Betty and Veronica: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Bleach]]'': the kind and pacifist [[Girl Next Door]] Orihime Inoue looks like a good Betty and the [[Tsundere]] Rukia seems to be a nice Veronica. Ichigo and Rukia are considered more than friends but less than lovers; on the other hand, Orihime already confessed her love for Ichigo but he wasn't conscious at the time to hear. Ichigo is more than willing to scale both Soul Society and Hueco Mundo in order to rescue both of them (in separate arcs) and has the 'other' help participate in the rescue: Orihime is the [[Barrier Warrior]] and healer in Soul Society who actually came up with the idea of rescuing Rukia, while Rukia recovers her [[Action Girl]] credentials by the time the Hueco Mundo arc kicks in and joins Ichigo's quest for Orihime heartily.

** Other candidates for a Veronica or Betty includes Karate champ Arisawa Tatsuki, childhood friend of Ichigo, and [[Love Freak|Riruka Dokugamine]] from the latest arc.

*** ...And if we go the [[Yuri]] shipping way for [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|Orihime]]: Tatsuki is the Betty (childhood friend, devoted protector, [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]), Chizuru is the Veronica ([[Lovable Sex Maniac]], VERY fond of [[Skinship Grope|groping Orihime]], is thwarted by [[Tsundere|Tatsuki]] whenever she tries it) and Riruka would be the [[Cheryl Blossom]]) (appeared the last, has red hair, was kinda antagonistic but then defrosted)

* ''[[Love Hina]]'' has a pretty basic version of this: [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Mutsumi versus [[Tsundere]] Naru. Keitaro, however, makes his preference the latter quite transparent halfway into the series, no matter if she's the little girl of the promise or not.

* In ''[[Hana Yori Dango]]'', the heroine Tsukushi Makino is the object of both Rui's (the calm, supportive Betty) and Domyoji's (the violent, passionate Veronica) affections. Subverted in that Makino initially has unrequited feelings for Rui, while it is Domyoji who has (initially) one-sided feelings for her, and in that the Veronica triumphs while the Betty moves on someone else.

** Shirley is a much more straight Betty, although then there's still the question of who between Kallen and C.C. is the Veronica.

** Euphemia would have Suzaku as Betty and [[Brother-Sister Incest|Lelouch]] as Veronica.

* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' has [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Shinobu]] as Betty and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Lum]] as Veronica [[This Is Your Premise On Drugs|(LSD version)]].

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', with its [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], gets ''lots'' of [[Love Triangle]] [[Triang Relations|combinations]] set up in fanworks that deliberately invoke this dynamic. Even the most canon-supported ones have been played with by fans to ''extensive'' degrees:

*** 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|laidback]] [[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 fanworks 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]].

* Wallace and Victor Quartermaine in ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit''.

* ''[[She's Out of My League]]'' plays around with this. For Molly, Kirk is the Adorkable Betty and Cam, her ex-boyfriend, is the Veronica. Meanwhile for Kirk, the beautiful and worldly Molly initially seems the Veronica and his familiar ex-girlfriend Marnie is the Betty. However Molly is genuinely nice and Marnie is not.

* The Olsen twins. Everything that they've ever been in. Ashley's character might be interested in fashion and modeling or be the cool surfer chick but will always be the boy-crazy Veronica while Mary-Kate's character might be a serious student or serious athlete but always the down to earth one.

* ''[[Something New (Film)|Something New]]'': Mark (Betty) and Brian (Veronica) for Kenya (Archie). Mark has no cultural or color divide to overcome and works a similar professional job and comes from an acceptable social status. Brian does not.

* In the Russian version of the tale ''The Shadow'', written by E. Shwartz, the scientist Christian Theodore, after {{spoiler|defeating his shadow}}, chooses to marry the faithful Annunciata, rather than the shallow (as it turns out) princess, his previous love interest.

* Very early example: the eponymous hero of ''[[Daniel Deronda]]'' has to choose between sweet, emotionally fragile Jewish musician Mirah and shallow, socialite-fallen-on-hard-times Gwendolen. {{spoiler|In a very unpopular move for the times, he chooses Mirah. It was so unpopular, in fact, that an American novelist actually wrote a "sequel," ''Gwendolen,'' in which Deronda reconverts to Christianity and marries Gwendolen!}}

* In Lian Hearn's ''[[Tales of the Otori]]'' series, protagonist Takeo must choose between relatively normal Kaede and [[Ninja Maid]] [[Dark Action Girl]] Yuki.

* In Gottfried Keller's ''Green Henry'' (1854/55) the protagonist is torn between the sweet Anna and the passionate Judith.

** Given ''[[My So-Called Life|MSCL's]]'' unusual complexity (for a teen show), there was another, even more subtle one with Brian himself, with [[Control Freak|Sharon]] as Betty and [[Troubled but Cute|Rayanne]] as Veronica. This essentially went nowhere as Sharon already has a love interest and Rayanne is a little too complicated for Brian to handle.

** Far more blatant was Brian's dynamic in "Life of Brian", between the new girl Delia (Betty) and his long-held lust with Angela (Veronica). In true ''MSCL'' fashion, he ends up killing any chance of a relationship with Delia for just a whiff of a notice from Angela.

* ''[[Grimm]]'': Looks like Rosalee will become Monroe's Betty while Angelina is clearly his Veronica.

*** Given that Angelina is alive and well this may surface in future episodes.

** This is also [[Lampshaded]] outright by Dr. K (of all people):

{{quote| "I understand your dilemma. You find Ranger Series Red attractive because he represents the guy who can give you solid security: the boy next door, trustworthy, responsible, the kind you'd take home to mother. At the same time, you're hopelessly drawn to the excitement and danger of Ranger Series Black: the tortured and mysterious bad boy you think you can save."}}

** And of course Dee herself has a Betty (Billy) and a Veronica (Lee Adama).

* Lampshaded in an episode of ''[[Neighbours]]'', when Donna is working through her feelings for Ringo (Betty) and Andrew (Veronica). She and Kate mention several examples of this kind of triangle, including [[Gossip Girl|Blair, Nate and Chuck]], [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy, Riley and Angel]], and [[Archie Comics|Archie, Betty and Veronica]]. Amusingly, Kate doesn't recognise the last one.

* Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" features a love triangle between blonde [[Girl Next Door]] Taylor Swift and a dark-haired cheerleader rival.

** It's interesting to note that in one of her lesser-known songs (The Way I Loved You) [[Taylor Swift]] takes the role of Archie choosing between her current boyfriend (Betty) who she describes as 'sensible' and who 'calls exactly when he says he will' and her 'wild and crazy' ex who is 'just so frustrating, intoxicating, complicated', who fills the role of Veronica. In the end, she chooses her ex.

* "The Boy is Mine" by Brandy and Monica. While this isn't explicit in the song itself, if you look at the ladies' individual musical styles, Brandy is more a sweet girl-next-door while Monica has more of a street edge.

* The video clip of Avril Lavigne's ''Girlfriend'' depicts Avril (as the Veronica) convincing the Archie to leave his uptight Betty girlfriend for her more interesting, more bullying self. Veronica wins.

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', [[The Hero|Lloyd]]'s two most obvious love interests are Colette, his blond, quiet, gentle [[Victorious Childhood Friend]] (Betty) and Sheena, the raven-haired, tough, exotic [[Action Girl]] (Veronica). The game lets you decide who he ends up with (including neither), thanks to the multiple endings.

** In ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]]'', the [[Tsundere]] [[Action Girl]] Rutee (Veronica) and the [[Meganekko|soft-spoken]] [[Squishy Wizard]] Philia (Betty) both have a crush on [[Idiot Hero|Stahn]]. Rutee wins, and the hero of ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]] 2'' is their son, Kyle.

* Otacon's love interests in the first two [[Metal Gear Solid]] games fit this trope: in MSG I, he has an unrequited crush on [[Dark Action Girl]] Sniper Wolf (Veronica), and in MSG II, it's revealed that his stepsister Emma (Betty) has been in love with him since childhood.

** Also, in MSG III, Naked Snake/{{spoiler|Big Boss}} has Paramedic (Betty) and EVA (Veronica).

** And ''then'', there's Princess Lachesis. Out of all her potential suitors (not counting [[Big Brother Attraction|Eltoshan]], that is), Beowulf is a cynical [[Punch Clock Hero]] Veronica and Fin is a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] Betty. {{spoiler|''Both'' of them might have won and then lost in ''Thracia'': it's all but stated that Lachesis's eldest son Delmud is Beo's kid, while her youngest daughter Nanna is Fin's, though Lachesis herself is missing in action.}}

** It's hinted in the Seisen game that {{spoiler|Sigurd's sister Ethlin}} ''might'' have been the Archie at some moment, with {{spoiler|Duke Cuan}} as the Betty (and the canon winner) and {{spoiler|King Trabant}} as the Veronica. {{spoiler|It didn't matter in the end: Trabant, despite whatever he thought of Ethlin, ''killed them both''.}}

** Zelda does play the role of Veronica in some of her incarnations though, with [[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]] providing a prominent instance of this where either Malon or Saria play the role of Betty. Then again, if you include Ruto or Nabooru, Zelda once again becomes the Betty. The main theme isn't so much what role Zelda is playing, but that Link is a total [[Chick Magnet]].

* If all of the content had made it into the final game, the hero of ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' would have had the reasonable, down-to-earth Elanee (Betty) vs. the greedy and somewhat flighty Neeshka (Veronica) for male characters; and the kind and honorable Casavir (Betty) vs. the psychotic pervert Bishop (Veronica) for female characters. Arguably, as only the Betty characters made it into the final cut, they could remain in that role (though absent during actual play) to two new Veronica characters (the exotic golem-crafter Safiya for male characters and the textbook Casanova Gannayev for female characters) in Mask of the Betrayer.

** ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]: Hordes of the Underdark'' gives us the choice between technically dead paladin Aribeth (Betty) and exotic drow [[Defrosting Ice Queen]] Nathyrra (Veronica) in the second/third chapters. Though they both could technically be either, given the fact that your character has been adventuring with Nathyrra for quite a long time by the time you meet Aribeth.

** The ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' community module ''A Dance With Rogues'' gives us two Betty characters and two Veronica characters, along with a fifth who could be either. On the Betty side we have the honorable and compassionate Anden and the kind and friendly bisexual Pi; on the Veronica side we get the psychotic pervert Vico and the drow noble Rizzen who thinks you are his slave. Bran is difficult to qualify, being far more in the Betty camp when compared to Vico and Rizzen but having many more Veronica characteristics than Anden or Pia.

[[Category:Duo Tropes]]

[[Category:Romance Novel Plots]]