Attractive Bent Gender: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Jerry:''' Oh, you don't understand, Osgood! Ehhhh... I'm a man.

 

''Whenever a male is [[Gender Bender|turned into a female]] (or sometimes just when he [[Wholesome Crossdresser|dresses as one]]), he/she will almost always be extremely attractive, especially to members of his inner circle and close associates.''

Attractive Bent Gender operates in tandem with the [[First Law of Gender Bending]] to leave the world more attractive than it had been before. Or at least no ''less'' attractive. A handsome man may become a beautiful woman... but so will an ''unattractive'' man. In true [[Gender Bender]] or [[Easy Sex Change]] situations, one rarely encounters a handsome man who becomes an unattractive woman.

 

 

This trope frequently leads up to the [[Second Law of Gender Bending]]. [[Sweet on Polly Oliver]] is a subtrope where a woman crossdressing is found attractive by guys. Frequently accompanies [[Something's Different About You Now]]. See also [[Rule 63]], which basically exists because of this trope. When they actually are ''both'' genders, it becomes [[Everybody Wants the Hermaphrodite]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[Ranma ½]]''. Among the many things that rile Akane up about Ranma is that his girl form has a larger bust than she does. Note that he is already considered handsome as a male.

** Ranma is also one of the only guys turned girls that really didn't get turned on looking at herself naked. When ending up naked in a bathtub with a mirror-generated duplicate, he finds the situation vaguely odd, but not much else. The clone, on the other hand...

** Don't forget [[media:Lulu pretty.jpg|Bride Luluko]].

*** GAH! [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|Stupid sexy Lulu!]]

* Ryuunosuke from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' is a girl forced to dress up as a boy. Despite all of the school knowing of her situation, she still gets more Valentine's chocolates and love letters from the girls than all of the other boys.

* Subverted in ''[[Romeo X Juliet]]'' when [[Genki Girl]] actress Emilia convinces her friend Odin to crossdress for the Rose Ball and notes that the end result is ''very'' pretty... completely unaware that Odin [[Bifauxnen|actually * is*]] [[Recursive Crossdressing|a girl]].

* James is no stranger to cross-dressing in ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' (so much so that in some fanfic universes it's considered to be part of Team Rocket's basic training), but in an episode that was banned for years in the United States, he enters a women's bikini contest wearing a particularly convincing full-body, flesh-tone bodysuit with inflatable breasts.<ref>The dubbed version, when it finally aired, had the breast scenes cut.</ref>

** Ash Ketchum himself has dressed as a girl on three different occasions in the series so far, one of them during the episode ''Pokemon Scent-sation'' [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Ashley.png as Ashley].

** One wonders if the trend began because of ''Slayers''' [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]] . Episode 17 was the "Q" episode ("Question?" in this case), and one has to wonder if they were trying to slip "Queer" past the radar in the process.

* {{spoiler|Johan}} in ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]''.

* Aoi Futaba from ''[[You're Under Arrest]].'' [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in Episode 5, where the Bokuto squad attempt to "masculinize" him by putting him through martial arts training and dressing him in a male officer's uniform, with unfortunate results.

{{quote|'''Aoi:''' So... how do I look?

* In one episode of ''[[Natsume Yuujinchou]]'', Natsume briefly gets possessed by a female spirit. Because of that, he begins to exhibit feminine qualities (sometimes seemingly having longer hair), and all of his friends start finding themselves disturbingly attracted to him.

* Yuki from ''[[No Bra]]'' easily passes as a girl, to the point where the only cast member who knows the truth is his [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] and roommate Masato. Much to his embarrassment, several of his friends quickly develop crushes on this new "girl" at their school. Made even funnier in that Yuki never actually claims to be a girl (he even tries to explain it, but is ignored), just dresses and acts like one. It doesn't help that he has a very feminine build including what seem to be breasts.

* When the title character of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' is accidentally cursed to dress like a girl, he actually looks disturbingly attractive. Attractive enough to convince Izumi's butler that he really is female (he even lies and says his name is Hermione Ayasaki, and the butler [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] that [[Harry Potter (novel)|it sounds like a wizard's name]]). Then, Izumi recognizes him and tells the butler the truth, which causes him to look at Hayate's chest and realize that she's right. Better yet, he goes from being dressed like a maid to being dressed up like a bunny, and then accidentally reveals himself in public to all of the people he knows.

** Note that Hayate actually turned said butler, Kotetsu Segawa, completely gay for him. Ever since then he has rather aggressively pursued Hayate, once even challenging him to ping-pong at an onsen resort on the condition that if he won Hayate would have to go into the bath with him (He later threw the match to Maria, who made her condition that the two of them would have to do her chores...dressed as maids. We haven't yet seen this but we have seen Maria excitedly preparing maid outfits for it.)

* ''[[Wandering Son]]'''s Shuuichi Nitori inadvertently stole the attention of the boy his older sister liked after he saw Shuu dressed as a girl.

** Nitori has quite the harem, from both boys and girls. On the other side of the spectrum, Takatsuki is quite the looker too.

** Not to mention when Seiji dresses up like a girl to catch a molester on a train, prompting his (male) friend to unknowingly hit on him. Said friend later shows off a picture he took on his phone. Seiji responds by eating the phone.

** And the female fans? Many ladies thought and/or said [[Even the Girls Want Her|"HOTTEST TRAP EVER, KTHX"]].

** Played with in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]'', where the male members of the Gundam Team have to crossdress to infiltrate a stronghold ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]). Iino makes a good-looking girl, but Judau... [[Subverted Trope|does not]].

* Mariya Shidou from ''[[Maria Holic]]'' is a boy crossdressing, but you'd never guess in a million years. This is endlessly frustrating to Kanako, who's not only a [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|lesbian]] but fears boys so much they make her break out in hives. She's intensely attracted to Mariya as a girl, and has to keep reminding herself he isn't one.

** Then again, Husky often gets mistaken for a girl even when he ''isn't'' dressed up like one. Nana even believes he's a girl secretly crossdressing as a boy in the beginning.

* Happens often in ''[[Here Is Greenwood]]''. Shun Kusanagi and his little brother look like girls, which is disturbing/amusing/arousing to the general populace of the all-male Greenwood dorm. Various other male characters don drag at different points in the manga (mostly for cultural/sports festivals), and attract various admirers. This is not including the alternative-dimension Cherrywood where everyone male is female.

* In ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', the beautiful courtesan Nuriko is revealed to be a man. A ''very'' pretty man. (Hotohori, already a gorgeous male, actually is a little jealous at the start.) Later on in the manga, ''all'' the Suzaku warriors are temporarily [[Disguised in Drag|forced to cross-dress]], and Chichiri turns himself into a very sweetly gorgeous young woman - possibly the the best-looking out of all of them, to which Nuriko does not react very well.

** One of the OVA specials features the Suzaku and Seryuu groups and their respective priestesses going on a vacation trip to what turns out to be an all-women's bath (which they find out only when they arrive there), forcing the males to dress as females. Of course it's a no-brainer for Nuriko, while Hotohori is just so bishounen it's no problem for him, and Tomo merely wonders how much make-up needs changing. As for the others, some of them end up looking good, ranging from cute (Chiriko) to gorgeous (Nakago and Chichiri), others end up looking ridiculous (Tamahome and Tasuki), while Mitsukake, who's face was censored, ended up giving everyone [[Nightmare Fuel|a big scare]].

* In Season 2 of ''[[Genshiken]]'' Kousaka (who is pretty much [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]] as is) cosplays as a character from ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'' for Comi Fes, causing shocked reactions from the other guys from the group.

'''Madarame:''' I think we should stop talking about this... }}

* Ivankov from ''[[One Piece]]''. ''Dear Lord''. When Ivankov is a man he is ugly, and [[Gonk|barely even human-looking]]. When he is a woman she is beautiful. Why? Because your painfully forced [[Designated Girl Fight]] wouldn't be complete without two attractive girls duking it out!

* Ciel Phantomhive from ''[[Black Butler]]'', who wore a fancy, pink ballgown. He ''does'' make a [http://www.kuroshitsujimanga.com/7/06/ real cute girl]. Well, cute enough that he would get kidnapped by the [[Bishonen|handsome]] Viscount Druitt.

** Alois also dresses up as a female maid and Ciel is shown to look at him in awe because he thinks he's a girl and blush.

* [[The Wallflower|Ranmaru, Takenaga, and Yuki.]]

* ''[[Kämpfer]]'': Natsuru gets this. And [[Even the Girls Want Her|both]] genders LOVE HIM/HER!!! Doesn't help that his [[Gender Bender]] side is VERY beautiful.

* [[I My Me! Strawberry Eggs|Hibiki Amasawa]] really does make a convincing woman, even if it is just to get a job as a Gym Teacher.

* Gilbert and Break (but ''especially'' Gilbert) are quite lovely when the mangaka puts them in pretty pretty dresses in the ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' omake.

* The Angel Chromosome-XX figure of Tabris from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' shows that Kaworu is an attractive sort, regardless of gender.

* Megumi Amatsuka from ''[[Tenshi na Konamaiki]]'' (AKA ''Cheeky Angel'') is a boy cursed to be a girl by a trickster genie twisted his wish to become a 'man among men' She is generally regarded to be the most attractive girl in the school despite her tendency to inflict violence on her more adamant male admirers. {{spoiler|Later subverted when it turns out Megumi always was a girl.}}

* Yuuji Fukunaga of ''[[Liar Game]]'' is a male-to-female transsexual. [[Unsettling Gender Reveal|And you'd never believe it if everybody else didn't keep using male pronouns when referring to him.]]

* Sora Aoi of ''[[Aki Sora]]''. Every girl in his life takes any possible opportunity to make him crossdress, and he looks waaay too cute every single time.

* Kyo Aizawa, a girl cross-dressing in order to join a high school basketball team makes such an attractive boy in ''[[Girl Got Game]]'' that she manages to get more chocolate on Valentine's Day than the Team's captain.

* In ''[[Heroman]]'', when Joey is forced to cross dress in episode 19 it comes as [[Viewer Gender Confusion|no]] [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|surprise]] that he makes an attractive looking girl. What does come as a surprise is that so does his best friend Psy, after taming his wild shock of hair.

* This is the main premise of ''[[Princess Princess]]'', where three bishonen in an all boys school are chosen to crossdress in order to make up for the lack of girls.

* Played with in the manga ''[[Usotsuki Lily]].'' En Shinohara is a male, [[Does Not Like Men|man-hating]] [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]. He's cute enough that the male student body actually ''doesn't believe'' he's male until his uniform blouse gets wet and transparent. However, this doesn't completely remove the problem, as at least one guy afterward is quoted as saying "Even those he's a guy, cute things are cute! (His transparent shirt was erotic!)"

** ''[http://www.hetarchive.net/images/index.php?level=picture&id=457 Ahem.]''

* Examples from ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'':

** Also {{spoiler|Yui, who [[Wholesome Crossdresser|prefers to wear boy's clothes]] after her capture by Keima.}}

* Mizuki and her boyfriend Akira in ''[[Ai Ore Love Me]]''. They're androgynous though, so they look the same whatever they're wearing; though Mizuki looks a little overly masculine even when wearing female clothing.

* In ''[[Gorsky and Butch]]'', the only female among the main cast in Maciek, a swat policeman re-drawn into a girl while trying to arrest the authors of the comic. He is very attractive, in an [[Action Girl]] way.

* When Tim Drake from ''[[Batman]]'' [http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/ladymirth/Batman626Pyrate-DCPpg10.jpg dressed up] [http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g108/ladymirth/Batman626Pyrate-DCPpg12.jpg like a girl], "she" was almost immediately asked out on a date by someone that had no idea she was Robin, the ''Boy'' Wonder.

* [[Jimmy Olsen]], [http://www.tgfa.org/comics/jimmy_olsen/jimmy_olsen.htm on more than one occasion]!

* Thor has, in some alternate universes, becomes a [http://www.tgfa.org/comics/thor/images/EarthX_05_15.jpg very] [http://www.tgfa.org/comics/thor/images/EarthX_SpEd_09.jpg beautiful] [http://www.comicvine.com/shethor1jpg/105-588515/ woman].

* In one ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' strip, General Halftrack found the company sitting in a clearing watching a beautiful girl in a skimpy bikini parade about. Sergeant Snorkel explained it was a lesson in camouflage: the "girl" was ''Lieutenant Fuzz''. The strip was itself a [[Recycled Script|rehash]] of an older strip, which had ''Sarge himself'' camouflaged as the gorgeous woman.

* When ''[[Shade the Changing Man]]'' became a woman, she was a stunningly beautiful one. Justified in that he was already such a [[Bishonen|pretty boy]] that he had masculinity issues with his image.

* Averted for Laughs in ''[[Valhalla]]'', when Thor is forced to dress like a woman to infiltrate a Jotun wedding (as the bride). [http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RSjKMptGd3o/SF1d2RzwRAI/AAAAAAAABEE/tJo3olEFius/s288/JJ-D_PM_Valhalla02-00a.jpg He looks pretty much like himself in a dress, with a veil covering the beard]. And the less said about Loki's initial disguise (which is toned down to the one on the picture), the better.

 

* The Harry Potter fanfic ''[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jendrafic/files/ Jade Green Eyes and Beyond Expectations]'' feature Harry crossdressing to hide from the wizarding world after the war ends and he becomes a star. Cue [[Male Gaze]].

* As Sarah called out Jareth<ref>(It wasn't even his fault. Poor guy had a [[Power Incontinence|cold]].)</ref> about it in [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007|Roommates]]'':

{{quote|"[http://asherhyder.deviantart.com/art/Roommates-217-Sit-278492881 Right. Do you want to try explaining why they're all built like super-models, on top of being girls?...]"}}

 

* [[Leslie Cheung]]: [http://oi44.tinypic.com/34pj14z.jpg in] [http://oi42.tinypic.com/3450wi9.jpg various] [http://oi43.tinypic.com/25ai1xi.jpg films] [http://oi42.tinypic.com/2uiwz90.jpg like this]

* The classic Hollywood version of this trope is ''[[Some Like It Hot]]'', whose final lines provide the page quote.

* In ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'' Part II, Michael J. Fox plays several of Marty's family members, including his future daughter. He makes a pretty good looking girl.

* Rare example of a female to male, but in ''[[Boys Don't Cry]]'' about the real life murder of Brandon Teena, who was a trans man, Hillary Swank not only looked convincingly male, but was not bad-looking.

* Cillian also cross-dresses in the movie ''[[Peacock]]''. He is...alluring.

* Dustin Hoffman as ''Tootsie''. Charles Durning's character said something near the end of the movie to the effect of "The only reason you're still alive is that I never kissed you."

* Dr. Frank N. Furter from ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''.

* A female version of this is seen in the Bob Dylan biopic ''[[I'm Not There]]''. Cate Blanchett portrays the "electric" Dylan, and looks very good while doing so, gaining quite a female following.

* [[John Cameron Mitchell]] as the titular character in ''[[Hedwig and The Angry Inch]]''. Even with a good gendar, you have to keep reminding yourself he's a guy.

* Will Keenan as Casey in ''[[Terror Firmer]]'', when it's revealed {{spoiler|he's the mysterious woman who's been committing all the murders on the set}}.

* In ''100 Girls'', a guy dresses up as a girl to gain access to the girls' dorm at a college and eventually must fend off a rape attempt from a guy.

 

* [[Mary Russell]] is occasionally called upon to dress as a man (given her spouse's occupation, quite frequently) and is still rather [[Bishonen]] doing so. As can be understood. And in a situation that might otherwise have been [[Sweet on Polly Oliver]], this trope holds truer—during ''O, Jerusalem'', when she's dressed as a teenage boy, her would-be rapists are in no way dissuaded by her revealing her gender.

* In Naomi Novik's short story ''The Wreck of the Amphidragora'', {{spoiler|Lady Araminta}} looks much the same as a man as she did as a woman, which is still fairly attractive. {{spoiler|Her captor finds her attractive enough that he would have tried to seduce "Lord Aramin" if Araminta hadn't solicited him first.}}

* [[Older Than Print]]: The ''[[Arabian Nights]]'' story "Prince Camaralzaman and Princess Badoura" tells of a Prince and Princess whose beauty so captivates a pair of djinn that they argue over which is the most beautiful mortal alive. Their attempt to settle the question leads to the Prince and Princess falling in love. It becomes a plot point that the two are almost identical, to the point where the Princess can dress up as the Prince, fool a cohort of her father's guards who are escorting them, and then fool a King and his daughter. Enough that the King proposes marriage and the daughter accepts.

* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' the Dark One intentionally gives the formerly male Balthamel a beautiful female body as Aran'gar because Balthamel was a pervert, and the Dark One has a sense of humor.

* Matthew (or should I say 'Blossom'?) in ''[[The Rose Of The Prophet]]'' trilogy. He is supposed to be androgynous-verging-on-the-feminine anyway, but damn it's harped on. Then again, the fact that he has to spend most of the story cross-dressing is a big plot point anyway.

* [[media:raven.jpg|This photo]], depicting [[Stephen Colbert]] as Raven from ''[[Wigfield]]''. His brother Jay was completely fooled by the picture, asked Stephen how he knew 'her' and was "a little disturbed" when told he was drooling over his little brother.

* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' short story "The Procrustean Petard" features a device which changes the sex of every member of the ''Enterprise'' crew (except for Spock, whose [[Half-Human Hybrid]] nature causes him to suffer from [[Extra Y, Extra Violent]]). Kirk is somewhat taken aback by how hot he is as a woman.

* ''[[Leviathan (novel)|Leviathan]]'' has Deryn/Dylan Sharp,who a number of teenage females in the books (plus Alek) consider extremely handsome, even moreso because she's a heroic airman.

 

* Occurs several times in ''[[Blackadder]]'':

** An extreme example, to the point of parody, is the scene in ''Blackadder II'' where Lord Percy falls for ''Baldrick'' in a dress—despite him retaining his usual beard and level of cleanliness.

* The killer in an episode of ''[[Criminal Minds]]''. As a split personality killer where one personality is a woman, this was going to happen at some point. And boy, does it happen.

* In a fourth season episode of ''[[The A-Team]]'', Murdock, with help from special guest Boy George, dresses as a pregnant woman to gain access to the rest of the team who have had to barricade themselves in the sheriff's office. Not only does he managed to convince a lynch mob to let him through without anyone questioning that he wasn't a she, but Face mentions that Murdock looked better to him as a woman than he did as a man.

{{quote|''Brunt (pointing at naked gender swapped Quark):'' "I tell you, ''that'' is not a female!"

''Nilva:'' "Close enough for me…" }}

* In one episode of ''[[The Red Green Show]]'', the gang has to make it seem like there are women at the lodge, so Harold and Dalton disguise themselves as women. Despite not looking feminine, Harold is asked out on a date.

 

* From [[The Kinks]]' 1970 comeback hit "Lola":

{{quote|Now I'm not dumb but I can't understand

Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man. }}

* In conflict with its [[Memetic Mutation|public image]], Aerosmith's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRTu5I2loY Dude Looks Like A Lady]".

* In [[Vocaloid]], Len makes a really pretty girl as seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H22xjO-lTtg&feature=related here].

* The female versions of the male band members in Nightwish's video for "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdhXxxWREo Bye Bye Beautiful]".

* The guys of [[The Lonely Island]] have stated that while filming the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI6CfKcMhjY Jack Sparrow] video, they became rather uncomfortable around Michael Bolton while he was [http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmcy0m2Gfy1qzjpceo1_500.png dressed as Erin Brockovich].

* The glam rock band Angel consisted of five guys that looked like ladies. Punky Meadows, in particular, was subject to this from the perspective of Terry Bozzio in [[Frank Zappa]]'s song "Punky's Whips".

* Topic of the Magnetic Fields' "Andrew in Drag".

 

* [[Norse Mythology]] has some interesting examples:

** The gods Odin and Thor have been able to pass themselves off as women. While the fact that ''Thor and Odin'' make attractive women may make one wonder [[Brian Blessed|what the hell women looked like in the Northlands]], Thor's disguise as a woman makes a lot of sense, when you look at the symbolism behind the story. The Jotun steal his hammer and hide it. As the price for returning it, they want Freyja in exchange. She, of course, is none too pleased by the Aesir's willingness to sell her down the river for Thor's hammer. The hammer is, of course, more than just a hammer, and so, with his * ahem* giant-bashing stick taken away, Thor is metaphorically a woman. Interesting guys, the old Norse. (Yes, this does mean [[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|the hammer is]] [[Don't Explain the Joke|his penis]].)

* In [[Hindu Mythology]], Vishnu's female incarnation as the enchantress Mohini is so gorgeous Shiva falls for her. They even had a child, the culture-hero Ayyappan, and in some versions this was their way around a [[No Man of Woman Born]] clause.

 

* From the October 12, 1941 episode of ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'':

'''Dennis:''' [[Ho Yay|I sent you a love letter]]. Forget about it. }}

 

* Shakespeare's entire life's work, pretty much.

** Sometimes it works both ways, too. When Viola dresses up as a man in ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', the woman she's supposed to woo for her lord instead falls for ''her'' male persona. (Good thing she has a [[Half Identical Twin]].)

* The cross-dresser in ''RENT'', Angel.

* In ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', the Baron von Ochs starts hitting on the chambermaid "Mariandel" the moment he first sees her. When they have arranged a tête à tête, he suddenly notices the resemblance between her and Octavian, whom he has every reason to hate at that point, but dismisses it. And after the tête à tête turns into a trap and the situation culminates in the Baron scandalously abrogating his impending [[Arranged Marriage]] to Sophie, he turns to "Mariandel" proposing marriage, whereupon the maid excuses herself with a very amusing secret to tell the Inspector.

 

* Cloud from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', if you get the right items for the preceding quest. Although the polycount is too low to allow the player to judge for themselves, he is treated as if he were a very attractive woman in-game.

** Given his character design in the Compilation, it's no longer hard to imagine what Cloud would look like as a woman. Now I just want to know what he'd look like as a ''man.''

*** Even when they forgot to include any sort of stuffing for Clouds blouse, which Tifa, and even Aeris, has a-plenty...

**** Maybe he likes [[Pettanko]]s? He later kidnaps Yuffie...

** The main character of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', Lightning, is deliberately something of his [[Distaff Counterpart]]. She's not just, presumably, similar to him personality wise, she ''[http://eydx.deviantart.com/art/Lightning-and-cloud-196624020?q=boost%3Apopular%20cloud%20x%20lightning&qo=27 has his face]'', and the crazy thing? While she's not as feminine or delicate as most other Square Enix girls, she's still quite pretty.

*** To put it bluntly, Lightning ''is'' Cloud if / when he cross dresses. Toriyama's guidelines to Nomura was to make her "strong and beautiful" - a "female version of Cloud." And considering [[media:16-12 212 7503.jpg|what Lightning looks like]], who ''wouldn't'' want to bang Cloud when he's dressed like a girl?

* [[Unsettling Gender Reveal|Bridget]] from the ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' series of games, who is the basis of an [[Memetic Mutation|internet meme]] for this very reason.

** Which makes the quote he makes upon seeing you in ''Warriors Orochi'', "I am as dangerous as I am manly!" rather amusing in itself.

* Dimitri Maximov from ''[[Darkstalkers]]'' has a [[Combos|super move]] called "Midnight Bliss", which changes attractive (or even unattractive) male or female characters into attractive females. His appearance in ''SNK vs Capcom: Chaos'' [[Memetic Mutation|spawned a fanart industry]] consisting of female versions of male video game characters, who are referred to as being "Midnight Blissed".

** Spoofed in a ''[[Capcom Fighting Evolution]]'' hentai doujin where Dimitri uses the move on Hauzer from ''[[Red Earth]]'', which turns the [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] into...a [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] in a [[Sailor Fuku]] with [[Gag Boobs]]. Cue a [[Squick]]ed-out Dimitri backing away at full speed.

* Poor, poor Shika in ''[[Kirakira|Kira Kira]]''. He was forced into drag once in tenth grade and was ''so'' cute that a guy fell in love with him. His childhood friend brings this up to their fellow (female) bandmates, who decide to get out his wig and force him to dress up as a girl. Much hilarity is had. Shika swears never to crossdress again—but then he has to dress up as a girl to get into a friend's house because of her [[Overprotective Dad|overprotective grandfather]]. And [[Cloudcuckoolander|Kirari]] continues to force him into drag for concerts and her general amusement. One thing leads to another, and Shika spends about a third of the game forced into women's clothing and a wig. Even in the sequel, for the return of the original d2b, his fellow ex-band members conspire against him to crossdress once more for their last performance.

* ''[[Circuits Edge]]'', the 1989 CRPG based on George Alec Effinger's [[Marid Audran]] novels (see Literature, above), likewise featured this trope.

* Poison from ''[[Final Fight]]'' is either a post-op or pre-op transsexual, depending on who you ask. [[Word of God]] is that she's pre-op in Japan and post-op elsewhere. It's like [[She's a Man In Japan]], but... more complicated depending on personal definitions. In any case, she makes a lovely woman.

 

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' plays with this a lot. Tedd's [[Transformation Ray]] actually has a setting [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-11-01 designed to turn males into attractive females.] It also turns the girls into attractive males. In fact, one of the variations also gives the transformed person [[Love Is in the Air|enhanced pheromones]], or in Tedd's own words, making them [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-14 "smell sexy".] It then subverts the inversion by giving Sarah a male form that is decidedly less hunky -- (though [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-01-09 VERY bishounen], making for a possible [[Double Subversion]].) Tedd, meanwhile, looks very feminine even as a boy, to the point that guys [[Gender Bender|(and guys who are turned into girls)]] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-15 feel quite] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-05-21 awkward around him.]

** Sarah also falls into the trap of being briefly attracted to herself when she looks in a mirror.

*** The comic now has a favourite [[Justified Trope|justification]]: [[Chivalrous Pervert|Tedd]] [[Mad Scientist|designs]] the forms, and [[Invoked Trope|he sees no reasons to make more ugly people]].

* Subverted in ''[[Narbonic]]'': Dave's female form is just plain dumpy. ("[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9895 Aren't women normally shaped more like Jennifer Lopez?" "Despite what you've been taught, no."])

** But his gaming friend Seth asks him out anyway. Despite knowing that it's really Dave.

{{quote|"I wish I could say this was my worst date ever. I totally do."}}

** She looked great when she had long hair too. On the other side of the spectrum, Tom (a [[Transsexualism]] female-to-male) is [[Mr. Fanservice]] at its finest. And he's not even on hormones.

* ''[[RPG World]]'' polled readers to find out which character in the comic would win a swimsuit competition. After the results were tallied, it was revealed that character with the second highest number of votes ("Red Haired NPC Girl") was really just Hero, the lead male character, dressed like a girl.

* ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'' has this as its premise, basically. When Yuuki gets his first good look at his new female body (which has the same face as his old one) he chides himself for his perverted thoughts. [[Man, I Feel Like a Woman|And then...]]

* Subverted/Inverted in ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' with Mori, a woman who gets turned into very handsome man, much to the [[Stupid Sexy Flanders|discomfort]] of his/her recently [[Gender Bender|gender-swapped]], formerly-male colleagues. Mori's colleagues are also fairly good looking, but not extremely attractive like him/her.

* Basically the entire plot of ''[http://heartgear.deviantart.com/art/Material-Girl-Bad-Karma-85286795 MaterialGirl]''; just add unwilling crossdressing. (This example needs some [[Wiki Magic]].)

* Dillon of ''[[Ménage à 3]]'' dresses up as Black Canary for a part in a play. He's so convincing that apparently his male co-actor playing Green Lantern doesn't realise even after kissing him.

* Reversing the usual genders of the trope, in ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'', Marena, a [[Anything That Moves|happily promiscuous]] shapeshifting Lunar Exalt, is just as attractive when she changes into a male form.

* Appears frequently in ''[[Jet Dream (webcomic)|Jet Dream]]'' [[Remix Comic]] stories:

* In a side plot of ''[[Twokinds]]'' the slave Mike has an ''illusion'' cast upon him that makes him appear as an attractive female to himself and others. Chaos ensues.

* Given the reactions of various characters, Sonja and Robyn seem to fall under this category in ''[[The Wotch]]''.

* Simon of ''[[Double K]]'' has spent all but two panels dressed in drag. And apparently, several people in universe find his disguise attractive. And some out of universe as well.

* In ''[[Murry And Lewy]]'', both of the main characters get a Gender Bender. Murry, who was a slightly attractive guy, turned into one heck of a good looking lady, while his partner was average looking at best in both states.

 

* The online serial novel ''[http://www.barkingduck.net/ehayes/index.html The Saga of Tuck]'' does this straight (if you pardon the expression) and deadly serious - it causes Tuck to panic when Travis starts showing serious interest in him, out of fear of what Travis would do if he found out, and {{spoiler|later, when s/he reluctantly begins dating him, the realization that s/he is attracted to him. Travis later reveals that a mutual friend had spilled the beans before they started seeing each other regularly (mostly; Travis believes at first that Tuck has had sex-reassignment surgery, which is believable because, as they determine later, Tuck is biologically intersexed)}}.

* Most main characters in the [[Whateley Universe]], it's not just the [[Gender Bender|gender benders]] though: half the mutants who have a physical change when they manifest are extremely attractive while the other half, including two of the protagonist genderbenders, don't look human anymore.

* A rare justified example in ''[[Metamor Keep]]'' - the Transgender curse victims are ''intentionally'' made to be attractive to the opposite sex, and originally, it's because they were to be turned into sex slaves.

* While many people already found Joe Walker attractive when he played Voldemort in ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'', many more believed that him playing '''Umbridge''' in ''A Very Potter Sequel'' only made him [[Up to Eleven|hotter]].

* The entire (insulting) point of the "It's a trap!" meme.

 

** Timmy's Dad once dressed as a woman to enter Miss Dimmsdale pageant. Adam West fell in love with him and knowing the truth did nothing to change the feeling.

* Played with in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "War is the H-Word", when Leela disguises herself as a decidedly un-handsome man named "Lee Lemon." Even though she doesn't look like much, Zapp Brannigan is strangely attracted to "him" and, in the end, after fighting Lee, losing, and finding out who "he" really is, proclaims that he's never been so happy to have been beaten up by a woman.

* An episode of ''[[The Garfield Show]]'' has this happening to Garfield and Odie, resulting in them looking like elderly ladies (to be fair, though, this is imposed on them). Nermal gets smitten the moment he sees Garfield in this fashion, but lucky for him he never finds out the truth.

* ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' examples:

** When Tom was tasked with guarding the garden against a gopher, he disguised himself as a female gopher. It would have worked except that Jerry warned the gopher, who then played along.

** "Flirty Birdy" (1945): Tom uses a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] to entice an eagle who is also after Jerry for eating. Things [[Gone Horribly Right|Go Horribly Right]] and it ends with Tom sitting on a nest of eggs!

** In another episode, there was a ''[[Stargate SG-1|Stargate SG 1]]'' convention. When the lights were out, [[MacGyver]]-obsessed fans Selma and Patty abducted Richard Dean Anderson. The people attending the convention concluded that there must be a real Stargate in the convention hall, and started looking for it until someone pointed out something ''more incredible'': there was a ''girl'' in there. The "girl" was Groundskeeper Willy, who tried to explain he wasn't a girl and was wearing a kilt but was told he's the best they hoped to get.

 

* Some people are ''primarily'' attracted to transgendered individuals, an orientation known as transromanticism. Example: one couple thought, at first, that they were both lesbians. After a while, one of them realized he was a trans man, and his partner realized she was specifically attracted to trans men.

** Erica Moen, noted queer cartoonist, assures us that this is because [http://www.darcomic.org/2009/02/17/transmen/ "Transmen are ridiculously hot"].

* [[YouTube]] vloggers CandiFLA, sweetnsexyts, and a good number of others. (Candi does voicetraining videos and has been known to ''bend back'' using her male voice, resulting in some amusingly jarring videos.)

** Also applies to cosplay where the demographic watchers/players/readers are mostly female and the same goes for males who have very delicate features.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gender Blending Tropes]]

[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]

[[Category:Shapeshifting]]

[[Category:Turn-On Tropes]]