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Romantic Runner-Up: Difference between revisions
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Sometimes called "The Baxter" (but not [[Ted Baxter]]) from C.C. Baxter of ''[[The Apartment]]'', a sad sack who actually gets the girl. The [[Stella|Michael Showalter]] movie ''The Baxter'' deconstructs the concept. Compare [[Hopeless Suitor]], [[Romantic False Lead]] and [[No Sparks]]. See also [[Did Not Get the Girl]] and [[Everything but the Girl]] when it's the ''hero'' who is the romantic runner-up.
{{examples|page=Romantic Runners-Up}}▼
▲{{examples|page=Romantic Runners-Up}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Kotori is a female example from ''[[Da Capo]]''. Many of the characters mention that she's popular, she's a good cook, smart, and she likes spending a lot of time with Junichi. Many characters also comment that those two would be a good match for each other. But unfortunately for her, Junichi's [[Clingy Jealous Girl|jealous]] [[Not Blood Siblings|sister]] Nemu doesn't like him spending time with any girls but her.
** Sakura is another example. She even fought with Nemu at first, but eventually gives him up at the end of the first Season.
* Kentarou Nara from the anime/manga ''[[School Rumble]]''. Oddly enough, he was originally going to be the main character of the show, but was nonetheless relegated as a side character with little screen time or role in the story.
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== [[Film]] ==
* The [[Wet Hot American Summer|Michael Showalter]] film ''[[The Baxter]]'' is a parody from the perspective of one of these guys.
* Ralph Bellamy in just about any movie where he's not playing [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Were
* Actor James Marsden has quite the Baxter career going, playing blandly nice guys who fail to get the girl one way or another in ''[[Superman
** He ''does'' get the girl in ''Superman Returns.'' Strangely enough, that film casts [[Superman]] as the Baxter. In the first hour, at least. In the end, he still loses, Lois pretty much states that they're done as a couple and she's going to pine for Superman, because she really loves him and {{spoiler|he is the father to her son}}.
** And he gets a girl in ''Enchanted'' too—just not the one he was originally looking for.
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** And in ''X-Men'', where Jean even marries him. Suck on ''that'', Wolverine!
*** Until Jean {{spoiler|[[Dropped a Bridge on Him|anti-climatically kills him]]. And later, ''she'' gets killed off. By Wolverine}}. Damn [[Real Life Writes the Plot]].
* Sam in ''[[Crossing Delancey]]'' is one of these, but ends up winning the girl anyway.
* This page describes ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' James Norrington's entire existence—even though he is played by Jack Davenport, he cannot compete with [[The Hero|Will]] or [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Jack]]. Even in ''Dead Man's Chest'', when he was dirty, drunk, and hot as hell. Poor fellow.
* Walter in ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]''. This is a guy who was ''about to get married'', and basically gets dumped for some guy who lives on the other side of the country and whom his fiance has never even met.
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* Cary Elwes's character from ''[[Liar Liar]]''.
* [[Ben Stiller]] in ''[[Reality Bites]]''.
* Ricky from ''[[Better Off Dead]]'', [[Abhorrent Admirer]] though he may be to Monique, still gains the attention of a cute nerdy girl in the final minutes of the film after Lane carries Monique off.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Zack Allan in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' with regards to Lyta Alexander.
* Billy Keikeya on ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** For that matter, Apollo as well. Sure, he steals {{spoiler|Dualla from Billy}} but ''then'' it turns out {{spoiler|he really wanted to be with Starbuck, who instead goes for handsome, kind-hearted jock Anders. He eventually tries to get over her but it doesn't work and he gets separated. But Starbuck's dead by that point, or at least appears to be, and things get way hectic when she comes back. Then Anders is revealed as a Cylon, but the revelation doesn't break Starbuck and Anders up as one might predict. [[It Got Worse|And then, Dualla shoots herself]]}}. To top it all off, {{spoiler|when Anders dies, Starbuck, who's [[Not Quite Dead]], disappears again. Sucks to be Apollo}}.
*** Which is hilarious, because in some ways Anders also fits. While, yes, {{spoiler|he does actually get to marry Starbuck, it's implied a number of times that she would rather be with Apollo (and Anders knows this). At one point, she basically out-right states that the only reason she hasn't left Anders for Apollo is because she doesn't believe in divorce}}.
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* David, Phoebe's on-and-off boyfriend on ''[[Friends]]'', showed up once again in season nine and proposed. Phoebe promptly rejected him for Mike Hannigan, whom she ultimately married. To add insult to injury, the writers went out of their way to point out that the inoffensive David was a penniless failure by this point.
* Xander Harris from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' qualifies for this trope on multiple occasions. Although he is generally presented as a 'nice guy', virtually every woman he loves either rejects him outright or leaves him, generally for a supernatural being. Buffy rejects him for the more romantic Angel. Cordelia ultimately also winds up with Angel after breaking up with him. Willow, after pining after him for the first two seasons, ultimately chooses Oz over him. (This is a situation similar to David's, above, as the entire purpose of Xander and Willow's brief affair was to demonstrate that Willow was over him.) Even Anya sleeps with Spike after breaking up with Xander.
** Subverted when Buffy does begin to develop romantic feeling for Xander- and Xander rejects her for her little sister, Dawn (and previous seasons, Dawn had a crush on Xander and he rejected her
*** During the TV run, Xander also had the peculiar distinction that literally every woman he went out with had tried to kill him, or would try to kill him (not always intentionally, but it worked out that way in practice), including at least a couple who tried to kill him on the
** Also, '''''Spike''''' himself. And on a century-plus streak going at it, despite numerous metamorphoses, whether he be human, rabid young vampire, sarcastic and surprisingly sane old vampire, chipped reluctantly-good vampire, soulful good vampire, soulful bad vampire, or all-out champion of good.
** Hell, yeah, Spike. The irony being that most of the time he's losing out to Angel or Angelus, probably because while Angel was [[Took a Level in Badass|taking levels in badass]] he was getting hit by [[Badass Decay]] so hard the trope had his name for a while.
*** Riley Finn is really a more appropriate example. Xander broke it off with Anya, and Spike had Harmony, he just didn't want her. Riley loved Buffy, and she didn't love him back. The interesting thing is that Riley is otherwise more the [[Prince Charming]] type. The problem is that Buffy is... well, take your pick: a) just interested in him because he's the 'normal' guy, b) not Angel.
*** ...did anybody else notice that ''everybody'' gets rejected for Angel? I mean, it's logical since he's hot and awesome and [[Even the Guys Want Him]], but still. [[Gary Stu|Every man is rejected in favour of him]].
* Bashir on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. After Jadzia is gone, Dax's next host Ezri tells him that if Worf hadn't come along, he would have been the one.
** 'Course, the situation is promptly reversed. Ezri goes out with Worf for a while before realizing that her feelings for him are just residual versions of Jadzia's. She dumps him for Julian. Irony? Yes.
* Tom Demming from ''[[Castle]]'' is a mix of this and a [[Romantic False Lead]], as while his arc is only a few episodes and he exists, essentially, to [[Oblivious to Love|wake Castle the hell up]], he is a genuinely good guy who really does care about Beckett and seems to make her happy.
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