Basic Trope: Keeping up the Masquerade is bad for relationships.
- Straight: Bob breaks up with Alice from the stress of keeping up his identity as The Egregious Trope-Man.
- Exaggerated: Every girl Bob fancies ends up dumped.
- Downplayed: While keeping up the relationship keeps things strained Alice and Bob still stay together.
- Justified:
- Keeping up a double life is hard enough without a love life.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies
- Inverted: Keeping up the masquerade ends up helping him out in relationships. The aloofness makes him seem cool and while he may spend less time with Alice from it their relationship is actually strengthened due to making use of the time they have before Bob is "on call".
- Subverted: Bob is about to break up with Alice, then he tells the truth instead...
- Double Subverted: ...and then Alice dumps Bob for lying all this time.
- Parodied: Keeping up the masquerade requires Bob to wear a pocket protector and coke bottle glasses at all times.
- Zig Zagged: Alice dumps Bob for being flaky due to his life as The Egregious Trope-Man. Claire learns the truth and is turned on by it... only to be eaten by a werewolf. Donna learns the truth and dumps Bob for lying all this time. Bob finally finds true love with Emma, a Badass Normal who can take care of herself when trouble comes a-knocking.
- Averted: The masquerade has no impact on Bob's dating life.
- Enforced: The relationships end up consuming the plot and viewed negatively. Executive Meddling forces a cut..
- Lampshaded: "Damn it! Why do monsters always attack only on date night?"
- Invoked: Dima specifically arranges this for Bob to preserve his Virgin Power whether he wants to or not.
- Exploited: The Big Bad repeatedly tries to kill Bob in the middle of his dates to make him miserable.
- Defied:
- Bob takes the Celibate Hero route.
- Bob only dates people who are already part of the masquerade.
- Discussed: "You really do have to give up a lot to be a hero..."
- Conversed: "Man, Bob loses almost every girlfriend he's gotten!"
- Deconstructed:
- Because Bob is forced to keep breaking up his relationships he becomes too depressed to be the The Egregious Trope-Man and the world falls into chaos.
- Bob just gives up being a superhero because he is desperate for a relationship.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob is able to come to terms with his being The Egregious Trope-Man preculding a normal dating life and he discovers that Emperor Evulz's Noble Top Enforcer Clara is also suffering from the same problem. Now with a common social ground, Bob is able to use his previous experience with Alice to connect with Clara and start a new one with her as a Dating Catwoman scenario, with perhaps a later Heel–Face Turn in the works if things go right.
- Bob's friend Charlie takes up the mantle of The Egregious Trope-Man, with the latter having understanding of what he would give up for it — Charlie is OK with putting his love life on hold, at least for now, while Bob remains a Secret-Keeper to advise Charlie since Bob still has past experience to draw from.
Back to The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life.
