History Main / MinorFlawMajorBreakup

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'', Carver's new secret admirer is minor recurring character Nona, who is significantly taller than all her peers. This eats Carver up at first, but he eventually gets over it... only for Nona to suddenly realize that Carver's head looks like a pineapple, get weirded out by it (she had a fear of pineapples), and nervously back away.

** Just about every girlfriend Frasier ever had fell under this trope. He eventually became GenreSavvy about this and began to force himself to ignore flaws in his love interests, leading to him dating horrible women with flaws no sane person would put up with. A good example of the latter is when he wanted to break up with a woman because he knew they were entirely different people and had no mutual interests except having sex, but decided to roll with it and just enjoy the fun of having an active sex life...which lead to him forcing himself to ignore "minor" quirks such as how she howled at the moon, and liked to spontaneously cut her hair, and used the trimming to stuff pillows in her apartment.
** One episode revealed that what Fraiser was doing was a subversion. Subconsciously he actually had a habit of dumping the women who were perfect for him and dating the ones whose flaws would have ruined to relationship eventually because he suffered so much heartbreak that he developed a fear of relationships.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

* Franchise/ArchieComics had a one-shot where Jughead met a girl he had practically everything in common with. They break up because [[SeriousBusiness she didn't like hamburgers]].

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Ron:''' I'd rather go alone than with -- Eloise Midgen, say.
-->'''Hermione:''' Her acne's loads better lately -- and she's really nice!
-->'''Ron:''' [[ContinuityNod Her nose is off center]].
* In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' Nobby Nobbs manages to convince [[MyNaymeIs Tawneee]], an exotic dancer, to go out with him despite the fact he is required to carry a piece of paper to prove he is human. The girl is described as being so ridiculously beautiful that a bar was destroyed just because she gave one guy a look, but by the end of the book, he considers breaking up with her because she can't cook. However, it turns out she only went out with him because ''he's the only guy who ever asked her''; seeing as he has zero chance with other women he might as well try, but the fact that she has a body goddesses would kill for means every man she ever met thought she was was out of their league and didn't even try. As a result she's terrifyingly sheltered.
** Make what you will of the fact that Nobby was remarkably comfortable with being DisguisedInDrag for a considerable portion of ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', to the point of coming off as AmbiguouslyGay, or at least certain of his gender identity than previously suspected.

* In the fifth ''CaptainUnderpants'' book, Ms. Ribble is briefly engaged to Mr. Krupp, but calls it off. This is not because [[UnequalPairing he's her boss]], or the fact that he's a sadistic ChildHater, but because he has a [[GagNose stupid-looking nose]].

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

-->'''Jerry:''' There was no reason for her not to taste that pie.
-->'''Elaine:''' Dump her.
-->'''Jerry:''' Well, I've never broken up with anyone for not tasting pie...
-->'''Elaine:''' I once broke up with a guy for not ''offering'' me pie.

** There was the time she dumped her boyfriend Peter after finding out his last name was File. If you don't get it, say the full name out loud a few times.
--->'''Moss''': [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage In America they say "pedophile"]], perhaps you should move there.
* In ''Series/ICarly'', there is a "horrible" fact about the bad boy in "[=iDate=] a Bad Boy" that shocks and disgusts Carly about her otherwise perfectly fine boyfriend. The horrific, awful, scream-inspiring fact is that he... collects Beanie Babies. Of course, the main character is not considered at all shallow for dumping him based on a fact that had not come up until she commented on it. And none of the other characters call her on it. Even Freddie thinks it's weird, and he's pretty nerdy/subjected to odd things via his mother. Like ''tick baths''. And ''anti-bacterial underwear''.
** Although, as shown in another episode, he can be extremely obsessive about the beanies. When the power in the apartment building goes out during summer and Carly and Spencer have the only air conditioning machine in the building, the Beanie guy hijacks the machine to keep his Beanie Babies at "optimal temperature".

--->'''Lowell:''' Sometimes a person has annoying habits that you just can't overlook. Take my wife Bunny, for instance. Every morning as she read the newspaper, she would drum her fingers on the table. That's what broke up our marriage.
--->'''Helen:''' I thought it was because Bunny slept with other men.\\

* On ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody The Suite Life On Deck]]'', Miss Tutweiller refuses to date Mr. Moseby [[FanHater because he likes]] ''Film/TheThreeStooges''. They get back together though. [[spoiler: And get engaged in the finale.]]
* Played with in ''Series/{{Castle}}''; Martha offers some of these kinds of reasons for breaking it off with her boyfriend. Castle explicitly notes that these are 'sitcom reasons' for breaking it off with someone, and it's later revealed that this is just Martha's insecurities establishing themselves.

--> '''Will:''' You're making a mountain out of a mole, Hill!

* ''Series/ThirtyRock'':
** In a plot arc in the third and fourth seasons, Liz writes a sketch in which a fictional relationship expert advises women to break up with or reject advances from men based on inane criteria such as wearing an Atlanta Falcons jersey to a wedding with the CatchPhrase, "That's a dealbreaker, ladies!" The sketch is [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]] in-universe as Liz starts giving out such advice in real life, culminating in a book deal and a short-lived talk show.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's 2006 album ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' features the song "Close, But No Cigar," which is all about a lecherous guy who dumps otherwise perfect girlfriends for idiotic reasons (like owning ''Film/JoeDirt'' on DVD, or having an earlobe that's "just a little tiny bit too big"). In other words, the guy in the song makes Jerry Seinfeld look like Film/JamesBond.
** Another Weird Al example: In "Albuquerque" the singer dumps "the girl of [his] dreams" because she asked him if he wanted to "join the Columbia Record Club" and that was too much of a commitment. This was after years of marriage and two kids.
*** [[DontExplainTheJoke For those who don't get the joke]], [[spoiler:the Columbia Record Club was notorious for being impossible to leave. The joke is that it's much easier to walk away from a wife, two kids, and a mortgage than that.]]
* PaulSimon's "You're Kind" from the album ''Still Crazy After All These Years'' (1975):
--> So goodbye, goodbye
--> I'm gonna leave you now and here's the reason why:
--> I like to sleep with the window open, and you keep the window closed
--> So goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
* TheArrogantWorms song ''She Talks During Movies'' is about a case of this, although what attracts the narrator to the girl in the first place is a hilarious varient of [[ShallowLoveInterest Shallow Attraction]]:
--> She had beautiful eyes; two of them,
--> A nose on her face and arms of equal length.
--> She walked pretty well
--> And had most of her teeth.
--> That a girl like her could like me was beyond belief!
--> So we went on a date and had dinner.
--> Man, you should've seen the way she ate those chicken fingers.
--> We went to the theatre; I was feeling loose ...
--> Then I discovered the terrible truth!
--> She talks during movies!
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84411374&v=iC4dyR7_isY&x-yt-ts=1421828030 ''Mein Baby war beim Frisör'' (My baby's been to the hairdresser's)]] by German PunkRock band Music/DieArzte. It's exactly what you think it is: A guy breaks up with his girlfriend because he can't stand her new look.
* ToddRundgren, "Flaw".
--> ''You could be my everything, the envy of them all''
--> ''You'd be perfect...but you've got one fatal flaw.''

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]
* There was an entire story arc dedicated to somewhat shallow Jeremy from ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' obsessing over a large mole he never noticed on the back of his girlfriend Sara's neck. It gets to him so much he begins to start seeing her as a mole herself. Eventually, he confesses to Sara and "forgives her" for her imperfection.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', after slashing his way through the roses that have killed many princes, Ricardo finds the Literature/SleepingBeauty. [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03i-07.html She snores]]. He turns and leaves. [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/03i-08.html He has a history of this.]]
** There's a good reason his nickname is "Dick the Picky". Or, rather, a long string of shallow reasons, that was even [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04i-01.html put into song]].

** This particular variant is termed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2280 "Solar Geeklipse"]] in ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* In "Franchise/WallaceAndGromit: WesternAnimation/ACloseShave", the [[SeriousBusiness cheese-loving]] Wallace and a possible love interest realize that it will never work out because [[spoiler:she's allergic to cheese]]. Wallace didn't seem to mind because that means [[spoiler:[[TrademarkFavoriteFood there's more cheese for him]]]].

-->'''Leela''': I could have liked Zapp Brannigan if he wasn't a pompous nitwit who threw me in prison.
-->'''Bender''': You really ''are'' too picky!
* In ''[[{{Sixteen}} 6teen]]'', Caitlin often dumps guys over minor flaws. However, she is rather [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] about this as she fears that she will be dumped for her own minor flaws.
* A non-romantic example with ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', when Hank suddenly loses faith in then-presidential-candidate George W. Bush after finding out that he has a weak handshake. Even his [[SurroundedByIdiots friends]] realize how dumb it is.
-->'''Dale:''' That makes a lot of sense. A lot of ''non''sense.

-->'''Bill:''' If I want to drink beer with my friends in the alley and talk about--the Devil! Then I will! Now, do you want to break up with me? Please say you want to break up with me!
-->'''Stroup:''' I don't want to break up with you! I love you! *smiles*
-->'''Bill:''' *sighs* Of course you do.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Real-life example: Glynn Wolfe, who famously [[SerialSpouse remarried and divorced 29 times in his life]], once divorced one of his wives because she kept eating sunflower seeds in bed.
** He also divorced a woman after she used his toothbrush.
* The recent discovery that MeganFox (yes, her!) has "toe thumbs" was apparently enough to disgust many male fans (although it's equally possible that a lot of people are [[HypeBacklash just plain sick of her,]] and the "toe thumbs" are just an excuse or a joke.)
* Non-dating example - in the 2007 series of [[BigBrother Celebrity Big Brother]] (UK version), when several of the other female housemates were picking on Shilpa Shetty, they resorted to making fun of the fact that her second toes were "almost as long" as her big toes. Yes, something that was actually a joke in [[Film/ShallowHal a comedy about this very topic]] was all they could come up with. It should be noted that the ladies in question were not up to Shilpa's level looks-wise, and a close-up showed her feet to be rather yummy (if you're into that) despite this [[SarcasmMode crippling handicap]], so they sounded pretty hypocritical from the off. Then the racist remarks started...
* A somewhat popular JPG has a {{Fark}} post of someone looking at a supermodel and complaining that her knees are too pointy; superimposed over this is a photo of the stereotypical ugly nerd one imagines posted it.
** This has spawned the meme "2/10 would not bang", in which a photo of a supermodel or other attractive person is heavily annotated with complaints about minor or even completely imagined flaws about them or the setting of the photo (and by extension what living there implies about them).
* Some of the entries on the "Dealbreaker" blog, the whole purpose of which is to list those irritating things which can derail a relationship from the start, can come across as this; there's lots of significant reasons why someone might be turned off by someone else, but there's also a few tiny things which suggest that the author in question has standards that are just a little ''too'' high (or superficial, or {{Control Freak}}y). Such as the person who complains about the type of .mp3 player the other person bought. And the person who breaks up with their partner because the other person doesn't like sushi (and they had this whole thing planned about about sharing sushi on the first date and the other person ''ruined it''...).
** The blog also appears to contain some inversions, where people appear to have put up with a hell of a lot of crap for fairly superficial reasons (i.e. he's gorgeous so I can live with him being a complete sponger) only for their personality faults to eventually grow way out of control.
* Subverted by stand-up comic Adam Ferrara when talking about getting a wedding ring proportional to his girlfriend's hand. He did marry her, but while checking her hands for the ring, he was thinking thusly:
-->"Oh, my God... I'm marrying Dan Marino... Look at those mitts... Is the left one bigger?... What is she, a fiddler crab?... When I bought the ring I was so mad, I almost proposed by throwing it at her and saying, 'Put this on your flipper, you harbor seal.'"

* There was an entire story arc dedicated to somewhat shallow Jeremy from ''{{Zits}}'' obsessing over a large mole he never noticed on the back of his girlfriend Sara's neck. It gets to him so much he begins to start seeing her as a mole herself. Eventually, he confesses to Sara and "forgives her" for her imperfection.

* One episode of ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' had a similar scenario to the ''FullHouse'' example above- Will convinces Hillary to date his professor as part of a plan to keep him from flunking the class, but she decides to break up with him due to the size of his Adam's Apple. Will confronted her on this, pointing out that she was still recovering from Trevor's death and just looking for excuses to not date. She got over that, but then started fixating on his mole (or perhaps the mole was first), leading to a great [[IncrediblyLamePun line]]:

* In DrakeAndJosh, Drake dumps his girlfriends over an annoying laugh and [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon toughness]]. The laugh probably wouldn't have been so bad if she didn't laugh at ''[[MostAnnoyingSound every single little thing]],'' which is closer to Drake's actual grievance.

* ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'':

* Done several times on ''{{Glee}}'' to facilitate the endless DatingDoSiDo-ing, but the most egregious example is arguably Jesse St. James [[FaceHeelTurn going suddenly evil again]] and breaking up with Rachel by ''egging'' her because...she secretly cast Puck and Finn as well as Jesse as her "boyfriend" in her SoBadItsGood video for "Run Joey Run." The video itself was PlayedForLaughs, and yet he took it extremely seriously.
* In one episode of That70sShow, Eric & Hyde compete over the affections of a girl. Hyde ultimately wins, but dumps her because she likes the Little River Band (and Eric is disgusted by that as well).
* In an episode of ''Belle'' had it to where the main character was dating a nice guy who was wealthy and successful but then found out he was an Atheist (without showing the usual HollywoodAtheist quirks and even enjoyed going to Church with her as he enjoyed the music) and dumped him. However the episode even acts as if this was a big deal, even flat out stating he is worse than a killer and a drug dealer because "they can be saved and he can't" and that dumping him was the right decision. The episode summary even referred to this as a flaw. As you can guess [[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/02/25/on-black-sitcom-atheist-character-is-undateable/ Atheists were not amused]].

*** [[DontExplainTheJoke For those who don't get the joke]], [[[[spoiler:the Columbia Record Club was notorious for being impossible to leave. The joke is that it's much easier to walk away from a wife, two kids, and a mortgage than that.]]

*** For those who don't get the joke, the Columbia Record Club was notorious for being impossible to leave. The joke is that it's much easier to walk away from a wife, two kids, and a mortgage then that.

* In ''SoIMarriedAnAxeMurderer'', this is something of a recurring gag for the main character, and it even foreshadows things that are to come later in the movie.
* EddieMurphy's character in ''Boomerang'' spends most of his relationships doing this to women due to an unconscious fear of commitment. He waits until after they've had sex, then breaks up with women because they don't have tiny feet and other such jackassery. Then he finally meets a woman he can't find fault in and falls in love. And she leaves him.
* One could argue Rob's character did this -- rather abruptly -- to one of his teenage girlfriends in ''HighFidelity'', dumping her on her doorstep with the line "What's the point -- it never ''goes'' anywhere", after being firmly denied any boob action for several weeks.
* Inverted in ''LoveActually'', wherein everyone goes on about how fat the girl who makes the tea for the Prime Minister is ([[HollywoodPudgy she isn't]]) and how she has 'huge thighs' -- except for the Prime Minister himself, who can't see what they're going on about at all.

* Mentioned briefly in ''WhatAboutBob''. Bob claims that he left his wife because she liked Neil Diamond; his psychiatrist sees through this and points out that the relationship probably ended for another reason:

* In an episode of ''TheWeekenders'', Carver's new secret admirer is minor recurring character Nona, who is significantly taller than all her peers. This eats Carver up at first, but he eventually gets over it... only for Nona to suddenly realize that Carver's head looks like a pineapple, get weirded out by it (she had a fear of pineapples), and nervously back away.

* In an episode of ''Belle'' had it to where the main character was dating a nice guy who was wealthy and successful but then found out he was an Atheist (without showing the usual HollywoodAtheist quirks) and dumbed him. The episode summary even referred to this as a flaw. As you can guess [[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/02/25/on-black-sitcom-atheist-character-is-undateable/ Atheists were not amused]].

Then one day I found out she actually owned a copy of ''Film/JoeDirt'' on DVD."''

->''I thought after all these years of searching around\\

Then one day I found out she [[FauxHorrific actually owned a copy]] of ''JoeDirt'' on DVD.''
-->-- ''Music/WeirdAlYankovic'', ''"Close, but No Cigar"''

* Non-romantic example: In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', Red is convinced that her hair is the reason that Blue doesn't want to be her friend anymore. [[spoiler:And she's right -- it ''is'' her hair. [[TheFairFolk Fairies aren't quite like us]].]]

* ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' episode [[http://nonadventures.com/2009/03/28/led-astray/ "LED Astray"]] points out how Wonderella dumps people over the smallest things. This time it's the display on her microwave.

* A non-romantic example with KingOfTheHill, when Hank suddenly loses faith in then-presidential-candidate George W. Bush after finding out that he has a weak handshake. Even his [[SurroundedByIdiots friends]] realize how dumb it is.

** In "St. Valentine's Day", Kenneth meets a stunning--if blind--redhead, and Kenneth is so awestruck that he he literally cannot speak. Tracy helps him out by saying everything Kenneth would. Near the end, Kenneth breaks his silence, and the girl seems not to mind, and all seems wonderful...until she feels his face. Then hers. Then his again. She considers herself out of his league and dumps him.

* In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' Nobby Nobbs manages to convince [[MyNaymeIs Tawneee]], an exotic dancer, to go out with him despite the fact he is required to carry a piece of paper to prove he is human. The girl is described as being so ridiculously beautiful that a bar was destroyed just because she gave one guy a look, but by the end of the book, he considers breaking up with her because she can't cook. However, it turns out she only weznt out with him because ''he's the only guy who ever asked her'', seeing as he has zero chance with other women he might as well, but the fact that she has a body goddesses would kill for means every man she ever met was out of her league. As a result she's terrifyingly sheltered.

* A variant appears in [[http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/images/gws/GWS849.jpg this]] ''GirlsWithSlingshots'' strip where poor grammar is a deal-breaker enough to call off a sexual encounter. ''And this has happened before.''

** This particular variant is termed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2280 "Solar Geeklipse"]] in ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''.
* ''TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' episode [[http://nonadventures.com/2009/03/28/led-astray/ "LED Astray"]] points out how Wonderella dumps people over the smallest things. This time it's the display on her microwave.

* Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja has a girl breaking up with a boy for being unable to grow a beard and having one ear pierced.

** In "TOW Ross's Thing" Phoebe dates two guys - a kindergarten teacher and a firefighter. Eventually they find out about each other. The teacher dumps her because she had had sex with the firefighter but not with him, but then firefighter dumps her because she had made the teacher a candlelight dinner in the park... a severe fire hazard.