Girl Meets World

The Sequel Series to Boy Meets World that premiered on Disney Channel in 2014, Girl Meets World follows the adventures of Riley Matthews (Rowan Blanchard), the daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews, accompanied by her best friend Maya Hart (Sabrina Carpenter) as she goes to meet the world.

Part of the DCLAU, GMW's second season premiered in 2015, and its third in 2016, before it was cancelled. Its last episode, "Girl Meets Goodbye", aired on January 20th 2017.

Tropes used in Girl Meets World include:

• Alpha Bitch:
  • Missy in "Girl Meets Sneak Attack." Even Maya can't stand her.
  • Ava Morgenstern had the makings of a pint-sized version until she gained some Character Development.
• Amicable Exes: Shawn and Angela.
• An Aesop: While there's usually one for each episode, the moral of the series is Be Yourself.
• Armor-Piercing Question: As Eric Matthews leads the school in asking, why does Lucas let Maya insult him? He can clearly give as good as gets.
• Bag of Holding: Maya's locker.
• Betty and Veronica: Riley is the Betty to Maya's Veronica and Lucas' Archie. Riley/Lucas wins out in the end.
• Broken Bird: Poor Shawn remains this. He gets better when he becomes a Parental Substitute to Maya.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: Eric Matthews is insane but he also ran a successful campaign to become a US Senator.
• Children Are Innocent: An Enforced Trope. The "Riley Committee" exists to shield her from troubling information that might cause her to stop being a barrel of sunshine and rainbows.
• Crossover: With Austin and Ally in "Girl Meets World: Of Terror 2."
• Dark and Troubled Past: "Girls Meets the Secret Life" establishes that Lucas was expelled from his school in Texas and held back a year. He was also apparently much more violent.
• Darker and Edgier: Much so than its Disney Channel contemporaries.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Girl Meets Fish" has Auggie playing detective to find out which among Cory's class killed Chelsea, the class goldfish. It was Auggie himself, who fed her graham cracker crumbs without realizing they'd swell up inside her and kill her. What's more, this isn't even the original Chelsea: the students have all had a turn taking care of a fish, gotten it killed, and replaced it. The pet store even gives them the latest one on the house and has named all his fish Chelsea, revealing he's all too used to this by now.
• Distaff Counterpart: Smackle to Farkle.
• Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: "Take on the World" is sung by Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter.
• Entitled to Have You: Charlie, basing it on how much he knowns about Riley.
• Expy:
  • In "Girl Meets Home for the Holidays", Shawn outright describes Riley as "Cory with Topanga's hair."
  • Maya to Shawn. Makes it awkward when they first meet.
• Fail O'Suckyname: Farkle Minkus. To the kid's credit, he doesn't view it as such.
• Flanderization: Eric Matthews may have been something of a ditzy buffoon when BMW ended but he's totally insane here.
• For Want of a Nail: "Girl Meets World: Of Terror 3" explores an Alternate Universe where Riley and Maya never met. Without their support group, the friends are all stunted, one-dimensional versions of themselves. Auggie also doesn't exist in this world.
• Friends Rent Control: Averted for the Matthews apartment (Cory and Topanga are professionals with high paying jobs).
• Genre Savvy: Overtime, the gang, Farkle in particular, seem to be realizing that they're living in a coming of age story.
• The Ghost: The bully in "Girl Meets Rileytown."
• Growing Up Sucks: The gang, mainly Maya's, issue in "Girl Meets The Bay Window." It sucks but they can't do anything about it.
• Halloween Episode: "Girl Meets World: Of Terror." Happens Once a Season.
• Heroic BSOD: Riley experiences quite the epic one in the season 2 episode "Girl Meets Rileytown" when she's being bullied via text. She loses her cheerfulness, lashes out at Maya, and cries her heart out. Something that she's never done before.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Riley loves the New York Knicks.
  • Maya is quite surprised to discover that she's good at art in "Girl Meets Boy."
• High School Sweethearts: Cory and Topanga are still pretty much the Trope Codifiers but this trope is discussed a few time where it's pointed out that it does not always pan out.
• It's All About Me: "Girl Meets Gravity" was dedicated to doing away with Riley and Maya's belief of this.
• Karma Houdini: The bully in "Girl Meets Rileytown" never gets any on-screen punishment, instead fleeing when Riley demonstrates that everyone loves and accepts her for who she is. Though this could be exactly the point.
• Large Ham: She doesn't do it much, but Riley can ham it up with the best of them.
• Like Father, Like Son: Riley got her mother's hair and intelligence but her father's everything else.
• Meet Cute: Riley and Lucas.
• Morality Chain: Riley to Maya, big time.
• Odd Friendship: Nerdy Farkle and strongman Lucas.
• Overprotective Dad: Cory doesn't take kindly to Riley getting close to Lucas in season one. It turns out he has a good reason, though, and not just "I don't want my little girl talking to a boy." Lucas was actually a lot more violent back in Texas, and Cory feels a need to keep watch over him and his interactions with the other students to make sure he's changed. Topanga might be considered a Distaff Counterpart when it comes to Auggie and Ava's relationship.
• Parental Abandonment: Maya's father, Kermit, left her and her mother. Shawn, another victim of it, considers it to be his Berserk Button.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Cory and Topanga started as this for Maya, whose father abandoned her and whose mother Katy worked all the time. This was phased out when Katy took a job at the bakery so she could be closer to Maya.
  • Riley does her best to invoke this with Shawn, who's own life has been just as rough as Maya's. Her attempting to play matchmaker for Shawn and Katy while encouraging Shawn to be Maya'a father figure is an ongoing arc that successfully ends with Shawn marrying Katy and adopting Maya.
  • Topanga behaves like more of a mother to Ava than Ava's own mother, who is said to be too busy yelling at her husband. This helps Topanga soften up towards the girl, whom she initially finds irritating and and dislikes for bossing Auggie around.
• Poke the Poodle: Riley's attempts at teenage rebellion include her being seven minutes late coming home and buying a t-shirt with "bleh!" written on it. Cory and Topanga can't even keep a straight face. Repeated with Riley's Gothic persona of "Morotia M. Black." Topanga simply cannot take her seriously.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Corey Fogelmanis as Farkle Minkus in Season 2.
• Reality Ensues:
  • As said above, and demonstrated with Shawn and Angela, people do not necessarily marry their High School Sweethearts. People's lives can take them in different directions because they want different things.
  • Cory and Topanga are shown frequently working. You have to work a lot to live the way they do in New York City. Spinning off from that, Shawn finds out that it's impossible to survive with less than $100 even in one weekend in New York.
• Replacement Goldfish: See "A Day in the Limelight" above.
• Running Gag:
  • Farkle's birth certificate, or lack thereof. It's ended in a season 2 episode where his mother presents it.
  • Topanga (literally) throwing Ava out.
  • Cory's never going to tell the class what happened in Belgium in 1831 is he?
• Sequel Series
• Ship Sinking: "Girl Meets Master Plan" establishes that Shawn and Angela didn't work out. They tried, but they were two different people whose Character Development took them to different places. It happens.
• Shipper on Deck: Maya is a clear supporter for Shawn/Katy.
• Spin Offspring:
  • As said above, Riley is the daughter of Cory and Topanga. Same goes for her younger brother Auggie.
  • Farkle Minkus is the son of Stuart Minkus and Jennifer Bassett, that unhinged ex of Shawn's who tried to have him "break up" with Cory and went so far as to kidnap him.
  • Evan, from "Girl Meets Ski Lodge", is the son of Lauren, the girl that accidentally got between Cory and Topanga.
• Super Strength: Every now and then, Riley shows that she packs a punch.
• Take Over the World: Farkle's life goal prior to his Character Development.
• Teens Are Short: Averted with Riley (who is taller than her mother starting in Season 2, and she was already pretty close in Season 1) but played very straight with Maya (to the point of serious angst about it).
• That Wasn't a Request: Topanga is very prone to this. When it happens, Don't Ask, Just Run.
• They Do: Shawn and Maya's mother Katy in season 3.
• Toy Ship: Auggie and Ava, in-universe. They even have a little play "wedding" in the season 1 finale.
• True Art Is Angsty: Frequently mentioned as the reason for why Maya is so good at art. Her home life is terrible. Riley, who has a great home life, is terrible at art. Discussed in season 3 when Maya realizes her art may be losing its edge as she gains more hope, and tries to become a bad girl again only to stop herself.
• True Companions: The friends bicker all day long, but when the chips are down, they have each other's back. "Girl Meets Rileytown" really emphasizes this.
• Two-Teacher School: By and large, Cory is the only teacher at both John Quincy Adams Middle and Abagail Adams High School. Lampshaded on more than one occasion where the main characters note that Cory is a History teacher but he's been seen teaching English, Science, and Math.
• You Are Grounded: "Girl Meets Her Monster." Riley, as so many did in BMW, learns that getting on Topanga's bad side is a hilariously bad idea.