God, it must be rough being pushed aside in favour of a child.
Often played for either comedic or dramatic reveal, this trope plays on audience expectations on two characters' feelings. The main character reunites with a side character, with said character either singing praises or holding their arms open as they run towards the protagonist, only for the side character to run past them and hug or praise someone who was standing behind them. If used in a romantic setting, it's often used to illustrate that the protagonist was deluded in their endeavours, occasionally followed by a Flashback-Montage Realization where it reveals that the person the love interest had feelings for was always with the protagonist in each of those scenes but positioned so out-of-the-way that neither the protagonist, nor the audience, knew that they were there.
Can also be used non-romantically, with the protagonist generally mistaking another character's praise as being directed towards them, with the praised character often achieving something so comically lesser than the protagonist that it makes no sense why they're receiving the praise and not the protagonist. Can also be used to give general comfort and affection, such as if someone in the main lineup dies, though if mishandled can lead to the audience considering this either an Out-of-Character Moment or full-on Character Derailment.
Variations of the trope's structure are if a side character was walked past and the recipient of affection was actually the main protagonist, or if the main protagonist walks past a side character in favour of a different side character. An inversion of the trope is if the character believes they are about to be chewed out or heckled by someone, only for the heckling to be directed to someone else. Romantic subversions of the trope focus around the love interest still preferring the main character, but just wanted to congratulate the side character, often leading to the romantic development taking a setback or, if the two are already dating, a complete misreading of the situation.
Can itself be considered a subversion or parody of the Meadow Run should the setting line up. Can also be combined with Sorry, I'm Gay if the love interest and the walked-to character are of the same sex and the walked-past character is of the opposite, or Obsessed with Food if the character was walked past so they can eat from a plate of food behind them. Compare with Bait-and-Switch Sentiment.
Examples:
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Advertising
- In the final Long Long Man commercial, the Long Long Man shows up to Chi and Tooru's wedding. When he starts giving a Love Confession, Chi immediately assumes that it's directed toward her, and dumps Tooru at the altar... only for the Long Long Man to walk past her and go for Tooru.
Anime & Manga
- Bakugan: A very hilarious moment in "Reunion" of New Vestroia. Dan reunites with Runo, and they appear to have a romantic moment. Dan welcomes her with open arms, only for Runo to grab Tigrrera right off his shoulder and start gushing over her, leaving Dan broken and wanting no mention of this moment ever. Drago's line on the subject is hilarious.
Drago: What can I say? Ladies love the Bakugan.
- In the second season of Code Geass, after the imprisoned Black Knights get freed, a tearful Kallen runs toward them with Shinichirō running towards her just for her to hug Ohgi instead, leaving Shinichirō to spin around and fall.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stone Ocean: At one point, Anasui deliberately tries to perform a Rescue Hug on Jolyne by asking F.F. to trip her. Just as she's about to land in his arms, Jolyne immediately swings over to the prisoner holding DIO's bone.
- JoJolion: After a long, hard fight with an enemy Stand user, Yasuho is relieved to see her crush Josuke had survived his own ordeals. She reaches out for a hug, though Josuke walks past her in favour of talking to Tsurugi, a literal child. Justified, considering Yasuho's face was bandaged to the point where Josuke didn't recognise her, and only once he realized who she was did he hug her.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: During the culture festival, Kaguya is expecting Fujiwara will ruin a romantic moment between her and Shirogane like she usually does, only for Fujiwara to walk straight past her because she was so busy trying to solve the mystery of the balloon thief that she didn't even notice them.
- Pokémon: The Original Series:
- In "Go West, Young Meowth", Meowth defeats the leader of the Persian gang in battle. Meowzie (his unrequited crush) runs towards them, and Meowth expects her to give him a hug, but she approaches Persian instead, as she felt grateful that he took her in when nobody else would.
- In "A Tent Situation", Ash and his friends have come home, and as Ash's mom Delia sees them, she says "What a surprise...", and as Ash is about to hug her, she says "I'm so glad you're here, Pikachu!", leading Ash to fall down in exasperation.
- Sonic X: In "A Date to Forget", Amy is upset that Sonic forgot about a date they had planned. Sam invites her on a date with him instead to ease her frustrations. When Sonic finally shows up that evening, Amy runs towards him believing he's there for their date as planned. Instead, he sidesteps Amy for a planned race against Sam, with both guys leaving Amy stranded and shouting to the heavens that this is the worst date she's ever been on.
- The finale of Soul Eater shows Maka and her father running towards each other, only for Maka to run past him and into Marie's arms.
- Tenchi Muyo!: After Sasami revealed that she had "died" note Ayeka crouches down to give her sister a comforting hug. Sasami blows right past her and gloms into Tenchi, instead. Much to Ayeka's annoyance.
Asian Animation
- Bread Barbershop: In "Heavy Metal", the heavy metal band are sad that they don't have any fans cheering for them, only to notice there are some fangirls headed right for them... or so they think. They're actually headed for another pop band who happens to be right behind them.
- In episode 21 of Happy Heroes, after having been separated from Little M. for most of the episode, Big M. finds his corporal buddy walking up to him, or so the resulting "reunion sequence" would have you believe; Little M. is actually headed for an ice cream stand that happens to be nearby. Big M. angrily points out that he's right there, and he and Little M. have an actual reunion sequence... that lands them right above a construction site where they fall into some unstable ground.
Fan Works
- This
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess fancomic has Link asking the three main female characters for a hug... except no, he's talking to the cats behind them.
- Pokémpanions: In "The Easter Bunnelby", Flareon sees the Third-Degree Three at Sun Stone Square. Since they often bully Flareon, he winces in anticipation, but they ignore him and go directly toward the other kids so they can pick on them.
Film — Animated
- Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown: Sally, seeing Linus running up with the box of candy he got for Miss Othmar, assumes he's running up to her and puckers up, expecting to kiss him on the cheek. Linus proceeds to run right past her, chasing Miss Othmar out to the parking lot, with Sally thinking he must've missed her.
- ParaNorman: When the protagonists' van gets destroyed, Mitch practically starts bawling and runs towards Cortney, who assumes he's' worried about her safety—only to blow past her in favor of mourning his van (which she was standing in front of).
- Peter Pan: Near the beginning, Mr. Darling takes a bad fall after tripping on one of the children's toys, and his family gives a sympathetic "Awww". He smiles warmly at their reaction... only for them to run right past him and instead tend to Nana, the family dog. George, who had been fuming over being taken for granted, doesn't take it well.
Family: Poor Nana.
Mr. Darling: Poor Nana?! THAT'S THE LAST STRAW! - Inverted in Turning Red: In the aftermath of Mei nearly attacking Tyler at his birthday party while in her Panda form, she sees her mother Ming approaching her and anticipates a harsh scolding for lying to her. However, Ming marches right past her and instead chews out her friends for allegedly "corrupting" her, showing that she still sees her daughter as an innocent victim of manipulation.
Film — Live-Action
- Teen Wolf: Scott had spent most of the movie chasing after Pamela, who was only feigning interest in him to make her boyfriend jealous. After helping to win the championship basketball game without relying on his wolf powers, Pamela sets her sights on Scott more seriously. In the on-court celebration after the game, Scott simply brushes past Pamela without looking at her in order to embrace Boof, the girl who'd been pining for him for a long time.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: After Eddie rescues Roger and Jessica, she says "My hero." Eddie is then confused that instead of hugging him, she instead rushes over to Roger to smother him with kisses.
Live-Action TV
- Family Matters: It's treated as a Running Gag in one episode when Laura and Urkel are working at the local diner and Urkel burns the place down. Repeatedly, members of Laura's family come rushing over to embrace her as they realize she's safe, leaving Urkel standing with his arms outstretched in anticipation of a hug that never comes.
- Haven: Downplayed and Played for Drama in "301". Audrey is kidnapped and held hostage. When she becomes a Damsel out of Distress, she runs into Duke. She's is sure her kidnapper is still in the building, and is understandably freaking out. Duke begins to reassure her that she's safe when Nathan arrives a half second later and calls her name. Audrey immediately abandons Duke to run into Nathan's arms. It's an early and sure sign for Duke he's becoming the Hopeless Suitor in the Love Triangle that's been going on since the pilot.
- Mimpi Metropolitan: After waiting for her for so long in the studio, Bambang is happy that Melani seemingly greets him and returns the favor, only for Melani to walk past him and greet a co-worker who happens to be also named Bambang.
- One Piece (2023): When Nami is running out of Arlong Park towards the group, Sanji opens his arm to receive a hug... except Nami was running towards Zoro and Usopp instead, much to his annoyance.
- Saved by the Bell: In "Screech's Woman", Screech is pining for Lisa and he at one point decides to make his move. While he stands up with arms outstretched to hug her, so does she...only for her to welcome the hug of another boy, leaving poor Screech humiliated.
- When Russ Hanneman is introduced in Silicon Valley, Bachmann sees him as a kindred spirit and role model, since they share similar loud, ambitious, unapologetically self-involved personalities. It becomes a Running Gag that, every time Hanneman visits Pied Piper, he brushes past Bachmann to lavish (unwelcome) praise on Jared.
- Ted Lasso: After Jamie scores the go-ahead goal during AFC Richmond's FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur, Nate turns to Ted expecting a celebration embrace. Instead, Ted rushes past him to embrace Roy, because it was Roy's coaching that led to Jamie scoring the goal.
- Yes, Dear: At the beginning of "Walk Like a Man", Sammy gets frightened by a thunderstorm. Greg holds his arms out to Sammy to try to comfort him, but Sammy runs over to Jimmy instead, making him feel like an inadequate male role model.
Video Games
- Kirby's Dream Land 3 The intro scene to the Grass Land shows Kirby and Rick heading towards each other, with Kirby completely ignoring Rick in favor of Chuchu, the newer partner behind him, leaving Rick upset as the pair spin away on top of a parasol. This is a callback to Grass Land's intro scene in Kirby's Dream Land 2.
- LEGO Star Wars: When Rey and Chewbacca return to the resistance base after Han's death, Chewbacca sees Leia and hurries forward to comfort her, arms outstretched. Leia also runs forward, arms outstretched, but bypasses Chewbacca to comfort Rey. Chewbacca is visibly disgruntled, as Rey has only known Han for a few days, unlike Chewie and Leia who are two of Han's oldest friends.
- During the climax of NieR, the title character is finally reunited with Yonah in the Shadowlord's castle. He calls to her, and there's a wide shot of her stumbling towards his open arms... only for Yonah to sidestep Nier to instead embrace the Shadowlord because Nier's Yonah is currently possessed by the Shadowlord's Yonah.
- Tales from the Borderlands: In Episode 5, Sasha reunites with Rhys and Vaughn and gives one of them a hug. Depending on the player's decisions, she can just ignore Rhys, who was expecting a hug.
Web Comics
- NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: When Shine reunites with Roll and Gumiya in chapter 4, there's a panel showing Gumiya on the ground sticking his arms out to hug her as Shine has moved right passed him to beg Roll to unlock her door.
Western Animation
- Bluey: In "Mr. Monkeyjocks", when Bandit tells the children they've gone too far in treating Mr. Monkeyjocks special, Chilli enters the room and sounds as though she's sweet-talking Bandit. Chilli gets closer to Bandit, but she passes him by and is focusing on Mr. Monkeyjocks instead, whom Bandit finds out she's pretending to have married. (Mr. Monkeyjocks is a plush toy.)
- The Buzz on Maggie: In "Funball", Pupert tries to beat Aldrin at the titular game, and he makes the winning shot... in the other basket. Aldrin stands proudly, expecting his family to congratulate him on his victory, but to his chagrin, they run past him to congratulate Pupert for making the shot.
- Camp Lazlo: Inverted in "Camp Samson"; Samson weaponizes everyone's inability to notice him to raid Chef McMuesli's vault full of confiscated candy. As he approaches the vault, McMuesli bursts in to bust the candy thief... and he walks straight over Samson, instead accusing an ant of being the thief.
- CatDog: In the movie, when Catdog end up in a village of cohabitating cats and dogs, they see what seems to be a fellow Catdog in the center of the group and call out toward them, both pairs run towards each other calling out to each other expecting a reunion, only for the pair to run past Catdog, reveal themselves to be both a separate cat and dog, as well as reveal that they're the parents of Lube, making Lube part-cat.
- PAW Patrol: At the end of "Pups Save a Big Bone", after Cap'n Turbot has been saved, Francois excitedly runs in his direction. Cap'n Turbot thinks he was worried about him, but then Francois hugs a dinosaur bone instead (much to Turbot's annoyance).
- Happens twice to Angelica in Rugrats:
- In the episode "Family Reunion", Angelica lies to Tommy and tells him that family reunions are used for relatives to take other children, but starts believing in her own lie due to misinterpreted events. This culminates when sees a couple of her extended relatives running towards her and fears that they've come to take her away, but instead they run past her and to their own child.
- Happens again in "No More Cookies". In a flashback, Drew is teaching the toddler Angelica how to walk. She manages to start walking, then running, right past him and towards a plate of cookies Charlotte placed down.
- T.O.T.S.: Near the end of "Puppy Problems", JP seems excited to see Pip and Freddy and runs in their direction. Freddy opens his arms for a hug, only for JP to run up to Lucky (his new adopted son) instead.
Real Life
- During the making of Casino Royale (1967), a major rift between Orson Welles and Peter Sellers was partly caused by the arrival on set of Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Sellers had known her previously and greeted her to ensure all cast and crew noticed. However, the Princess walked straight past him and made a big fuss over Welles. Sellers stormed off the set and refused to film with Welles again.
