Basic Trope: A character is much smarter than their appearance indicates.
- Straight: Though very pretty and Valley Girl-like at first, the Alpha Bitch Alice is revealed to be a very intellectual person.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is thought to be a Dumb Blonde and then revealed to hold several Ph.D in various fields.
- Bob is thought to be Dumb Muscle before demonstrating his intelligence by writing latin poetry.
- Downplayed: Alice is pretty and a little more ahead intellectually.
- Justified: Alice is a renaissance woman working both her mind and her body.
- Inverted:
- Alice is ugly and stupid.
- Alice wears glasses and a labcoat but is actually a poor student.
- Alice is smart and looks like a stereotypical nerd.
- Subverted: Alice looks like a dumb blonde, but then we see her holding a spectacular report. However, when she moves her hand we see that the report is actually Bob's.
- Double Subverted: Alice then pulls out her own report, which is even better than Bob's.
- Parodied:
- Alice is a So Beautiful, It's a Curse supermodel and college professor.
- Bob is both the World's Strongest and Mensa member.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice is a brainless beauty.
- Enforced: "We must make Alice beautiful and smart, because we need a role model!"
- Lampshaded: "I didn't know models have now Ph.D in nuclear physics!"
- Invoked:Charles: Let's hire Alice!
Diane: But why, boss? She's look like a bimbo with her stilettos and her chihuahua!
Charles: It means she's the smartest of the candidates! - Exploited:
- Alice puts in a lot of work into her appearance because people often assume that if you're conventionally attractive, you can't be that bright. So, when people discover that Alice is both good-looking and smart too, it throws them for a loop.
- Obfuscating Stupidity
- Defied: Alice is pretty and of average intelligence.
- Discussed:Charles: You know, about Bob...
Diane: The bodybuilder?
Charles: He has a theoretic physics degree. - Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Tired with not being taken seriously enough,Alice decides to make herself less attractive and frumpy.
- Reconstructed: ..before discovering that, although she was not taken seriously, at first,she comes to the realization thatliked herself as she originally was and goes back to her old self.
Hey, you're Smarter Than You Look, Alice!
