Something's Different About You Now: Difference between revisions

At a [[Class Reunion]] or other gathering of long-parted friends and acquaintances, a male regular character meets (and, in some cases, hits on) a stunningly beautiful woman. While he is certain he's never met her before, she is distressingly familiar with all manner of details about his life, and seems privately amused by the whole encounter.

 

 

In most cases, the regular cast member freaks out, entertaining the audience with his inability to cope with either the concept, the execution, or his attraction to the woman. In those cases where he accepts his friend with aplomb, there is usually [[An Aesop]] blatantly made about tolerance and the like.

* Holiday Inn ran a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FhjgxjAJxU memorable commercial] based on this trope during [[Super Bowl]] XXX. It was pulled after just one airing due to complaints from both a [[Media Watchdog]] and gay-rights group.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THYDLwR9sEE An advertisement for Heinz Baked Beans] used this trope.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Subverted in ''[[The Day of Revolution]]'': Megumi's former [[True Companions]] don't start hitting on her until ''after'' they've forced her to confess she used to be their (male) friend Kei.

* Happened to Yukari in ''[[Family Compo]]''. It's [[Played for Drama]]: one of her female classmate used to have a feeling for Yukari when Yukari lived as a man, and now that said classmate's marriage is in ruin, she lament how she didn't pick Yukari for husband back then. On the other hand, now that Yukari is a woman, she understands her plight as a fellow lady.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Inverted in an old ''[[Doctor Fate]]'' comic, where a character takes most of a page to notice that the previously male Dr. Fate is a woman. (Since this version of Dr. fate was a man & woman fused into one, and the character in question was the human incarnation of a godlike Lord of Order, this actually made some sense, but was still played for laughs.)

 

== Film ==

* Film example: ''[[Different for Girls (film)|Different for Girls]]''.

* One classic Filipino film, ''Miguel/Michelle'', had this as the plot with a respectable 'man' returning from being a contract worker as a woman. The situation was not played for laughs, highlighting [[Truth in Television|the social tension transgender people usually experience]].

* The 2014 film ''[[Boy Meets Girl (2014 film)|Boy Meets Girl]]'' comes close to this trope. It's about a fellow named Robby Riley (Michael Welch), who finds himself being forced to acknowledge his feelings for his longtime childhood friend, transwoman Ricky Jones (Michelle Hendley), which had been hidden below the surface for years.

 

== Literature ==

* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|A Civil Campaign]]'' features an inversion of the usual examples, with Ivan Vorpatril arriving at the shuttleport with floweres in hand hoping to restart his old relationship with [[Femme Fatale|Lady Donna Vorryuter]]. He knew she went to Beta Colony concerning something involving the [[Succession Crisis]] surrounding her late brother Count Vorryuter, but it took several seconds for him to realize who that fellow accompanying the two Vorryuter armsmen was.

 

* An old friend of Dan Fielding's is a trans woman on ''[[Night Court]]''.

* An old friend of Finch's is outed as a trans woman on ''[[Just Shoot Me]]''. She was played by Jenny McCarthy and Finch had a difficult time dealing with his attraction to her.

* In an episode of ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'', Herb starts flirting with a woman who claims she knew him in high school. While making out with her, he learns he did know her in high school... before she had the operation. She was a teammate of his on the high school football team, in fact the center to Herb's quarterback. To say Herb had a case of the ''[[Squick]]'' is putting it midly.

* In the ''[[Married... with Children]]'' episode "Dud Bowl", Al gathers his old high school friends for a football game, and it turns out one of them is now a she. Unlike most examples, this one is played by an obvious man in drag.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the ''[[Paradise]]'' setting, humans are randomly, permanently changed into [[Funny Animal]]s by causes unknown—and sometimes [[Gender Bender|gender-swapped]] at the same time—though the effects of these Changes are [[Invisible to Normals]] who will continue to see the Changed person as his or her old self (and gender). However, at one point a [[Ret-Gone]] effect kicks in for these gender-changed, with reality editing itself to reflect their new gender. As part of this, family members may be surprised to discover that photos of their brother or son now show their sister or daughter, even though their memories of said person's original gender remain intact. Also, those going through the Change themselves will start to see friends' or loved ones' new animal forms (and genders) in person, or in photos they happen to have about.

 

== Western Animation ==

** In an amusing real life example, Stephen Colbert himself could pull this off, as he resembles [http://i42.tinypic.com/2gydg81.jpg a very attractive woman when in drag.] In fact, when he showed one of his brothers this picture, his brother expressed an interest in "her". The following explanation was probably awkward.

*** [[Brain Bleach|My... brain...]] [[Ruined FOREVER|Nothing is sacred anymore!]]

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gender Blending Tropes]]

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Identity Index]]