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...But He Sounds Handsome
"After almost being killed by my cunningly clever and devilishly handsome twin brother, Nale, I find that I am looking at everything in a different light."
— Nale (disguised as Elan),
Oh, hello there. Were you looking for the trope But He Sounds Handsome? Well, that's
If I were But He Sounds Handsome, I would be a
about characters secretly complimenting themselves... while disguised as someone else. I might also be about giving compliments to a mysterious person (who would have been, of course, me), or hearing insults/compliments about my normal identity while in disguise. It's pretty much a stock gag/joke for anyone in disguise.
Often I... I mean But He Sounds Handsome would be used as part of a .
The trope is frequently
by a character trying to deflect suspicion by insulting their other identity. What a dumb idea for a trope that I'm glad I'm not that trope. Or its inversion.
Hang on, he's actually telling me right now...yes? What is it? Oh, okay. He says this occasionally overlaps with the trope , where one person pretends to be two people at once. He also mentioned that it overlaps with
when the pretense uses a second Internet identity. It also applies to cases where a member of Group X in disguise defends Group X—a
objecting to an insult to women, for instance, or an undercover spy speaking up for his home country. At least, I'm sure that's what But He Sounds Handsome would say. What a great trope. However, I've heard—I'm not speaking from direct experience, of course—that But He Sounds Handsome is only slightly related to a common joke wherein a character makes a joke of complimenting his Doppleganger, his
or , his ,
for being remarkably handsome.
What? No, those aren't my examples of But He Sounds Handsome. I'm just... holding on to them for But He Sounds Handsome. So, ah, feel free to look at or add to them. . Definitely.
&&&&open/close all folders&
&&&&Advertising&
featuring Peyton Manning .
Disguised Peyton Manning: "... like Peyton Manning, that guy's pretty good. If you like 6'5 230 pounds quarterback, laser rocket arms."
In one commercial for Logitech Revue,
portrays , whose favorite actor is Kevin Bacon.
&&&&Anime & Manga&
During an episode of , Moon fakes having a fight with the other senshi to lure out the villains. Naru mentions the rumour to Usagi who claims "Sailor Moon is too nice and sweet and would never have a fight with the other Sailor Senshi!"
: the titular character is a , and indulges in this while walking through an area where the authorities are looking for him.
In , America comes in early and draws all the Allies and Axis on the chalkboard. When the others arrive and wonder who drew them all so badly, America feigns ignorance, but can't help "disparaging" the cute, pop art-inspired New York-style art.
During one
story arc, Ryoga got a mark on his stomach that . Since it can only be removed by beating defeated, Ranma tries all manner of things, and finally comes up with an answer:
Ranma: While you were standing, you never had one tiny opening in your defense. But once, when that incredibly graceful, beautiful girl hit a volleyball to you, and you crouched to hit it back, you were open! Which means... Ryoga: Of course! !
Also happens much earlier in the story, when Ranma (in girl form) beats up Kuno (in response to an insult to his manhood, ironically), and quickly covers with the below when he realizes that
is still oblivious:
Ranma: I'll have you know Ranma Saotome's even stronger than me!
Uncle Negi from
will happily comment on how handsome and amazing his Zorro-esque alter ego Naganegiman is. Whenever Naganegiman leaves the scene, Uncle Negi pops up nearby, commenting on him. When people talk about Naganegiman's awesomeness around Uncle Negi, he has a tendency to just melt...and everyone else wonders what the heck he's doing.
&&&&Comics&
This was used pretty frequently in , with him out of disguise saying something along the lines of "Now now, we can't all be The Flash". Come to think of it, pretty much every superhero uses this one at some point. Except the ones with no secret identity.
occasionally plays this trope straight (especially in ) but more often plays it in reverse sometimes even using Clark to voice his regrets in the form of criticism.
In the novelization of
in fact, having just learned Superman's secret, journalists everywhere are amazed at how balanced a presentation the Daily Planet gave of Superman given that most of the articles about him were written by him or his wife.
A couple of
arcs had Jason disguised as "Iguanoman", a reptilian alien (really Jason wearing his dad's overcoat and balancing Quincy on his head) mostly to annoy Paige. Whenever she calls him Jason, he usually replies with this trope, though it did backfire once:
"Iguanoman": This "Jason" must be really smart and handsome for you to keep confusing me with him. Paige: You look exactly alike! "Iguanoman": (loading a dart gun under his coat) Give me a moment to consider that answer.
The Chameleon played it straight in one panel and inverted it in the next when he came after Mary-Jane, disguised as Spider-Man: starting off with "He's one of the toughest foes I've ever faced" and then calling himself a "strait-jacketed loser".
A few times during , Spider-Man (really Otto Octavius playing
with Spider-Man's body) would defend
as "the greatest enemy I ever faced" whenever someone else put Ock down.
superheroes do it fairly often, with
being the most notable for going both ways with his identity Paperinik: Paperinik will insist that Donald is a good and honest man, while Donald throws fits of rage when someone dares insult Paperinik in his presence.
In stories that aknowledge Daisy's superhero alter ego Paperinika, Daisy tends to act this way in a rather extreme way, especially when she and Donald talk of their respective alter egoes, as Donald has little patience for Paperinika and .
(though mostly Hercules) do a bit of this at each other's expense right before the
"Thor": Come now! I heard Hercules was far handsomer.
"Hercules": And I always thought Thor stank less.
"Thor": Hey, below the belt...
comic, the company's lawyer demonstrates what the other side might say in court: "Liar! Why is your attorney so handsome?"
of the usual way this plays out: Billy (an orphan) uses his
for any situation that requires a parent's involvement, including enrolling himself and his
in school:
"Mr. Batson": Now, while I don't have a single complaint in the world about li'l adorable William, or Billy the angel as I like to call him...that darn Mary can at times be trouble.
: El Kabong describes Quick Draw McGraw as "that world-famous and staggeringly handsome lawman".
of all people does this in the now
"Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison" when he claims that Anakin Skywalker was one of the Jedi Order's most skilled generals.
&&&&Fan Works&
In , a fairly dark version happens when Souda gets the personality altering despair fever, and imagines himself as the recently deceased Sonia, the object of his affections, and as "Sonia", goes about talking highly of his real self.
In , Bill mentions how it's a shame he hasn't seen the demon Cipher in a long time and that he's an alright guy. Even this much credit to who he thinks is another demon strikes Dipper as odd considering how incredibly self-centered Bill is.
In , Ladybug and Chat Noir both praise Juleka's cute date outfit, which was picked out for her by Marinette and Adrien. The narration describes this as "two smug, ridiculous, idiotic, oblivious teenaged superheroes both puffed up like roosters during mating season at the compliment they were unwittingly paying one another whilst secretly paying it to themselves whilst pretending to pay it to Juleka."
The next time she sees her, Juleka dryly brings up this encounter with Marinette, who jokingly asks what Ladybug and Chat Noir were like: "I bet they were amazing." Juleka deflates her by reminding her that she and Chat left her stranded on a rooftop.
: The ending of the story heavily implies that the
is actually
Trafalgar Law, or whatever is left of his Disinfector persona after the
that ends the fic. Armed with this information, some of the lines that are spouted off end up being even more -worthy than on the first read.
I shouldn't have to explain why Mar might feel somewhat star-struck with the idea of Law present. Mar is a sixteen-year old girl, and it's freaking Trafalgar Law, c'mon.
: The Soft World: While in Geddy disguise on the Flying Island of Tipaan,
encounter some musicians. As they chat, the musicians scoff at the musical abilities of outworlders (which have already been established as generally dreadful). George agrees but says ?We do know .?
&&&&Films ? Animation&
In , while using a mouse puppet, Cat R. Waul describes himself to the other mice as an "enlightened, intelligent, sophisticated, charming, non-narcissistic, debonair, suave, dashing renaissance cat". He gets so caught up in complimenting himself that he forgets about the puppet, .
: while under the guise of Bernard, Megamind pretends to be fighting himself in front of Roxanne. He constantly spouts praise towards Megamind ("You're so strong and charismatic!") and finally tells Roxanne he did his best, but Megamind is just too fantastic!
: During the archery tournament, Robin, , praises himself and taunts the Sheriff of Nottingham about his failure catching him.
that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Batman's pathetic attempts to deny it only causes exasperation.
Batman: Bruce Wayne?! Uh... who is that? Sounds like a cool guy!
The Behind the Bricks featurette has meta examples, with some of the characters praising their various VAs. Of course, since they are voiced by those VAs, you get moments such as where
as Vitruvius is talking about how great it was to be portrayed by the golden voice of Morgan Freeman. President Business inverts this by complaining that
. It gets really confusing with
as Wyldstyle, who launches into glowing praise of Elizabeth while sounding like she was talking herself (Wyldstyle), while being voiced by Elizabeth.
The meta version is played with at the end of , when the cast goes to see car versions of previous
films. Mack, voiced by John Ratzenberger, compliments several characters in the films (who were also voiced by Ratzenberger) until he realizes they're all the same guy, at which point .
: The robot who poses as Top Cat while robbing an orphanage makes a comment about Strickland's supposed beauty while "taunting" him in front of the camera.
&&&&Films ? Live-Action&
for : Count Olaf in disguise, "Who is this incredibly handsome Count Olaf you keep mentioning?"
Not quite a compliment, but in , when Little John asks
: "What? Are you friendly to our good King Richard?" The "abbot" replies: "I love no man better."
In , when Sinbad (who is, unbeknownst to most, also Prince Ahmed of Dariabar) is told by the barber Melik that assassins are out to kill Ahmed, he replies, "Why? I understand he's a splendid fellow!"
In , Peter Parker and MJ get into a conversation about Spider-Man, and it seems Peter can't help himself. Subtle enough to be passed off as Peter just trying to look like an average guy.
Peter: No, no, I understand. He is extremely cool. MJ: But do you think it's true, all the terrible things they say about him? Peter: No, no. Not Spider-Man. Not a chance in the world.
In , Peter defends Spider-Man against Captain Stacy's concerns about the negative effects of his vigilantism.
In , Peter nervously calls Spider-Man "nice" and "a solid dude" while being driven to the titular dance. And we say "nervously" because
his date's dad is *the Vulture* and he's scared out of his mind.
Inverted in , where Bruce Wayne openly makes fun of Batman while trying to develop a reputation as . Continued in , when he questions who appointed Batman and what gives him the right to take the law into his own hands.
Bruce: A guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.
Also inverted in
when Harry is reading the wizarding newspaper in a Muggle restaurant.
Pretty Muggle waitress: "Harry Potter"? Who's Harry Potter? Harry: No one. Bit of a tosser, really.
Elena goes to confession to confess her recent bouts of misbehavior with Zorro. Of course, Zorro is sitting in the priest section. He prompts her that the masked man must have been "ruggedly handsome", but Elena points out that he was wearing a mask, so she doesn't know. Zorro looks deflated.
Inverted earlier when he's pretending to be a young nobleman at a ball. When the conversation turns to Zorro, he speculates that he probably wears the mask "to cover his bald head and unsightly features."
In , Saito sees
Browning, who he assumes to be Eames in disguise. He walks right up to him and says, "I see you've changed."
Browning gives him an odd look and Saito sees Eames behind him. Saito quickly says, "I mistook you for a friend of mine."
Browning smirks and says, "Must be a good-looking fella."
Inverted in , where 's character has been having a secret pen-pal romance with a co-worker he despises, only to fall in love with her.
He figures it out before she does and insults his alter-ego, saying that he met him earlier and found that he was overweight, a plagiarist, and
Similarly done in
, where Joe doesn't pretend to know the pen pal, but tells Kathleen that's he's probably fat, ugly, married and generally unpleasant.
In , Palpatine has a line that's something of a variant of this trope. When Count Dooku confronts Obi-Wan and Anakin in the opening rescue sequence,
says to them "Get help, you're no match for him. He's a Sith Lord."
Played for drama in , where Parson Blyss () subtly
the achievements the supposedly-dead pirate of the film's title, so it's really not hard to figure out that Blyss is Clegg long before it's explicitly spelled-out. Tellingly, when he's explaining the circumstances surrounding Clegg's betrayal and arrest, he becomes morally indignant on Clegg's behalf.
"Clegg was bad, but he was never a coward or a traitor."
? , posing as smuggler Peter Franks, kills the real Franks and switches wallets with him. When Tiffany Case discovers he's "killed James Bond" he feigns surprise and comments "It just goes to show you, no one's indestructible!"
: James Bond impersonates Francisco Scaramanga and talks with Scaramanga's employer. During the talk, Bond warns the man about James Bond and plays up his skills.
Inverted in . When Mario and Luigi meet up with their "attorney," the attorney tells them that they don't want to meet President Koopa, describing him as "one evil, egg-sucking son of a snake." When it is revealed that Koopa was the person who acted as their attorney, Luigi expresses shock, to which Koopa then repeats the above description and asks "?"
In , Ivan, a total unknown in the music industry, goes to a dance club to see how people react to his first single. While the record is playing, he casually asks a stranger what he thinks of the song. When the man says "Not bad," Ivan responds, "I think it's a hit."
In , Artemus Gordon, disguised as President Grant, gives Jim West a spiel about what a great agent Artemus Gordon is. This tips off West that something is wrong. Noticing that "Grant" is wearing a Harvard graduation ring (the real Grant went to West Point), he pulls out a gun and points it at him.
: Bruce Wayne visits Barry Allen and says he knows he is the Flash. When Barry tries to deny it, Bruce shows footage of Barry stopping a crime out of costume. Barry claims the man in the video isn't him, just a really attractive man who happens to resemble him. Barry gives up when he realizes it's not working.
&&&&Literature&
In , Odysseus brags about his cleverness and courage many times in many different disguises.
In , Miles Vorkosigan does quite a bit of this with his alter-ego Admiral Naismith. (Although Admiral Naismith considers Miles Vorkosigan to be boring and stupid in return.)
Another notable case was when one of Naismith's rescue victims was advising Lieutenant Vorkosigan to "stay away from the bunch of clowns called the Dendarii Mercenaries." Nettled, Miles snapped "Why? They got you back alive, didn't they?"
Inverted in The Hobgoblin's Hat, one of
books. Said artifact transforms Moomintroll into a different being without him noticing, so when his friends wonder who he is, he thinks they are just playing and plays along. Among other things, he talks badly about himself, which convinces his friends "the stranger" is up to no good.
Inverted in an entirely different way in the . Tavi and Max are extravagantly praising the mysterious person who attacked a slaver and freed the slaves, only for both of them to be quite shocked to discover that it was not the other one who did it.
Inverted in Murder Must Advertise, in which , encountering two people who have met him in disguise, takes the opportunity to blacken the name of his supposed lookalike cousin.
, Count Olaf would always do this. It was extremely frustrating for the Baudelaires and the reader that other characters never picked up on this.
novelization, after Palpatine tells Anakin about The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, Anakin wants to know what happened to Plagueis's apprentice, and Palpatine tells him that he went on to become "the greatest Dark Lord the Sith have ever known." As he reveals later, of course, it's no mere legend, and he's talking about himself.
In , when Taylor is visiting her father and his friends during , she ends up in a debate about whether the villains taking control of the town are a force for good — one of said villains being Skitter i.e. Taylor.
&&&&Live-Action TV&
: in Season 4, Episode 5 ("Shotgun"), the Whites are having dinner with the Schraders. Hank is going on about what a genius Gale (whom Hank believes to have been the elusive "Heisenberg") was. Walt, who has had more than a couple of sips of wine and already has a massive ego issue, informs Hank that in his humble opinion, Gale's notebook didn't look like the work of a "genius", but more like that of a student copying down notes he didn't fully understand, and that the real genius might still be out there.
Happens in , even without a disguise: Holly, the ship's computer, appears on a recording Holly doesn't remember making (the crew's memories were erased). Initially, he comments, "Nice-looking bloke," and then when the recorded Holly tells them to pause the recording, he does so, because he "Knows what he's talking about, that dude."
has the episode "Happy B-Day Marc" in which Kenan sneaks into a costume party dressed as a ninja named Bernard where he encounters Sharla.
Kenan: Don't you work at that one store? Ragbys? Rugby's? Sharla: Rigby's. Kenan: Right, and don't you work with that guy, Kenan? What do you think of him? I hear he's like boyishly handsome. Sharla: Actually I think Kenan's a jerk, I mean I can't stand the guy. Kenan: What?! Ur... I mean... [Pulls down Kenan's mask] Sharla: I know it's you, Kenan.
"Moving Day": in the midst of moving in with Robin, the van with Ted's stuff is stolen, and the culprit calls Ted and gives him instructions on how to get them back. Of course, Ted knows exactly who it is.
Ted: Barney... Barney: This isn't Barney! But I hear that guy's awesome.
It then gets an
when Ted finds the van and takes it back, with Barney and his date inside:
Ted: Enjoying the ride? Barney: Ted? Ted, you let us out of here! Let us out of here this instant! Ted: This isn't Ted, but I hear that guy's awesome.
Barney does this again later when pretending to be his own doppleganger. He can't help but defend himself (and his blog) when being interrogated by Lily.
Barney also does this in his video resume, where despite evidence to the contrary, he claims it's not him singing the song, but "one of the many admirers who think that guy's awesome!"
"Columns": Ted pulls this as well when his boss, Brady, forgot Ted's name and told him to fire himself.
Brady: Fire him! He's an arrogant, washed-up, pain in the ass. In fact, fire everyone on that project. Druthers, Mosby, the whole lot of them.
Ted: Mosby, sir? I, I... I hear Mosby's doing some great work.
Brady: Fine, Mosby can stay. But tell him he's on thin ice. Come here. [Pinches Ted's cheeks] I like you, Crosby.
In the episode "Duet", one-off character Lieutenant Cadman is trapped in McKay's body. At one point he falls asleep and she gets when she/he goes to Doctor Beckett, they claim that it's "damn lucky it was her" that McKay was merged with.
While the team is traveling through alternate universes, they are rescued from aliens by a squadron of F-302s commanded by an alternate version of Sheppard. When they hail him on the radio to thank him, Sheppard doesn't tell his alternate who they are, but says, "You're obviously a man of great integrity, a dedicated commander, and a skilled pilot." Meanwhile, the other characters roll their eyes. Alt-Sheppard responds, "Well, that's funny. I was just going to say the same to you."
: Dean is looking for Sam, who's been kidnapped. The cop he goes to looks Sam up in her computer and mentions that Sam's brother was recently reported dead and had been wanted for murder. He replies, "Yeah, Dean was always the black sheep of the family. Handsome, though."
Played straight on an episode of , Cam, dressed as his clown alter ego Fitzbo, encounters his nephew Luke and the following exchange occurs:
Luke: Wow, is that you, Uncle Cam? Cam: Well, no, I'm Fitzbo the Clown! I don't know who this "Uncle Cam" is, but he sure sounds handsome, doesn't he?
episode "Witch", almost everything Amy says about her mother becomes a retrospective example of this trope when
Inverted in ; Robert of Huntingdon explains that his horse and sword were stolen by somebody of roughly the same height and hair colour as him - who then apparently went on to rob from the rich and give to the poor. When he is then asked "So this person could have been mistaken for you?" He answers "Certainly not! He was a peasant!"
TV series, when Percy is impersonating Chauvelin:
Percy: The Scarlet Pimpernel. Surely you've heard of him? Gabrielle: That ridiculous name means nothing to me. Percy: The man's a legend. Elusive, daring, resourceful beyond belief, a poisonous thorn in the side of the Republic... Andrew: ...and altogether too big for his boots.
episode "Duet", in addition to his , Gul Darhe'el gave glowing compliments about his file clerk, . When it turned out it actually was Marritza, he then tried to claim what a coward he was, until the guilt over the crimes he couldn't stop overwhelmed him. However, in every version of the story, no matter who he was pretending to be, he always emphasized that whatever else Marritza was, he was an exemplary file clerk.
episode "Body and Soul", the Doctor is stuck in Seven's body after some hologram-persecuting aliens think they've killed him. He describes himself to one of the aliens like this:
If only you could have known him. Ruggedly handsome. A sharp wit, a towering intellect. ... Well, now we'll never know what heights he could have reached.
: Reese indulges in this while discussing 'the man in the suit' with an investigative reporter.
Reese: He sounds like quite a guy.
episode "The Power of Three Blondes", three other witches do a spell to impersonate the Charmed Ones. In the process, they murder a random vac when Chris asks them about the murder weapon, they react this way:
Mitzy: We believe that athame belongs to witches. Margo: Really smart, pretty witches.
Elizabeth in
can't resist pointing out some of the Soviet Union's achievements.
In an episode of , Hutch is undercover as a nerdy accountant. When a woman IDs him as a cop, he protests: "I am not a policeman. They have to be brave and manly and strong."
episode "Bertie takes Gussie's place at Deverill Hall", Bertie (who is impersonating Gussie) is asked about 'that Bertie Wooster fellow', and proceeds to talk up how musically talented, witty, and generally wonderful Bertie is. This backfires when Gussie turns up claiming to be Bertie, and is called upon for a demonstration of his skill at singing and playing piano.
, "Trust in Me" - When Rocky meets a blind martial artist, then runs into her again while Rangered up, he covers by claiming to be 'with' the Rangers. While discussing this later, the other Rangers can't resist complimenting themselves. "I heard Yellow's the coolest..."
episode "King's Castle", Briggs tells Charlie that they have to accept the fact that they cannot catch their
Odin Rossi. Briggs is Odin Rossi.
In , the main characters travel back in time to 17th century France. For some strange reason, they're all doubles of historical (or fictional) people, to the point where Rebecca Fogg is initially thought to be Milady de Winter, hired by Cardinal Richelieu (who looks like her cousin Phileas Fogg) to poison the king (who looks like Jules Verne). During the climax of the episode, the Cardinal comes face-to-face with Phileas, stares at him for a moment, and calls him a "handsome devil".
In , strangers occasionally talk to Geraldine about Dibley's famous female vicar without realizing who she is (either because it's over the phone or her collar is obscured). Invariably, she'll make sure to emphasize how much the villagers admire their beloved and sexy vicar.
In , Barry Allen, in an effort to maintain his , soundly inverts this trope whenever Iris tries to talk to him about the Flash. Iris finds Barry's negativity about Central City's new superhero very annoying.
Early on in Season 2,
shows up to warn Team Flash about the new
Zoom, and frequently brings up how incredibly powerful and evil he is and how Barry wouldn't stand a chance against him in a fight. While Garrick , it turns out that the man Team Flash knows as "Jay Garrick" is actually Zoom himself in disguise, having stolen the real Jay Garrick's identity.
Jonny Ball made a running joke of this in his various Think series. He would cut to a scene of himself portraying an important scientist or inventor, and, once the clip ended would remark "What a handsome chap!".
Howard Stark inverts it in , claiming that he is better-looking than Howard Stark.
in 's parody crossover : , in which
tries to goes undercover among his
as a radar technician named Matt. Key word being "" — he's quite the .
"Matt the Radar Technician": A buddy of mine saw Kylo Ren take his shirt off in the shower and he said that Kylo Ren had an eight-pack, that Kylo Ren was shredded. Tim the Stormtrooper: What?! Your friend's a liar, man! Kylo Ren is a punk bitch! That guy looks like he weighs 30 pounds soaking wet underneath that little black dress.
"Matt" then proceeds to
into a vending machine via .
It would then go on to become
that Kylo Ren is, indeed,
Happens a lot in . After being restored to his younger body, Jimmy will often compliment or defend his older self to people who knew him. Usually—especially when it's Jimmy's son—the person he's talking to will respond with their real and unflattering opinion of the older Jimmy.
Inverted, usually, in . As the vicar, Syn publicly denounces the ruthless lawbreaker who goes by the name "Scarecrow." In the second episode he speaks out in court because, he claims, the Scarecrow tried to threaten him into silence, and in the third he's "blackmailed." But in the ending, he shares a drink with the Squire and says that they really should admire the Scarecrow's aid to the community even if they have to keep it to themselves.
and Winn do this a lot about James' heroic alter-ego Guardian (Winn designed the suit and acts as Guardian's ).
often has George Sr and Oscar switching places (usually without Oscar's consent). When impersonating Oscar, George Sr. will often insult "himself" in front of the family.
George Sr. as Oscar: I just want to have sex with you, that's-that's all I'm good for. ... Lucille: You smell like a pinecone. George Sr. as Oscar: Yeah, that's the weed. I went to my, uh, [bleep]-hole trailer, and I-I smoked some like a cigarette.
In the TV show , as in the books, Count Olaf does this quite often.
In , characters in the
are frequently shown reading and praising books written by the head writer, Garth Marenghi, in a blatant effort to stroke his ego.
&&&&Music&
In , Dr Wily sings about how smart the person who killed Emily was to use a tool like a robot...shortly after giving that particular order himself, and framing Dr Light.
For the longest time,
would go by the name Moongoose McQueen when playing as the frontman of heavy metal band . In , Jericho was a huge fan of
while McQueen supposedly had never heard of Jericho.
&&&&Pro Wrestling&
talking about his pregnant wife , who : "I don't know who knocked her up but he must have a gigantic penis."
Inverted by James Myers, who in the 1970s was a PE teacher in Michigan and wrestled in New York in the summer as . On the rare occasion when one of his students pointed out his resemblance to some WWF wrestler they saw in a magazine, he'd reply "do you really think I'm that ugly?"
&&&&Religion and Mythology&
In Roman mythology (as described by
in his ) Vertumnus, the god of season, plant growth, and change, used this trick to praise himself disguised as an old woman and win the heart of Pomona, a wood nymph and a goddess of fruits and gardening. This makes the trope .
says, "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." Guess who wrote Numbers. (Assuming he, and not Joshua or someone else, wrote that bit.)
&&&&Role-Playing Games&
In , when discussing , Spy described him as a "master at the art of " and a "skilled master of spies". This immediately caused Sgt. Ronald Army to suspect that Spy was really talking about himself.
Ronald Army: "Spy was obviously ! He gave himself away! Oh, he thought he was so tricky and smart, speaking in third-person, but no one would show so much respect towards a cowardly murderer unless that cowardly murderer was himself!"
&&&&Theatre&
In , Orsino claims that no woman could possibly love as truly as he does. Viola,
and also hopelessly in love with him, begs to differ.
may say more, swear more: but indeed Our show for still we prove Much in our vows, but little in our love.
In , Falstaff, playing the role of Hal's father the King, tells Hal about this wonderful fellow he's heard of called Falstaff. Hal, playing his father, says he's heard this Falstaff guy is a drunken knave. It's in this scene that it finally sinks it for Hal that he's going to need to stop hanging around with Falstaff.
And again in , where Lucio starts badmouthing the absent Duke to a monk, not realizing that the monk . The monk replies to Lucio with a surprisingly minor version of this trope: he always heard the Duke pretty highly spoken-of. Becomes hilarious in the final scene, when Lucio tells the returned Duke about meeting a monk who said the most awful, slanderous things about him.
In , Stephanie, playing the part of Mrs. Julian Winston in her first meeting with Toni, stoops to complimenting herself in the third person, if only because Toni has heard so much about her already:
Stephanie: I'm afraid, I haven't been a very good mommy because I've spent so much time with Julian, helping him with his work. (Catches herself) Of course, he does have a nurse. Toni: I know. I hear Miss Dickinson is marvelous. Stephanie: She is. Toni: One of those sterling old maids. Probably madly in love with the boss. Stephanie: Did Julian tell you that? Toni: No. But the way he described her—
In , Bea, dressed as a lawyer to defend her husband, declares, "The defendant's wife, who is surely a loving, kind, compassionate, patient woman—(turns to the court reporter) Hey, make sure you write all that down!"
&&&&Video Games&
In the adventure game : , the titular heroine at one point tells a society of Dignified Ladies that the pilot they'd hired to fly their poorly-built aircraft around the world wasn't coming. Later, she must disguise
when the ladies tell Nelly-as-the-pilot what Nelly had said earlier, she replies "Damn that gorgeous liar!"
has this exchange between the web-slinger and Quentin Beck:
Spider-Man: I don't like people making a career out of badmouthing me, Beck. Quentin Beck: What about that editor at the Bugle, Jameson? Spider-Man: J.J? He just has a knack for hiring good photographers.
On the road back from completing your first major quest in , the player has the option to do this:
Traveler: You been down south recently? You see them heroes everyone is talking about? Protagonist: Well, I did hear about them. Supposedly real brave, and damn good looking too.
Also, in , Edwin accidentally transforms himself into a woman while trying to unlock the secrets of a magical scroll. While this is initially upsetting for him, it turns out to be advantageous later on when a wizard tasked with hunting him down and killing him doesn't realize who he is and lets him go. However, the other wizard soon figures out that something's not right, tracks the party down again, and accuses the female wizard of being Edwin in disguise. The response?
Edwin: Er...I am no Edwin, as you claim. I know him not. He sounds like a worthy mage of distinction, and I am probably weaker having not made his acquaintance. My name is...Celisa of Waterdeep. Yes, daughter of...Kur..Kurdall Al....Ale...Kurdall Aleconnor, a wealthy mead-maker and owner of a chain of festhalls. No Edwin in our midst I'm most sorry to say. Only Celisa Aleconnor. You'd best be off to capture this Edwin. He sounds like a formidable foe.
In , if you dominate an enemy Spy while playing as a Spy yourself, your Spy may remark "I'll see you in Hell, you handsome rogue!" Keep in mind that the two Spies look identical except for their colors, so he is secretly complementing himself. Oddly enough, this happens during one of the few times you won't be disguised, since attacking will remove it.
Subverted in the "Meet the Spy" video. When the BLU Spy is making out the RED Spy to be some sort of , the Soldier assumes he's actually the RED Spy in disguise and .
The RED Spy was actually disguised as the Scout, and proceeds to
Humorously enough, it's also inverted when
the RED Spy, disguised as Scout, .
Used in , when the identity of the Phantom is revealed.
Jasper: WHAT? How dare you accuse me of being the rugged and romantic Phantom, who has captivated audiences for months on end?
A variation occurs in . The entire storyline is presented as . At one point in the game, Varric mows down wave after wave of surprisingly easy enemies, and then his brother Bartrand starts going on about how jealous he is of Varric for being "strong and handsome, and so very smart". During this speech, the scene shifts to Varric telling the story, making it clear that he's started making things up
because he doesn't want to think about what actually happened.
uses another variation when you are given the opportunity to spy on an imposter.
Garrett: So,
the famous Garrett. Guess he's not as good-looking as I heard.
A potential meta example comes from . Kreia describes Arren Kae as a beautiful and strong Jedi. It's
but many fans have connected enough dots to assume that Kreia is Arren Kae.
"Naxxramas" solo challenge,
Kel'Thuzad taunts the player about each boss that they are about the face. When they finally reach Kel'Thuzad himself, he tells the player: "I hear the next boss is all-powerful... and very handsome."
A first-time player of
may wonder why the hostage Donald Anderson is so quick to praise the intelligence and cunning of FOXHOUND, his captors.
He was really Decoy Octopus in disguise.
: At the end of Act 1, the Trooper infiltrates an enemy-held starship to confront a defector and, along the way, encounters a group of ex-Republic
who are taking a break to talk about the
that's devastating their ranks. Naturally, the Trooper can pitch in with
these Republic commandos are, and how they're glad nobody's around like that...
A meta example occurs in
if the player enters "" during Mettaton's essay prompts.
Mettaton: Toby? What the hell is that? Sounds... sexy.
In , the main characters get plot-relevant information from either an "oddly attractive bard" or a "sketchy yet oddly attractive man", both of whom are clear self-inserts of the narrator who's revealed in the good endings to be a
of a -like game.
Prime Minister Baldi, a "former" pirate himself, suggests the masked pirate that saves one of your exploration fleets early on in Neo Atlas 1469 was "dependable" and "probably good with the ladies."
In , Xander tells Laslow in their supports that he's gotten complaints about "a certain royal retainer" hitting on the local women. Laslow's response?
Laslow: Do you... know the identity of this gorgeous fiend, milord?
a petitioner visits the main character's castle and asks for the great hero, not knowing that that's exactly who he's speaking to. The main character can admit to their identity, mention that "he's so unbelievably cool" or in the
declare that "he's nothing special".
In , Bruce Wayne is asked what he thinks about Batman. You can either play this trope straight by calling him a great hero, or invert it by calling him a lunatic that should be locked up.
&&&&Web Comics&
Happens multiple times in , such as , , ,
and arguably .
The way to tell the difference between Elan and Nale-disguised-as-Elan? Nale can't help but defend himself when insulted. Also see the page quote.
Belkar does this in after he gets out of prison in Azure City. Specifically . In fact, it's done by both Belkar and Elan in the same strip.
In On The Origins of PCs, Belkar escapes from prison with a false beard as a diguise. He tells his pursuers that the "ruggedly handsome and clean-shaven" halfling .
One of the redirects may have come from
: "Your majesty! That sexy barbarian lady escaped! "
The creator once invoked this trope in a news post. And linked back here!
T-Rex pulls it in the last panel of
: Madblood is disguised as Dave, and Helen (who figured it out immediately) is messing with him by claiming she and Dave are lovers. Madblood tries to keep his cover, but he can't help saying things like, "But what of Madblood? I thought you found him dashing and brilliant!"
In , Odo gets some lines about how clever Jake is, and how everyone should listen to him. These lines would be more convincing if Wesley weren't role-playing both Odo and Jake.
In , , just to mess with him and see how long it takes for him to figure it out.
JOHN: i was told to find a girl named roxy. ROXY: roxy huh ROXY: sounds like a babe
In Shaenon Garrity's
recap comic Monster of the Week, the strip based on "" has Skinner react to the news that someone's been impersonating Mulder with "Damn that handsome bastard!"
has never heard of this "Socrates" person, but he thinks he
&&&&Web Original&
gives us "", by Donald Sterling.
Suzaku: "Who knew they'd put the death of Clover's murder on that stupid One guy?"
Lelouch: "That One guy sounds like A REALLY AWESOME DUDE!"
An odd version comes up in . A running gag in the second season is someone (usually Krillan) references another character with the other person saying something along the lines of "I do not know what this is, but it sounds awful". The trope comes into play with the Bardock film when Bardock points out how Lord Chill is a lot like Freeza (Chill's distant descendant) to which Chill responds "I don't know what this Freeza is but it sounds like a classy lady!"
on Reddit, where anytime someone posts something complimentary (e.g. "It's obvious your mother did a great job raising you") someone is likely to comment ", Veronica's mom." Frequently quoted as "Nice try, Company X PR Department."
Done by Daniel O'Brien in his "" article on :
...so let me state for the record that I had nothing to do with any of the immature examples of retaliation you will soon read about in this article. I can't imagine who might be responsible.
Someone handsome and witty, I'd guess, and with just a hint of Spider-Man-like qualities.
In his review of Superbabies:
2, he spends most of the episode in a fake coma. At one point, guest stars Brentalfloss and Uncle Yo have to pull an
routine for a convention Q&A, and when asked which review the Nostalgia Critic preferred, they immediately nominated the ones they themselves participated in, described themselves as "devilishly handsome", and eventually got into a slap fight.
The Critic evokes this himself during his review of , during the scene where Kit (who actually is the Phantom) talks to Diana:
The Critic: [as Kit] I heard you were rescued by a dashing, well-endowed purple man.
to gushingly praise the performance of a
At one point, one of
few friends disparages the technological research work one of his alter-egos is doing. Paul defends him, saying that
and his work is producing results that help people in ways that his friend hadn't considered.
"Doofenshmirtz's Daily Dirt,"
reads a comment saying that " should do stand up."
"Who on Earth is Dan Povenmire? He sounds very handsome, though, I must say."
A meta-example appears in an
featuring the former cast of
in-character to discuss non-partisan voting and campaign for Bridget Mary McCormack, who was running for election at the time. In introducing McCormack, Josh notes that she's the sister of Mary McCormack (who played Kate on the series) as one of the interesting facts about her. This prompts Josh, C.J. and Toby to briefly wonder :
Kate: [Suddenly appearing at the office door] No clue, but something tells me she's delightful. And whip-smart. Possibly hot? Hard to say, really.
&&&&Western Animation&
In "Toilet Paper", the kids are discussing a recent TP-ing, and Cartman, one of the perpetrators, comments, "Well, I understand the people who did it weren't caught, so it looks like nobody will ever know the geniuses who masterminded that perfect crime."
When Cartman attempts to trick Butters by pretending to be AWESOM-O the robot, Butters talks about the things Cartman does to him, which results in "AWESOM-O" commenting that Cartman sounds pretty smart.
in "The Coon," when
takes a superhero identity:
Cartman: I believe the Coon is a menace.
Kyle: ...Yeah, and dressing up and running around at night is faggy anyway.
Cartman: () You're a fag, Kyle! Fuck you!
Later in the same episode:
: I assume you must be Cartman, .
The Coon: Well, you're wrong! I'm not Eric Cartman and ! Care to guess again?!
when Cartman accuses Kenny of being Mysterion because he has a picture of him in his locker—Stan immediately points out that he has one too. —in another episode, we find out that Kenny IS Mysterion.
When Bart was infiltrating Shelbyville and Springfield moved against them: "Curse those handsome devils!"
When Springfield Elementary has the boys and girls separated and Lisa disguises herself as a boy in order to be challenged more in math. She talks with Milhouse and when he tells her he does not miss having the girls around, she asks about Lisa while saying, "I hear she's pretty cool."
In , Joan of Arc tries to use this on Abe while "disguised" as John D'Arc, to get him to like her while badmouthing Abe's girlfriend C it doesn't work, and Abe assumes that John is trying to steal Cleo for himself.
Danny at one point tells the students he recruited to free adults from a flying pirate ship () that he saved the life of Danny Fenton. He then says to
"You should totally make out with him".
Vlad Masters does it in "Eye for an Eye" as well when he is referring to his split Plasmius clone in public: "Oh, dear, it's a clearly evil, yet devastatingly handsome, ghost villain!"
One episode has Heloise doing this while pulling a .
Another had Jimmy do this
Leela, in disguise as , asks Fry about his girl back home and says, "Aww, she sounds sweet."
In another episode, Bender pretends to be "Coilette" to compete in women's Olympic events, as he wasn't good enough for the men's. After winning his sixth gold, "Coilette" proclaims that all men can shove it, "except that guy Bender, he's really somthin'!"
played this straight once or twice. In the episode "Dragon's Brood", when He-Man first uses the excuse that Adam found him and told him what was going on, adds, "Nice kid."
had three of the Mane Six characters sitting around talking and complimenting the town's newest hero The Mysterious Mare Do Well.
What they say could have easily tipped off Rainbow Dash on the heroine's identity(ies) and why she suddenly needed to appear (Twilight pointing out the Mare's magic required heavy studying, Fluttershy remarking on her compassion, and Rarity being complimentary her fashion sense and Applejack saying above all The Mare Do Well was humble) had she not been blind with jealousy at the time.
In Brotherhooves Social, when Sweetie Belle calls out "Orchard Blossom" as Big Mac in a dress, "she" responds with "Why, as... charmed as I am that you find me in the slightest resemblance to such a... uh, fine and noble product of the Apple clan, I am astonished in equal measure."
In a more meta example, Pinkie Pie (voiced by Andrea Libman) complimenting Fluttershy's singing voice ( ).
: Hego, in his civilian guise as a Bueno Nacho manager, refers to his Team Go identity as "that brave superhero".
episode "", Doctor Doom does this after body-swapping with Reed. He says that trying to understand Doom's motives and mental processes would be impossible for them.
A character in the minigolf episode of
at one point appears in front of the Safety Patrol to deliver a rant about how the mysterious culprit leading the minigolf corruption ring was clearly really smart and badass and they should be afraid of him, shortly after they had confirmed that this particular fellow was the bad guy. Somehow, the Safety Patrol didn't immediately take him in, even though his speech was better evidence than most signed confessions.
episode "Trust",
takes the form of
when trying to catch Hotspot. When Hotspot questions how they are going to stop Rouge as she's practically unstoppable, "Robin" replies, "Indeed.... I mean, yeah she is impressive but we're Titans."
has a subtle one:
is visited by a beat-up doppelganger claiming to be , thrown backward in time after losing a battle with . "But his incredible power was too much for me!" is thrown into a different light when Future Dib is revealed to be a robot Zim made to lure the real Dib into a trap.
: In "The Spandexter", Louis adopts a secret identity as the costumed Spandexter. When Nate invites the Spandexter back to their headquarters to meet Louis as they are both into science, the Spandexter says that Louis sounds "really, really, really cool. And handsome".
Meta example in
where twice Jay Sherman comments that he thinks
is very handsome or talented.
episode "The Master Spy". The title character infiltrates the team by posing as Professor Carter. While the team is discussing his true identity he says "Don't underestimate him...he's very clever."
episode "I'm Still Super!", Penn assumes Captain Super Captain is doing this when he tells them the villain they're up against "is as diabolical as he is drop-dead handsome." He's actually talking about his .
"You'll never get me, ! Even though you're such a cool and smart detective."
episode "The New Lars," when
accidentally
Steven!Lars:
...I'm asking for Steven. : I like that kid. Steven!Lars: Yeah! He's the best! (giggles)
: While throwing his voice to make the villain think the place is surrounded by cops,
can't help but make the cops praise him.
—after
comments that 's
had "exquisite taste" in music,
says that it's obvious that Carl was the Secret Santa himself. Not only does Monogram refuse to believe Carl's objections, he's actually angry at Carl for "lying" when the Secret Santa's actual identity becomes a plot point later. (For the record, it's
Shows up in an episode of
when Iris gets a call from Mephisto, who has magically altered his voice to sound like Auriana:
"Auriana": The evil and very good-looking Mephisto and his super-annoying sister are attacking!
Iris: "Good-looking?"
"Auriana": Hurry, before the awesome handsomeness of Mephisto defeats us!
episode "Family Reunion", Duckula, trying to get rid of his actually-vampiric relatives, disguises himself as a vampire hunter and joins forces with Dr von Goosewing. When von Goosewing says Castle Duckula is home to "the cunningest and cleverest being known to mankind", Duckula agrees and adds "And handsome too, I've heard." This confuses von Goosewing, who has never considered Igor to be handsome.
Nope, still not But He Sounds Handsome. That was a great
though, huh?...Er...I mean it would be. Would be a great trope. Also a handsome one.
Alternative Title(s):
Superman Compliments Clark Kent,
Secretly Complimenting Yourself
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ButHeSoundsHandsome