Basic Trope: Two characters break up. One of the characters is emotionally hurting and gets into another relationship soon after.
- Straight: Alice and Bob break up. Bob gets with Diane almost immediately afterward in order to fill the hole in his heart.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob's rebound relationship ends in disaster, so he rebounds again into another relationship doomed to fail. The cycle continues.
- Alice and Bob have a Relationship Revolving Door. Every time they break up, Bob gets into a rebound relationship.
- Downplayed:
- After Alice and Bob break up, Bob seeks comfort in and spends a lot of time with his Best Friend Diane, but does not get into a relationship.
- Alice and Bob have a fight but don't break up. Even so, Bob feels hurt enough that he temporarily distances himself from Alice and spends time with other people.
- Justified:
- Bob bases his happiness and worth based on being loved.
- Bob is In Love with Love.
- Bob still loves Alice, and coincidentally, Diane reminds him of Alice.
- Diane comforts Bob after his breakup, leading Bob to see her as a potential romantic interest.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob break up, causing Bob to withdraw into himself.
- Alice and Bob get married and decide to stop spending time with other people to have more time for themselves.
- Subverted:
- After Alice's and Bob's break up, Bob appears to get with Diane. In reality, this is a fake relationship meant to make Alice jealous.
- After Alice and Bob break up, Bob acts vulnerable around Diane and gets in a relationship with her. In reality, Bob planned to get Diane in the beginning, using the break up between him and Alice to make Diane pity Bob.
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied:
- Bob's everyday life consists of getting a new girl in the morning, having a nice date in the afternoon, fighting with them in the evening, and breaking up in the middle of the night.
- Zigzagged: Alice and Bob break up, which prompts Bob to get into a relationship with Diane. However, this relationship is a fake one made to make Alice jealous. Even so, he develops actual feelings for Diane, which causes him to regret getting into a relationship with Diane because he still has feelings for Alice. He stops the relationship but is still oddly close with Diane. Bob later finds out that the breakup with Alice was just a misunderstanding, but Alice is suspicious of Bob so she actually breaks up with him. Bob is then left being comforted by Diane while he still pursues Alice.
- Averted:
- After Alice and Bob break up, Bob does not get into another relationship for a while.
- Enforced: The writers want to put a bit of drama and Unresolved Sexual Tension into Alice's and Bob's relationship by having Bob temporarily rebound after he and Alice break up for the first time.
- Lampshaded: "I heard Bob and Alice broke up and Bob got with Diane soon after. Sounds like Bob's a bit hurt and got into a rebound to me."
- Invoked: Bob is Genre Savvy enough to know that he will get Alice in the end, so he feels free to have a rebound relationship with Diane to soothe his heart in the meantime.
- Exploited: Diane is the one that caused Alice's and Bob's breakup in the first place, giving her a free opportunity to romance an emotionally vulnerable Bob.
- Defied: "Bob, I know you're hurting, but getting into another relationship so soon will only make things worse."
- Discussed: "I heard Bob and Alice broke up. Think he'll start looking for a rebound?"
- Conversed: "I always feel bad for these kinds of characters that only get used for a rebound. Surely these romance movies can find another way to add drama?"
- Implied: Alice and Bob have a bad fight and break up. Bob then goes to his friend Diane for comfort where Bob gets drunk. Bob and Diane aren't seen again until after a Time Skip, revealing that they got together. The reader is never told when exactly they got together.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice regrets breaking up with Bob, but is infuriated after discovering that Bob got into another relationship so soon. This leads her to believe that Bob never loved her in the first place.
- Bob doesn't tell Diane that he broke up so little ago until they are already in a relationship. Diane accuses Bob of being just a rebound to him and breaks up, leaving Bob even more distraught.
- Reconstructed:
- Years later, Alice and Bob have a chat where he explains what happened. At this point, both Alice and Bob have their own relationships with people who are better suited for them, but they decide to remain friends after the fact.
- Bob realizes that Diane was right and seeks to improve his relationship with Alice instead. Alice and Bob get back together in the end.
- Played for Laughs: Alice and Bob break up in the middle of a trampoline store and Alice shoves Bob away. Bob bounces off a trampoline and falls into Diane's arms.
- Played for Drama: Bob gets into a rebound relationship to fill the hole in his heart but it doesn't work because he still loves Alice. Things don't get better as Alice discovers Bob's rebound relationship and is hurt at how fast Bob seemed to get over her.
- Played for Horror: Alice and Bob break up, leaving Bob emotionally distraught. Diane uses the opportunity to comfort Bob, convincing him to date her. This is all a set-up so Diane can bring Bob to her house for a sacrifical ritual.
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