Two best friends have a fight and each person decides to look for a new best friend. They try to replace each other with their new friends, but soon realize it's not the same, and what they really need is each other. They then decide to be friends again. Their replacement friends might befriend each other as well.
See also On the Rebound, when a character jumps into another romantic relationship quickly after their last one ends and Replacement Goldfish.
Examples:
Comic Books
- In Runaways (Rainbow Rowell), after Klara declines to return to the Runaways, Molly tries to replace her with Abigail, who seems much cooler and smarter. This being a Runaways series, naturally Abigail turns out to be kind of evil, and they have a falling out.
Literature
- This occurs in the Judy Blume book Blubber. Main character Jill participates in the teasing of the heavyset Linda as led by Alpha Bitch Wendy. But when Jill realizes that Wendy has gone too far, she protests her cruelty and stands up for Linda. Wendy takes revenge by turning the whole class against Jill and declaring that Linda is her new best friend. This pattern continues throughout the novel, and by the end of the book, nearly everyone has traded best friends, but Jill manages to keep a true companion in Tracy, who has shown Undying Loyalty throughout the whole story.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: After a big fight between Greg and Rowley that ensues due to Greg waiting until after Rowley had already taken the fall for a mistake Greg himself had committed, they split and try to get themselves new best friends. Rowley manages to strike up a good friendship with a boy named Collin Lee, while Greg attempts (key word being 'attempts') to use local weird boy Fregley, only to end up bailing on the idea when Fregley proves to be more than he can handle. But eventually, after Greg manages to take the blame for 'eating the cheese' (something that Rowley had been forced into doing by a group of bullies that he and Greg had gotten on the bad side of during Halloween) so that Rowley's responsibility for it will never be found out, they become friends again.
- Ellen and Otis: In Ellen Tebbits, when Ellen and Austine stop being friends, Austine tries hanging out with Linda instead.
- In Just as Long as We're Together, after her falling out with Rachel, Stephanie became even nearer of Allison. Meanwhile, Rachel finds another friend.
Live Action TV
- Drake & Josh: In one episode, Josh ends up befriending a kid named Drew after Drake is unable to attend a magic show with him. Drew ends up spending more time with Josh than Drake can, so Drake gets jealous and finds his own new best friend in Jerry. The rest of the episode is Drake and Josh blatantly trying to replace the other and fight over their new friends, with it becoming increasingly obvious that Drew and Jerry are identical to Drake and Josh in almost every way. At the end, they hug it out, and Drew and Jerry end up happy too- getting chosen as the stars of a new Show Within a Show, Drew And Jerry.
- How I Met Your Mother: In season 3, after Ted and Barney fall out after Barney violated The Bro Code after sleeping with Ted's ex-girlfriend Robin, Barney goes on to find a rebound bro through Randy, which didn't work out in the long run, as Randy was a socially inept newbie who gets a nosebleed after getting an erection, and a terrible wingman. But being a good sport, Barney gives Randy a confidence boost and helpful advice on interacting with women regarding his nosebleed.
- JD and Turk from Scrubs get in an argument, which leads to JD declaring Hooch his new "chocolate bear". It doesn't end well, because Hooch is crazy.
- In the Vagrant Queen episode "Sunshine Express Yourself", Elida and Amae go their separate ways, as Elida doesn't want to rely on other people after the Wix fiasco and Amae is tired of dealing with the barriers that Elida keeps throwing up. Elida takes a solo job with a scavenger outfit, but soon gets lonely and finds that she misses having a team backing her up. Amae finds a new and very emotionally available companion who is very clearly into her, but realizes that she no longer finds easy companionship satisfying after having won Elida's trust once. In the end, the two women find their way back to each other, and Team Winnie rides again.
- In the What We Do in the Shadows (2019) episode "Collaboration", Nandor's old familiar Benjy returns after many years away, and Guillermo learns that Nandor had made Benjy the same deal Guillermo was offered - vampirism in return for ten years of service - but had cheated Benjy by erasing his memories and dumping him in a parking lot. Realizing that Nandor is never going to make him a vampire, Guillermo quits and pledges his fealty to Celeste, a new vampire who offers to turn him after less than a year. Nandor, incensed by the betrayal, takes Benjy back as a familiar to spite Guillermo. However, Benjy is too old and out of shape to keep up with Nandor's demands, and while Celeste is actually a good Mistress, she also turns out to be a fraud - she's actually a familiar pretending to be a vampire while her own Mistress is away - and her Mistress is pissed when she finds out about Celeste's activities, forcing Guillermo to flee. In the end, vampire and familiar are reunited, with Nandor promising to turn Guillermo into a vampire some day.
Western Animation
- Big Mouth: During the first few episodes of Season 4, Andrew and Nick go to summer camp while in the middle of a big fight. Nick gets excited to hang out with his camp friend Seth instead of Andrew, but when Seth meets Andrew, they realize how much they have in common, and Seth becomes Andrew's new best friend while Nick gets left out.
- In one episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy, Johnny gets into a fight with his seemingly inanimate best friend, Plank. The Eds spend the episode attempting to sell him another friend - ending with a meeting party they set up, in which Johnny goes insane trying to pick one, before finding Plank at the party and the two reconciling.
- Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own: In one episode, Roxie and Jade get fed up with having each other as roommates because their quirks don't line up. Roxie is talkative, hyper, and doesn't like doing things by herself; Jade is quiet, calm, and appreciates her privacy and autonomy. Roxie winds up rooming with a cat at the pet salon who is even more talkative than she is and doesn't give her an opening to speak or do anything else, while Jade moves in with a bear who's hibernating and therefore doesn't interact with her at all, making her realize how lonely she is. Of course they make up by the end of the episode.
- In the Animated Adaptation of Milly, Molly, the episode "Cubby House" has the titular girls stop being friends over an argument about the eponymous cubby house and so Milly tries hanging out with Alf and Molly with Humphrey, but Alf is too boring with his habit of counting ants and Humphrey isn't into the things Molly is into.
- Played with in Phineas and Ferb when Buford and Baljeet have a fight, so Buford has to get a new nerd to bully. He tries to get the new nerd to speak in Baljeet's Indian accent, but the kid can only do other accents, annoying Buford.
- Rugrats: In "Opposites Attract", Tommy and Chuckie worry that they're too dissimilar and so Tommy hangs out with a girl as brave as him (Samantha) and Chuckie with a boy as nervy as him (Freddie). Trouble is, Samantha doesn't look before she leaps (while Tommy's just as brave as her, he always thinks before taking action) and Freddie has a vivid imagination which makes him fear things so outlandish that even Chuckie thinks he's going too far (Chuckie, though famous for his cowardice, is also somewhat sensible and not afraid of everything under the sun), so Tommy and Chuckie become friends again, while Samantha makes friends with Freddie.
- The Simpsons: In "Brother from the Same Planet", Bart's final straw with Homer's neglect leads him to a program called "The Bigger Brothers", where he befriends a man named Tom. Meanwhile, Homer tries to do the same thing, being paired up with a destitute boy named Pepi.
- South Park: In "Professor Chaos", after Kenny dies from a disease, the boys have Butters be his replacement.
- In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", SpongeBob and Patrick break up and each try to replace the other with Squidward (who broke them up in the first place).
- Squirrel Boy: In "Best of Best Friends", Andy and Rodney have a fight and set apllications for finding a new best friend to replace each other with. After the applications, they both choose Oscar, causing them to fight over him. In the end, they overcome their anger and make up.
- Timon & Pumbaa: In "Kenya Be My Friend?", the two titular characters have a falling-out when Timon forgets Bestest Best Friend Day. When they go their separate ways, Pumbaa tries to befriend a meerkat with blonde hair named Monti, while Timon tries to befriend a blue warthog named Baampu. At first, Timon and Pumbaa seem to get along with their new friends, as Monti prefers to walk over riding on other animals, he rarely sleeps during the morning, and he dislikes telling others what to do, and Baampu doesn't celebrate Bestest Best Friend Day, but soon they find out their new friends' disadvantages. Monti has an extreme dislike for bugs and is intolerant of Pumbaa's gas, while Bampuu doesn't share Pumbaa's interest in stargazing. When Timon and Pumbaa reconcile near the end of the episode, Monti and Bampuu are surprised to see each other again, having spent years apart. In their haste to reestablish their friendship, they forget all about Timon and Pumbaa as they walk off into the grasslands together.
- We Bare Bears: In "Losing Ice," Ice Bear gets fed up with Grizz and Panda's ingratitude for his cooking and spends more time working as a sushi chef. They try to replace him with a meek fellow named Darryl, who gets upset when they try to make him pull off Ice Bear's martial arts and bear stacking prowess. When the bears realize they need to apologize, they actually start with Darryl, who even manages to join the bear stack and get to the airport to find Ice Bear. In later episodes Darryl is shown to have become one of the bros' best friends.
