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Betty and Veronica: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts''
''She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers''
|'''Taylor Swift'''|"You Belong With Me"}}
One of the most common types of [[Love Triangle]], named after characters from [[Archie Comics]], wherein the main character ("Archie") is caught between two love interests with drastically different personalities. "Betty" is the sweet, [[A Friend in Need|reliable]], everyday [[Girl Next Door]] type (if done wrong, this can mean: 'kinda dull'), whilst "Veronica" is more alluring, exotic and edgy, but has a more 'troublesome' or 'dangerous' personality (which could translate to 'a bit mean'). This translates to their physical appearances; "Betty" will usually be more plain (or at least [[Hollywood Homely|as close as Hollywood gets]]), whilst "Veronica" will be [[Ms. Fanservice]] in all her glory. As a rule, one will be blond and the other dark or red haired.
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* Subverted ''hard'' in ''[[Double Arts]]''. When "Betty" (Ellie) tentatively inquires about Kiri's feelings for the obvious "Veronica" candidate (Sui), he practically goes into a [[Heroic BSOD]]. Turns out they already tried dating. And she dumped him. Three times. So much for ''that'' [[Love Triangle]]...
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' offers perhaps the best example of how subjective this trope can be. In Japan, [[Shy Blue-Haired Girl|Rei]] is seen as the Betty because of her gentle disposition and general [[Yamato Nadeshiko|reservedness]], whereas the [[Fiery Redhead]]ed [[Foreign Fanservice|foreigner]] Asuka is the cultural Veronica because her forceful and aggressive personality is just so strange to the [[Japanese Politeness|generally reserved]] Japanese public. Contrast this with more demonstrative Western audiences, who see the more outgoing, more human, more [[Badass Adorable|badass]], and more [[Cannot Spit It Out|overtly in love]] Asuka as the familiar Betty, and the [[Creepy Child|bizarre]], [[Emotionless Girl|cold]], and [[Uncanny Valley|strangely unsettling]] Rei as the exotic Veronica. Then add in [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Kaworu]], a [[Gay Option|Gay]] [[Third Option Love Interest]] so popular in [[Ho Yay|fandom]] that he was made ''canon'' in almost all the alternate continuities.
** It's played straight, however, in the [[Lighter and Fluffier]] spin-off series, such as ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days]]'' and ''[[Ikari Shinji Raising Project]]''.
** ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' varies it a bit. The Veronica enters the [[Love Triangle]] out of jealousy in response to the guy making advances on the clueless Betty but bails as soon as she realizes the Betty loves the guy back and therefore she doesn't have a chance. And then there's the ''Rebuild''-newcomer Mari ([[Cloudcuckoolander|hard]] [[Nice Girl|to]] [[Ax Crazy|classify]] personality-wise) who we don't know if she's interested in him AND the [[Stalker with a Crush]] Kaworu who didn't get enough screentime so far to figure out his intentions.
* In ''[[School Days]]'', the Betty is Sekai, the [[Girl Next Door]] friend of the main lead with simple short hair and a bubbly personality, while the Veronica is Kotonoha, the [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]] [[The Ojou|Ojou]] who's shy but extremely popular among the boys because of her looks. Then both of them reveal [[
** [[Playing with a Trope|Not really]], Sekai has Betty looks but Veronica personality (being a straightforward girl who uses [[Fan Service with a Smile]] in her part-time work) while Kotonoha's Veronica looks conceal her ''very'' Betty-ish behavior (shy, sheltered, target of abuse from other girls who are jealous of her beauty and wealth). Then again, [[It Gets Worse]] ''really'' soon.
* In ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'', Kazumi Yoshida is the Betty and Shana the Veronica.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' inverts this: Chidori is the Veronica despite being the [[Ordinary High School Student]], while Tessa, who is a captain in a covert paramilitary organization and has command of a submarine and several hundred troops, Sousuke included, is the Betty personality-wise.
** Also, one may count Kaname the Betty to Mizuki's Veronica, if only for one episode (the one where the latter insisted Sousuke acted as her boyfriend so her friends wouldn't know she had broken up with her real boyfriend). They later become friends and this subplot is never brought up again.
* ''[[
** The anime adaptation has them switch roles for the third season. As Saito grows more used to Louise's habits, his relationship with her normalizes somewhat culminating with their marriage at the end of the second season. Shortly thereafter [[Flanderization|the writers force Siesta to crank up the sex appeal]] to compensate because [[Status Quo Is God]].
* In ''[[Nana]]'', rock star Takumi would probably count as a male version of Veronica for Hachiko while Nobu serves as a male Betty.
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* In ''[[Psychic Academy]]'', this is played quite obviously through the Betty-esque Orina (AKA Sara), Ai's childhood friend, and the Veronica-esque Mew.
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' (particularly the manga), Anzu Mazaki is shown being torn over her feelings between shy [[Covert Pervert]] Yugi Mutoh (Betty) and his darker alter ego Yami (Veronica).
* Melfina from ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' gets an inverted version of this with Gene and Harry. Of course, when the "safe" choice is a foul-mouthed [[Badass Longcoat]], you just ''know'' the "bad boy" is [[Psycho for Hire|going to]] [[Stalker with a Crush|have some]] [[
* Possibly lampshaded in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. To Spike there isn't much choice between Julia, (his long lost [[Love Interest]]), and Faye, ([[Ms. Fanservice]]) as he's madly in love with Julia and things with Faye never go beyond a proto-[[UST]] stage. However it's somewhat telling that when Jet asks [[Broken Bird]] Faye what Julia was like, Faye responds with "[[Femme Fatale|Ordinary. A beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you can't leave alone]]", which perhaps defines the roles of the two.
* The Kuno/Akane/Pig-Tailed Girl triangle of ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is an interesting case. You could say Akane is the Veronica trying to be the Betty and Ranma is the other way around, but we're talking about the warped mind of Tatewaki Kuno here.
** Akane's somewhat sheltered and naive due to being the youngest child in a middle-to-high-class and very traditional family. Well, at the same time, she's rather popular at school, shuns the boys who chase after her (specially Kuno), has a quick temper towards Ranma and despite her best efforts has very few traditionally feminine traits. These are all Veronica-ish qualities/flaws, so Kuno is somewhat right with this one.
** Shampoo is a [[Supreme Chef]], works full-time in her grandma's restaurant, and can be almost kittenish when she's happy (pun intended). Also added is that she came from a lower-class setting than Akane, is a lot smarter than she looks, and is also multi-talented. She also pines after Ranma. That's quite a dosage of Betty-ness.
** [[Playing with a Trope|You can argue it both ways though.]] Akane is very [[Nice Girl|kind-hearted and nice]] when not being upset, and often stands up for others even if it brings her problems. And while Shampoo can cook and can be very demure around Ranma, but most of the time she's [[Tsundere]] bordering on [[
** This becomes transparent when she's placed in contrast with Kodachi, whose upperclass lifestyle makes her a full-on Veronica, what with the [[Mad Love]] she feels towards Ranma pushing her to the point of being an active would-be [[Murder the Hypotenuse|hypotenuse murderer]].
** Although this being an [[Unwanted Harem]] situation, it's not so much about Ranma being torn about which one to choose (though he is attracted to both girls, he feels much more attracted to [[No Guy Wants to Be Chased|Akane]]), but torn because he's engaged against his will to both women (Akane being an [[Arranged Marriage]], Shampoo an [[Accidental Marriage]]) and rejecting one in favor of the other [[Pillars of Moral Character|would bring lots of trouble for the ''three'' of them]]. This triangle also includes a [[Third Option Love Interest]], in the form of [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] and [[Bokukko]], [[Childhood Marriage Promise|Ukyo Kuonji]].
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*** And now that [[Black Magic|Romania]] has appeared, fandom is shaping him up as a potential [[Third Option Love Interest]] du to being [[The Rival]] to Hungary.
** Canon-wise, Japan has a choice between [[Sleepyhead|sleepy]], [[Nice Guy|laid back]] [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]] Greece and [[Mask of Power|masked]], [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|rough-talking]] [[Boisterous Bruiser]] Turkey. However, unlike with the Austria-Hungary-Prussia triangle, virtually all fan works featuring this triangle agree that the Veronica [[Hopeless Suitor|has no chance against the Betty]] - and, in fact, actually has a better chance of ''[[Foe Yay|ending up with the Betty]]'' than with the Archie! All of which leads to the ''real'' Betty and Veronica dynamic at work in fandom being whether Greece should be paired with [[Moe|cute]], [[Inscrutable Oriental|emotionally]] [[Yamato Nadeshiko|reserved]], and [[He Is Not My Boyfriend|romantically shy]] Japan who's already [[Birds of a Feather|good friends with him]] or [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man|manly]], [[I Shall Taunt You|openly critical]], and [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis|aggressive]] Turkey who [[Foe Yay|passionately hates him]].
** And then there's the [[Comedic Sociopathy]]-filled Baltic-Slav [[All Love Is Unrequited|Unrequited]] [[Love Triangle]], where Russia plays a [[The Fake Cutie|rather]] [[Psychopathic Manchild|psychotic]] Archie who has the [[Yamato Nadeshiko|kind and gentle]] [[The Woobie|Lithuania]] as his Betty, whereas [[Brother-Sister Incest|his sister]] [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Belarus]] is a [[
** And just in case your head isn't spinning enough yet, there are ''numerous'' [[Fanon]] combinations of other characters with many of them bouncing back and forth between the Betty and Veronica roles depending on who their designated romantic rival is. To list all of them would take up half of this page, especially since this fandom is ''way'' more prone to [[OT3]]s than most other fandoms.
* ''[[Strawberry Panic!]]'' has two of these [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]] triangles: Nagisa with [[Fan of Underdog|Tamao]] as the Betty and [[Onee-Sama|Shizuma]] as the Veronica, and Hikari with [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Yaya]] as the Betty and [[Bifauxnen|Amane]] as the Veronica.
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* ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'' has childhood friend Rei (Betty) vs. Saeko (Veronica)
* ''Gakuen Babysitters'' has [[Shrinking Violet|Ushimaru]] (Betty) and [[Tsundere|Inomata]] (Veronica), who both like [[Nice Guy|Ryuuichi]] (Archie). In a subversion, Ryuuichi is neither [[Chaste Hero|interested]] nor [[Oblivious to Love|aware]] of their affections. More interestingly, they actually become [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|best friends]] by bonding over their mutual crush on him.
* While ''[[My Hero Academia]]'' is pretty firm on its [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] rule, there's two subtle examples, all of them involving [[The Hero|Izuku "Deku" Midoriya]]:
** His main [[Implied Love Interest]] is [[Only In It For The Money|Ochako Uraraka]], who fits the Betty archetype to a T. However, the series throws some Veronicas along the way, like the flirtatious [[Shameless Self Promoter|Mei Hatsume]] and the villainous [[Yandere|Himiko Toga]].
** Weirdly enough, his main [[The Rival|rivals]], [[Playing with Fire|Shouto]] [[An Ice Person|Todoroki]] and [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Katsuki]] [[Mad Bomber|Bakugou]], fit the archetypes to a T; with [[Friendly Rivalry|Todoroki]] as the [[Sugar and Ice Personality|cool yet kind]] Betty and [[With Friends Like These...|Bakugou]] as the [[Jerkass|anti-social]] Veronica. Fanworks of them (''specially'' the [[Guy-On-Guy Is Hot|slash kind]]) practically run on this trope, portraying them in a "[[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|sweet gentleman]] vs. [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|roguish bad boy]]" [[Love Triangle]].
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* There's a clear example in ''[[Kyle XY]]'' with Amanda, Kyle's neighbor who's easy to talk to and plays the piano in a way that touches Kyle, compared to the heartless and ruthless Jessi.
** Also Charlie is the Archie who cheats on his virginal girlfriend with the vivacious blonde and thus ends up losing both Betty and Veronica.
* ''[[Switched at Birth (TV series)|Switched at Birth]]'' has set this up with Daphne (Betty) declaring her feelings for Emmett (Archie), who in turn professes to only want Bay (Veronica). Complete with original trope-maker hair colours.
* On ''[[Fringe]]'', Peter was arguably the Archie to {{spoiler|Fauxlivia's}} Veronica and Olivia's Betty. Of course, {{spoiler|Fauxlivia only became a love interest for Peter because she was pretending to be Olivia, but she was definitely the more exotic option.}}
* On ''[[Merlin]]'', {{spoiler|Lancelot du Lac (aka Lancelot brought back from the dead)}} is the Veronica to Gwen's Archie, with Arthur as Betty.
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{{quote|''"She's got a heart of gold, she'd never let me down/ But you're the woman who always turns me on, you keep me comin' 'round."''}}
* The Statler Brothers' 1972 country hit "Do You Remember These" has a quick line, "Veronica and Betty" toward the end of songs, part of a longer list of 1950s nostalgia.
* [[Gorillaz]] has one gender-inverted example in the backstory: [[The Pete Best|Paula Cracker]] was the steady girlfriend of the [[Nice Guy|sweet]] yet [[Kindhearted Simpleton|naive]] [[Idiot Savant|2D]] (Betty), but got kicked out of the band after [[Your Cheating Heart|cheating on him]] with his [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|dark-themed]], [[Jerkass|anti-social]] teammate [[Small Name, Big Ego|Murdoc]] (Veronica).
** While there's no love triangle present, one could argue this applies to Noodle and the aforementioned Paula. On first appearances, it could be assumed Paula is the Betty due to being the superficially polite girlfriend of 2D and the first guitarist of the band, while Noodle (after [[She's All Grown Up|growing up]]) is the Veronica due to being the exotic new addition and being prone to tomboyish, more revealing outfits. As seen above, Paula is actually the Veronica due to the aforementioned cheating and proving herself to be a [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|deeply unpleasant person]] in her solo interview, while Noodle is the Betty since she's a [[Nice Guy|Nice Girl]] who pretty much [[The Heart|holds the band together]].
== Newspaper Comics ==
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* ''[[Persona 2]]: Innocent Sin'' has our protagonist Tatsuya (Archie) a pick between a fellow school age student with an obvious crush on him Lisa, (Betty) and the older teen magazine reporter and all around cheerful Maya. (Veronica) However, this game also has a [[Gay Option]] [[Cheryl Blossom]] with Jun. [[Yaoi Fangirl|Guess which one alot of the fangirls go for?]] (Male gamers tend to lean towards Maya)
* ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' Geo (Archie) has Luna (Veronica) the local class president, who is more interest in Geo as Mega Man, and Sonia (Betty) a teen pop singer who is very much interest in Geo himself.
* ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona 5]]'' [[Playing with a Trope|plays with this trope like hell]] with the main female [[Phantom Thief|Phantom Thieves]], having traits of both sides and fulfilling each archetype depending on whom they're compared to:
** [[Ms. Fanservice|Ann Takamaki]] has a lot of Veronica qualities physically-wise, being a [[Phenotype Stereotype|quarter-American]] part-time model. In personality, she's more of a Betty, since she's a [[Nice Girl]] who genuinely wants to help and motivate her friends.
** [[Hikikomori|Futaba Sakura]] is introduced as a reclusive, socially-awkward Betty based on appearances. Once she [[Hidden Depths|opens up]], she turns out to be the [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]/[[Cloudcuckoolander]] type of Veronica.
** [[Student Council President|Makoto Niijima]] is introduced as aloof and serious, to the point people confuse her with an [[Academic Athlete|Academic]] [[Alpha Bitch]]. Like Ann, however, she's a [[Nice Girl]] who is quite [[Adorkable]] due to being socially inept (though thankfully not as much as [[Hikikomori|Futaba]]).
** [[Spoiled Sweet|Haru Okumura]] could be the straightest example of the Betty archetype among the group, while having some Veronica traits like being the heir of a very affluent family and a bit of a [[Nightmare Fetishist]].
== Visual Novels ==
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** The sequel adds John Rolfe as a new Betty, though John Smith is largely absent anyway. In the end, Pocahontas follows the history books in winding up with John {{spoiler|Rolfe}}.
* In ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', [[Ugly Cute|Tootie]] is the Betty and [[Alpha Bitch|Trixie]] is the Veronica to Timmy Turner's Archie.
** Ironically, the character who is actually ''named'' Veronica (and [[Third Option Love Interest|has a crush on Timmy too]]) was sidelined pretty quickly. Probably because she was a [[
* ''[[Ace Lightning]]'' has Heather and Sam who both date Mark at one point or another and have seemingly conflicting personalities and yet are best friends. Kind of like the [[Archie Comics|original]] Betty and Veronica, really.
* ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' has [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Gwen Stacy]] as the Betty, similar to some of her comic book presentations, but it is [[Lovable Alpha Bitch|Liz Allen]] who is given the status of the Veronica whom Peter goes out with first. Mary Jane only fits the Veronica role for a quick bit of [[Ship Tease]]—she went on one blind date with Peter, but during the first and second seasons at least she doesn't harbor much serious interest in him [[Just Friends|other than as a friend]]. Whether this would have changed if [[Too Good to Last|the show had continued]] is unknown.
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* ''[[Robbie the Reindeer]]'' has Donna (kind, sensible and voiced by Jane Horrocks) as Betty and Vixen (who lives up to her name) as Veronica.
* In ''[[Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas]]'', you have Marina, who is [[Arranged Marriage|engaged to be married]] to Proteus (the Betty), but develops [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|a romantic interest]] in his old roguish friend Sinbad (the Veronica). While she may not have been ''in love'' with Proteus, she cared about him enough to go with Sinbad to ensure that he retrieves the Book of Peace from Eris so that Proteus won't have to die for his screw-up. {{spoiler|In the end, when Proteus realizes that Marina loves Sinbad, [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|he privately breaks off the engagement and lets her leave Syracuse with Sinbad and his crew.]] }}
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has the [[A Worldwide Punomenon|sweet]] [[Hot Scientist|scientist]] Princess Bubblegum as the Betty and the [[Chaotic Neutral|radical]] [[The Power of Rock|musician]] Marceline the Vampire Queen as the Veronica to [[The Hero|Finn's]] Archie. However, things get a little more complicated with the introduction of the [[Tsundere|quick]]-to-[[
* ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' puts [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|Mako]] in the Archie position, choosing between [[Blood Knight|Korra]] (the Veronica) and [[Spoiled Sweet|Asami]] (the Betty). Interestingly, a lot of the traits usually associated with each side are swapped around; ie. Asami is the richer, more traditionally beautiful one, while Korra is naive and from the country.
* In ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Nancy Hicks-Gribble has been carrying on an affair with Veronica, John Redcorn, while married to her [[Crazy Survivalist]] husband Dale (the Betty).
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