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* The [[Genki Girl|over-enthusiastic]] [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|princess]] Amelia from ''[[Slayers]]'', if one looks deeper, is a Type A; as a daughter of a prestigious and powerful royal family, she is subjugated to horrific violence and carnage between her family over her kingdom's inheritance. Her [[Missing Mom]] was murdered, in-series she sees one of her uncles and her cousin get killed for similar reasons, her sister has long run away, and her father (the current heir apparent) is a go-to target for assassins. It's summed up well enough in the [[Light Novel]] she's introduced in:
{{quote|"''But you know," [Amelia] added, still sporting that strange smile, "I really don't like that you can't trust people in your own family around here." It could've been my (Lina's) imagination, but just then I sensed a great sadness in Amelia behind that bubbly facade. There was definitely more to that girl than met the eye.''}}
* Kyouko Mogami from ''[[Skip Beat!]]'', due to having had an abusive, unpleasable mother, and later living and working in a ''ryokan'' (Japanese inn) where she picked the attitude of "clients shouldn't see you upset ever". Any time her real feelings and temper come to surface, she managed to put them back quickly, to not disturb the people around. Kyouko only breaks with this when she is properly informed that all her efforts will be not rewarded at all, and then realizes that living like she was constantly tending clients neither does her any good.
** Complicating Kyoko's case is that after [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|she]] discovers her "prince" Shou's heartless betrayal of her and snaps (in the first chapter), she continues from there. And the skills and habits she learned in her previous life and her tendency to live for others coexist really ''strangely'' with her new life goals. She wouldn't have made it so far if she wasn't the person her childhood made her, but she had to break with her childhood to go anywhere.
*** ''Really'' complicating her story? She has had a truly, deeply miserable, loveless life, but she always kept her spirits up. On the other hand, her [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]] was received ten years ago from a talented ten-year-old [[Hollywood Brat]] whose main sources of suffering were "I can't live up to my father's legend" and "My parents (who adore me) are busy a lot." A psychic exposed to the rock reports that the pain it absorbed from that kid was about a hundred times worse than what Kyoko's pitiful life has put into it. So apparently she '''really did''' keep her spirits up, and wasn't Stepford Smiling that much?
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* The girls from St Arsenal Academy in the manga ''Mission! School''. At first they seem like your average happy schoolgirls. However, it turns out that they have been brainwashed and when they are provoked are revealed to be highly trained killers. The scary thing? They never stop smiling, even as they are taking on their enemies.
* {{spoiler|Misaki}} from ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'' has elements of Type A and Type C. {{spoiler|She appears to be an innocent, religious girl that wants to save Satou from being a [[Hikikomori]], but the truth is that she's searching for someone more worthless than she believes she is herself and help them to give herself a sense of purpose.}} Megumi also has elements of this, telling Sato she's successful and happy when {{spoiler|she's actually gotten caught up in a pyramid scheme while desperately searching for a cure for her brother, also a [[Hikikomori]].}}
* Oh, ''[[D.Gray-man|Lenalee]]''. She looks [[Genki Girl|cheerful]], [[Yamato Nadeshiko|kind and sweet]], but she actually is a great Type A because {{spoiler|she ''hates'' the Black Order for subjecting her to an ''horrendous'' [[Training
* {{spoiler|Anko}} from ''[[Bokurano]]'' spends some time as a Type A, after {{spoiler|she's chosen as next pilot as punishment for hitting [[The Mole]] Youko, her dad is caught cheating on her mom, and Mrs. Tokosumi goes [[Lady Drunk]] mode out of despair.}} With the help of her friend {{spoiler|Kanji}}, she gets better, {{spoiler|just in time to fight and die in peace.}}
* Mercedes Morcerf of ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' tries to maintain a perfect appearance and smile and loves to pretend that everything is okay even when everything ''really'' isn't.
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* Yuno Gasai of ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'' is ''extremely'' [[Yandere|Type C]].
* Madame Red from ''[[Black Butler]]''.
* Mami Tomoe from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' looks sweet, kind and gentle, but this hides a very scarred little girl from all the fighting she's already done. And she [[Heroic Self-Deprecation|knows it]]. {{spoiler|What she doesn't know is that this has gone to the extent of hiding a very '''fragile''' little girl as well, should she know the [[Awful Truth]]s it become rather clear that she is between a [[Go Mad
* ''[[Corpse Party]]'' has the Type A {{spoiler|Seiko}}, who smiles and strives to keep everyone cheerful despite being in a lot of pain following {{spoiler|her mother's disappearance}}. The mask winds up breaking upon being accused of not taking anything seriously.
* ''[[Kyouran Kazoku Nikki]]'' has at least 2. Kyouka, the self proclaimed [[God in Human Form]], is actually a {{spoiler|banished princess from a race of sentient creatures from a place called Shangri-la}}. In episode 26's [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] of the entire series, she boldly proclaims that she {{spoiler|is the child of Enka, and must be killed}}. She breaks down, claiming that she doesn't even know who she is since her people are {{spoiler|effectively a race of sentient beings that possess you and give you animal ears}}, lending evidence to her being a type B.
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* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Shock Treatment]]'': Denton is a hybrid of a TV station and a town, so naturally it encourages its residents to be shallow, cheerful consumers.
* [[Nicole Kidman]]'s character in ''[[To Die For]]'' is a sterling example. For extra fun, the movie is [[Based on a True Story|based on the real-life story of Pamela Smart.]]
* From ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 2'', we have the Barbie dolls, whose gleaming smiles never falter, not even once. In the [[Hilarious Outtakes]], one of them was complaining about how her face hurts from all the smiling.
* The film version of the book ''[[Dangerous Liaisons]]'' (from which ''Cruel Intentions'', above, was adapted) has the Contesse de Merteuil (Glenn Close) outright state that she learned to smile even when she didn't mean it.
{{quote|'''Contesse de Merteuil:''' I learned to smile while under the table I was sticking a fork in my hand.}}
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* Erzebet Bizecka of Alisa Libby's ''Blood Confession'' is a Type C. She's a charming and beautiful young lady who's doing an excellent job at leading her country out of difficult times. Not to mention how kind she is to her servants. Of course, that's just a plot to get them into her dungeon where she kills them and [[Blood Bath|bathes in their blood]] to preserve her youth and beauty.
* Miss America in ''[[Haunted 2005]]'' constantly behaves as though she is on camera, working ''so'' hard to maintain her flawless facade that naturally her breaking point is just as epic as those of the others.
* It's possible to read Agnes Wickfield in ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' as this, considering her life with an increasingly alcoholic, depressed father and an increasingly lecherous Uriah Heep, yet she never loses her smiling willingness to help others. As well, Miss Mowcher is a classic Type A (though she was originally written as [[The Grotesque]], Dickens switched gears and made her a tragic figure who shields herself behind laughs, even at her own expense.)
* Glinda from ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]'' is essentially this. As such a high and mighty political figure she must keep a happy facade. Made even worse when her best friend, who happens to be the person she loves, is killed. She must act as if she ''hates'' her and tell pitiful lies about her. It's debatable if the musical or book version has it worse.
* Felicity in ''[[The Idea Of Perfection]]'' by Kate Grenville is obsessed with appearance, to the point of avoiding frowning or smiling out of fear of developing wrinkles. More-or-less a Type B, since there's nothing of substance underneath her immaculately groomed and beautiful appearance, and contrasting brilliantly with the much more [[Woobie|flawed, but likable protagonists]], who, along with the flaws, also have goals, interests, and drives, and who actually get things done in the end.
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* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' plays this trope straight with just about everyone except Tidus.
** Nope, even Tidus. His [[Idiot Hero]] persona is mostly just an act to deal with his angst over his [[Disappeared Dad]]. And he has a more traditional Stepford Smiler moment later on, after discovering that {{spoiler|defeating Yu Yevon will end his own existence.}}
* Litchi Faye-Ling from ''[[
* {{spoiler|Carol}} in ''[[Mitsumete Knight]]''. She became this because she was frequently bullied in her childhood and had no friends. She posed as a [[Genki Girl]] in order to remedy this, and sadly this worked ''all too well''.
* Daniella/The Maid from ''[[Haunting Ground]]'' certainly qualifies; for her first few appearances in the game, she is polite and courteous to Fiona, only to reveal her truly [[Ax Crazy]] nature during the game's second act.
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* [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Played with in]] ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. Rin Tohsaka pretends to be a wonderful honor student, kind and good at everything. However, underneath that is someone selfish who can't get up in the morning and gets angry easily. But that's a bit of a [[Jerkass Facade]] because under ''that'' is a genuinely kind person who ''thinks'' that they need to be a heartless jerk like magi are supposed to be. {{spoiler|And under that is an immensely guilty layer over her estranged sister Sakura because, while she doesn't know much about the Matou family, she knows they're not nice people. She simply underestimates ''how much''. This final layer is finally uncovered in the ''Heaven's Feel'' path instead of merely being hinted at.}}
** Also Ilya. Oddly enough, she doesn't actually fool Shirou for very long despite doing what seems to be a pretty good acting job.
** Sakura is also like this (as shown in the Heaven's Feel route), {{spoiler|due to years of sexual/physical abuse by her adoptive brother Shinji, coupled with her grandfather's torturous [[Training
* Souji and Mie in ''[[Suika]]''. Souji actually admires this about Mie and is determined to turn her slightly fake smiles into realer ones.
* {{spoiler|Shiori}} from ''[[Kanon]]'' reveals that she is a Type A version of this trope with the line, [[Tear Jerker|"Was I... able to smile most the time?"]]
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* Chancellor Palpatine in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels. On the surface, he was the amiable Chancellor Palpatine, but below...he wasn't.
* John Candy's character Del in ''[[Planes, Trains and Automobiles]]'' seems to be an indomitably chipper guy until it's revealed in the end that he's a deeply depressed widower.
* In ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'':
** The seemingly-kindly {{spoiler|Lotso Huggin' Bear is actually a bitter old man (well, plush bear) who runs Sunnyside Daycare like a cruel prison warden, and has never gotten over being abandoned by his former owner.}}
** Chuckles in Toy Mode, additionally falls under the [[Sad Clown]] trope.
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** His goal is to drive his comrades away from him, because he [[Death Seeker|doesn't want to be missed]]. Realizing the [[Butt Monkey]] of the group is also a [[Sad Clown]] can be quite [[Tear Jerker|jarring]], especially {{spoiler|if you chose the ending where [[Lovable Traitor|you kill him]].}}
* Another example is Jade Curtiss from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''. He does it due to being [[The Stoic]], and to mask the fact that he {{spoiler|Accidentally [[Dead Little Sister|killed his teacher]]}}. Plus, it helps a [[Deadpan Snarker]] to keep a straight face.
* {{spoiler|Forde}} from ''[[Fire Emblem:
* Henry from ''[[Fire Emblem: Awakening]]''. It's readily apparent that he's not quite right in the head due to the fact that he's ''always'' smiling, even when talking about morbid subjects like torture. {{spoiler|If he forms a bond with Olivia, he reveals it's because he was abandoned at an orphanage by his parents, where he suffered horrible abuse at hands of the "caretakers" there. Ever since, he's been hiding the lingering pain of those experiences behind a fake smile, but [[Heartwarming Moments|Olivia manages to break through and get him to smile for real, though]].}}
* [[Creepy Child]] Chris from ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' fits this trope very well, as he's almost a modern version of the aforementioned Soujirou. Always with a smile in his face, even when killing random people. The fact that he's the [[Big Bad]]'s host doesn't help, either.
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* {{spoiler|Nessiah}} is a combination of the A and C types in ''[[Blaze Union]]''; his gentle and polite demeanor hides a thousand years' worth of pain, suffering, and [[Sanity Slippage]].
* Zevran from ''[[Dragon Age]]'' appears to be cheerful and easygoing, despite {{spoiler|being a [[Death Seeker]]}}
* Hazama/{{spoiler|Terumi Yuuki}} of ''[[
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'': Tomoya Okazaki is a Type A. The casual behavior might fool the watcher/reader for awhile, but it becomes clear over time that he's basically starting the story in despair.
* An oddly non-creepy example that doesn't fit into any of the categories is Ambassador Colias Palaneo in ''[[Ace Attorney]] Investigations'', who mainly keeps a constant smile as part of his [[Nice Guy|ur-politeness]]. The fact that he drops it pretty easily helps out.
** {{spoiler|Kristoph Gavin}} is a villainous Type C example: a Machiavellian madman who hides beneath a mask of contentment and composure.
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{{quote|'''Ned Flanders:''' Now calm down, Ned-dily-diddly-diddly-diddly... they did their best, shoddily-iddly-iddly-diddly... gotta be ''nice'', hostily-iddly-diddly-iddly... Ah '''''hell''''' diddly-ding-dong-crap! '''''Can't you morons do anything right?!'''''}}
*** In fact, in one Halloween special, Ned Flanders becomes an Orwellian figure and makes sure ''everyone'' smiles - or go through "Re-Neducation", aka lobotomy.
* An episode of ''[[The Fairly
** There is a hint of this lampshaded by Timmy's mom after being swapped into dad's body in one episode, where she mentioned that she had a sudden feeling of giving up on her dreams. This could mean Timmy's dad gave up on his old dreams sometime ago.
** Also, in the FLARG episode when Timmy is trying to stop Mark from exploding:
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** Lewis (Lacy's husband) has to deal with the above whilst being a happiness economist (Meaning it's his job to work out the mathematical value of happiness)
** Selena gets off relatively easy, only having to deal with racist idiots.
* [[Ciaphas Cain]] is supposed to be a fearless [[Badass Longcoat|Imperial commissar]] who is willing to lay down his life to destroy the enemies of the [[Warhammer
** Meanwhile, [[Badass Bookworm|Inquisitor]] [[Action Girl|Amberley Vail]] typically wears the smile of a whimsical young woman, but being an [[I Did What I Had to Do|Inquisitor]] means that she's hiding a [[The Chains of Commanding|motherload of burdens]] [[Dirty Business|that comes with the job]]. She's good enough at being a Type A that only those closest to her see [[Beneath the Mask|the mask come down]].
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{{quote|''Such simple creatures I'm grateful not be one any longer. Still... I do wish to remember just a bit more clearly what it felt like.''}}
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' features a dystopic world run by a power-mad AI that demands that all citizens be happy, under penalty of summary execution.
* ''[[Warhammer
** The most terrifying part of this is that Grandpa Nurgle ''IS'' that nice and loving [[Friend to All Living Things]], it's just that in a truly Lovecraftian manner he loves ''all'' living things, including the disease microbes and such, and simply [[Blue and Orange Morality|cannot express his love and acceptance in any other way]]. It's notable that the followers of Nurgle are, despite their festering and rotting appearance, the happiest and best psychically adjusted among the Chaos worshipers.
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== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* In ''[[A Profile]]'', Masayuki is implied to be one for a time, but it turns out to be untrue and that he really has simply changed, mostly for the better. {{spoiler|Miou, on the other hand, is pretty emotionally damaged inside.}}
* It's strongly implied that [[Clannad (visual novel)||Nagisa Furukawa's parents]], Akio and Sanae, at least partially fake their [[Adult Child]]ren behaviors. They ''are'' genuinely loving and sweet persons, but they hide their own worries and sad thoughts to keep their very frail [[Ill Girl]] daughter happy, in an attempt to make up for having neglected her a lot as a little girl. {{spoiler|It's confirmed in ''After Story'', where Sanae tries to cheer up Tomoya by acting like a [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]], but can't keep up and finally cries and lets herself grieve for the deceased Nagisa.}}
* The characters do this in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' in the question arcs, and first two answer arcs, to try and hide things.
** Rena is also a perfect example of a Type A. {{spoiler|It's all a facade, but she does it to escape from her sadness.}}
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== Western Animation ==
* Peppy Happy Gary and Peppy Happy Betty from ''[[The Fairly
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': The Delightful Children From Down The Lane are Types B and C.
** {{spoiler|Numbah 3}} is a Type A, as revealed in the final episodes, using {{spoiler|her [[Genki Girl]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]]}} persona to cover {{spoiler|her}} utter depression. Given [[Dysfunctional Family|what]] [[Parental Issues|kind of]] [[Big Screwed-Up Family|family]] {{spoiler|she}} has, it doesn't come as a surprise.
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