Distracted by My Own Sexy

Yes. Yes, she is...
"Ohh, this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. It's true love at last."
—The Doctor, Doctor Who, "Time"

Describe Distracted by My Own Sexy her- Oh. Well, hel-lo. Aren't I something?

Ah... Where was I?

Oh, right. Distracted by My Own Sexy is a subtrope of Distracted by the Sexy in which a character is distracted from their objective by their own good looks. This often suggests that the character is exceedingly vain, though there can be other reasons, usually by looking at themselves in the mirror or another reflective surface.

In literature, this is sometimes used as an As You Know to introduce how the character looks to the reader. They often stop to consider themselves and how attractive (or unattractive) they are. Expect any given Lemon to start this way.

While this can often occur in mundane situations, as with the mirror or reflective surface described above, this reaction may be caused by more fantastic reasons. A person having undergone some type of transformation may stop to admire their new looks, while Time Travel or cloning might give characters a chance to eye themselves up.

Compare Distracted by the Sexy, where a character's sex appeal distracts others; see also Man, I Feel Like a Woman, where a man is distracted by his own newly gender-swapped sex appeal. Contrast Rage Against the Reflection, where characters hate to see their own image.

Examples of Distracted by My Own Sexy include:

Anime and Manga

  • In the H-manga Bondage Fairies, the fairies avoid mirrors because they have a maddening tendency to fall in love with their own reflections (pond reflections are all right, because the ripples spoil the effect). Naturally, Pfil is tasked with guarding a mirror alone after an incident...
  • Asuka from Asuka Hybrid falls victim to this a lot whenever he's doing things in front of the mirror with his gender-bent body.
  • Bleach: Although it doesn't happen in the manga, it happens a fair bit in the Anime with Yumichika, leading to one episode where he finds himself having to fight his own clone. After taking a moment to admire himself he firmly requests Ikkaku swap opponents with him precisely because he knows this will be a problem. Ikkaku refuses and, sure enough, Yumichika is defeated having never lifted his sword because he 'can't fight such a beautiful me' whereas his Evil Twin thinks blood is beautiful.

Fan Works

Film

  • In American Psycho, during the porn film he's making with two prostitutes, Patrick Bateman manages to get distracted by his own sex appeal.
  • In the Riff Trax for Casino Royale, the guys make fun of Bond's prolonged examination of himself in a new tuxedo by invoking this trope.

Kevin: My God, I'm hot. This tuxedo would look best on the floor! Heh heh. Seriously, though, I'd do me in a heartbeat.

Literature

  • In one of Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers stories, the guest is a man whose specialty is job interviews. He keeps a variety of objects on his desk, and judges people's character by how they interact with those objects. The fashion-conscious Mario Gonzalo asks how he did on his interview, and the guest replies that he never reveals his secrets, but he will mention one thing: "There was a mirror in the room."
  • Bishie werewolf Crossdresser Markus from the Lonely Werewolf Girl series has gotten stuck in front of a mirror admiring himself a couple of times. Especially if there is a blouse, or a frock for him to try on at the same time.
  • Eve falls to an innocent version of this in Paradise Lost: the first thing she sees after being made is her reflection and is captivated by its beauty, then she sees Adam and decides he is not as good looking as her and tries to go back to looking at her reflection. They end up together.
  • One of the minor characters in Frank Yerby's Pirate novel The Golden Hawk wore a thick, unkempt beard. When the protagonist, as part of disguising the whole crew, shaved him by force, he was shocked to discover, "I'm right pretty!" (the narration acknowledged that he was, indeed, quite a handsome fellow under all that facial hair) and thereafter he was often seen checking himself out in a mirror.

Live Action TV

  • In Castle, during an investigation, our hero sees himself reflected in a storefront window and remarks "I really am ruggedly handsome.' Of course, he is played by Nathan Fillion.
  • In the Doctor Who episode "The Vampires of Venice", the Doctor can't resist pausing in front of a mirror to make faces and say "Hello, handsome!" It's convenient, because it means that when five creepy girls who don't like sunlight pop up, he can also notice that they don't have reflections...
    • The Doctor is prone to this generally right after a regeneration. "Yes, we're in great danger, but I want to see what I look like now!"
    • In the Doctor Who Comic Relief special The Curse of Fatal Death, the version of the Doctor played by Richard E. Grant is so distracted by his own reflection that he licks the mirror.
    • And it may not be a mirror, but Amy gets distracted by checking out her future/past self in the Comic Relief short "Time".
    • It turns out that the Doctor is not the only one who has to stop and check themselves out after regenerating- as demonstrated by Melody Pond's regeneration into River Song in the Fuhrer's headquarters.
    • And Lady Cassandra, the self-proclaimed Last Human, does this twice (okay, almost-sort-of three times) in one episode- once after having hijacked Rose Tyler's body, once after stealing the Doctor's and once, in a weird example involving time travel, to her original body after having borrowed the dying body of her clone-bred body servant.
  • In Power Rangers, the Monster of the Week Octophantom had this weakness. To defeat him, they used a mirrored shield, causing him to stop his attack to admire himself. Earlier, a similarly-named monster named Octoplant was distracted by her reflection in a skyscraper, allowing the Rangers to kill her with the Power Sword.
  • The Cat in Red Dwarf would often get distracted when he looked at himself in the mirror, commenting on how sexy and good looking he was. In one episode he claimed to be physically incapable of pulling himself away, and Lister had to drag him.

Cat: Thanks, buddy. That was a bad one.

  • Scrubs played it for laughs in an episode where narcissist Dr. Cox constantly falls in love (or at least pretends to) with his own mirror image.
  • John Lithgow's character on 3rd Rock from the Sun, whose catch phrase was "My God! I'm GORGEOUS!"
  • In the first Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Mirror Universe episode, Intendent Kira was definitely distracted by Major Kira. In her episode commentary, Nana Visitor says that she played this attraction as more narcissism than lesbianism; however, later episodes portrayed the Intendant as someone prone to being distracted by anybody of either sex.
  • On How I Met Your Mother, this sort of thing apparently happens to Marshall whenever he drinks a daquiri.
    • In a variation, Lily thinks her stripper doppelganger is incredibly hot.
  • In an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina's aunts have a mirror that supposedly makes anyone look attractive. It's hinted that its not the reflection that changes so much as the viewer's perception. So, anyone looking in the mirror (even the fat, balding principal) gets distracted by their own sexy.

Music

  • Hello! Project member Matsuura Aya was accused on several occasions of, and has freely admitted to, being distracted by her own reflection in mirrors while someone was trying talk to her or by monitors when she's on camera.

Mythology

  • In Shinto, Japan's indigenous Religion, this happens to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, though unlike many other versions of this trope it was a deliberate ruse on the part of the other Gods to get her to leave a cave she was hiding in due to a Heroic BSOD.
  • Narcissus from Ovid, making this Older Than Feudalism. He's put under a spell that made him fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and stared at it until he wasted away into nothing. Other versions say he was just that damn conceited (this would be where we get the word "narcissist" and its kin - they refer to this guy). Yet other versions speed up his death by having him try to kiss himself, only to fall in and drown.
    • Though he didn't die as such - the nymph who had sought him saved him by turning him into a flower. And now you know why that one kind is called a Narcissus.
      • The nymph's name, by the way, was Echo - who was cursed to only be able to parrot what others had already said. This is (in one version) how Narcissus fell in love with his reflection - upon seeing it, he said "I love you", prompting her to gladly do the same... but he thought it was his image saying it.

Tabletop RPG

  • Dungeons & Dragons: Dragon magazine #50 had an artifact called Barlithian's Mirror. One day its owner woke up and found several monsters vainly admiring themselves in the Mirror.
  • Toreador-clan vampires in Vampire: The Masquerade. Their clan weakness is that they're easily entranced by anything beautiful, including themselves.
  • In Warhammer Fantasy Battle, there is Sigwald the Magnificent, a champion of Slaanesh. He wears a magic armor of solid gold, and his retinue has mirrored shields so he can watch his reflection during the battle. (In game terms, he is subject to stupidity — as sometimes he will get distracted in the least appropriate moment.) Anyone who might try to use this distraction for attack will quickly discover that Sigwald, vain as he might be, is still a haughty Bishonen with a cool sword... which is bad news in most universes.

Theater

  • In Gypsy, when Louise first sees herself in the mirror in her elegant dress for her first strip act, she's stopped cold for a moment, then whispers, "Mama... I'm pretty!" It's not so much narcissism as absolute shock, though.

Video Games

"Oooh! Who's that handsome devil!?"

Web Comics

"NO! BAD Sarah! Stop thinking of yourself as a sex object!!"

    • Elliot did it on purpose (though not at the first attempt), due to the theory that he will continue picking up girly transformations until he likes at least one):

Elliot: (as a goth girl) The world is cold, but this form is hot.

Layla: Are you and that mirror gonna need some alone time?

Lucrezia: Oh, do forgive me. It's been so long since I... well, since I was really human, I suppose. Very nice... now- you were saying?

  • Misfile: Ash comments early on that "if it weren't me in the mirror, I'd be pretty turned on about now." when trying on bras. Later she worries that the fact that she's no longer distracted by her own sex appeal is a sign that she's losing mascilinity.

Web Original

  • While striding purposely to fight the Nerd, The Nostalgia Critic can't resist checking himself out in a shop mirror.
  • In the Whateley Universe, Jobe has this problem more than once. After all, he is stuck in a body he designed to be his ideal girlfriend.
  • Eddsworld has Matt.

Western Animation

  • The classic Disney example is Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, who pauses while proposing to Belle to check out his reflection in the mirror.
  • Blitz from Road Rovers has been shown kissing himself a number of times on the show.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Sokka's very first scene has him being distracted from hunting and arguing with Katara by the reflection of his muscles in the water.
  • Family Guy has the instance when Peter, entranced by his own physical improvements after being subjected to a considerable amount of surgeries, becomes obsessed with staring at his car's mirror... ignoring the fact he's driving straight to a cliff... and into a vat of lard.
  • Eddy was distracted by his own reflection. In a mirror strapped to a remote controlled car. While in the middle of a race.
  • Rarity does this on occasion, such as after getting butterfly wings in one episode.
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