So you're watching your favorite high school drama. In comes the cheerleader, as bubbly, bright, and ditzy as ever. Everything about her, from her Valley Girl vernacular to her superficial interests and appearance, tells you that this is the classic mold of The Ditz. That is until the episode goes on. This young woman is revealed to be a straight-A honors student. She is a master when it comes to hacking computers, or has a wealth of talent in dealing with mechanical things. Her knowledge of things both vast and obscure makes the viewer do a double take in their perception of her. There's a sort of cognitive dissonance that goes on, juxtaposing the character's appearance against their actual intellectual ability. This character makes you say "Huh... you're Smarter Than You Look". This character is not simply the Genius Ditz or the Idiot Savant, for those characters are sharply skilled in a single area while remarkably hindered in others. The Smarter Than You Look character has true vast and all-encompassing intelligence. They just look stupid, through mannerisms, vernacular, or visible appearance, while actually being quite smart. The key to being Smarter Than You Look is the distinct and clear appearance of stupidity. This is not to be confused with Obfuscating Stupidity, where a character consciously plays dumb either to avoid responsibility or for some other reason. This trope has no intention of appearing to be unintelligent; they simply can't help the appearance of stupidity they have. The Bunny-Ears Lawyer can overlap with this, but the difference is in the appearance of the character. The Bunny Ears Lawyer appears strange, but it doesn't take away from his intelligence. He is typically known to be a genius. The Smarter Than You Look appears stupid, and this appearance conflicts with their actual intelligence. A genius professor who always wears a wizard's hat to class and only answers to "Merlin" is a Bunny Ears Lawyer; one who can't read and has poor pronunciation skills would be a Smarter Than You Look. Sometimes, the appearance of stupidity or ditziness is compounded by the presence of Unfortunate Implications, particularly racial or gender-related stereotypes (this can be particularly true for those who are Pretty Smart For A Hottie, where beauty can belie a character's knowledge). To an extent, this trope is subjective based on what the viewer (or the rest of the cast) views as unintelligent. In many cases, though, the character is consciously designed to have this appearance, to teach the audience An Aesop of never judging a book by its cover. Sometimes as tropes evolve the subversion can actually become the rule; for instance, many modern viewers have grown to expect a character like the Valley Girl mentioned at the start to fall under this (because the "surprise" has been used so often) and are thus themselves surprised when the character turns out to be genuinely ditzy. The Smart Guy may start out as this, or he may stay as this. The Absent-Minded Professor is often a subtrope of this. If the character is (or seems to be) from the Deep South, you've got a Southern-Fried Genius. If the character is assumed to be stupid because he looks like Dumb Muscle, he's a Genius Bruiser. (This may be compounded by the character having a case of Face of a Thug.) This trope is to intellect as the Old Master is to strength, or as the Killer Rabbit is to danger/terror. May involve Hot Scientist. It's also a very close relative of Ditzy Genius, but differs in that the Ditzy Genius actually is pretty stupid/inept/Cloudcuckoolanderish sometimes, whereas the Smarter Than You Look character just has a ditzy personality. Dumber Than They Look is the complete opposite.