Betty and Veronica: Difference between revisions

* 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.

** ''[[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.

** [[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.

* 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).

* 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.

** 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]].

*** 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 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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).

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

** 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.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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.]] }}

* ''[[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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[[Category:Foil]]

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Duo Tropes]]

[[Category:Romance Novel Plots]]