Basic Trope: A character loves the public identity of a character, but not the secret one.
- Straight: Alice is in love with Amazing Man, Trope City's hero of justice. However, she dislikes his Secret Identity, Alvin Mansfield.
- Exaggerated: Alice is Amazing Man's #1 fangirl, who extols his virtues at every chance. She treats Alvin with barely-disguised contempt.
- Downplayed: Alice has slightly more respect for Amazing Man than she does for Alvin.
- Justified:
- Alvin relies on creating an unattractive personality for his Secret Identity so that no one connects him to Amazing Man. This has the side effect of driving potential women away who are more attracted to his alter ego.
- Amazing Man is the quintessential hero, strong and charismatic, while Alvin is the ultimate common man, weak and clumsy. Amazing Man is obviously the better catch.
- Inverted: Likes Clark Kent, Hates Superman.
- Subverted:
- Alice doesn't actually like Amazing Man, she's just pretending so she doesn't seem like a "weirdo" in front of her friends.
- Alice is in love with Amazing Man...but reveals that she also finds Alvin very attractive as well.
- Double Subverted: However, she's so in love with the superhero that all other men are pretty much dead to her.
- Parodied: Alice is head over heels in love with Amazing Man, that she is blind to the amazing things Alvin does, even if he does the same things, act the same way, and even shouts the same catch phrases.
- Zig Zagged: Alice doesn't even dislike Alvin that much. She just thinks he can't compete with Amazing Man. Despite the obvious hints Alvin accidentally leaves for her, she brushes them aside because she's too much in love to care who Amazing Man really is.
- Averted: She doesn't seem to prefer either person over the other.
- Enforced: Someone willing to slap, shove, and spill coffee on someone who's the same person as their crush is a great source of Superdickery.
- Lampshaded: "Just my luck. I'm my own competition!"
- Invoked: Having failed in the field of love as Alvin, he decides to become Amazing Man as women are attracted to superheroes.
- Exploited: Knowing that Amazing Man has a secret identity, his rogues gallery attempt to deduce it by examining the men that interact with Alice.
- Defied:
- Alvin tries his best to project a reasonably attractive image to the ladies.
- Alvin acts like a complete jerk as Amazing Man in order to turn the tables in his civilian identity's favor.
- Discussed: This happens so often in a world full of Differently Powered Individuals that it has been analyzed and acknowledged in psychology. Armchair therapists like to call it "Lois Lane Complex."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Alice's body language changes when she hears about Amazing Man, with her tone of voice being sweeter when she talks about him as well.
- Deconstructed: Seeing Alice's mad crush on his alter ego causes Alvin to go crazy. He eventually reveals their relationship to her, which causes her to scoff in disbelief - that scrawny loser couldn't be the mighty Amazing Man!
- Reconstructed: Alvin is a shy recluse who finds it hard to talk to girls, much less to Alice. He is actually flattered when Alice shows affection towards his alter ego, as it is the closest thing to obtaining her affections that he ever thought he could get. In his alter ego, he is a lot bolder than usual, and uses his identity to get closer to Alice and learn more about her. He decides to maintain his identity until he finally gathers the strength to tell her how he really feels.
- Played For Drama: Alice plays a mean prank on Alvin that leaves him injured, only to start worrying where Amazing Man is, not knowing that she was the one who hurt him.
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