Well, Excuse Me, Princess!/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Girl is too good for Loser Guy, knows it, and acts accordingly.

  • Straight: Maria is brilliant, witty, and beautiful... while Lenny is... rather less so. She works on getting him to shape up and isn't afraid to berate and belittle him to keep him motivated.
  • Exaggerated: Maria is the most beautiful, brilliant, amazing woman in the world. Lenny is an utterly worthless slob. For some reason, she sees potential in him and will stop at nothing to ensure it comes out.
  • Justified: Lenny is Brilliant but Lazy, or cleans up nicely, or has other good qualities beneath his loserly surface that Maria is trying to bring out.
  • Inverted: Extreme Doormat
  • Subverted: Another character comments on their crazy relationship, only for Maria to insist "He's not my boyfriend."
  • Double Subverted: They hook up in the end anyway.
  • Parodied: Maria uses every perceived slight to bring Lenny down a notch, despite the fact that the two of them are actually fairly equal, all things considered. Lenny decides it's easier to just go with it.
  • Deconstructed: Maria sticks with Lenny to boost her own ego, knowing that she's far better than him and can hold that over his head. Lenny eventually cracks under the pressure of trying to keep her favor, and they break up (much to her shock; how DARE something like him break up with HER?!)
  • Reconstructed: Maria honestly cares for Lenny despite his flaws, and helps him become a better person, while Lenny gets her to confront her flaws and deal with them.
  • Zig Zagged: Maria finally gets Lenny to be more motivated, but he ends up being even more talented than her. Lenny ends up becoming a Broken Ace, so he goes back to being a slacker because he's much happier that way.
  • Averted: Lenny and Maria are equals.
  • Enforced: The writer thinks poorly of Magical Girlfriend and writes something they think is more believable.
    • Alternatively, the writer is in such a relationship and doesn't think its half bad.
  • Lampshaded: "Some days, I wonder why I even bother with him..."
  • Invoked: Lenny instantly recognises that Maria is the kind of girl who likes taking Bad Boys and "improving" them, so he plays up to it.
  • Defied: "You know what, Lenny? You're a dilweed, and I never want to see you again."
  • Discussed: "She's my princess, and boy does she act like one..."
  • Conversed: "Why does Maria put up with Lenny? Or him with her? The Power of Love?"
  • Played For Laughs:
  • Played For Drama: Maria is the one good thing Lenny has going for him, and she's fully aware of it, so she constantly derides and insults him. But in doing so, she's unintentionally wearing away the good parts of their relationship. And all the while, Jason is watching and plotting to steal her away -- not out of love, but 'cause she's hot and it would cause Lenny even more pain.

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