Basic Trope: A man "purchases" a wife through an agency.
- Straight: Bob has had no luck with dating, and is surfing the Internet one lonely night. He decides to click on a banner ad for a Mail-Order Bride, and "purchases" Valentina from Russia.
- Exaggerated:
- Besides Valentina, Bob purchases an entire harem worth of brides, from the same agency to get bulk discounts and from different sites.
- Bob ends up draining the agency of its women, resulting in a huge loss of money and 1000 brides filling his home.
- Downplayed: Bob only purchases "dating opportunities" from the agency; both he and Valentina have to decide if they want to get married.
- Justified:
- Bob is desperate.
- Bob is gay, but still in the closet. And since his parents are coming over, he feels like he needs a wife to show them.
- Bob is looking for a Sex Slave.
- Valentina wants to emigrate in the easiest way possible, either for economic reasons or to escape a bad life back home. Getting a green-card marriage happens to be the easiest way.
- Valentina always had a "thing" for men of Bob's country and fantasized about marrying one, but doesn't know any, and thinks all the guys back home are jerks.
- Valentina is the unfortunate victim of a people-trafficking scam.
- Valentina's country just went through a bloody war in which men were disproportionately killed off. Bob's country is a half-settled frontier where few women have bothered to go yet.
- Inverted:
- Bob dates Alice, a woman from his hometown, and marries her.
- Bob mails himself to Valentina.
- Gender Inverted: Alice purchases Ivan over the Internet.
- Subverted:
- Bob brings Valentina to his home, but mentions nothing to her about marriage; although he met her online, they met through an actual dating site or social networking site, not a Mail-Order Bride site as everyone thought.
- Valentina decides she's not happy or any better off with Bob in the United States, and heads back home.
- Valentina is held up due to complications with paperwork.
- Bob buys Valentina. He realizes it's a scam when no one arrives at his door for two months.
- Everyone hears Bob has bought himself a wife named Valentina. She turns out to be a robot.
- Double Subverted:
- But Valentina lives in Bob's home and does all the things a wife is expected to do, like cleaning, cooking, gardening, and sex. Eventually, she and Bob have a Citizenship Marriage.
- Valentina realizes she really loves Bob, starts to regret her decision, flies back to the United States, and gets back with Bob through Citizenship Marriage.
- Valentina manages to get through the paperwork and marry Bob.
- The next day, Valentina arrives at Bob's door; mailing time just takes that long.
- Only for Valentina to jump out of the robot and surprise Bob.
- Parodied:
- Bob orders Valentina, who turns out to be...an inflatable sex doll.
- Bob mistakes the Victoria's Secret catalog as a mail-order-bride catalog; the operator he calls has to explain three times that the women in the catalog are just models; they sell only lingerie and clothing, not wives or girlfriends.
- Valentina is a G.I.R.L..
- Valentina arrives in an envelope.
- Bob orders a "Build Your Own Bride Kit", and hilarity ensues when he tries and fails miserably, to assemble her by himself.
- Bob finds that Valentina suffocated in the packaging box during delivery.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob buys Valentina, who turns out to be a robot. Then the real Valentina jumps out of the robot and surprises Bob. Only to reveal she is yet another robot. Then the real Valentina again jumps out of the robot, only to reveal she is a robot again. This goes on for 10 times until the real Valentina finally shows up.
- Averted: Bob doesn't order a bride online or through a catalog.
- Enforced: "Let's show what a Straw Loser Bob is! I mean, no one in their right mind would order a wife over the Internet unless he were really desperate, right?"
- Lampshaded: "Check out my new wife. She's from Russia; I met her through Buy A Lovely Bride Dot Com."
- Invoked: Charles, Bob's best friend, encourages him to find a bride online because he thinks it's easier for him.
- Exploited: A scammer sets up a "Russian Brides" website, but there are no actual brides; the idea is to have losers send their money and get nothing in return.
- Defied:
- Bob decides he isn't that desperate, and decides to tough it out on the dating scene a bit longer.
- Valentina refuses to come home with Bob, for whatever reason(s).
- Discussed: "Bob's looking like he's overjoyed, even though he's always lonely. You think he bought a bride online?"
- Conversed: "Has this even any good chance to work out?"
- Implied: The single Bob is suddenly seen with a wife. When Charles asks him how he got a wife, he simply replies "The power of the internet."
- Deconstructed: Valentina could be deported, as the agency may not be scrupulous about getting those Fiancee Visas in order in a timely manner if at all. She could also be in danger if Bob turns out to be abusive.
- Reconstructed: The agency gives Valentina a fiancee Visa, and makes sure that both parties understand that if things don't work out, divorce is always an option. They also screen both the women and the men, to make sure no one has a criminal record or a tendency towards Domestic Abuse. Everyone enters into this like an otherwise normal Arranged Marriage.
- Played for Laughs: Valentina's profile said she was young, slim, and beautiful, but when Bob goes to actually meet her at the airport, she's fat, old, and homely.
- Played for Drama: Bob is abusing Valentina and using her as a Sex Slave, along with several other women. Until he gets tired of them...
- Played for Horror: Bob is eager to meet Valentina and waits for her happily at the airport. She arrives, but as soon as they get home together, she transforms into her true monster form and devours him in a bloody and messy way.
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