Trope Talk: Love Triangles

[@robinsuj]

Every triangle is a love triangle when you love triangles

[@Firegen1]

Especially if you are Telly from Sesame Street

[@Super123456789ki]

Shit you beat me to it

[@Firegen1]

@@Super123456789kiLet's share it. Unless you fancy rock paper scissors bomb?

[@henleyjean9025]

Well, hello Pythagoras

[@alcoholicwitharatproblem4211]

Tru

[@encinocervantez1358]

You could always just pull a George Lucas and solve the triangle by revealing that two corners are long lost siblings

[@carloszapata847]

It is also called "Pulling a Hideaki Anno", as he did the same thing in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

I have seen too much anime to believe that would work.

[@l1mbo69]

@@carloszapata847 Who are the two lost siblings you refer to? Is this something from the Rebuild movies?

[@carloszapata847]

@@l1mbo69 Shinji and Rei.

[@l1mbo69]

@@carloszapata847 wait how are they siblings if rei's soul is made from Lilith And she is supposed to be a clone of Yui (not sure how exactly if neither her soul or body have anything to do with her but anyway) so you can't consider her a daughter of Yui

[@mrspreminger]

I think the funniest way a love triangle was ever solved was in the Kane Chronicles when Sadie’s two love interests ended up merging into one person so she never ended up having to pick between the two

[@fictional-girl_05]

Agreed

[@chloesantos8637]

oooh yeahhhh that did happen lol

[@SingingSealRiana]

Wtf 🤣

[@whynot9579]

Meanwhile carters love interest turned out to be literal clay lol

[@catgj]

@@whynot9579 ah, love life drama

[@small_juice_box]

I feel like the most painful kind of love triangle is when A/B are meant to get together but A/C have way more chemistry and literally everyone else agrees that A/C are the better couple. A/B are basically lovestruck and "destined/ made for each other" but A/C actually get to know each other and their growth together is noticable. Love at first sight is cute but I wanna see growth along with it too!

[@baonguyenxuanthai711]

in my opinion, One of the simplest ways to add nuance to love triangles would be to make the characters more diverse. I briefly mentioned that one of the things I dislike about love triangles is how heteronormative they typically are. Why not introduce a true three-sided love triangle - A loves B, B loves C, C loves A - rather than the typical two-sided triangle in which characters B and C both love A? Not only would the pairing be truer to the trope’s name, it would also introduce at least one bisexual or pansexual character. Give me a bisexual main character who’s struggling between their attraction to a man and a woman. Or throw an asexual or aromantic character into the mix. Maybe even someone who is transgender or nonbinary. If all three characters are friends anyway, why can’t we have some polyamorous representation where they all embark on a loving, consensual relationship with multiple partners? None of these changes to a love triangle’s standard format are that drastic, but they’re different enough to make the old trope more interesting again. I can think of a couple TV shows or movies that subvert the traditional love triangle in one of those ways - “Love, Victor” and “The Half of It” are the two that immediately come to mind - and they’re much more refreshing than re-watching the same straight, sexist and predictable love triangle that’s become so overused. Sure, changing up the characters’ sexualities or gender identities doesn’t automatically save the love triangle from being predictable, unnecessary or cliché, but it does add some nuance to the trope that definitely helps with the problems. Plus, even if the love triangle still ends up falling flat, at least we’ll get some much-needed representation out of it. If straight people can have an endless supply of badly written, mindlessly entertaining romantic tropes, surely the LGBTQ+ community deserves some too. Sorry for the long reply, this is just my take on the how you can make the trope less suck in my eyes lol

[@toe_sucker_4165]

You can just say you're mad at Derrick J Wyatt. His corpse won't get mad at you.

[@PIXELPARAD3]

enchanted (disney movie) be like

[@carlosvalditx00]

The whole Attack on Titan situation can be described with this.

[@solsystem1342]

@@baonguyenxuanthai711 welp, got some new insperation here. About to go write my own queer fan-fic about a relationship between a trans women, her closeted bisexual "girlfriend"/childhood best friend , and their other besty who's an ace guy who owns the bakery they all hang out at. Please hold for bi panic

[@fruity4820]

My favorite love-triangle solution is "A doesn't end up with either B or C, who finally realize A is just a manipulative asshole that has been toying with their emotions this whole time", bonus points if B and C form an wholesome unbreakable friendship as their happily-ever-after

[@cussundriakneal9904]

Or they get together, leaving A dumbfounded. XD

[@linneagustafsson3665]

Sounds really nice. Have you any examples on books where this happens?

[@Tortferngatr]

@@cussundriakneal9904 Oh hey it’s Korra

[@IcyIrony]

The legend of Korra, sort of. If A is Mako. I would maybe not called him a manipulative asshole but it still has the same effect.

[@noteliassmith]

Legally Blonde who

[@Zack-xv2yc]

Meanwhile someone that mostly gives terrible writing advice: *"Good, now do the sacred LOVE DODECAHEDRON!!"*

[@deadlockraven1849]

And remember that certain someone's ultimate advice: If it's a spy story, make it a LOVE BLACK HOLE!

[@thedoomofred5174]

What of the love bow tie, where the one character is in two different love triangles

[@axios4702]

I love the Love Triangle man.

[@patriciamcgeorge2575]

Plato approves

[@MrPineapple045]

*Love Rhombicosidodecahedron*

[@timothymclean]

7:05: And then there's Miraculous Ladybug, whose fanfic community largely revolves around the fact that both of its protagonists are in love with exactly one of the other's identities. The fandom calls this a "love square," and I'm not surprised that it's basically unique because it requires a _very_ specific set of circumstances to pull off. You can't accidentally write a love square.

[@lordfelidae4505]

It’s a pine cycle!

[@candiman4243]

There's also Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which is possibly *more* complicated

[@Davinky948]

Fairly certain for a second it evolved into a love hexagon once Luka and Kagami came into the mix.😂

[@danielamoreno712]

I once saw someone illustrate it as a cube. It made sense and was really confusing at the same time.

[@juliakovacs4885]

@@Davinky948 Don't forget Cat Walker which added another angle to the mess!

[@mochibunnyan6556]

Best love triangle is when B and C start out as fighting for A’s affection, only to end up falling in love with each other instead

[@deborahminter6231]

😂

[@chronicallyonlinelesbian]

korrasami basically

[@LiMe251]

What about when A, B, and C all end up together

[@battlesheep2552]

Enemies with benefits

[@steampunk-llama]

@@LiMe251 polyamory

[@qfqfsaa6558]

Here's an idea, Characters A and B have the usual rivalry over C, and C, seeing all of A's and B's plotting and scheming, immediately assume they're plotting C's murder.

[@disgustof-riley8338]

Hi you are a genius and I'm using that with credit

[@arthurdias6860]

@@disgustof-riley8338 me too

[@ARandomSpace]

That is such a good idea.

[@violetwitch9948]

oh...i would love to see that happen someday in cartoon or anime

[@kaniencrone7438]

This would be a fun twist for a comedy

[@7slavok]

"There's nothing simpler and more painless than forging a lifelong mutualistic bond with another human being and exposing the white-hot core of your fundamental personhood to the unconditional judgement of someone who will on some level always be a stranger to you. Romance is a well-documented straight line from prolonged eye contact to happily ever after." I love that. That is easily the best intro you've ever done.

[@RainaRamsay]

NGL, I came here hoping for an unscripted rant ala time-travelling goat fish, but the incredible depth of sarcasm in the intro was actually even better.

[@TheBrownieQueen]

Good god I held my breath during this entire line.

[@obsessivefanboy]

lmao my thoughts exactly

[@AnimeSunglasses]

I thought I had seen Red at something approaching maximum sarcasm before. In retrospect, I don't know why I thought that.

[@chimera9818]

She is ace

[@jocelyngray6306]

"Stories don't need to be realistic, or healthy, or emotionally well-adjusted, or good examples for real-world behavior - they just need to be interesting." Thank you so much for saying this. Been fighting about this for a while.

[@deerinheadlights7179]

yes, damn it, i am glad to find someone else mentioning that as well

[@Eon2641]

The only time it's fair to criticize a story over showing bad behaviour is when the story tries to pretend it's good behaviour. Morally complicated or evil characters are 100% fine, but those same characters are kinda f*cked when their moral complexities are framed as objectively, unassailably good by the story itself.

[@lunapond7652]

I swear anyone who complains about enemies to lovers needs to hear this so bad. It's fiction, it's entertainment, no I wouldn't marry someone who is trying/tried to kill me in real life.

[@evanellis9178]

@@Eon2641 tru. Its ok to have people do bad stuff in stories, it only becomes a bad thing to do when you pretend it ISNT a bad thing.

[@curiousKuro16]

@evan Ellis Agree, and also uncritical readings of those stories and people mapping them onto real life are more of a problem than the fact that someone wrote the story.

[@theon.1549]

surprised you didn’t mention the hot mess of the Miraculous love square, where Adrien is his own rival without knowing

[@wren_.]

miraculous his love triangle is so ridiculously confusing and convoluted that it probably needs its own trope talk

[@loopsjam4713]

Also Jem and the holograms, where Jerrica is in a love triangle with herself and her popstar persona (who is still just her with an appearance change). Because she never once bothers to tell her boyfriend that she's Jem. And then there's another season of the show where the main villains get shafted and replaced by another trio, and one of them is also in a love triangle with Jerrica and herself, and the boyfriend who's name I don't remember.

[@hanzzel6086]

Yeah, that went from messy, to really messy, to confusing messy, to, to uh, to cleanly wrapped up to every characters satisfaction? Some how?

[@jdprettynails]

I guess there’s a similar thing in Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon loves Tuxedo Mask But Usagi and Mamoru hate each other. Mamoru loves the Moon Princess….who is also Usagi, but neither of them know who she is at the beginning…. I don’t even know what shape to call that.

[@zokerovextis6768]

Concept: A balanced triangle where C starts to become a villain, except A is super into it and ends up joining C on their journey to the dark side

[@nathanjereb9944]

Then both kill B since they both found out that B was toxic

[@zokerovextis6768]

@@nathanjereb9944 Then they live happily ever after ruling their evil empire

[@thatrandomweeb]

See now that's romance I'm interested in

[@uselessgay2341]

someone write a book about this

[@zokerovextis6768]

@@uselessgay2341 challenge accepted

[@atlasweylandeden1091]

“Romance is easy. Everybody knows that.” The sarcasm is strong today.

[@Row_of_E]

You can't NOT be sarcastic when mentioning love triangles

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

It was a real "username checks out" moment

[@Username-cs1bi]

Do you think they are being..... _overly sarcastic??_ ....I'll see myself out.

[@kamikazelemming1552]

"You're not dealing with the average Love Triangle anymore. Behold, the Love Tesseract!" --A commenter I saw describing the insane and incestuous romances of Revolutionary Girl Utena

[@daemondesiree6935]

Also Negima, especially if you add UQ holder into the mix.

[@PeanutStrawberry]

Not to nit pick, like Nando V Movies podcast 'Mostly Nitpicking', but should't it be a Pentachore? A 4D Pyramid?

[@mementomori7160]

"incestuous romances" that looks interesting(not a joke or anything, I like the incest romance, don't ask why, my best answer is "it's a fetish, just like feet or bdsm"), gonna check it out

[@maxanderson3733]

I’m sorry what

[@BawonoSA173]

@@mementomori7160 you're not familiar with a particular Greek tragedy? Or Zeus?

[@VioletEntropy04]

Every now and then, I think of a quote I read somewhere about this trope: "Most of what we call Love Triangles are actually a Love Corner. And most of the time, the woman is backed into it." (I'm might be paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist)

[@bookbook9495]

Every gosh-darn time

[@eadbert1935]

that's what i think a lot. a true love triangle is polyamourous.

[@heinoustentacles5719]

sounds hot.

[@georgiprenatt8270]

I saw that on Pinterest.

[@bignosh]

@@heinoustentacles5719 what

[@michelcosta76]

"Stories don't need to be realistic, or healthy, or emotionally well-adjusted, or good example of real-world behavior - they just need to be interessing" THANK YOU! You got a subscriber with that one, so many people forget about it while writing T_T

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

More people forget about it while criticising writing.

[@SwordTune]

Mostly amateur or hobbyist writers.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

This is true, but there is truth to the idea that portraying a bad thing as if it was a good thing does reveal whether you have some weird morals. This is earnestly one of the most dangerous things about entertainment media. A bad message in a good story can make people internalize bad morals. A good message in a bad story can make people spiteful against a good message because it was portrayed badly. "Birth of a Nation" was considered a revolutionary film. It also skyrocketed the KKK's popularity. Big oof.

[@greason]

And that is why the majority of MCs i read about are badass but horrible people. Cus the interactions are funny and the fights are ruthless. Eg, Advanced player of the tutorial tower, i get stronger the more i eat, transmigrated 66,666 years, magic emperor. I could go on. (These are all online comics btw, trust me, the MCs are hilarious)

[@em5522]

@@Mecharnie_Dobbs then you have those who try to disguise their distaste for certain subject matters with a "what abt the children" argument, but in content that's clearly meant for a mature audience who should already know better.

[@Hey-Its-Dingo]

My personal favorite version of the Love Triangle is the variant of "A loves B, but is societally bound to C." Where C is actually a close friend to both A and B, and actually encourages the two's romance while helping keep it secret from society. It's very rare, and I can't even recall any stories that do it, even though I know it HAS been done before. (I call it a "Facade Triangle" because it technically isn't a real love triangle, but the characters have to pretend that it IS one for the conflict)

[@NEWFIExGAMING]

The Fate/ series did this with Lancelot, Gwynivere & Arthur (Artoria). Artoria being biologically female and heterosexual doesn't really have a romantic interest in Gwynivere like in the normal Arthurian mythos, allowing Lancelot & Gwynivere's love in secret. however, She (Artoria) is later societally bound to go to war against him, after their affair was ousted to the public, in a blind attempt to uphold her image as "King"

[@amberdent651]

Ah yes, the beloved "I let my queen bang my bodyguard because I'm not particularly interested in her anyway and it makes things easier" trope. Bonus points if C isn't straight anyway, so it's no skin off their nose if A and B get together. Extra bonus points if, as stated, all three are close friends and the tension comes from outsiders trying to ascertain what's going on with the whole deal. Maybe C can't be outed, or A & B's kids can't be found out to be illegitimate, or outsiders are assuming they're poly and that's not acceptable, etc etc. It can be really fun.

[@Gboy86ify]

So C is a cuckold then?

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

@@Gboy86ify Not in this context because they are only partners for tax purposes, if you will, though the threat of being called one may add some drama to proceedings. In stories it seems to get used by beard relationships or arranged marriages more often than most.

[@angelaphsiao]

That’s definitely fun, but also not at all a love triangle if C isn’t actually interested in A or B.

[@thomasfoster4370]

red missed one: when B & C are fighting over A, but suddenly A is shown to be in an actually healthy but unknown relationship with character D, who has been a somewhat background character up to that point

[@nobody5333]

The best part is when character B and C are realizing this fact at the height of or just after their final conflict.

[@marocat4749]

That movie with meryl streep, nruce willis and the other aczress. And immortality.

[@Maria.Annette]

But what if, and just hear me out on this one, after realizing that A is happy with D, B and C just start hanging out, and end up falling in love with each other instead.

[@The_Industry]

@@Maria.Annette Ah, a helpless romantic I see... Can't say I blame you.

[@Punaparta]

I read one story where the premise was that characters B & C were both secretly pining for each other, while at the same time utterly convinced that the other is pining for character A. So both of them had decided to sacrifice their own happiness by, essentially, B trying to convince A of what a great person C is, and vice versa. Then, halfway through the story, A's _actual_ love interest, character D, showed up. And the fun part was that despite A having no idea of what was up with B & C, D manages to figure out the whole plot only from A's description of weird behaviour exhibited by them. So D meets B & C and goes on to make out with A right in front of them (to A's embarrassment) and somehow this leads to B & C ending up together.

[@theimperviousfirecracker7934]

This video is now 9 months old. Whatever child was concieved when the video was uploaded is now born. Congradulations, on... something!

[@lysergidedaydream5970]

This is whack I struggle to put into words just how whack this is How did this enter your brain How Por que

[@user-id1vw5lo5p]

This is the oddest comment I have ever seen

[@kylespevak6781]

Con Grads

[@ItzJuanG]

Do you think a couple saw this video and said "Now it's the time"

[@jayl9110]

@@ItzJuanG Wait did you not?

[@nirast2561]

Tangentially related: To this day I wish the original Star Wars trilogy was released today just to see the meltdown that would occur when it's revealed that 'Luia' are siblings.

[@chrisschirripa5917]

That what also makes the OG awesome. I mean aside from many things

[@airplanes_aren.t_real]

I feel like half of the fandom would be grossed out and stop shipping while the other keeps doing it but way more

[@grzegorzha.]

That would be so hilarious.

[@axios4702]

"Luia"... God the cringe... Agh!

[@artemiswolf4508]

God twitter would have exploded

[@laurel9629]

This video was already 18 minutes long, so I understand why Miraculous Ladybug’s unique “love square” didn’t get an honorable mention. Still, it’s a hilarious solution to the “conga line” in which all four nodes are two people, and they somehow managed to add two MORE nodes (Lila and Luka) for good measure. Truly Paris is the city of love.

[@nathanjereb9944]

Or the city of romance conflict

[@guggelguggel7491]

The disrespect on Kagami smh 😔

[@samkeiser9776]

Of you want to get technical you have the square, Adrian/cat noir -> ladybug, Marinette/Ladybug -> adrian. But both Marinette and Adrian have a few extra characters who are in love with them either as one shot villains, drama bait, or romantic rivals that clearly have no chance (usually for Marinette) I’m not sure what the show is actually going for, but watching the characters bumble around it all is very humorous for all the wrong reasons.

[@pancakeandwaffle4849]

Now with the invention of Multi Mouse and Kuro Neko it’s actually a love hexagon I think

[@jamscharacteranalyst5161]

@@pancakeandwaffle4849 Cat Walker. Adrien's other identity is Cat Walker. Also, people usually ship Aspik and Multimouse

[@bbbeansss4757]

Of course, there's also always the Rick Riordan option of resolving a love triangle by just merging the two love interests into one person

[@chimera9818]

It did work well in the power system and that one is Egyptian god and the other is his shaman

[@dinglerofl4784]

Except one end of said love bendy line is a 5000 year old god who in some versions of mythology is married, the other end is still quite a bit older than the love interest and the main love interest is 13. Like, cool way to resolve it, still kinda creepy.

[@thats_so_laven]

That just sounds like polyamory with extra steps

[@AntediluvianRomance]

I remember some obscure old fantasy novel that did just that in the end, so that the heroine would get all the best from her two men.

[@kuroneko3837]

Excuse me?

[@jasonbrose6743]

I'm somewhat surprised Terrible Writing Advice hasn't been summoned yet. You cannot stop his fury. He cannot be held at bay. You cannot deny him his due.

[@deborahminter6231]

He does have a video about love triangles!

[@xyzaxy230]

@@deborahminter6231 Some say that's every of his videos

[@aimfulRenegade]

i said the same thing! he's literally known as the puny love triangle man!

[@normanmai7865]

He comes seeking the weed of Olympus. Do not deny him his doobie.

[@mathsethorus89.5]

IM NOT THE ONLY ONE. thank you! Yes

[@generalx13]

Flash back to the girl I liked in high school that had a revolving door of suitors that she kept just close enough to always get free things from them without actually committing to anyone. Turns out my love triangle was actually a pentagram...

[@thomasffrench3639]

You played yourself. Unfortunately I was stuck on a girl who lost interest in me sophomore year, when I had so many other options.

[@cheskaarana6097]

F

[@northernpuffer9222]

Grindset girlboss.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

How prity was she?

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

@@thomasffrench3639 I had 0 options in basic school, and only ever had a crush on one girl in middle school, who was single but we wherent each others type.

[@joshuahancock2079]

This whole video I was like: “so when are we gonna address the dire wolf in the room (by which I mean Jacob from Twilight)”. Was not disappointed.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

He's the poster boy for character assassination and hand of author. Was waiting for him that whole section.

[@Thenoobestgirl]

@@BonaparteBardithion lol you haven't met Tamlin then, have you?

[@BonaparteBardithion]

@@Thenoobestgirl Not yet. Which series? I'll add it to the list if you think it's good.

[@mariahhenderson1470]

@@BonaparteBardithion it's from the book series a court of thorns and roses

[@slayer0235]

@@Thenoobestgirl Or Richard from Anita Blake Vampire -Humper- Hunter.

[@TechBearSeattle]

"Bonded to one, in love with another." The classic Lancelot-Guenevere -Arthur triangle. Subverted in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon, where Lancelot was in love with Arthur and having Arthur's wife was the closest he could get in that milieu.

[@cygnahoshiko4629]

Honestly, the T.H. White version was pretty...there's nothing preventing you from reading it as "this is a polyamorous relationship, but society gives them no way to explain it as such".

[@Athena963]

Also subverted in High noon over Camelot by the mechanisms. They're just openly poly and it's great.

[@Kagomai15]

The Mechanisms's album High Noon Over Camelot has the three of them in a relationship together. "Blood and Whiskey" is their song, it's really good. The whole album is really good. We even get trans rep from Mordred :D

[@MrJethroha]

The immortal triangle as it is called is reinterpreted in every major iteration of Arthurian legends that comes out. In T.H. White's classic retelling, the triangle goes through multiple versions. In the beginning, Lance and Gwen actually regard each other as rivals for Arthur's attention! It also intimately involves Lancelot's relationship with Elaine (the mother of his son) and God, who White argues is the real third member of the immortal triangle instead of Arthur. Eventually the thing resolves on a "true-ish" triangle in which Arthur, Gwen, and Lance all love each other dearly and the arrangement is understood but unspoken until the machinations of Mordred breaks everything. If the ending of the story wasn't a foregone conclusion, at any one point it would be impossible to guess how the love triangle would resolve itself.

[@petroslir4733]

I read "boned to the bone" and I love it

[@fictional-girl_05]

To this day, the most creative and hilarious solution to a love “triangle” was in The Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan. One of the protagonists, Sadie, had a crush on two different guys. One she couldn’t be with because he was an immortal god and the other because he was slowly dying. However, in the last book of the trilogy, the god takes the dying guy as his host, keeping him grounded in the mortal world and keeping the dying guy alive so Sadie can be with both of them.

[@caldegers909]

Thank you so much for that comment.

[@fangsabre]

And then Sadie immediately freaks out about the situation before realizing that having a boyfriend and a half is actually a pretty sweet deal compared to the previous situation.

[@lt.swampfox7339]

Truly a Hannah Montana situation

[@Child_of_the_Void]

Is it polyamorus if they literally share a body?

[@tannertadlock7741]

Using Gale as an example about character assassination for a love triangle, his end result is totally in line with his behavior. He’s selfish, he actively undermines Katniss, and (the big one to her) can’t believe Peeta can come back to himself. He truly believes all Capitol civilians are evil and complicit, but sees at several turns that it’s blatantly not true. The end where he.. does his incredibly evil thing for “the common good” adds up when you consider that he never cared about casualty.

[@alexanderguerrero347]

True but wasn’t the point that Katniss was like Gale until she went to the capitol and started meeting people changing her opinion and winning the games and getting better. Where as Gale stayed in the district and at one point was whipped as a result of the capitol bearing down on district 12 because of katniss. Like it makes sense Gale goes deeper into the rabbit hole but not because he’s selfish but life just gave him a shitty hand.

[@tannertadlock7741]

@@alexanderguerrero347 yeah absolutely. His view is skewed by his experiences, as are her’s. And that’s important to the story and characters. But it defined the love triangle in those ways too. God I love those books.. really the best of the genre.

[@Cheeseanonioncrisps]

The most interesting thing though is that he doesn't actually *do* the evil thing Katniss ends up rejecting him for. Like (spoilers spoilers spoilers) he was not the one who ultimately chose to drop the bombs that killed Prim, or the one who ensured that she would be on the battlefield when they went off. In fact, it's never even 100% confirmed that her death was orchestrated by the rebels, and those bombs weren't just dropped by the Capitol, who could easily have come up with the same idea. But it doesn't matter, precisely because it all matches up so well with Gale's previous behaviour. Katniss doesn't need to know whether his specific bombs were the ones that killed Prim, because she knows (and has known for a very long time) that he is the type of person who would see bombs like that as acceptable to use. Prim's death doesn't actually reveal anything new about Gale's character and the way he thinks about the world, it just makes the consequences of that kind of personality and worldview that much more obvious, so that Katniss can't ignore them any longer.

[@Rosie-yt8nd]

yes, you understand the progression of his character. and it also serves a narrative purpose *besides* being Katniss's love interest. he shows how easy it is to fall into this way of thinking. to justify cruelty when its towards "the enemy". it raises the question "where do we draw the line?". and that if we don't, we risk becoming the next "them", like Coin is in the end. we all harbour the potential to be that. being good is a choice, and it can be really hard to hold onto.

[@catherinepoteat]

I personally don’t believe it’s character assassination because it was never a perfect love triangle. Katniss states from the beginning that Gale is like a brother, and that she never wants kids. Peeta is always pointed out to be significant to Katniss’s life in that he saves her, doesn’t just walk with her, he saves her from starvation and notices her singing and her dress and her hair and is so smart in that he can play up his love. And Katniss sees Peeta’s love and he makes her more gentle and kind and loving to the point where she CAN have kids, it’s such good character development for Katniss. Gale made Katniss strong enough to survive the Games, but Peeta made her strong enough to live afterwards.

[@the13thgoogler]

They say that if you you look in a mirror and say Love Triangle three times, you will summon the eldritch God known as JP, God of Terrible Writing Advice himself.

[@chickenman6308]

I can almost hear him yelling about something I don’t understand.

[@viruschris3160]

I don’t even know who that is.

[@sarahvunkannon7336]

@@viruschris3160 Terrible Writing Advice is another KZbin channel that discusses various tropes and story types and writing techniques. He does so by pretending to give really bad advice, advising you to do something and then sarcastically describing all the negative effects it will have as good things and/or "oh that'll NEVER happen!" This backwards style is actually really good for giving you some solid advice on what to do, as well as what to avoid and why you should avoid it. It's animated, the creator has the perfect voice to make this style of advice sound hilarious, and there are a lot of jokes in his videos. I recommend it if you enjoy this channel and wouldn't mind content just like this but funnier.

[@viruschris3160]

@@sarahvunkannon7336 I see. Thank you. I shall check him out.

[@thefurry7165]

@@sarahvunkannon7336 the issue is that a lot of the time, the dude isn't even describing bad tropes or anything, he just rants(?) about tropes he doesn't like and makes them look bad by trying to create the worst possible example of that trope, unlike Red here who usually provides examples of tropes done both well and wrong and actually explains why things work or don't work

[@comixproviderftw_02]

Ah yes, an easy trope to force conflict on our main characters.

[@Ajehy]

And piss off half the fan base.

[@comixproviderftw_02]

@Leo the Anglo-Filipino Kiss From A Rose by Seal

[@SonsOfLorgar]

And completely unnessesarily fuck up multiple generations of people by misrepresenting posessiveness and jealousy as if it's love.

[@starmaker75]

Also this just makes me wished bad writing writing advice would do a collab

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

Here an idea have character have a relationship already explore that or explore polygamy how does affect relationship with everyone around said character instead

[@rosypink1856]

When ever I see a love triangle, I see it as "the obvious choice" and "the childhood friend"

[@adriftinglink]

The hunger games approach TM

[@royalbandit8106]

You know there's a problem when you're romance starts to sound more like trigonometry.

[@Duiker36]

It's a sine of the times.

[@danielschott4639]

Oh, don't get me started on that tangent.

[@RacingSnails64]

Good point actually lol!

[@macknight2352]

so true, I cosine this statement

[@popstarchamp]

As long as the affection between two of the people involved are equilateral I think it'll be alright

[@aidanshea5942]

There's one more solution that wasn't touched on: The "Troy and Abed" solution where B and C have a formal agreement to pursue A equally and fairly and let A decide between them after a set period of time.

[@jooree7696]

Community is always right. Expecially Troy and Abed.

[@0bsidianfire948]

There's a webcomic I really like (My Dear Cold-Blooded King) that goes this route. Two adoptive brothers who are both interested in the same girl *discuss* with her that they are doing this and that they'll respect her decision in the end... and the girl agrees. What makes this work though is the mutual respect between all parties about the girl's opinion. And the girl is on the more logical side, so when she finally thinks through the decision, everyone knows she's not making it rashly. There's also enough story happening *after* she makes the decision that we get to see the changed relationship dynamics between the three of them and how her decision was the "right" one beyond "two hot people got together". Essentially, the author did her work to develop everyone's characters far beyond "interested in x person" and it paid off rather well.

[@zainmudassir2964]

Troy and Abed are the best!

[@timothymclean]

This might just be me, but "We won't sabotage each other and will respect our mutual crush's decision on who to date" seems like a _really_ weird thing to need a formal agreement.

[@maseoembry4165]

Didn’t that triangle end when the Librarian called Abed weird and Troy got offended?

[@Kahadi]

The funniest kind of love triangles are the imaginary ones. This is when the author doesn't set a love triangle at all, shows no real romantic interest between A and B, intending from the start to have A and C end up together... But all of the fans want A and B together and insist there's romance there. There's no real love triangle in the story, fans just insert their own. What's even funnier is when the author puts only a one sided romantic sub-plot between A and C, develops a strong bond between A and B, leading many fans to think A and B will end up together despite no direct evidence that bond is in any way romantic, then suddenly puts A and C together without ever hinting that C's one sided romantic interest wasn't one sided.

[@NEWFIExGAMING]

this is a clear AoT callout and I'm all for it.

[@mact9379]

I was thinking of BLEACH, though admittedly I haven't read or watched it since around the time Aizen became a villain

[@brxzbze]

This is a lot of love triangles, actually

[@mahirchowdhury4448]

Naruto

[@jacebralor]

Kinda sounds like a call out of Harry Potter. Many fans were expecting Harry/Hermione, only for it to end up Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron pretty much out of nowhere in book six. Personally I suspect Molly was dosing people with love potions behind the scenes...

[@gabrielfranca2366]

"Romance is easy. Everybody knows that. There's nothing simpler and more painless than forging a lifelong mutualistic bond with another human being and exposing the white-hot core of your fundamental personhood to the unconditional judgement of someone who will on some level always be a stranger to you. Romance is a well-documented line from prolonged eye contact to happily ever after." -Red, Overly Sarcastic Productions This just felt like a quote I needed to write down. The dripping sarcasm, just wow 👌😩

[@deborahminter6231]

😁 It's a good line!!!

[@TheTinman1996]

Dripping? Bub, that sarcasm is CASCADING!

[@daviddaugherty2816]

​@@TheTinman1996 Might you say it's... _overly_ sarcastic?

[@alenor210]

I think this is the first Trope Talk where Red didn’t mention Avatar, which is funny since Korra has such a unique love triangle. It starts out as a bog-standard mock triangle, but then the characters recognize that their situation is unhealthy and not worth it, break it off entirely, grow closer as friends, and it ends with the two girls in a relationship with the guy as the awkward but well -meaning friend.

[@jonnestyronicha497]

Yeah haha those are my favorite love triangles, where two characters of the same gender (preferrably both boys bc I'm gay lol) fight over another character of the opposite gender but end up falling in love with one another. It's weirdly uncommon, both because it's not straight so the mass heterosexual audience aren't a big fan of it, and because most queer authors who do love triangles typically do them with all members as one gender, a character choosing between love interests of different genders, nonbinary/genderfluid characters, or polyamory.

[@monsieurromanbedlam5101]

@@jonnestyronicha497 you actaully know stories like that? Where in a love triangle the two boys get together?

[@catherinepoteat]

Ok but the breakup scenes are so good. They’re all extremely uncomfortable and cringe, but it’s so important to show break up scenes. It’s so important to show that these characters have changed since the beginning of the relationships, and cannot be together because of reasons. Like, Korra and Mako fight, which is so good, but then they have a serious discussion, and it is so good to portray that stuff, because it showed that they could still be friends, and everything will still be awkward, but it’s ok.

[@brandonlyon730]

Eh, I always found Asami to be boring. Post season 1 she barely have a point being there other then provide money and transportation for the team, and be eye candy. Had Asami been a guy would’ve anyone have cared about that romance with Korra in the end if it was a normal straight relationship? I wished they went with her originally being an equalist spy working with her father, it would’ve made her more interesting, and maybe give her a redemption arc after the equalists fall.

[@jonnestyronicha497]

@@monsieurromanbedlam5101 Lol fun fact, the only story like that which I know of isn't actually a love triangle, it's something more of a spy agency which hired two male orphans to win the affections of a very important girl--the boys ended up falling for each other, but I don't think it really counts as a love triangle (it's The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich if you're interested). Aside from that, I've literally never read a story like that. Although I've definitely tried to write one (and quickly lost steam bc of writer's block but never mind that haha)

[@JackRackam]

IMO the directional triangle is the most interesting and "true" love triangle, though I'm sad to say I can't think of any examples besides the Casca-->Griffith-->Guts-->Casca triangle from Berserk. Something tells me there must be a case where someone tried to make it straight by adding a fourth character but I'm hard pressed to come up with one of those either

[@swoowootv9244]

Never thought you were a berserk fan but this is a pleasant surprise

[@dangernoodledee111]

I think the love square appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream

[@judeconnor-macintyre9874]

I call that the love circle.

[@Arrzarrina]

There's also the example Red gave in the video of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.

[@GuiSmith]

I actually have this in a thing I’m writing (the directional love triangle, not a love square). Super in progress though, so it’s got nothing to show for it. 🤷

[@stormRed]

🎶"The math of love triangles Isn't hard to learn" "You're not taking in what we're saying We're a little bit concerned" "Yes, the math of love triangles is as simple as can be Whichever Tom or Dick, I might pick The center of the triangle is lil' old me!" "Actually a triangle has multiple centers!"🎶

[@Valery0p5]

"Triangles are my favorite shape, three points where two lines meet..."

[@tariqthomas9090]

🎶 “Let's take a look at what this line bisects. Is that spelled B-I-S-E-X?”🎶

[@Bingbing5783]

We’re starting to suspect You don’t sincerely want to know about triangles

[@RasmusVJS]

"Lady, we're all gay We're getting nothing out of this"

[@tobistein6639]

Crazy Ex Girlfriend is a fucking MASTERPIECE

[@goldenpersonwhoexists8834]

Every love triangle ive read has a good twist for the first 15-30 chapters (in case of manga, webtoons) and then devolves into overdone content that makes me want to hurt people.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

Mee remembering the 150 long love traingle arc in komi san that made 2/3 od the fandom to quit the manga

[@kardnails8729]

Every time. Now, I enjoy love triangles myself, but the authors don't know when to stop milking.

[@timothymclean]

Misread that as "devolves into overdone combat". Which is weird, because fight scenes are a relatively rare way to resolve love triangles.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

@@timothymclean this is now an actual interesting love traingle. A love battle royal

[@aweirdoandaphone4135]

It’s okay, you can say True Beauty

[@jasontankable]

I think my favorite take on this trope was the film "My Best Friend's Wedding". Julia Roberts is the protagonist, but she's a C that thinks she's the B. The movie is about her slowly realizing that.

[@Kaito57]

Dang it ! I can't even read "Love Triangle" anymore without thinking about Terrible Writing Advice lol

[@lazulenoc6863]

All according to plan.

[@cameoshadowness7757]

Dead ass! I'm the same!

[@samhovey3200]

Was expecting him to pop up

[@readingking1421]

I'm kinda stunned he doesn't have a dedicated video out for it tbh.

[@TupocalypseShakur]

@@readingking1421 he does

[@LordOfTheTermites]

One fun quote from No Evil: "they're not a love triangle, they're a love line segment with a very ambitious point."

[@veggiedragon1000]

Yeee, a fellow No Evil fan, kinda rare to see outside the direct community.

[@emperorrevan6992]

Majority of all love triangles described with one sentence.

[@jjtomecek1623]

You simply can't NOT read that in Kitty's voice

[@angeldude101]

When I first heard about the love triangle, I just could not understand how it was a triangle when it was just three nodes in a line. The cyclic love triangle was pretty much the only one that actually looked like a triangle to me.

[@dandelionmosssycamore8218]

Shout out to all NoEvil fans!

[@candyloverthegreat871]

Ok so what if: A B and C are in mock love triangle. A and B end up together. C loses and chooses A's happiness. B dies. C has to explore how to comfort and help A instead of focusing on their own interests and feelings.

[@wren_.]

or: A, B, and C are in a mock love triangle, but C ALSO has a secret crush on B. A and B get together, but something happens that knocks A out of the picture (death, kidnapping, whatever) for a little bit. B and C have to work together, and eventually B develops a crush on C too. then they both confess their feelings and end up falling in love while grieving/rescuing/doing whatever over A.

[@toe_sucker_4165]

@@wren_. I think something kinda like that happened in season 2 of Harley Quinn

[@solsystem1342]

@@wren_. so then the node character actually ends up being B in a V relationship instead of A. That's genius.

[@deborahminter6231]

I saw a mini series like that!

[@xyzharrishuang]

​@@wren_.TVD But it's not secret, it's really obvious

[@danidm5820]

14:10 It's funny how Red casually explains "You could solve this by writing actual characters" like... yes, that is TECHNICALLY a good solution, just git gud and write decently and you'll solve the problem of bad writing.

[@luan28martins4]

I love how Red brutally dissects "who will she choose" with academic precision.

[@mxjosh2000]

Somewhere Rebecca Bunch has just started to sing: "what's a girl to do when she's stuck between men? It's like she's a Barbie with two perfect Kens But wait, it just occurred to me Maybe I can solve this with geometry Yes, smarts can help this situation untangle So professors, teach me the math of love triangles!"

[@jjjabbers]

Feels so good to not be the only one who knows about Crazy Ex Girlfriend

[@franziska9260]

sounds like its turning steamy up until the part where it goes "lady we're all gay we get nothing out of this"

[@underplague6344]

Imagine a love triangle where A and B are just friends with no interest in each other, and c is just an obsessed creep that wants one or both and assumes theyre dating.

[@porcellaneousfankus3428]

huh

[@bananabanana484]

Kinda sounds like a neat dissection. Might be hard to pull of though

[@braindavidgilbert3147]

@@bananabanana484 unless C is a bad guy

[@joyflameball]

@@braindavidgilbert3147 Antagonist doesn't mean "bad guy." The antagonist is the guy who opposes the protagonist, who's the main character.

[@braindavidgilbert3147]

@@joyflameball yeah your right, whoops

[@mirandamullet8334]

Here’s one way to destroy a love triangle: Have all thre parties agree it’s stupid, get them each a separate love interest, or quit on romance, and become a core friend group. It can even be an origin story for why these old characters are so chummy with each other.

[@axios4702]

"Like that could ever happen"

[@tobistein6639]

“So how’d your little adventuring party come together?” “Well, we *used* to come together, now we just slay dragons.”

[@albanfluffanimation7688]

Or Polygamy

[@PhoenixAgent003]

Filing that one away for later.

[@ICircuit64]

Kinda happened in HIMYM

[@oxymoron02]

As an aromantic, your description of romantic relationships at the start, though already tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, was even funnier 😂

[@fntthesmth423]

it was so salty i have become beef jerkey

[@nathanjereb9944]

@@fntthesmth423 with a side of fries

[@anselmareich3549]

Same

[@dunbass7149]

What is that ?

[@sdrawkcab_emanresu]

@@dunbass7149 She can not feel romantic attraction. (She also can not feel sexual attraction, but thats asexual and a different thing, she just happens to be both)

[@aakarshasoka6335]

"The most important writing trope." -Terrible Writing Advice.

[@rasmusmalmberg6468]

Concept: A and B are competing for C, except they fall in love with eachother first and their main goal is to establish a polycule with C.

[@cheskaarana6097]

Reminds me of the new Gossip Girl. The longtime het couple accidentally realize they both have been pining for their other openly pan friend. The guy in the couple subsequently realizes he's bi and the girl genuinely supports him exploring it. Some random threesomes later (which the friend helped them jumpstart it and helped them work out the two's communication issues), the couple both realize they actually don't want just some stranger threesomes, they want throuple with the friend. Sorry if I can't explain it as well as I'd like to.

[@solsystem1342]

I'm not sure that that's a healthy setup. Sort of unicorn hunting feeling. I'd rather see them start to all develop feelings for eachother through their collective shenanigins, only to eventually confess their feelings and hash things out into polyamory. Ie: basically they all end up forming a friend group and rather then competing they all end up growing closer naturally through external struggles or something.

[@maucazalv903]

I'm watching iron-blood orphans and the Atra/Mika/Kudelia dynamic KIND OF do this? Like, at one point the crew meets a guy with a harem, and one of the girls explains that some people have too much to give that they can share it with people and at that point, Atra accepts the idea of the three of them being together I say "kind of" because Mika is the "weird-cold" type of protagonist so I have no idea if he is interested in one of them in the first place (he kisses Kudelia at some point but according to him it was purely "you look cute" and minutes before he witnessed the guy of the harem saying that with death living people seems more beautiful and BEFORE that he was questioning if he was becoming into a killing machine so I'm 50% that he only kiss her to feel something besides "it feels cool to kill people.... *what did I just say?* ?") and also Atra seems to be the only one that knows that they are in a "triangle situation" xd

[@sweetlittlenothing7696]

And then C is revealed to be aroace and just wants to stay friends with the both of them.

[@wren_.]

or: B and C are both competing for A, but C also has a secret crush on B. A’s affection may or may not be reciprocated

[@AzariahMarinaStarcaster]

"Stories don't need to be realistic or healthy or emotionally well-adjusted or good examples of real world behavior. They just need to be interesting." I feel like this is really important

[@mykodibear17]

It's interesting, because the problem isn't the stories themselves, it's that we live in a culture where those unhealthy thoughts/behaviors/relationships are perceived as normal, but then our culture perceives those things as normal in no small part because of the prominence of romanticizing unhealthy thoughts/behaviors/ relationships in those stories. It's kind of a catch-22. Maybe the romanticizing is the difference? Like, by all means write stories with drama and interest and unhealthy things happening, but do so while acknowledging that these things are inherently bad for the character? I mean, I'd love to read a book exactly like Twilight where the author and at least some of the characters acknowledge how messed up it all is. I feel like that'd just add more drama and tension. Imagine something like Twilight where Jacob isn't character assassinated, but instead is just genuinely concerned for the increasing abuse warning signs and has to try and get Bella to see it without pushing her so hard that she'll lock him out. It's still from Bella's perspective though so you get all the dramatic irony of her being in denial about it. That sounds waaaay more interesting than Twilight actually was.

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@mykodibear17 eh, but then it can come off as clunky and weak writing

[@mykodibear17]

@@thomasffrench3639 Only if it's poorly written, but that goes for anything.

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@mykodibear17 that’s true, but sometimes it just can’t be integrated well into the story

[@timothymclean]

One point I'm genuinely surprised Red didn't really touch on* is that the relationship between B and C should be almost as important as that between either of them and A. If B and C have no dynamic beyond both wanting to smooch A, their competition loses _so_ much dramatic potential. It's like the difference between a shonen hero fighting their childhood friend who slid into villainy, and a shonen hero fighting some strong guy that wants to blow up the world or something. Example from this season's anime: My Dress-Up Darling seems to be setting up a love triangle between: Gojo, a dude who's really good at making clothes; Kitagawa, an aspiring cosplayer; and Sajuna, an established cosplayer who's impressed by the costume Gojo made for Kitagawa. If Kitagawa and Sajuna were just competing over Gojo's affection and needle, Sajuna would just be an irritating complication. But Kitagawa is a _huge_ fan of Sajuna's cosplay, to an extent that Sajuna finds kind of irritating. This is bound to develop into a friendship or professional rivalry that's _far_ more interesting than just "We have to be in the same room sometimes because both of us like Gojo" ever could be. *She sort of brushes against it at several points, but never really makes a point about it.

[@alexandermostepan8891]

Thing is, this further proves how difficult Love Tri is, since many people will be more fascinated by their rivalry than actual romance with Protag. Which should still matter.

[@slowmonet]

"...affection and needle" *ZING*

[@Rita-kx3yr]

Honestly if the rivalry is too interesting, I start shipping the rivals together instead. lol

[@MrGksarathy]

Another great example is Komi Can't Communicate, in which both Komi and Manbangi are super into Tadano, but they are also best friends and good friends with Tadano. I especially love how the two of them affirmed that their friendship is more important than any love rivalry.

[@AdeptArcanist]

Yes! My ideal love triangle is one where the three points all have close relationships with one another and hopefully a good dynamic as a group too, so that B and C’s friendship is as important to them as their rivalry - or even better, where they’re *all* bi so that the “obvious” love triangle slowly turns into a true choice love triangle where all three is both presented with a choice and sort of competing with both other characters until they *finally* realize that polyamory is an option and they can all just live together. :p

[@NightcrawlerZERO]

There's also the Star Wars method of resolving a love triangle, by revealing one branch of the triangle to be incestuous.

[@lynxfresh5214]

Incest aside it's still awkward when siblings are involved in the same love triangle. Let's say B and C are siblings and both are in love with A meaning B and C have romantic love for A while both naturally having familial love for each other. Honestly it puts A in an impossible situation and often leads to unnecessary drama that can damage any future plotlines.

[@marocat4749]

Not always a hinderance.

[@shadowofdimentio4618]

@@lynxfresh5214 It also tends to really hurt A's character and our investment when B and C prioritize their relationship with A over each other. Like, B saves A instead of C and everyone is like "that makes sense, cus he likes A". I'm sorry, you are literally related and love C and have only met A like a week ago and they have done nothing but say how much they like one thing and that they are interested in you. Please for the love of god think about your sibling as more than rival jesus.

[@zigzaghyena]

​@@shadowofdimentio4618 Yeah, B and C cutting and running from the triangle is really the only good way to end that. Even still A's character may be soured in the eyes of the audience.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Or as I like to call it, lazy writing.

[@edenmckinley3472]

Seriously, I need to write a story with a balanced love triangle where the node character dies and the rivals forge an unbreakable friendship through their shared grief. That would be super interesting.

[@lonestarr1490]

If you say so..

[@deborahminter6231]

I don't know about rivals, but in real life shared grief is sometimes the catalyst for a relationship developing.

[@trinat3074]

Vampire Diaries likes doing this with siblings lol

[@solsystem1342]

I'd love to see a story like this where the characters are openly exploring their options (ie: not exclusive yet) but form a deep bond with eachother. Then this story about healing and grief for the partner/friend that they lost. That'd be a really unique exploration of grief, dating and, love

[@karmachan4374]

The Lorien Legacies kinda did that, but no spoilers, go read the books.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Imagine a triangle where B and C bond over their mutual attraction to A, even before A knows either of the two like them. B and C getting along well, subtly trying to romance A but not sabotauging one another and even perhaps *mutually* aiding each other at times. Helping each other make Valentine's cards, pining over A together, sharing tales of their favorite experiences they have had with A. ...imagine the eventual reveal that A at some point had noticed, and was, let's say, less than opposed to being their reason to be such good buddies.

[@yserareborn]

Sounds kinda like Toradora? That had more of a love square though.

[@erinyes3943]

I can’t remember if I’ve actually read that somewhere or if I’m just mixing it up with fan interactions I’ve seen in the wild

[@safahasan486]

that one episode of community where troy and abed both like that librarian girl

[@alianar.d.8724]

Reminds me of the love triangle in Komi-san can't communicate

[@RacingSnails64]

Lol i like that

[@andrewwang8021]

I would love to see this channel interact with Terrible Writing Advice one of these days.

[@timothymclean]

This woulda been the perfect episode to do it, what with TWA's running gag. Hm. Would you rather see Red in TWA's artstyle or vise versa?

[@finaldusk1821]

Trope Talks: How NOT to write crossovers! (ft. JP)

[@jakec9522]

That would be a No Way Home level crossover. 😊

[@flockinify]

The real irony is that Terrible Writing Advice is generally more sarcastic than Overly Sarcastic Productions.

[@senpieloven]

That'd be amazing

[@dionysustheoryopagite2722]

The thing about these “love triangles” is that they’re not always triangles. Unless all three love and respect each other, then it’s a love lambda or a 1dimensional line

[@axios4702]

Problem is most people that enjoy this kind of stories dont understand what those two words mean.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

As I've seen it put, a decent chunk of the "triangles" are really just "love corners" where for some reason the protagonist is forced by the universe (read: plot) to choose between two specific people who are usually *both* shallow and unappealing.

[@adityashankarnarayanan]

Red literally mentions this in the Twelfth Night summary video where she says "This is an example of an actual love triangle, and not one of those love bent-lines".

[@thomasffrench3639]

Okay, but love triangles are way more clear than “love corner” which can mean the “romantic body part”.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

@@thomasffrench3639 Citation needed on "love corner" meaning what you're implying it does since I have literally heard and seen dozens upon dozens of stupid euphemisms for genitalia, and that was definitely not among them. Even if it was, it would still fit given it's not like sex isn't the end goal of most love "triangles" anyway as much as sappy romance (that probably ends up glorifying abusive behavior) tries to pretend otherwise. Also it's not exactly denigrating love triangles to be called "love corners" when they tend to treat the object of the affections as a prize to be won--it's just being honest.

[@nathanjereb9944]

Triangle idea; have B and C be enemies and are overly obsessed with A to a unhealthy level, but A isn't into neither and wants nothing to do with them.

[@sabreman8546]

So, the end of Super Mario Odyssey?

[@cupcakegirljen7]

As a Filipino who spent learning about Filipino teledrama while watching with my parents, I hate this trope with a burning passion especially if paired with adultery/concubinage.

[@cheskaarana6097]

This. The fact that no one is ever self-aware enough to look outside the triangle. It's also way too much justifying codependency.

[@xolco7081]

If I could, I *would* have glowing red eyes everytime that sh*t happened in a TV series

[@rurihime4965]

I'm from south America and I know the feeling

[@gaoexkaiser]

personally you are right its super weird, I like my love triangles only if the person is not in a relationship yet. Its just super weird if they are in one already or god forbid already married, its a toxic relationship if a say so myself.

[@coltonwilliams4153]

Ugh! The soap operas I watched with my mom as a kid melted my brain, I swear! It was all so bloody stupid! If you’re damn twin is trying to seduce your wife, don’t shoot him when he’s on the edge of a cliff! SHOOT HIM WHERE YOU CAN CONFIRM THE KILL, YOU IDIOT!!! You’re practically begging for it at that point!

[@zarek9340]

"In less competitive plots, C might act as A's wingman to get them together with B while dying on the inside" This is literally my favorite 'love triangle' type plot

[@alisaurus4224]

Cyrano!

[@d.shaffer8782]

ToraDora is kinda built on this one. Everyone slowly becoming miserable as they think the person they like is better off without someone else, and so sabotage their own relationship with said person to push them along. Everyone ends up miserable because of it, although eventually it does come to a head with a 'this was sorta stupid, all around' subtext.

[@notationmusical]

Orange is another example, but with using time travel as the twist. Character A ends up with B in one universe while ending up with B in the other universe. It's really interesting because it sets up emotional tension not just for the romance, but for fixing one's last mistakes and leaving no regrets.

[@EleiyaUmei]

@@notationmusical C in universe A+B breaks my heart but I'm also so happy and proud that he helped A and B end up together because he wanted both to be happy T__T

[@matthewmuir8884]

9:48 "It doesn't always diminish the impact to know how the story will end" Thank you, Red; I've been arguing this for a long time. For example, ever since _Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity_ turned out to be an alternate timeline story and not actually a prequel to Breath of the Wild, the most common defense I've seen people make is, 'an actual prequel would've been predictable and therefore bad' and I kept responding, 'predictable is not necessarily bad.'

[@frostykittens]

Torna the golden country did it well

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@frostykittens I usually brought up Torna: the Golden Country as an example, alongside Halo Reach simply because the tagline for that game literally was "From the beginning, you know how it ends".

[@emp5634]

My same thought with the Star Wars Prequels and the Clone Wars series.

[@merrittanimation7721]

People saying predictable is bad is how we got Game of Throne season 8. Surprising for the sake of it and not if it actually made sense in context.

[@latorasmith]

Going by that logic literally every movie with a sequel is predictable and bad. See how that's kinda stupid?

[@TheLeapluv]

“Don’t try this at home” should be added to any story that involve love triangle. In my early teen my love interest is ruined because of all the Harem anime I watched. Took me years to realized that none of that could ever happens.

[@BJGvideos]

Wait why did you think it could?

[@ryzikx]

@@BJGvideos because he was young? and young people can believe anything

[@BJGvideos]

@@ryzikx Early teens though.

[@deborahminter6231]

😮Honestly I can't stand love triangles in fiction. Parents should definitely talk to their kids! Never imitate movies or novels...if not for the simple reason that it's impossible for your real life to be the same "plot" as these fictional stories.

[@Jono997]

@@BJGvideos Tbh, with how much of a naive fuck I was in my teens, I can see that happening.

[@BriGuy-ed5dr]

"Romance is a well documented straight line from prolonged eye contact to happily ever after" 😂😂😂

[@dandelionmosssycamore8218]

BOOM. Literally, Twilight.

[@zombyninja2576]

A little overly sarcastic to me. I'll see myself out

[@waityamihereagain1978]

Shout out to Red for making love triangles seem ACTUALLY interesting. Still can't get invested in them, though

[@vissersixty-nine6246]

@BlueIsABitConfused YESSS I WAS THINKING ABOUT WOF DURING THIS ONE!!! Moon had absolutely ZERO agency, she was clearly disinterested in both Qibli and Winter from the start. It had the potential to be incredibly interesting, but it was just. Really bad instead.

[@donotlikepie3356]

Another pretty common mock triangle that I've seen is when B and C, while fighting for A's affection, fall in love with each other instead. This usually happens when A is either uninterested, likes another character, or is revealed to be manipulating B and C.

[@akinmytua4680]

I actually enjoy those

[@donotlikepie3356]

@@akinmytua4680 So do I, it's one of the few love triangles that I can actually handle reading without screaming into my pillow every five seconds. The only problem I have with this trope is when A is shown to be manipulating B and C, which can come across as kinda misogynistic if they're a woman, which it is most of the time.

[@jesusofsuburbia3675]

What catchy name do you come up with? Reverse balance triangle?? XD

[@Domdrok]

Thank you for explaining what I was struggling to lol.

[@PatriciaKerri]

Oh good, so I'm not the weird one for suggesting B & C get together instead of butting heads.

[@margauxridel3846]

Having just read Iron Widow, boy am I glad to see a reference to the (welcomed) twist that was the whole polyamorous thing

[@ReiSilver]

I was always confused by the term love triangle, because to me it had to be a directional love triangle to BE a LOVE triangle, if love isn't going in all three directions then it's a Love Arrow. Younger me was in denial of how most media found homosexuality verboten

[@ashikjaman1940]

A Love Chevron

[@riluna3695]

This comment reminds me of an old cartoon called Bonus Stage. It's not as clear-cut as a normal triangle, but basically A likes B, B likes someone else entirely, and C is presumed to like A. During a heart-to-heart, C says to A "I'm not gonna get in the way of you and [B]." A: "Really? Because that would end a Love Triangle. And I am all FOR Love....Lines...." C: "Actually it'd be more like a Ray." A: "H- bu- what?" C: "A line has two points whereas a ray only travels in one direction?" A: "Okay THANKS, Doctor Algebra..." I like the acknowledgement that splitting a member off the triangle doesn't necessarily instantly solve everything, and I also just like the terms "Love Line" and "Love Ray" in general :D

[@xxxmaysilssss690]

Yeah exactly. It would better suit the name of polyamorous throuples in the media, but I guess the “two people fighting over one person” is just “more romantic” or something.

[@RealRaven6229]

Fruits Basket has my favorite love triangle. In that we the audience don’t know who is going to end up together but that isn’t the point and none of the characters care about that. It’s just a show about how everyone deserves love and to be valued.

[@akhromyn]

I was looking for a comment that also wanted to discuss Fruits Basket! I was thinking that Fruits Basket has a mock triangle plot because it protrays both love interests as viable to the audience at first and its relationship structure concludes; however, it differs from other love traingle stories because it was never the main plot. It lacks the fustrating drama that most love triangle stories have as the two love interests never confront each other about their affection for the protagonist over trivial events. One of them simply realizes that he does not romantically love the protagonist like the other does but rather in a different way, which was subtle. Then he actually develops a rather great relationship with a new love interest unlike other love triangle stories. It is truly my favorite drama / rommance / slice of life anime!

[@2triedforthis830]

THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING tbh I was thinking of dropping the show cuz of who the main girl end up with but I got back into it because I just wanted to see it out and I’m so happy I did lol

[@taylor_green_9]

Yes! It also made me happy when my ship won out, mwahaha!

[@Moepowerplant]

And Scum Wish is the evil twin of this premise.

[@StudentCleric]

I think the best example of a “love triangle” done right will always be Fruits Basket, at least to me. The first season has the two men on an equal footing, both have a connection and unique relationship with the heroine. But she’s too unaware to really have a romantic intent in either direction. But in season two, each person starts to reflect on themself and what they want, where two begin to realize they want a relationship with one of the others and the third begins to realize it might not be romantic love he wanted. By the third season he realizes his love was never romantic but familial, maternal to be specific, and when you go back you see exactly how that was what he was actually getting and how this can continue. All three end up getting the love they wanted from other parts of the triangle, so really everybody wins because not everybody needed an relationship out of the triangle to be happy.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

Yeah, Fruits Basket is real good but lets not forget: This Trope can go horribly, horribly wrong.

[@solsystem1342]

Oh, I might try watching this show again then. When I watched the first couple episodes I thought it was setting up for a box standard love triangle.

[@alfaridarizka865]

yep. Also when the third one's endgame was a love interest for his own, she was actually well developed and not just a spare. Since he backed down from the love triangle like, halfway through season 2, the story actually had enough time to develop his relationship with his actual endgame love interest

[@kerrymurphy6062]

The biggest problem I have with love triangles is that the love rival is often a much better match than the love interest. The resolution makes no sense and i wonder how long the romantic couple will last once the story ends.

[@lonestarr1490]

The biggest problem I have with love triangles is that they're mock triangles and I'm C.

[@andresmartinezramos7513]

​@@lonestarr1490 mock part comes into play by having you involved

[@ieatcheese361]

the biggest part of a love triangle that im in the square

[@rodrigorodriguez509]

​@@lonestarr1490 real

[@facecat1]

Heck, even if the rival isn't a better match, it can still be frustrating if the rival is a much more interesting character

[@notoriouswreck3237]

probably my most hated trope. Love triangles always just feel drawn out and tend to just exhaust me when im watching it happen. Any conflict that happens because of it is just minimized due to silliness of the love triangle causing the conflict.

[@SingingSealRiana]

Maybe consider the manga Orange in that regard, the focus in neither on the romance nor the love triangle, but the later ads so much to the overall dynamic and depth of feels. ( there is an anime too, but there I can not vouche for the quality) Just as romance in generell love triangles are often exploited for cheep drama and terribly done, but if they are handled well, both have endless potential to be touching . . . (stats the aro ace freak who hated romance for quite some time for she got overexposed to people being stupid for the sake of love and drama)

[@dungeonmaster3464]

It should say a lot that the best love triangles stories don't actually focus on the triangle itself. My favorite story that has a love triangle is Fruits Basket, and the romantic subplot felt more like a plot device to help the characters grow in emotional maturity.

[@loregoblin3854]

I was actually gonna say that Fruits Basket is a really good example of what is technically a love triangle, but doesn't really feel quite the same as a typical love triangle emotionally. basically, the "B and C" of the love triangle are cousins, and the two of them hate each other for familial reasons before "character A" even knows them. they're semi-estranged at the beginning, but the two start to put aside their differences over time due to A, because she legitimately has such a positive effect on both of them. it's really interesting because, over time, you realize how traumatized they both are, but in completely opposite ways... and they don't see eye to eye because they each think the other one had it easier. or, alternatively, they feel like whatever hatred the other guy feels might be too justified, from his perspective, for that to ever change. so basically, the axis of this love triangle is someone who cares about them both... and the question of who will end up as her romantic partner is really about which one will gain the strength to move forward in life without having her as a partner, vs. which one will become the kind of person he can be proud of, to the point where he feels like he'll have something of value to offer her. in either case, they'd both agree that they owe her everything.

[@g.poupin1700]

Might wanna try the Ruin of Kings. Very good books as a whole , and a very well done love triangle

[@marocat4749]

Inuyasha is great, and its a very interesting love triangle symbolizing whst the series really is. Moving on from trauma and the literal ghost of the past, with kikyos understandable mixed feeling towards kagome, her reincarnation. Good love triangles enhance the strory themes and chracters so well. Also well good ones.

[@jamesmcclure6191]

Totally correct, "Stories need to be interesting." Too many modern authors/writers don't get that. Also, twitter troll types will complain about how bad/toxic/immoral X, Y, or Z is in a story, while failing to recognized that this is fiction and interesting exploration of a topic/trope/idea is the point of the story.

[@user-pi8pi3wj7h]

Facts

[@zoro115-s6b]

The worst part is when people complain about the fact that the villain is bad. Yes, the bad guy is bad. That's why they're there. Literally the whole point of the story is that you should not be like this guy.

[@wilfweNightsky]

It's not just in stories, people genuinely believe games have to be more realistic with their mechanics instead of gameplay design and balancing

[@bixmcgoo5355]

what kinda soft skin do you have to have to think anyone saying something you like is bad is a troll? accept that you can have bad opinions.

[@pn2294]

Something that always annoys me about those that complain about toxic tropes like love triangles is that they like to focus on those relationships over the actual healthy ones It implies that they were more entertained by the toxic relationship that the healthy one

[@Falxifer95]

One of the most frustrating aspects of any "Love Triangle" story is how easy it is to completely bungle it up and be a cheap way to artificially create drama, and more often than not that's what always happens and its also often pointless since most stories already have a winning couple in mind long before adding a love triangle.

[@aahana4931]

exactly,it just makes the center of the triangle- often a woman less likable and her character development is neglected to give screen time to both male leads

[@SingingSealRiana]

it is so sad, for one could do so much actualy interesting stuff with it instead but somehow we pretty much always end up with the same 2 or three characters following the same pattern over and over again . . .

[@dungeonmaster3464]

My exact problem with harem shows.

[@emmabennett7699]

Thats so true. I lole love triangles but they are so easy to butcher.

[@vaneplane]

Concept: An UNO reverse card is used on the directional love triangle and each character starts to change their minds on who they like

[@cushionedanger125]

replace uno cards with fairies and you've got yourself a midsummer night's dream

[@intelligencecube6752]

This is called Cupid shooting himself in the foot 😅😂

[@rage_2000]

I’d love if we used actual triangle names for the different kinds of romantic arrangements: Like “isosceles” for balanced love triangles or “equilateral” for directional love triangles

[@nobody5333]

Acute for the one-episode love triangles

[@bluelfsuma]

That would require me remembering math terms, and I'm allergic to math.

[@tortis6342]

@@bluelfsuma 1+1=?

[@bluelfsuma]

@@tortis6342 *violent coughing* _YOU'RE KILLING MEEEEEEEE!!!_

[@tkgwildfire5339]

Not something to be obtuse about.

[@antitheist3206]

Love Triangles: how will B and C resolve their rivalry? Homestuck: have you considered hate-shipping?

[@John_Weiss]

🤣🤣🤣🙄🤣🤣😁😉

[@Technotoadnotafrog]

IIRC Karkat actually suggests this at one point

[@zigzaghyena]

Every time I hear about homestuck it's like I'm glimpsing some eldritch knowledge through the cracks of reality. I want to know more but I also fear what I may uncover.

[@VCheesey]

@@zigzaghyena I read it and I still feel that way.

[@ladysekhmetka]

hahahahahaha *hides her A03 author account*

[@thecatinthefedora1201]

Im in a love triangle myself. I love a girl, she loves nobody, and nobody loves me :)

[@loloburns]

Odysseus???

[@nothingposted9056]

You should get out of the girl's house before Nobody announces he's back, things might get gory

[@Lily-ge4tm]

Ouch. Hope you find love, fedora cat. 😺

[@thecatinthefedora1201]

@@loloburns lmfao, good one

[@decayingsun5798]

And in the vast expanse of the universe, a sound echoed through the cosmos: "oof".

[@Cartoonicus]

I wish you had brought up Luke, Leia, and Han. Which is a flipping of the “seperated C” triangle, where Luke and Leia would appear to be the forgone conclusion, with Han as the outsider, but by the end, they’ve pulled a twist on us, breaking off that possibility, allowing for Han to swoop in and upset the assumption. Similarly, I would have included Quasimodo in this category, as he, being the main character, would be assumed to be the one to get the girl in the end.

[@wren_.]

honestly, I’m not a big fan of those love triangles were the only solution is to destroy one of the angles. I get what Star Wars was going for, but watching it back just feels icky

[@Cartoonicus]

@@wren_. I'm just refering to situations where the shared love interest doesn't go to the character you would have normally assumed. The result in Star Wars, is that instead of automatically giving the main character the love interest, they instead put her with the less expected character, and Luke's story, instead gets to focus on the relationship with his father.

[@unwantedmacguffin5611]

I have never been this hyped to talk about a trope i hate with a burning passion.

[@matthewmuir8884]

I know what you mean; every time I see a love triangle appear in something I'm watching, I immediately dread it.

[@floricel_112]

Ok....do it. Spit it out. I want to read your rage

[@benjaminwhitehead4050]

Dude same here

[@RogelioALoya]

Cough cough the legend of Korea cough cough

[@Karlos1234ify]

Star vs the Forces of Evil.

[@Ruby_The_Fiend]

OSP: *makes trope talk on love triangles* JP: Now this looks like a job for me.

[@TheCheck999]

+

[@thexalon]

I sure hope we'll get an appearance of Terrible Writing Advice in this comment section.

[@DragonLandlord]

He's already done one.

[@JonesCrimson]

Who? EDIT: Nevermind, actually, I don't really care.

[@galenwilds3273]

"Wow, there's 6 different forms that love triangles could take? I never realized that." *Checks TVTropes* "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE 13 DISTINCT VARIETIES OF LOVE TRIANGLES?!?!"

[@ineednochannelyoutube2651]

probably just TVtropes over-categorizing again.

[@lolli_popples]

“It’s impossible for this one to be entirely straight” Shakespeare: Aight bet-

[@64UPAllGOD]

Is it weird that whenever I see the phrase "Love Triangle" I now impulsively think of Terrible Writing Advice? Didn't even realize this was an OSP video until I heard Red's voice, lol.

[@aaroncabatingan5238]

I mean, its basically his catchphrase.

[@aaroncabatingan5238]

I mean, its basically his catchphrase.

[@PRGME7]

@@aaroncabatingan5238 I mean, it’s basically his catchphrase.

[@hugohoulahan636]

I remember seeing one that was executed really well. It's a mock triangle where both B&C are rooting for the other side. Each is given a genuine reason for why they think the other is better suited, so even when a confession actually (and accidentally) happens from A, she gets turned down

[@rajkonnyarushama7540]

Might be just a coincidence but u described perfectly what happens in Nice To Meet You

[@hugohoulahan636]

Yeap, that's the one

[@RainaRamsay]

I am always a slut for some pining, so I'm on board

[@KaguroDraven]

One of my favorite "Love triangles" is a false triangle of the highest tier. Because it comes across as A and B like another, but C is trying for A's affection. But in reality C was playing wingman from moment 1, and wasn't trying for A's affection at all. There were clues the audience could pick up on, but plenty of people who watched it thought it was a legitimate love triangle.

[@fairycat23]

Oh, I love that.

[@randompatchofgrass5034]

Honestly in the webtoon “Nice to Meet You” I thought that character C was doing that for A, but he just HAD to fall in love with her. It’s pretty obvious who will end up winning, but I dropped it because I liked both of the characters involved but only one pairing, and I didn’t want to go through 100 chapters of hurt and blushes before getting to the endgame couple

[@mediatorraptor3349]

I wanted to write something similar where A and B care about each platonically since they been through a lot together. C joins the group and began having a crush on A. B and C don’t get along at first but after sometime pass, they realize they have a lot in common and become best friends. Eventually B finds out C has a crush on A and sorta becomes her wingwomen? A is supportive one the relationship

[@juleknight7559]

sounds like that one episode of boy meets world where cory wanted to ask out topanga

[@KaguroDraven]

@@juleknight7559 Perhaps? It's actually from an anime. Recovery of an MMO Junkie

[@L3X1N]

The one video one could expect to be a TWA crossover...

[@andygravelle2202]

Terrible Writing Advice would be the expert on this subject

[@arthurpprado]

Ah, the good old problem with any romance in fiction: giving us reasons to care

[@MichaelHaneline]

I'm surprised Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere don't get a mention in "Bonded to One, Loves the Other" (EDIT: OSP did a video on Arthurian legend about 4 years ago. I highly recommend watching it, especially if you have an idea in your head about what the “correct” Arthurian canon is - Spoilers: there really isn’t one clear canon.)

[@t.vinters3128]

Then there's the version of it that appears in Mists of Avalon, where every person in this triangle loves the other two to an unhealthy extent, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice their own happiness for them - but the other two won't let them.

[@jenniferhanses4205]

Most versions I've read indicate Guinevere loves both.

[@MichaelHaneline]

@@jenniferhanses4205 which versions have you read? Are we talking Volgate Cycle or Post-Vulgate Cycle?

[@MrImastinker]

I’m in the process of writing a King Arthur series in which- Arthur loves Guinevere. Guinevere loves Arthur, but has intense unresolved feelings for Lancelot. Lancelot loves both Arthur *and* Guinevere, and is an absolute mess.

[@andrewcapra7153]

Lancelot is in a bunch of different love triangles depending on the version. There's the Guinevere/Lancelot/Arthur love triangle, the Lancelot/Guinevere/Galehaut love triangle, and the Lancelot/Elaine/Guinevere "love" (yuck) triangle. Honestly the biggest surprise is that it took so long for Camelot to fall when there were so many romantic subplots going at once.

[@timothymclean]

4:35: Because, as any author knows, a happy ending without a love interest is no happy ending at all. Which I'm _sure_ all viewers and writers on this channel would agree with...

[@nonephantom7349]

No u!!!! Edit: I hate bad endings like sad and bad endings

[@AnInsideJoke]

Ah yes, love triangles and forced romantic subplots that are usually rife with kneecapping the characters' actual agency and personality, usually with a healthy dash of compulsive heterosexuality sprinkled on. My two belothed.

[@dithaingampanmei]

Forced heterosexuality is just as bad as forced homosexuality. Some genres are just not designed for romance. Writers! Please, please leave my action, thriller, mystery, crime, superhero, genres alone. All I do is fast forward anyways.

[@linkdude09]

Well now, I'm really curious how you'd classify the following idea. A and B love each other. B then dies. A then meets C and C immediately falls in love and A looks like they will follow suit once they get over their B related grief. B is then discovered to not actually be dead (or was resurrected), but has to be rescued from [villains, amnesia, etc] and over the course of that rescue, A's feelings for B become inescapable obvious. A and B are the obvious endgame. Yes I've consumed a story which played out like this and I'm not sure how it gets classified or if it even counts as a love triangle (true or mock).

[@rrrr-im9oz]

if something is unique then it's not a trope therefore it doesn't need a classification lol sorry

[@ijimenez1951]

The movie Pearl Harbor has a similar plot to this. I don’t really remember the outcome but you can google it

[@ijimenez1951]

Ok so I google it and basically after B “dies” A and C (B’s best friend) get together and when B returns it’s clear that A loves him more than C BUT A has become pregnant with C as the father and A doesn’t wants to ruin her unborn family so A and C are trapped with each other. B and C later go to war and C dies so A does back with B and together take care of C’s baby.

[@lieselrose8147]

I say Vestigial love intrest because we have an obvious end game with C getting in the way, or ex lovers with A actually getting back together with the ex

[@victorlemos3649]

Xenoblade?

[@dungeonmaster3464]

This is a trope that I disdain, even when it's done "well", and I think Red perfectly summed up my reasons in the first few minutes. Realistically, relationships are complicated things no matter what your orientation is, but a lot of stories don't put emphasis on the natural conflicts of building and maintaining a relationship in favor of cheep drama. Admittedly, some relationships do feel like "battle" to be "won", but those dynamics are usually toxic and the people involved are better off just walking away. I really like how Red's disinterest in this trope is palpable in her voice. The only time I ever enjoyed a love triangle was in Fruits Basket, and most of my enjoyment didn't even come from the romance itself. It focuses on the emotional damage that the characters suffered, and how they pick up the pieces of their lives. The love triangle itself was a side-dynamic to a story that examines messed up families and how they effect the children that result from them.

[@Deifyrejth]

Came here just to say this. Triangles make me eyeroll hard the minute I realize I'm reading or watching one, specially the mock ones.

[@mediatorraptor3349]

@@Deifyrejth same. I have rarely seen one done good.

[@jamingrythm584]

@@mediatorraptor3349 I think Never Have I Ever does a good job of it. Both relationships actually have substance.

[@MatthewSmith-sz1yq]

Yeah, the love triangle in Invincible is one of the only issues I have with the show. Like, Amber seemed nice at first, but that relationship turned really, really toxic. She started doing all this weird manipulative stuff, for example she knew that Mark was Invincible (without telling Mark) but still got mad at Mark for "running away" when he changed into his invincible costume to save her and others, or showed up late to a date. That relationship is really, really painful to watch, and the show acts like it's perfectly reasonable for Amber to do the weird "acting like she didn't know and guilt tripping him even though she knows" thing, but that's really manipulative. If your "relationship" with someone is a constant cycle of breaking up, making up, and breaking up, then it's probably not a healthy relationship for either party. Here's hoping Mark gets with Eve, because it's cringe-inducing to watch Mark and Amber's relationship right now. Imagine you know you are dating a superhero, but get mad that they stand you up at a date because they had to go save orphans or something. Your solution is to continue pretending you don't know they are a superhero, to guilt trip them for "being late." When they finally do confess they are a superhero, you get mad because they didn't tell you earlier, and continue to guilt trip them. I get that she has a right to be annoyed, but "I was literally saving people's lives" is a pretty good excuse. If she wants punctuality and to be the highest priority in someone's life, then maybe she shouldn't be dating a literal superhero.

[@flambo170]

There's a difference between a story written around a love triangle and a story that has a love triangle in it. If your entire focus is 'oh how scandalous' then yeah obviously a love triangle is gonna blow, but as a plot device it's a really interesting way to see sides of romantic relationships that are normally too messy or arbitrary to express through simple characterization. I never watched Fruits Basket so I can't comment on that, but Horimiya has sprinklings of love triangles throughout and in my opinion it's quite well done.

[@matthewparker9276]

There's also a variation I think you missed, the phantom love triangle. This is where A and C have no romantic interest in each other, but B doesn't realise this and makes a mess.

[@michami135]

Another variation she missed: When A and B get together and C bonds with A's newborn, creepy CGI child.

[@fairycat23]

@@michami135 She clearly showed clips from that, just not any clips with B or Renegade. lol

[@rightsock_asock5574]

I was just about to comment this!

[@elliot2331]

I just read Iron Widow, I'm so glad they barely used the "love triangle" for drama and just were polyamorous.

[@xBrii333x]

Oh hell yeah, that moves Iron Widow up SEVERAL slots on my tbr list.

[@baonguyenxuanthai711]

in my opinion, One of the simplest ways to add nuance to love triangles would be to make the characters more diverse. I briefly mentioned that one of the things I dislike about love triangles is how heteronormative they typically are. Why not introduce a true three-sided love triangle - A loves B, B loves C, C loves A - rather than the typical two-sided triangle in which characters B and C both love A? Not only would the pairing be truer to the trope’s name, it would also introduce at least one bisexual or pansexual character. Give me a bisexual main character who’s struggling between their attraction to a man and a woman. Or throw an asexual or aromantic character into the mix. Maybe even someone who is transgender or nonbinary. If all three characters are friends anyway, why can’t we have some polyamorous representation where they all embark on a loving, consensual relationship with multiple partners? None of these changes to a love triangle’s standard format are that drastic, but they’re different enough to make the old trope more interesting again. I can think of a couple TV shows or movies that subvert the traditional love triangle in one of those ways - “Love, Victor” and “The Half of It” are the two that immediately come to mind - and they’re much more refreshing than re-watching the same straight, sexist and predictable love triangle that’s become so overused. Sure, changing up the characters’ sexualities or gender identities doesn’t automatically save the love triangle from being predictable, unnecessary or cliché, but it does add some nuance to the trope that definitely helps with the problems. Plus, even if the love triangle still ends up falling flat, at least we’ll get some much-needed representation out of it. If straight people can have an endless supply of badly written, mindlessly entertaining romantic tropes, surely the LGBTQ+ community deserves some too. Sorry for the long reply, this is just my take on the how you can make the trope less suck in my eyes lol

[@Saber23]

That’s only a little bit better

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

It's too niche to be a stock solution for general use, but in general having the option to have an arrangement opens up much more options in the story for resolution than mandatory monogamy does. A fully equilateral relationship is a bit hammy, but if you set it up well it means you can keep some of the fun dynamic of the triangle after the resolution of will-they-won't-they because a poly relationship is just going to be less conclusive.

[@Saber23]

@@UnreasonableOpinions that depends on if you think a “love triangle” is fun which a lot of people don’t it’s like just freaking pick bruh jeez

[@markmorales7958]

Yes! Terrible Writing Advices favorite trope of all time! 😁✨

[@reanamacdougall]

Power fantasy like 😐

[@mathsethorus89.5]

And yet she never mentions him. Im disappointed

[@arrontheprotogen9276]

All according to plan.

[@faizahmohammedaruwa]

I literally saw this title, thumbnail, and went "Oh no." 😂 Somebody bring out (or go hide) Terrible Writing Advice, quick!! 😆🤣

[@QwertiusMaximus]

I can hear his voice just by looking at the title.

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@QwertiusMaximus Of course - a Love Triangle!

[@cireeeeeX]

Missed crossover opportunity

[@treyslider6954]

A recent "resolution" to the Love Triangle I've recently seen in a couple places but Red didn't touch on (probably because it's relatively new and/or rare) is the resolution of the "but why is THIS ONE special?" question being "they aren't." As example, there's a videogame with a pretty obvious Canon Pairing between characters A and B. There's also side characters C and D who A can end up with depending on your choices through the game. But one of the endings has a conversation between A and C where they discuss character B, and C basically asks "So why do you care so much about B? You hardly knew her before all this started." and A basically just says "she's pretty, she's smart, her voice is nice to listen to." and C goes "Is that it? That's superficial as fuck, dude. What about the way her eyes light up when she's talking about a good book? The way she sets aside time to help people who need it, even losers like you?" etc. And so in this one extremely miss-able scene you find out that there's been a secret love triangle between A, B, and C, with C secretly pining for B without telling anyone. And in this particular ending A, at C's prompting, realizes that his feelings are, in fact, superficial and he doesn't like B so much as the *idea* of B, and as a sign of character growth abandons his attempts at romance with B in favor of getting to actually know her as a friend. It's really odd trope-wise, because in what should be a mock triangle one of the canon nodes backs out of the triangle willingly, without getting character assassinated.

[@nidohime6233]

Is The Witcher 3, right? Is the most famous love triangule right now after all.

[@sreenidhisivakumar4995]

Ok, this is a really smart way to deal with a love triangle. What's the name of the video game?

[@charcharmunr]

What game's that? I feel it's familiar, but I can't place it.

[@bow-tiedengineer4453]

YES. Healthy conclusions. We need more of this.

[@kayleighbrown459]

Honestly, "B talking about a lot of the really deep and meaningful stuff he likes about A and suddenly realising he's in love with her" is one of the very few romance tropes I like."

[@poopitypoopoppopoop]

The "is it worth it?" segment could have emphatized how the complicated nature of a love triangle often take over the overall plot of a movie, focusing so hard on that side plot that the characters involved seems to not care that the big bad thing in the background is happening. This can take majorly away from a narrative.

[@paulgibbon5991]

Weirdly enough, that's a reason I like "2012", of all movies. There's a nascent love triangle at the start but when the environmental apocalypse begins, the guys both put it aside and work together to survive.

[@axelprino]

@@paulgibbon5991 that's why I kinda hate that the writers kill one of the guys in that movie, with all the stuff going on it would be perfectly reasonable to not bother with a romantic conclusion, the two would have been plenty happy just surviving and keeping the family safe and finding a solution to the love triangle at a later time.

[@marocat4749]

Or enhance it, if the choice in the love triangle fits in with the themes, it can very well be symbolic what a character decides to go with. Like inuyasha its literally the ghost of his tragic past reöationship vs his current, her similar but different reincarnation , fitting well within the themes of trauma and him having to work through the tragic end. Its an amazing love triangle, because its him being haunted by the past trauma of his last one, kikyo isnt evil, but also a bit disturbed due her own trauma and being a ghost . That eats souls to live now. And her reincarnation in a relationship she wished literally for but is still ambivalent . Not evil. Can. Thevächoice has to have any relevance in the story or highlight and reveal character or be interesting and thought out. Good love triangles can be interesting . But as red mentioned romance is already "super easy to write" and its not easier with a third party involved. If , it exlores relevant themes or characters, ok, if not just dont, andifmake it not a focus. Like i dont mind korras season 1, because it was as over as it was there.,

[@matthewmuir8884]

Ah, yes; I believe this is what TV Tropes calls a "romantic plot tumor"; when a romance subplot overtakes the actual plot.

[@maryndunsire5065]

My personal favorite resolution to the “B and C both fight for A’s affection” is when B and C just say screw it and get together instead

[@edenisabelle]

good to know everyone in this comment section has watched Korra