| 1 | ->'''Irene:''' Ryu, what is the payment you already received?\ |
| 2 | '''Ryu:''' She's right in front of me.\ |
| 3 | ''[TheBigDamnKiss]''\ |
| 4 | '''Ryu:''' I don't even know your name. |
| 5 | -->-- ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden (NES version)'' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | A character in a story who, despite being presented as the OneTrueLove of a central character, doesn’t seem to have that kind of dynamic with their supposed significant other at all. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | There are ''many'' reasons this can occur; the couple could be suffering ShippingBedDeath, there could be a bit too much Slap and not enough Kiss in their SlapSlapKiss dynamic, they could be LikeBrotherAndSister or PlatonicLifePartners, maybe the relationship developed [[OffscreenRomance offscreen]] (making their romance OutOfFocus during the series), or there could just be bad writing involved. Whatever the reason, these characters don’t feel like they’re in a romantic relationship while canon insists they are. This isn't a matter of their love being subtle — it's more like the love just isn’t there. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Sometimes writers add this to a work to have a TokenRomance, and their lack of interest in the relationship is reflected in the writing of the ship itself. The relationship violates ShowDontTell by ''telling'' the audience that these characters are a romantic couple without ''showing'' the romance. A ShipperOnDeck will have no issues helping the narrative ''tell'' the audience how the two are a couple despite lack of any real logic behind it, and in extremes cases, the entire cast agrees, [[CharacterShilling shilling for a relationship that the audience simply doesn’t see]]. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Subtrope of RelationshipWritingFumble. Compare ShippingBedDeath and WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack. Compare and contrast StrangledByTheRedString, where two characters are suddenly paired off with little interaction at all prior to the hookup; while these tropes frequently overlap they're not mutually inclusive, as a couple who pair off with little build-up could still have decent chemistry and romantic interactions afterwards, whereas Designated Love Interests could have decent build-up only for the actual relationship to fall short. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Contrast SatelliteLoveInterest, in which the character is all about being the love interest and nothing else, rather than having characterization that doesn't fit being a love interest. Also contrast RomanticPlotTumor, where a romantic subplot is given too much screen time to the detriment of the main plot. Inversions of this trope include ImpliedLoveInterest, where the characters aren't canon love interests but are ''purposefully'' written in a manner that lends to that interpretation, and PlatonicWritingRomanticReading, where the characters are ''accidentally'' written into a relationship that can be easily seen as a romantic relationship when the intent was much, much different. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Please don't use this trope as an excuse to bash characters or ships. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!Examples: |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 25 | * The manga version of ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' already has pairings teased for two of the main trio (Akatsuki for Akari, Albert for Aika), but towards the end of the manga no such pairing had been made for Alice. An autumn outing featuring them and the boys had her teased with Woody, who had no interactions with her prior to that chapter and was respectively [[PairTheSpares the last member of his trio like her]]. |
| 26 | * While Cain of ''Manga/CountCain'' flirts with (and presumably sleeps with) as many women as possible throughout the series, when he finally gets paired up with [[spoiler:Meridiana]] it feels ridiculous since she's just as vapid as any other woman he's met and slept with. She has nothing to distinguish her; she is the least unique character in the entire series. Even the author admitted that the fans didn't like her; she seemed ''surprised''. |
| 27 | * ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': The relationships between Present Trunks and Mai and Future Trunks and Future Mai can both come across as this, in some sort of attempt at a [[StrangledByTheRedString destined romance]]-type plot. |
| 28 | ** Present Trunks, [[VagueAge whose exact age is hard to pinpoint]] given vague timeline and animation designs, only claims that Mai is his girlfriend to impress Goten in the ''Battle of Gods'' movie; the sub-plot is not mentioned in the anime retelling, which makes it very jarring when Mai and the Pilaf Gang turn up in Trunks' house a few sagas later without explanation about the relationship except that they seem to like each other. Also jarring in the manga equivalent. Furthermore, it's given shades of {{squick}} since Mai is chronologically older than Trunks' mother Bulma and clearly has the mind of an adult woman in a child's body. |
| 29 | ** Meanwhile, in the alternate future, there was no indication throughout ''Dragon Ball Z'' or supplementary material that the Pilaf Gang had survived the Android apocalypse before Future Mai randomly turns up as his ally and designated love interest. Like Present Mai, she has been de-aged and is chronologically older than Bulma, as shown in the manga one-shot. She's also apparently much more competent than she originally was, and never mentions her former friends as Future Trunks doesn't know a thing about them. Whilst there's not as much squick, given Trunks is an adult, the fact that it seems Mai has not told him the truth is a tad off-putting. A new character could have been invented and fulfilled the same purpose to the same effect. |
| 30 | * ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': |
| 31 | ** Bulma and Vegeta basically got together because "a kid from the future said so." They had exactly two on-screen interactions before the three-year time skip when for some unknown reason Bulma dumped her previous love interest in favor of having a baby with the guy who'd once tried to massacre the planet. The implication seems to be that she simply had sex with him once and that any actual romance between them didn't come until after ''another'' time skip... but even then, no explanation is given for why she hooked up with him on any sort of permanent basis. |
| 32 | ** Krillin rather suddenly decided that he was in love with Android 18 -- because she kissed him on the cheek after briefly taunting him. What makes this moment even sillier is that Krillin fully knew she intended to kill his best friend, ''and'' had just witnessed her and her brother beat Vegeta, Piccolo, and Tenshinhan within an inch of their lives. |
| 33 | * ''Manga/{{Horimiya}}'''s BetaCouple, Sengoku and Remi, can usually be found hanging out with everyone ''but'' each other, and even when they are together it's easy to mistake them as just fellow members of the large group of friends that they both hang around with, despite the other characters insisting that they're a perfect couple. Even when it comes to their opposite-sex relationships, Sengoku's {{childhood friends}}hip with Hori is played as much more relevant to the narrative than his relationship with his supposed girlfriend. This is {{lampshaded}} in a later chapter, where Kakeru's father assumes he's single because nothing his son has said or done has convinced him otherwise. |
| 34 | * Fairly common in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', where, aside from [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion Josuke and Yasuho]] and maybe [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Jonathan and Erina]], most romances seem to happen to justify the Joestar bloodline continuing. Joseph and Johnny had almost all their interactions with their wives happen offscreen, and Jotaro's wife isn't even named. Outside of this, Yukako and Koichi get together rather quickly considering her prior interaction with him was [[{{Yandere}} trying to murder him for love]]. Jolyne is a particularly odd example, in that she doesn't get together with Annasui, and spends the entire story viewing him as a weirdo... [[spoiler: but her alternate-self reincarnation double gets together with Annasui's, with no explanation other than that it's true in the new world.]] |
| 35 | * Emily Almonde from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamAGE'' seems to exist sorely to breed the second generation's hero by the story's standpoint. While she loves the protagonist Flit Asuno, the boy shows no romantic relationship with her because he's too busy fighting UE [[spoiler: and building a relationship with a doomed MysteriousWaif Yurin L'Ciel]]. Even at the end of the arc, it stays as it is -- a one-sided love with no development. Then comes the second generation, where she gets married to Flit, has two children, and [[PutOnABus departs on a bus.]] It's also pretty obvious that [[spoiler:Flit only ended up with her because Yurin died]]. |
| 36 | * In ''Anime/{{Noein}}'', the relationship between Haruka and Yuu seems to have been invoked purely for plot convenience, since they are not shown to have all that much chemistry, even [[PuppyLove considering their age]]. |
| 37 | * ''Creator/RumikoTakahashi'' shows how this trope is {{YMMV}}; whilst the romance elements of her stories are typically beloved, many fans can have complaints about her writing in that department. The specifics vary from series to series, but her two most notorious "overarching" issues are a tendency to abuse UnresolvedSexualTension until the audience [[RomanticPlotTumor just stops caring]] for main couples, and a blatant use of a mixture of ShallowLoveInterest and PairTheSpares for secondary couples. |
| 38 | ** ''Manga/UruseiYatsura:''' |
| 39 | *** While Ataru Moroboshi and Lum's relationship does drag on, with Ataru [[AesopAmnesia repeatedly]] going through storylines where he is forced to realize he treats Lum like trash and he'd miss her if she left him, the major problem some fans have with them as a couple is Ataru's chronic cheating and outright dismissal of Lum's feelings, which can [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim leave readers/viewers wondering why she wants him so bad]]. Interestingly, Lum originally ''wasn't'' supposed to be [[OfficialCouple Ataru's actual love interest]] -- that role was instead supposed to go to Shinobu Miyake, Ataru's ChildhoodFriend. |
| 40 | *** Shinobu Miyake and Shūtarō Mendō are presented as the BetaCouple for most of the series, in the sense that Shinobu is head-over-heels for Shūtarō and constantly pursuing his affections. They even receive some outright ShipTease in {{OAV}}s and {{Non Serial Movie}}s. However, the relationship is undermined by Shinobu's feelings being completely onesided; Shūtarō is a HandsomeLech who absently basks in the favor of virtually ''every'' girl around him, and only actively pursues Lum. He never shows any sign of considering Shinobu anything special in the manga. Interestingly, Takahashi herself eventually came to feel they were a bad couple, breaking off the relationship by having Shinobu find a new and actual [[OfficialCouple one true love]]. |
| 41 | *** Shinobu Miyake and her [[BetaCouple boyfriend]] Inaba can be seen as an example of this trope. Although Inaba is at least a NiceGuy who is interested in her, contrasting the [[CasanovaWannabe pathologically unfaithful]] Ataru and the completely disinterested Shūtarō, and he does get a three chapter arc devoted to showing him and Shinobu in a romantic light, he is a character who is introduced very late in the story, makes very few appearance after his debut, and [[ShallowLoveInterest whose character revolves heavily around his being Shinobu's boyfriend]]. |
| 42 | *** Nurse Sakura and her fiancé Tsubame, are portrayed as a SickeninglySweethearts couple who are perfect for each other... outside of the constant interruptions caused by the nosiness of Ataru Moroboshi, Lum, Shinobu Miyake and Shutaro Mendo, or Tsubame's bumbling causing them problems, like when he accidentally gets haunted by a the ghost of a ClingyJealousGirl. As a character, Tsubame hardly exists outside of being Sakura's bungling but goodhearted boyfriend. [[spoiler:One story reveals that Sakura knows how to brew a LovePotion, and Lum and Shinobu immediately tease her that she used it to ensnare Tsubame, with Cherry asserting that this is true over Sakura's furious protests.]] |
| 43 | *** Ryūnosuke Fujinami's fiancé Nagisa Shiowatari isn't introduced until incredibly late in the manga's run (chapter 341 of ''366'') and only appears in four chapters total; his two-chapter introduction, and a two-chapter story that revolves around how much Ryūnosuke doesn't like him. They get a single moment of ShipTease at the end of that second arc, but otherwise the relationship barely feels existent. |
| 44 | *** It can be hard to get behind the Ran and Rei BetaCouple due to the sheer one-sidedness of the relationship. Ran dotes on Rei to an obsessive degree, showering Rei with her affections and getting [[{{Yandere}} violently jealous of anyone she sees trying to seduce him]]. But Rei's characterization as [[TheDitz a complete moron]] with no interest outside of [[BigEater food]] makes it hard to understand [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim why Ran is so attracted to him]], even if he ''is'' [[ChickMagnet incredibly handsome]], [[WastedBeauty his faults far outweigh his looks]]. Not helping is that Rei is completely oblivious to Ran's feelings; he eats her cooking without shame, but it's repeatedly shown that he will abandon her without a second thought to chase Lum, the only girl he wants. |
| 45 | *** Rupa and Carla, from the series' final arc, are supposed to be StarCrossedLovers who get a happy ending when Rupa decides to ignore his great-grandfather setting him up in an ArrangedMarriage with Lum and ask Carla to be his wife instead. The problem is that Carla has canonically spent the last decade violently and viciously attacking Rupa, leaving him in near-terror of her for much of the arc. Though there are moments that are intended to establish that Rupa has secretly loved Carla all along, Carla's behavior can make it very hard to understand ''why'' he would feel that way. |
| 46 | ** ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': |
| 47 | *** Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo are ''the'' OfficialCouple of the series. But Akane's {{tsundere}} antics causing her to both blatantly favor other characters (particularly Ryoga Hibiki) over Ranma and to constantly physically attack Ranma even for fairly mild teasing [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim can leave fans wondering why Ranma finds her attractive at all]]. Though both characters ''do'' get very cute moments with each other, help each other, and are shown pining over each other in private, the BelligerentSexualTension and [[CannotSpitItOut complete mutual refusal to be willing to say "I love you" first]] undermines the intent to present them as a functioning romance. It doesn't help that Ranma has an UnwantedHarem of girls who are openly affectionate and forthright about their feelings, which can further make Akane's tongue-tied, embarrassed fumblings feel unromantic by comparison. |
| 48 | *** [[TheRival Ryoga Hibiki's]] [[BetaCouple official girlfriend]] Akari Unryu was introduced fairly late in the manga (though far earlier than the comparable Konatsu) and was quite clearly set up to be Ryoga Hibiki's dream girl. She looks a lot like Akane, has a personality that matches Ryoga's idealized perception of Akane, is openly smitten with and affectionate towards Ryoga, and she absolutely adores pigs, to the point that discovering Ryoga is cursed to turn into a pig when he gets splashed with cold water only makes her love him ''more''. Though she does better than some of Takahashi's other LastMinuteHookup characters, getting several stories where she appears, she's so perfect for Ryoga that it makes her seem like an obvious consolation prize for Ryoga being unable to get Akane Tendo. It also doesn't help that she never appeared in the AnimatedAdaptation, or that unintentional ShipTease had led to [[FanPreferredCouple a significant Ryoga/Ukyo shipping fandom]]. |
| 49 | *** Ukyo Kuonji's would-be love interest Konatsu is introduced incredibly late into the manga's run, and outside of his introductory arc has only two appearances; a one-chapter comedic story, and a glorified cameo in the manga's final chapter. But whereas Konatsu is very blatantly swooning over Ukyo, she never expresses any feelings for him deeper than pity -- worse, she blatantly exploits him as a worker in her cafe, which can make her come off as outright abusive. |
| 50 | ** ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': |
| 51 | *** Despite being the OfficialCouple, the relationship between Kagome Higuyashi and Inuyasha has some pretty major stumbling blocks. Firstly, there's the fact that a large part of the reason they are "supposed" to end up together is because [[ReincarnationRomance Kagome is the reincarnation of Inuyasha's dead lover Kikyo]], which can make the relationship feel forced -- not helping is that the two of them angst about being destined to be together regardless of what they may feel in-universe, which can further turn an audience member of supporting the couple. Secondly, there's the LoveTriangle between Kagome, Inuyasha, and the reanimated Kikyo that runs for much of the series. Lastly, and most problematically, is the Necklace. Early in the series, Kikyo's sister Kaede places a magical necklace on Inuyasha that will painfully smash him face-first into the ground if Kagome yells "sit". Whilst initially this is a legitimately useful tool to keep the belligerent, headstrong and dangerous Inuyasha in line, it very quickly devolves into Kagome abusing it to punish Inuyasha whenever he makes her mad in what is supposed to be comedic overreaction, but can make Kagome just seem abusive and controlling. |
| 52 | *** Miroku and Sango do end up as the series' BetaCouple, but the fact Miroku spends most of the series groping Sango against her will and flirting with every attractive woman he meets can make it [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim hard to see why Sango falls in love with him]], even given their long time adventuring together and frequent mutual saving of each others' lives. |
| 53 | ** ''Manga/RinNe'': Rinne Rokudo and Sakura Mamiya spend ''so much'' of the series being either mutually ObliviousToLove, despite the fact that [[EveryoneCanSeeIt everyone around them keeps pointing out they're crushing on each other]], or else [[CannotSpitItOut completely unwilling to say anything about how they feel]], that some fans just [[TheChrisCarterEffect give up on caring about the ship entirely]]. |
| 54 | * Usagi and Mamoru in ''Anime/SailorMoon'''s animated adaptation. During one of {{The Movie}}s, Usagi is slightly depressed that she has no idea what Mamoru is like, can't have a conversation with him, and doesn't even understand his interests. Their later failures to really interact with each other may have to do with the television writers not finding him very interesting, aside from a character for her to emote at -- which is really his [[SatelliteLoveInterest fundamental purpose]], after all. |
| 55 | * In ''Manga/ShouwaGenrokuRakugoShinjuu'', Yotaro is simplemindedly head-over-heels for Konatsu, who is cold to him, but not in a {{Tsundere}} kind of way; she never once says or does anything romantic towards him, or has any romantic thoughts about him even after ''[[spoiler:they get married]]''. This creates the very strange situation of Yotaro having [[spoiler:a "wife" who treats him as a close friend at best and a "son" who isn't even his actual child]]. |
| 56 | * The relationship between Max and Milia in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' -- as well as their Americanized counterparts in ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' -- was hardly romance at its best. This is somewhat [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] in ''Anime/Macross7'', where it showed that Max and Milia's marriage is mainly unstable and troubled. |
| 57 | * ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' has Kojima, with whom Kanon doesn't even have a fraction of the chemistry she has with Marin. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 61 | * The Page Sisters from ''[[Comicbook/{{Fables}} Jack of Fables]]'' . Despite showing no interest in the main character and outright despising him, all three ended up sleeping with him more than once. It got especially bad when Robin, who had spent the previous issues hating Jack with a passion, had no problem with the idea of a foursome. It then becomes outright horrifying when it's revealed that [[spoiler:they're his half sisters]]. |
| 62 | * ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk:'' In the earliest days, Betty Ross was one of these. Much of her page-time was spent mooning or swooning over Dr. Banner, while he scarcely afforded her a thought, even without the hassle of the Hulk or the latest villain of the week making trouble. The Hulk was more interested in her than he was. |
| 63 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 64 | ** Played straight in ''ComicBook/BrandNewDay'' with Carlie Cooper. Everyone, including Mary Jane, is trying to get her together with Peter and gushing about how perfect and wonderful for him she is. Too bad she [[InformedAbility hasn't really done much]] to live up to that hype, and the major problem that started with the pairing is that [[DependingOnTheWriter each writer seemed to have their own take]] on who should end up with Pete. Slott was in the Carlie Cooper camp, Creator/MarkWaid focused on [[BelligerentSexualTension Pete and Michelle]], and Joe Kelly always had [[SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl Peter and Norah]]. The latter two actually went through lengths actually showing the chemistry while Slott spent more time simply presenting Carlie as the perfect match. When Carlie [[OfficialCouple hooked up with Peter]] it looked like this trope would stick. Luckily ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'' put an end to all of that, and the finale of ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' put the final nails in the coffin. |
| 65 | ** Gwen Stacy was absolutely this when she was alive. Creator/StanLee after playing with a love triangle between Peter/MJ/Gwen for a few issues had Peter get into a relationship with Gwen which astonished many readers who were wondering what the long-buildup and wait for MJ across 20 issues was all about. Even after they got together, Lee and Romita Sr. never properly developed her as a character aside from shilling her (such as fan-favorite MJ becoming a shipper and cheer-leader for them, [[HistoryRepeats which writers and editors later had her do for Carlie]]) or having Peter [[InformedAttribute constantly say out loud how much he loves her]] and vice versa. They are never shown going on dates or having any interactions as a couple and the tension Peter had in that relationship was his work as Spider-Man, the death of her father George Stacy, and Peter wondering if he should tell her identity while Gwen would constantly cry and whine whenever he's not around. Creator/GerryConway who had her killed off to make MJ Peter's OneTrueLove cited this whenever fans take him to task for killing Gwen, in his view her death made her far more memorable and important in comics history (as TheLostLenore and Peter's ShockingDefeatLegacy) than she would have been had she faded away and been PutOnABus (which happened to MJ numerous times but fan demand always returned her to the heart of the stories). |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 69 | * ''Fanfic/InYourWildestDreams'': Yang can come across as this. Despite her and Jaune become a couple early on in the story, there are rarely any prolonged interactions between the two after that first date at the school dance; anything beyond Yang's occasional teasing is alluded to have happened offscreen. It certainly doesn't help that there are far more onscreen moments of Jaune bonding with Blake and Neo. Yang herself even jokes about the idea of Blake and Jaune seeing each other behind her back, while readers regularly note that Neo and Jaune have great chemistry despite the narrative's insistence that they see each other LikeBrotherAndSister. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 73 | * Oddly, ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs2'' kind of does this to Flint and Sam. An ImmediateSequel, the movie opens at the end of TheBigDamnKiss from the first film, and they're shown as a couple again in the CreativeClosingCredits, but that's about it. Flint even refers to her as a "friend" rather than "girlfriend" one or two times, probably to emphasize ThePowerOfFriendship as the main [[AnAesop Aesop]]. |
| 74 | * One of the few criticisms of ''WesternAnimation/Klaus2019'' is that [[spoiler:Alva]] feels like this for Jesper. While the pair come to admire one another and become friends over their efforts to improve the town, there's nothing to suggest they're anything more until Jesper reveals they got married and had children in the epilogue. Jesper's narration indicates this outcome was inevitable, but considering neither character had expressed any romantic attraction to each other up until this point, viewers weren't as convinced. |
| 75 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. The relationship between Ariel and Eric obviously needs to exist because it happens in [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid the original fairy tale]] and it gives Ariel her main motivation to want to become human. However, the whole thing is complicated because they really only know each other for three days, and she's unable to speak for almost that entire time. Of course, the original fairy tale has a major DownerEnding, where [[spoiler: the prince never loves the mermaid and on his wedding day, she dies and becomes an air spirit]]. But in the Disney version, they get a HappilyEverAfter ending that feels forced even if you cling to an [[MST3KMantra "it's a fairy-tale"]] mindset. |
| 76 | * The Gene Dietch adaptation of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' gives Bilbo a love interest in the form of CanonForeigner Princess Mika. Given that the film is only eleven minutes long, there ''really'' isn't a lot of time to form any kind of connection between the two. Mika has an angry speech where she declares that if none of them will go fight the dragon, she will go alone, then Bilbo declares that this is a crazy thing for a child to say, at which Gandalf tells them that this means he should go along as well. A few minutes later, in the midst of the climax, the narrator mentions that Bilbo has a "growing love" for the Princess. This is the sum total of their romantic development before it's announced that they got married in the ending. It becomes especially weird in light of the fact that the book claimed Bilbo to be 51, and Mika is repeatedly described as a child--one desperately hopes that to not be the case in the film's continuity. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 80 | * ''Film/AloneInTheDark2005''. The {{Love Interest|s}} never added anything of value to begin with, and the romance itself comes completely out of the blue. Sadly, by the end, the RomanticPlotTumor is the only thing keeping the plot moving forward. |
| 81 | * In ''Film/AntMan1'', Hope spends the entire movie resenting Scott because her father Hank chose him as his successor and not her. Towards the end of the movie, Hope has just barely begun to respect Scott, but it's still not clear if she actually likes him as a person. When Hank accidentally walks in on them making out, he's just as shocked as the audience since it came out of nowhere. This is subverted in [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp the]] [[Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania sequels]], some of the few MCU properties where the OfficialCouple actually work together ''as'' a couple instead of an endless game of breaking up and getting back together. |
| 82 | * ''Film/{{Avatar}}''. The romance between Jake Sully and Neytiri is given almost no real buildup and no reason beyond, "Hey, they've been spending a lot of time together and Jake needs a way to get into that culture. Let's hook them up because that is What Those Types of Characters Do." |
| 83 | * Johnnie Goodboy Tyler and Chrissy in ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. They have only a few scenes together and don't even talk to each other in some of them. Johnnie has much more chemistry with [[HoYay one of the guys he's planning the rebellion with]]. It feels like she's only there because everyone knows TheHero has to have a love interest. The [[Literature/BattlefieldEarth book]] is a little better, though the relationship is still pretty flat and underdeveloped there, too. |
| 84 | * ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'': The end of the movie hooks up [[spoiler: Andy and Allison and Bender and Claire]]. While the characters have clear moments of bonding and all of them growing closer to each other is the whole point of the movie, it's still made a [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief little tough to believe]], especially due to how much of the film they all spend being horrible to each other. |
| 85 | * In the 2010 ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|2010}}'', Io is the {{Love Interest|s}}... just because. Amusingly, the original script had Andromeda as the official love interest (as per the myth), yet the women are so interchangeable that they switched to Io with virtually no changes made to the storyline in any way. And to make this even ''more'' amusing, by the time the sequel rolls around, Io is dead and Andromeda steps up to fulfill the role that was originally going to be hers anyway. She fits the trope just as well, being more or less ignored by the hero until the very end when he kisses her out of nowhere. |
| 86 | * ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' lampshades the prevalence of this trope; Giselle and Edward start out madly in love with each other without any actual reason for ''why''. It's just how things work in the fairytale land of Andalasia. [[spoiler:When you think about it, this helps explain why Nancy managed to pair herself up with Edward in the end, by eloping back to Andalasia.]] Even at the end of the story, this applies to the official couple. |
| 87 | * The romance between Reed and Sue in ''Film/FantasticFour2015''. It seems to only be there because Reed and Sue are married in [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the comics]]. |
| 88 | * ''Film/{{Firehead}}'': Myla Buchanan. As the only woman in the film, she is obligated to fall in love with the protagonist. |
| 89 | * Ginny Weasley in ''Film/HarryPotter''. Harry and Ginny barely interact, sharing the screen for about seven minutes combined in the last ''three'' movies. Whenever they are on screen together, they barely talk, instead just sharing a kiss and an awkward look before Harry rushes off to do something and Ginny sits down to be irrelevant to the plot. This is probably a result of AdaptationDecay since they did have significantly more build-up in the books. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'', when Abe first runs into Nuala, [[LetsYouAndHimFight she presumes him to be an enemy]]. Abe uses his TouchTelepathy to prove that he's not. During the split second they have a mindlink, [[TakeOurWordForIt which is not shown to the audience]], they instantly fall in love. They have practically no interactions that aren't about the plot before the BigBad kidnaps her and [[HostageForMacGuffin demands the final key to the doomsday device with which he wants to wipe out the human race for her return]]. Despite the BigBad being Nuala's [[TwinsAreSpecial twin brother]] who [[{{Synchronization}} magically shares all injuries with her]], meaning he is neither willing nor able to harm her without harming himself, Abe goes behind his friend's backs to hand over the MacGuffin, with no plan to prevent the extermination of the human race afterwards. All for a romance that the audience has seen exactly nothing from. |
| 91 | * Averted in ''Film/HotFuzz''. Early drafts of the script had a love interest for Nick called Victoria. Because she was boring, slowed down the plot, and had nothing much to do by the finale they instead cut her out and gave a fair bit of her dialogue, often unedited, to Nick's burgeoning {{Heterosexual Life Partner|s}} Danny. |
| 92 | * ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' ends with protagonist Eggsy being rewarded by the Swedish princess Tilde with sex, seemingly parodying the GirlOfTheWeek tendency of the ''Film/JamesBond'' franchise. But the sequel, ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'', shows that Eggsy and Tilde became a couple between movies, despite nothing pointing into a romantic direction during their first meeting in the previous movie. They also end up ''married'' in the end, despite being broken up for the most part of ''The Golden Circle''. |
| 93 | * Rose Tico to Finn in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. Their romance comes off as one-sided; Rose obviously has a crush on Finn, but his interactions towards her are mostly platonic and he's more focused on reuniting with [[PlatonicLifePartners Rey]] (whom some viewers thought [[PlatonicWritingRomanticReading he actually had romantic feelings for]]). Rose only knows Finn for a few days, tops, before she tells him she loves him and kisses him...and Finn's response to this appears to be confusion more than anything. The creators apparently realized this because the romance is completely dropped in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' (the Expanded Universe novel ''Literature/StarWarsResistanceReborn'' also mentions Finn and Rose decided they were BetterAsFriends). |
| 94 | * ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' lampshades this trope in a DeletedScene, where DJ introduces Kate to his father and admits they haven't kissed yet, they don't really get along, and they have virtually nothing in common; to which she smilingly replies that this could be The One. |
| 95 | * ''Film/PulpFiction'': Mia, of a sort. We are told several times she is married to Marsellus, and it's even an important plot point that she is, but they barely interact with each other and only appear on-screen together once, and very briefly at that. |
| 96 | * WebVideo/RedLetterMedia refers to this as "a case of the not-gays", when a character has an incredibly offhand romance or romantic partner for no other reason than to reassure the audience [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday that they're heterosexual]]. Specifically cited is the example of ''Film/StarTrek2009'', where all the protagonists and the main villain all show or mention an interest in a woman, of which maaaybe one is developed or significant to any degree. He also jokingly pointed out that it even happens in dog movies, where the dog will usually get together with a female dog [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics (usually with pink bows tied to them)]] for no reason and with no development -- though to be fair, it's hard to give a non-sapient dog romantic development. |
| 97 | * ''Film/RomeoMustDie''. The movie is supposed to be loosely based on ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', but it's a pretty standard Creator/JetLi action movie. His supposed love interest Trish, played by Music/{{Aaliyah}}, contributed nothing to the overall plot and she comes across more as his friend than his star-crossed lover. Jet Li also appears in Aaliyah's tie-in music video "Try Again", and it's telling that the two had more romantic chemistry ''there'' than an entire feature-length film. |
| 98 | * A criticism of the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' movies was the perception that Peter and MJ had no real romantic chemistry (your mileage may vary). The third film certainly spends more time showing them fighting to keep their relationship afloat than actually doing things together and being a couple. |
| 99 | * The main male and female characters in ''Film/{{Stealth}}'' are supposed to be military personnel, and seem to be interacting as such throughout the entire movie. There is banter between them, but nothing that particularly points towards sexual chemistry. In spite of the film tradition of Designated Love Interests, it can come as a shock when they suddenly kiss after the action is over, even without considering the army 'fraternization' laws which are never mentioned by any character. |
| 100 | * ''Film/TopGun'' has a love interest for the protagonist Maverick in his instructor Charlie. However, many fans feel that this relationship feels forced and doesn't really mesh well with the rest of the plot and the overall themes of Maverick being a hotheaded [[MilitaryMaverick earner of his callsign]] developing into a wiser team-player. In fact there were originally going to be fewer Mav/Charlie scenes, but extra ones were thrown in, in part due to Maverick having what was seen by executives as too much chemistry and HomoeroticSubtext with his wingmen, most notably his RIO Goose and his [[TheRival rival]]-turned-friend Iceman. Notably, [[Film/TopGunMaverick the sequel]] goes out of its way to avert this; not only does his love interest, Penny Benjamin[[note]]the "admiral's daughter" referenced offhandedly in the first film as a previous fling of his[[/note]], prove a crucial motivating force for his character development, but the story makes it abundantly clear ''why'' they love each other beyond mere physical attraction. The result is a much more believable, plot-relevant, and heartwarming romance. |
| 101 | * ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' has an intentional, in-universe example with Meryl. She was introduced into the show-within-a-show to be Truman's significant other and immediately flings herself at him. However, it's so over-the-top it's obviously forced and she has no real interest in Truman as a person, which is understandable because she's OnlyInItForTheMoney. Truman did eventually marry Meryl, but it's revealed he still thinks about [[TheOneThatGotAway Sylvia]], a minor character from his college years whom he had a genuine connection with. He eventually asks Meryl point-blank why she wants them to have children, because it's obvious "[she] can't stand [him]". Even the audience doesn't find Truman and Meryl's relationship convincing; they express disappointment [[FanPreferredCouple he didn't get with Sylvia]] and "can't believe he married Meryl on the rebound". Truman himself seems baffled at the fact that she claims to love him, when she doesn't share his interests, doesn't seem to like having him around, and isn't very friendly to him outside of doing her duties as a wife. [[DeconstructedTrope Eventually]], their relationship comes crashing down when the stress of being in a more-than-dead marriage (well, on top of a full-blown metaphysical / existential crisis on Truman's part and Meryl having to cope with the identity crisis and increased ad-libbing Truman's increasing off-the-wall behaviour demands) becomes too much to bear for both Truman and Meryl. |
| 102 | * The romance in ''Film/Underworld2003''. There is never any indication that Selene feels any real emotion toward her intended hookup; they have yet to actually have any sort of conversation with each other about anything apart from vampires and werewolves and they have known each other for a total of about two days. WordOfGod says this was the way it was ''supposed'' to be- special features on the ''Underworld'' DVD reveal that the two characters were not supposed to actually be "in love," but rather attracted to each other based on lust, confused feelings, and being forced together. |
| 103 | * In-story of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', this was practically Laurie's ''job'', being Dr Manhattan's lover. And he likely only loved her because he could see himself doing that in the future. Also, during production of the movie, someone tried to write in a non-canonical love interest for ''[[TheAloner Rorschach]]''. It was changed when people realized how utterly out of character that would be. |
| 104 | * In the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', Jean Grey is essentially this to Wolverine. Across the first three movies, Logan and Jean have maybe ten minutes of screen time together and one real conversation, yet the films clearly consider them the OneTruePairing, far beyond Jean's actual {{Love Interest|s}} Cyclops. |
| 105 | [[/folder]] |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 108 | * ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' (and the companion book ''Grey'') has Ana and Christian repeatedly profess to be madly in love and a true couple. The problem is that the entire series takes place over just barely ''three months'' and the characters spend a huge chunk of that time arguing and/or broken up. Even when actually dating, there's much more slap than kiss, and for many readers, the characters don't even appear to ''like'' each other, let alone love each other eternally. Christian in particular can come off as this to Ana. He's definitely sexually attracted to her, but when it comes to her personality he seems to find her annoying more than anything, constantly finding things to criticize about her, from her clothes to her car to her eating habits. Despite his claims that he likes Ana challenging him, her defying him or doing anything he doesn't approve of generally makes him angry and condescending. He's supposed to start out as uninterested in having a deeper relationship with Ana only to find himself falling in love with her, but he seems more interested in molding Ana into whatever he wants from a partner rather than loving her for who she is. |
| 109 | * More than a few readers and reviewers of ''Literature/TheLightlarkSaga'' have commented that Oro and Isla come off less as love interests (as intended) and more as having an IntergenerationalFriendship or even a [[ParentalSubstitute father]]-[[LikeADaughterToMe daughter]] dynamic. Oro, who is ''much'' older and more experienced, takes the young and naive Isla under his wing, teaching her a lot about the setting and how magic works; Isla's youthful idealism also starts to break through Oro's aloof exterior and world-weariness. It's further noted that Oro was never able to have children because of the Centennial's rules, while Isla was orphaned as an infant and her guardians weren't the most nurturing, which perfectly sets them up for developing a surrogate father-daughter relationship. Many readers have found that there's very little romantic chemistry in their interactions, especially with Isla being obviously attracted to Grim for the majority of the book, to the point that some readers were genuinely confused when they reached the book's climax and realised they were supposed to be love interests all along. |
| 110 | * Aragorn and Arwen in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Justified somewhat as the story is primarily told from the Hobbits' point of view, and they weren't around when the two met and fell in love years earlier; the story is only concisely dealt with in one of the appendices. This has led to quite a number of readers favouring Éowyn's hopeless love for Aragorn. WordOfGod is Eowyn ''was'' originally intended to be Aragorn's queen but Tolkien had second thoughts, deciding he was too old and too grim for her. |
| 111 | * The relationship between Ivy and Mr. Quent in ''Literature/TheMagiciansAndMrsQuent''. The first half of the book is entirely filler and sets up a relationship between Ivy and [[RomanticFalseLead Mr. Rafferdy]], and shows they have chemistry; however, they break up because Mr. Rafferdy is a noble and Ivy isn't. A few pages after meeting Mr. Quent and with negligible interaction between them, Ivy marries Mr. Quent. Ivy is constantly thinking afterwards whenever she sees Mr. Rafferdy that she likes him, but he's not as right for her as Mr. Quent is; but, because she and Mr. Quent hardly ever interact and she and Mr. Rafferdy interacted quite a bit, there's absolutely zero evidence for this. |
| 112 | * In the little-known book ''Literature/ShackletonsStowaway'', the main character, Perce, fantasizes (no, not like THAT...well, okay, maybe), about a young woman back home named Anna, who he believes he's in love with. However, we only hear about Anna twice, and then she's totally forgotten by the end as if she didn't exist at all, and seemed to serve just so that he could have a love interest. She may also double as a RelationshipSue, due to her overly perfect beauty as constantly described by the author. |
| 113 | * In ''De skandalösa'' by Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt, [[spoiler: Ossian and Beata]] suddenly become a couple in the end. As far as we know, they had never interacted with each other before only a few chapters remained of the story. Maybe we can assume that something has happened off-screen, but still, it just feels like it comes out of the blue. As if they just had to end up together because they both were single up until that point. |
| 114 | * ''Literature/TheTurnerDiaries'': Earl and Catherine full stop. Earl doesn't really talk much about Catherine until he walks in on her in the shower and they immediately wind up [[SexStartsStoryStops having sex for no real reason]]. Their relationship doesn't really evolve much from that despite the author constantly saying they "love" each other. |
| 115 | * Creator/VictorHugo: |
| 116 | ** ''Literature/LesMiserables'' gives us Marius and Cosette. Seen each other from afar and are madly in love with each other (at least after Marius noticed Cosette being [[SheIsAllGrownUp grown up]]. Make of that what you will). They do get time to groom their relationship... with Cosette listening to Marius' political views. Well, we have to count in the ValuesDissonance here too. But still... |
| 117 | ** ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' also shows how awfully this can end in so many, many ways. |
| 118 | [[/folder]] |
| 119 | |
| 120 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 121 | * Riley to Buffy in Season 5 of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. While in Season 4 they were genuinely affectionate, in Season 5 their romantic interactions are increasingly few and far between. Even in-universe Riley says he doesn't think Buffy truly loves him, though he doesn't come off as particularly loving towards her either, despite all the other characters [[CharacterShilling going on about what a great boyfriend he is]]. He seems to think Buffy is going to dump him for the next {{romantic vampire boy}} that comes along, is insecure about her being stronger than him, doesn't talk to her about his concerns, and ends up going off with vampire hookers to feel 'wanted'; when Buffy confronts him he quickly ditches her to rejoin the army. While Buffy is being emotionally neglectful, this is because she's having to care for her kid sister while her mother has a brain tumor ''on top of'' her usual 'saving the world' duties. You'd think if Riley loved Buffy as much as he and everyone else claims he'd stand by her during this difficult time, but he only ever seems to think about what ''he'' wants. |
| 122 | * ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Season 10 has what was meant to be a love triangle between Frasier, Roz, and newcomer Julia, ending with Roz deciding to leave KACL because of her feelings for Frasier mixed with jealousy toward Julia... but at no point since the two characters slept together in season 9 does Roz actually express any romantic or sexual interest in Frasier, making her actions come off more like a friend concerned for another friend and just acting on it in the stupidest fashion possible. Then the first episode of season 11 has Roz state she has no romantic or sexual interest in Fras, end of story. Frasier and Julia itself narrowly skirts this, but it does get a tremendous LampshadeHanging by the new writers in season 11 when Niles outright tells Frasier he's just claiming he and Julia are made for each other because he's overcompensating after so many other failed relationships. |
| 123 | * Tyrion is a [[AllLoveIsUnrequited one-sided]] example to Daenerys in ''Series/GameOfThrones''. While one could argue he was intentionally keeping his feelings subtle due to [[CartwrightCurse previous bad experiences]], some viewers felt it was ''so'' subtle they appeared non-existent. Tyrion doesn't spend much one-on-one time with Dany and they mostly talk about war, politics, or her feelings for Jon Snow; Tyrion comes off as admiring Dany as his queen but not necessarily having romantic feelings for her (especially in comparison to Jorah, who has to be reminded about being too familiar with Dany, gives her {{longing look}}s, has his love for her remarked upon by other characters, etc). The only scene that really suggests romantic attraction is Tyrion overhearing Dany and Jon [[spoiler:make love]] with a troubled expression, but his reaction is so [[AmbiguousSituation vague]] it was interpreted in many different ways by viewers. As a result, Tyrion's confession in the final episode that he's in love with Dany seems to come out-of-left-field, or at the least feels underwritten; you have to rely on [[AllThereInTheScript the scripts]] and [[WordOfSaintPaul an interview with Peter Dinklage]] to get the full picture. |
| 124 | * ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Tina dumps Artie for Mike between the first and second seasons after she spends the summer working with Mike at "Asian camp," despite the fact that goth Tina and jock/preppy Mike had little in common beyond Glee club. This overlaps with TokenMinorityCouple since their both being Asian was milked for all it was worth and then some. |
| 125 | * ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' and ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'': One gets the impression that all the lead female characters were required by law to have a love interest, as only Weilan ended the series without ShipTease with a boy (not that [[HopelessSuitor Karl]] didn't try, mind you). Some romances were limited to just one season, and as a result, not all were convincing. |
| 126 | ** Emma had two love interests, Byron and Ash, both of whom only lasted one season and neither one of which was ever seen without her presence. |
| 127 | *** Emma pines after Byron for most of the first season and the [[WesternAnimation/H2OMermaidAdventures animated reboot]], but when they actually spend time together, they end up arguing. Byron complains that Emma is too pushy, and Emma is frustrated with Bryon's lack of direction in life. |
| 128 | *** Ash is introduced in the second season as Emma's new love interest, which seems to be news to Emma herself, who butts heads with him often and when she complains about him, she gets told by the rest of the cast that she obviously must have feelings for him. |
| 129 | ** Bella has a crush on Will, but he admits his interest in her is based on the fact that she's a mermaid, which naturally upsets her. This causes them to break up, and they make up in a later episode because Will helped save a kidnapped Rikki, after withholding her location from the others to get confirmation that Rikki and Cleo are mermaids as well. Will is implied to crush on Rikki for similarly shallow reasons while Bella gives him the cold shoulder, only stopping when Bella starts trusting him again despite the blackmail after the kidnapping incident. Even as a couple, they don't have much in common besides the ocean; Will noticeably dislikes whenever Bella wants to do something besides going swimming with him, like the time he kept criticizing her musical performance to encourage her to ditch Nate's band. |
| 130 | * ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Almost every relationship, especially in the second season. Notably Peter/Simone, Maya/Sylar, Peter/Caitlin, Hiro/Yaeko, and Claire/West. Luckily, they seem to have given up. Played ''extremely'' straight with [[spoiler:Matt/Daphne]], in which a psychic vision convinces one character he's "supposed" to be with another. Unsurprisingly his "love" is skeptical and although she plays along she frequently [[LampshadeHanging points out]] how this is not any sort of basis for a real relationship. |
| 131 | * Played for humor in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', where the bar attempts to do the things more popular bars do (read: [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall more commercially successful shows]]), and that includes trying to create a SlapSlapKiss dynamic similar to Sam and Diane in ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' between Mac and Dee. It becomes obvious very quickly that the two have no discernible chemistry, due to the fact that Mac and Dee hate each other in reality; their attempts to do friendly teasing quickly devolve into shouting matches and threats of violence. |
| 132 | -->'''Dennis:''' This isn't 'WillTheyOrWontThey' This is 'I know they won't and I know I don't want them to!' |
| 133 | * ''{{Series/Merlin|2008}}'': Lancelot and Guinevere. It's an inevitable pairing, but it moves like a runaway train. She fits him for a suit of armour and he kisses her hand. That's the last time they interact for a year, and then their paths cross again whilst Guinevere is held captive in a warlord's castle. Lancelot helps her escape, during which he tells her (and others): "I would die for you ten thousand times over," "She means more to me than you will ever understand" and "tell her that she's changed me forever." All this on the basis of two short conversations. Still, some say that the chemistry of the actors makes up for it... |
| 134 | * In ''Series/Moonlight2007'', Mick and Beth can sometimes come off as having a father-daughter relationship, which is ''not'' what was intended (especially considering they first met when Mick saved Beth as a child and he's since appointed himself as her protector). |
| 135 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Regina and Robin Hood slide into for a lot of the fandom. Despite being [[BecauseDestinySaysSo destined soulmates]], in Season 3 have countless moments of UnresolvedSexualTension even before finding out about destiny, and are shown actually building a loving and trusting relationship with one another; come Season 4, though, the writers start piling up issue after issue onto them: first Robin's long-lost wife Marian is brought BackFromTheDead via time-travel, forcing him to go back to her out of duty; then it's revealed she almost died because she was sentenced to death by [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Regina herself]]; then she gets cursed and the only way to save her is taking her out of town, where there's no magic, and Robin has to follow; finally, she becomes pregnant by Robin. The show then goes out of its way to try and uncomplicate things all via plot twist: [[spoiler: it's been Zelena all along, who pulled a KillAndReplace on Marian and got pregnant by Robin to get back at Regina, thus technically morally absolving Regina of Marian's death, and plunging that ship into NoYay territory due to the rape]], but at that point the damage was done. With all the increasingly convoluted stuff happening all around them, Regina and Robin never get a chance to even talk about their issues, let alone work through them, and barely have any more meaningful scenes together. This, coupled with the quick and cheap resolution they were given, makes the whole romance deflate and just drag along in name only until [[spoiler: Robin's untimely death]]. It doesn't help that much of Season 4A, explores how Marian's return affects Regina's friendship with Emma rather than her romance with Robin, leading to their romance feeling even less needed to many fans. |
| 136 | * ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': |
| 137 | ** "Nate" saved Charlie's life once, and yet is seen as a heavily implied StarCrossedLovers situation in progress. Aside from that one instance in the [[Recap/RevolutionS1E1Pilot pilot]] of saving her ([[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil which only really made sense if taken from a certain angle]]), he didn't show any real compassion for her for the most part aside from what even Tom Neville realizes is a crush...which sort of makes ''Charlie'' qualify as well. |
| 138 | ** Ditto in both directions. [[spoiler:Though Nate/Jason ends up turning this into a SubvertedTrope, especially when in "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain Soul Train]]", he is revealed to be Tom Neville's son.]] |
| 139 | * ''Series/RobinHood'': [[TheScrappy Kate]] was introduced into the show as a ReplacementScrappy for Marian, a ReplacementGoldfish for Robin, and the DesignatedVictim to the outlaws. She has little in the way of personality, does virtually nothing but pursue Robin, and is utterly superfluous to the plot. At the end of the series, Robin is killed off to be [[TogetherInDeath reunited with Marian]] and the writers immediately start pushing Kate toward ''Robin's'' ReplacementScrappy, his half-brother Archer. Oy. |
| 140 | * ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': |
| 141 | ** Rodney [=McKay=], ''repeatedly'', in the last two seasons. The first major girlfriend, Katie Brown, was a drippy botanist with whom he had nothing in common whatsoever, and the second was Jennifer Keller, who had previously [[FanPreferredCouple seemed to have a nice thing going on with Ronon]]. This [[ExecutiveMeddling may]] have had something to do with the fact that the most popular ship in the entire fandom was [[HoYay McKay/Sheppard]]. In the episode "The Shrine", after all of one episode of any serious interaction, he's [[DyingDeclarationOfLove declaring]] his love for Keller in a video recording. |
| 142 | ** Keller and Ronon also had shades of this, though. One of the few times they spent any time together ("First Contact"/"The Lost Tribe"), they spend the whole time demonstrating that they have absolutely nothing in common and don't really understand each other. Ronon still asks her out at the end of the episode, though, but she turns him down for Rodney. |
| 143 | * ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax in the eyes of many fans. They get pushed together rather hastily at the end of the series after most of the season focused on Ezri's relationship with Worf. Bashir and Ezri haven't interacted that much one-on-one and their actors don't have much chemistry. Ezri's "reasoning" for being interested in Bashir seems to be based mostly on finding him pretty and seeing him in a dream, but she mocks his hobbies with Worf. And yet they don't just sleep together, but confess that they're passionately in love with each other out of nowhere. Even many who don't hate the relationship think it would've made more sense to have them just hook up ([[GladToBeAliveSex as is common at the end of a long, brutal war]]) without over-the-top feelings declarations. The fact that Bashir had feelings for Ezri's symbiote's previous host, Jadzia - the thing that doomed her relationship with Worf, Jadzia's husband - also adds the ugly subtext of Ezri being a ReplacementGoldfish for Jadzia, which pissed off fans of both characters. |
| 144 | * ''Series/WhiteCollar'': Kate in season one. It would have been nice to see the one woman who made Neal Caffrey want to commit; unfortunately, Kate is not given a personality, motivation, or even charm. With no material to work with, the role was also tragically miscast with an actress who seems too sweet. In short, she's far too bland to pull off the unforgettable OneTrueLove that Neal keeps saying she is. We finally get to see them together in the season two [[WholeEpisodeFlashback Flashback Episode]] "Forging Bonds"; whether this made the relationship more convincing is up to the individual viewer. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 148 | * In ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', Tamino falls in love with Pamina from seeing a photo and embarks on a supposedly dangerous adventure to rescue her. Pamina falls in love with Tamino basically because she heard that he loved her and was coming to rescue her. She's even heartbroken when he doesn't talk to her. |
| 149 | * In ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'', it's implied that she seduces Don José mostly to make him release her from custody, which leads to him being taken to jail for a while. The day he's out of jail, when Carmen's friends ask her why she won't go to the smuggling business with them, she replies that she's madly in love with Don José and wants to stay to wait for him. Earlier in that scene, she rejected the superstar bullfighter Escamillo claiming that her heart was taken, implying that she had been staying "faithful" to him. Nothing in the libretto indicates what made Carmen fall in love with Don José in such a way. |
| 150 | * At the end of ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure'', the Duke announced that he was going to marry Isabella. Not only did they never show any interest in each other before that point, but Isabella's dearest wish was to become a nun. Also, for most of the play, she thought he was a Friar and thus sworn to celibacy. |
| 151 | * Averted in ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'' and called out by Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw in his ShipSinking epilogue: |
| 152 | -->The rest of the story need not be shown in action, and indeed, would hardly need telling if our imaginations were not so enfeebled by their lazy dependence on the ready-mades and reach-me-downs of the ragshop in which Romance keeps its stock of "happy endings" to misfit all stories. Now, the history of Eliza Doolittle, though called a romance because of the transfiguration it records seems exceedingly improbable, is common enough. Such transfigurations have been achieved by hundreds of resolutely ambitious young women since Nell Gwynne set them the example by playing queens and fascinating kings in the theatre in which she began by selling oranges. Nevertheless, [[{{Fanon}} people in all directions have assumed]], for no other reason than that she became the heroine of a romance, that she must have married the hero of it. This is unbearable, not only because her little drama, if acted on such a thoughtless assumption, must be spoiled, but because [[WordOfGod the true sequel]] is patent to anyone with a sense of human nature in general, and of feminine instinct in particular. |
| 153 | * Lampshaded by Friar Lawrence in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' as Romeo falling for Juliet to the point of wanting to marry her so soon after breaking up with Rosaline. "Young men's love lies not in their hearts but in their eyes." |
| 154 | * Common legend has it that during Puccini's writing of ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'', he supposedly abandoned it before the end because he was unable to justify Calaf being in love with the psychotic, man-hating ice queen Turandot when the pure-hearted slave girl, Liu, had remained loyal to him for so long. He had apparently wanted Calaf to fall in love with and marry Liu, whereas the libretto (as well as the story the libretto was based on) had Liu tortured to suicide, after which Calaf then marries Turandot. After his death, the opera was eventually completed by composer Franco Alfano. However, this is demonstrably false, as the real reason it was never finished was that Puccini had laryngeal cancer and [[DiedDuringProduction died before he could finish]]. That this legend lives on shows how most people think of the story's couple, and it has been famously criticized by scholars for the rushed attempt to pair Calaf and Turandot. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 158 | * The Talia-Batman romance of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' suffers from this. Their past together is not elaborated upon, the only mention being that they spent ''one'' night together years ago. They are constantly at odds with each other, neither can stand the way the other deals with criminals, and they don't even interact with each other that much... yet her death is shown to be a major DespairEventHorizon for Batman, and [[spoiler: Joker's ghost and/[[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or]]]] Batman's subconscious brings it up several times in the sequel. It can be argued that Batman has a better romance arc with ''Joker'' than with Talia who is meant to be his one true love. It is weirdly zig-zagged. At one point, MissionControl has to cut off Batman's access to Talia's tracker to make him stop chasing her and instead deal with the villains destroying the City. On the other hand, [[spoiler: after Talia is murdered by the Joker, who then dies of his disease, Batman leaves the building cradling the Joker's body]]. |
| 159 | * ''Videogame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'': This game introduced the ability to recruit and switch between [[TheHero Trevor Belmont]] and three other characters: Sypha Belnades, Grant Danasty, and Alucard. None of the characters share any dialogue except normal greetings when being recruited, and said recruitment is optional. When recruited, Sypha is misgendered as "him" (in the English version), which led to a ''lot'' of head-scratching confusion when [[SamusIsAGirl Sypha is revealed as a woman]] at the end and Trevor places a romantic arm around her. There is absolutely nothing in the game that suggested they were a couple. |
| 160 | * Serge and Kid of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. The player can have Serge treat Kid like crap, ignore her at every turn, leave her to die a slow death by poison, stab her in the chest, apparently use and manipulate her and then kill her '''again''', and finally leave her in a coma reliving the single most traumatic day of her life, and she'll still be in love with a man she barely knows who already has a girlfriend. Her only mandatory interactions with Serge come from the manipulations of another character. Yet even after the ending of the game apparently presses the ResetButton on the entire series of events, she's apparently so in love with Serge that she will promise to find him and the game completely ignores the fact that, again, ''he already has a girlfriend''. The game treats this as a cherished romance and there's even concept art depicting a married Serge and Kid. Bet there's going to be some really awkward stories to tell the children... |
| 161 | * ''VideoGame/DeadRising3'': Nick and Annie's entire relationship appears to consist of Nick rescuing Annie and then asking her if she's alright. They don't share any scenes together or have any shared interests, it's just Nick being awkward around her and then rescuing the damsel. During the boss fight against Red, the game suddenly introduces a love triangle when the pair argue over Annie, with Red saying "I knew you were eyeing my girl!" and Nick saying "Annie is way too good for you, you bastard!". |
| 162 | * ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'': The relationship between Markus and North can easily fall into this. North is a very gung-ho android, set on ''forcing'' the humans to take androids seriously and will complain if the player chooses for Markus' android revolution to be done peacefully. Her [[RelationshipValues relationship]] with Markus can fluctuate a lot for most of the game until one scene that gives the player the option to leave or stay and ask about North's past. Choosing the latter will always result in North and Markus becoming lovers. Even if the player has been nothing but antagonistic towards North's way of doing things and getting her relationship status with Markus decreased to dislike or even hostile, it will instantly jump up to lovers for knowing about her past. |
| 163 | * Justified in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga''. MysteriousWaif Sera latches on to HeroicMime Serph, and HotBlooded Heat has an obsession with Sera, who does not reciprocate. It seems shallow, since Serph shows no personality, and Sera barely talks to Heat... until the WhamEpisode. [[spoiler:Serph and Heat are AIs that Sera designed for her ideal world. Serph was based on someone she had a crush on, and Heat was based on someone she thought had a crush on her.]] |
| 164 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' gives you the choice of two heroines, three on the DS remake, but the game [[ImpliedLoveInterest greatly]] [[StoryBranchFavoritism favors]] [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Bianca]]. That said, the other girls aren't that much more developed either, but at least the game doesn't shove them on your face. |
| 165 | * Polka and Allegretto of ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'' have very little chemistry together. Over the course of the game, Polka spends more time (and has more chemistry) with Chopin. But since he's a) old enough to be her father, and b) dying, they shove her together with Allegretto at the end. |
| 166 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 167 | ** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVII'': Cid's treatment of Shera is supposed to be unpleasant, and Cloud as well as whichever party members you bring to the scene are all shown to side with Shera over him. But since Cid was supposed to be a sympathetic character, it was intended as his colleague Shera [[LoveMartyr enduring his attitude]] and him being a rude grump but [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther caring about her really]]. Many players feel it crossed the line into DomesticAbuse; Shera appears to live with him, doesn't leave his house, [[YouGetMeCoffee makes him tea]] and is always apologising to him, and feels she is repenting for ruining his life; Cid is incredulous at the suggestion that Shera is romantically involved with him and casually dismissive of her feelings. They make up in the game, but a lot of fans were very upset when they were revealed to have got married in ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', citing RomanticizedAbuse. |
| 168 | * In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', a major part of Palla's character in all her appearances is meant to be [[UnrequitedLoveLastsForever her tragically doomed love for Abel]], despite the fact that he only has eyes for her sister. The thing is, scour the entire series across Palla's appearances in six different games, and you'll quickly realize that she and Abel have never canonically spoken to each other. In the early games, this was excusable, since many characters had very little dialogue or characterization, but even in the remakes, which added a lot of additional dialogue in the main campaign, along with support conversations that allowed characters to speak with each other between battles, they ''still'' don't have any way to talk to each other. It's not like Palla doesn't get conversations in those games; in both, she can talk to her sisters and Minerva, but not Abel. Even when Palla brings up her feelings with other characters, she focuses mostly on her angst rather than why she likes him; as far as the player can tell, Palla loves Abel because... she just does. |
| 169 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': While it's clear Rafiel was recued by Nailah and the two have at least ''some'' strong bond, fans were very surprised when the two appeared as a bridal duo unit in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' that confirmed they were an OfficialCouple, and always had been. There was little hinting at this relationship in ''Radiant Dawn'' itself, and Nailah had a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything VERY suggestive optional conversation with Tibarn]] at one point. |
| 170 | * The ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' games have Marcus and Anya, who have so little chemistry it hurts. They barely interact, and when they do, there's nothing particularly romantic about it. It doesn't help that the games tend to be light on the characterisation side, making these two's romance just awkward every time it appears. In the games, Anya has very little personality beyond being a caring person, while Marcus is the typical aggressive screaming soldier (he may even be the new poster boy). While this can be justified by the fact that there is a world-ending conflict going on, it doesn't change that we're supposed to swallow that these two apparently love each other. |
| 171 | * Matilda's husband, Valentin, in ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' doesn't do or say a whole lot, and not much effort is given to develop his personality or build any chemistry between him and Matilda. He seems to exist mainly to prematurely [[ShipSinking sink any ships involving Matilda]] (like Thorve or Drakovic). |
| 172 | * ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' has this with Casavir, who, if you're female, will ''always'' try to confess his love to you in the final act, regardless of influence, race, alignment, or Charisma score, without much prior setup. Cut content might be to blame for this one, but it's still rather baffling if he (a paladin) has seen you (a blackguard) murder other party members and bargain with devils. |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'': |
| 174 | ** In the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] version, the page quote comes from [[LastMinuteHookup the very last scene]]. The only onscreen interaction between Ryu and Irene goes like this: she shoots him with a tranquilizer in the first mission, frees him and gives him the MacGuffin in the second level, and [[DamselInDistress gets kidnapped offscreen]] at some point before the fifth level, forcing Ryu to choose to save her life during a SadisticChoice. And... ''that's it''. The quote above is the first time any romantic affection or the prospect of a relationship is ever brought up. |
| 175 | ** ''The Ancient Ship of Doom'' [[AnachronicOrder and]] ''The Dark Sword of Chaos'' are a little bit better about fleshing out their relationship, but then Irene [[PutOnABus disappears for a long time]], with only a small mention in Ryu's ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' profile ([[InconsistentSpelling as "Aileen"]]) confirming that they're HappilyMarried. |
| 176 | ** ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' and ''Ninja Gaiden 3: [[UpdatedRerelease Razor's Edge]]'' retroactively reveal that [[spoiler:Sonia from ''Ninja Gaiden II'' of the Team Ninja series is another alias for Irene and even then, the nature of their relationship is kept deliberately vague despite [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Hayate and Ayane believing something to be going on between them]].]] |
| 177 | * While most couples in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations]]'' are clearly shown to care for each other, Mia and Diego is an exception. Diego being Mia's boyfriend is literally the first thing we learn about him and it provides Mia with motivation to hunt Dahlia and [[spoiler:for Diego (as Godot) to hate Phoenix for being unable to save her two games earlier]], but when we see them actually interacting with each other they don't seem any closer than co-workers, aside from Diego using an AffectionateNickname. This may be more due to the Japanese view on romance, where public affection is frowned upon, than an actual lack of romance, however. |
| 178 | * The ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series, despite every game having multiple potential marriage candidates, seems to invoke this as something (usually the intro video) shows the protagonist with the first female character you could meet in the game more often than any other. ''Rune Factory 4'' is the only real exception. |
| 179 | * In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', the Heroine is shoved into the {{Love Interest|s}} slot essentially by default, due to a HeroicMime and a general lack of dialogue in the game. Tellingly, the character most focused on the apparent relationship between the Hero and Heroine is actually Yuriko, the Hero's StalkerWithACrush, who attempts to MurderTheHypotenuse before your relationship is even really implied. |
| 180 | * ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'': |
| 181 | ** Asbel and Cheria in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''. The game very obviously treats them as the intended pairing, multiple characters comment about "how cute they would be together" (sometimes teasing, sometimes not), and a major part of Cheria's character is her feelings for Asbel. The problem is that both characters come across as only being a pairing because the plot says so, because they don't really interact [[TrappedByMountainLions beyond a pointless kidnapping mini-arc]] that seemingly "resolves it", and the rest of the game is focused more so on everyone's relationship with Sophie and Richard. Furthermore, Asbel is ObliviousToLove, so he doesn't notice Cheria's feelings, and Cheria is a bit of a {{Tsundere}} about it, and initially won't tell Asbel because her frustrations towards his lack of awareness that she has feelings for him. If not for the ending of the game making it clear they do eventually get together (given the child that is just Asbel with Cheria's eye color), it can seem like the two are only a "love interest" because the game says they are. It took a UpdatedRerelease to lay some actual foundations for their relationship, but then people were annoyed because the re-release part added ''so much obvious supertext'' between Asbel and Cheria that it failed to remove the feeling of them being [[StrangledByTheRedString shoved together at the last minute]], when the two ''still'' don't outright admit their feelings, which didn't really resolve the issues. |
| 182 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'': The official couple of Jude and Milla lack chemistry, often coming off as indifferent towards each other. The English dub made this worse due to the voice actors also lacking chemistry and the [[LostInTranslation loss of romantic dialogue]] through the dubbing process. Adding the many other sources of ShipTease in the game meant that many fans were not persuaded the couple was meant to be more than friends. The sequel is more blatant about teasing the pair, but that led to complaints about this teasing leading to a RomanticPlotTumor. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 186 | * Beth and Fisk from ''Webcomic/BetterDays'' fall into this. Never do we see the characters discussing their hopes, dreams, or fears together. They become sex friends about a day after they meet with little provocation. Then while Fisk is serving his time in the military, Beth somehow falls deeper in love with him during his absence. Even though she is actively dating two other men who are more financially secure, physically and emotionally available to her than Fisk is. If they aren't having sex then they are talking to each other in bed right after sex but it's never about anything important. Sans one time when Beth desperately wants Fisk to live with her, these two characters never express how much they supposedly mean to each other and the reader is supposed to assume that their relationship is deeper than just their sex drive. She does eventually give up on him and settled down with her boyfriend Aron instead, so this could arguably be a {{deconstruction}} of the whole concept. |
| 187 | * ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'' featured longtime character Rhonda getting PutOnABus by marrying her online boyfriend, who was first mentioned and introduced in the strip merely days before this event took place. Up until that point, Rhonda had been dating Edgar since high school and the previous year had even featured a story arc where Edgar humiliated himself trying to learn how to hunt to show that he cared more about Rhonda's acceptance than his own species'. The previous plotline had taken several weeks to resolve, while Rhonda's marriage and subsequent disappearance from the strip happened over only one week. On top of that, ''[[YoyoPlotPoint this led to another plotline with Edgar learning how to hunt to get Rhonda back]]''. |
| 188 | * Name a pairing from ''Webcomic/{{Sonichu}}''. Virtually everyone in the series [[PairTheSpares paired off]] with very little reasoning. Sonichu fell in love with Rosechu after meeting for a few seconds. Bubbles fell for Blake for some unknown reason. Everyone else? ''Paired off in mandatory dating classes''! |
| 189 | * ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'' [[http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/they-probably-have-to-look-up-their-mutual-facebook-friends-to-remember-how-they-know-her parodies]] Jules from ''Film/PacificRimUprising'', who's an ImpliedLoveInterest to Jake and Nate despite [[FlatCharacter lacking any characterization]] or relationship with them. |
| 190 | -->'''Jake:''' Do you have any idea who that person is? |
| 191 | * ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfSpyroZonoyasRevenge'': |
| 192 | ** Ember settles for Flame when Cynder beats her for Spyro's love and the two are rarely seen alone together, only to do things like calling each other fat and Flame implying that Cynder is better looking than Ember. |
| 193 | ** Zonoya and Rapture. She treats him like a rebound at best and like crap at worst, continuing to mourn Malefor after apparently realizing Rapture loved her. We also don't know why exactly Rapture loves Zonoya to begin with. |
| 194 | ** Sparx and Layla, as most of their interactions revolve around Sparx's temptation to eat her. |
| 195 | [[/folder]] |
| 196 | |
| 197 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 198 | * ''Franchise/Ben10'': |
| 199 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': Gwen and Kevin -- the ship was dropped on the viewer with absolutely no set-up, no basis, no rationality in the very first episode. Kevin almost wrecking his precious car to tell Ben not to be rude to Gwen could be attributed to BadassDecay, but "I'll follow you anywhere"? Were the writers afraid that if they took the time for some actual development, the show might be canceled before their new favorite couple actually got together? Made worse when put in context with Kevin's previous characterization. When last we'd seen him back in [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 the original series]], he considered the fact that his plans would have a massive body count a ''fringe benefit''. So him suddenly returning as a protagonist willingly working with the heroes seemed wildly out of character. And even if you accept that a person can change a lot after years in the PhantomZone, the idea of Gwen, who last saw Kevin working with Vilgax to try and kill her and Ben, having the same immediate affection for him is pretty far-fetched. As time and CharacterDevelopment passed, their relationship became more believable and widely-liked in the fandom, but their LoveAtFirstSight upon being reunited remains jarring. |
| 200 | ** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': The relationship between Ben and his official love interest, Kai, wasn't handled much better. Kai only appeared ''once'' in the original series, and that appearance ended with her essentially breaking Ben's heart. When they meet up again in ''Omniverse'', despite having not seen each other for six years, they ''immediately'' start up a SlapSlapKiss dynamic that is way more Slap than Kiss. Pretty much the only reason we're given to believe that they're destined to be together is that [[spoiler:they need to get married and reproduce so that Spanner can exist]], and even ''that'' excuse seems flimsy since the show operates on TheMultiverse, so [[spoiler:Spanner could be from the future of one of ''many'' alternate realities instead]]. It's apparent that the ''Ominiverse'' showrunners were reliant on the questionably-canon idea that Kai was the mother of Ben's future son Ken in the original series episode "Ken 10"...even though that amounted to the writers having suggested her as a possible mother simply because she was the only girl yet introduced who was Ben's age and [[KissingCousins not his cousin]]. |
| 201 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaucers}}'' had Teryx admit her feelings to Ichy. However, she'd never shown any interest in him previously, Ichy didn't seem at all interested in her, when she was kidnapped by Genghis Rex [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe to force her to marry him]], Ichy was not the one who rescued her, and the relationship was barely even touched upon afterwards. Although, a lot of that may be blamed on StatusQuoIsGod. |
| 202 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Brian and Lois. Before the series amplified their character traits, Brian only seemed to be interested in Lois because she's nice and caring, which isn't really going above and beyond a stereotypical housewife and matriarch. Outside their relationship as dog and owner, the two don't really have enough depth to show how they could work as a couple and the primary argument that Brian has when it comes to being in a relationship with Lois is that Peter doesn't appreciate her enough and she can do better with Brian. The series rarely shows her and Brian bonding over any shared interests or showing how Lois is still attracted to Peter despite Brian's efforts. In later seasons, the crush has devolved into just sexual attraction as Brian openly lusts for Lois and admits that he just wants to have sex with her, not date her. |
| 203 | * From ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': |
| 204 | ** Elisa and Goliath could be considered this [[SeasonalRot in season three]]. The ''build-up'' went well for two seasons, culminating in a kiss in the second season finale and a date in the third season premiere (well, a planned date that got aborted by attempted murder, anyway). After that, any overt romance disappears, save for an AllJustADream episode where they're married. In this case, the problem was ExecutiveMeddling -- the creator, Creator/GregWeisman, had been booted from the show, and as a result, every episode after the premiere is CanonDiscontinuity; the comic book PostScriptSeason that replaces it does, in fact, deal with the implications of their hook-up. |
| 205 | ** Also, Angela and Broadway. They have a single moment of sexual tension near the end of season two, a result of their bodies having been possessed by the spirits of OfficialCouple Coldfire and Coldstone. In the season three premiere, later reenacted in the comic book, they share a kiss out of nowhere, a hugely significant event as gargoyles mate for life. In neither continuity do they share a single additional romantic moment, the only contribution their relationship makes to the comics' plot is the two of them often standing near each other so that the perpetually single Brooklyn can glare at them jealously. |
| 206 | * ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Storyboard artists found Charlie and Vaggie's dynamic to be written so tenderly during production of [[Recap/HazbinHotelS1E0ThatsEntertainment the pilot episode]] that they assumed the duo were dating, so creator Creator/VivienneMedrano decided to [[ThrowItIn just go with it]]. The last minute nature of this change can be felt in audience reactions to said pilot episode, as any romantic elements to their relationship are so subtle that many first-time viewers assume the two are just close friends. |
| 207 | * ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Quite a few viewers felt that Jack and Ashi's relationship, especially at the beginning, came off as closer to father/daughter or mentor/apprentice than anything romantic. Even those who were fine with the idea of the dynamic becoming romantic felt it wasn't a very satisfying story. |
| 208 | * Over time Stan and Wendy from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' devolved into this; initially Stan had a crush on Wendy and the reason they couldn't get together was because he threw up in her face every time they got in a romantic moment. However Stan would get over this and they did get together, but very little of their relationship was shown on-screen until they broke up, which Stan was really upset about for an episode. Later they did get back together, which didn't really change much for them, since it still would mostly happen offscreen and the rare time it was brought up it wasn't important to the ongoings of the episode. Wendy's declining screentime on the show really didn't help in that regard, as well as the fact that most Stan and Wendy's stories usually don't involve the other in some way. When the girls did a LysistrataGambit in season 20 they broke up ''again''; seemingly for good. It really comes off as the two only are together because one of them is the main male lead and the other is the female lead and little else. |
| 209 | * Some of the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' romances fell into this trope. |
| 210 | ** Tim Drake and Cassie Sandsmark barely interact with each other and are given almost nothing to do in the second season, but by the end of that season, they're a couple. It seems to have only happened because they were together in the comics at the time. What's odd is that they're still dating in season three, but ''still'' barely interact. They're implied to be having off-screen relationship issues due to winding up on different sides of the superheroes' split, but all that we see is them interacting with their respective set of allies. |
| 211 | ** Also, Lagoon Boy and Miss Martian. They get together in the time skip, but we never really see anything beyond her kissing him a few times. The relationship mostly exists to cause tension between the two and Superboy. |
| 212 | [[/folder]] |
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