, but when Bob is asked if she is beautiful, he claims that she has a "beautiful personality."
- Played For Drama: Alice loses her look and receives permanent scars from her jealous, overprotective, and abusive husband.
Back to Hot Guy, Ugly Wife.
