History Main / OpaqueNerdGlasses

* Jade and John in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' both sport some. John's are rectangular spectacles, though they can be hard to see because the bridge isn't often drawn; Jade's are big and round. Several other characters also wear glasses, but the nerdiness of them are debatable: Sollux fits the nerdy archetype well, being an ''extremely'' good computer programmer, but his red-and-blue CoolShades are used more to [[HiddenEyes cover up]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning his]] bizarre [[KaleidoscopeEyes color-changing]] [[MismatchedEyes eyes]] than denote nerdiness; Vriska's big lenses match those requirements, but her personality ''really'' doesn't fit.

** Olive Crangle from "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E94FourOClock Four O'Clock]]" wears them too.

* A visual trademark of {{Music/Devo}}'s Mark Mothersbaugh.

* ''TheTonightShow'': Ernie Kovacs' oddball poet character Percy Dovetonsils wears glasses with insanely thick lenses.
* Henry Bemis from ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "Time enough at Last".

* Haruhi Fujioka from ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' sported these for the first few minutes of the first episode, because she had lost her contact lenses.

* TheIgor Chobin in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Pokémon XD]] Gale Of Darkness'' has googly glasses, which are apparently essential to his functioning.

* Jade and John in ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' both sport some. John's are rectangular spectacles, though they can be hard to see because the bridge isn't often drawn; Jade's are big and round. Several other characters also wear glasses, but the nerdiness of them are debatable: Sollux fits the nerdy archetype well, being an ''extremely'' good computer programmer, but his red-and-blue CoolShades are used more to [[HiddenEyes cover up]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning his]] [[BlueEyes bizarre]] [[KaleidoscopeEyes color-changing]] [[MismatchedEyes eyes]] than denote nerdiness; Vriska's big lenses match those requirements, but her personality ''really'' doesn't fit.

[[quoteright:209:[[LoveHina http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/how_can_she_see.jpg]]]]

* [[NinjaMaid Maylene]] from ''Manga/BlackButler''. [[spoiler:Somewhat justified as it neutralizes her absurd farsightedness when not going [[Guns Akimbo]] with scopeless rifles.]]

* [[NinjaMaid Maylene]] from ''Manga/BlackButler''. [[poiler:Somewhat justified as it neutralizes her absurd farsightedness when not going [[GunsAkimbo]] with scopeless rifles.]]

* [[NinjaMaid Maylene]] from ''Manga/BlackButler''. [[Spoiler:Somewhat justified as it neutralizes her absurd farsightedness when not going [[GunsaAkimbo]] with scopeless rifles.]]

* [[NinjaMaid Maylene]] from ''Manga/BlackButler''.

* Leo from ''Manga/PandoraHearts''. [[spoiler:They're not there for correction, though. They're actually there for the opposite purpose.]]

* Princess Dia (as noted above) from ''Manga/SailorMoon''. In the manga, this leads the girls to speculate how another nerd, Umino, might look without his own ever-present NerdGlasses. WordOfGod states that [[spoiler:yes, Umino ''is'' completely {{Bishonen}} [[BeautifulAllAlong without them]]]].

* Miyami Soshigaya in ''{{Cyber Team in Akihabara}}''.
* Sakura Yamazaki in ''BlueSeed'' only wears her nerd glasses when fighting demons.
* Kururu from ''KeroroGunsou''.
* Haruhi Fujioka from ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' sported these for the first few minutes of the first episode, because she had lost her contact lenses.
* Officer Shinshi in ''{{Patlabor}}''.
* Naru Narusegawa in her "nerd mode" in ''LoveHina''. However, once Naru has obviously become the love interest in the story, TheGlassesGottaGo -- and when they ''are'' seen afterward, they are no longer opaque and spiralled, but simple clear {{Meganekko}} circles. Also, in the manga, she gives her NerdGlasses to Shinobu as a "good luck" token when the younger girl is taking exams; later, Motoko uses them for the same purpose while studying to get into Tokyo U.
** Naru's {{Expy}} Chisame from ''MahouSenseiNegima!'' started with the same look, occasionally falling back into it during her moments of annoyance. Compare: [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/love_hina/v01/c000/57.html Naru]] and [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v02/c012/7.html Chisame]].
* Mousse from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a borderline exception. He has the glasses, but he's not a nerd. He ''is'', however, an obsessive {{Stalker with a Crush}} with no common sense. He's BlindWithoutEm, yet never puts them on until ''after'' he has, for example, spent five minutes talking to a tree under the assumption that it's actually Shampoo. He also has a habit of [[TheGlassesComeOff taking them off to attempt something dramatic]], then doing something stupid because he can't see.
** And even when turning into a duck, he still wear a pair of ''[[MagicPants duck-sized Nerd Glasses]]''.
* In the anime version of ''UruseiYatsura'', the first New Year's Special has Momotaro, a legendary Japanese hero, wearing a set of these. In fact, he looks a lot like a somewhat younger Mousse.
* GadgeteerGenius Parfet from ''{{Vandread}}''. They don't have the spirals, but they are extremely opaque.
* Haruhi from ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' is initially introduced wearing a pair of thick horn-rimmed glasses. The club members quickly replace them with contact lenses to show her beautiful eyes.
** Flashbacks show that she did not wear glasses in middle school, but this is explained -- she'd lost her contacts and hadn't been able to replace them.
* In ''{{The Prince of Tennis}}'', characters like [[BadassBookworm Sadaharu Inui]] and Hiroshi Yagyuu wear thick glasses that hide their eyes from sight (though Yagyuu's glasses are more Meganekko-type). In fact, a running gag in the anime is to have Inui's teammates and friends attempting to to take his glasses off and see his eyes.
* Karin and Shiho from ''Anime/{{Naruto}}''. Shiho's are coke-bottle glasses while Karin's have thick black frames. Interestingly, both are huge {{Fangirl}}s of other characters who have yet to return their interest -- Sasuke for Karin and Shikamaru for Shiho.
** And Udon, who [[CatchPhrase loves factoring.]]
* Ayaori of ''PenguinRevolution'' wears NerdGlasses most of the time in order to keep from being recognized as Peacock's number one talent.
* A throwaway gag in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has Ichigo offered a pair of these (and a {{Hachimaki}}) by a classmate who he outperformed.
* Carly from ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds}}'' wears a pair of large spiral glasses, although they're seen through on occasion. Once, when they fall off, she's seen with lines for eyes, but when Misty removes them in a later episode, her eyes are normal, and actually quite attractive.
** [[spoiler:She [[TheGlassesGottaGo loses them]] after [[MagnificentBastard Divine]] murders her. Well, they wouldn't really go with the SuperpoweredEvilSide that came with the resurrection.]]
** [[spoiler:After [[{{TearJerker}} Episode 59]], [[TragicKeepsake they were all that was left of her]]...]]
** Fortunately, [[spoiler: as the heroes have DeusExMachina on their side, DeathIsCheap.]]
* Weevil Underwood from the original ''YuGiOh'' had some like these, thought they were only opaque whenever the [[ScaryShinyGlasses light caught them]].
* Watabe from ''Doki doki school hours'' though he is more of an {{Otaku}}.
* Makoto Ariga from ''WanderingSon'' in his first few appearances. Later on you could see his eyes at all times making him a {{Megane}}.
* Episode 9 of ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' gives us an interesting example; an old man with NerdGlasses. Under the glasses, he has the eyes of MiyamotoMusashi!
* Ginnosuke from ''Tokyo Underground'' is a good example, with thick glasses complete with spirals. When he loses them for a short time, the main character (a longtime friend) doesn't even recognize him, and a few girls find him quite attractive. Chelsea, one of the other main characters, can never remember his name and defaults to "Megane-kun". He's also a rather proficient computer hacker, and ironically fights better with the glasses off.
* Mamoru Kagemori, the title character of ''KageKaraMamoru!'' (a.k.a. ''Mamoru the Shadow Protector''), wears a fake pair of these to disguise the fact that he is a highly skilled teen ninja.
* Sandy Grayson in ''AoiHouse.''
* Subverted with Roberta from ''BlackLagoon''. They're huge but they function like ScaryShinyGlasses. When they're aren't opaque, you see a [[DeathGlare glare with the fury of 10,000 Hells]].
* In ''TheWallflower'', Kyohei wears these when he ''really'' needs to study for an exam, which distresses his fangirls as the glasses make him look much less {{bishonen}} than usual.

* Leo from ''{{Pandora Hearts}}''. [[spoiler:They're not there for correction, though. They're actually there for the opposite purpose.]]

* Inverted for ''KatekyoHitmanReborn'''s Koyo Aoba, who evidently can't see a damn thing through his glasses, but everyone can see his eyes. [[spoiler:This is because they apparently work similarly to Cyclops' ruby quartz visor, except instead of lasers, Koyo's glasses simply hold back the true abilities he inherited.]]
* Benzo from ''KiteresuDaihyakka''
* Eddie Sukenari from ''KimiWaPetto''. Results in BishieSparkle and women falling all over him when he takes them off.

* In a flashback, it is shown that Faust VIII from {{Shaman King}} used to wear these.

[[folder:Comics]]
* {{Dilbert}} is this trope personified.
* Comic artist Scott [=McCloud=] draws himself with these in his book, ''Understanding Comics'', and the other books in the series. No spirals, though.
** Also [[DeconstructedTrope playing]] with it on one occasion, when he makes the point that the character he's depicting himself as doesn't really look very much like a real human--and demonstrates this by taking off his glasses, [[spoiler: revealing there really are no eyes behind them]].
* Perhaps on a borderline of ScaryShinyGlasses and NerdGlasses- Jonas Harrow from the Marvel universe wears spiraly glasses.
* Jason from ''{{Foxtrot}}'' always has his eyes covered with his trademark glasses. Even when he takes them off, he often squints.
* Rob from ''GetFuzzy'' originally wore these, though they were gradually phased out.
* {{Superman}}'s NerdGlasses are sometimes OpaqueNerdGlasses, DependingOnTheArtist. In comics, unlike real life, the blank white circles actually ''do'' mask his appearance. MediumAwareness, anyone?
* Marcie from ''{{Peanuts}}''.
* ''TheHulk'': Bruce Banner's most recognizable appearance is that of a [[http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/77/124444-180838-hulk_super.jpg short, scrawny, lab-coat-wearing geek with completely opaque nerd glasses.]]

* Milo Thatch from ''AtlantisTheLostEmpire''.

* ''Film/{{From Russia with Love}}'' has Rosa Klebb wearing particularly hideous thick-framed ''and'' thick-lensed glasses in many scenes.

** Harry himself.

* Bailey on ''{{WKRP in Cincinnati}}'' wore them periodically. Almost as if she looks better with them and it definitely gave her the HotLibrarian look.
* ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'': Whenever Samantha Carter appears in an AlternateUniverse scenario, she tends to have this.
* One episode of ''KidsIncorporated'' has Renee getting several pairs of glasses. We see her NerdGlasses, and it is mentioned that she has two other colours and [[SnapBack also wears contacts for concerts]]. Kudos to them for at least ''mentioning'' the colour variety.

* Henry Bemis from the TwilightZone episode "Time enough At Last"

* John Flansburgh of TheyMightBeGiants (the founders of nerdrock) is known for his spectacles. Bandmate John Linnell is also bespectacled, but he takes them off before going onstage.
* A visual trademark of {{Devo}}'s Mark Mothersbaugh.

* Scooter from ''TheMuppetShow'' has thick glasses with his eyes on the lenses. His eyes are on his ''glasses'', ''not'' his face. His DistaffCounterpart Skeeter has an identical pair on ''MuppetBabies''.

* Some characters from the ''SuperMarioBros'' games have Nerd Glasses, such as Iggy Koopa, Professor E. Gadd from ''Luigi's Mansion'' and Professor Frankly from ''VideoGame/PaperMario''. These characters usually look (and sometimes sound) more Japanese than the others.

* In ''SuperRobotWars Original Generation'', Latooni wears these to begin with. But their size is actually functional, as they're used to help her collect an analyze data. When she finds herself undergoing [[BeautifulAllAlong a dramatic shift in appearance]], she loses them altogether. In the remake for the Playstation 2, she is instead given a pair of {{Meganekko}} glasses.

* A fortune teller named Kalifa in ''VideoGame/{{Skies of Arcadia}}'' has a pair of the large, spiral variant. She joins your crew once you get your own ship.
* Lucca from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has these, but actually manages to be [[{{Meganekko}} attractive]] despite it.
** Really, she's got the transparent {{Meganekko}} glasses--you can see this in all the official art and animations, as well as her character information screen. They're just opaque in-game because of sprite limitations--it's hard to denote "glasses" ''without'' them being opaque when the lenses need to be only two or three pixels wide.

* Loid from {{EarthBound Zero}}.
** Same with both Jeff and Dr. Andonuts from ''{{EarthBound}}''.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', Dave's glasses don't have the spirals, but function like NerdGlasses in every other way -- [[spoiler:until he goes mad, and they suddenly become totally clear.]]

* Ping from ''Webcomic/{{Megatokyo}}'' starts wearing these in an effort to look {{Hollywood Homely}} and fit in with the jealous girls of her class. To her horror it pretty much ends up as {{meganekko}}, no matter how nerdy the glasses.
* Dave of ''RealLifeComics'' wears these. One strip even lampshades this trope when another character that wears normal glasses ask Dave why his glasses are opaque. It turns out that Dave's glasses are multifunctional displays with internet access.
* Gwynn of ''SluggyFreelance'' is a classic example of this trope, not only being BlindWithoutEm but also BeautifulAllAlong.
* Piffany from ''{{Nodwick}}''. The glasses seem only to get bigger as ArtEvolution goes.
* Meegs the wizard aprentice in ''YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic''.
* Emojueel of ''{{Juathuur}}'' sports them.
* Ichabod of ''FarOutThere'' boasts an especially gigantic pair.
* Jade and John in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' both sport some. John's are rectangular spectacles, though they can be hard to see because the bridge isn't often drawn; Jade's are big and round. Several other characters also wear glasses, but the nerdiness of them are debatable: Sollux fits the nerdy archetype well, being an ''extremely'' good computer programmer, but his red-and-blue CoolShades are used more to [[HiddenEyes cover up]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning his]] [[BlueEyes bizarre]] [[KaleidoscopeEyes color-changing]] [[MismatchedEyes eyes]] than denote nerdiness; Vriska's big lenses match those requirements, but her personality ''really'' doesn't fit.

* Professor Farnsworth in ''{{Futurama}}'' had a pair of Nerd Glasses, and indeed his eyes were never seen in the series. Subverted in one episode where he needed his "reading glasses"--and put on a pair several times thicker than his already fairly enormous glasses (to the point that they looked like glass cylinders).
** At least somewhat of a JustifiedTrope: Professor Farnsworth is 160 years old. Anyone's vision would become pretty bad by that age.
* An early example of this is Poindexter from the old ''{{Felix the Cat}}'' show.
* Prof. Frink of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' wears these. Milhouse's glasses may also qualify, even though you can see through them.

-->(Bart and Milhouse see their reflections in each other's glasses)
-->'''Bart:''' ''*gasp*'' I'm a nerd!
-->'''Milhouse:''' ''*gasp*'' So am I!
* Franz Hopper of ''CodeLyoko''. Okay, so Jérémie Belpois is pretty unfortunate in the eyewear department as well, but at least we can still see his eyes.
* Sheldon Klutzberry on the ''TheReplacements'' wears glasses that are so thick and heavy they cripple his posture and pinch his nose making him sound like Jerry Lewis. And yes, when he takes them off, he unwillingly turns into a middle-school hunk.

* An episode of ''GoofTroop'' has Max have to temporarily wear nerd glasses because he'd messed up his eyes playing videogames. With Max despondent about it, Goofy told him a story about an ancestor of theirs in the wild west who stopped a bandit thanks to his own nerd glasses.
* [[MadScientist Heloise]] on ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'' wears a pair on occasion. [[{{Meganekko}} She pulls the look off nicely]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}''. Like Scooter on ''The Muppet Show'', the title character's eyes ''are'' his glasses--the lenses are all white, with dots in them for his pupils. Most other characters end up this way when they end up wearing glasses. In earlier flashback episodes, his eyes sans spectacles were the same as everyone else's, but they soon gave him ''Peanuts''-style floating dots instead.

* {{SpongeBob Squarepants}} wears these for safety when out jellyfishing.
* ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'': Beavis gets an eye exam and when he can't read any of the letters, because, well, ''he can't read'', is given a massively thick-lensed pair of glasses, making him functionally blind, and somehow even goofier-looking.
* Became a major plot point in {{Hey Arnold}} where {{Rich Bitch}} Rhonda (in karmic retribution for her earlier disciminatory attitude towards geeks by having them sit in the back of the bus) is forced to wear nerdy glasses when her school nurse and aunt reveals she is short-sighted. The humiliation in sitting in the last row prompts Rhonda to discard her glasses, but her short-sightedness causes her to get into embarrassing situations such as getting gum on her shirt and toilet paper on her shoe. Furious at the inequalities she and the geeks are forced to endure in school, she stages a revolution and gets back at one of the cool kids who forced her into the back row by refusing to budge from her first-row seat and convincing the kids to sit wherever they want (ending in the cool kid having to sit in the back row). In the end, as icing on the cake, Rhonda gets a better pair of glasses.

*** Ironically, [[{{FoxNewsLiberal}} MTV conservative]] Lisa Kennedy Montgomery was one of the first people to bring them back in TheNineties.

* ''{{From Russia with Love}}'' has Rosa Klebb wearing particularly hideous thick-framed ''and'' thick-lensed glasses in many scenes.

* Subverted in ''ElGoonishShive'', in which one of the lead characters pretends to be BlindWithoutEm; in actuality, his glasses are high-tech espionage gear (including an {{X-Ray Vision}} feature which he removed to avoid temptation), and help hide the fact that he's so painfully girly that just looking into his eyes tends to cause StupidSexyFlanders moments in heterosexual males.
* In ''{{Narbonic}}'', Dave's glasses don't have the spirals, but function like NerdGlasses in every other way -- [[spoiler:until he goes mad, and they suddenly become totally clear.]]

* Ping from ''{{Megatokyo}}'' starts wearing these in an effort to look {{Hollywood Homely}} and fit in with the jealous girls of her class. To her horror it pretty much ends up as {{meganekko}}, no matter how nerdy the glasses.

* [[NinjaMaid Maylene]] from ''{{Kuroshitsuji}}''.

* Lucca from ''ChronoTrigger'' has these, but actually manages to be [[{{Meganekko}} attractive]] despite it.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* In the ''Videogame/WingCommander'' Collectible Card Game, one of the character cards, [[http://ccg.jetlag.us/main.php?g2_itemId=2602&g2_imageViewsIndex=1 Simon "McGoo" LeDuke]], wears a pair of NerdGlasses.
[[/folder]]

* The core principle of the {{ClarkKent|ing}} persona is, of course, the implausibility of {{Superman}} wearing NerdGlasses.
** Also, in comics, unlike real life, the blank white circles actually ''do'' mask his appearance. MediumAwareness, anyone?

* [[TheHulk Bruce Banner]]'s most recognizable appearance is that of a [[http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/77/124444-180838-hulk_super.jpg short, scrawny, lab-coat-wearing geek with completely opaque nerd glasses.]]

* ''{{From Russia with Love}}'' has Rosa Klebb wearing particularily hideous thick glasses in many scenes.

* Rick Vaughn, in ''MajorLeague'', was fitted with these, curing the vision problem that got him branded with the nickname "Wild Thing"
** Although the glasses didn't hurt his [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys persona]] and still had fangirls (and, oddly, fanboys).

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', with the Tenth Doctor's PurelyAestheticGlasses.
* Bailey on ''{{WKRP in Cincinnati}}'' wore them periodically. Almost as if she looks better with them and it definetely gave her the HotLibrarian look.

* In the ''{{Dollhouse}}'' pilot, Echo wears them as part of her Eleanor Penn personality. They aren't really "nerd" glasses, however, they're more to make her into a HotLibrarian.
** And, of course, [[SummerGlau Bennett Halverson]].
* In a cast chockablock with {{Hollywood Nerd}}s, Leonard is the only character on ''TheBigBangTheory'' to wear NerdGlasses.
* ExtrovertedNerd Steve Urkel from ''FamilyMatters''.

* Bill from ''FreaksAndGeeks'' wears them.
* ChildProdigy Galina on ''DaddysDaughters'' wears [[http://www.papinydochki.ru/wp-content/photos/Galina_Sergeevna_small.jpg giant glasses]].
* Robbie from ''{{Victorious}}''.
* Young Reid in ''CriminalMinds'' and adult Reid, too, in the earlier seasons.

* ElvisCostello
* Music/BuddyHolly
* Rivers Cuomo of {{Weezer}}.
* Jarvis Cocker alternated between these and contact lenses during {{Music/Pulp}}'s heyday. Nowdays, the specs are an integral part of his image.
* {{Morrissey}}, occasionally.

* [[MeaningfulName Brains]] from ''Thunderbirds''. Not as extreme as some other examples here, but it gets the point across all the same.

* Gordon Freeman from ''{{Half-Life}}'' has a pair of these. However, instead of losing them once he starts ripping zombies apart with a crowbar, he keeps them and becomes a BadassBookworm.

* Ernie Eaglebeak from ''TheSpellcastingSeries''.

* New US military recruits who report to their respective boot camps are not allowed to wear any prescription eyewear they bring with them. Within the first week, they are prescribed a pair of durable yet unflattering thick brown specs called BC (birth control) glasses (or, alternately, [=BCDs=], for BC Devices or BCG for Birth Control Goggles). So named because wearing them in public [[strike:guarantees you'll never get laid]] is the surest form of birth control known to man.
** Comedian Drew Carey, who did a hitch in the Marines, has made this type of glasses part of his public persona.
*** Lampshaded in the (full) second opening of ''TheDrewCareyShow'', where Drew's glasses are broken and by his friend's advice he replaces them by going to the nearby Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and stealing Buddy Holly's.
** Adam Savage of ''{{MythBusters}}'' wears this style of glasses while filming, though he tends to wear more subdued glasses when off the set.
*** FridgeBrilliance or FanWank: That particular style of glasses would also grant him some additional protection in the [[OnceAnEpisode occasional event]] where something might explode.

* Actor HaroldLloyd first helped popularize horn-rimmed glasses in America in the 1920s.

Subtrope of NerdGlasses. Contrast with {{Meganekko}}. Opaque Nerd Glasses often play a part in the UnwantedGlassesPlot.

They're not coke-bottle glasses he's wearing, they're paperweights in a frame. Glasses in anime, manga, comics and animation usually come in four forms -- there are tiny little things that don't get in the way (see CoolMask), so-clear-they're-almost-not-there spectacles worn by pretty girls (a.k.a. ''{{meganekko}}'') and [[StoicSpectacles handsome]] [[{{Megane}} boys]], lenses meant to hide the character's eyes from anyone who wants to get a glimpse at their soul (ScaryShinyGlasses), and then there are Opaque Nerd Glasses.

Contrast with {{Meganekko}}. Opaque Nerd Glasses often play a part in the UnwantedGlassesPlot.

They're not coke-bottle glasses he's wearing, they're paperweights in a frame. Glasses in anime, manga, comics and animation usually come in four forms -- there are tiny little things that don't get in the way (see CoolMask), so-clear-they're-almost-not-there spectacles worn by pretty girls (a.k.a. ''{{meganekko}}'') and [[StoicSpectacles handsome]] [[{{Megane}} boys]], lenses meant to hide the character's eyes from anyone who wants to get a glimpse at their soul (ScaryShinyGlasses), and then there are NerdGlasses.

OpaqueNerdGlasses are two four-inch disks that hide the wearer's eyes behind [[OpaqueLenses blank white circles]], that can be marked either with thin black spiraling lines, or, in the western variant, small or hazy dots denoting pupils. In some cases, the person's eyes will stay as tiny black dots even when the glasses are taken off, possibly to indicate how bad their eyesight is, or to make them look naked without their iconic glasses. They indicate that a character is painfully geeky, and is probably BlindWithoutEm.

Female characters with OpaqueNerdGlasses often reveal that they were BeautifulAllAlong upon [[TheGlassesGottaGo their removal]]. Male characters may be TheShortGuyWithGlasses.

Tends to be found more often in comedy than in drama.

* Naru Narusegawa in her "nerd mode" in ''LoveHina''. However, once Naru has obviously become the love interest in the story, TheGlassesGottaGo -- and when they ''are'' seen afterwards, they are no longer opaque and spiralled, but simple clear {{Meganekko}} circles. Also, in the manga, she gives her NerdGlasses to Shinobu as a "good luck" token when the younger girl is taking exams; later, Motoko uses them for the same purpose while studying to get into Tokyo U.

* Mousse from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is a borderline exception -- he has the glasses, but he's not a nerd. He ''is'', however, an obsessive {{Stalker with a Crush}} with no common sense. He's BlindWithoutEm, yet never puts them on until ''after'' he has, for example, spent five minutes talking to a tree under the assumption that it's actually Shampoo. He also has a habit of [[TheGlassesComeOff taking them off to attempt something dramatic]], then doing something stupid because he can't see.

** [[spoiler: She [[TheGlassesGottaGo loses them]] after [[MagnificentBastard Divine]] murders her. Well, they wouldn't really go with the SuperpoweredEvilSide that came with the resurrection.]]
** [[spoiler: After [[{{TearJerker}} Episode 59]], [[TragicKeepsake they were all that was left of her]]...]]

** Also [[DeconstructedTrope playing]] with it on one occasion, when he makes the point that the character he's depicting himself as doesn't really look very much like a real human - and demonstrates this by taking off his glasses, [[spoiler: revealing there really are no eyes behind them]].
* Perhaps on a borderline of ScaryShinyGlasses and NerdGlasses -- Jonas Harrow from the Marvel universe wears spiraly glasses.

* The core principle of the [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] persona is, of course, the implausibility of {{Superman}} wearing NerdGlasses.
** Plus in comics, unlike real life, the blank white circles actually ''do'' mask his appearance. MediumAwareness, anyone?

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' with the Tenth Doctor's PurelyAestheticGlasses.

** And of course [[SummerGlau Bennett Halverson]].

* Some characters from the ''SuperMarioBros.'' games have Nerd Glasses, such as Iggy Koopa, Professor E. Gadd from ''Luigi's Mansion'', and Professor Frankly from ''VideoGame/PaperMario''. These characters usually look (and sometimes sound) more Japanese than the others.

** Really, she's got the transparent {{Meganekko}} glasses -- you can see this in all the official art and animations, as well as her character information screen. They're just opaque in-game because of sprite limitations -- it's hard to denote "glasses" ''without'' them being opaque when the lenses need to be only two or three pixels wide.

* Ernie Eaglebeak from ''TheSpellcastingSeries.''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Professor Farnsworth in ''{{Futurama}}'' had a pair of Nerd Glasses, and indeed his eyes were never seen in the series. Subverted in one episode where he needed his "reading glasses" -- and put on a pair several times thicker than his already fairly enormous glasses (to the point that they looked like glass cylinders).

-->(Bart and Milhouse see their reflection in each other's glasses)

* Alexa from ''[[http://www.shapequest.net Shape Quest]].''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}''. Like Scooter above, the title character's eyes ''are'' his glasses -- the lenses are all white, with dots in them for his pupils. Most other characters end up this way when they end up wearing glasses. In earlier flashback episodes, his eyes sans spectacles were the same as everyone else's, but they soon gave him ''Peanuts''-style floating dots instead.

* Marcy from ''{{Peanuts}}'' wears opaque glasses and is never seen with them off.

* Became a major plot point in {{Hey Arnold}} where {{Rich Bitch}} Rhonda (in karmic retribution for her earlier disciminatory attitude towards geeks by having them sit in the back of the bus) is forced to wear nerdy glasses when her school nurse and aunt reveals she is short-sighted. The humiliation in sitting in the last row prompts Rhonda to discard her glasses, but her short-sightedness causes her to get into embarrassing situations such as getting gum on her shirt and toilet paper on her shoe. Furious at the inequalities she and the geeks are forced to endure in school, she stages a revolution and gets back at one of the cool kids who forced her into the back row by refusing to budge from her first row seat and convincing the kids to sit wherever they want (ending in the cool kid having to sit in the back row). In the end, as icing on the cake, Rhonda gets a better pair of glasses.

** Adam Savage of ''MythBusters'' wears this style of glasses while filming, though he tends to wear more subdued glasses when off the set.