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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Kim''': You're weird.
'''Ron''': Ah! K.P.!
'''Kim''': Shhh. I like weird.
|'''[[Official Couple|Kim and Ron]]''' from ''[[Kim Possible]]''}}
A trope common in [[Romantic Comedy|Romantic Comedies]] and Teen Comedies, in which a dorky ([[Nerds Are Sexy|not necessarily]] ''[[Nerds Are Sexy|ugly]]'', just... geeky) guy ends up with the totally hot babe. Generally, at the beginning of the story, the geek begins the story as an outcast whom the beautiful girl would never be attracted to. He may be a band geek, or a scientist with all the social graces of a tube worm, or a ''[[Dungeons
Often, the guy will be smitten with the girl the first time he sees her. She, on the other hand, won't be attracted at first, and will often fight the attraction later on in the story. Eventually, despite whatever ''[[Three's Company]]''-style misunderstanding crops up (and it will; you can count on it) she comes to realize that there is more to the geek than his pocket protector and love will bloom. It is ''never'' [[Love At First Sight]] for the babe, in any case.
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* The ending of ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'' has {{spoiler|"Geek Boy" Brief finally having sex with Panty. It helps that he turns out to be [[Beautiful All Along]]. However, after the final battle, their relationship seems to be the same (IE he's still the [["No Respect" Guy]]), though at least Panty starts using his name.}}
* In ''[[Bamboo Blade]]'', the character [[Yandere|Miyako]] [[Violently Protective Girlfriend|Miyazaki]] dates and is VERY in love with [[Ugly Cute|Dan-kun]]. He has a head like an acorn, she sparkles.
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==
* [[Spider-Man|Peter Parker]]. By all accounts an average-looking guy who is incredibly nerdy, he still managed to date three bombshells before marrying a supermodel.
** This hasn't gone
** He's also recently caught the attention of [[Ms. Marvel]].
** His cause is helped by the fact that most artists post-Steve Ditko have given him a significant amount of [[Progressively Prettier|male polish]].
{{quote|
** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the [[Ultimate Universe]]. When
* [[Incredible Hercules|Amadeus Cho]], the 7th smartest person on Earth (as verified by a soap company - oh, and Reed Richards). Managed to win the heart of a [[Perky Goth]] Amazon Gorgon girl.
** It must be noted that the looks are inverted, as the aforementioned Amazon Gorgon got her looks from Medusa, while Cho is always drawn quite handsomely.
* [[An Ice Person|Dr. Victor Fries]] was quite the shy, timid, and introverted scientist, but that didn't stop him from marrying the late Nora, a smoking hot blonde. [[Blatant Lies|And they lived happily ever after.]]
* ''[[Runaways]]'' provides a rare [[Gender Flip]]: short, chubby, average-looking nerd Gert ends up with tall, blond athlete Chase.
== Film -- Animated ==
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** Sam's [[Second Love|next girlfriend]], is [[Mythology Gag|Carly Spencer]], who is played by a ''Victoria's Secret'' model.
* ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]'': Louis Scholnik at first [[Bed Trick|tricks Betty Childs into having sex with him]]. She falls for him when she finds out who he really is.
{{quote|
'''Louis:''' Yes.
'''Betty:''' How come?
'''Louis:''' 'cause all jocks think about is sports. All ''we'' ever think about is sex. }}
** To be fair, she falls for him as a
* ''[[Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist]]'': The geeky, unmacho Nick gets the girl, naturally. (Inverted in the book, where she is somewhat dowdy while he is compared to a gay porn star.)
* In the ''[[American Pie]]'' films, Jim Levenstein and Michelle Flaherty fit this trope. While it's true that Michelle is ''also'' a geek (specifically, a band geek), she's a sexed-out band geek played by ''[[Alyson Hannigan]]''.
** Partially subverted in-universe though- Jim initially dismissed Michelle for her [[Adorkable|dorkiness.]] whereas she seems to have chosen him at least partly by physical attraction.
* Complete geeks Evan and Seth end up with hotties Becca and Jules in ''[[Superbad]]''.
* In ''[[Can't Buy Me Love]]'', nerd Ronald Miller ends up with cheerleader Cindy Mancini.
* ''[[Weird Science (film)|Weird Science]] '': Gary and Wyatt get the girls with the help of Lisa, their artificial woman.
* In his movies, Woody Allen has dated or been married to [[Téa Leoni]], [[Goldie Hawn]], [[Helena Bonham Carter]], [[Elizabeth Shue]], [[Julia Roberts]] and [[Mira Sorvino]], among others. Of course, given his string of real-life wives, this could also be a case of fiction imitating reality.
* Has there ever been a film starring Adam Sandler or Jack Black where this trope ''didn't'' apply?
** ''[[Tenacious D]]''.
** ''[[School of Rock]]''.
* The 2008 ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]'' movie has Maxwell Smart (played by professional nerd Steve Carell) and gorgeous bombshell Agent 99 (played by authentic hotness [[Anne Hathaway]]) hook up.
* 2009's ''[[I Love You, Beth Cooper]].'' High school valedictorian stalker nerd with enormous nose meets up with [[Hayden Panettiere]] as Beth Cooper. Nuff said!
* ''[[Sideways]]''. Lampshaded by Paul Giamatti's long monologue comparing different types of wines.
* Subverted in ''[[A Cinderella Story]]'' in that by the end, the [[Alpha Bitch]] is willing to give the geek a chance - but he chooses the weird, purple-haired announcer girl.
** Not to mention the real reason why she wanted to get with him was after he starred in that commercial and became popular. Earlier, after they had kissed during the ball and when she found out she had actually kissed him, she promptly expressed her disgust.
* In ''[[Where
* Hilariously subverted in ''[[National Lampoon's Stoned Age]]'', when the nerd is, and is called a complete moron by everyone, watches his dream girl marry his jock older brother, and when the girl is kidnapped by a rival tribe and his own tribe runs away, the nerd goes through the trouble of trying to rescue his beloved, only to find out that she's staying with the rival chief, because he's manlier than her brother, and provided her with furs, jewelry and food.
** Also, he has guaranteed sex with a tribe of hot amazons, but naturally, he fucks it up. In the end though, the nerd doesn't die a virgin, because he had sex with a monkey,
* Applied with irony in ''[[Ghostbusters]]''. Geeky accountant Louis Tully is often hitting on pretty cellist Dana Barrett, despite Dana's constant hints that she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. {{spoiler|However, once they're both possessed, they merge the key and the gate.}}
** In the sequel Louis and the Ghostbusters' [[Sassy Secretary]] Janine Melnitz end up babysitting Oscar and, after some wine and pizza, start making out on the couch.
* In ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'', sci-fi
** Although, he still managed to get together with Lorraine originally even without the help of his future son. The difference being, due to Marty's involvement, was ''how'' they got together, ultimately ending up improving their lives drastically, which Marty discovered upon returning to 1985.
* Cruelly, cruelly subverted in ''[[Wet Hot American Summer]]'' with Katie and Coop. Though she seems to warm up to him and even {{spoiler|confesses her love for him}}, at the very end of the movie she {{spoiler|rejects him for the hot [[Jerkass]] Andy, telling Coop that she really likes him, but she just wants to have sex with a hot guy and she doesn't care if he treats her like crap.}}
* Neurotic, geeky Columbus and hot "bad girl"-type Wichita in ''[[Zombieland]]'' are a pretty textbook example, although it probably helps that he may be the only guy her age left after the zombie apocalypse.
* In ''[[The New Guy]]'' the geeky and socially awkward Dizzy ends up with head cheerleader Danielle.
* ''[[She's Out of My League]]'' has this as central plot driver.
* In the [[Disney Channel]] movie ''Geek Charming'', Josh Rosen, a high school film geek, decides to make a domcumentary about high school popularity and chooses Dylan Schoenfield, the most popular girl in school, as his subject. Over the course of making the film he discovers {{spoiler|[[Hidden Depths|the real Dylan]] and she [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|begins to see that Josh is the one for her]].}}
* In ''[[
== Literature ==
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* In ''Paper Towns'', Ben and Lacey, and Quentin and Margo to a lesser extent.
* Reversed with [[Harry Potter|Ron and Hermione]]. By ''Prince'', Ron's technically a jock, and Hermione's still a geek.
** Played straight in [[The Film of the Book]], if only because Hermione's actress [[She
** Not to mention Cormac, who is also a good-looking Quidditch player (though it's subverted in that Hermione thinks he's an idiot and only dates him once, to annoy Ron). Before that there was also ''Goblet of Fire'', when the popular and athletic Viktor Krum is smitten with Hermione.
* Another gender-inverted example is good-looking, popular athlete Calvin and bookish, frumpy Meg from Madeline L'Engle's [[A Wrinkle in Time|Time Quartet]] who eventually get married. (Although ''[[A Swiftly Tilting Planet]]'' implies that Meg, like her [[Hot Scientist]] [[Hot Mom|mother]], grew up quite nicely from her 'awkward geek' teenage years.)
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* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', Billy got more romantic subplots than any other ranger.
** Also, the final pairings of [[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]] {{spoiler|(Theo/Lily and Dominic/Fran)}} went along these lines as well, both of the alternative options {{spoiler|(Casey and Maryl respectively)}} being more conventionally "normal" compared to their rivals.
* Hot bimbo Leeta and total dork/technical genius Rom in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. Even other characters don
* ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', with Drew and just about every woman he dates, with a few exceptions like Wanda Sykes, and the much-older Shirley Jones. See also the page quote, from one of his standup routines.
* Jerry Seinfeld regularly brought home supermodels on ''[[Seinfeld]]''.
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** On the flight back, she is the one who suggests they join the [[Mile-High Club]], although it could've just been to shut him up.
* Both ''[[The Bob Newhart Show]]'' and ''[[Newhart]]'' paired Bob's character with an improbably attractive wife.
* ''[[That '70s Show]]''. Eric: thin, geeky-looking teenage boy. Donna: tall, thin, gorgeous redhead (with beautiful skin, too).
* Chandler and Monica on ''[[Friends]]''. What makes this interesting is that Phoebe and Rachael ''act'' as if Chandler is far beneath Monica, casually mentioning that Monica "could do better" or even at one point trying to set her up with other men. [[With Friends Like These...|Note that they are both supposedly Chandler's friends too.]]
** Given Chandler's self-esteem record, he'd probably agree with them. At one point, they had to talk him into approaching a beautiful woman:
{{quote|
*** Which is odd, considering Chandler is considered, in universe, the funniest of the friends, is the most successful, and is hardly unattractive. He's the catch of the entire cast by any standard.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' has a rare male-hottie/female geek version of this trope with Chloe Sullivan and her crush on Clark.
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* Chuck and Sarah (and Jill) on ''[[Chuck]]''. Granted, he's [[Hollywood Homely]] / a [[Hollywood Nerd]], but still he's an ubergeek with a dead-end job at a big-box electronics retailer...
** Although Jill is also really geeky.
* Arguably inverted in ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' with Sabrina and Harvey. It's true that the pretty, blonde, funny, Sabrina is practically the poster girl for [[Cool Loser]] but she ''does'' have a lot of dorky interests (science, maths, high school journalism...). Harvey on the other is a popular jock (though not a [[Jerk Jock|jerk]]).
** This is reversed in the [[Recycled: the Series|animated series]], where Harvey is a nerdy weirdo... who has girls fighting over him anyway.
* In ''[[CSI New York]]'' it's a partial inversion as female geek hottie Lindsay ends up with male hottie Danny.
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** Less a [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]] as they just found they had nothing in common.
* Seth and Summer in ''[[The OC]]''.
* [[Sarcasm Mode|Fresh and original]] MTV's new show ''[[The Hard Times of RJ Berger]]'' seems to have this premise.
* ''[[Primeval]]'' has Connor and Abby. N erdy, awkward Connor Temple and hot, ass-kicking Abby Maitland.
* Averted in ''[[No Ordinary Family]]''. [[Alpha Bitch|Bailey]] is genuinely interested in JJ, but he only wants fellow geek Natalie.
* On ''[[15/Love|Fifteen Love]]'' Rick was socially inept [[Butt Monkey]]. Cassidy was a very attractive British tennis star. To be fair, Rick was at least [[Hollywood Nerd|physically attractive]] and her interest in him was a combination of this and [[Geeky Turn On]].
* Sav Bandhari on [[Degrassi]] tends to be a bit socially awkward, but ends up having a rather storied love life.
** Liberty and Toby were both this trope in the earlier seasons too, although Toby was gradually [[Demoted to Extra]].
** ''[[Glee]]'' had this with Brittany and Artie.
* Subverted in ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210|90210]]''. Beautiful [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]] Naomi falls for [[Hollywood Nerd]] Max but (to her amazement) he's initially disinterested because he views her as a shallow airhead. She has to work hard to get him to realise she has [[Hidden Depths]] and the show makes it clear that Max has had a healthy romantic life before they even met.
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== Video Games ==
* Otacon and Dr. Naomi in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''.
** {{spoiler|[[Butt Monkey|Johnny Sasaki]] and Meryl got married at the end.}}
* ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' has a tag-team battle with two NPCs: an Aroma Girl (a [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]-type girl) and a Collector (a Type 1 [[Hollywood Nerd]]). The pre- and post-combat dialog indicates that they've just recently started a relationship.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', a male Shepard can romance the quarian machinist (i.e. engineer) Tali. In [[Mass Effect 1|the game's prequel,]] a Shepard of either gender can romance the asari scientist Liara. Of course, Shepard can be played as a bit of a geek himself (especially an engineer Shepard).
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[
* In the [[Whateley Universe]] story "The Big Idea", Reach is enamored with cute scientist Spark who is European and doesn't see him. (He has a bad Kentucky accent and wants to join the Intelligence Cadet Corps.) He eventually gets the girl, but by then they have both been transmogrified so they're both ''much'' better looking.
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== Western Animation ==
* [[Action Girl]] Kim Possible and her geek-love Ron Stoppable in ''[[Kim Possible]]''. [[Trope Namer|The trope is named for the quote]] in an interview by the creators of the show, when they were asked why they were pairing up Kim and Ron.
* Stacy and Spud in ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]''.
* Jérémie and Aelita in ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. It helps that Aelita is also a geek.
* Sheen and Libby in ''[[Jimmy Neutron]]''.
* Gerald and Phoebe from [[Hey Arnold!]] is one of those rare moments that the girl is the "geek" in question here.
* Occasionally played around with for Velma from [[Scooby Doo]] such as later on in Scooby Doo on Zombie Island.
* While the writers of the ''[[Rugrats]]'' ''[[All Grown Up!]]'' series tried to avoid flat out confirming certain pairings (most likely trying to avert a [[Broken Base]]) but [[Ship Tease]] did happen nevertheless. One example of a pairing that got [[Ship Tease]] that fits with this trope is Chuckie and Angelica. (In which of course has received even more attention from fans in fan work.)
* Dr. Walter Hartford of ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' fits a lot of the usual definitions for a geek; highly educated, computer hacker, fast mouth, and fond of pop culture references. Princess Maya didn't think much of him at first, and was more attracted to [[The Lancer|Gooseman]]. Then, Doc turned on the charm...made contact with an alien computer that was protecting the planet, [[Took a Level
* Notably played with and then averted in ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'' between Irma and Martin. Early on it seems to be setting up to invoke this trope, as Martin is smitten and Irma rebukes him at every turn. She eventually (and reluctantly, as it was neccesary for a [[It Makes Sense in Context|distraction]]) goes on one date with him and is miserable the whole way through. Later though she is visibly jealous when he is interested in someone else. By the end of the series, she's the only main character ''not'' in a relationship and her and Martin have settled into a mutual quasi love/hate friendship.
* Octus and Kimmy from ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]'', where the redheaded cheerleader falls for the nerd [[Robosexual|who is actually a robot]].
* ''[[Doug]]'': Athletic Patti and the clumsy, shy, [[Adorkable]] title character.
* Subverted in ''[[Daria]]''. In the tv movie ''Is It Fall Yet?'', Quinn, Daria's beautiful and popular sister, falls for her nerdy tutor. She asks him out, believing that she is playing straight this trope, but he tells her that he's not interested in her because she's shallow. It is implied that this is the first time a guy ever turned her down.
* In ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', [[Pungeon Master|Numbuh]] [[Gadgeteer Genius|Two]] has been shown to be a bit of a [[Casanova Wannabe]] when it comes to girls, yet he still manages to attract {{spoiler|his cool and snarky teammate [[Sassy Black Woman|Numbuh]] [[Action Girl|Five]]}}, whom he ends up [[Happily Married|marrying]] as adults.
== Real Life ==
* Netscape founder Jim Clark is married to a supermodel.
* Filmmaker and self-professed comic book/sci fi geek Kevin Smith and his wife Jennifer, who is absolutely ''gorgeous''. In fact, Smith wrote in his book that he fervently hopes their daughter Harley grows to be as tall and shapely as her mother, thus sparing her from what he goes through with his weight.
** Smith also theorized that geeky and/or chubby men are better catches, as they're much more willing to go the extra mile for a woman.
* ''Batman:[[The Animated Series]]'' writer Paul Dini is married to a very lovely magician named [http://www.mistylee.com/ Misty Lee] whose resemblance to [[Zatanna]] is downright uncanny.
* [http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/valentines/5c89/ This T-shirt].
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[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:
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