History Main / ToxicFriendInfluence

* ''Fanfic/HeroChat'': It's pointed out that [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Sabrina and Chloé]] were actually this for each other. Yes, Chloé treated Sabrina like a servant, but Sabrina was like that before she met Chloé--she believes that she only has worth when she's acting with complete, ridiculous selflessness, and actually gets mad if people won't let her do things for them. Combined with Chloé's domineering personality and they fed into each other, making both worse. As part of Chloé's redemption, she distances herself from Sabrina, because it's too easy to just start commanding her again. Sabrina, with distance from Chloé, begins to understand she has worth besides what she can do for other people. [[spoiler:She eventually is offered the Dog Miraculous, and takes it for the somewhat selfish reason that she wants to protect what she cares about, rather than the stupidly selfless reason of just wanting to be helpful.]]

A lot of times in media and in RealLife there's a friend (or a group of friends), a very good friend whom you may have known since you were kids. But there's one small flaw within the friendship. The friend in question always gets you into ''serious'' trouble. It's usually stuff like trying to get you to break curfew, violate your parole, drink underage, do drugs, commit acts of theft, and cause public disturbance. The toxic friend will guilt-trip you for not going along with what they want and accusing you of "changing". They'll say things like, "Man, you've changed. You used to be cool," or, "Come on, it'll be fun!" And of course, all of the above will almost certainly lead to serious consequences. This is almost the 2000s variant of TheAggressiveDrugDealer.

* One of the main themes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' is the genuine but unhealthy friendship between [[Characters/AmphibiaAnneBoonchuy Anne Boonchuy]], [[Characters/AmphibiaSashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]], and [[Characters/AmphibiaMarcyWu Marcy Wu]].

* In contrast to [[PositiveFriendInfluence Optimus' relationship with Lelouch]], [[Characters/CodePrimeMegatron Megatron's]] friendship with [[Characters/CodePrimeSuzakuKururugi Suzaku]] in ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' is slowly eroding the latter's morals, in addition to causing other problems. In particular, Suzaku's faith in Britannia and, to a significantly lesser extent, the Decepticons, is starting to border on BlindObedience and BlackAndWhiteInsanity, while his actions are beginning to verge on KnightTemplar. [[ManipulativeBastard This is exactly what Megatron wants.]] [[spoiler:Fortunately, Suzaku realizes how evil the Decepticons and Britannia are by the end of ''R1'' and joins the Autobots and Black Knights to truly redeem himself.]]

* ''Fanfic/BlackbirdArrow'': Dinah Lance is a parental version of this to her daughter Sara Lance. Between letting her believe it was a good idea to go on the ''Gambit'' to sleep with her older sister Laurel's boyfriend because she was 'in love,' to manipulating her using her trauma to go along with trading Laurel to the League in exchange for her freedom, everything that's gone wrong in Sara's life can ultimately be traced back to [[AbusiveParents Dinah's terrible parenting]]. On some level, Sara is aware of it too but has been unable to leave Dinah for the past three years because she would have to tell the truth about Laurel's disappearance to her father Quentin, the only other person that would be willing to take her in. Unsurprisingly, the moment Laurel is freed and that is no longer a concern, Sara ditches Dinah for Quentin almost immediately.

* ''Fanfic/ForHisOwnSake'': Naru, Motoko, and most of the other girls at the Hinata Inn turn out to have been a ''horrible'' influence upon Sarah. Since they always leapt to the worst possible conclusions about Keitaro, they routinely stopped him from doing anything to discipline Sarah, even [[AbominationAccusationAttack attacking and abusing him]] for doing so. As a result, her father Seta discovers that she's become a completely uncontrollable SpoiledBrat who believes anyone who tries to stop her from doing whatever she pleases is an idiot who deserves to be beaten up.

** Alya's SympatheticPOV in ''I Owe You Every Joy of Love'' illustrates just how poisonous Lila's influence is, as she convinces her that Marinette's request for some space is actually a backhanded way of breaking off their friendship in a 'nice', backhanded fashion. She also [[spoiler:disables the notifications on Alya's phone, causing her to miss some important messages and getting her into serious trouble with her family as a result]].