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{{trope}}
{{quote|"Hey, the movie's called ''Back in Action'', not ''Back in Love''!"|'''[[Daffy Duck]]''' commenting on some deleted scenes from ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]''}}
When a romantic subplot is tacked onto a work with little relation to the overall story. Especially blatant when the setting or premise of the plot leaves little room for romance, such as [[After the End|after the Apocalypse]] or in the [[Action Series|land of racing cars and guns]].
The reasons behind this are understandable: love is often quoted to be universal, and directors and producers want to cater to the [[Multiple Demographic Appeal|largest demographic possible]]. What better to draw females to theaters than with a few tender scenes inserted here and there in an action or disaster movie? Or to [[Theiss Titillation Theory|titillate]] the males in the audience with a [[Green
Unfortunately, the romance subplot itself tends to be shallow and underdeveloped, existing only because [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|the audience expects the hero to have a healthy love life]]. In fact, if the
Sometimes a
Not to be confused with [[Token Minority Couple]]. Can become a [[Romantic Plot Tumor]] if it threatens to [[Plot Tumor|overwhelm the main plot]]. Often added in an adaptation by making a minor character [[Promoted to Love Interest]]. Contrast [[Hooked Up Afterwards]].
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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== Comic Books ==
* The most contrived [[Backstory]] in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' history<ref>The majority of Storm's blood family in Africa didn't let her know they existed because they were afraid of the patriarch -- a dictator Storm could've gotten rid of in all of two seconds without even calling in the rest of the X-Men</ref> was created so that Storm could leave the X-Men, go to Wakanda, and marry the Black Panther. This was a case of [[Executive Meddling]], as the [[Black Panther]] title was written by the owner of BET, and it was his opinion that the two most powerful and high profile black characters in [[Marvel Comics]] should become [[Token Minority Couple|the Flagship Pairing for black characters]]. The fans are not receiving it terribly well, but Marvel shows no signs of [[
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* Many a movie based on an action-adventure book with few or no female characters has a Token Romance tacked onto it:
** ''War of the Worlds'' (1953)
** ''[[King
** ''[[Journey to
** ''The Lost World'' (more than one version)
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
* Possibly lampshaded in ''[[Balls of Fury]]'': "Oh, just kiss already!"
* Subverted in ''[[Titanic]]'', where many audience members went in expecting the [[Disaster Movie]] treatment with a tacked-on love story. Instead, the love story is the core of the film and the disaster frames and completes it instead of distracting from it. One of the most successful romance films of all time.
** One could argue that ''[[Titanic]]'' is a rare complete inversion of the trope: Being a Romance Movie with a Token Disaster.
* On the flip side, the [[Romantic Plot Tumor]] in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels is ''meant'' to be the core of the story (and indeed is ''necessary'' [[Foregone Conclusion|for the wider series plot arc]],) but comes off as so [[Narm|painfully forced]] that it ''feels'' like a
* There's a wonderful example in Disney's ''[[Newsies]]''.
* Willie Scott in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* Most ''[[James Bond (
* Likewise, the by-the-numbers romance between [[Austin Powers]] and Foxxy Cleopatra compared with the main plot about Austin and Nigel in ''Goldmember''.
** Add [[Punny Name|Felicity Shagwell]] in ''The Spy Who Shagged Me''.
* [[The Movie]] of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]: Prince Caspian'': Suddenly we get a lot of desperate glances between our Prince and the otherwise forgettable Susan, culminating in a ridiculous [[Last Kiss]] that had the whole theater this troper was in cracking up. In the original book, there is no romance. Period. Oddly enough, the only romance in the series (other than ''A Horse and His Boy'') involves Caspian later, in ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', where he falls in love with and marries {{spoiler|the daughter of a star}}.
* [[The Movie]] of ''[[The
* Parodied ruthlessly in ''[[
* The romance between Spock and Uhura in the ''[[Star Trek (
** They do not have a romance ''plot'' during the movie, but instead a brief revelation of an ongoing relationship, serving the plot purpose of deflating Kirk's ego slightly without derailing the plot for romance angst.
** In fact, the entire romance "plot" seemed to be nothing more than a set up for the "Nyota" joke in the transporter room.
* In ''[[Tombstone]]'', Wyatt's thing with the actress serves little more than to illustrate his inner conflict {{spoiler|and to provide a happy ending}}.
** [[Truth in Television|And, you know, because it actually happened.]]
* ''[[
* ''[[Down Periscope]]'' featured a romance between Kelsey Grammer and Lauren Holly, which was somehow thrown into the middle of a silly comedy about a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] aboard a submarine.
* ''[[Puma Man]]'' has the romance between Tony the Puma Man and Jane Dobson. Its bearing on the plot was minimal at best.
* The mostly-forgotten 2000 film ''Vertical Limit'' is about an expedition to rescue stranded climbers on K2, the second highest mountain in the world. It ends with a kiss between the male lead and a female nurse after a movie whose only hints of sexual or romantic tension where between [[Brother
* ''[[
* The Brian De Palma adaptation of ''Carrie''. It adds a scene not in the book where Tommy dances with Carrie at the prom and kisses her, implying he has fallen for her. Right, except he has a girlfriend (that he is deeply in love with) and only took Carrie to the prom as a favour to her. The remake averts this by having the same scene but then revealing Carrie had just gone into an elaborate day dream. In a bit of irony, the remake shows that Carrie does have a crush on Tommy while the original just had the kiss come out of the blue.
* ''[[Dragonheart]]'' has this between Bowen and Kara, who apparently [[Hooked Up Afterwards]]. (Or for that matter, [[Villainous Crush|between her and Einon]], though it ''does'' help to make him seem creepier.)
* Kelly and Jason in ''[[Mystery Team]]''. Granted, Kelly was essential to Jason's character development, but it's still a fine line.
* Subverted in ''[[
* ''[[Morning Glory]]''. The relationship we're interested in is between the hot young producer and the ancient, grumpy newsman. The tacked-on love affair she has with some stiff from Yale feels, well, somewhat tacked-on.
* The romantic subplot of ''[[The
* The romance between Sam and Mikaela in the first two [[Transformers (
* During the early stages of the ''[[Watchmen]]'' adaptation, one exec purportedly tried to crowbar in a love interest for ''Rorschach''. It didn't take long for that to be shot down. Rorschach is enough of a mess that he can barely accept having friends, much less anyone more intimate - ''and'' he's disgusted by sex.
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== Literature ==
* Parodied in the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novel ''Death or Glory,'' where a footnote describing a popular holodrama called 'Cain's Heroes' made out of Cain's adventures in this book explains that Cain himself particularly loathed the production largely because of a "wholly invented subplot in which one of the militia recruits has a clandestine love affair with him".
* Similarly, the ''[[
* The romance between Jonathan and Shannon in ''A Skeleton in God's Closet''.
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[
* Kennedy and Willow's relationship in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' season 7 which many fans took a disliking to and only seems to exist to appease the gay fans who got pissed off when {{spoiler|Tara died}}. Oh, and it was the only relationship to survive the TV series.
* Arguably Stephen and Helen's little fling in season 2 of ''[[Primeval]]''. Well Stephen did have to do something other than [[Dull Surprise|looking badass with his shirt off]].
* The romance that develops between Mick and Roe in "[[
== Video Games ==
* Happens a lot in video games, too, particularly when the player is given [[But Thou Must!|little or no choice]] in the matter, and/or [[The Chick]] has received very little screen time or is [[The Ditz]]. Examples include too many RPGs to mention, where you get to marry the princess in the end in spite of wanting to stay with your plucky healer sidekick. When they're not the [[Rebellious Princess|same person]], of course.
* Mild subversion in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* Done awfully in underwater ''[[Metroidvania]]'' game ''Aquaria'', where the female protagonist gets hooked up with a mute and shallow love interest halfway through the game, with a few lines of cliched monologue. He will annoyingly follow you around, despite having not anywhere near the heroine's speed or firepower, and his presence is mandatory to proceed in the game.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' fanbase generally considers Aggra to be this for Thrall, considering the character was created from whole cloth specifically to be Thrall's love interest.
* Due to the unfinished nature of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'', none of the four romances are at all developed or given any conclusion. Atton's consists of one conversation that is worded the exact same way for male and female characters, the Disciple's barely exists, the Handmaiden's barely mentions romance at all, and Visas' is barely different with male and female characters. They mostly consist of a few hints that Mira drops.
* All of the romances in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' could have been developed much further than they were, but Aribeth/player in the main campaign does not count as a
** The Bastard of Kosigan has an extremely large number of [[Optional Sexual Encounter|possibilities]]. However, all of the NPCs involved will either die a senseless death, disappear and never be encountered again, or never mention your encounter after they join up with you.
** ''[[A Dance With Rogues]]'' mostly averts this, though it has five romances, because the player's quest to find somewhere she belongs is a major part of the story and the romance partners help out.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' has two of the original four, due to cut content. Which is a shame, because [[Fan
* In ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' plays with this trope. The romances with [[Bi the Way|Leliana]] and [[Depraved Bisexual|Zevran]] have no impact on the plot. However, Alistair's romance becomes extremely relevant when it becomes apparent that {{spoiler|one of you has to die to end the Blight}}, not to mention that with the right Origin {{spoiler|you can become queen.}} Equally, Morrigan's romance ends with her desperately trying to deny her feelings for you {{spoiler|because she has to get you to impregnate her with baby-Cthulhu and then run away through the Eluvian to an entirely different plane of existence.}} Yeah, [[Love Hurts|it doesn't end well.]]
* ''[[Lufia]] II'' has a bit of an example with this with Maxim and Selan. It's a bit of a [[Foregone Conclusion]], given how the game is a prequel and they were a couple in the original Lufia, but it's handled with all the grace of a falling cement truck, making the two go from meeting to marriage in what seems to be a matter of ''days'' in-game, and less than two hours of gameplay.
** Their relation is better handled in the DS remake. The newly paired up Tia and Dekar, however...
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', you can choose a spouse from a wide range of people (race and gender are irrelevant), and all it amounts to is them moving into your house and providing a few services. None are relevant to the main plot, and none come across as particularily romantic - it's just another feature for your home.
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* Tony and Bridget's romance in ''[[An American Tail]]'' was a kind of sudden, forced, [[Love At First Sight]] one, not that it distracted from the overall plot. They do make a cute couple and most fans aren't annoyed by the token romance; many are however, annoyed by Bridget's [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|sudden disappearance in the later sequels]].
* Colin and Lisa from ''[[The Simpsons Movie]].'' Many fans liked it, admittedly, but Colin pretty much exists only for the movie, and he doesn't really have any major influence on the plot; it seems that the writers just decided for some reason that Lisa should have a [[Love Interest]] (perhaps [[Out of Focus|just so she had some sort of subplot at all]]), and they scrapped the idea of using [[Dogged Nice Guy|Milhouse]] because they felt it would interfere with the main show. Colin also disappears for practically the entire second half of the movie (even more than most of the recurring characters), though he gets a quick scene with Lisa at the end.
* The plot of ''[[How to Train Your Dragon]]'' would have played out exactly the same without Hiccup's crush on Astrid and their implied [[Last
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Token Index]]
[[Category:Film Tropes]]
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