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Three Amigos - romance required?

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Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#1: Apr 4th 2022 at 12:58:53 PM

Three Amigos says one of the characters is

and
Romance will be explored. A Last-Minute Hookup could almost always be expected between The Hero and a sidekick. More recently writers are pairing the sidekicks together. It probably won't turn into a Love Triangle because they are primarily friends. Any romance is secondary.
I always interpreted the romance as optional and the "will be explored" as a comment on the frequency of it, rather than a requirement.

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#2: Apr 4th 2022 at 1:05:23 PM

Before anyone suggests making one, just crossposting to inform other people that this idea came from the Three Amigos Wick Check I've started at the project thread.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#3: Apr 4th 2022 at 6:44:00 PM

In my opinion, without seeing any results so far and based on vague memories of reading books with a dynamic that I would identify with this, I would say that the romance between the main character and the opposite gender friend is at least implied. I wouldn't say that the two characters were guaranteed to go on a date, and this is at least partly due to the ages that I associate the dynamic with; preteen and tweens.

In a one-book story, the romance angle isn't always explored. However, likelihood that the two will try some sort of couples activity increases as the series goes on. I don't think that I'd insist that every example would require mention of what couple activity two of the characters engage in, which implies that the romance angle is not needed for context.

I think the romance is implied because much of European-derived culture (such as America) puts an unhealthy emphasis on an "opposite gender relationships are based on sex" concept. I don't think we generally do a good job of presenting healthy boy-girl relationships that ignore the romance angle. Tamora Pierce is an exception to that, compared to other writers. It probably shouldn't be a component of the Three Amigos by itself, it's another trope of boy-girl relationships that is overlapping with that one because it includes a boy-girl relationship.

EDIT: It should still go through TRS, but I think rewriting should focus on the "Any romance is secondary.", which ironically contrasts with "There will be romance.".

Edited by crazysamaritan on Apr 4th 2022 at 9:48:45 AM

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#4: Apr 4th 2022 at 8:33:30 PM

It probably shouldn't be a component of the Three Amigos by itself, it's another trope of boy-girl relationships that is overlapping with that one because it includes a boy-girl relationship.

I think you've got the right of it.

TheMountainKing Since: Jul, 2016
#5: Apr 5th 2022 at 1:34:26 PM

This seems related to Two Guys and a Girl (which from the description seems like a sub-trope). The description puts a lot of emphasis on the two male characters coming into conflict, usually over the affections of the female character. But the examples most examples don't actually feature this, and are just literally "a friend group consists of two guys and one girl,"

Edited by TheMountainKing on Apr 5th 2022 at 4:34:34 AM

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#6: Apr 5th 2022 at 1:37:12 PM

That's why I'm making a wick check on it tongue

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
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