Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Malingering Romance Ploy

 Malingering Romance Ploy
type
FeatureClass
 Malingering Romance Ploy
label
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy
page
MalingeringRomancePloy
 Malingering Romance Ploy
comment
Malingering is feigning or exaggerating an injury or illness. Typically, it's to get out of duty. However, it has other uses, as well.
When a character suffers a minor injury or illness, and suddenly their Love Interest, whom they've been crushing on the whole series, is paying them extra attention to take care of them. What's the logical outcome? Well, in the realm of fiction, it's to exploit it, playing up the illness or injury for all its worth while delighting in the lavish attention they're now receiving. Sometimes, the character may try to keep up the ruse by either getting themselves injured or Getting Sick Deliberately.
A sub-trope to Playing Sick, this version is explicitly about garnering a love interest's attention and possible affections, as opposed to the "I Have A Headache" response.
This will almost always backfire, as when the Love Interest learns that they were being toyed with, they will invariably respond with disappointment at the very least and outright outrage at the worst. In some cases, it can even go so far as to cause Ship Sinking, permanently putting a wedge between the character and their love interest.
In a few cases, both the feigner and the love interest know perfectly well what's going on and they play along with each other as a form of flirting, particularly if the love interest is a doctor or other health professional.
Compare Florence Nightingale Effect, where a caretaker begins to fall in love with their patient. Also compare Münchausen Syndrome. Compare After Action Patch Up.
Contrast You Don't Want to Catch This, which is when someone plays sick to get people to stay away from them.
 Malingering Romance Ploy
fetched
2023-09-23T19:45:11Z
 Malingering Romance Ploy
parsed
2023-09-23T19:45:11Z
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingComment
Dropped link to ConfrontationAck1308: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingComment
Dropped link to DeliberateInjuryGambit: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingComment
Dropped link to GiantMedicalSyringe: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingComment
Dropped link to OuranHighSchoolHostClub: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingComment
Dropped link to SchoolRumble: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingUnknown
OuranHighSchoolHostClub
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingUnknown
SchoolRumble
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingUnknown
Confrontation (ack1308) (Fanfic)
 Malingering Romance Ploy
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_117116ef
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_117116ef
comment
The Penguins of Madagascar: In "Love Hurts", Private gets injured and falls in love with the zoo nurse. He then starts purposely getting injured so he can keep seeing her.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_117116ef
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_117116ef
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Penguins of Madagascar
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_117116ef
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_194165d7
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_194165d7
comment
In one of the earliest episodes of City Hunter, Ryo passes himself as a patient of the hospital where works the pretty nurse he's tasked to protect. Later, he's wounded for real.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_194165d7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_194165d7
featureConfidence
1.0
 CityHunter
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_194165d7
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_1cb9c165
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_1cb9c165
comment
Making a Moment is about Dipper trying to get together with his love interest without having to put himself out there and actually tell her how he feels. His plan is to "make a moment" — that is to say, invoke rom-com tropes — and somehow create a moment where the music swells and they spontaneously kiss, thus getting together without either party really having to put themselves on the line. This plan doesn't go so well. In the later half of the fic, after other tropes fall flat, Dipper tries to invoke this one by eating raw shrimp to intentionally make himself sick. He ends up deconstructing the trope instead. Taking care of someone when they're sick is tremendously loving, but not very sexy.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_1cb9c165
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_1cb9c165
featureConfidence
1.0
 Making a Moment (Fanfic)
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_1cb9c165
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_27831967
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_27831967
comment
In the first season of Parks and Recreation, Andy suffered broken legs falling into the "the pit" outside of his girlfriend Ann's home. However, he refuses the have the casts taken off when it is time, unknown to Ann so that she'll keep being The Caretaker him. She finds out two weeks later and breaks up with him.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_27831967
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_27831967
featureConfidence
1.0
 Parks and Recreation
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_27831967
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_3281af37
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_3281af37
comment
To the Manor Born: After Audrey injures her back, she prolongs her "suffering" to keep Richard visiting and bringing her flowers and chocolates. When he invites her on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, she has to accelerate her perceived recovery to not miss out.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_3281af37
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_3281af37
featureConfidence
1.0
 To the Manor Born
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_3281af37
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4a7e9f15
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4a7e9f15
comment
In A Kid in King Arthur's Court, Calvin is knocked from his horse during jousting training. He pretends to be more injured than he is so Princess Katie will fawn over him, and even manages to sneak in a kiss.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4a7e9f15
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4a7e9f15
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Kid in King Arthur's Court
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4a7e9f15
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4e45b093
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4e45b093
comment
The Big Bang Theory: Amy starts out with a genuine cold but pretends to be sick even after she's gotten well because Sheldon has been taking care of her, and she's been enjoying it. When Sheldon learns, he understands her desire to be around him longer but feels the deception warrants a form of punishment. Amy quickly suggests a spanking.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4e45b093
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4e45b093
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Big Bang Theory
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_4e45b093
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_50a9ace1
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_50a9ace1
comment
Popeye:
In the short "Hospitaliky", Popeye and Bluto combine this with Deliberate Injury Gambit to get the attention of nurse Olive Oyl. After multiple failed attempts at getting hurt bad, they finally get into a fight that climaxes in Popeye force-feeding Bluto his spinach to get him strong enough to beat him to a pulp.
The same short got remade in color as "For Better or Nurse", with a twist ending: Olive throws Popeye out because she works at a cat and dog hospital, and when he and Bluto pretend to be cats and dogs they get dragged off to an insane asylum.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_50a9ace1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_50a9ace1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Popeye (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_50a9ace1
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_5fa9d874
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_5fa9d874
comment
Animal Crackers: In one episode, Lyle gets bitten by a snake. Neither he nor Dodo are sure if the snake is poisonous, so Lyle is convinced he's doomed. However, he soon realizes that Lana might take care of him if she finds this out, and tells her after saving her from being trampled by Gnu's herd. She proceeds to take him home and wait on him hand and paw. Later, the snake gets washed and Dodo discovers she isn't poisonous. Lana gets angry at Lyle for his ignorance and storms out.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_5fa9d874
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_5fa9d874
featureConfidence
1.0
 Animal Crackers
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_5fa9d874
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_73d7930f
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_73d7930f
comment
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In "Explorers", Leeta flirts with Dr. Bashir by extremely obviously feigning a little cough. Bashir plays right along.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_73d7930f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_73d7930f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_73d7930f
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_7ff3216c
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_7ff3216c
comment
Garfield and Friends: Zig-zagged. Jon will use any slight sign of illness in Garfield as a pretense to take the eponymous cat to the vet, Liz, to hit on her and ask her out, playing on her sympathies for his ill cat.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_7ff3216c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_7ff3216c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Garfield and Friends
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_7ff3216c
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_83ad2ee5
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_83ad2ee5
comment
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
Draco is genuinely injured by Buckbeak the hippogriff but plays up the severity of the injury because Pansy Parkinson is fawning over him.
Much later, when Ron is injured by the Whomping Willow and enjoying Hermione's concern, he does something very similar, remarking that the leg might need to be amputated. (Needless to say, it does not.)
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_83ad2ee5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_83ad2ee5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_83ad2ee5
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85a3d596
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85a3d596
comment
Michael 'Squints' Palledorous, one of the kids of The Sandlot (the one with the glasses), has it bad for Wendy Peffercorn, the lifeguard of the town's major swimming pool and one of the most beautiful girls of the town. So during the scene where the Sandlot kids are at the swimming pool, Squints fakes a drowning so that Wendy will rescue him and give him mouth-to-mouth, just before he puts his arm around her and kisses her long and good. Wendy is pissed ("You little pervert!"), and this little stunt gets the kids banned from the pool for life, but it's made clear at the end of the scene that this is what ends up starting their eventual romance when Squints gets older.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85a3d596
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85a3d596
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Sandlot
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85a3d596
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85d5f5d7
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85d5f5d7
comment
Hatari!: When Pockets falls from a fence, Brandy rushes to him and calls him "baby" in concern. He pretends he's passed out, then "wakes up" and pretends he's in pain, so she'll keep fussing over him. Later, when Kurt and Chips — who really were injured earlier that day, when their car went over — come looking for some ice, they learn that there's not any left, because Brandy took it all to use it in ice bags and drinks for Pockets.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85d5f5d7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85d5f5d7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hatari!
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_85d5f5d7
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d7f29ec
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d7f29ec
comment
Glee: Played With. Wheelchair-bound Artie and stutterer Tina bond over their disabilities, but shortly after they start dating, Tina confesses that she began faking her stutter to make people leave her alone; now that she belongs to a group like Glee Club, she feels she doesn't need to. Artie, who can't just shake off his disability, feels betrayed, but eventually forgives her.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d7f29ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d7f29ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Glee
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d7f29ec
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d814070
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d814070
comment
M*A*S*H: Downplayed example in the episode "Out of Sight, Out of Mind". After Hawkeye spends much of the episode flash-blinded from fixing a stove in the nurses' tent, he fakes a relapse to worm his way back into said tent (hoping for a chance to see the nurses undressing). However, the nurses are wise to his ploy and toss him out.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d814070
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d814070
featureConfidence
1.0
 M*A*S*H
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_8d814070
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_9b530c26
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_9b530c26
comment
Archie Comics: In the story “The Ways of Women”, from Archie, Issue 175, Archie successfully pulls this with Veronica. A jealous Reggie deliberately injures himself, and plays it up, thinking that he’s gotten Veronica’s attention, only for her to go right back to focusing on Archie.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_9b530c26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_9b530c26
featureConfidence
1.0
 Archie Comics (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_9b530c26
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_a817bc3b
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_a817bc3b
comment
Why Women Kill: Beth lies to her husband Rob that she has cancer after finding out that his mistress April is pregnant, as she knows he'll never leave her while she's sick.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_a817bc3b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_a817bc3b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Why Women Kill
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_a817bc3b
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_af88e831
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_af88e831
comment
Books of Samuel: Amnon, one of King David's sons, falls desperately in lust with a young woman named Tamar. His friend Jonadab advises him to use this trope to gain her affection. The fact that she's Amnon's half-sister doesn't even slow him down, and things go From Bad to Worse. Much, much worse.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_af88e831
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_af88e831
featureConfidence
1.0
 Books of Samuel
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_af88e831
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_c43df4d8
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_c43df4d8
comment
Doctor Who: In the episode 'The Unicorn and the Wasp', a murder suspect admits that he has been faking his inability to walk so his wife will remain by his side and not be tempted to cheat.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_c43df4d8
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_cd924e18
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_cd924e18
comment
Terry and June: In "Thanks For The Memory", Terry loses his memory, which causes his wife June to fuss over him. Although his memory eventually comes back, Terry continues the ruse to continue this fuss being made over him. Unfortunately for him, June overhears him revealing this and figures it out.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_cd924e18
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_cd924e18
featureConfidence
1.0
 Terry and June
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_cd924e18
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e33c6082
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e33c6082
comment
Nurse Ikoli of the Nautilus in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is so pretty she has even a fan club. Of course, Sanson managed to voluntarily wound himself to see her more often.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e33c6082
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e33c6082
featureConfidence
1.0
 Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e33c6082
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e8d13e52
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e8d13e52
comment
Urusei Yatsura: When the students at Tomobiki High learn there's a new school nurse, every male student fakes ill to get in to see her. It turns out to be Sakura, who is less than amused.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e8d13e52
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e8d13e52
featureConfidence
1.0
 Urusei Yatsura (Manga)
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e8d13e52
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e936047a
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e936047a
comment
In the Hey Arnold! episode "Beaned", Arnold accidentally hits Helga on the head, giving her Easy Amnesia. Feeling guilty, Arnold takes care of Helga. After she recovers, Helga acts like she's still amnesic so Arnold can continue doting on her.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e936047a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e936047a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hey Arnold!
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_e936047a
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_ee829854
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_ee829854
comment
House of Anubis:
When Amber is temporarily cursed with blindness, Alfie frantically tries to help her by carrying things for her and the like. She exploits this by continuing to fake blindness even after she recovers, and when he catches her reading a magazine, she spins it as him just being so good at helping her.
In the first season, while visiting a hospital-stricken Alfie, Jerome grew attracted to his hot young nurse and started pretending to have a fever to get her attention. She claimed that he had a horrible illness that required being given an injection with a Giant Medical Syringe, forcing him to admit he wasn't sick... and leading her to admit she was just messing with him because she knew what he was attempting.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_ee829854
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_ee829854
featureConfidence
1.0
 House of Anubis
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_ee829854
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_f90f1b9f
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_f90f1b9f
comment
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: Dale hurts his foot kicking the Ranger Plane, and spends the rest of the episode playing it up because Gadget is doting on him. Monterrey notes that a pretty face could drive a person to do strange things. When Chip proves to Gadget that Dale is faking, she is absolutely livid (which, if other examples of her getting mad are any indication, would not have ended well for Dale, had the Rangers not been captured by the Kiwis). After he legitimately breaks his foot kicking a crocodile, Gadget tells him that it's no fun being truly injured.
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_f90f1b9f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Malingering Romance Ploy / int_f90f1b9f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
hasFeature
Malingering Romance Ploy / int_f90f1b9f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingCategory2
Indexitis
 Malingering Romance Ploy
processingCategory2
Love Tropes
 Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Popeye (Comic Strip) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Confrontation (Fanfic)
processingUnknown
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Confrontation (ack1308) (Fanfic) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 A Kid in King Arthur's Court / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Hatari!
processingUnknown
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Books of Samuel / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 In/Spectre / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 City Hunter (Manga) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Ouran High School Host Club (Manga) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 School Rumble (Manga) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Seraph of the End (Manga) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Urusei Yatsura (Manga) / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 House of Anubis / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Parks and Recreation / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Terry and June / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 To the Manor Born / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Animal Crackers / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 Garfield and Friends / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy
 The Penguins of Madagascar / int_5a399cff
type
Malingering Romance Ploy