History Main / OnTheRebound

** Though the relationship he enters instead shows signs of being a rebound anyway, what with it starting very shortly after the break-up, his subconscious pointing out before that he really wants to date just ''someone'', and him being very emotionally invested in the relationship -- he claims to love the girl after only ''two dates'' even though he didn't know her at all before they started dating.

There are two common ways that characters deal with being a rebound relationship. Either they are actively pursuing their LoveInterest during a vulnerable time, or they are actively trying ''not'' to pursue the interest out of fear of being the rebound. The latter is often used to maintain {{UST}} when there is no other reason to keep the two from getting together.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

** She basically gets a shot at her love with Natsuo only after him & Hina Tachibana separate due to their teacher x student relationship being exposed. After Hina leaves home, Rui becomes Natsuo's crutch while also living together with him and every now & then initiating some physical contact despite him still hoping to get back together with Hina one day, which was also being his driving force for becoming an accomplished writer.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

** After the devastating break-up with Envy, Scott briefly gets with Knives at the first chance, before becoming obsessed with Ramona (at least he didn't take advantage of her). While a year has passed from the break-up, Scott is still hurting so much that a ''phone call from Envy'' left him near-comatose.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* After finally realizing what a jerk Gendo is in ''FanFic/DoingItRightThisTime'', Ritsuko swears off men and asks Maya if she wants to be her "torrid lesbian rebound fling". Maya immediately agrees and the following relationship actually works out pretty well. It helps that Maya convinced Ritsuko to make an effort in a genuine relationship rather just make it a one-and-done thing.

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

** Rachel tries to meet Ross at the terminal after he returns from his trip to China, but is dismayed to discover he has brought home a new girlfriend. Her response is to seek out her own ex-boyfriend Paolo and impulsively have a one-night stand with him. Granted, Ross and Rachel hadn't yet formally gotten together before this point, but...
** When Joey moves out of his apartment, Chandler very quickly gets a new roommate, Eddie. Rachel comments that it will never last and Eddie is a just a "rebound roommate".

* On ''Series/{{Zoey101}}'' Zoey begins dating Chase's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute James more or less right after she and Chase have to put their RelationshipUpgrade on hold because of distance.The finale dealt with the fact she was never in love with James, and that Chase was always her first choice.

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* After breaking up with Isaac Clarke before the events of VideoGame/DeadSpace3, Ellie has taken up with Captain Robert Norton of the ([[TheRemnant remaining]]) military because unlike the traumatized Isaac Norton still wants to fight the [[TheCorruption Markers]] and save humanity. [[spoiler: At first he does, anyway, later changing to protecting Ellie at the cost of his people's lives and trying to MurderTheHypotenuse, possibly under the Marker's influence but still]]. Norton is such a JerkAss, though, and his interactions with Ellie so emotionally lopsided that it's less WhatDoesSheSeeInHim and more like he's Any Port In Storm due to her breakup with Isaac; at one point Norton sincerely tells Ellie that he loves her and Ellie's response is basically, "Oh, I'm aware of that" without any off the charm and affection that Han Solo used in Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack. [[spoiler: When Isaac has to kill Norton in self-defense, Ellie is naturally upset but rants mainly that Norton still believed in their cause as opposed to Isaac instead of, y'know, berating him for killing someone she loved.]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** Gael, Robin's LatinLover whom she picked up on a trip to Argentina. The relationship explicitly happened because Robin was so torn up by her breakup with Ted that she needed something.
** In response to Gael, Ted rebounds with a HardDrinkingPartyGirl named Amy, which results in him getting a butterfly tramp stamp.
** Several of Barney's plays to pick up women involve targeting vulnerable women who have just broken up.

** Parodied in the episode "Rebound Bro" where, after "breaking up" with Ted, Barney latches onto a new bro, only to break up eventually.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Rachel tries to meet Ross at the terminal after he returns from his trip to China, but is dismayed to discover he has brought home a new girlfriend. Her response is to seek out her own ex-boyfriend Paolo and impulsively have a one-night stand with him. Granted, Ross and Rachel hadn't yet formally gotten together before this point, but...

Sister trope to ComfortingTheWidow, which is about entering a relationship after a loved one dies. Often a large overlap with SexForSolace.

* ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'': Don with Liz after he and Robin break up, implied to be less than a week in between. The speed combined with the fact that he doesn't tell anyone about the breakup causes a lot of the people closest to him to believe it's [[YourCheatingHeart something else entirely]].

* Invoked and lampshaded in ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. After breaking up with Carol, Micheal hooks up with a young waitress from a Japanese restaurant and brings her to the Christmas party, only for her to leave an hour later. Jim explained to Michael that he was having a rebound and should not feel disappointed. Michael realizes that was what he was doing and even admits he [[IdenticalLookingAsians couldn't tell his date apart from the other Asian waitress]] that had attended the party.

* Rui Tachibana from Domestic Girlfriend basically gets a shot at her love with the main character Natsuo only after him & his true love, Hina Tachibana separate due to their teacher x student relationship being exposed. After Hina leaves home, Rui becomes Natsuo's crutch while also living together with him and every now and then initiating physical contact, like a few kisses here & there, despite him still hoping to get back together with Hina one day, which was also being his driving force for becoming an accomplished writer.

Despite that, once he sees Hina again on Izu Oshima island, it's still her that he pursues while leaving a crying & pleading Rui behind. It's only after Hina completely rejects his feelings(as a lie to protect his future), leaving Natsuo emotionally hurt, his resolve crushed, that Rui eventually gets to start a relationship with him. Of course, Hina eventually returns...

* Deconstructed in the ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheTornPrince'', which serves as a sequel to the original film. Kristoff discusses with Elsa [[spoiler: en route to the Southern Isles]] how he feels like Anna only ended up with him as an afterthought after things went wrong with Hans and how he doubts she actually feels anything for him. [[spoiler: His fears are actually quite justified. The chemistry between Anna and Hans never truly died, and while Anna does love Kristoff in her own way, she can't force herself to love him romantically no matter how much she wants. In the end, Anna chooses Hans over Kristoff, who is devastated but receives a BittersweetEnding.]]

** Harmony is this for Spike. After Drusilla leaves him after season 2 and he fails to get her affections back in season 3, he returns in season 4 with Harmony on his arm as a new girlfriend. He's pretty clearly not over Dru, as Harmony mentions several times that he endlessly gripes about how she left him for a moss demon. He also [[BastardBoyfriend pretty openly despises Harmony]] aside from the uh... [[RetargetedLust services]] she happily provides.

* Implied with Griffith from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' [[HoYay towards Guts]]. He was distraught after Guts left the Band of the Hawks, so distraught he immediately sought out Princess Charlotte for sex in a desperate attempt to make himself feel better and regain control of the situation. It didn’t work, if anything it made everything worse for him. Made even more of an example in the movie where he is shown thinking of Guts the entire time he is having sex with Charlotte.

* Implied with Griffith from Manga/{{Berserk}} [[HoYay towards Guts]]. He was distraught after Guts left the Band of the Hawks, so distraught he immediately sought out Princess Charlotte for sex in a desperate attempt to make himself feel better and regain control of the situation. It didn’t work, if anything it made everything worse for him. Made even more of an example in the movie where he is shown thinking of Guts the entire time he is having sex with Charlotte.

** After being dumped by Scott, Knives throws herself at Young Neil, on the basis that [[ReplacementGoldfish he kind of looks like Scott]]. They don't last. (It doesn't help that she's also going for Young Neil on the grounds that since he's around Scott a lot this lets her continue to hang around him; her not-quite-thing with Stephen Stills works the same way).

* After finally realizing what a jerk Gendo is in ''FanFic/DoingItRightThisTime'', Ritsuko swears off men and asks Maya if she wants to be her "torrid lesbian rebound fling". Maya immediately agrees and the following relationship actually works out pretty well.

* In the [[{{Music/TheyMightBeGiants}} They Might Be Giants]] song "Contrecoup", the explicit phrase "on the rebound" makes sure you won't miss that they're relating this trope to secondary brain damage from a head injury.

After going through a bad breakup, a character very quickly jumps into a new relationship. Often they're not emotionally prepared for the new relationship but go into one because they're hurting. The rebound lover is thus usually a RomanticFalseLead. Oftentimes they are a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute or a ReplacementLoveInterest.

After going through a bad breakup, a character very quickly jumps into a new relationship. Often they're not emotionally prepared for the new relationship, but go into one because they're hurting. The rebound lover is thus usually a RomanticFalseLead. Oftentimes they are a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute or a ReplacementLoveInterest.

* ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' has a triple treat:

** In response to Gael, Ted rebounds with a HardDrinkingPartyGirl named Amy, which results in him getting a butterfly trampstamp.

* In ''Series/NewGirl'', Jess tries to have a rebound fling, but she has issues with getting attached. After another relationship, she has a rebound backslide where she hooks up with an old exboyfriend.

* An unreleased song by Music/MelanieMartinez sometimes called "Blue Knees" or "Bandaid" is about this, wherein she warns her rebound lover not to get too close to her, because she's just using them to make herself feel better.

* After breaking up with Isaac Clarke before the events of VideoGame/DeadSpace3, Ellie has taken taken up with Captain Robert Norton of the ([[TheRemnant remaining]]) military because unlike the traumatized Isaac Norton still wants to fight the [[TheCorruption Markers]] and save humanity. [[spoiler: At first he does, anyway, later changing to protecting Ellie at the cost of his people's lives and trying to MurderTheHypotenuse, possibly under the Marker's influence but still]]. Norton is such a JerkAss, though, and his interactions with Ellie so emotionally lopsided that it's less WhatDoesSheSeeInHim and more like he's Any Port In Storm due to her breakup with Isaac; at one point Norton sincerely tells Ellie that he loves her and Ellie's response is basically, "Oh, I'm aware of that" without any off the charm and affection that Han Solo used in Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack. [[spoiler: When Isaac has to kill Norton in self-defense, Ellie is naturally upset but rants mainly that Norton still believed in their cause as opposed to Isaac instead of, y'know, berating him for killing someone she loved.]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

After going through a bad breakup, a character very quickly jumps into a new relationship. Often they're not emotionally prepared for the new relationship, but go into one because they're hurting. The rebound lover is thus usually a RomanticFalseLead. Oftentimes they are a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute or a ReplacementGoldfish.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', Janet is upset after Jason starts dating Tahani, she having subconsciously remained in love with him even after [[spoiler:she and the four humans had their memories wiped hundreds of times]]. Eleanor suggests that to cope she find a rebound guy, though admits her options are pretty thin. So Janet ''creates'' a boyfriend for herself, Derek. At the end of the episode, Eleanor admits that she gave Janet bad advice and tells her the only way to get over genuine heartbreak is to allow herself a mourning period instead of taking the easy route and ignoring them.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]