History Main / SocialCircleFiller

A couple training montages and plot twists later, the hero finds himself fighting against all odds and wanting for allies. Now would be a great time to call upon those friends that trust and like him enough to believe that the Statue of Liberty is actually a giant evil robot. Too bad those friends have ceased to exist within the plot. They are SocialCircleFiller.

* Kayla is this in the ''HouseOfNight'' series. She appears briefly in the beginning of the first book and briefly again near the end. After that she's pretty much forgotten in favour of the FiveManBand.

* ''{{Friends}}'': Whenever the friends cast threw a New years party or a baby shower, lots of unknown friends would suddenly be shown. But never the same people twice.

As our plucky OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent comes into shot, he's seen to be the life and soul of the party of his circle of friends. However sighting a girl who he's never seen before, he makes his excuses with a quick joke and he says he will catch them later. As he goes to see who this girl is...

Only he won't.

An hour and a half later. He's knee deep in the BigBad's plot and claiming that no one can possibly help him or understand. [[FridgeLogic Hang on a second]] says the audience. Wouldn't his friends want to know about this life altering experience? Or help?

A ConservationOfDetail so not to make out that our protagonist is a {{Friendless|Background}} [[LonersAreFreaks loner]]. An extra or two is roped in at the start to flesh out our heroes social circle, but at the same time they are not required later as the character is drawn into their new environment. But their absence is noticeable.

This trope is specifically applied to when an extra or LivingProp is implied to have a friendship or relationship with a main character. See also ForgottenFallenFriend. Compare FriendlessBackground and related to TwentyFourHourPartyPeople, where characters have an ever-shifting group of friends who only show up when they have a party.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In the episode "Earth Mover," Dana is shown to be close friends with a girl named Jessie, close enough that both she and Terry spent the evening studying at her house and and hung out repeatedly over the course of the episode. Then Jessie promptly disappeared, not even getting any background appearances in episodes like "Revenant," "Eggbaby," or "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot" despite those episodes showing many school characters.

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]

* ''BatmanBeyond'': In the episode "Earth Mover," Dana is shown to be close friends with a girl named Jessie, close enough that both she and Terry spent the evening studying at her house and and hung out repeatedly over the course of the episode. Then Jessie promptly disappeared, not even getting any background appearances in episodes like "Revenant," "Eggbaby," or "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot" despite those episodes showing many school characters.

* Justified in Brandon Mulls novel ''TheBeyonders : A World Without Heroes", which starts off with a lot of interaction between main character Jason and his friends, the girl he likes, etc. They all become pretty irrelevant once he falls through into another world and discovers he has no way back, or even to send a message. His friends and families reaction to his disappearance is unknown, although Jason does think about it. [[spoiler: Since Jason ends up back on Earth at the end, we'll have to see if the trope ends up being averted in the sequel.]]

* Naru/Molly from ''Manga/SailorMoon''. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then diminishes in relevancy to the point of showing up in all of one episode in the third and fourth seasons each, after more and more Senshi are introduced. An even better example are Yumiko and Kuri, two token female classmates who talk with her for a few episodes until the actual main Supporting Cast is introduced -- at least Naru ''showed up'' again, not to mention the poor girl who never got a name -- and due to being chubby is only known as 'Usagi's fat friend' by fans.

* ''TenThingsIHateAboutYou'': Patrick is seen at the start of the film to hang around with a bald biker guy, who he smokes with and is his lab partner. As Patrick gets further involved with Kat, the character disappears altogether. When Patrick needs anyone to talk to later on, he goes to Cameron.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Cordelia's fellow cheerleaders or Oz's band.

* Naru/Molly from ''Manga/SailorMoon''. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then vanishes from relevancy soon after as more and more Senshi are introduced. An even better example are Yumiko and Kuri, two token female classmates who talk with her for a few episodes until the actual main Supporting Cast is introduced -- at least Naru ''showed up'' again.

A ConservationOfDetail so not to make out that our protagonist is a [[LonersAreFreaks loner]]. An extra or two is roped in at the start to flesh out our heroes social circle, but at the same time they are not required later as the character is drawn into their new environment. But their absence is noticeable.

* Naru/Molly from ''Manga/SailorMoon''. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then vanishes from relevancy soon after as more and more Senshi are introduced. An even better example are two token female classmates who talk with her for a few episodes until the actual main Supporting Cast is introduced -- at least Naru ''showed up'' again.

* In ''YumeMiruKusuri'', Takeshi and Misaki are the main character Kohei's better friends. But once one of the three routes have been picked, they are completely forgotten.

As our plucky OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent comes into shot, he's seen to be the life and soul of the party of his circle of friends. However sighting a girl who he's never seen before, he makes his excuses with a quick joke and he says he will catch them later. As he goes to see who this girl is...

Only he won't.

An hour and a half later. He's knee deep in the BigBad's plot and claiming that no one can possibly help him or understand. [[FridgeLogic Hang on a second]] says the audience. Wouldn't his friends want to know about this life altering experience? Or help?

A ConservationOfDetail so not to make out that our protagonist is a [[LonersAreFreaks loner]]. An extra or two is roped in at the start to flesh out our heroes social circle, but at the same time they are not required later as the character is drawn into their new environment. But their absence is noticeable.

This trope is specifically applied to when an extra or LivingProp is implied to have a friendship or relationship with a main character. See also ForgottenFallenFriend. Compare FriendlessBackground and related to TwentyFourHourPartyPeople, where characters have an ever-shifting group of friends who only show up when they have a party.

* Naru/Molly from ''SailorMoon''. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then vanishes from relevancy soon after as more and more Senshi are introduced. An even better example are two token female classmates who talk with her for a few episodes until the actual main Supporting Cast is introduced -- at least Naru ''showed up'' again.

[[AC:Film]]
* ''TenThingsIHateAboutYou'': Patrick is seen at the start of the film to hang around with a bald biker guy, who he smokes with and is his lab partner. As Patrick gets further involved with Kat, the character disappears altogether. When Patrick needs anyone to talk to later on, he goes to Cameron.
* ''{{Film/Spider-Man}}'': Mary Jane Watson is flanked by a GirlPosse for the first half of film one. However they quickly disappear and do not reappear for the rest of that film and despite seemingly being quite close, do not appear at her wedding for the second movie.
* Early in ''ILoveYouMan'' we see Peter has several female co-workers who he seems to get on perfectly fine with; strangely, they are never mentioned again even though the plot revolves around Peter's lack of a close (male) friend to act as best man. The possibility of one of his female friends from work acting as his best man is never raised, even as an option to be rejected.

* Ray from CopAndAHalf, also used to contrast the protagonist's strained home life.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* ''HowIMetYourMother'': Robin in the very first episode is shown to laughing and joking with a few girls who are presumably her friends or co-workers. Once Ted is in her life and she joins the main cast, no mention of who they were is ever given.
* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Cordelia's fellow cheerleaders or Oz's band.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'': Dr Cox is implied to actually have a circle of friends outside of the Hospital in season one. Shown in one episode, they are not used again and [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness later episodes establish him as friendless and lonely]].
* ''{{Friends}}'': Whenever the friends cast threw a New years party or a baby shower, lots of unknown friends would suddenly be shown. But never the same people twice.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Visual Novels]]

* Sam Witwicky has a best friend for the scene where he tries to go to a party, early in the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie. The only other time we see him is when he blows Sam off when he calls to tell him [[CassandraTruth his car is alive]].

* Naru/Molly from ''SailorMoon''. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then vanishes from relevancy soon after as more and more Senshi are introduced.

* ''{{Film/Spider-Man}}'': Mary Jane Watson is flanked by a GirlPosse for the first half of film one. However they quickly dissaper and do not reappear for the rest of that film and despite seemingly being quite close, do not appear at her wedding for the second movie.

* ''HowIMetYourMother'': Robin in the very first episode is shown to laughing and joking with a few girls who are presumably her friends or co-workers. Once ted is in her life and she joins the main cast, no mention of who they were is ever given.

A ConservationOfDetail so not to make out that our protaganist is a [[LonersAreFreaks loner]]. An extra or two is roped in at the start to flesh out our heroes social circle, but at the same time they are not required later as the character is drawn into their new environment. But their absence is noticeable.

* Naru/Molly from SailorMoon. Serena's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, then vanishes from relevancy soon after as more and more Senshi are introduced.

* TenThingsIHateAboutYou: Patrick is seen at the start of the film to hang around with a bald biker guy, who he smokes with and is his lab partner. As Patrick gets further involved with Kat, the character disappears altogether. When Patrick needs anyone to talk to later on, he goes to Cameron.

* Early in ILoveYouMan we see Peter has several female co-workers who he seems to get on perfectly fine with ; strangely they are never mentioned again even though the plot revolves around Peter's lack of a close (male) friend to act as . The possibility of one of his female friends from work acting as his best man is never raised, even as an option to be rejected.

* HowIMetYourMother: Robin in the very first episode is shown to laughing and joking with a few girls who are presumably her friends or co-workers. Once ted is in her life and she joins the main cast, no mention of who they were is ever given.
* BuffyTheVampireSlayer: Cordellia's fellow cheerleader's or Oz's band.

* Kayla is this in the HouseOfNight series. She appears briefly in the beginning of the first book and briefly again near the end. After that she's pretty much forgotten in favour of the FiveManBand.

* In the visual novel YumeMiruKusuri, Takeshi and Misaki are the main character Kohei's better friends. But once one of the three routes have been picked, they are completely forgotten.

Anime

Film

TV

Manga
* ''Manga/{{Psyren}}'' In the beginning, Ageha is seen with two friends in class, which he seems to be on good terms with. Once he gets roped in with Amamiya into the world of Psyren, we pretty much never see them again. Instead, Amamiya and Hiryu become his closest friends.
* In the visual novel YumeMiruKusuri, Takeshi and Misaki are the main character Kohei's better friends. But once one of the three routes have been picked, they are completely forgotten.
* ''TokyoMewMew'': Ichigo's friends [[ThoseTwoGuys Moe and Miwa]] appear in the first episode, and then once or twice afterwards, before vanishing completely.

Literature

* ''{{Scrubs}}'': Dr Cox is implied to actually have a circle of friends outside of the Hospital in season one. Shown in one episode, They are not used again.

* TenThingsIHateAboutYou: Patrick is seen at the start of the film to hang around with a bald Biker guy who he smokes with and is his lab partner. As Patrick gets further involved with Kat the character disappears altogether. When Patrick needs anyone to talk to later on, he goes to Cameron.