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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|''Nice guys finish last, bad guys have a blast! take his money - grab his honey - dump that loser fast!''|'''Lyrics in Eugene, Eugene, Hey Arnold'''}}
 
{{quote|''Nice guys finish last<br />
''that's why I'll treat you like trash<br />
''It's not what I really wanna do<br />
''But you only date bad guys so<br />
''I'll give it my best try to<br />
''treat you the way you want me to''
treat you the way you want me to''|'''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}xfeys7Jfnx8 "Nice][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}2Fz3zFqLc3E Guys"], by [[Nigahiga|Ryan Higa]], Kevin "Kevjumba" Wu, and Chester See'''}}
 
What happens when a [[Genre Savvy]] character gets a little too overanalytical about the tropes [[Dogged Nice Guy]] and [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]. He will conclude, logically, that since he's such a wonderful nice man, the only reason a girl would reject him is that all women are dumb and would rather date the [[Jerkass]]. Expect much [[Playing the Victim Card]].
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The trope name is a misquote. There are several supposed sources and original quotes, but the fact that it's a misquote is the only certain thing.
 
Opposite of [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]. Related to [[Loser Protagonist]], [[Romantic Runner -Up]], and [[The Social Darwinist]]. For characters who actually finish last because they're nice, see [[Dogged Nice Guy]].
 
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
 
▲{{examples|Examples:}}
== [[Film]] ==
* [[Jim Carrey|Stanley Ipkiss]] from ''[[The Mask (Filmfilm)|The Mask]]''. He grows out of it by the end of the film, where he learns how to still be a nice guy without being a pushover.
* Implied throughout ''[[The Jane Austen Book Club]]''. Lampshaded when Grigg has this conversation with Jocelyn.
{{quote| '''Grigg Harris:''' Women never go for the nice guys. <br />
'''Jocelyn:''' Please, men say that, but when you get to know some of these men who complain the most, you find out they're not as nice as they think they are. }}
* In ''[[Bedazzled]]'', the protagonist, Elliot, starts out as one. Definitely [[Played for Laughs]] when he asks to be "the most sensitive man in the world."
 
== [[Literature]] ==
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* There's an episode of ''[[The IT Crowd]]'' that plays with this in all kinds of weird ways. Roy tries to prove that "all women want bastards" by making a fake profile on a matchmaking Web site for a mean alter ego (it starts with "Shut up!"), and when he gets a response from a woman he actually quite fancies, he goes on a real date with her but has to pretend to be the bastard his profile made him out to be.
* ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'': Freddie invokes this by trying to prank order a ''fishy pizza'' to his teacher's house in front of Carly. When the pizza place calls back, he panics and runs away.
** Actually ''works'' in ''iStage An Intervention'' when he pulls a prank on Sam after she pulled one on her. Carly is impressed, but Freddie lacks the confidence to follow through and try to ask her out.
 
== [[Music]] ==
* [[Cobra Starship (Music)|Cobra Starship]] has a song called "Nice Guys Finish Last", but it has a fairly tongue-in-cheek tone, and (given that it appears on the same album as "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous") ''really'' shouldn't be taken seriously.
* [[Green Day]]'s "Nice Guys Finish Last" predates the song above, though it's not a [[Trope Namer]] by any stretch.
* [[Frank Zappa]]: "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing".
 
== [[Theatre]] ==
* The song "Mr. Cellophane" from ''[[Chicago]]''. Though in this character's case, he was actually married...to a fame -seeking woman with low standards who dumped him after she was done using him.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Something *Positive]]'' has Mike declare this, as he whines about acting like a girl's friend, only to have her fall for some better-looking guy who actually asked her out, rather than the creepy guy who was pretending friendship so he could get something out of it.
* ''[http://xkcd.com/513/ XKCDxkcd]'' presented a comic featuring a nice guy going over his modus operandi.
* In ''[http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-1280/ Girls With Slingshots]'', Jim goes on a tirade that "nice guys never get laid" to four perfectly normal guys who ''are'' getting laid. They are not amused.
** Unfortunately this would have worked better if the normal guys had not been actually ''bragging'' about getting laid in front of [[Unintentionally Sympathetic|Jim]].
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfeys7Jfnx8 "Nice Guys]"] by [[Nigahiga]], Kevjumba, and Chester See is actually a subversion. In the music video, the guys go to a class where they learn that they must act like jerks in order to get women. However, they soon realize that acting like jerks actually makes girls hate them, and being nice is what really works.
* Being too nice is one of ''[[Cracked.com]]''{{'}}s [http://www.cracked.com/article_20197_5-innocent-things-that-science-says-make-people-hate-you_p2.html 5 Innocent Things That Science Says Make People Hate You]. Hence "negging".
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* An episode on ''[[Kim Possible]]'' had Ron trying to invoke this trope, and failing miserably.
** Which is ironic since in an episode where Ron became evil, he was actually very competent.
* An episode of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'' dealt with this trope, in which a school play takes on this trope as its [[Family -Unfriendly Aesop]] (a change made by the director of it). In fact the trope quote comes from the [[Villain Song]] sung by Arnold's character, who was the [[Big Bad]] of the play.
* [[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants|Plankton]] said this to SpongeBob.
{{quote| '''Plankton:''' Haven’t you figured it out, SpongeBob? Nice guys finish last. Only aggressive people conquer the world! ([[Evil Laugh|laughs evilly]])<br />
'''Spongebob:''' "Well, [[Playing Withwith a Trope|what about]] [[Take a Third Option|aggressively nice people?]]" }}
 
== Real Life ==
* While it might have been misquoted, in terms of career, [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904823804576502763895892974.html some studies] have found that it's true, with people considered more disagreeable more likely to get hired and make more money in their lifetimes. Some have boiled it down to basically if a person is a little bit of a [[Jerkass]], they're more likely to A) feel entitled to a promotion, raise, etc. and B) actually ASK''ask'' for it. When applying it to a person's love life, however, it gets a little more tricky, with a big problem being most people tend to confuse "Nice Guy" with "Doormat."
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Love Tropes]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Nice Guys Finish Last{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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