Abhorrent Admirer: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:LenaHyena.gif|link=Who Framed Roger Rabbit?|
{{quote|''"My man! Come to Lena!"''
|'''Lena Hyena''', ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' (pictured, much to our dismay)}}
An [[Gonk|ugly and/or overweight female]] is noticeably attracted to a male protagonist. Maybe she's even a little forward about it. The protagonist realizes this, and is profoundly uncomfortable with the whole idea, but the female character either doesn't realize he's not interested or [[Mad Love|is undeterred]]. Yet the character is not just uncomfortable; he's shocked, horrified, or disgusted. Even a wave and a smile from her will be treated as a fate worse than death for the recipient. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
In some cases, the point of the joke is that the protagonist is too nice to say anything, thus allowing the situation to come up repeatedly. In others, just portraying the protagonist's
The Abhorrent Admirer differs from more sympathetic characters in one key respect: the audience is expected to find her both unattractive and extremely unsympathetic, and is supposed to feel ''sorry'' for the protagonist because she has him in her sights and [[Stalker with a Crush|just won't take a hint]] or proves resistant to the [[Selective Obliviousness|clue-by-four]].
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These characters tend strongly to be female rather than male, as a result of a few different gender stereotypes. For one thing, [[No Guy Wants to Be Chased]] means the mere fact that a woman takes the initiative in courting a man is often portrayed as evidence that she must have something wrong with her; for another, [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|double standard rape]] means that sexually aggressive women are viewed as less threatening, and therefore more comical, than men who impose their attentions on obviously unwilling women. However, in recent years the male "undesirable suitor" has become more common in comedies.
An increasingly occurring variant of this trope is when the amorous woman in question is [[
This trope is [[Older Than Print]]: the original might be the medieval legend of the "loathly lady", which is the basis of the Wife of Bath's Tale in [[Canterbury Tales|that thing]] by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]. Loathly ladies also figure in several [[Child Ballad
May or may not overlap with [[Stalker with a Crush]], though that one usually isn't [[Played for Laughs]]. The [[Old Maid]], the [[Grande Dame]], and [[Lady Drunk]] are likely candidates to act out this trope. Compare [[Extroverted Nerd]], [[Hollywood Nerd]], [[Beauty and The Beast]]. Contrast [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]. For versions where only the personality is a problem, see [[No Guy Wants to Be Chased]], [[Romantic Runner-Up]] and [[Casanova Wannabe]]. [[Kavorka Man]] is an inversion... [[Double Standard|and overwhelmingly male]].
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{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* One ad for Pretzel M&M's has the pretzel trying to convince the M&M to hook up with an attractive woman across the party. The M&M protests, but the pretzel points out they exist to be eaten, "and I'd rather go with her than Hungry Eyes over here." The camera then pans back, showing a very unnerving man staring at them as "Hungry Eyes" plays.
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* The very minor Tezuka anime and manga series ''[[Don Dracula]]'' has this as a [[Running Gag]]. [[Dracula]] prefers to subsist on the blood of beautiful women, and somehow never quite manages to grab one onscreen, but a grotesque (and overweight) young woman keeps popping up, determined to offer her neck and other... charms to the foreign nobleman.
* The "Sexy Ninja Tea Ladies", the stepfamily of the ninja Konatsu in ''[[Ranma ½]]''. Of the three [https://web.archive.org/web/20130702093620/http://www.majhost.com/gallery/misterq/misc/konatsu_sisters.jpg "Sexy Ninja Tea Ladies"], the best-looking and most feminine one was modeled after American actor [http://www.google.com/images?q=Edward+G.+Robinson Edward G. Robinson].
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', there's the "Bowling" chapter, where Longchamp invites Tsuna and Gokudera to go on a three-person blind date. Of course, Longchamp's idea of a "cute" girl has always been... [[Gonk|unique]]. So the three girls he invited were absolutely hideous (one of them even being Reborn in an ugly drag). The whole chapter pretty much consists of Tsuna and all of his [[Bishonen]] guardians / male friends coming by, being horrified by how ugly these women are, and then trying to run away from them as the women aggressively pursue them.
* In ''[[Houshin Engi]]'', Venus, one of Chou Koumei's hideous three sisters, is head over heels in love with [[Anti-Hero]] protagonist Taikoubou. He literally spit up blood from seeing her strike a "sexy pose." Of course, being the [[Manipulative Bastard]] he is, he ''did'' fake being slightly friendly towards her just so he could immediately distract her and defeat them. His disgust and horror towards her constant aggressive advances toward him are played for laughs.
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** The ''real'' Lola is this as well, though she's not as [[Ax Crazy]] as her zombie was. Franky plays an advance from her cool, saying he's too "[[Catch Phrase|super]]" for anything to work out between them.
** The ugly psychopath Vander Decken IX to Princess Shirahoshi.
* Dama from ''[[
* In the ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' novel Seiran Den (chronicling Nakago's history), [[Depraved Homosexual|Tomo]] (then known as Ragun) got himself a rather ardent female admirer, the leader of the palace girls, Ba Hinhin. She is described as having a "horse-like face," and tends to "snort fiercely through her nose" when she's making advances on him. He, of course, finds her intensely annoying, and tries to distract her away from him. Then again, [[Depraved Homosexual|the mere fact of being the object of a woman's desire would gross him out]].
* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Miroku is always chasing beautiful girls, whose reactions vary from schoolgirl glee to violent backlash, but always with the same result: no-one of them is interested in him. However, he's oftenly chased by the old, the overweight or the funny-featured, much to his horror and chagrin.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', [[Dark Chick|Karin]] is a variation of this. Even though she isn't all that unattractive, except for [[Die for Our Ship|a certain fraction of the fandom]], the point still stands since her forward propositions are always met with an icy reaction from Sasuke. Not to mention the lengths to which she goes to get in his pants.
* Miyako Miyazaki from ''[[Bamboo Blade]]'' is a cute girl with a sadistic side, but has only one major weakness: a middle school classmate by the name of Reimi Odajima who has been stalking Miya-miya ever since she beat up a boy she liked. Reimi follows her to all of her kendo tournaments snapping pictures and shooting videos of her beloved idol, often times inadvertently distracting her enough to lose her match. And yet having a psychotic for a number-one fan turns out to be quite handy later on when {{spoiler|Miyako and Azuma look through Reimi's photo and video collection to help Miya-miya train against an American rival.}}
* A variation in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]''. Belarus isn't unattractive, her object of affection even admits that she's really pretty. It's her [[Yandere
* In ''[[Girls Saurus]]'', almost every girl who shows an interest in Shingo (that is to say, most of the cast and most female one-shot characters) becomes an abhorrent admirer, due to their tendency to throw themselves at him and his gynophobia that makes him visualise them as horrible ogres.
* Shautieh Ley has ''four'' chasing after him in ''[[Bowling King]]'', Maya (everyone who meets her mistakes her for an alien initially) and the pint-sized, overweight, fanatical, [[Stalker with a Crush]] Maruko triplets.
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** Lum has Rei, her ex-fiancé from the Oni world, who may looks like a gorgeous bishonen in human form, but can [[Involuntary Shapeshifter|easily turns into a bull-tiger hybrid monster whenever excited]]. Not to mention he's dumber than a sack of brick and, when not pursuing Lum, can only think about one thing: [[Big Eater|eating non-stop]]. Lum quite understandably want nothing to do with him.
** Shinobu has one too: Soban of Busumetsu High, who besides being the boss of a deliquent gang, is [[Giant Mook]]-sized and a most extreme [[Gonk]] even by [[Rumiko Takahashi|Takahashi standards]]. A running gag is how much he has trouble acting even like a human being and not an animal (toss him a ball, he'll play with it like a tamed seal). He does little beyond charge at Shinobu yelling: "Shinobu-saaaan! SUKI DAAAA!!!!" Thankfully, Shinobu is [[Waif Fu|even stronger]] than Soban and usually sends him flying.
== Comic Books ==
* Ethel Muggs from ''[[Archie]]'' comics was originally created to facilitate this punchline. She was attracted to Jughead, who was notoriously uninterested in anything but food. She would have been unwanted anyway, so maybe they figured they'd make her unattractive just to underscore it, or perhaps they deliberately went with an ugly girl because it's one thing for him to say he's not interested in women (note how no other girl tries to so much as ask him out except under extraordinary circumstances), but if he turns down a hot one routinely he must be gay.
** Subverted in the [[Live Action Adaptation]] ''Return to Riverdale''. Set at and around the cast's 15th high school reunion, it reveals that Ethel was actually [[Beautiful All Along]] and is now a world-famous supermodel.
** Archie Comics have also downplayed this aspect of Ethel in later years. While she was as ugly as they come in her first appearances and used solely to torture Jughead, Ethel has since had some of her more distorted features toned down. She's still really tall with buck teeth and a big nose, but she's drawn much more
** Subverted again in that Archie took her out on a casual date to a comedy club and museum and ended up preferring the fact that unlike Betty and Veronica, Ethel made no demands of him. He asked her out again after taking her home.
* Subverted via the extended introduction of Mary Jane Watson in ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''. Peter assumed that anyone his aunt was trying to set him up with must be hideous, and spent years dodging MJ.
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* The Mexican comic ''Simon Simonazo'' used this trope in a rather strange manner; the Admirer in question had a comically horrid face, [[Butter Face|her body on the other hand...]]
* In issue #30 of the original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series, during the story Sky Highway, Raphael gained one with a German mutated human called Hildagaard Rail. In a dimension where there is an actual highway in the sky, Raphael fell in the passenger side of her car. She wore sunglasses, had her hair wrapped up in a scarf tied behind her chin and a black dress that showed off her ample busom. Hildagaard had long legs and the body of a super model, but her [[Gag Lips|lips were so enormous]] they went from ear to ear and almost from chin to forehead taking up most of the space on her face. She openly flirted with her "dollink" turtle telling him "You're the most sexy shade of green I've ever seen." When Raphael was about to leave her car he told her "It's been funfffh!" The ninja's words were cut short because Hildagaard grabbed him by the tails of his bandana and said "Shut up and kiss me, you dumkoff!" With his head tilted all the way to the side she pulled him close to her and gave him a big passionate kiss that covered his entire beak. When he finally got away from Hilda she called out, "Auf Wiedersehen, loverboy!" Raphael referred to it as the biggest indignity he ever had to face as a hero. The turtle wiped off the giant lipstick imprint off of his face which wasn't sideways, but on straight making it seem like they locked lips for a while. At least long enough for Raphael's head to tilt.
* This was the original role of Gravel Gerty in the ''[[Dick Tracy (comic strip)|Dick Tracy]]'' comic strip; even grotesque villain the Brow was repulsed by Gertie's affections. She eventually met and married the equally grotesque B.O. Plenty, though B.O. was never used as an [[Abhorrent Admirer]], just as a side villain and then a comic-relief hillbilly. Naturally B.O. and Gertie's daughter, Sparkle, [[Ugly Guys Hot Daughter|is a stunner]].▼
* In ''[[Zits]]'', Jeremy gets one of these in the form of Amber, a girl who obsesses about him for a week or so before she breaks up with him (via the Posse) and disappears. In a rare case, she is somewhat sympathetic and not the butt of the joke (one strip had Hector pondering why of all people she'd obsess over ''Jeremy'').▼
* ''[[FoxTrot]]''▼
** Mindy of could count, however she is kind of an odd case in that she spends all of her time crushing after Peter but he remains more or less unaware of it (meanwhile, her friend keeps telling her that it's no good). It's not so much that she's unattractive, as he already has a girlfriend. It all comes to an end after she winds up going to prom with Peter's friend Steve and both hit it off very well.▼
** Morton Goldthwait is a fairly straight example. He's a short, zit-faced, coke-bottle-lenses wearing nerd who obsesses over Paige and won't be dissuaded no matter how violently she reacts to his advances. Although in one storyline he does move on and find someone who returns his advances. Paige even asks him if he forgot about her and all the times he kept hitting on her, and he replies: "The truth is, I remembered."▼
** And Paige herself, along with her friend Nicole, sometimes are this, when they're stalking and shamelessly flirting with the various popular and good-looking guys.▼
* Al Capp's ''[[Li'l Abner|Lil Abner]]'' features at least two examples.▼
** First is Sadie Hawkins, A homely spinster at 35, she has a wealthy father who invented "Sadie Hawkins Day", on which women could propose to men. The character was so popular that the tradition caught on in real life, and outlived the strip character's fame entirely in the form of Sadie Hawkins dances.▼
** Then there is former [[Trope Namer]] Lena the Hyena, who was described as "the ugliest woman in Lower Slobbovia" and initially left undepicted. Cartoonist Basil Wolverton famously won a contest to portray Lena.▼
* In the newspaper strip ''[[Curtis]]'', the title character is this to [[Alpha Bitch|Michelle]]. [[Idiot Hero|Curtis]] presses his suit despite Michelle doing everything short of calling the cops on him -- up to and including repeatedly straight up telling him "Go away. I don't like you."▼
== Fairy Tales ==
* In [
{{quote|''a princess with a nose which is three eels long, and she now is the one [[Arranged Marriage|whom I must marry]].''}}
* Allison Gross is a Child Ballad in which the eponymous witch, "the ugliest witch in the North Country" tries to coerce a man into becoming her lover.
== Films -- Animation ==
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* Dragon initially qualifies as this for Donkey in the first ''[[Shrek]]'' movie, but he [[Incredibly Lame Pun|warms up]] to her.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad]]'', from "[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]" segment, there is a gag involving a short, fat woman (Tilda) who wants to dance with either Ichabod or Brom Bones at the Halloween party. The underlying implication is that whichever of them fails to win the lovely Katrina van Tassel will be stuck with Tilda.
* [[Mole Men|Mole]] from Disney's ''[[Atlantis: The
== Films -- Live-Action ==
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* ''[[East Is East]]'' has two young British Pakistani boys attempting to escape arranged marriages to the two hideous daughters of their father's friend.
* ''Merry Christmas [[Drake and Josh]]'' gives us Drake, dressing up as Santa at the mall. He is seen kissing a girl when all the kids are gone. Not long after, a rather large girl chases him around the mall asking Santa for a kiss.
== Jokes ==
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** Another version replaces the pastor with a gym trainer, and the woman with an attractive gym buddy and sexual favors... and also replaces Lena Hyena with a very large man, who is [[Black Comedy Rape|very intent on rape]].
*** And the French version of ''that'' version makes their first name rhyme with the sex act to boot.
** The Indian version replaces the pastor with a weight loss program. It also goes into some [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The program provides three packages: Lose weight in six months, three months, three weeks or: bonus special package: in '''ONE DAY'''. The young man orders the three month package, and a beautiful woman appears on the first week to be chased. He orders the second package right away to see what happens, and gets a ''really'' hot chick on the second week. Catching on to the pattern, he orders the third package on the third week, and gets a [[Memetic Sex God
* This joke is best told to a group of close friends that are okay with a little good-natured ribbing. It helps if one of your friends tends to be the designated [[Butt Monkey]] in your circle. Let's call them Aaron, Bob, and ([[Butt Monkey]]) Charles. (Feel free to [[Gender Flip]] the roles to suit the genders/sexual preferences of your friends) You tell these beloved friends of yours that one day, [[Rule of Three|Aaron, Bob, and Charles]] died and went to Hell. [[Satan|The Devil]] walks up to Aaron and says: "Aaron! Welcome to Hell. I'd like you to meet your new wife!". At this, a door opens and out walks the most hideous woman either of them has ever seen. She grabs the helpless Aaron and drags him away screaming to her boudoir for an eternity of violent lovemaking. Then [[Satan|The Devil]] walks up to Bob and says: "Bob! Welcome to Hell. I'd like you to meet YOUR new wife!". Another door opens and out walks an even MORE hideous woman than the first one. She grabs the helpless Bob and drags him away screaming to her boudoir for an eternity of violent lovemaking. Charlie is terrified, of course, but then a door opens up and out steps Angelina Jolie. Charlie can't believe his eyes, and she's even more gorgeous in person than on film. As Charlie is fumbling for something to say, [[Satan|The Devil]] says: "Angelina! Welcome to Hell. I'd like you to meet your new husband!".
** There's a similar joke about 3 women going to Heaven, and being warned to [[It Makes Sense in Context|step on the ducks]]. Of course, the first two women do so and get paired up with ugly men, while the last woman goes months without doing so, and gets a very handsome man paired up with her. When asked if he's her reward for doing well, he comments that "I have no clue - all I know is that I just stepped on a duck."
* There is an anecdote about an event said to have happened in Poland, several centuries ago: when a man was about to be hanged, the oldest whore in town ran up to the gallows, and shouted, "he is mine!", invoking an ancient custom allowing for the man to go free on the condition that they will marry. The man looked at the whore, looked at the executioner, looked at the whore, then again looked at the executioner and said, "let's hang, master".
== Literature ==
* A variant in [[Tom Holt]]'s H. W. Wells & Co series: Rosie Tanner, who plays this kind of role to Paul Carpenter. She's a ''goblin''. However, she does have the ability to shapeshift into a beautiful young human woman. It's just that Paul can't forget her real form, not to mention that she's also the mother of his sadistic boss.
* ''[[
** The aging, overweight Hepzibah Smith is this to Tom Riddle, future [[Big Bad]], in a flashback. Tom plays up to this by flirting with her just enough to stay in her good graces until he can get what he wants. Then he poisons her. Unlike most of the other examples, we aren't supposed to sympathize with Tom.
** Along with Riddle, each of the main trio has one. Though none of them are physically unattractive; it is mainly their personalities. Harry has Romilda Vane, who stalks Harry and at one point gave him cauldron cakes laced with love potion, which Ron ate with tragic results. Ron, in a slight subversion, has an Abhorrent Admirer in his ''girlfriend''. At first he returns her affection, but soon finds that he's becoming more and more frightened of her, and her displays of affection gets more and more crazy. Hermione has the incredibly attractive and talented, but slightly deranged and QUITE egotistical Cormac McLaggen following her. Being a nerd, she isn't really blinded by his attractiveness, and sees him as the horrible, arrogant person he is.
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** Subverted with the Dolph/Electra/Nada [[Love Triangle]] that took up a couple of books. Prince Dolph finds himself engaged to two women, the beautiful Nada Naga, whom he loves, and the more ordinary Electra, who loves him. Nada considers Dolph to be this trope, as he is far too young and immature for her. Dolph thinks this of Electra, as while she is not unattractive, she can in no way compete with the knockout Nada. To compound matters, Dolph must marry Nada to ensure an alliance between two kingdoms, and he must marry Electra or she will die from a magical curse. Despite this, the three are friends, and eventually decide to [[Screw Destiny]] by having Dolph marry Electra, divorce her the next day, marry Nada, and fix the love triangle with the use of Love/Anti-Love potions. Then it gets double subverted when during their one night of marriage Dolph discovers he truly ''does'' love Electra, and they remain married.
* [[Amelia Peabody]]'s husband Emerson managed to attract the attentions of a loathsome woman who was convinced that [[Reincarnation Romance|she and Emerson had been lovers in Ancient Egypt.]] Being Emerson, he was as annoyed by the [[You Fail History Forever|historical inaccuracies in her story of their past lives]] as he was by the lady herself.
== Live-Action TV ==
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** The ''Full House'' team apparently loved this trope, because there was a character named Rusty that was depicted as such toward D.J. during the first half of season 4. The rub:{{spoiler|His mom was dating Danny}}.
* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' was fond of the "mortal terror" angle.
** Bud in particular was often an
** One episode had Al changing his mind and going for a ride with some middle-aged overweight women who decided he was very hot.
* This trope made up the entirety of the recurring "Wanda Wayne" and "Vera de Milo" sketches on ''[[In Living Color]]''.
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** Roy has a tendency to attract this type of woman; there was also the woman who, upon encountering a bunch of tramps on their date, began shouting at them that they owed ''her'' money. Played with, in that since Roy himself is usually pretty desperate, he often ends up sleeping with them anyway.
** Not to mention the girl in the 'Friendface' episode who wears too much make-up. She's not exactly hideous, but her make-up and personality are both creepy. Roy tells Jen that "It was like breaking up with the joker".
* One episode of ''[[The Jamie Foxx Show]]'' had Jamie the victim of an
** Jamie Foxx is no stranger to this trope. He played this character himself, Ugly Wanda, when he was on ''[[In Living Color]]''. The episode might have been a [[Shout-Out]] to that.
* In ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'', it seems anyone actually interested in Bertie is off the end of one scale or another, even though none of them actually look bad.
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* ''[[The Office]]''
** Meredith occasionally hits on Jim. For example, when she breaks her hip she asks him to sign her pelvis cast and singles him out in particular to thank for visiting her in the hospital. Jim seems disturbed, but too polite to say anything.
** ''[[The Office]]'' likes
** In the English version, David Brent tries to encourage the camera (and whoever's watching) to sympathise with him when his date turns out to be as overweight as he is, but she's a nice person and he's rude to her so it's almost an inversion.
* Played with on ''[[Top Gear]]'', where Richard Hammond gets a fan letter, ostensibly from a mentally-disturbed prisoner about to be released on parole... named [[Not That There's Anything Wrong with That|Stuart]].
* Subverted on ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', as the plain, average Ann is considered an Abhorrent Admirer to George
* In ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', the eponymous Zack and Cody have, on separate occasions, and despite their best efforts, attracted the affections of [[Stalker with a Crush|Agnes]].
* Harper and Justin from ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' are a good example of this. In earlier episodes, she was portrayed as Alex's weird friend who was convinced she was going to marry Justin despite his complete disinterest. Although in later episodes, Harper starts acting a little more calm around him and they become friends, Justin still seems highly uncomfortable when the subject of Harper's feelings for him come up.
* In 80's sitcom about a girl robot named Vicky and her family ''[[Small Wonder]]'', Harriet Brindle. Is treated as such by Jamie.
* ''[[Glee]]''
** April Rhodes, Mr Schuester's
** Subverted somewhat in two other cases as well. Rachel has an
** Subverted completely in the case of Lauren
* Lily on ''[[The Hard Times of RJ Berger]]''. However RJ isn't disgusted with her so much as annoyed. The real disgust actually comes from his best friend Miles.
* In ''[[Zoey 101]]'' there is [[Butt Monkey|Stacey]] to Logan.
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* Henry in ''[[CSI]]'' at one point is stuck in a BBQ joint miles from anywhere, being hit on by a woman who is, let's say, past her best. This exchange follows: "I'm engaged. I'm married, actually. I have syphilis." "Perfect. So do I."
* ''[[Star Trek]]''
** Lwaxana Troi to Picard on ''[[Star Trek: The
** On ''[[Star Trek:
* Oleg the fry cook in ''[[Two Broke Girls]]'' to both Max and Caroline.
* ''[[
* Ironically the actress playing [[
* Paula is this to Tim in ''[[Spy]]''.
* Weird Ashley to Axl on ''[[The Middle]]''.
* Oleg the cook to just about every female on ''[[Two Broke Girls]]''.
* ''Gail the Snail'' on the series ''[[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia|Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]''. Gail is seen as so abhorrent, the other characters will literally throw salt at her to thwart her advances.
== Music Videos ==
* The poor female lead of "Object of My Desire" by Dana Rayne. Truly, ''truly'' [[No Guy Wants to Be Chased]].
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* This was the original role of Gravel Gerty in the ''[[Dick Tracy (comic strip)|Dick Tracy]]'' comic strip; even grotesque villain the Brow was repulsed by Gertie's affections. She eventually met and married the equally grotesque B.O. Plenty, though B.O. was never used as an
▲* In ''[[Zits]]'', Jeremy gets one of these in the form of Amber, a girl who obsesses about him for a week or so before she breaks up with him (via the Posse) and disappears. In a rare case, she is somewhat sympathetic and not the butt of the joke (one strip had Hector pondering why of all people she'd obsess over ''Jeremy'').
▲* ''[[FoxTrot]]''
▲** Mindy of could count, however she is kind of an odd case in that she spends all of her time crushing after Peter but he remains more or less unaware of it (meanwhile, her friend keeps telling her that it's no good). It's not so much that she's unattractive, as he already has a girlfriend. It all comes to an end after she winds up going to prom with Peter's friend Steve and both hit it off very well.
▲** Morton Goldthwait is a fairly straight example. He's a short, zit-faced, coke-bottle-lenses wearing nerd who obsesses over Paige and won't be dissuaded no matter how violently she reacts to his advances. Although in one storyline he does move on and find someone who returns his advances. Paige even asks him if he forgot about her and all the times he kept hitting on her, and he replies: "The truth is, I remembered."
▲** And Paige herself, along with her friend Nicole, sometimes are this, when they're stalking and shamelessly flirting with the various popular and good-looking guys.
▲* Al Capp's ''[[Li'l Abner|Lil Abner]]'' features at least two examples.
▲** First is Sadie Hawkins, A homely spinster at 35, she has a wealthy father who invented "Sadie Hawkins Day", on which women could propose to men. The character was so popular that the tradition caught on in real life, and outlived the strip character's fame entirely in the form of Sadie Hawkins dances.
▲** Then there is former [[Trope Namer]] Lena the Hyena, who was described as "the ugliest woman in Lower Slobbovia" and initially left undepicted. Cartoonist Basil Wolverton famously won a contest to portray Lena.
▲* In the newspaper strip ''[[Curtis]]'', the title character is this to [[Alpha Bitch|Michelle]]. [[Idiot Hero|Curtis]] presses his suit despite Michelle doing everything short of calling the cops on
== Pro Wrestling ==
* This was Goldust's gimmick, a rare male example of the trope. Goldust was basically a pan-sexual who would flirt with his opponents to gain a psychological advantage in a match by, for example, suddenly appearing to enjoy the grapple he's been put into or caressing his opponent in a hold.
* "Exotic" Adrian Street was working this gimmick before Dustin's daddy started wrestling, and can be seen as a major influence on the Goldust character. "Gorgeous" George Wagner was doing it even earlier
== Tabletop Games ==
* The Nosferatu from ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' can be an interesting [[Deconstruction]] of this trope. Although their [[Red Right Hand|appearance suggests otherwise]], the Nosferatu are not as susceptible to the caprices of the [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Beast]] as the other vampires are so they can still be quite [[True Beauty Is on the Inside|human at heart]] (or not!), but this does not dismiss the fact that they can still feel attracted to (or even fall in love with!) others and when this happens they become Abhorrent Admirers. To make the situation more aggravating they are supernaturally hideous it basically means that it is simply impossible to love them. The core rulebook does point out how dramatic the experience can be, for both sides (especially if you are the receiver of the affection).
* Naturally, taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''[[Warhammer
== Theater ==
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* ''[[Tanz der Vampire]]''
** Herbert von Krolock is a borderline example of the male homosexual variety, depending on who's playing him. He might be [[Bishonen|handsome]] and [[Ensemble Darkhorse|endearing]] but he's also a clingy, aggressive vampire who's very intent on getting his teeth into vampire-hunting [[Tenor Boy]] Alfred.
** Rebecca, Chagal's wife, who presumably used to resemble her lovely daughter Sarah, has become one of these to her husband in the same show, driving him toward his beautiful scullery maid Magda. This is especially jarring [https://web.archive.org/web/20100722002938/http://grono.net/gallery/photo/show/11444776/obraz-008/ in productions where she's not even played as particularly obnoxious or ugly]. (However, the fact that he isn't particularly charming or attractive either renders ''him'' a genderswapped example of the same trope as far as Magda's concerned... until he bites her, at least.)
* ''The Changeling''. De Flores has a terrible skin disease. He might actually be a [[Dogged Nice Guy]].
== Video Games ==
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** ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' has [[Recurring Extra]] Dupree.
* ''[[Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure]]''
** During the Lance Banson boss fight, his fangirls (Banson being a famous opera singer and [[Sky Pirate]]) will rush out from time to time. Sometimes they're attractive and mildly replenish his health. If Henry screws up his singing via the [[Match Three Puzzle]], they're rather plain and
** Also, the first boss Lady D is this for Henry. He tells her he hasn't the time and she promptly tries to destroy him with her giant Wedding Cake Battle Fortress.
* Bit of a cutesy inversion in ''[[Fat Princess]]'' if you Fridge it.
* Inverted with Laharl of ''[[Disgaea]]'', who actually gets hurt by pretty, big-busted women. Though he shows no interest either way, romantically.
* ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max:
** Inverted in "Chariots of the Dogs", where the titular lagomorph (Max) ends up being the object of obsession of the fairly attractive Momma Bosco. Of course, Max doesn't like girls (for the same reasons a 10 year old boy is disgusted by girls) and finds her advances on him to be gross. In the same game, a young version of Max tries to avoid going to the prom because there's a girl who has a crush on him who is apparently known for french kissing every boy she likes.
** In the "Tomb of Sammun-Mak" we have the Mole-girl, Nefertiti, who is hopelessly in love with a pre-vampire Jurgen.
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== Visual Novels ==
* ''[[Phoenix Wright:
** [[Punny Name|Wendy Oldbag]] is attracted to several younger male characters over the course of the series, most notably [[Deadpan Snarker]] Miles Edgeworth. Of course, part of the reason this is considered repulsive is probably the fact that Oldbag is a completely obnoxious [[Jerkass]], and that she simply [[Stalker with a Crush|refuses to leave Edgeworth alone.]] And, just to top the whole thing off, she's obscenely old and no longer attractive.
** Sal Manella, a fat, sweaty, ugly geek who speaks in internet memes and "l33t speak", is this to Maya in one case in the first game.
* [[Smug Snake|Gilgamesh]] to [[Lady of War|Saber]], from ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]''. Slightly different in that it's not Gilgamesh's [[Bishonen|apperance]] [[The Social Darwinist|that]] [[Jerkass|makes]] [[It's All About Me|him]] [[Pure Is Not Good|abhorrent...]]
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]''
** There's features an interesting take on
** When Gren briefly breaks up with Bob, she has Arachne set her up on a number of blind dates. All of the prospects are this in some way, either from being perverted (the kuo-toa), attractive but too sensitive (Turg), or absolutely disgusting (the otyugh and neo-otyugh). It's possible that Arachne did this on purpose, as she [[Does Not Like Men|despises men]] and thinks Gren should as well.
* Torg's [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980110&mode=weekly blind date] from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. May or may not actually be a woman.
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** Mary is a [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Clingy Jealous]] [[Valley Girl]] that comes on [[Perverse Sexual Lust|too strong]].
** Marty is [[Selective Obliviousness|damn sure]] that Elly is a [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|girl]] and also comes on [[Ho Yay|too strong]].
** Raque is a [[Yandere
* ''
{{quote|'''Giselle''': The only problem is that whenever I go to one of these things, an army of drooling teenage fanboys keep trying to hit on me, "OMGWTFBBQ! [[Kawaisa|Kawaii]] demon girl [[Meganekko|with glasses]]!! MOE!!!" Fap, fap, fap... }}
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* Fangirls and fanboys in the ''[[Official Fanfiction University]]'' series are not necessarily unattractive, but tend to have no grasp at all of personal space or no meaning no. Most of them are also underage, if the OFU is in a continuum where that applies, or even if it doesn't -- milennia-old elves really do not see the appeal of thirteen-year-old girls. Plus the sheer number of them tends to get wearing. "Fangirl Stampedes" are not uncommon.
* The Starfish loves [[Charlie the Unicorn]] and WANTS TO BE WITH HIM FOREVER!
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] to [[Todd in the Shadows]]. She's a pretty lady, but her [[Cute but Psycho|personality]] and [[Stalker with a Crush|behaviour]] towards him is the reason why she's seen as abhorrent.<ref>
** Todd himself is this toward [[Obscurus Lupa]] (who seems to bring this out in most of the males on the site), almost to the point of [[Single-Target Sexuality]]. It's unclear whether he really dislikes the Chick, or if he's just too blinded with love for Lupa to even notice her feelings for him.
* For most of Volume 1 and the first half of Volume 2 of ''[[RWBY]]'', Jaune Arc was this to Weiss Schnee. This essentially ended the night of the dance in Volume 2, between upbraiding Neptune for turning Weiss down and discovering the deepening friendship he had with Pyrrha.
== Western Animation ==
* Sympathetic example from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Meng, who falls in [[Love At First Sight]] with Aang in the episode "The [[Fortune Teller]]". Also subverted in that Aang doesn't react negatively to her at all, but simply fails to notice her affection until she tells him. When she does, he's not disturbed either, in fact he's sympathetic and says he likes her, just not the way she likes him.
* ''[[Looney Tunes]]''
** Arguably, the single greatest
** [[Gender Flip
** Mama Bear turns into one of these at the end of ''[[Bugs Bunny]] and the Three Bears'', after the rabbit's attempt at distraction-by-seduction works a little too well. ("Tell me more about my eyes!")
** It happens to Bugs Bunny again in the cartoon ''Rabbit Romeo''. He is pursued by a large Slobbovian rabbit named Millicent who wants to "kees" him and "make marriage". Eventually she loses interest in Bugs and falls in love with Elmer Fudd who was tricked into wearing a rabbit suit. So Millicent starts chasing after Elmer instead.
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** The show also has Daffy bought at a bachelor auction by Granny, though it turns out she only wanted help cleaning her attic.
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''
** Trope continued with Pepe's female counterpart/
** Elmyra is this to Max Montana in a couple of episodes, one in which Max reluctantly agrees to go to the prom with her, and another in which he (also reluctantly) goes on a date with her. Subverted in the end of the latter in which he gives her an [[Accidental Kiss]] at the end of their date.
{{quote|'''Max:''' I think I'm in love...}}
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* ''[[Family Guy]]''
** There're one-off jokes about a few women like this (including a few moderately attractive celebrities), but the most recurring one is the [[Butt Monkey]], Meg Griffin. Boys would rather set themselves on fire and kill their siblings than go to a dance with her. Strangely enough, Quagmire apparently thought she was at least somewhat attractive, since he kept asking when she turned 18. He's more or less alone in thinking that though.
** She was able to attract some males in the pre-cancellation era, before her "[[Hollywood Homely|ugliness]]" was played up, not to mention she has her own recurring
** Quagmire thinks pretty much everything is attractive, swinging between
** Quagmire's attraction to anyone and everything (including Meg) is also subverted in "Barely Legal". Meg has been Brian's abhorrent admirer all episode and when she is sent round to Quagmire's house so he can "take care of her", it is heavily implied he is going to seduce her. He strips, puts on music and...has a heart to heart with Meg about the pressures of growing up and gives her a copy of Shel Silverstein's ''The Missing Piece''.
* Velda acts as one of these for Crash in the short-lived ''[[Stunt Dawgs]]''.
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** Curly is ''definitely'' this to Rhonda. "I haven't changed my underwear in seventeen days", anyone?
** Brainy too, to Helga.
* An episode of ''[[The Fairly
* Deconstructed in an episode of ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'', Alvin having organized a contest for his admirers in which the winner would get a romantic dinner with him, is utterly dismayed when the winner turns out to be an old woman, during the episode Alvin goes through great pains trying to get rid of her, but when he thinks that he might accidentally caused her death he feels a lot of remorse and [[Heel Realization|realizes that he has been a jerk]]. At the end of the episode the woman admits that she may not have been what he was expecting and she understands it, prompting Alvin make good on her prize.
* In ''[[
* The Weavil Princess to Beezy in ''[[Jimmy Two-
* ''[[Chowder]]'': Hey Num-Nums.
{{quote|"I'M NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!!!"}}
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* A large female alligator named Antoinette also falls in love with Donald in the ''[[Quack Pack]]'' episode "Gator Aid". Constantly puckering her lips in front him while crawling and swimming after Donald she tries to kiss him several times. She only succeeds on camera once by planting a kiss right on the top of his head. However she may have kissed him on the lips a few times because at one point she turns him away from the camera, kissing noises are heard and pink hearts float in the air. When we see the two both of their lips are already puckered and Antionette is getting ready for a giant smooch. This is when Donald escapes from her embrace, but Antionette never gives up trying to make out with him. During the cartoon Donald even has a nightmare that they are married with half alligator and half duck children and in that dream she gives him a peck on the cheek. Some time after he wakes up, the gator who is five times larger than Donald Duck offers him a pink heart shaped box of candy. She also offers him a wedding ring while wearing a white veil! This time around Daisy is rather indifferent to the alligator's crush on Donald.
* ''[[Popeye (comic strip)|Popeye]]'': Olive Oyl becomes this to Shorty in the Popeye cartoon ''The Marry Go Round''. Over at Olive's house Popeye is not having much luck proposing to her. So Shorty grabs Olive and kisses her on the lips to show Popeye how to seduce a woman even though he isn't really attracted to her. Unfortunately for Shorty, Olive winds up falling for him. After a quick costume change Olive puts on a dress and red shade of lipstick. She manages to kiss him two more times and chases him around the house. Popeye becomes jealous and attempts to beat Shorty up at the same time. Shorty spends the rest of the film trying to escape from both of them.
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* Valerie Gray in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' gets this in one episode with Nathan (another rare male example) who is portrayed as a stereotypically "ugly nerd" who wants to ask Valerie to the prom (despite it being three years away) while Valerie was a former popular girl.
* In the ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' episode "Talent Show a Go-Go", after [[Insistent Terminology|"borrowing"]] Tom Jones's voice, Dodgers ends up attracting the attention of an ugly alien queen.
* ''[[Captain N: The
** A dress-wearing pink octopus with blonde hair and blue eyes had a crush on Simon Belmont during the episode entitled "I Wish I Was a Wombatman". This short yet shapely and well-endowed director's assistant said to him with a beautiful voice, "Ooooh! You're a dream boat!" She gave him a big hug wrapping her tentacles around him. While embracing him, the assistant gave him a giant wink and extended her enormous red lips inches away from his. Simon seemed repelled because she was of a different species. The cartoon ended with the octopus leaning forward exposing the top of her ample cleavage and asking "Uh, anyone one call for make up?" Ignoring everyone else in the room she made a beeline right to her beloved Belmont. The blonde babe had no make-up kit on hand because this was just her excuse to get Simon alone in a dressing room for some hugging and kissing. Simon ran away in terror. She slithered right after him with a big smile and open tentacles like a love-struck groupie.
** Simon Belmont had another such admirer in the episode "Queen of the Apes". After defeating the leader of a pack of gorillas a female that had a blonde beehive complete with curlers and a pink skirt fell for Simon. The muscle bound large breasted hairy ape closed her eyes and tried to kiss him with her big pink lips but he got away. The pack of gorillas carried Simon away to end the episode so there's a chance she got around to kissing him off camera.
** This was reversed a few times with Simon getting struck with a love arrow and falling for the hideous Mother Brain once, almost marrying her in the episode Mr. & Mrs. Mother Brain. There was also a mutual attraction between Simon and Queen Dwarfine in The Feud of Faxanadu. While she had a rather plump yet nice figure she may not have been very attractive to the audience given her blue skin, green frizzy hair and big nose. The Vampire Hunter was attracted to more classic beauties such as Lana and Princess Zelda however, throughout the series.
* Jackie "Wacky Jackie" Wackerman on ''[[Kick Buttowski]]'' definitely fits this trope, not only is she a [[Stalker with a Crush]], but she ain't exactly a looker either.
* The Ice King from ''[[Adventure Time]]'' kidnaps princesses [[And Now You Must Marry Me|and forces them into marrying him against their will]]. And on a more platonic level, he wants to be friends with Finn and Jake. His loneliness makes him a [[Jerkass Woobie]], but that he forces princesses into marriage, which to him means keeping them locked up, and is [[Yandere
* Early episodes of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' toyed with this, as Janine, the heavily-made-up spiky-haired caricature of 80s femininity, constantly flirted with Egon and was constantly rejected. He was never portrayed as immune to the charms of women other than Janine. Later in the series she was redesigned to be more attractive and less outlandish, and curiously her relationship with Egon became more sweet and less annoying on all counts.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', it's no secret that Moe Syzlak has a long-time crush on Marge. Though he respects the sanctity of Homer and Marge's marriage too much to actively pursue her.
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