Basic Trope: The Token Minority falls in love with someone who "just so happens" to be that same type/kind of minority as well.
- Straight: Alicia is the token black girl in the Four-Girl Ensemble and meets Robert, who's funny, smart, handsome, and is black himself.
- Exaggerated:
- The Four-Girl Ensemble meet their Spear Counterpart quartet, who correspond to the girls' skintones, body types, and hair colors.
- Lookalike Lovers
- Downplayed:
- Many other minor characters besides Alicia and Robert are black.
- Alicia is in love with Diana, a WASP woman who happens to be the only other gay character in the show.
- Alicia is a black girl and dates Robert, a mixed-race guy.
- Justified:
- Alicia is only attracted to black men, and thus those are the only men she considers for relationships.
- They live in a society where interracial relationships are considered immoral.
- Alicia believes her race is superior and she refuses to start any interracial relationship.
- Inverted:
- Alicia and Robert are each in a relationship with a white person, instead of each other.
- None of the characters date people of their own races.
- Subverted: Alicia is friends with Robert, but ends up dating Carl, who's white.
- Double Subverted: But then she has an affair with Robert.
- Parodied: Robert is literally bused in from another town by Alice's friends so she can have someone to date.
- Zig Zagged:
- She has the affair with Robert or comes close, but realizes she truly loves Carl after all.
- A Betty and Veronica love triangle ensues between "acceptable-to-the-family" Robert and star-crossed lover Carl.
- Averted:
- There is more than one minority on the show, but there's no particular connection between them, and they don't solely date "matching" people.
- Alicia is the only one Token Minority character in the entire show, and she either be a Celibate Heroine or has a relationship with a non-minority guy.
- Enforced:
- It's The '60s or earlier, and Executive Meddling outright forbids anyone on the show from dating outside their race.
- It's now, but the executives are aware that Token Shipping is still the less controversial option and will probably get fewer and less rabid complaints.
- Lampshaded: Robert asks Alicia out, and she thinks about how he's the only black guy her age in the whole town.
- Invoked: Robert flat-out says, "We are the only black people in Orange County..."
- Exploited: The Dogged Nice Guy disguise himself as a black man to win Alicia's heart.
- Defied: Alicia replies, "You're an even bigger jackass if you think I'd date you for that reason alone."
- Discussed: Robert is a new student at Alicia's school, and one day the two of them talk about how everyone expects them to start dating.
- Conversed: Alicia is watching her favorite soap opera and is annoyed at how, out of all the men on the show, the black nurse is paired off with the black police officer even though they both have better chemistry with other characters that aren't black.
- Deconstructed:
- Alicia lives in a time and place where racism is prevalent and mixed marriage is frowned on, and her family are keen for her to marry Robert, although she secretly loves Carl. She's not very happy about it, and considers running away with Carl.
- Alicia and Robert have some mutual attraction, but everyone from their best friends to their own parents badger them to get together, frustrating them and blowing out any spark they might have had.
- Reconstructed: Alicia starts dating Carl, but soon realizes that she's only into him for the Forbidden Fruit; they have no personal chemistry to speak of. When she breaks up with him and talks it over with her family, they explain that they didn't just pick the first black guy they saw; they really think Robert is a good match. (Whether or not they get together is left ambiguous to lessen the inevitable
Unfortunate Implications of "So you see, kids, you should never marry out!") - Implied: Both of Alicia and Robert are Ambiguously Brown and they are often seen together with similar personalities/interests.
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