History LoveTriangle / WesternAnimation

** [[ExtravertedNerd Cody]] likes [[PerkyGoth Gwen]] (B), who is pretty much destined from episode 1 to be with [[StraightMan Trent]] (C). Cody initially didn't realize this despite obvious clues, but decided to [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy help set them up]] when he finally did.

** While [[OutOfFocus not played up as much]], [[ButtMonkey Ezekiel]] (A) with his crush on [[GranolaGirl Bridgette]] (B) who's dating [[SurferDude Geoff]] (C).

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E5StoryForSteven Story for Steven]]" and "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E12WeNeedToTalk We Need to Talk]]", Pearl was in love with [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]], who was in love with Greg. Pearl was incredibly jealous, and tried to get Greg to give up pursuing Rose. Later, it becomes increasingly clear that [[{{Polyamory}} Rose was also in love with Pearl]], but that didn't keep Pearl from feeling like she was losing Rose to Greg.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the episode "Simple Ways", Rarity liked Trenderhoof, Trenderhoof liked Applejack, and Applejack was indifferent to him.

** [[ExtravertedNerd Cody]] (A) likes [[PerkyGoth Gwen]] (B), who is pretty much destined from episode 1 to be with [[StraightMan Trent]] (C). Cody initially didn't realize this despite obvious clues, but decided to [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy help set them up]] when he finally did.
** And again in season three, except (C) is [[TroubledButCute Duncan]] and Cody punches him in the face instead. Technically more of a square, though, since Duncan was already dating Courtney.

[[LoveTriangle Click here to return to the original page]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', "Gerald vs. Jamie O": A is Gerald, B is an older girl named Chloe, and C is Gerald's older brother, Jamie O. Helga/Arnold/Lila, Helga/Arnold/Ruth, and Brainy/Helga/Arnold. This show ''lives'' off of this trope.
** It was even parodied in the episode "Quantity Time" when Helga and Big Bob went to see a musical called RATS. The singers started this:
-->'''Male Rat #1:''' I love her\\
'''Female Rat:''' But I love him\\
'''Male Rat #2:''' [[HoYay And darn it, he loves me!]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has the bizarre LoveTriangle of [[AxeCrazy Saddam Hussein]]/{{Satan}}/[[DoggedNiceGuy Chris]]. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Yeah]]. For [[BoysLove Fanon examples]], see OneTrueThreesome.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':
** The series had this for one episode after Goliath's daughter, Angela, joined the Clan. After months of thinking that they would never see a female Gargoyle again (except for one who's psychotic, genocidal, and [[TheBroCode Goliath's ex]]), the young trio Gargoyles instantly leapt at the chance to woo this comely newcomer, creating an annoyingly aggressive romantic rivalry for her. Eventually, Angela angrily put her foot down on this and told them to be patient for her to respond, while consoling them with the delightful fact that she has 15 sisters back on the magic island of Avalon. (For the record, she chose Broadway; Brooklyn would find a mate while being UnstuckInTime and [[WordOfGay the creator said Lexington would eventually get a male suitor]].)
** There's also a subtle one between Goliath, Demona (the aforementioned ex), and Elisa. The girls don't directly fight over Goliath, but he's becoming close to Elisa at the same time that he's realizing that his relationship with Demona can't be salvaged. Demona does hate Elisa more than she does other humans, but it's unclear whether or not that's because she recognizes her as a romantic rival on some level.
** More triangular examples include the one between Princess Katharine, the Magus, and Tom, and the one between King Kenneth II, Finella, and Constantine.
** The love triangle among the Coldtrio added an extra layer, when Coldsteel, who secretly lusted after Coldfire, tries to convince Coldstone that Coldfire was secretly in love with Goliath.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Jimmy/Cindy/Nick and Cindy/Jimmy/Betty. It only fits that [[spoiler: Jimmy/Cindy and Nick/Betty happen]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Played with: The ONLY episodes where Aang isn't in love with Katara are the ones in which she is in love with or being pursued by Jet. That's two episodes. And during those episodes Aang ''likes'' Jet, until things go sour for other reasons.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'',
** There was one prior to the series between Aang's son Tenzin, Toph's daughter Lin, and Pema. In the end, Tenzin married Pema, with some implication that Lin is still a bit bitter about the whole thing.
** And then there's Korra/Mako/Asami. Both Korra and Asami like Mako while Mako likes both Asami and Korra. Bolin was briefly a fourth person, as he had a crush on Korra which started out strong, cumulated in episode five, and due to...circumstances, seemingly faded away afterward.\\
\\
Season one ends with Mako and Korra as the OfficialCouple, after Mako [[LoveEpiphany realized he was in love with Korra]] and Asami noticed. Their breakup seemed fairly amicable, however. It is then reignited in season 2, when Korra and Mako get into a fight and break up, Mako and Asami begin to re-explore their feelings for each other, and an amnesiac Korra returns and wants to rekindle her relationship with Mako. Eventually, she remembers. In the end Mako and Korra [[BetterAsFriends both accept that their romantic relationship won't work out]] - leaving every side of this triangle single by the end of the season.
** The whole thing ends rather neatly at the end of Season four, Korra ends up with [[spoiler:'' Asami''.]] Mako ends up alone, but according to WordOfGod [[CharacterDevelopment in a much better mental space to handle future relationships]]. Bolin, who [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere sensibly stayed out of things]] since season one, [[BetaCouple is in a relationship]] with [[SecondLove Opal]].
* The Daria/Tom/Jane triangle was a major arc throughout ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'''s fourth season.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' has a major love triangle between Miss Martian/Superboy/Lagoon Boy in season 2. Miss Martian and Superboy break up shortly before the beginning of Season 2 because of Miss Martian's abuse of power and she begins dating Lagoon Boy. Eventually, Miss Martian breaks up with Lagoon Boy after she realizes the error of her ways and gets back together with Superboy by the end of the season.
* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'': Peep loves Heloise, who has SingleTargetSexuality for Jimmy.
* ''WesternAnimation/KidVsKat'': [[{{Yandere}} Phoebe]] has a crush on Coop, but Coop is [[AbhorrentAdmirer terrified of her]] and is in an unofficial relationship with Fiona. Unfortunately for Fiona, Phoebe seems to think MurderTheHypotenuse is the best solution to this.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'', Shredder dopes three of the Turtles with a pizza laced with a love potion (Donatello demurs, because he's driving), causing the three to fall in love with April's friend Irma, and fight with each other over her affections. She's oblivious to the fact that she has three mutant turtles lusting after her, but is delighted that she is suddenly the target of three anonymous suitors.
** The entire franchise has always had one as the source of the conflict between the Hamato Clan and the Foot (primarily the Oroku Clan). The beautiful, but ultimately ill-fated Tang Shen is the object of affection for both Hamato Yoshi and another suitor (in most adaptations, Oroku Saki, though in the original comics it was Saki's brother Nagi), and always chooses Yoshi over the other suitor. Said suitor then gets jealous, and, well... you know the rest.

* ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowski'' has Kendal Perkins who secretly has a crush on the title character, however Jackie Wackerman, better known as "Wacky Jackie", more or less has a crush on him first.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the episode "Simple Ways", Rarity liked Trenderhoof, Trenderhoof liked Applejack, and Applejack was indifferent to him.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', in addition to a couple of minor love triangles that pop up over the course of the series, has the central love triangle of [=BoJack=], Diane, and Mr. Peanutbutter. [=BoJack=] falls in love with his ghostwriter, Diane, who's in a relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter, [=BoJack=]'s longtime rival--who, in fact, genuinely likes [=BoJack=] and doesn't see why the two of them can't be friends.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E5StoryForSteven Story for Steven]]" and "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E12WeNeedToTalk We Need to Talk]]", Pearl was in love with [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]], who was in love with Greg. Pearl was incredibly jealous, and tried to get Greg to give up pursuing Rose. Later, it becomes increasingly clear that [[{{Polyamory}} Rose was also in love with Pearl]], but that didn't keep Pearl from feeling like she was losing Rose to Greg.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Tina is in love with Jimmy Jr., who often [[DependingOnTheWriter flip-flops on whether he returns her feelings or not]]. In turn, Jimmy Jr.'s best friend Zeke is in love with Tina, who usually [[AbhorrentAdmirer dislikes him]] but sometimes gives hints of ShipTease in return.
* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'' have Alfalfa and Waldo fighting over Darla.
* ''WesternAnimation/PetAlien'' [[PlayedWith plays with]] this: Granville dislikes Tommy because he ''thinks'' the latter has a crush on Melba, who Granville is also trying to win over. In actuality, Tommy and Melba despise each other and Melba in turn dislikes Granville.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has a major love triangle between Miss Martian/Superboy/Lagoon Boy in season 2. Miss Martian and Superboy break up shortly before the beginning of Season 2 because of Miss Martian's abuse of power and she begins dating Lagoon Boy. Eventually, Miss Martian breaks up with Lagoon Boy after she realizes the error of her ways and gets back together with Superboy by the end of the season.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has a major love triangle between Miss Martian/Superboy/Lagoon Boy in season 2. Miss Martian and Superboy break up between Seasons 1 and 2 because of Miss Martian's abuse of MindRape and she begins dating Lagoon Boy. Eventually, Miss Martian breaks up with Lagoon Boy after she realizes the error of her ways and gets back together with Superboy by the end of the second season.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' has had three love triangles: Kid Flash/Miss Martian[=/=]ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, Miss Martian/Superboy/Artemis, and Aqualad/Tula/Garth. As of the first season finale, all three of these have been resolved. Aqualad discovers that his crush Tula and his good friend Garth are a couple and eventually pulls a IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy. Miss Martian chooses Superboy, but they [[spoiler:break up between Season 1 and 2 because of Miss Martian's abuse of MindRape. And Kid Flash and Artemis got together and are still going strong five years later.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': After the episode "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", one has started between Jackie, Marco, and Star. The season 2 finale "Starcrushed" leaves all three of them aware for the first time that the triangle exists. After the season 3 episode "Lava Lake Beach" one has started between Star, Marco and Tom and Star, Marco and Kelly.

* And just to dust off an old classic, in ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'', Olive Oyl is always being courted by Popeye or Bluto, who compete for her affections. Olive will sometimes favor Bluto depending on the short, and she's rather fickle, prone to suddenly leaving Popeye for Bluto because she's "tired of" him. Despite this, Popeye always takes Olive back after letting Bluto have it; except in "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" where he snapped at her and put her in her place at the end.

** ''As Told By Ginger'' again, "Love With A Proper Exchange Student" (the next ep in production order, actually): A is Dodie again, B is an exchange student named Joaquin, and C is Ginger.

** The whole thing ends rather neatly at the end of Season four, Korra ends up with [[spoiler:''[[BiTheWay Asami]]''.]] Mako ends up alone, but according to WordOfGod [[CharacterDevelopment in a much better mental space to handle future relationships]]. Bolin, who [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere sensibly stayed out of things]] since season one, [[BetaCouple is in a relationship]] with [[SecondLove Opal]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In the [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E5StoryForSteven Story for Steven]]" and "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E12WeNeedToTalk We Need to Talk]]", Pearl was in love with [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]], who was in love with Greg. Pearl was incredibly jealous, and tried to get Greg to give up pursuing Rose.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': [[spoiler:After the episode "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", one has started between Jackie, Marco, and Star. The season 2 finale "Starcrushed" leaves all three of them aware for the first time that the triangle exists. After the season 3 episode "Lava Lake Beach" one has started between Star, Marco and Tom and Star, Marco and Kelly.]]