Basic Trope: The hero forgets about one of his fallen friends.
- Straight: Bob's best friend and sidekick, Frank, is killed by General Drake. By the time Bob and his new True Companions face off against Drake, Frank has been long forgotten and isn't even mentioned anymore.
- Exaggerated:
- Frank is killed by Drake, and Bob forgets about him the second he meets his new Lancer, Alice.
- Bob and the others make comments about what they've never seen before, etc. that could only really match up with their experience if Frank had never existed.
- Bob's wife, Francine, dies, and Bob immediately forgets that she ever existed.
- Bob forgets about the existence of everyone who dies. He doesn't even remember he had grandparents, though he was already an adult when they died.
- The very second Frank is killed by Drake, he's completely wiped from Bob's memory.
- Downplayed:
- Frank was Bob's casual acquaintance, and died many years ago. Bob mentions Frank's death exactly once as "something bad that happened a very long time ago". But when Bob fights Drake and goes on his Motive Rant, he still forgets about Frank.
- Bob forgets about Frank after he moves out of town.
- Justified:
- Bob is emotionally sensitive, and has a hard time coping with things other than battle and politics. Frank's death was hard to take, so Bob just pushed Frank out of his memory to cope. The rest of the True Companions decided it was best not to mention it, and eventually forgot about Frank from lack of mention.
- Bob considers his new best friend, Charles, to be superior to Frank.
- The circumstances of Frank's death led to him being subjected to a Ret-Gone.
- Frank had not been a part of the group long enough for the others to gain a significant bond with him.
- Frank's death does leave a massive hole in the group, but the situation at hand is so drastic that they have no time to grieve, mourn, or honor their fallen friend.
- It's an early indication of Bob's Alzheimer.
- Inverted:
- Frank's memory is a major motivating force for Bob.
- Frank was the first villain/General Drake.
- Bob is still mourning Frank 25 years after his death.
- Bob often brings up Frank during the show, clearly missing him after all these years, but viewers don't get to know who the hell he was.
- Subverted:
- When they face off with Drake, Bob launches into an "And This Is for..." speech.
- Bob only forgot Frank because of amnesia-inducing drugs.
- It looks like Bob completely forgot about Frank, except he wears Frank's scarf all the time.
- Double Subverted:
- Bob's speech doesn't mention Frank.
- A Peggy Sue reveals that Bob would have forgotten Frank without the drugs.
- Bob can't remember that his scarf was Frank's.
- Parodied:
- Frank is successfully resuscitated by a medic after having been clinically dead for a brief moment, but Bob acts as though he suddenly has no idea who Frank is any more and treats him as an Un-person, much to the confusion of Frank and everyone else.
- Frank turns out to still be alive, and...Alice: So that's why you didn't mention him when you were listing all our fallen allies!
Bob: Uh... yeah. Yeah, that's it.
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob forgets Frank while the rest of the group remembers.
- Bob kills Drake with no mention of Frank. Ten episodes later, he says that he's going to buy vanilla ice cream because that was Frank's favorite flavor.
- Averted:
- All deaths are remembered and mourned for an appropriate length of time.
- No one (close to Bob) dies.
- Enforced:
- The execs decide having Bob spend time brooding over Frank's death would get in the way of the plot and order the creator to have Bob get over it quickly, even if it means Frank is rarely, if ever, mentioned again.
- Frank is killed off after the actor who plays him quits in the middle of filming. The script is hurriedly re-written to include his death and to remove him from scenes which take place later in the story, but no scenes dealing with how his death affects his friends in the long term are added because there is no time to shoot them.
- Lampshaded:
- "I wish I had a dead friend, then I could be all dark and edgy like you!" "You do. His name was Frank. You loved him dearly."
- Also, when saying the "And This Is for..." speech, Bob could also say, "Did I forget anyone important?"
- Invoked: Bob is devastated by Frank's death, so he pretends he doesn't remember Frank to try and actually forget.
- Exploited: Bob is brought out of a Heroic BSoD by his allies through mention of the fallen friend to remind him what he's fighting for.
- Defied: Bob keeps a memento of Frank on his person at all times to avoid this, and how he copes with the loss is a cornerstone of his Character Development.
- Discussed:
- "And This Is for... my Mom and Dad; my sister Bertha; my friends Terrance, Greg, Miriam, Vincent, and Helen; my neighbors Lorna, Nathan, Stephen, Emily, Charles, Giselle, and Diane; and everyone from that village General Drake destroyed. Did I forget anyone important? Like maybe a friend I can't remember?"
- "What? You think I've forgotten about my own best friend? If I had, there's no way I would be able to keep fighting."
- Conversed: "If life were like these stories, no one would ever have to cope with death."
- Implied: Frank dies in the background of a scene, and no one mentions him again.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Bob forgetting about Frank is a sign of Motive Decay; the endless fighting wears down on Bob so much that he eventually can't even remember what he was fighting for in the first place, as part of a running theme of the horrors of war.
- Deconstructed: The stress of losing someone so dear lead Bob to use coping mechanisms that minimize or erase Frank from his memory. This eventually leads to a full psychotic break when the villain taunts him about purposely forgetting Frank.
- Reconstructed: Bob purposely makes "busywork" or immerses himself in the adventure to forget Frank, but ultimately realizes that doing that is hurting him and disrespecting Frank. While he can't forever mourn the dead, ignoring they died won't help him heal.
- Played For Laughs: Frank was a needy friend who consumed most of Bob's time. When Frank dies, the other characters celebrate behind Bob's back.
- Played For Drama:
- Evil Overlord Claire lectures Bob on how they're the same because he too forgets the "little people" in his quest for glory.
- Bob's forgetting of Frank foreshadows a Played for Drama case of Scatterbrained Senior.
"Hey Friend!" "Hehhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrggggg" "FRIEND!!!!! Oh, hi Forgotten Fallen Friend, why was I just yelling?"
