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'''Billy Hodge:''' I can't. I get nervous. <br />
'''Jake Fischer:''' You wanna jump outta helicopters, but you're afraid to go talk to a girl? <br />
'''Billy Hodge:''' Uh, pretty much, [[Blunt Yes|yeah]].|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZy-wcQIsRU#t=1m9s This trailer] for ''[[The Guardian (Film)|The Guardian]]''.}}
 
 
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This is to some extent [[Truth in Television]]; studies have shown that social situations can be stressful in the extreme, and that people can prefer death to public embarrassment; but even that being considered, some examples of this seem to be parodies of this concept nonetheless.
 
Often a feature of the [[Defective Detective]], [[No Social Skills]], [[Ambiguous Disorder]]. Compare/Contrast [[This Loser Is You]] and [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save Thethe World]]. See also [[No Social Skills]].
 
{{examples}}
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Sousuke Sagara from ''[[Full Metal Panic]]'' is one due to being raised by the KGB.
* ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]]'''s Goku is an example as well due to being "[[Raised Byby Wolves]]" and [[Oblivious to Love]]. Chi Chi pretty much had to pound it into him or else he might had remained single his entire life.
** Gohan and Goten as well, to a lesser degree. Sure, they're very friendly, but they're also quite shy and easily embarrassed.
* Jacuzzi Splot of ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]'' is prone to [[Fragile Flower|breaking down into tears]] [[Shrinking Violet|at the mere attempt to introduce himself to new people]]. Crippling social anxiety, however, doesn't prevent him from [[One-Man Army|single-handedly raiding eighteen mafia-run speakeasies in one night]].
 
 
== Comic Books ==
* [[Batman]], at least [[Depending Onon the Writer|as written by Chuck Dixon]], doesn't really have a clue how to behave like a [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] in his civilian identity, and finds hosting a Wayne Foundation party more stressful than taking on the Joker. [[Grant Morrison]]'s [[Grant Morrisons Batman|take on the character]] has elements of this as well.
* Samaritan from ''[[Astro City]]'' suffers from this when his super-heroic peers maneuver him into a dinner date with Winged Victory.
* When ''[[Spider-Man]]'' was created, this was a revolutionary concept; a superhero who's an awkward loser in high school. Ironically, he became so popular that this spilled over and became [[Trope Codifier|the norm]].
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== Film ==
* The page quote is from a coast-guard themed movie called ''[[The Guardian (Film)|The Guardian]]''.
* [[Batman]] is portrayed as such in the [[Tim Burton]] ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'' movies. In his Bruce Wayne persona, he is noticeably awkward, and unsure how to act in social situations, contrasting with the charismatic [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] from the comics, although this IS [[Depending Onon the Writer]]. Most notable during his date with Vicki in the first film, where he effectively has to go get Alfred to help him chat her up.
* In ''[[The Sea Hawk (Film)|The Sea Hawk]]'': "Him what's taken whole fleets of Spanish ships, can't say a word to a slip of a girl."
* ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]'': Ladies and Gentlemen...''Sam Witwicky''. He has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, and [[Ms. Fanservice|the girls]] [[Give Geeks a Chance|seem to dig that about him]]. [[Word of God|The writers]] did state they're inspiration for Sam's character was basically [[Back to The Future|Marty]] [[Michael J. Fox|McFly]]-''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|on crack]]''. Also helps that Sam is played by [[Adorkable|Shia LaBeouf]].
{{quote| '''[[RifftraxRiff Trax|Ms. Witwicky:]]''' ''And remember, son: if you meet any girls, make sure to stammer and act as awkwardly as possible around them. Model-hot women inexplicably find that attractive in the movies - it worked for [[Say Anything|Lloyd Dobbler]]! Bye!'' }}
* Steve Rogers from ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger]]'', even after receiving the [[Super Soldier]] serum. Due to his pre-transformation small statue, Steve was very shy and intimidated by women and his apprehensiveness remains as Captain America, even as women throw themselves at his feet.
* Melvin of ''[[Film/The Big Hit|The Big Hit]]'' is this in spades. Shooting up a room full of armed men is easy. Entertaining your in-laws... that makes him chug Maalox.
 
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* [[Harry Potter]] has a moment of this in book 4: After facing a fierce and dangerous Hungarian Horntail in the first task, he finds himself thinking that "now that he was facing the prospect of asking a girl to the ball, he thought he'd rather have another round with the dragon." (He later manages to pick up ''two girls'', spontaneously, at once.)
* In [[The Pale King]], Lane Dean attempts to converse with his fellow IRS employees during his fifteen minute break, and fails miserably.
* Kambili, from ''[[Purple Hibiscus (Literature)|Purple Hibiscus]]'' can't hold a conversation with girls her own age, even though she desperately wants to.
* Tiffany Aching from the [[Discworld]] books may have bested the Queen of the Elves at age nine in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Wee Free Men|The Wee Free Men]]'', but in that same book she admits she doesn't always "get" people, and she's quite at sea at her first coven meeting in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]''.
* [[Doc Savage]] was raised from birth to be a hero and is both the greatest athlete and intellect on the planet, however, he has no idea how to deal with women. He does better with men, though.
* [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]] believes in this trope, lamenting how often a man's skill in battle is inversely proportional to his skill with women. He includes himself in this category.
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* Gil Grissom on [[CSI]]
* Temperance Brennan on [[Bones]]
* Cal Lightman in ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]''.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' seemed to do this once a season or so.
** [[Angel]] was even more socially-awkward.
* [[Doctor Who|The Doctor]], in his [[The Nth Doctor|11th incarnation]], is outgoing, but still awkward. He occasionally comes across as a [[Chaste Hero]] -- he's [[Master of the Mixed Message]] and basically goes stock-still and squeaky when kissed. When he spent a few days renting a room from an ordinary human, he [[Moment Killer|ruined his landlord's attempt to have a romantic evening with a nice girl]], and he started delivering a [[Kirk Summation|huge lecture]] about [[Technical Pacifist|pacifism]] when encouraged to "annihilate" the other team in a football(/soccer) game, before embarrassedly realizing he was just being encouraged to defeat them.
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* [[Seinfeld]]
{{quote| ''"According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."''}}
* Doctor Gregory [[House (TV series)|House]].
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': Dr. Spencer Reid. He can rattle out an impromptu profile to a dangerous serial killer, but always finds himself stumbling words around a pretty girl.
* [[Burn Notice]] has Michel Weston, a man who always knows what to say and do in any life threatening situation, but doesn't know how to deal with friends or family.
* Reginald Barclay in ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' and ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' saved the Enterprise at least twice and was significantly more helpful to Voyager than the average member of its bridge crew (not that this is a particularly high bar), yet had such social difficulty that an entire episode was dedicated to Geordi trying to arrest his withdrawal into a holographic fantasyland.
 
 
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== Webcomics ==
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'': Antimony Carver has elements of this. She'll fearlessly rush off to help someone with a supernatural problem, but she tends to stand around in awkward silence during public social situations.
* Elliot from ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]''.
 
 
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* [[Kim Possible]]: Taking down supervillains comes easy for her. Asking the boy she has a crush on to the school dance, on the other hand...
** Though [[Subverted Trope|on the other hand]], Kim is a popular student and cheerleader. Now, her sidekick [[Butt Monkey|Ron]]...
* Robin in the ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' cartoon. In one episode he is forced to accompany a villain's daughter to prom, and is envious of the teammates who are merely tasked with ''stopping'' said villain.
** Of course said villain's daughter was also incredibly [[Alpha Bitch|bitchy]] and [[Ax Crazy|psychotic]] and was threatening to blow up half the city if he didn't.
* From ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': [[Adorkable|Hello!]] Zuko here!
** He has never had any opportunity to become normally socialized, but he does improve a bit once he has his [[Heel Face Turn]] and joins the [[True Companions]]. Stoic silence does him in good stead while he'd [[Walking the Earth]] in season two.
** And his little sister turns out to be the evil mastermind version of this trope: can conquer the world's greatest city bloodlessly from within via nested betrayal plots. Cannot get a date without freaking the guy out within minutes.
* Twilight Sparkle from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''. Heck, a large part of the series is Twilight learning about how to deal with having friends.
** Fluttershy as well, to some extent. She's a [[Shrinking Violet]] when it comes to talking to other ponies (though strangely enough, not when it comes to other kinds of creatures; she loves to talk to dragons, or at least dragon cubs) but she has been willing to stand up to an intimidating grown dragon that could have swallowed her whole, among other things.
* [[Danny Phantom]]: He was already pretty awkward before getting his powers, but especially when he first gets them [[Power Incontinence|he has a hard time controlling them]] causing him to "randomly" trip or sink into objects, turn his eyes green, and other stuff that might further harm what little reputation he has.
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