an 'ugly duckling' that has become a beautiful swan [=an ugly/unsuccessful person or thing that has become beautiful/successful]
('informal') That dog of yours is '(as) ugly as sin'. [=very ugly]
The house is an 'ugly duckling', but it has a lot of potential.
(..) We know you hate Wall-street, we're not asking you to do the trading We're simply asking you to... To help us. To get a seat at the fucking table It's a pretty ugly table guys Look Ben, the system fucked up in a big, big way here, OK? And somehow... we , eh.. know before anyone else. (..)2015 The Big Short