View source for Come for the X, Stay for the Y

{{Just for Fun}}
You're browsing around, and you find out about something that looks neat. A new TV show, a new movie, a new book, maybe a video game. You don't know anything about it, but it looks neat. Something about it jumps out at you. Could be the humor, could be the action, could be the eye-candy. So you decide to try it out.

And it turns out the show is pretty good, too, and you like it. But over time, you start to like it for a completely different reason. This show with the cute lead character actually has an interesting side character with an in-depth story that you're really getting into. Or this movie might be very funny, but it also has some great undercurrents of drama that you weren't expecting, and that really jump out at you. Either way, you end up really liking the show/movie/book/game/etc for a reason completely different from why you started to check it out.

This is an example of [[Come for the X, Stay for the Y]]. You originally start to get into something for reason X, but in the end, it's reason Y that causes you to get hooked and stick around.

See also [[Sex Sells]], which is the sub-trope of this. [[Watch It for the Meme]] may lead to this. Compare [[I Read It for the Articles]] and contrast [[Just Here for Godzilla]].

{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'': Come for the historical references, stay for the quirky characters and the [[Ho Yay]].
** Come for the [[Ho Yay]], stay for [[Memetic Molester|Russia]].
** Come for the [[Ho Yay]], stay for the surprisingly in-depth (usually) [[Fandom]].
* ''[[Agent Aika]]'': Come for the fight scenes, stay for the [[Panty Shot|panty shots]].
* ''[[Baccano!]]'': Come for the levels of gore on par with a [[Quentin Tarantino]] movie, stay for [[Superlative Dubbing|the best English dub since]] ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''.
** [[Fan Girl|Fangirls]] [[Mr. Fanservice|come for]] [[Decoy Protagonist|Firo]] [[Mr. Fanservice|and stay for]] [[Ax Crazy|Vi]][[Crazy Awesome|no]].
* ''[[Basilisk]]'': Come for the ninja fights, stay for the touching drama.
* ''[[Beck (manga)|BECK Mongolian Chop Squad]]'': Come for the awesome [[Woolseyism|dubbed music]], stay for the best [[Slice of Life]] this side of ''[[The Wonder Years]]''.
* ''[[Berserk]]'': Come for Guts being a [[Badass]], stay for the compelling, human story and character development.
* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'': Come for the over-the-top Tarantino action, stay for the surprisingly deep philosophizing. Seriously, name me one other action anime where they quote Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre.
** ''[[Ergo Proxy]]''?
*** Stay for the [[Genius Bonus]] ''and'' for the incredibly complicated darker take on [[Slap Slap Kiss]] between Revy and Rock.
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Come for the spinning leeks, stay for the sword fights.
** Come for the sword fights, stay for the characters.
* ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]:'' Come for the robot battles, stay for the heart-wringing drama. Or, come for the [[Slice of Life]], stay for the epic science fiction adventure.
* ''[[Candy Boy]]'': Come for the hope of some [[Twincest]] [[Yuri]], stay for a surprisingly sweet show about sisters, with some real heartwarming moments.
* ''[[Chu-Bra]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]], stay for the character relationships and your brand new understanding of what middle-school girls go through.
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': Come for the mecha and [[World of Ham]] (and glorious Fanservice), stay for MORE ham and the resident [[Magnificent Bastard]]'s epic tactical [[Xanatos Gambit]]s while observing the fairly realistic feudal and social politics. And for why this show has a [[Broken Base]] nearly as epic.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'':
** Come for the space battles, stay for the [[Hong Kong Blood Opera]].
** Come for the spaceships and gunfights, stay for [[Badass|Spike]] (and [[Cloudcuckoolander|Ed]]).
** Come for the action, stay for the ''[[Crowning Music of Awesome|soundtrack]]''.
** Come for the [[Yoko Kanno|soundtrack]], stay for the characters and the gorgeous art.
* ''[[Darker than Black]]'': Come for the vicious subversion of everything that makes the superhero genre what it is, stay for the surprisingly sympathetic characters and [[Yoko Kanno]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome|soundtrack]].
* ''[[Death Note]]'': Come for the [[Mundane Made Awesome|potato chips]], stay for the [[Magnificent Bastard]]s.
** For this one, it was Come for the [[Xanatos Gambit]], stay for the ''multiple'' [[Gambit Roulette]]s and the [[Gambit Pileup]].
*** Admit it: ''Somebody'' came for the [[Foe Yay]] and stayed because [[Xanatos Planned This Index|you had to.]] <ref>Or vice versa...</ref>
** Or, come for the Shinigami, stay for the [[Gambit Roulette]]s... [[Affably Evil|and]] [[Sociopathic Hero|Kira]].
** Or come for the delicately unresolved social commentary and ethical debate, stay for the coffee-fetching [[Butt Monkey]], for some fans.
* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'': Come for the [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|giant fighting monsters,]] stay for the very compelling and [[Character Development|constantly evolving]] characters, well written plots and the awesome soundtrack.
** For most seasons Come for the plot, stay for digivolutions.
* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'': Come for the [[Gorn]] and [[Fan Service]], stay for the [[The Woobie|sympathetic]] and wonderfully human characters and ''[[Elfen Lied/Tear Jerker|heart-wrenchingly]]'' tragic story.
* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'': Come for the [[Humongous Mecha]] on surfboards, stay for the awesome story line and catchy music.
* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': Come for the Fanservice and Badass magic, stay for the Nakama and other Heartwarming moments.
* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'': Come for the [[Badass]] protagonist and his way of making foes [[You Are Already Dead|already dead]], stay for the [[Manly Tears]].
* ''[[FLCL]]'': Come for the Gainax [[Mind Screw]] and [[Freud Was Right|endless sexual symbolism]], stay for <s>the actually complex and interesting characters</s> [[Crazy Awesome|Haruko]].
* ''[[Franken Fran]]'': Come for the implied yuri and fanservice, stay for the over the top [[Body Horror]] and black comedy.
* ''[[Gakuen Heaven]]'': come for the actual [[Ho Yay]], stay for the well-rounded characters and the [[Childhood Marriage Promise|overdose]] of cute. Also, the catchy theme-tune and the decent animation.
* ''[[GetBackers]]'': Come for <s>Juubei</s> the [[Ho Yay]] and [[Fan Service]], stay for the surprisingly intricate plot.
* ''[[Grenadier]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] and stay for the action and [[Improbable Aiming Skills]].
* ''[[Gun X Sword]]'': Come for the mid-air [[Humongous Mecha|mecha swordfights]], stay for the characters, the quirky sense of humor, and the tight, fast-paced plotting of the last 15 episodes.
* ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'': Come for [[Badass Adorable|little girls kicking ass]], stay for the touching and well-executed drama centered around the girls and the political subplots.
* ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' - Come for the [[Dancing Theme]] and [[Memetic Mutation|smoked cheese]], stay for the engaging story and complex characters.
** Also, come for [[Genki Girl|Haruhi]], stay for [[Deadpan Snarker|Kyon]], [[Ho Yay|Koizumi]], [[Moe|Mikuru]], and [[Badass Bookworm|Nagato]].
* ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]:'' Come for the boxing, stay for the [[Character Development|personality growth]].
* ''[[Hellsing]]'': Come for the OTT violence, stay for the awesome plot.
** Alternatively: come for the violence, stay for the Alucard and the [[Norio Wakamoto]]-voiced Alexander.
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': Come for the "killer lolis" and horror, stay for the [[Bad End|depressing]] [[Downer Ending|storyline]], [[True Companions]] and [[Hot-Blooded|willingness to stop]] the [[Groundhog Day Loop|everlasting June]]... Also, the [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|yuri]]-[[Fan Service with a Smile|filled]] [[Innocent Fanservice Girl|official art]].
** Also, the numerous [[Image Song]]s and [[The Power of Friendship]].
** The manga: Come for a better adaptation or just because you love the series, stay for everything you said took to eleven with sound novel stuff drizzled over it.
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'': Come for the [[Kiai|"Ora Ora"]] and [[Car Fu|steamrollers]], stay for the epic battles of wits.
* ''[[K-On!]]'': Come for the guitar play, stay for the [[Slice of Life|slice-of-life]] [[Moe]].
** Or the other way around.
* ''[[Kamen no Maid Guy]]'': Come for Naeka's boobs, stay for Kogarashi's [[Crazy Awesome]]ness... and [[Action Girl]] [[Meido]] Fubuki.
* ''[[Kanokon]]'': Come for the fanservice, stay to see if it'll accept it is softcore porn and show some nipple.
** Which it does, if only for a handful of frames.
* ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:]]'': Come for the ''[[Tsukihime]]'' tie-in, stay for the eye bleeding visual quality, deep character relations, and [[Yuki Kajiura]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome|soundtrack]].
* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'': Come for the fanservice (and some hints of [[Ho Yay]]), stay for the philosophical thoughts and [[Heartwarming Moments]].
* ''[[Lucky Star]]''. Come for the Haruhi references, stay for the lovable characters.
** Alternatively, come for Konata, stay for Kagami, Akira, and Misao (as well as the rest).
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'': Come out of a misguided loyalty to Robotech, stay for the epic soundtrack and frenetic space battling robots.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' is based upon this: come for the [[Token Loli]] of ''[[Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～|Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever]]'' doing cute things (not to mention the [[Fan Service]]), stay for the deep plot, the well-developed world and technology, and [[Mix and Match|a genre-blend]] you've never seen before. Look at the evolution of the logo, the music and the episodes; it starts like a typical [[Magical Girl]] series, but when [[Growing the Beard|things get further]], it resembles a [[Humongous Mecha]] series progressively more and more. Of course, now the whole thing's been reversed... see Video Games below.
** In short, come for cute loli [[Magical Girl]], stay for the drama. And the fighting. And [[Memetic Mutation|befrien]][[Defeat Means Friendship|ding]].
** Come for [[Badass Adorable|Badass '''Adorable''']], stay for [[Badass Adorable|'''Badass''' Adorable]].
** The vast amount of cute females, lack of males, and [[Ho Yay|lesbian subtext]] can make you stay too.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' Come for the [[Fan Service]] from ''[[Love Hina]]'' [[Expy]]s, stay for the humor and ([[Rule of Cool|epic]]) [[Shōnen manga]] action.
* ''[[My-HiME]]'': Come for the fanservice and [[Fan-Preferred Couple|lesbians]] that the fanbase always seems to talk about, stay for the fanservice, humor, and characterization.
* ''[[Mirai Nikki]]'': Come for [[Yandere|Yuno]], stay for the developing relationship between her and Yukiteru.
* ''[[My Balls]]'': Come for the hentai, stay for the comedy.
* ''[[My Lovely Ghost Kana]]'': Come for the hentai, stay for the heartwarming.
* ''[[Nana to Kaoru]]'': Come for BDSM, stay for character development.
* ''[[Naruto]]'': Come for the [[ninja]]s, stay for the [[Fan Dumb]].
** Or just come to see what all the fuss is about, and stay for the interesting plot development.
** Or come to see what the fuss is about, and stay for your new favorite [[Ensemble Darkhorse|side character]].
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Come for the [[Innocent Fanservice Girl|naked]] [[Moe]] girl, stay for the [[Deconstruction]] of just about every previous anime genre. [[Misaimed Fandom|And to watch the director cry himself to sleep when you find Rei attractive.]]
** Or, come for the [[Mind Screw]] [[Gainax Ending]], stay just to watch what leads up to it.
** Better yet, come for the [[Giant Mecha]] badassery, stay for the intense psychological drama. Or vice-versa.
* ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'': Come for the humor, stay for the character development.
* ''[[Potemayo]]'': Come for the [[Azumanga Daioh|Chiyo-chan]]-level [[Kawaisa|cute]], stay for the many varied styles of humour and high weirdness.
* ''[[Princess Tutu]]'': Come for the ridiculous premise and [[Magical Girl]], stay for the deep characters, original plot, and affecting story.
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': Come for the [[Puni Plush|ador]][[Moe|able]] [[Magical Girl]]s, stay for the [[Deconstruction|storyline]], the [[Design Student's Orgasm|art direction]], and [[Yuki Kajiura|the]] [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Awesome Music|music]].
* ''[[Queen's Blade]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] [[Panty Fighter|concentrating on warrior women]], stay for the [[Growing the Beard|interesting story line and intriguing characters]]. And of course more [[Fan Service]].
* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'': Come for the [[Revolutionary Girl Utena/Ho Yay|Les Yay]], stay for the complex character relationships and the [[Mind Screw]].
* ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]'': Come for the [[Cute Monster Girl|cute monster girls]], stay for the [[Growing the Beard|awesome fights]].
* ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'': Come for the [[Memetic Mutation|Desu]], stay for the well developed cast of endearingly quirky characters. And [[Watch It for the Meme|moar Desu]].
* ''[[Saikano]]'': Come for the lolicon, stay for the heartbreaking storyline, awesome fight scenes and gut-wrenching transformations.
* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'': Come for the [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]] and the [[Ho Yay]], stay for the epic characters, the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|ridiculously far-fetched and fabulous plot]], the battles, the [[Tear Jerker|surprisingly emotive moments]] and the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|awesome music]] (amongst other things.)
* ''[[Seikon no Qwaser]]'': Come for the [[You're Drinking Breast Milk|breast sucking]], stay for the interesting plot, and fight scenes.
* ''[[Sekirei]]'': Come for the boobies, stay for the characters.
* ''[[Simoun]]''. Come for the [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]], stop laughing for the music, stay for the war story and character drama.
* ''[[Spice and Wolf]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service|naked]] [[Petting Zoo People|wolf-girl]], stay for the character interaction and the [[I Read It for the Articles|economics lessons.]]
* ''[[Strike Witches]]'' and ''[[Sky Girls]]'': Come for the fanservice, stay for the history jokes ([[Strike Witches]]), character development ([[Sky Girls]]), and dogfighting (both).
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Come for the [[Reconstruction]]. [[Hot-Blooded|Stay for the manliness]]. [[Rule of Cool|And stay for the manliness]]. [[Mundane Made Awesome|And stay for the manliness]]. [[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy|Destroy us all!]] [[Running Gag|And stay for the manliness]].
** Or, come for Kamina (or Yoko), stay for, well, whatever is up there.
*** Come for Kamina, stay for Simon.
**** Come for Kamina, stay for Nia.
* ''[[Venus Versus Virus]]'': Come for the [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|yuri subtext]], stay for the action and... more yuri subtext.
* ''[[Witchblade (anime)|Witchblade]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] and asskicking scenes, stay for the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming moments]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|comedy]], topped with [[An Aesop|aesops about the positive effects of the love between mother and children]]
* ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'': Come for the supernatural detectives, stay for the character development and handsome death gods.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'': Come for the crazy concept of card games on motorbikes, stay for the kickass plot and [[Cast Full of Pretty Boys]].
** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]:'' Come for the card games, stay for the card games.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Empowered]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] and comedy, stay for the intricately-weaved plot and well-written characters.
* ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'': Come for the simple premise and video game references, stay for the surprisingly deep story that comes from it.
* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'': Come for another nice [[Alan Moore]] comic book, stay for [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Watch]][[Deconstructor Fleet|men]]
* [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]: Come for strange pastiche of Victorian fiction, stay for the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], [[Deconstructor Fleet]], [[Darker and Edgier]] and much, much more.
** Come for the [[Sarcasm Mode|amazing]] [[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|movie]], stay for the real deal.
* ''[[The Sandman]]'': Come for the horror stories, stay for one of the best comic books that can be compared to a fantasy novel.
* ''[[Cable and Deadpool]]'': Come for [[Deadpool]], stay for the complex plots, [[Cable and Deadpool/Ho Yay|Ho Yay]], and interesting character developments.

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion|A Glass of Wine]]'': Come for the sex, stay for the heartwarming.
* ''[[Phalanx (fanfic)|Phalanx]]'' by necaberint: Come for the unique concept, stay for the [[Character Development]].
* ''[[Ah! My Goddess|Scordatura]]'': Come for the [[Love Triangle]], stay for the humor and well, the [[Love Triangle]].
* ''[[Gears of War|Snowblind]]'': Come for the concept, stay for the epicness.
* ''[[Nobody Dies]]'': Come because it's freakin' hilarious, stay for the awesome fight scenes and well-thought-out universe expansion. Alternatively, come for Terrifying!Rei, stay for Woobie!Asuka.
* ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'': Come for the trope references and being advertised as a [[TV Tropes]] crossover, stay for the character interactions, the fighting scenes and the [[Reconstruction]] of the harem plot.
* ''[[My Immortal]]'': Come to [[Bile Fascination|see if it really is as terrible as you've heard]], stay because [[So Bad It's Good|you can't]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|stop laughing]].
* Red Witch's newest{{when}} fanfic sums up her entire output in its title: ''Come For the Madness, Stay For the Insanity''.
* ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'' Come for the insanely hilarious antics and touchingly realistic romance. Stay for the incredibly engaging plot.
* ''Batman Versus Barney'': Come for the novelty - and sheer perversity - of seeing [[Barney and Friends|Barney the Dinosaur]] in the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' continuity, stay because it's a surprisingly well-written and dark tale with violence and horror you'll scarcely see on the actual show, plus a thoroughly bloodthirsty and oddly [[Foe Yay]] [[The Joker|Joker]].
* ''[[Undocumented Features]]'':  Come for the storyline involving your favorite show/film/book.  Stay for the freakin' Awesome it inevitably crosses over into.

== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[WALL-E]]'': Come for the impossibly adorable robots, stay for the [[WALL-E/Heartwarming|heartstring-pulling]] love story.
* ''[[Yellow Submarine]]'': Come for [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]' music, stay for the trippy animation.
* ''[[The Incredibles]]'': Come for the [[Deconstruction]], stay for the action and plot.
** Or vice versa.
* ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'': Come for the groundbreaking CGI, stay for the heartwarming and funny plot.
* ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'': Come for the two [[Mr. T|memelious]] [[Bruce Campbell|actors]], or because you read the book as a kid, or for the 3D, stay for the plot, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|the humour]], and the hot nerds.
** Come for the comedy, stay for the [[Scenery Porn]] of giant food.
* ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'': Come for the 2D animation and [[Nightmare Fuel|nightmare fuel-erific]] villain, stay for the characters, the romance actually acted more realistic than the average [[Disney Princess]] one, the music, the story and  {{spoiler|well, let's just say they were following [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara's]] advice with this movie.}}
* ''[[Fantasia]]'': Come for the dancing hippos and [[Mickey Mouse]] dressed as a wizard, stay for [[Fantasia/Nightmare Fuel|Chernabog]].
* ''[[Despicable Me]]'': Come for the funny moments, a [[Harmless Villain]] and his adorable minions trying to conquer the world, stay for {{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|the story that leads to Gru's puppet book]]}}.
* ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'': Come for the [[Sci-Fi]], stay for the religious discussion.
* ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'': Come for the [[Fairy Tale]], stay for the quotables!
** ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'' is more "Come for the witty quotes, stay for the pure [[Fairy Tale]]!" Especially now.
* ''[[A Hard Day's Night]]'': Come for [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]' music, stay for the witty dialogue and humorous characterizations.
** Similarly, ''Help!''. Come for the Beatles' music, stay for the fun spy movie spoof.
** Also ''[[Across the Universe (film)|Across the Universe]]''. Come for the music, stay for the clever story, interesting directing, and solid acting.
* ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'': Come for the name(s) you recognize, stay for the music.
** Or: come for the camp, stay for the [[Fetish Fuel|Graverobber.]]
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'': Come for the Brit-humor [[Deconstruction]] of every cop-movie trope ever, stay for the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] playing-straight of every cop-movie trope ever.
** That goes double for ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'' with zombie-movie tropes.
* ''[[300]]'': [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Come! For! The! YELLING!!!]], stay for the action and heroics.
* ''[[The Matrix]]'': Come for the action, stay for the mountain of symbolism.
* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'': Come for the promised [[Acceptable Targets|revenge on the]] [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]], stay for the rivetingly dialogue-based plot and copious amounts of [[Fetish Fuel]].
* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'': Come for [[James Cameron]], stay for the special effects. There's not much of a plot to stay for anyway.
* ''[[Hairspray]]'': Come for the lively music and plucky, sweet heroine, stay for <s>the uplifting social commentary</s> [[John Travolta]] cross dressing in a fat suit.
* ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'': Come for the novelty of seeing [[Jim Carrey]] in a ''serious'' role, stay for the novelty of [[Kate Winslet]] in a ''free-spirited'' role as well as the brilliant plot and beautiful direction.
* ''[[The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou]]'': Come for the experience of seeing [[Bill Murray]] do a riff on Jacques Cousteau, stay for the experience of seeing a fantasy for grownups.
* ''[[Annie Hall]]'': Come for the [[Woody Allen]]/Diane Keaton element, stay (if you're reluctant about Woody Allen films) for the bittersweet romantic elements.
* Any Russ Meyer film: Come for the Boobies, stay for the crazy-assed plot.
* The ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' movies. Come to see live action put into the plot... and stay for the actors.
* ''[[Inception]]'': Come for the visual spectacle and the [[All-Star Cast]], stay for the [[Mind Screw]].
* The ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|Lord of the Rings]]'' films. Come because you read [[The Lord of the Rings|the books]] they were based on, stay because they're ''epic.''
** And for the fangirls: Come for [[Bishonen|Legolas,]] stay for [[The Woobie|Frodo.]]
* ''[[Sucker Punch]]'': Come for the [[Fetish Fuel]] and epic special effects, stay for the deconstruction and epic fantasy plot.
* ''[[Black Swan]]'': Come for the lesbian sex scene, stay for the ABSOLUTE BATSHIT INSANITY!!!!!
* ''[[Animal House]]'': Come for the food fight and the toga party, stay for some surprisingly sharp Swiftian satire and shockingly dark comedy. Oh, and John Belushi.
* ''[[Real Steel]]'': Come for the giant robots fights (both in size of the fights and the fighters) stay for the story of Father and Son bonding.
* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'': Come to watch [[Bug War|guys shoot giant bugs]], stay for the hammy propaganda. "[[Memetic Mutation|Would you like to know more?]]"

== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Bible]]'': Come for the [[Jesus]]; stay for the sixty-two other Books.
** Or sixty-nine other books, depending on your denomination.
* ''[[Henry V]]'': Come for the fun times with the lovable rogue Prince Hal, stay for the drama.
* ''[[Animorphs]]'': Come for the [[Animorphism|teens turning into animals,]] stay for the human drama.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': Come because you heard that all those fantasy books you love were inspired by it, stay because it's epic.
** I found it was "Come for the quotables, stay for the awesome."
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': Come for the [[Changeling Fantasy|wish-fulfillment fantasy,]] stay for the human drama and to find out [[The Verse|all the details]] of the deeply-plotted [[Backstory]].
* ''[[1632]]'' by Eric Flint (and several other people): Come for the [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|crazy premise]]—the town of Grantville is suddenly teleported from West Virginia in 2000 to Germany in 1632, and decides to start the American Revolution a few decades early; stay for cool characters and ''[[Shown Their Work|insanely]]'' [[Shown Their Work|detailed research]] on every imaginable subject, from "Where in the world can you mine zinc?" to "What did the Pope really think about Galileo?"
* ''[[Kushiel's Legacy]]'': Come for the BDSM porn, stay for the political subterfuge.
** And for the [[Shown Their Work|history geeking.]]
* ''[[Charles and Emma]]'' is promoted under the blurb "Come for the science, stay for the love story."
* ''[[Discworld]]'': Come for the [[Crowning Moment of Funny|funny]], stay for the world-building.
** ''[[The Science of Discworld]]'': Come for the ''[[Discworld]], stay for the [[Captain Obvious|science]].
** Alternately, come for the funny, stay for the unexpected wisdom and badass.
** Or, come for the funny, stay for the characters.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': Come for the urban fantasy, stay for the [[First-Person Smartass]] main character and [[Serial Escalation|increasingly cool]] plotlines.
* [[Tamora Pierce]]. Come for the [[Girls Need Role Models|female protagonists]], stay for the detailed world-building and non-killing-people storylines. And to find out who everyone marries.
* ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'': Come for the [[Ho Yay]], stay for the [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]'': Come for the romance and/or [[Say My Name|name]] [[Watch It for the Meme|calling]], stay for the dark, absorbing story and interesting -- [[Jerkass|if amoral]] -- protagonists.
* ''[[Anna Karenina]]'': Come for the [[It Was His Sled|train]], stay for the well-drawn characters, history lesson and love story.
* ''The [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]]'': come for the [[Ho Yay]], stay for the [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?|crack]]!<ref>''And'' the [[Ho Yay]], too...</ref>
* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'': Come for the [[Badass]] main character, stay for the [[Badass]] side characters. ''[[Loads and Loads of Characters|All]]'' of them.
* In the [[Dale Brown]] novel ''Warrior Class'', new POTUS Thomas Thorn's appeal is described this way: "if they had come to see [[Retired Badass|the monster]], they had stayed to hear the message."
* ''[[Left Behind]]'': Come for the homophobia, stay for the... [[Ho Yay|homoeroticism]].
* ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'': Come for the [[Cool Horse]]s, stay for - everything else. But especially the love stories. Or, y'know, the plot and stuff. Whatever.
* ''[[Codex Alera]]'': Come for the [[World of Badass]] and [[Crazy Awesome]] [[Guile Hero]], stay for the deep and complex characters, well-plotted story, and the fact that you ''still'' [[Underestimating Badassery|underestimated]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the amounts of badassery involved]].
* The ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' trilogy: Come for the [[High Fantasy]] [[Zombie Apocalypse]], stay for [[Cryptic Background Reference|the world you can never see enough of]].
* ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'': Come to see [[Adaptation Overdosed|what all the fuss was about]], stay because, contrary to [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|your]] [[Ink Stain Adaptation|expectations]], [[Nightmare Fuel|you're too freaked out not to]].
* ''[[Abarat]]'': Come to see [[Schmuck Bait|if Clive Barker can pull off YA fiction]]. Stay because [[Clive Barker]] ''can'' pull off YA fiction!
** Come for the beautiful illustrations. Stay for the masterful poetry.
* In-universe in ''[[Satyricon]]'' by Gaius Petronius. ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/article_20464_5-words-you-use-every-day-with-shockingly-dark-backstories.html 5 Words You Use Every Day With Shockingly Dark Backstories] links the word "fornication" to prostitutes finding clients in bakeries. It gives ''Satyricon'' as an example, which "talks about bakers tricking clients into coming for the bread and staying 'thither for the base gratification of wantonness.'"

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'': Come for the action, stay for [[Live Action TV/Awesome Music|Ron Wasserman]].
** For both ''[[Power Rangers]]'' and ''[[Super Sentai]]'' come for the rangers, stay for the [[Combining Mecha]].
* ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'': Come for [[Memetic Mutation|Buttery toast]], stay for feminist subtext.
* ''[[Stargate Verse]]'': Come for the [[Sci-Fi]], stay for the humor!
* [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|''Battlestar Galactica'' 2004]]: Come for the [[Sci-Fi]], stay for the political drama.
** Or, indeed, come for the political drama, stay for the awesome spaceship battles.
* ''[[Friends]]'': Come for [[Sitcom|the humor]], stay for the [[Love Dodecahedron]]!
* ''[[Friday Night Lights (TV series)|Friday Night Lights]]'': Come for the football, stay for the human drama. Interestingly enough, TV execs realized this was what was happening and started targeting the female audience in commercials.
* ''[[Firefly]]'': Come because it's Joss, stay because of the perfectly-balanced cast.
** Come for [[Joss Whedon]], stay for Nathan Fillion [[Estrogen Brigade|in tight leather pants]], Morena Baccarin [[Ms. Fanservice|taking a sponge bath]] or Adam Baldwin's smutty dialogue, cunning hat and [[Estrogen Brigade|occasional shirtlessness]].
*** Come for Joss, stay for [[Summer Glau]] as a kickass, psychic assassin is how it generally works it. For proof, scroll down to ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]''.
** Or, come for the hype, stay for everything else.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Come for the superpowers, [[Most Common Superpower|familiar or otherwise]]; stay for <s>Hiro Nakamura</s> the [[Fan Service]].
** Or: Come for the [[Mr. Fanservice|sweet, innocent, pretty-boy hero]], stay for the [[Draco in Leather Pants|surprisingly sexy, brain-stealing serial killer]].
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Colbert Report]]'': Come for the spot-on political satire, stay because [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/business/media/16pew.html?_r=1&oref=slogin it becomes your source for the news.]
* In general, ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is: Come for the vampires and the hot chicks with superpowers, stay for the incredibly well-done dialogue and characterization.
** Stay for Giles and/or Spike became common reasons among the female audience.
** Or come for the horror tropes, stay for the humor and characterization.
** One feels compelled to throw in a quote from the show directly referencing the Trope title (though, of course, not the trope itself):
{{quote|'''Xander:''' Sunnydale: Come for the food, stay for the dismemberment.
'''Nancy:''' There's food? }}
* ''[[Angel]]'': Come for the sexy vampire and the generally sexy cast, but stay for the well-done and intriguing [[Story Arc]]s and some random humor sprinkled in.
* ''[[Smallville]]''. Come for Superman, stay because you just have to know how it goddamn ends already! Grah!
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Come for the [[Mr. Fanservice|pretty boys]], stay for the intelligence, the psychology and the seriously good acting.
** Or: Come for the hot female guest stars, stay for the awesome music, the comedy and the [[Gorn|copious amounts of gore.]]
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': Come for the [[Sci-Fi]], stay for the great jokes and [[Fan Service|sexy companions.]] Or: come for the sexy Doctor, stay for the jokes and stories.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'': Come for the medical humour, stay for the endearing cast and [[Live Action TV/Awesome Music|brilliant music]].
* ''[[MythBusters]]'': Come for the truth behind those many urban legends you may have heard, stay for the character dynamics, the humor, the crazy gadgets and experiments, and the [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|even crazier amount of overkill]].
** Alternatively: Come for the explosions/overkill, stay for the character dynamics, the humor, the crazy gadgets and experiments, and the truth behind those many urban legends you may have heard.
* ''[[Top Gear]]'': Come for the cars, stay for the funny.
** Come for the funny... stay for the funny.
* ''[[Psych]]'': Come for a guy faking his way through amazing detective work, stay for the eighties references.
* ''[[Seinfeld]]'': Come for the one-liners and [[Catch Phrase|catchphrases]], stay for the brilliantly constructed plots.
* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'': Come for Kristen Bell, stay for the surprisingly-dark-yet-still-compelling plot complications.
* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'': Come for [[Summer Glau]], stay for the amazing character development and jaw-dropping plot twists.
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'': Come for Eliza Dushku, stay for the intriguing sci-fi storyline and fascinating characters.
** And briefly for [[Summer Glau]].
** Come to watch Joss's new work, leave because it isn't engaging you so far. Come back because of the [[It Gets Better|fan buzz]], stay because they get to show that the concept changes ''everything''... and you've got a ringside seat.
** Come for the feminist perspective on human trafficking, stay for [[Harry Lennix]].
* ''[[Skins]]'': Come for the [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]], stop for the music, hang around for the storyline, stay for the realization that it's the new ''[[As If]]''.
** Given the single-character emphasis some TV guides had for series 3, you could also easily say "come for Effy, stay for Naomily."
* ''[[The Office]]'': Come for the pranks and the quirky, awkward, and inappropriate humor, stay for the large buffet of genuinely sweet romantic subplots.
* ''[[QI]]''. Come for the trivia, stay for the jokes. Or vice versa. Either way.
* For many Americans, ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'', ''[[Blackadder]]'', and ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]''. Come for pre-''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' [[Hugh Laurie]], stay because they're ''amazing''.
* ''[[Sherlock]]'': Come because it's [[Sherlock Holmes]] [[Setting Update|in the modern day]] written by [[Steven Moffat]] and [[Mark Gatiss]], stay for the ''blazing'' chemistry between [[Benedict Cumberbatch]] and [[Martin Freeman]]. And the sheer cleverness of it all. And the [[Ho Yay]]. The buckets and buckets and ''buckets'' of [[Sherlock/Ho Yay|Ho Yay]].
* ''[[True Blood]]'': Come for the sexy vampires, stay for the character development and intriguing plot.
* ''[[Leverage]]'': Come for the actors you know, stay for the top-notch stories, character development, and acting (from ''everyone'').
* ''[[Life On Mars]]'': Come for the [[Fish Out of Temporal Water|time travel,]] stay for the Gene Hunt [[Deadpan Snarker|snark.]]
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'': Come for the sexy Captain, stay for the sexier, repressed <s>and probably [[Ho Yay|gay]]</s> British weapons officer.
** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': Come because it's a classic, stay for the world's [[The Not Love Interest|greatest]] [[Star Trek/Ho Yay|love]] [[Heterosexual Life Partners|story]].
** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'': Come for the Captain, stay for the android. And Worf. And Dr. Crusher.
** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'': Come for the [[Fiery Redhead]], stay for the [[Character Development]] and ongoing [[Story Arc]]s.
** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'': Come for the hot Captain, stay for the [[Hilarity Ensues|hijinx]]. And the heartwarming.
* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'': Come for the humor, stay because if you get up everyone will see you laughed so hard you wet yourself.
** Alternatively, come for the stars of ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', stay for the bald guy and the black dude (everybody really).
* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'': Come because Maria Canals Barrera is [[Parent Service|smoking hot]], stay because the show is actually pretty funny.
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': Come for [[Mandy Patinkin]], stay for Matthew Gray Gubler. And the plot and stuff.
* ''[[The A-Team]]'': Come for [[Memetic Badass|Mr. T]], stay for [[Crazy Awesome|Murdock]].
* ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'': Come for [[Robin Williams]] in his [[Star-Making Role]] as a [[Amusing Alien|wacky alien]], stay for the heartwarming [[Interspecies Romance]] of the title characters and the sly social satire of the late 70s/early 80s. Oh, and the [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]].
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': Come for the memorable jokes and catchphrases, stay for the surprisingly complex characters.
* ''[[Community]]'': Come for Joel McHale from ''[[The Soup]]'', stay for the characters, meta humor and brilliant parodies.
* ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]] with [[Michael Palin]]'': Come for one of the stars of ''[[Monty Python]]'', stay for the genuine sense of adventure.
* ''[[Mad Men]]'': Come for the fascinating look at an earlier era where everyone smoked, had three-martini lunches and were openly chauvinistic, stay for the complex characters and surprising plot turns.
* ''[[Big Time Rush]]'': Come for the [[Mr. Fanservice|cute guys]], stay for the [[Hilarity Ensues]][[Crowning Moment of Funny|rity]], [[Ho Yay]], and [[Boy Band|surprisingly]] [[Ear Worm|good]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome|music.]]
* ''[[Castle]]'': Come for Nathan Fillion, stay cause it's actually a good show. or for Stana Katic.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Double|Kamen Rider W]]'': Come for the humor and superhero action, Stay for the [[Hardboiled Detective|detective premise]] and [[Ho Yay|homosexual subtext]].
* ''[[Dirty Jobs]]'': Come for the premise of a [[Sadist Show]], [[Mr. Fanservice|stay]] [[Even the Guys Want Him|for]] [[Classically-Trained Extra|M]][[Deadpan Snarker|i]][[Epic Fail|k]][[Getting Crap Past the Radar|e]].
* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'': Come for the murder mystery, stay for the wacky townspeople and [[Mind Screw]].
* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'': Come for the clever premise, stay for Lee Pace.
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': come for Barney Stinson's antics, stay for the [[Continuity Porn]].
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'': Come for [[Hugh Laurie]], stay for the enthralling character subplots. The medicine's okay, I guess…

== [[Music]] ==
* ''[["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'': Come for the song parodies, stay for the well-written and hilarious original songs.
** Or come for a parody or two and stay for his vast amounts of ingenious parodies.
* [[Death Metal]]: At least one case of coming for the awesome, hard hitting metal, staying for the ability to piss off most passerby. And the jiggy juggas.
* [[Frank Zappa]]: Come for the [[Refuge in Audacity|well-]][[Refuge in Vulgarity|written lyrics]], stay for the music.
* [[Taylor Swift]]. Come for the sappy love music. Stay because she's cute.
* K-pop: Come for the cute guys, stay for the catchy tunes. Most would vouch for vice versa, though.
* [[Iron Maiden]]: Come for [[Mascot|Eddie]], stay for the [[Iron Maiden/Awesome Music|a]][[Filk Song|we]][[Number of the Beast|so]][[Lucky Seven|me]] music.
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/bandarestart Restart]: Come for the [[Mr. Fanservice|cute guys]] in colorful clothes, stay for the [[Ear Worm|catchy]] and sometimes [[Sweet Dreams Fuel|heartwarming]] music. Or the other way around.
* [[Jonathan Coulton]]: Come for [[Portal (series)|Still Alive]], stay for the [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|mad scientist ballads]].
* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]. Come for the Pop music, stay for the experimental stuff and drug trips.
** Or come to check out all of the hype and stay for the surprising amount of personality that the fab four manage to inject into their songs.
*** Come for [[Paul McCartney]], stay for [[John Lennon]] (or vice versa of course).
* [[KISS]]: Come for the makeup and spitting blood, stay for the riffs, some gleefully twisted humor, and the [[Surprisingly Gentle Song]] [[Tear Jerker|"Beth"]].
* [[Oingo Boingo]]: Come because of [[Danny Elfman]], stay for an extravagant musical freak show that [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly|defies categorization]].
* [[Elton John]]: Come for the [[Making a Spectacle of Yourself|goofy glasses]] and [[Costume Porn|wacky costumes]] (at least until [[The Nineties]]), stay for the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|catchy, diverse and well-written music]].

== Periodicals ==
* ''[[Mad]]'': Come for the TV and Movie parodies, stay for [[Spy vs. Spy]], [[Ask a Stupid Question|Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions]], and so forth.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[ECW]]: Come for the [[Gorn|bloodshed]] and [[Garbage Wrestler|Garbage Wrestling]], stay for the incredibly well-done matches, surprisingly deep characterization, brilliant promos, and awesome commentary from [[Joey Styles]]. This is as opposed to the current [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]-backed ECW [[Revival]], where you come for the name, and stay for Matt Striker's awesome commentary.
* [[WCW]]: Come for the [[New World Order|nWo]], stay for the cruiserweights.
* [[TNA]]: Come for [[Kurt Angle]] and [[Sting (wrestling)|Sting]], stay for the X-Division.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'': Come to build an army of [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|all different kinds of monsters and spells]], stay for the surprisingly in-depth and realistic color/alignment system.
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'': Come to see what the fuss is about, stay for the adventures you will have and the stories you will share.
** Or, come for the funny-shaped dice, stay for the funny faces your DM will make when he hears your character's latest in-game plan.
*** For the [[Game Master|Dungeon Master]] in you, come for the excuse to build your impassable dungeon to crush your friends, stay for the moments when you let the same friends win anyway, because their solution was just that [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|COOL!]]
* ''[[Exalted]]'': Come because your D&D friend said it was worth a shot, stay for the ability to punch gods' faces in.

== [[Theatre]] ==
* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]: Come for the surreal acrobatics, stay for the heartwarming characterizations, fantastic music, and some of the greatest [[Non-Ironic Clown|non-ironic clowns]] in the world.
* ''[[Miss Saigon]]'': Come for the helicopter, stay for the love story set against the Vietnam War.
* ''[[Walking with Dinosaurs]]: The Arena Spectacular'': Come for the life-sized dinosaurs, stay for the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] between the mother T-rex and her baby.
* ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'': Come for the ginormous barricade and/or well-known songs, stay for the epic story.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective]]'': Come because it's the [[Spiritual Successor]] of ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', stay for the plot twists, smooth animation, plot twists, deep mysteries, plot twists, and [[Department of Redundancy Department|plot twists]].
* ''[[Gears of War]]'': Come for [[Impossibly Cool Weapon|the rifle with a chainsaw for a bayonette]], stay for the tactical combat.
* ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'': Come for the tactical combat, stay for the plot and [[Halo (series)/Awesome Music|the soundtrack.]]
* ''[[Pokémon]]'': Come for the [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|cute critters]]—and possibly [[Hype Aversion|to see what all the fuss is about]]—stay for the deep, strategic [[RPG]], and possibly [[Gotta Catch Them All|pure obsessive-compulsion]].
** Or come for the monsters, stay for the sheer ''imagination'' of the games' worlds.
* ''[[Fate/stay night|Unlimited Blade Works]]'': Come for [[Memetic Mutation|GARcher]], stay for GAR Lancer.
* ''[[Touhou]]'': Come for the [[Memetic Mutation|precious things]], stay for the hope that you'll finally 1cc Lunatic this time.
** You stay because you can't leave, since [[Memetic Mutation|there are no buses in Gensokyo]].
** Or, come for the [[Bullet Hell]], stay for the [[Touhou/Memes|meme]] [[Fountain of Memes|overdose]].
** Or, come for the [[Ear Worm/Video Games|music]], ''stay'' for the [[Bullet Hell]]
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'': Come for the Stealth Action, stay for <s>[[Stupid Sexy Flanders|Snake's sweet, sweet ass]]</s> the complex story.
** [[Parrot Exposition|Complex story, huh?]]
** ''[[Rule of Three|Complex Story!?]]''
* ''[[Silent Hill 1]]'': Come for the [[Silent Hill (video game)/Nightmare Fuel|High Octane Nightmare Fuel]], stay because you just have to know [[Mind Screw|what in]] [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|the hell]] [[Gainax Ending|just happened]].
** ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'': Come for [[Memetic Molester|Pyramid Head]], stay for the epically tragic characters.
* ''[[EarthBound]]'': Come for the horrifying final boss, stay for the cute and funny rest of the game!
** Or, alternatively, come for the cute and funny characters and [[Affectionate Parody|Affectionate Parodies]] of [[Eagle Land|American life]] and various RPG cliches, stay for the increasingly weird and [[Mood Whiplash|unsettling]] plot twists leading up to the epic [[Nightmare Fuel]] of the last dungeon and boss.
* ''[[Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～|Triangle Heart 3 Sweet Songs Forever]]'', and possibly the whole [[Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～]] franchise: Come for the fandom prestige of actually knowing what ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' was spun off from, stay for the characters and the [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]].
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'': Come for the Disney characters, stay for the character interaction and addictive gameplay. And [[Draco in Leather Pants|Organization]] [[Evil Is Sexy|XIII]].
** Alternatively: Come to see what the fuss was about, stay to see what insane plot twist the writers pull next.
* ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'': come for the John-Woo bullet-time gun play, stay for the metaphors and Noir.
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'': Come for the humor, stay because you're addicted.
* ''[[Urban Dead]]'': Come for the Zombies, stay to survive.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] [[Original Generation]]'' exists as a result of this trope occurring in the main series. People came for the ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam|Gundam]]'' (or whatever your favorite series is) and stayed for the entirely new characters.
** Come for Gundam, stay for Huckebein.
* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'': Come for the [[Foe-Tossing Charge]], stay for the [[World of Ham]].
* ''[[Disgaea]]'': Come for the [[Level Grinding]], stay for the [[Fetish Fuel]].
** Or, come for the over the top attacks and story, stay for the intricate battle system.
* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'': Come for Gig, stay for the surprisingly addictive gameplay. And the [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]. And Gig.
* ''[[Guilty Gear]]'': Come for the 2D fighting revival, stay for the insanely whacked out characters.
** Or, come for the insanely whacked out characters, stay for the incredible background music.
** ''[[BlazBlue]]'': Come for ''Guilty Gear'' [[Spiritual Successor|in HD]], stay for BANG INSTALL.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'': Come for Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, stay for '''Midna.'''
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games]]'': Come for [[Memetic Mutation|MAH BOI,]] stay for the [[Over Nine Thousand]][[Fountain of Memes|other Memes.]]
*** And before they ''were'' memes, the people who ''made'' them memes stayed because the lines were all hilarious in their own right.
* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'': Come for the brilliant puzzles, stay for the dark humor and [[Memetic Mutation|the cake.]]
** Or come for [[Blatant Lies|the cake]] and stay for [[Magnificent Bastard|GLaDOS]].
* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'': Come for the madcap FPS action, stay for the gorgeous animation and wacky characterization.
** Or vice versa—come for the unique art style and humor exhibited in the "Meat the Team" videos; stay for the well-balanced and refreshingly lighthearted multiplayer combat. People who were not "gamers" by any stretch, but got sucked into ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and/or ''Portal'', wound up loving the whole ''Orange Box'' set, and eventually settled into the world of video games.
* Steam: Come for Valve's amazing games, stay for the wealth of other games you never would have heard of otherwise.
** Come because [[Copy Protection|your new game requires it]], stay because ''holy crap did you see those sale prices?''
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'': Come for the character creator, stay because you're a superhero.
* ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]'': Come for the [[Dark Fantasy]] [[Hack and Slash]], [[Memetic Mutation|stay a while and listen]].
** Come for the action, stay for two weeks without a break.
* ''[[Nethack]]'': Come to see what the fuss is about, stay because "this shit won't beat me."
* ''[[Fallout]]'': Come for the ludicrously gleeful amount of gore, stay for the equally gleeful deconstruction of every 50's future-tech optimisms ever.
** ''[[Fallout 3]]'': Come for the [[Nuke'Em|Fatman]], [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|MIRV]], and [[Ray Gun|Alien]] [[Disintegrator Ray|Blaster]], stay for the [[Gotta Catch Em All|weapon schematics, unique weapons, sidequests, Bobbleheads]], and [[Scenery Porn|drop dead gorgeous landscapes.]]
** ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'': [[Magnificent Bastard|Come]] [[Crazy Awesome|for]] [[Badass Grandpa|the]] [[Memetic Badass|people,]] [[Scenery Porn|stay]] [[Scenery Gorn|for]] [[Wide Open Sandbox|the]] [[Memetic Mutation|sunshine.]]
* ''Mushihime-sama Futari'': Come for the [[True Final Boss]], stay for [[Expansion Pack|Black Label]].
* ''[[Thunder Force]]'': Come because it's an awesome [[Shoot'Em Up]] series, stay for the [[Crowning Music of Awesome|awesome music]].
* ''Jewelry Master Twinkle'': Come for its resemblance to a [[Dating Sim]], stay for hours.
* ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]]'': Come because you're bored of mainstream ''[[Tetris]]'', stay for the hope of one day getting Grand Master rank.
* ''DJMAX Technika'': Come for the interesting gameplay, stay for Platinum Crew (or to painfully wait for the day your arcade gets it).
* ''[[Guild Wars]]'': Come for the lack of monthly fees, stay for the lack of grind (and the [[Scenery Porn]]).
* ''[[Last Scenario]]'': Come to see if the storyline [[It Gets Better|gets better]] than it [[Cliché Storm|begins]], stay for the tactical and balanced battle system, [[Playing the Player|get hit in the face by some plot twists]] and finish the game for the improbably gorgeous story.
* ''[[BlazBlue]]'': Come for probably the closest thing you'll ever get to another 2D ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', stay to find out [[Nightmare Fuel|why the bug guy can't talk]].
* ''[[Star Wars: The Force Unleashed]]'': Come for the gratuitous Force usage, stay for the plot.
** For others... Come for the plot, [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|stay for the insane amount of ways to SLAUGHTER your enemies.]]
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'': come for the dating sim elements, stay for the fun battle system, deep character development and awesome J-pop music.
* ''[[F.E.A.R.|First Encounter Assault Recon]]'': Come for the awesome slow-mo action, stay for the surreal atmosphere and the [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* ''[[Command & Conquer]]'': Somewhat subverted in the "General's Challenge" mode in the ''Zero Hour'' expansion pack—one of Dr. Thrax's taunts is "You'll come for the toxins, but stay... ''because you're dead!''"
** Come for the invention of the RTS genre's gameplay style, stay for the awesome story. As Kane puts it in ''Tiberian Sun'', "Come for the sunshine but [[Dark Messiah|stay for the people]]!"
* ''[[Pac-Man]] Championship Edition DX'': Come because, well, it's ''Pac-Man'', stay until you S-rank all the stages.
* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'': Came for [[Mark Hamill]] as Joker, stay for the awesome gameplay and atmosphere.
* ''[[Summon Night]] Swordcraft Story'': Come for the [[Ho Yay/Video Games|lesbian subtext]], stay for the likable characters and fast paced battle system.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'': Come because [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros|of that blue-haired sword-dude in that fighting game]] and stay for the mentally stimulating strategy, lovable characters, and intricate stories.
* The [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] did this intentionally because [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]] made consoles very hard to sell on their own: Come for R.O.B., stay for ''[[Super Mario Bros. (video game)|Super Mario Bros]]''.
** Some gamers' reasons for owning a Nintendo console: "Come for [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]], stay for all the other Nintendo all-stars.
* ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'': Come for the goofy/cool [[Monster of the Week|Robot Masters]] that you can fight in any order, stay for the [[Nintendo Hard|challenging]] gameplay and [[Mega Man/Awesome Music|addicting music]].
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': Come for the variety of characters and simplistic yet fun gameplay, stay for the [[Sonic the Hedgehog/Awesome Music|kickass music]] and [[Scenery Porn|gorgeous stages]].
* ''[[Soul Series|SoulCalibur]]'': Come for [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]], stay for the refined fighting gameplay.
** Alternatively come fore the awesome fighting, stay for the guest star characters.
* ''[[Dead or Alive]]'': Come for the fighting, stay for the [[Fetish Fuel|girls]].
* ''[[Suikoden]]'': Come for [[Lots and Lots of Characters|the 108 characters from your party]], stay for the amazing political plots, fun gameplay and likable characters amongst the 108s.
* Playing ''[[Mass Effect]]'' as a female Shepard: come for the [[Ho Yay|lesbian alien sexual tension]], stay for [[Jennifer Hale]]'s voice acting.
* ''[[Warcraft]]'' III: Come for the awesome gameplay and storyline, stay for [[Defense of the Ancients|DOTA]].
* ''[[Civilization]]'': Come to win the games in different endings, stay for the leaders.
* ''[[Goddess of Victory: Nikke]]'': Come for the [[Third-Person Seductress]]es and their entire bakeries, stay for a twisty, heartwrenching plot that hits you with a [[Player Punch]] for a [[First Episode Spoiler]] and doesn't let up.

== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* ''[[Ace Attorney]]'': Come for the [[Mundane Made Awesome|ridiculous premise]], stay for the addictive mysteries, quirky characters, and [[World of Ham]].
* ''[[School Days]]'': Come for the many endings and adorable wooable characters, stay for the many [[Bad End]]s.
** For some people, it's the other way around!
* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': Come for the scenes left out from the [[All There in the Manual|anime]] and [[All There in the Manual|TIPS]], stay for the same reasons you stayed for the anime and ''more''.
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'': Come for the magic, stay for the mystery.
** Alternatively, come for the [[Memetic Mutation|memetic]] [[troll]]ing and [[Gorn|bloody deaths]], stay for the romance.
* ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'': Come for hot cripple sex, stay for the well written and lovable characters, the witty dialogues, and the fantastic soundtrack, not to mention the intelligent and mature observations of some very difficult themes.
* ''[[Kana: Little Sister]]'': Come for one kind of [[A Date with Rosie Palms|jerker]], stay for the [[Tear Jerker|other]].
* ''[[Fate/stay night]]'': Come for the swords, stay for the [[Character Development]] and [[Determinator|unbreakable]] main characters.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''Enjuhneer'' Come for the geek-college, stay for the increasingly in-depth characters.
** Also, come for the geeky-ness, stay for the geeky-ness
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': [[XXXenophile|Come for the hope that it is similar to the author's past work]], stay for the well-drawn [[Mad Scientist|MAD SCIENCE]]!
** Come for the Steampunk, stay for the Jagers.
** Also, the Heterodyne museum advertised: "Come for the crushing, stay for the snow cones".
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'': Come for the [[Tabletop Games|role-playing]] parody, stay for the well-done [[Cerebus Syndrome]].
* ''[[Questionable Content]]'': Come for the robots, stay for the well-developed interpersonal relationships, the constant introductions to new indie-rock bands, and the fact that it never forgets to be funny. Oh, and don't forget [[The Merch|to buy a T-shirt]].
* ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'': Come for the ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' geekery, stay for the wicked [[Deconstruction]] of just about every RPG trope ever invented.
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'': Come because you're the only person on the planet who hasn't read it, stay for the sick humor and the less-sick vocabulary lessons.
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]''. Come for hilarious subversions on beloved tropes, stay for shirtless Zach.
* ''[[Ménage à 3]]'': Come for [[Distracted by the Sexy|the hot girls/guys]], stay for the zany characters and story.
* ''[[Goodbye Chains]]'': [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Come]] for the [[Yaoi Fangirl|gay]], stay 'cause it's ''hilarious''.
* ''[[Misfile]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] and/or [[Fetish Fuel]], stay for the emotional story, funny jokes, and well-done [[Deconstruction]] of the entire [[Gender Bender]] genre.
* ''[[Megatokyo]]'': Come for the crazy, stay for the drama. And the surrealism.
** And the Rent-A-Zilla.
** Or, come for the cute girls, stay for the story.
* ''[[The Dreamer]]'': Come for the time travel drama/romance and American history, stay for the [[Estrogen Brigade|hot guys]] (or vice versa).
* ''[[Fanboys (webcomic)|Fanboys]]'': Come for the video game humor, stay for the [[Tastes Like Diabetes|sickeningly cute romance]].
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': Come for the [[Crazy Awesome|Chainsaw Nunchucks]], stay for the hilarious writing.
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Come because you just finished ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'', stay for the intricate characterization, intense action, [[Crowning Music of Awesome|sick beats]], and the sheer amount of both [[Trope Overdosed|tropes]] and [[Homestuck/WMG|theories]]. [[Archive Panic|It's not like you'd be able to leave]] [[Webcomics Long Runners|any time soon!]]
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'': Come for the [[Gender Bending]] stay for the [[Character Development]].
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'': come for the gag-a-day [[Sci Fi]] starring a talking pile of crap, stay for the deep, serious, intricately plotted [[Space Opera]] epic starring [[Chekhov's Gun]]s you never saw coming.
* ''[[Insecticomics]]'' has a storyline with a title like this: ''Come For the Wedding, Stay For the Open Bar!''
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'': Come for the ''[[Star Wars]]'' and [[Tabletop RPG]] jokes, stay for the [[Character Development]] as the players and GM become [[True Companions]].
** ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'': Come for the insanely overpowered fireballs, stay for [[The Rant|the often insightful comments and literal rants]]. Doubly so now that the comic itself is essentially finished but the rants keep getting updates.
* ''[[Shiniez]]'': Come for the well-drawn fetish artwork, stay for the characterisation, story-telling and sense of humor.

== [[Web Original]] ==
<!-- Commented out pending a reasonable conversion to ATT
* ''[[TV Tropes]]'': Come for the laughs, stay for the [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|crippling addiction!]]
** ''[[TV Tropes]] Wiki'': Come to look something up. Stay for the witty remarks.
*** ''[[TV Tropes]]'': Come for the interesting, [[Impossible Task|stay awhile... STAY FOREVER!]]
**** ''[[TV Tropes]]'': Come to find out what the hell everyone else is talking about, stay because [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|you have no choice.]]
***** ''[[TV Tropes]]'': Come for the fun, stay because it is a better place to look up media than [[Wikipedia|The Other Wiki]] is.
****** ''[[TV Tropes]]'': Come because of [[Xkcd]], stay because of [[Wiki Walk]]. -->
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': Come for the humor and wacky characters, stay for the surprisingly deep storyline that [[Cerebus Syndrome|eventually emerges]].
* A running joke on AH.com was incorporated into ''[[AH Dot Com the Series]]'': "I came for the [[Alternate History]], I stayed for the Homosexual Innuendo." (Sometimes inverted for humor.)
* ''[[Darth Wiki]]'': Come for the fun, stay for the cries of agony!
** [[Sugar Wiki]]: Come because of [[Pothole|one of these]], stay because [[Good Feels Good]]!
* ''[[That Guy With The Glasses]]'': Come for the reviews, stay for the [[Deadpan Snarker|Snark]].
** [[The Nostalgia Critic]]/[[The Nostalgia Chick]]: Come for your nostalgic movie getting bashed,<ref>or to think dirty thoughts about the [[Pretty Boy]]/[[Ms. Fanservice|hot girl]]</ref> stay for their [[Hidden Depths|genuinely]] [[Jerkass Woobie|interesting]] [[Backstory|characters]].
* Fandom: Come for the porn, stay for the people (and the porn).
* Furries: Come for the people, stay for the porn and the drama.
* [[LiveJournal]] Roleplay: Come for the character interaction, stay for the sparkle text.
* ''[[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'': Come for the nostalgia, stay for the catharsis.
* ''[[The Joker Blogs]]'': Come for the acting, stay for the suspenseful story.
* ''[http://www.thehillywoodshow.com/ The Hillywood Show]'': Come for the [[Johnny Depp]] impressions and ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' parodies, stay for the stellar musical numbers and professional production values.
* ''The Escapist'': Come for the [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]], stay for ''[[Unskippable]]'' and ''[[Doomsday Arcade]]''.
* NASA Edge and Space Vidcast: Come for the humor, stay for the quotability and the spaceflight.
* [[Facebook]]: Come to communicate with your friends, stay for the games.
* ''[[Cat-Tales]]'': Come for the [[Fan Service]] and/or the [[Foe Yay]], stay because it's better written and better characterized than anything DC Comics has done in years.
* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'': Come for the [[Gender Bender|TG wish fulfillment]] stories, stay for the superhero battles and the humor.
* ''[[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC]]'': Come for the [[Crossover]] factor, stay for the characterization, witty dialogue, and many [[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC/Funny|hilarious highlights]].
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'': Come for the parody of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' (let's face it, it's a pretty easy target), stay for the parody of absolutely everything.
* [[Homestar Runner]]: Come for Homestar, stay for [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Strong Bad]]!
* The trope is referenced in an Easter Egg featuring the [[Homestar Runner|Teen Girl Squad]] in the sbemail "death metal":
{{quote|'''What's-Her-Face:''' Cheerleader! Are you here to see Brainkrieg?
'''Cheerleader:''' I come for the wuggas, but stay for the jiggy juggas.
'''Death metal band on the stage:''' ''(offscreen)'' Jugga jigga wugga! }}
* ''Valenth'': Come for the pretty adoptable artwork, stay for the surprisingly complex storyline.  (Or rather, you could, before the site shut down.)
* Personality Cafe: Come for the personality typing, stay for the community.
** Or come because Typology Central banned you, stay for the community.
* [[Fanfiction.net]]: Come because you like the work, stay for awesome expansion upon [[Canon]].
** Or you come for more of your favorite works and stay to find truly great fics hidden underneath piles of [[Mary Sue|Sues]] and [[Yaoi]].
** Alternatively, come to make crappy fanfics, stay to gradually improve and make something fairly interesting! (It takes some time though!)
* ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]'': Come to watch Nappa slowly drive Vegata insane,  {{spoiler|''stay'' to watch Ghost Nappa slowly drive Vegeta insane}}.
* [[Neopets]]: Come for the cute creatures, stay for the games.
** Or alternatively, come for the games, stay for the plots and possibly the community.
* ''[[Marble Hornets]]'': come for [[Slender Man]], stay because [[Nightmare Fuel|you're too afraid to move]].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111008114125/http://www.patheos.com/community/slacktivist The Slacktivist's blog]: Come for ''[[Left Behind]]'' getting [[MST|ripped a new one]], stay for the political and philosophical posts. And ''[[Left Behind]]'' [[Snark Bait|getting ripped a new one]].
* [[Cracked.com]]: Come for the gut-busting "top five" lists, stay for the even more gut-busting fan poster contests.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Come for the bending hijinks, stay for the sincere and unexpectedly wise writing.
** This troper found it to be "come for the bending hijinks, stay for the all-around awesomeness."
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': Come for the adventure parody, stay for surprisingly deep characters and strong [[Continuity]].
* ''[[12 oz. Mouse]]'': Come for the [[Bile Fascination|terribly crude art]], stay for the complex story, well-defined characters, and awesome soundtrack.
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'': Come to watch [[Batman]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|be awesome]], stay to see just how very very wrong the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] is.
* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'': Come for the [[Magical Girlfriend]] [[Girl in a Box|in a Box]], stay for either the [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] or the [[Aborted Arc|abandoned government conspiracy plot]]. (Or for [[Keet|Odd]].)
* ''[[Futurama]]'': come for [[Magnificent Bastard|Bender]] and the [[Nerdgasm]] of science fiction combined with ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''' humor. Stay for the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|heartwarming]] but bittersweet romance, the devastatingly [[Tear Jerker|tragic]] time-displacement story; the complex, carefully constructed characters; and the scattering of episodes that reach the level of truly sublime television.
* ''[[American Dad]]'': Come because it's by the same creator as ''[[Family Guy]]'', stay because it's better at character and story.
* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League Unlimited]]'': Come for [[Batman: The Animated Series|the Batman]], stay for [[Crazy Awesome|the]] [[The Question|Question]].
* ''[[Invader Zim]]'': Come for [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|GIR]], stay for the social satire.
** Or come because it's [[Jhonen Vasquez]], stay because it's the best "kid's" show ever.
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'': Come for Demona's sexiness, stay for the story.
** Come for all the hype, stay because you've started [[Shipping]] Elisa/Goliath.
* ''[[Moral Orel]]'': Come for the parody of [[Moral Guardians]] and [[American Churches|Fundamentalist Christianity]], stay for the dark characterization.
* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'': Come for the humor, stay for the amazing stop-motion animation.
* ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]'': Come for Batman, stay for the hilarious stories and [[Mythology Gag]]s.
* ''[[Metalocalypse]]'': Come for the outright LOLs and brutal soundtrack, stay for the surprisingly deep plot and fantastic characters. And the buckets of [[Ho Yay]].
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': Come because your little brother has it on the television, stay because... oh my god, they can't really be doing '''the''' Terra storyline in a kids show?!
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'': Come because you're bored, stayed for the writing, the music, the entertaining cast, the subtext and the humor
** [[Layman's Terms|So... come because you're bored,]] [[Fridge Brilliance|stay for the entire show?]] <ref>"I for one am starting to get bored, and boredom is something up with which I will not put!"</ref>
* ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'': Come because you watched it as a child, stayed because [[Ho Yay/Western Animation|of the complex character relationships.]]
* ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'': Come for the [[Fetish Fuel|girls in spandex]], stay for the [[Gambit Pileup|awesome plot]].
** The same goes for ''[[Winx Club]]''.
* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'': Come for the making fun of reality tv, stay for the awesome characters.
* ''[[The Batman]]'': [[Rule of Three|Came for Batman]]. Stay for the new spin on the villains.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'': Come for the stylish art style, stay for the clever writing, memorable characters, and humor. Or as it was put so eloquently [[Image Boards|"somewhere on the internets"]], "come for the trolling, stay for the ponies."
** Come for the [[Watch It for the Meme|Memes]], stay for the good animation, characters, and writing.
* ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'': Come because you read Garfield as a kid, stay for the hilarious jokes and fourth wall breaking.

== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Super Bowl]]: Come for the football, stay for the commercials (sometimes the main reason people are watching the Superbowl, except maybe hopes for another [[Wardrobe Malfunction]]).
* College: Come for the additional education, stay for the shenanigans.
** For some, it's the other way around.
** And for yet others, it's Come because you can't get a job without a degree, stay because... you can't get a job without a degree.
** Come for your parents, stay because you're getting your $30,000's worth.
** Surely it's come to avoiding getting a real job and laze around for a few years, stay for the realisation of how much money you have spent on it.
** Come for the food, stay for the wireless and free movies. (Honestly, a school that shows movies every week on a 232 inch screen between the time when they leave the theatre and the DVD release? Awesome.)
** Come to get away from your family, stay because your friends there have ''become'' your new family.
* The Gym: Come to lose weight, stay for the endorphin addiction.
** or stay for the girls.
*** Or guys.
* Alcohol: Come for the social acceptance, stay for the drunkenness.
* Your Career: Come for the chance to work in your specialist field, stay for the paychecks that allow you to have a roof over your head, food in your belly, a place to rest your head, and clothes to cover your body.
* The Internet: Come for the vast stores of news and information, stay for teh joeks! (Or [[The Internet Is for Porn|teh pr0n]], depending on your libido.) (Or the "innovative" spelling, if you've been online for any given length of time.)
** Applies for tvtropes. A huge number of people found tvtropes searching for lolita and incest. The picture of someone coming to their stuff and then get sidetracked for hours just seems inherently funny.
* Caffeine: Come for the quick pick-me-up it gives you, stay for the ability to ward off the waiting crash and burn.
* Acetominophen: Come for its ability to treat a cold's aches and pains, stay for its ability to lower your fever.
* Life: Come because you've been kind of forced into it, stay because...well there aren't any real alternatives.
* California: [[Place Worse Than Death|Come for the earthquakes, stay for the wildfires.]]
* [[The Onion|Our Dumb World]] on Malawi: "Come for the food shortages, stay because you've died."
* [[Tear Jerker|Sad example:]] [[People's Republic of Tyranny|North Korea]] (if you're Japanese or South Korean): Come because they invited you, stay because they won't let you leave.
* Whatcom County, WA—come on vacation, stay on probation...
* Dark chocolate. Come because it's delicious, stay because it's a natural source of antioxidants.
* Movie posters and advertisements run on this trope. See [[Covers Always Lie]] for more.
* Food: Come for the deliciousness, stay because your newly-gained fat won't let you do otherwise.
* Sarcasm: Come to subtly vent about your life, stay because you've corrupted your innocence.
* Ballet: Come for the dancing and story, stay for the [[Panty Shot]]s.
** Or vice versa (also applies to figure skating).
* Getting a pet: Come for the [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] (or [[Ugly Cute]] depending on the species), stay for the bonding and unconditional love.

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