Basic Trope: Someone is disappointed with a gift they're given.
- Straight: Logan gifts cool toys and video games to his friends. Mary is expecting something good, but she ends up getting a boring book instead, and has to pretend to like it.
- Exaggerated: Logan gifts his friends extravagant items like Cool Cars and all-expenses paid vacations. Mary gets a single sock.
- Downplayed: Mary did want the book a few months ago, but she's grown out of it and wants something else now. Still, she appreciates the sentiment.
- Justified: Mary was clear about her desire to get something specific, and is rightfully upset when Logan seems to go out of his way to ignore it.
- Inverted:
- Logan's gift to Mary is genuine and heartfelt. She loves it.
- Logan's gift actually is lame, but he loves it wholeheartedly.
- Subverted:
- The book that Mary gets turns out to be ancient and valuable. A book collector buys it off her for a bunch of money, meaning it was worth something after all.
- Mary only thinks she won't like the book. She later checks it out and enjoys it a lot.
- Double Subverted: Logan takes the money back, reasoning that he found and bought the book first.
- Zig-Zagged: Mary likes reading, so Logan's gift actually does fit her interests, even if it wasn't as expensive or "cool" as the other gifts. Mary is secretly happy with it, but doesn't like Logan, so she pretends to be displeased. She enjoys it in private, though.
- Averted: Mary's gift is as good as everyone else's.
- Enforced: "Let's show how little Logan cares about Mary by having him give her a lame gift."
- Lampshaded: "Everyone else got games and toys, but all I got was a crummy book!"
- Defied: Logan ensures that all the gifts he gives are in a similar price range and are still useful to the person getting them.
- Discussed: "Wow, looks like Mary really got the short end of the stick with these gifts."
- Conversed: "There always has to be one really bad gift on these shows for Rule of Drama, doesn't there?"
You got me a Cheerful Child action figure!? I told you I wanted Blood Knight! Ugh, My New Gift Is Lame!
