History Main / SocialCircleFiller

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' Jake is supposed to be a BigManOnCampus type of guy, so occasionally another character will mention that he's interacting with unnamed "other friends." Rachel is also pretty popular, but this manifests as a string of one-off guys who ask her out and get rejected.
* Justified in Brandon Mulls novel ''Literature/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 family's 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.]]
* Kayla is this in the ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'' series. She appears briefly in the beginning of ''Marked'' and briefly again near the end. After that she's pretty much forgotten in favour of the FiveManBand.
* Early in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Bella Swan quickly makes a bunch of friends at her new school, including Jessica, Angela, Mike, Ben, Eric...and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Lauren]], who instantly hates her. They provide exposition to both Bella and the reader on who the Cullen family are and then swiftly become irrelevant to the story outside of a few moments, which mostly serve as stepping stones for Bella to further develop relationships with Edward Cullen or Jacob Black. Bella herself increasingly tends to hang out with the Cullens or Jacob more than her school friends and seems to find half of them irritating (especially given the implication a lot of her male friends [[DudeMagnet want to date her]], even when they're dating other girls in the same friend group). It's partly justified by the fact Bella can't talk to them about vampires or werewolves, to avoid breaking TheMasquerade.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings:'' Before Frodo Baggins' journey, he has friends in the Shire aside from Merry and Pippin--friends who [[AdaptedOut who tend to get cut in adaptations]]. Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger isn't quite filler, as the main hobbits reunite with him in ''The Return of the King''. (Fatty had led the first resistance against Sharky and his ruffians, until he was captured. He's rescued from the dungeons during the Scouring of the Shire.) But ''Folco Boffin'' absolutely is filler. He shows up to some of Frodo's birthday celebrations, then helps Frodo pack his belongings to move out of Bag End... then is never mentioned again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Anime/APlaceFurtherThanTheUniverse'' [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] this trope with Megumi, Mari's best friend, who quickly fades into the background as Mari prepares for the trip to Antarctica with the other main girls. Desperate not to lose her friend, Megumi [[spoiler:tries spreading malicious rumors in an attempt to keep Mari home]]. This fails, so she decides to formally end their friendship, only for Mari to rebuff that as well before leaving on the trip. Upon returning to Japan at the end of the series, one of the first things Mari does is to check up on Megumi, only to learn that [[spoiler:Megumi has now left her behind to go on her own journey to the Arctic.]]

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' deconstructs this with Utena's friend Wakaba. At a glance, Wakaba is a classic example since she isn't involved in the Student Council and is only peripherally involved in the main story. But she receives CharacterDevelopment and a pair of [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]] in the Black Rose arc, and works to keep Utena grounded between duels. Moreover, Wakaba herself [[GenreSavvy seems aware of this trope]] to the point that she fears becoming this, and strongly resents that she isn't "special" like Utena or the Student Council members (despite Utena clearly valuing their friendship, to the point where she refuses to duel Wakaba).

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Early on, Apple Bloom was shown to be friends with a filly named Twist. Once the Cutie Mark Crusaders were formed, Twist was DemotedToExtra, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle seem to be Apple Bloom's only friends. [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] by [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real-life events]]: the character's voice actress, Alexandra Carter, left Vancouver for Philadelphia during production and became unavailable to record any further dialogue.

** Retroactively, this also applies to Buffy's very forgettable GirlPosse ([[ForgottenFallenFriend Cassandra]], Jennifer, Kimberley and Nicole[note]AdaptedOut in ''The Origin''[/note]) and her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey from Hemery High in [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer The Movie]] and its canon comic adaptation ''The Origin'' who are only referenced in a brief flashback in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E21BecomingPart1 "Becoming, Part 1"]]. Heck, her love interrest Pike all but vanishes with Angel being retconned as her first love. This is partly justified because Buffy moved out to Sunnydale and it's also implied that her Slayer duties took a toll on her social life. Funnily though, Billy Fordham, Buffy's only high school friend who shows up in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E7LieToMe "Lie To Me"]], [[RememberTheNewGuy was not in the prequel]].

* ''Comicbook/{{Nova}}'': Since Nova was initially modelled on Spider-Man, he had a supporting cast with friends such as "Caps" Cooper and Ginger Jaye, who appeared fairly frequently when he had his own title. Once he moved to the New Warriors, and later outer space, they disappeared, and Nova's close friends nowadays are generally shown to be fellow members of the New Warriors, or other cosmic heroes.

* ''Film/SpiderMan1'': 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.

* ''Anime/APlaceFurtherThanTheUniverse'' zig-zags this trope with Megumi, Mari's best friend, who quickly fades into the background as Mari prepares for the trip to Antarctica with the other main girls. Desperate not to lose her friend, Megumi [[spoiler:tries spreading malicious rumors in an attempt to keep Mari home]]. This fails, so she decides to formally end their friendship, only for Mari to rebuff that as well before leaving on the trip. Upon returning to Japan at the end of the series, one of the first things Mari does is to check up on Megumi, only to learn that [[spoiler:Megumi has now left her behind to go on her own journey to the Arctic.]]

* ''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.

* Averted in ''Manga/BlueFlag''. Though childhood friends Taichi and Touma reconnect in their final year of high school while also befriending Futaba, the three still frequently hang out with their other circles of friends. And in the final chapter, [[spoiler:Taichi is unable to come to Futaba's wedding because one of his friends from high school was getting married on the same day.]]
* Exaggerated in ''Anime/SSSSGridman''. Aside from Hass and Namiko, Rikka was friends with Toiko and Tonkawa among other members of the girls volleyball team. [[spoiler: Akane's first Kaiju rampage pretty much kills everyone in her circle but the first two girls off, meaning everyone aside the Gridman Alliance essentially treats them like this in-universe and forgets about them the next day. Rikka herself Subverts this, as she continually keeps in touch with everyone who's still alive while keeping her forgotten friends' deaths in her memory]].
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Josuke is introduced with a trio of female classmates who are crushing on him. They are never seen or mentionned again, and Josuke is never portrayed a ChickMagnet again, since he's only shown hanging out with fellow Stand users Okuyasu and Koichi. This example is notable since ''Diamond is Unbreakable'' contains more slice of life moments compared to other Parts.
* In the early chapters of ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light Yagami hangs out with two unnamed friends who all but vanish afterwards. Tellingly, the anime [[AdaptedOut doesn't even include them]].
* Downplayed in ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' with Uotani and Hanajima, who are introduced as Tohru's two closest friends who she spends the most time with at school before she becomes friends with Yuki and Kyo Sohma. While Tohru ends up spending more time with the Sohma family after discovering the secret of their HereditaryCurse (to the point that Hanajima even feels jealous of the Sohmas for taking Tohru away from her), they never completely fade in importance and they even get full backstories later on.
* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' deconstructs this with Utena's friend Wakaba. At a glance, Wakaba is a classic example since she isn't involved in the Student Council and is only peripherally involved in the main story. But she receives CharacterDevelopment and a pair of [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]] in the Black Rose arc, and works to keep Utena grounded between duels. Moreover, Wakaba herself [[GenreSavvy seems aware of this trope]] to the point that she fears becoming this, and strongly resents that she isn't "special" like Utena or the Student Council members (despite Utena clearly valuing their friendship, to the point where she refuses to duel Wakaba).
* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Itadori's friends in the Occult Club, Sasaki and Iguchi, are only relevant in the first episode. After Itadori comes in contact with Sukuna's finger and Gojo takes him under his wing, he moves to Tokyo and doesn't see them anymore (though they do appear briefly in the Culling Game arc).

* ''Comicbook/{{Nova}}'': Since Nova was initially modelled on Spider-Man, he had a supporting cast with friends such as "Caps" Cooper and Ginger Jaye, who appeared fairly frequently when he had his own title. Once he moved to the New Warriors, and later outer space, they disappeared, and Nova's close friends nowadays are generally shown to be fellow members of the New Warriors, or other cosmic heroes.

* Early in ''Film/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.
* Sam Witwicky has a best friend names Miles 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]]. Miles is then never seen or mentioned ever again.

* Dom's crew in the first film in ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series included Leon. He had [[FlatCharacter no notable character traits]] and served no purpose beyond making Dom's gang look a little bigger. Notably, he is one of the few of the hero's associates not to return or get any real mention after his introductory film in this [[LongRunner long running film series.]] (And this is a series where even Hector, a minor character and friend of the first film's team, but not an actual member himself, was brought back for a cameo in a later film.)

* ''Series/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.
** An episode towards the end of the series even has a B-plot about her inability to get along with other women, except for Lily.

* ''Series/{{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]].

* Justified in Brandon Mulls novel ''Literature/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.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' Jake is supposed to be a BigManOnCampus type of guy, so occasionally another character will mention that he's interacting with unnamed "other friends." Rachel is also pretty popular, but this manifests as a string of one-off guys who ask her out and get rejected.

* Dom's crew in the first film in ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series included Leon. He had [[FlatCharacter no notable character traits]] and served no purpose beyond making Dom's gang look a little bigger. Notably, he is one of the few of the hero's associates not to return or get any real mention after his introductory film in this [[LongRunner long running film series.]] (And this is a series where even Hector, a minor character and friend of the first film's team, but not an actual member himself, was brought back for cameo in a later film.)

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Itadori's friends in the Occult Club, Sasaki and Iguchi, are only relevant in the first episode. After Itadori comes in contact with Sukuna's finger and Gojo takes him under his wing, he hangs out with Fugisaki and Fushiguro instead.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Marco's friends Alonzo and Ferguson were written [[EnforcedTrope because the executives wanted Marco to have friends besides Star]]. They were seen in the pilot as well as earlier episodes in the series, but by the second season they're only mentioned once (in a joke [[LampshadeHanging pointing out their absence]]), and Janna, Jackie, [[IntergenerationalFriendship Marco's martial arts instructor]] basically takes over their role as "Marco's other friend(s)". They ([[spoiler:and most of the show's Earth characters]]) are given a proper sendoff when [[spoiler:Marco leaves for Mewni]] early in Season 3.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Marco's friends Alonzo and Ferguson were written [[EnforcedTrope because the executives wanted Marco to have friends besides Star]]. They were seen in the pilot as well as earlier episodes in the series, but by the second season they're only mentioned once (in a joke [[LampshadeHanging pointing out their absence]]), and [[IntergenerationalFriendship Marco's martial arts instructor]] basically takes over their role as "Marco's other friend(s)". They ([[spoiler:and most of the show's Earth characters]]) are given a proper sendoff when [[spoiler:Marco leaves for Mewni]] early in Season 3.

* Averted in ''Manga/BlueFlag''. Though childhood friends Taichi and Touma reconnect in their final year of highschool while also befriending Futaba, the three still frequently hang out with their other circles of friends.

* Averted in ''Manga/AoNoFlag''. Though childhood friends Taichi and Touma reconnect in their final year of highschool while also befriending Futaba, the three still frequently hang out with their other circles of friends.

* Downplayed in ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' with Uotani and Hanajima, who are introduced as Tohru's two closest friends who she spends the most time with at school. While Tohru ends up spending more time with the Sohma family after discovering the secret of their HereditaryCurse (to the point that Hanajima even feels jealous of the Sohmas for taking Tohru away from her), they never completely fade in importance and they even get full backstories later on.

* ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'' has Maureen, a mundane close friend of LCary and Simon, who pins on the latter but unceremoniously vanishes halfway season 1. Aftewards, Clary and Simon exclusively hang out with their supernatural friends.

* ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'' has Maureen, a mundane close friend of LCary and Simon, who pins on the latter but unceremoniusly vanishes halfway season. Afteward, Clary and Simon exclusively hang out with their supernatural friends.

* In the early chapters of ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light Yagami hangs out with two unnamed friends who all but vanish afteward. Tellingly, the anime didn't include them.

* Early in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Bella Swan quickly makes a bunch of friends at her new school, including Jessica, Angela, Mike, Ben, Eric...and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Lauren]], who instantly hates her. They provide exposition to both Bella and the reader on who the Cullen family are and then swiftly become irrelevant to the story outside of a few moments, which mostly serve as stepping stones for Bella to further develop relationships with Edward Cullen or Jacob Black. Bella herself increasingly tends to hang out with the Cullens or Jacob more than her school friends and seems to find half of them irritating (especially given the implication a lot of her male friends [[DudeMagnet want to date her]], even when they're dating other girls in the same friend group).

Contrast FriendlessBackground. Compare ForgottenFallenFriend, where the death of a friend is used to set off the plot before being forgotten, and TwentyFourHourPartyPeople, where hitherto-unseen "friends" appear to make a party seem more lively. Don't confuse with ThoseTwoGuys, as they have a higher chance of coming back despite occasionally filling the same niche.

* ''Anime/APlaceFurtherThanTheUniverse'' utilizes the trope to heartbreaking effect with Megumi, Mari's friend who establishes her as a social person but quickly fades into the background as Mari prepares for the trip to Antarctica. [[spoiler: Aware of her own growing irrelevance and that she's inadvertently built her identity on being a helper to the usually flaky Mari, Megumi spreads malicious rumors in an attempt to keep Mari home, but on the day of her departure confesses and acknowledges her failure. Mari rejects her attempt to end their friendship, and one of the first things she does upon returning at the end of the show is check on her, only to find that Megumi has successfully become the HeroOfAnotherStory.]]

** Naru/Molly is Usagi's best friend until she meets Ami and Rei, spends much of the first season as the DesignatedVictim of monster attacks, 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. Her manga incarnation fares even worse, as she doesn't even get the dignity of acknowledging the wedge between them and lacks a personal arc.
** Even better examples are Yumiko and Kuri, two token female classmates who talk with Usagi 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.
** In the anime it is difficult to take seriously the Senshi's comments on how lonely they are (without Usagi) when there are so many [[{{Filler}} filler episodes]] dedicated to a senshi making friends with someone. But those friends never show up again...

** On Ruby's first day at Beacon Academy, her sister Yang encourages her to make friends of her own (so she doesn't have to hang out with Yang all the time) before Yang runs off with a [[FacelessMasses nondescript]] group of friends. Said friends are never seen or mentioned again, as the titular team becomes Yang's main social circle.
** Later, during a slumber party for all the new students, Ruby writes a letter to her friends at her old school, who are also never brought up again.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Early on, Apple Bloom was shown to be friends with a filly named Twist. Once the Cutie Mark Crusaders were formed, Twist was stuck as a background character, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle seem to be Apple Bloom's only friends. [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] by [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real-life events]]: the character's voice actress, Alexandra Carter, left Vancouver for Philadelphia during production and became unavailable to record any further dialogue.