"Friend or Idol?" Decision: Difference between revisions

By forcing me to decide upon,

The woman that I idolize,

 

Something the hero has quested for intently is now within his grasp.

* A Burger King's viral marketing scheme tried to be a parody of this concept. With the "Whopper Sacrifice" facebook app, you can get a free Whopper. The real cost? You must un-friend 10 people. As most could probably expect though, all this resulted in were thousands more free whoppers given away than expected as just about everyone has some pruning they could do on their friends list, and, for that matter, had nothing stopping them from refriending once they got the friggin' burger.

 

* In the ''[[Ranma ½]]'' movie ''Nihao My Concubine'', Ranma and Akane find themselves falling through open air toward a magical pool whose water will turn anyone permanently into a man, even overriding the [[Gender Bender]] [[Transformation Ray|Jusenkyo curse]] Ranma had spent the whole series trying to cure. In an unusually elegant variation of the Friend or Idol Decision, Ranma realizes that if he dives right in, Akane will fall into the water as well, and will become afflicted with the very curse he seeks to cure in himself! And of course, since they are the [[Official Couple]], and [[Status Quo Is God]], it naturally follows that [[Failure Is the Only Option]], and so Ranma must use his tremendous chi powers to destroy the fountain before they touch the water, so that Akane will be spared.

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Negi is forced to either stay behind and fight a giant monster so his students can escape with a magical book that can make them smarter (for the big exams) or dump the book so they can all escape safely. {{spoiler|Subverted in that Negi ends up ''trying'' to stay behind, but Asuna decides to make the "right" choice for him anyway.}}

* In the ''[[Pretty Sammy]]'' storyline in the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|No Need for Tenchi]]'' manga series, Pixy Misa had set things up for Tenchi to learn Sasami was Pretty Sammy, then turned him into a monster during a school play about Pretty Sammy (with Sasami as the heroine, natch). Pixy Misa forced Sasami to chose between revealing her identity and stopping the monster or letting the monster go on its rampage and maintain her identity (either way, Rumia would end up winning). [[Take a Third Option|Tsunami, then, steps in, disguised as Pretty Sammy]], [[Spanner in the Works|disguised as Pretty Sammy]], allowing Sasami to swap up and save the day.

 

* In ''[[Doctor Strange]]: The Oath'', Strange has the last drop of a magic potion that can cure anything, and must choose between using it to save his friend's life, or using it to make enough potion for everyone in the world.

* ''[[Batman]]'': Harley Quinn had to decide between saving a girl's eyesight or getting codes that give her lots of money. {{spoiler|She chooses the money. But hey, at least she feels guilty.}}

 

== Films ==

* Toward the end of ''[[Tower of Terror]]'', Buzzy has to decide between {{spoiler|helping the ghosts}} or getting his newspaper career back. In the end, he gets both.

* This happens twice in ''[[Despicable Me]]''. First time, Gru has to make the decision of choosing between the girls' ballet recital and taking the moon, which was his lifelong dream. {{spoiler|Originally, he wanted to push back the date for taking the moon but Nefario called Miss Hattie so she could take the kids back to the orphanage and Gru could focus back on task.}} The second time, Vector kidnaps the girls and demands that Gru gives him the moon. {{spoiler|Gru gave up the moon, but Vector didn't hold his side of the bargain.}}

 

== Literature ==

* In the first book in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, the Man in Black forces Roland to either save Jake from certain death, and never again catch up to him, or let Jake die, and gain the information he needs to continue his quest for the Dark Tower. Roland chooses to {{spoiler|let Jake fall}}, establishing his character for the rest of the series.

** The same scenario is [[anvilicious]]ly repeated again in the third book, this time with {{spoiler|Jake, who has come [[Back from the Dead]] (sort of), and his pet billy-bumbler ([[Mix-and-Match Critters]]), Oy.}} He chooses to {{spoiler|go back and save Oy, but this time he manages to succeed anyway.}}

* Kathi Peterson's ''Stone Traveler'' has Tag trapped in the past( 34 AD Meso America, to be exact), and his only way home is to use a blessed stone- which was stolen by the bad guys. when he is about to retrieve it, during a huge natural disaster explosion( storms, quakes,volcanoes, you name it) one of his friends, Rasha, falls through the ground. He only has time to save the stone or the girl( who isn't his love interest). He chooses to save her, meets Jesus, and gets a free ride home( turns out there was more than on magic stone.)

 

* Mulder has to choose between saving Scully or finding his [[Dead Little Sister|Abducted Little Sister]] several times over the course of ''[[The X-Files]]''. He always chooses Scully, but it's a close thing in the first few seasons.

* The entire "lost in space" element of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' was borne of such a decision in the pilot. (And that wasn't even a friend, being as Voyager had just arrived there.)

* Seen in [[Lost in Oz]], with the heroes choosing to either save Ozma and Oz, or use a bottled tornado to return home without saving the land.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* [[Alpha Protocol]] likes these just a bit too much. At least thrice does your opponent put a contact (preferably a [[Romance Sidequest]] character) in one room, himself and/or your mission objective in the other room, and then announces this to the player.

* In ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]'', you enter Mephisto's lair, where he has Nightcrawler and Phoenix held hostage and rescuing one or the other alters the game's end: {{spoiler|rescuing Nightcrawler means Phoenix dies, but she comes back as the Dark Phoenix, looking for revenge. Rescuing Phoenix has Mystique killing Professor X in revenge for Nightcrawler's death}}.

 

== Web Animation ==

* Happens several times in ''[[Homestar Runner]]''. In the original children's book that started the concept, Homestar gives up the chance to win the Strongest Man In The World Contest in order to expose Strong Bad's cheating. As a result, Pom Pom shares the victory trophy with him. The same thing happens in the remade cartoon version of it, only Pom Pom refuses to share the trophy. And in "A Jumping Jack Contest", it's Pom Pom who exposes the cheating, and Homestar who ends up winning and sharing the trophy with Pom Pom.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Elan uses his [[Genre Savvy]] to correctly predict that such a decision will occur. Partial subversion when he finds out he will be the hostage, or as he puts it: "Awwww, man! I didn't know * I* was going to be [[The Chick|the girl]]."

* [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/13/ This] ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' strip suggests that such a decision happens at the end of ''Blood on the Sand'', then subverts it.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the second part of the two part pilot for ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', [[Big Bad|Nightmare Moon]] tempts Rainbow Dash to abandon her friends for the chance to live her dream and lead the Shadow Bolts (dark versions of her idols, the Wonderbolts, but the idol part still plays in). Rainbow Dash quickly refuses and sides with her friends.

** In the ninth episode of the second season, Rarity gets put in this position, being forced to choose between maintaining some rather important upper-class connections, and hanging out with her lower-class friends. {{spoiler|She ends up [[Take a Third Option|splitting the difference]].}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Internal Conflict Tropes]]

[[Category:Friend Or Idol Decision]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friend or Idol? Decision}}