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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"First, you deny the grief. Then, ''party''!"''|'''Crow''', ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV)|Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' on ''[[The Horror of Party Beach]]''}}▼
{{quote|''"First, you deny the grief. Then, ''party''!"''
▲
▲[[File:Angst_what_angst_778.png|link=The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|frame|[[Star Wars|"We have no time for sorrows, Commander."]]]]
How would you feel if you were [[Trapped in Another World]], and could never see your family again? And then it turned out you were [[The Chosen One]] and the world depended on you? And you team up with a [[True Companions|band of quirky companions]], and one by one, they all get killed by the [[Evil Minions]]? Except one, who turns out to be [[The Mole]] and gets you captured? How would it make you feel?
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If you're a fictional character, the answer is probably "feel sad for five minutes, [[Forgotten Fallen Friend|then forget about it.]]" Angst? What angst?
The [[Opposite Tropes|polar opposite]] of [[Wangst]], this is when a character has every right to be depressed or [[Ax Crazy]], but isn't, and life goes on. They aren't [[The Stoic]] or the [[Determinator]]
But it doesn't have to be an adventure story; any genre with horrible suffering will do it (except the ones that thrive on the characters angsting, like [[Soap Opera|soap operas]]).
In a variant, some stories rarely have the characters angst out loud, but make it clear that they're cracking on the inside and are just putting on a brave face. Other stories, using the [[Law of Disproportionate Response]], have the characters deliberately overreact to small things and underreact to big things to show how unhinged they are.
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Possibly [[Truth in Television]] for the more extreme cases. If you're fighting for your life, you don't have time to think about how awful it is. Except for the times when you crack and go shellshocked, maybe.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Minorin in ''[[Toradora
* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', Tohru is usually extremely cheerful and amiable, despite having a dead mother, working to pay for her own tuition and having been ostracised by her peers from an early age.
** She has a few lines, especially in the first couple of chapters, which reveal she's forcing herself to be strong because her mother wouldn't want her to be sad.
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** Naruto is an interesting case. We hear early on that everybody hates him, and there are plenty of flashbacks of nameless villagers being jerks to him. But, we also find out that Iruka's been a father figure for awhile, and the Third Hokage was acting like a grandfather figure. Naruto definitely had it bad, but it wasn't truly horrible like Gaara.
* ''[[School Shock]]'''s heroine Liu Li has no parents, almost everyone she got attached to was mentioned to have died and she herself has become dependent on drugs to prolong her short life. She is calm, cool and collected most of the time and also downright adorable in other and overlapping moments. Then again, she spent all her life in the military. It's just life to her.
* Meet Ayasaki Hayate from ''[[
** Or...his parents had already betrayed him in the worst possible way. Via flashback we find Hayate, when he was a child, used to love them and trust them. Take all of the good-naturedness he is now, and put that in the [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|wide-eyed idealism of a child]]. He defended their honor when it was questioned by {{spoiler|Athena}} and he bet a world of magic and wonder that they would return his faith. And his parents smiled, patted him on the head, and stole it from him to pawn for petty cash. There weren't enough tears in the world. [[The Messiah]] did not hate them. He just stopped loving them. And that chills to the bone far more than all the rage or hate or crying would accomplish.
* In the ''[[Houshin Engi]]'' manga, Taikoubou hardly angsts about ''anything''. Sure, Dakki throws a bunch of humans he was trying to protect into a pit filled with carnivorous alligators and snakes, and he feels a bit bad about that, but he gets over it within a few pages (in the [[Anime]], it took a bit longer - around maybe 10 minutes?). The closest thing to angsting was when his best friend {{spoiler|Fugen Shinjin}} was killed, but even then, he quickly changes his attitude to becoming determined to immediately avenge his death (which he does quickly). In the end, when {{spoiler|Jyoka causes him to start crumbling and dying, saying, "My last bit of selfishness... please vanish with me..." his reply is to look slightly irritated and calmly say, "Well, fine..."}} This might be partially due to the fact that he is a Sennin immortal, and most of the horrible violence and happenings occur to humans that he doesn't empathize as much with.
** Considering that a large part of the series revolved around him doing his very best to keep the Sennin out of mortal affairs, even if it involved destroying both Sennin worlds in the process, this seems an unlikely motivation.
* In ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', the girls are [[Trapped in Another World|summoned to Cephiro and cannot return home to their families until their task is complete]]
** The [[Alternate Continuity]] [[OAV]], [[Wangst|on the other hand]]...
* ''[[Slayers]]'': Given that she belongs to a royal family that's full of members constantly at each other's throats and will do morally questionable things for the sake of power (especially with her cousin Alfred, who requests help from two members of an [[
** It's also implied that [[Idiot Hero|Gourry]] had a horrific family life; [[Word of God|outside material]] notes that his family had a massive personal war over the [[Forgotten Superweapon|Sword of Light.]] He runs off with it, meets a man who instills him with purpose (he was actually {{spoiler|Lina's father}}), and from there, became the happy-go-lucky swordsman who strives for the future that he's known as.
** [[Jerkass Woobie|Zelgadiss]], [[Wangst|on the other hand...]]of course, this [[Depending On The Adaptation|depends on what medium you're reading.]] As far the opposite of this trope is concerned, it's mostly in the [[Radio Drama|radio dramas.]]
* ''[[
** Of particular note is Usopp, with some fans finding it quite odd that he harbors no resentment towards [[Disappeared Dad|his father Yasopp]] whatsoever, even though the guy left to go be a pirate when his son was still very young without ever returning while his wife dies a couple years after he left. It probably helps that his wife told him to do it, and Usopp thinks being a pirate is the greatest thing in the world.
** Unfortunately, averted with Zoro on at least one occasion. Something about [[Identical Stranger|Tashigi]] brings his [[How Dare You Die
** Shanks. He takes his arm being bit off very well.
* Kagura Tsuchimiya from ''[[Ga-Rei]]''. Even after her sister figure betrayed her and her peers, killed her father and became an evil spirit dead-set on destroying Tokyo, she still maintains an upbeat attitude and is a fun-loving girl, as Kensuke can attest.
* In the ''[[Black Cat (
* Miaka Yuuki of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' shows remarkably few psychological aftereffects from the [[Rape
** It's especially jarring compared to her best friend Yui, who spends half the series thinking she's been gang-raped, and becomes a something of a [[The Scrappy|scrappy]] from the resulting [[Angst Dissonance]]...
* [[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ]]:
* Edward of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
** His brother as well. To sum up: His father leaves, mother dies, and they decide to bring her back. This fails, and he's {{spoiler|temporarily trapped in the screwed up body that they ended up making}} and loses his body to [[Eldritch Abomination|the Truth]]. Al then blocks the Truth from his memory out of shock, taking away the good (clappable transmutation) that was supposed to come with the bad. His brother manages to bring back his soul and attach it to a suit of armor, leaving him unable to sleep, eat, feel, and all around pretty much keeping him from leading a normal life. Al blames himself for all of this. Now, once we start on the main storyline, well, let's just say that [[It Got Worse|things didn't get any better from there.]]
** One of the most significant changes to [[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* Saito of ''[[
** Not just once, either. Practically every episode. He's a little thickheaded, no?
** This is eventually, partially, justified in the [[Light Novels|light novel]]: the [[Power Tattoo|familiar's seal]] Saito was given suppressed his inclination for homesickness (which [[Fridge Logic|makes sense]] ...). When Tifania removes the [[Power Tattoo|seal]], his reaction ''was'' all the [[Angst]] bottled up for about a year. He does get better.
* Gohan of ''[[Dragonball Z]]''. Four years old, kidnapped by screaming crazies twice in one day, learning second-hand that his father was dead, gets abandoned in the wilderness for months, then goes through [[Training
** Vegeta counts as well, at least in the beginning. When he first hears of his home world's demise and near-extinction of his race as a child in the ''Bardock'' special, he brushes off the message and continues eating from one of the corpses he killed. And then there's his reaction to Raditz's death, where he basically says "Meh. He deserved it." However this might be a subversion: [[Alas, Poor Villain|when he first dies at the hands of Freeza he begs Goku to avenge their race]], meaning that deep down he might have cared about the Saiyans' demise.
** Well, [[Death Is Cheap]] in this series.
* Borderline case: Allen Walker of ''[[D
** Don't forget about the whole {{spoiler|Fourteenth Noah [[Tomato in
*** And tons of his friends and colleagues dying, and getting [[Mind Raped]], and... y'know, maybe we should just sum up and say [[Iron Woobie|it sucks to be Allen]].
** Subverted with {{spoiler|Lenalee. She seems to be a [[The Pollyanna|Pollyanna]] on par with Allen at first... and then we find out that she's a [[Stepford Smiler]] who hates and resents the Black Order for ruining her life. The only reason she fights is to protect [[True Companions|her friends]].}}
* ''[[Now and Then, Here
* Characters on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
* Genki in ''[[Monster Rancher (
* Fate of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', rather than being emotionally devastated by her mentor and [[Parental Substitute|mother figure]], Linith, disappearing as a result of fulfilling her contract with Precia, feels mostly gratitude toward her, and Fate only regrets that her training was the only thing Linith could do for Precia. Unfortunately, this marks the point where Precia goes from being cold and distant to actually [[Abusive Parents|physically and emotionally abusive]].
** This is one of the more notable traits of the series in general. Several protagonists have [[Dark and Troubled Past|Dark And Troubled Pasts]], but they tend to have very little angst in the present. [[Dark Magical Girl
* Arguably Ichise from ''[[Texhnolyze]]''. He grows up as an ostracized outsider, works as a fighter in an underground ring, has his limbs cut off, has to go through the agonising pain of learning to use new limbs, watches his entire world deteriorate, realizes that the entire human race is effectively dead, and then watches the only human he actually has a connection to {{spoiler|have their head stuck on the body of his enemy}}. He goes a little insane in the very last episode, but apart from that, he copes a little too well...
** That said, in context of his character, irreversible mental scarring would only show as more stoic expressionlessness. Still, [[What the Hell, Hero?|seriously, dude...]]
** Not to mention when he and his mother discovered his father's dead body he didn't show any emotion and looked surprised when he saw his mother crying at the sight.
* ''[[
* The fact that the [[Main Character|main characters]] in ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'' manage to be as cheerful as they are is actually quite impressive especially considering how the terrorists they're fighting kill their friends, are trying to destroy their capital, and yet ''[[Not So Different|actually believe in all the same ideals as them]]''. And that Okita's dying of tuberculosis. And that the three executive and Okita had to assassinate their founder because he [[Dirty Cop|used his power for racketeering]], a mere ''year'' before the first part of the series. And the fact that, for them, the penalty for ''any'' violation of the Shinsengumi rules ''or'' Bushido in general, was ''[[Disproportionate Retribution|ritual suicide]]''.
* Seras Victoria from ''[[Hellsing]]''. She's unnaturally cheerful, upbeat, and goofy for someone who's had all of her police partners killed, was nearly raped and killed by a vampire and then is actually turned into one. Also, during her childhood {{spoiler|her father was murdered by burglars, her mother hiding her in a cupboard to protect her, and her mother was immediately murdered by the same burglars. Seras tries to exact revenge by stabbing one of the guys in the eye with a fork. She gets shot for her trouble and one of the perpetrators proceed to [[Squick|rape her mother's corpse, due to it being "still warm"]]. In full view of Seras who lies on the ground bleeding profusely watching it happen and unable to do anything to stop it.}}
* Oz Vessalius from ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' seems to be perky and optimistic no matter what life throws at him. And said life keeps a good record by hurling issues of [[Parental Hate]], a tick tock of death, and being the barrier lad at him. Even after stabbing his best friend, being sent into the Abyss, and being attacked by Chains, Oz is able to joke around and happily eat cookies.
** Partially justified in that because of the parental...uh...negligence when he was a child, Oz developed that cheerful, constantly optimistic personality just so he could deal. So when other things, some worse, some not as bad but still awful, happened he already had a method of coping, namely smile and act like everything's alright. He might fool himself, and some of his friends for a little while, but reader's quickly realize it's a facade.
* Deconstructed with Elmer Albatross from ''[[Baccano
** The light novels also subvert it with Firo. While he initially seems pretty chill about {{spoiler|aquiring the [[Ghost Memory]] of a 300-year-old [[Complete Monster]]}}, the [[Beneath the Mask|mask]] eventually cracks after a couple of years and he admits that he's not only confused and disgusted by some of the things that he remembers, but also ''terrified'' that {{spoiler|Szilard's sadism will eventually become his own}}.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', a lot of the characters have [[Parental Abandonment]] issues. Makoto/Lita was orphaned at a young age when her parents both died in a plane crash, and a car crash took Mamoru's. Neither of them are seen angsting about that. One exception is Rei, whose [[Married to
** The manga does have a side story which shows that Lita still has issues from her parents' deaths, namely that she panics and hides behind the curtains if she even sees an airplane on the television. At one point in the story, she passionately declares that having her friends at her house for dinner makes her so happy, given how her own parents died and left her alone so much. (Given the artwork and reactions though, it's partially played for laughs).
* Juudai/Jaden Yuki from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''. That kid is insane. Until season 3, he laughs at everything. At the end of season 2, {{spoiler|while he's fighting the epitome of evil, with nothing but a children's card game standing in the way of the destruction of the universe, he still tries to convince Evil Sartorius that card games are all about fun.}}
* [[Yokaiden]] takes this trope [[Up to Eleven]]. The main character, Hamachi, had his parents die when he was just a little kid and was sent to live with his Grandma, who appeared to hate Hamachi and even calls him demon-spawn. A creature whose life he saved then kills his Grandma, so Hamachi goes on a quest to track down the creature. How does he deal with all this? By cheerfully treating it like one big adventure.
* The manga version of [[Kanamemo]] starts with Kana's grandmother dying and her running away thinking she is going to be taken away like the furniture. After the first chapter it doesn't really get mentioned again. The anime throws a realistic amount in though.
* Subverted in the first episode of ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' where Kimba is forced by his mother to leave her trapped on a boat while he escapes. Fast-foward to Kimba surviving a storm while lost at sea and seeing wreckage of the boat he and his mother was on, [[Break the Cutie|he realizes that his mother is gone for good]].
* It seems that every high school student and elementary school kid in ''[[
* Most of the cyborgs of ''[[Gunslinger Girl]]'' have their memories or their pre-Agency lives erased in order to remove the pain of past traumas (or make them easier to control, if you're cynical). Rico is unique in that she has full recollection of her time before she was given over to the Agency - which was not in itself a happy experience, with years crippled by birth defects and beset by quarrelling parents - and is not at all troubled by years wasted in a hospital bed or being possessed by the Agency and used as a killing machine.
== Comic Books ==
* A recent story in ''[[X
* In ''[[
** The use of this in comics was [[Lampshaded]] by Karolina and Xavin when the team is indulging in some (mostly appropriate) angst after {{spoiler|Gert's death}} where Xavin points out that {{spoiler|Karolina's homeworld and at least one Skrull colony world have all but been destroyed in a war the two of them failed to stop and everyone is angsting more about the death of one girl instead of two whole worlds.}}
** The reactions actually vary. In one [[Tear Jerker]] moment, it is shown that Molly has dreams about the entire series being [[All Just a Dream]] and that her parents are alive and good. Gert suspected from a young age that her parents were capable of sinister things. Nico goes into shock after seeing her parents are dark magicians and Alex has to snap her out of it. Karolina and Molly flat out refuse to believe it at first as does Chase {{spoiler|though his case might have something to do with taking the blame for his dad's abusive treatment to him.}}
* [[Blackhawk|Lady Blackhawk]] of ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' is mind controlled in a [[Squick]]-inducing fashion by a villain. When one of her teammate later suggests that she should seek therapy, Lady Blackhawk responds that breaking the villain's face was all the therapy she needed.
* Beast Boy/Changeling ([[DC Comics]]) spent most of his life as a glutton for punishment. Details aside, most people tend to assume he's miserable and pity him. In Geoff Johns' ''Teen Titans'', he makes it clear that the problems in his life don't bother him nearly as much as they think; but what he can't stand is when people feel sorry for him.
* Strong Guy of ''[[X-Factor (
* Static of the [[Milestone Comics]] was created in an attempt of capturing a more modern interpretation of Spider-Man. Virgil carries similarly wit and banter but none of the angst. He becomes a Super Hero, not because of dead parents or to follow in his mentor's footsteps. He does it just because he knows right from wrong.
** The animated series plays with it a bit more. Virgil still is a superhero because of a sense of justice, but he also occasionally angsts over his dead mother, who he only just remembers and misses, at least until a [[Time Travel]] episode.
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== Film ==
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (
** In ''Goblet of Fire'', {{spoiler|Barty Crouch}} is found dead in the woods and... no one cares. It's literally never mentioned again. Not that his death should inspire all that much angst, but it's a fairly important plot point in the book, and besides, a Ministry official ''showed up dead in the forest.'' Someone want to... look into that?
* In ''[[The
* ''[[The Horror of Party Beach]]''. Less than a month after his girlfriend gets killed by a monster, Hank returns to the very beach she died on and comments to a band member, "Pretty dead tonight, huh, Ron?" They play a spritely tune to get the moods up.
* This was the gimmick of [[Pollyanna]].
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** Earlier, Leia watched her ''[[Earthshattering Kaboom|entire planet]]'' get [[Doomed Hometown|blown to smithereens]] before her eyes. Leia's only subsequent (onscreen) comment on the destruction of her home, her family, most of the people she's ever known, everyone she's ''never'' known, all that history, all that culture, all those ''people'' is "We have no time for our sorrows." Granted, Leia already had a certain amount of time to grieve in her cell, and maybe force herself to put the matter aside for the time being.
*** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] talks about it; Leia turns any angst into hating [[The Empire]] even more, and`at one point flips out meeting an Alderaanian Stormtrooper. It's illustrated by this quote from ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'':
{{quote|
She would not cry.
She would get even. }}
*** There's also a moment in ''[[Star Wars
{{quote|
And if it came to that, Luke had had a couple of recent kicks in the teeth, too, what with first losing his aunt and uncle and then watching old man Kenobi get killed right in front of him. The least Han could do was cut them some slack. Both of them. }}
*** Lois as Leia [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this hilariously in ''[[Family Guy]]'''s ''Star Wars'' [[Homage]] episode, as does ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' in their own ''Star Wars'' special.
** In ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Star Wars Legacy]]'', Luke ''finally'' talks about his Aunt and Uncle's deaths to Cade who's in their old home. More or less, at first he wanted to make the Empire pay but knew he couldn't stop and angst about it. Later, when he become a Jedi, he accepted their deaths and knew they're part of the Living Force now, which they are.
** Even though Anakin Skywalker is possibly the [[Trope Codifier]] for [[Wangst]], whining and moaning his way through ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' and ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'' he spends almost no time lamenting {{spoiler|his killing Mace Windu}}. Just a simple, "[[My God, What Have I Done?|What have I done]]", a couple of comments from [[Big Bad|Palpatine]], and Anakin immediately does a [[Face Heel Turn]], and pledges his complete and absolute loyalty to Palpatine.
* In the live-action ''[[Transformers (
** Parodied by [[
* ''[[They Live
** Also a case of [[Too Dumb to Live]], since he keeps pointing out the aliens, they all start communicating, "I've got one here that can '''''see'''''." Well, at least {{spoiler|judging by the ending, we ''know'' he's Too Dumb To Live.}}
*** Also the time when he ran out of gum...
* Subverted in the TV movie of ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]''. Upon getting home, the protagonist is terrified that her mother is more interested in talking about proper nutrition for kids rather than the fact that her children have disappeared for days to fight evil disembodied brains in another dimension. It's also what makes her realize she's just in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]].
* By the end of ''[[Face Off]]'', the wife has had sex with the ultimate evil criminal impostor, mistaking him for her husband, and the daughter has {{spoiler|put a knife into said criminal's body}} - an act which rarely leaves people unscarred in [[Real Life]]. This family really should be falling apart any second now - but we are asked to accept this as a [[Happy End]].
* In ''[[
* A minor problem with ''[[Mars Attacks
* In ''[[A Kid in King
* In ''[[
* [[James Bond (
* At the beginning of ''[[Austin Powers]]: The Spy Who Shagged Me'', Austin's new wife and heroine of the previous film Vanessa Kensington is almost immediately revealed as a [[Robot Girl|fembot]] who tries to kill him before Austin soon subdues her. He is initially heartbroken, reflecting on the loss of his first true monogamous love, before realizing he is once more single and free to womanize in a recovery so sudden it's somewhat [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]].
{{quote|
* ''[[
* In ''[[Indiana Jones and
* In ''[[Percy Jackson
* Portrayed in the most [[Narm|unintentionally hilarious]] way ever in ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]'': during the [[Alien Invasion]], [[Military Superhero|Nantz]] gives a ''long'' [[Rousing Speech|speech]] in which he reels off the [[The Dead Have Names|names and serial numbers]] of all of his men who were killed on the last mission, making it clear he remembers each one of them. After a [[Melodramatic Pause]], he [[Guttural Growler|growls]] "But none of that matters now" because they can't dwell on the past and have to get back to killing aliens. Cue laughter ''and applause'' from the audience.
* In ''[[
{{quote|
** Given his expression, he did seem to be internally angsting. The fact that the planet was about to blow up probably contributed to quashing any angst opportunities, as well.
* Lampshaded and subverted in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' when Jack Slater (whose onscreen character plays this trope straight) confides in Daniel: "Let's throw his son off a building. Oh sure, it will give you nightmares for the rest of your life, but you're fiction, so who cares?"
* Parodied by Officer Doughy in ''[[Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth]]''.
{{quote|
* Even though the message of ''[[
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* Meursault's lack of angst over his mother's death is a major plot point in ''[[The Stranger]]''. Not to mention his lack of angst over his own impending execution.
* This was the gimmick of [[Pollyanna]].
* ''[[The Outsiders]]''
** And they could angst outside the scope of the story, since we only see what Ponyboy does. Or they could've just gotten used to how badly life sucks, like the other guy said.
* [[The Picture of Dorian Gray|Dorian Gray]]'s fiancée commits suicide. Later that day, he enjoys the opera with his friend. The next day, he claims that he was simply in control of his emotions and, after he had been done with the emotion of sadness, he simply moved on. Leads to a funny conversation with Basil when he accuses him of being kind enough to console him, but showing frustration that he is already consoled.
* ''[[Peter Pan]]'' is legendary for this. Pirates and Indians are fun to read about, and some children would want to have adventures with them. But most children would decide enough was enough after the third time they nearly get killed. The Darlings, by contrast, are having the time of their lives in Neverland, and never wanted to go home until they realized their mother was feeling awful. Not everybody would want to be a kid forever,
** The books pretty much lay out that part of why Peter is the one child who will never grow up is because of his immaturity. When an older Wendy asks him what happened to Tinkerbell, he has absolutely no memory of her although the Fairy was a loyal companion. She died seasons ago, and faded from Peter's mind to protect him from growing up. Similarly, the longer the Darlings stay in Neverland the harder it gets for them to want to remember their old lives, thus explaining the missing angst. On a side note, by having Peter avoid getting too angst-filled, it sure does invoke it in the reader.
* ''Teen Angst? Nah...'' by Ned Vizzini. Sums it up right in the title
* ''[[
** She does angst, one time. That one time results in her tears flooding the hallway and her having to swim to safety. Can't blame her for trying to avoid that again.
* Eragon of ''[[
** There's also Arya, in the first book: in spite of having been, by her own admission, beaten, tortured, and [[Attempted Rape|very nearly raped]] for weeks on end, the biggest reaction we get out of her thereafter is a paragraph of her clenching her jaw a bit as she recounts the events... and after that everything's just peachy.
*** That may just be a [[Our Elves Are Better|racial trait]] for her.
* While Bella Swan of the ''[[Twilight (
** Bella also has a grand total of maybe one or two misgivings about leaving her human family to be with Edward. Considering how she's set up as a loving, sweet daughter who is her mother's best friend and her father's only hope for normalcy, it seems odd that she's willing to live forever without them after they die a mere month or two after meeting Edward. Then again, it quickly becomes evident that she lies to and patronizes her mother every chance she gets.
** Bella's father Charlie also seems pretty nonchalant for a guy who's daughter literally changed overnight from a clumsy, fairly pretty everygirl to a ravishing, completely-in-control model.
** In ''Breaking Dawn'', {{spoiler|Irina, one of the few vegetarian vampires in the world and an old friend of the Cullens, is brutally murdered by the Volturi, right in front of Bella, and in the name of defending Bella's daughter. Bella spares exactly two thoughts on this sacrifice in the remaining chapters, one of which is on how Irina's sisters must be really depressed about it, and the other on how the day ended perfectly, barring that pesky fact that Irina was brutally murdered.}}
** Bella gets over nearly being run over by a van alarmingly fast. [[Lack of Empathy|This makes it slightly disturbing that she finds Tyler's trauma over the incident to be annoying.]]
** As we see in ''Breaking Dawn'', {{spoiler|[[Strangled
** The entire Cullen family are supposed to be highly moral (especially Carlisle), and regret all human lives that have to be lost. Then they invite ''every vampire they know'' into the area where they live, and allow them to eat whoever they want provided it's not someone [[Protagonist Centred Morality|Bella cares about]]. [[Lack of Empathy|She thinks about this for literally a second, then deliberately puts it out of her mind, and it's never ever brought up again.]]
* The children in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[IT]]'' are much more capable of dealing with supernatural horror than adults; for example, after defeating the [[Eldritch Abomination]] in the sewers, Bill, the main character goes home: "After a block or two he begins to walk faster, thinking of supper... and a block or two after that, he begins to whistle." As adults, they're no longer that good in that, so a benevolevent force wipes their memories. A good portion of the novel follows the main characters as adults trying to remember what they did to stop It. When one of the kids, as an adult ''does'' remember the full horror of IT, he {{spoiler|commits suicide in the bathtub}}.
** This seems to be what King believes kids do all the time with painful memories. In one of his short stories he had a boy trying to get over the fact that one of his friends and his teacher had just been eaten by a tiger in the school toilet in the span of time it took to walk down the hallway. The reader is shown the proccess, which mostly consists on focusing on all the trivial posters on the walls. There was also the Library Policeman's protagonist, though it was made pretty clear the angst from {{spoiler|getting raped as a kid}} left its marks on his adult self.
* In the [[Verse|universe]] of [[
** It seems like Aragorn is referencing this trope (and not just the one about hobbits being Big Eaters) when he finds the site of their escape a few days later, figures out that whoever escaped stopped in the middle of a battlefield to have a snack before making their move, and says something along the lines of, "Welp, I'm going to go ahead and say it was hobbits."
** One could argue that the expression of emotional turmoil is written between the lines, more so in the context of their actions than anything else. This sorta hits home once you read ''The Sea-Bell'' and realise Frodo is still suffering years after he returned to the shire. Frodo is probably one of the best written examples of a [[Hurting Hero]].
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** Played with in ''The Magician's Nephew''. While Diggory spends much of the book justifiably angsting over his sick and dying mother, he takes traveling to new worlds and fighting a witch pretty well. Uncle Andrew totally subverts this when he's thrown into the world of magic, and it's played for laughs.
** Subverted in ''The Silver Chair'', when we see that {{spoiler|for the brief periods of time he becomes sane and free of his enchantment, Prince Rilian does nothing but try to free himself and cry over his memories of Narnia. When he sees an opportunity to escape via Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum, he's so desperate that he resorts to violent threats.}}
* For a completely realistic, thoughtful and adult portrayal of how humans deal with life-threatening danger, try Lewis' [[The Space Trilogy|Space Trilogy]], ironically written prior to Narnia. [[
* Jeb Batchelder in ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' has every reason to
** It could be that he just ''can't'', given that he's working with insane scientists who would probably do all sorts of nasty stuff to him. He does get really upset during both of the times when Ari dies and it was mentioned that the clone of Max makes him very upset.
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Small Favor'', Murphy points out that Harry is a basket case for good reason -- {{spoiler|Lash}}'s [[Heroic Sacrifice]], taking a bullet for him, would be
** Harry does show regret for what happened to {{spoiler|Lash}}; he talks to Michael about it several months later. Also, {{spoiler|Susan's being almost turned into a vampire}} shocks Harry so badly he's a complete mess for a whole year before he tries putting his life in order again.
* In Holly Lisle's ''Fire in the Mist'', Faia (the main character) leaves town for a bit and soon returns to find that ''everyone she ever knew is dead'', from plague. She promptly freaks out and nukes the entire town with her latent magic abilities. About three days later she considers suicide. So it's a subversion, right? ''Wrong.'' About one day later, we find this quote: "And indeed, she felt happy. Or, if not exactly happy, then free at last of the dark burden of [her hometown's] annihilation." After that, the horrible events are never ever mentioned again, and Faia never angsts or even thinks about it. So basically, Lisle was smart enough to give Faia some real pain, but then she erased that pain pretty quickly. Ask anyone: emotional pain of that scale doesn't heal in just a couple days.
* Beautifully lampshaded and justified in ''[[The Death of the Vazir Mukhtar]]'', when, after a fair share of [[Wangst]] prior to the departure from St. Petersburg, Griboyedov, the main character, first calms down and then stops at a small hut on his way to Tiflis. He suddenly realizes that he is happy - because a man can't really be unhappy all the time and that there is more to a person than just grandiose plans, love and misery.
* Berry, the adopted daughter of Anton Zilwicki in ''[[
** "They might rape me? Well, I've been raped before."
* In the fourth book of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'', the character Phil remains quite upbeat for a guy who is working in a lumbermill, is paid with coupons, and has gum for lunch every day. When his leg is crushed, he says, "Well, this isn't too bad. My left leg is broken, but at least I'm right-legged." Somebody comments, "Gee, I thought he'd say something more along the lines of 'Aaaaah! My leg! My leg!'"
** On the other hand, brutally subverted with the protagonists. Also subverted with the Quagmires, who are clearly screwed up after being held captive by Olaf for some time.
** Subverted by a number of other characters (Olivia, Kit Snicket, Fiona, etc) who clearly are suffering from various incidents and circumstances, a good many of which [[Noodle Incident|are unknown to the protagonists and the readers]]. The [[Lemony Narrator|narrator himself]] spends a good portion of the books angsting about various things that have happened to him.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[
* Arthur Dent in ''[[The
** There's a sequence that plays with this right after he hears the news. It seems trying to imagine everyone on earth is gone is just too big a thought for his head to contain. Instead he worries about little things like Nelson's Column and the permanent end of the US dollar. When he realizes there are no more [[McDonald's]] hamburgers, he passes out and wakes up sobbing for his mother.
** Speaking of Ford... Let's see. His father died of shame because he (Ford) never learned to pronounce his own real name. This is explained in a ''footnote.'' He spends fifteen years trapped on Earth, one of the most boring places in the universe for a traveler to be, kept away from everyone and everything he knows and loves. He regularly gets drunk and staggers around outside looking for spaceships and saying "I'm trying, I'm trying" to people who tell him to go home. Arthur was probably the only real friend he made and kept during this time, as he was the only person he bothered to rescue from the Vogons. Not much is made of any of this.
* Imagine that every child in the world and a not-insignificant chunk of the adult population vanishes in a single instant. This being a billion or so people (not counting the collateral deaths) with no plausible explanation, you'd probably be terrified, shell-shocked, if not suicidal. It's unusual then, that in ''[[Left Behind]]'' everyone manages to continue running the world so quickly
* [[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer|Huckleberry]] [[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Finn]] has an [[Abusive Parents|abusive]], [[The Alcoholic|drunken]] father, a [[Missing Mom|dead mother]], and [[Walking the Earth|no home whatsoever]]. For him, this is all just business as usual.
* ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]'':
{{quote|
* In Sharon Creech's ''The Wanderer Sophie'', a 13 years old girl, is sailing in a small boat across the Atlantic, with her two cousins (both also 13) and three uncles. The story is given to us as her and Cody's (one of the cousins) diaries. When they are caught by a nasty storm. Cody whines in his diary about how he was a bad son and how hopeless their situation is. Sophia whines... about how the uncles won't let her do a ''real'' job, like, say, climbing masts during the storm. Then this gets [[Double Subverted]] when {{spoiler|Cody reveals Sophhie has regular noghtmares, which she [[Unreliable Narrator|doesn't mention in her diary]]. However, they aren't about their ''current'' predicament, which Sophie describes (and sees) purely matter-of-factly. She is flashing back to another such storm that she survived, but which killed her biological parents, though Sophie has no conscious memory of this. It is THAT storm that scares Sophie, not the current danger.}}
* In ''Those nearby'' by A. Afanas'ev, Sofa, an alien girl with psychic powers, is [[Brought Down to Normal]] and captured by the [[Big Bad]], along with the main protagonist. When they are interrogated, Sofa's snarky comments drive the [[Big Bad]] nuts. His threats of violence (including thinly veiled [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture threats]]) have no effect on her, even though she clearly takes them for real. She even misses her chance to escape when doing so would leave the protagonist alone.
* By the time the titular heroine from [[Alice, Girl
* Ninevah "Nin" Redstone >From Caro King's ''Seven Sorcerers'' series is a glaring example, sure, she shows alot of fear when things are actually threatening... but the moment the danger is gone, she immediately reverts to being a cheerful and carefree [[Plucky Girl]].
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Star Trek:
** Ronald Moore said that the episode was sort of an accident. They were just concerned with making a good hour long story (and it is considered one of the best of the series) and didn't realize until it aired just how traumatized [[The Captain|Picard]] should have been afterwards. They resolved to make a few [[Continuity Nod|continuity nods]] and then just continue.
** [[Star Trek:
*** Hell, the show had this going from the very first (aired) episode. Gary Mitchell, who is made out to be Kirk's good friend from years back [[A God Am I|goes mad from receiving godlike powers]] and Kirk is forced to kill him. [[Forgotten Fallen Friend|No mention is made of it afterwards.]]
** T'Pol in ''[[Star Trek
*** In an alternate future episode, Earth has been destroyed by the Xindi, but everyone seems fine with it. Archer feels sad for about a minute.
*** Interestingly, Soval, despite being a Vulcan, seems genuinly sad about {{spoiler|Admiral Forrest's}} death. For about an episode. Justified in the case of any Vulcan, though.
*** Hoshi is [[Mind Rape
** Brutally averted in ''[[Star Trek:
{{quote|
** The ''TNG'' episode "The Wounded" introduced Chief O'Brien's former CO, Captain Maxwell, whose wife and children were killed [[During the War]] with the Cardassians. Picard believes Maxwell's current unauthorized attacks on Cardassian ships are [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|motivated by vengeance]], but O'Brien insists Maxwell remained [[The Stoic|stoic]] and [[Sad Clown|in good humour]] after his family's deaths and he must have a good reason for attacking the Cardassians. {{spoiler|Turns out they're both right.}}
** Averted, though, in ''[[Star Trek
* In the ''second'' episode of ''[[
** It does affect Xander, if slightly. He never admits it, but it's there. He has a larger hate-on for vampires than the rest of the cast, even hating the good ones (Angel and later Spike). He is much more kill-it-now with vamps as well.
** While there is plenty of angst throughout both ''Buffy'' and ''[[
* Companions in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' run the gamut in how well they cope with their adventures, from [[Action Girl]] to [[The Scream]]. The companions who freak when they're running from homicidal Daleks would seem to be more realistic than the ones who stand and fight (not to mention saner), but the fans always prefer the ones who don't angst. Realistic or not, which one do you want to spend a half-hour watching?
** Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) thinks this was the reason the show treated much of the universe as a [[Throwaway Country]] after its destruction in "Logopolis" - there was no way to deal with the implications of what had happened, and the characters' participation (however unwitting) in it, without derailing the show. (The [[Take a Third Option|third option]] would have been not to have such a huge catastrophe in the first place.)
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** Not surprising. By then Claire's figured out that reality on the island is very fluid. Plus, no body. Is she becoming [[Genre Savvy]]?
* ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' lost a good joke because of John Cleese's unwillingness to do this. In an episode where a guest dies and Basil and Manuel have to carry the body around without anyone noticing, the original ending was that the guest's twin brother arrived, greatly upsetting Basil who thought he was the guest and had been pranking him. Cleese realized that at some point the man would have to catch on that his brother was dead, which would ruin any comedy.
* Niki in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' does not show much angst about {{spoiler|being responsible for her husband's death}}.
* On ''[[Top Gear]]'', the three presenters allegedly have a pact that, should any of them die while filming the show, the remaining pair would appear at the beginning of the next episode, make a mournful comment, pause for a moment of silence, and then say "Anyway," and cheerily continue with the show.
** When Richard Hammond was seriously injured in 2006, Jeremy Clarkson commented that the joke didn't seem funny anymore, but now that he's recovered the pact seems to be back on.
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* [[Dollhouse|The Dolls]], on the surface, seem to be like this. They are essentially [[Blank Slate|childlike]] and complacent to those in authority over them, to a dangerous degree. For instance, Sierra seems to be able to shake off {{spoiler|being repeatedly raped by her handler}} pretty well.
* Showa ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' series usually has the riders treat their angst relatively quickly, Heisei Riders on the other hand... not so much ([[Kamen Rider Kuuga|Yuusuke]] and [[Kamen Rider OOO|Eiji]] being notable exceptions).
* Robin from ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' BBC's retelling of the legend spends two seasons head over heels in love with Marian. Then when {{spoiler|Marian is murdered, he gets over his grief}} in one episode. And in Series Three, the hero who declared he'd love Marian forever gets {{spoiler|two new love interests}} without any sign he misses his first.
** Also, when he was a little kid, there seems to have been no long-term effects after his father is burnt to death in a fire. In fact, approximately two minutes after it occurred, Kid!Robin is throwing a party for the peasants.
* When the gang in ''[[Seinfeld]]'' hear that Susan, George's fiance, has died from licking low-grade wedding invitation envelopes, they all shrug and go back about their business. Especially George, who angsts far more about the work he needs to do because of her death.
** This is pretty much a case of [[Crosses the Line Twice]].
* On ''[[True Blood]]'', perhaps as a result of the break-neck pace of the series (they're halfway through Season 3 and it's
* On [[No Ordinary Family]], during Steph and Jim's first outing together as heroes, they accidentally cause the death of an insane pyrokinetic. The angst over his death lasts about five minutes on the car ride back, then they're back to normal.
* In the first episode of the UK version of ''[[Queer
* ''[[
* Despite having had what most would consider a traumatic life, Phoebe in ''[[Friends]]'' is usually very throwaway about it, even using her mother's suicide to get the last muffin.
* In ''[[Firefly]]'', [[Cloudcuckoolander|River]] does not angst anywhere ''near'' as much as one would expect her to, considering [[Mind Rape|what]] [[Playing
** The crew in general seem to try to get over various betrayals and deaths as quickly as they can, probably because as outlaws there isn't much chance for mourning. (In ''Serenity'' for example, Mal tells the crew to stop mourning {{spoiler|the deaths of Shepherd Book and his people}} because all they can do now is avenge their deaths.
* Frequently in [[Professional Wrestling]]. Your brother turns on you, destroys your entire life, kills your dog? Some little creep from your past tries to cripple your entire family? Your best friend mauls you to the point of hospitalization and tries to steal your son from you? Some freak with a beard killed your unborn baby? Eh, within a [[Three Month Rule|few months]] you'll have forgotten all about it and probably be best friends again (and again and again). Maybe you can even get Beard-Boy to read a poem at your wedding!
* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' season six, {{spoiler|souless}} Sam is a good example of this.
{{quote|
'''Sam''': Yeah.
'''Sparrow''': Oh my god!
'''Sam''': It's ok, I've had time to adjust.
'''Sparrow''': Did it happen when you were kids?
'''Sam''': No, like, a half hour ago. }}
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== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[
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* It is common among many players of Roleplaying games to overlook the emotional situation of their characters, leading to people that [[Doomed Hometown|watch their home towns burn]] and are over it just a round after the incident. Granted, if the group as a whole doesn't care, it's better off that way, but it's a major hindrance to group dynamics when some players want to deepen their characters' deep-seated emotional issues and some players just want to kick asses and take names.
** It's also common among most role-players for characters to take a fairly laid-back attitude to the death of other party members. You'd think watching your friend and companion get horribly killed, mutilated, turned to stone or worse would bother someone, but typically they just move on without a second thought. (It helps when [[Idiot Ball|they get themselves killed in stupid ways]]; like [[Bullying the Dragon]].)
* ''[[
** Especially considering [[Wraith: The Oblivion
** A different, darker take on this trope comes from the Spring Court of ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote|
* All ''[[Warhammer
== Video Games ==
* Vyse from ''[[
* Jude Maverick, main character of ''[[Wild
* Slightly averted with Polka in ''[[Eternal Sonata]]''. There is angst, just nowhere near as much as you'd expect from someone in her situation.
* In ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
** Phoenix gets over his shock at [[First Episode Spoiler|Mia's death]] in the first game rather quickly, considering how much she meant to him. He may be channeling his grief into determination to bring the (real) murderer to justice within the three-day trial, however.
** There's some sort of Law of Diminishing Grief at play in the ''AA''-verse. Maya reacts somewhat realistically to Mia's death in the first game, and is similarly shown to still carry grief for her missing mother. However, when {{spoiler|her mother not only appears but is brutally murdered}}, Maya seems far more hand-wavey. This is explained as her being strong for Pearl's sake, and after multiple installments showing that Maya has kind of a crazy threshold for emotional and physical trauma ({{spoiler|being kidnapped and held for ransom, diving in front of a taser, etc.}}), it's believable. However, in later games, both {{spoiler|Trucy}} and {{spoiler|Kay Faraday}} seem to immediately recover from the deaths of their fathers at breakneck
** If {{spoiler|Franziska von Karma}} is upset that Phoenix sent her father to jail for murder she doesn't seem to show it. Her main concern is defeating him where {{spoiler|Edgeworth failed in order to prove herself superior.}}
** Perhaps, given the high [[Parental Abandonment]] rate in the ''[[
*** Speaking of [[Parental Abandonment]] {{spoiler|Apollo is abandoned by his mother}} who re-marries and carries on with her life yet no one, including him seems to care all that much except for {{spoiler|that one brief comment by the journalist Spark Brushel who called Trucy 'lucky' compared to Apollo in that she was kept while he was abandoned}}
* Ann of ''[[Jurassic Park: Trespasser]]'' does have a few reasonable worries when she realizes she's crashed on Site B--but deals remarkably well with being attacked by a Velociraptor out of seemingly nowhere.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'': [[The McCoy|Sora]] is worried for his parents (and the rest of Destiny Island civilization) for all of five minutes before setting out to save the world with a big grin on his face. It doesn't hurt that [[Donald Duck|Donald]] and [[Goofy]] [[Lampshade Hanging|specifically ask]] him not to angst, and in Sora's defense many people have a pretty high level of optimism at his
** Then there's a point in ''[[
** Also, in ''Chain of Memories'', Sora's reaction to {{spoiler|learning that he's been duped and the "true memories" of Namine he's recovered are actually all a bunch of lies? Press on and continue being true to his memories, even knowing that they're false.}}
* Aileen Harding from ''[[
* The protagonist of ''[[
** In [[Final Fantasy Tactics
* Zidane of ''[[
** And while finding out his origins did freak him out a bit, he immediately pushed it aside and turned on his creator while citing [[Power of Friendship]]. The BSOD only occurred after said creator apparently ripped his soul out, and it took the rest of the party's [[Power of Friendship]] speeches to help him recover.
** Rather brutal aversion exists with Dagger, Freya and Vivi however. The aforementioned atrocities eventually make Dagger a mute. Freya has a breakdown whenever Sir Fratley is mentioned and some of the most powerful and depressing scenes are when Vivi questions his existence and inevitable fate. ''[[
* Tidus from ''[[
** Most of the main cast is actually quite depressed and either repressing it, hiding it or coping in their own way. In fact, the game lampshades this after Home when a character tells Tidus to smile because he'll only worry Yuna if he doesn't. It isn't hard to imagine this is what all the Guardians are doing the same so as to make the Pilgrimage less painful. This is even specifically addressed in the cutscene outside of Djose Temple: Yuna shows up late, and everyone starts making cracks about her hair and generally kidding each other. In the narration, Tidus says that at that point, he was the only one really laughing, the implication being that everyone else was just trying to keep a stiff upper lip in the face of Spira's, and more specifically their, inevitable fate.
** Spira as a whole has this feel to it, especially considering their constant terror by Sin. A rather good use of this trope as it's remarkable how they can continue their lives when Cthulu-Moby Dick can wipe out their lives in an instant.
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' just doesn't seem to "do" angst. Throw him into space, blow up his home, turn him into a werewolf, he'll shrug it off within five seconds and get back to work. The closest thing to angst we've ever seen from him is a brief moment of reflection during the ending of ''Sonic Adventure 2'', but even then he shrugs it off pretty quickly. This also extends to the ''[[Sonic
** It's explained in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' by [[The McCoy|Sonic]] having an amount of [[Heroic Willpower]] off the charts. So much so, that it's the only reason his transformation into the Werehog only gave him a slightly enhanced aggression streak (and even then, he never experiences any real negative influence from it) instead of turning him into a monstrous killing machine.
** Then you have [[Kid Appeal Character|Tails]], who is an orphan that lives alone in his laboratory building things until [[The McCoy|Sonic]] decides to call him up whenever he needs to use his airplane. It's also mentioned in most continuities that he was heavily bullied before he met Sonic. Yet he still manages to be a [[Cheerful Child]], despite a [[Backstory]] that should make him every bit as depressed as [[Anti-Hero|Shadow]].
*** Technically, Sonic (and the rest of the cast for that matter, except for Cream the Rabbit) is also an orphan...
* In ''[[
** It's somewhat justified: {{spoiler|Kumatora is an amazon who almost automatically decides to cut off her leg when it gets trapped instead of considering it a bit longer. Duster is the oldest of the bunch and he's been subject to abuse from his father, so he's hardened. Flint angsts in his own way - he spends every day of his life later in the game looking for Claus and visiting Hinawa's grave. Lucas gets almost completely neglected by his father, it's not hard to believe that a child looking up to his brave twin decided to man-up.}}
** Not to mention that before the game the people of Tazmily Village were blissfully unaware of "sadness" so it's not unheard of that they wouldn't know how to angst about it.
* Your party in ''[[
** Minsc at least has some residual issues: his picking up a new witch is clearly shown as his [[The Atoner|attempt to atone]] for [[My Greatest Failure|his failure]], and if Edwin is around to keep needling him about Dynaheir he eventually snaps and tries to kill him. The angst is there it's just handled the way he treats every emotion, as [[The Berserker|fuel]] for more Buttkicking for Goodness.
** Also, CHARNAME, over the course of the games, lost (for the sake of convenience) his father, his home and a startling number of friends ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|and Xzar]]), learned he's descended from the dead and evil God of Murder, and witnessed countless innocents meet horrifying fates at the hands of cosmic horrors and tentacle monsters. The net result, as most people play it, includes very little moping and huge quantities of [[Deadpan Snarker|snark]], usually followed by a few explosions, and then carry on as always - including providing therapy for angsty comrades.
* In ''[[Live a Live]]'', Orsted [[Heroic Mime|silently]] bears all the misfortunes his quest throws in his way as it slowly goes from a very generic "save the princess" plot into the depths of [[It Got Worse]] territory. He's told that as long as someone's counting on him, he should keep moving forward, and that's exactly what he does. {{spoiler|Until said princess tells him she hates him and [[Despair Event Horizon|kills herself rather than be saved by him]]. Then he, uh... [[Omnicidal Maniac|breaks.]]}}
* There are a lot of people who won't even play the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games alone with the lights turned out, but for some reason, none of the main characters ever just break down screaming. The only comment ever given on the situation comes from ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'', when Heather says that she used to be bothered by the corpses laying all over the place, but barely notices them anymore. Granted, once we find out [[Tomato in
** Harry's love for his child, James' near-suicidal need to be with his wife, and Travis' repressed violent urges are the things that drive each of them on in spite of common sense. Henry, meanwhile, seems to simply not process or react any of it, continuing out of sheer stubborness.
** Justified in ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'', in which Harry is actually {{spoiler|just a figment of his daughter's imagination. She imagines him as a [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Damn Hero]] (or an doormat, or an abusive alcoholic, or a philanderer, depending on how you play) and so that's what he is.}} And even so, he still shows signs of "oh god, what the hell is going?"
* Kyrie, the main hero of ''[[Sands of Destruction]]'', doesn't actually stop to feel sorry about accidentally destroying his village and turning all of its inhabitants into dust. He seems to forgets all of it because he meets [[Action Girl|this girl]]... {{spoiler|At first}}.
* {{spoiler|Zevran}} of ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' hides [[Stepford Smiler|behind a facade of this]] unless he trusts the main character enough to reveal his true feelings.
** Likewise, Sigrun of ''Awakening'', despite being the [[Sole Survivor]] of a sect of [[Death Seeker|Death Seeking]] Dwarves refuses to wallow in angst and is about as upbeat as someone in her position can get.
{{quote|
'''Sigrun:''' I could be less perky if you like. 'The darkness of the Deep Roads is seeped into my soul! The world is dead! My heart is black! Alas! Woe! Woe!'
'''Nathaniel:''' Let's stick to perky. }}
** What about the Grey Warden his/herself? First there's your origin, which can have such lovely events as being tainted by a cursed artifact, having your younger brother murder your older brother and pin the crime on you, or having your family's castle assaulted and your entire family down to your young nephew killed. Then there's [[It Got Worse|the battle where you're double crossed and one of only two survivors]]. You'd think that would result in some issues, which it does with Alistair.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 1|Mass Effect]]'', Liara takes her mother's [[Face Heel Turn]] and {{spoiler|death}} in stride, and is actually surprised if Shepard asks her if she needs any help dealing with it.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Shepard seems to take finding out s/he has been dead for two years rather in stride. While its talked about briefly at the
** Jacob Taylor of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is almost entirely unaffected by what he discovers during his personal mission, beyond briefly getting very angry during the mission but then proceeding to cope quickly, effectively, and without any external help. This is possibly lampshaded in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, where the files on Jacob suggest that, despite his combat skills, the real reason he was put on the Normandy was for the "stabilising effects of his personality" in the [[Dysfunction Junction]] that makes up the rest of the team.
** Lampshaded by Mordin: despite his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAiySGf0CPI loyalty mission] forcing him into conflict with his ex-protege and causing him to question his entire life's work, the next time you talk to him he's as chipper as ever. He happily explains that salarians work through emotions very fast, so he's already dealt with ''all'' his angst on the flight back to the ship.
** Used interestingly by your crew if you {{spoiler|save them from liquefaction at the hands of the Collectors}}. Most seem just fine later, a little shaken up but generally fine. But when you ask Kelly Chambers if she's all right, she goes into a horrified flashback and is clearly, obviously ''not''
*** However, in [[Mass Effect 3]] it is possible to meet Kelly again, and she explains that she's having a delayed reaction to the trauma, and can't bring herself to set foot on the Normandy again because of it.
** If you comply with Tali's request and {{spoiler|subsequently get her Exiled from the Migrant Fleet,}} she's actually perfectly fine with it, seeing it as preferable to the alternative. Considering how badly the alternative option would end for the quarians, it's justified.
* Played with in [[Mass Effect 3]]; a lot of the humans, Shepard included, seem superficially OK about the fact that Earth is being invaded and subjected to brainwashed genocide by [[Eldritch Abomination
** To some extent the ''whole galaxy'' is doing this, as life continues relatively normally on a lot of the places that aren't actually under attack. However, it is justified for similar reasons as above, and as the situation continues to deteriorate, certain characters spot a lot of "distracting myself from the crisis" behaviour in pretty much everyone around them.
* For a guy who saw his parents murdered in front of him, saw the Thievius Racoonus torn apart, saw his friends being held captive, been captured a couple of times himself, saw his friend (Bentley) get crippled by Clock-La, amongst other stuff, ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' doesn't show much angst.
** Bentley is likewise remarkably angst-free about being stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and though he does show one instance of insecurity about it, it seems he is sufficiently confident in his abilities as [[The Smart Guy]] of the team to compensate for his physical weakness. Of course, being fairly frail to start with, and [[Gadgeteer Genius|fixing up his wheelchair with a mini-armoury of gadgets might help with that.]]
** Actually averted by Murray, who is deeply upset by the accident that crippled Bentley; despite it not really being his fault and Bentley bearing him absolutely no ill will for it, he leaves the team and goes on a quest for spiritual enlightenment to help him deal with it.
* ''[[
** Byakuren Hijiri is a more recent example, and manages to surpass even Flandre by being imprisoned in Makai (essentially a demon world) for ''more than '''one thousand years''''' because she thought it would be nice for youkai and humans to stop fighting each other, yet remains probably the friendliest, most caring person in the series. There is a ''reason'' she has acquired the [[Fan Nickname]] of "Youkai Jesus".
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
** Carefully subverted in any [[Video Game|games]] where the graphics allow emotion to show on [[Heroic Mime|Link's]] face, however. To give two specific examples, he's incredibly devastated by what befalls Tetra in ''[[Phantom Hourglass]],'' and ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' actually gives him a gorgeous range of emotions. There is also one moment in ''Ocarina of Time'', when Link returns from the temple of time to {{spoiler|a Hyrule Castle transformed into [[Big Bad|Ganondorf's]] fortress base, surrounded in lava and unrecogniseable as the cheerful scene from seven years ago.}} The expression on his face is a mixture of shock and despair.
* [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]], [[Discussed Trope|discussed]], and turned into a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in ''[[Endless Frontier]]''. When Haken learns [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prR2x-gKGOI the shocking secret of his birth] ({{spoiler|that he's an artificially-created [[Super Soldier]] made to wage war in alternate universes}}), he spends all of zero seconds angsting about it before moving on to the task at hand. His companions actually have to press him on the subject before he finally just says [[I Am What I Am]] and compares it to boobs.
{{quote|
'''Reiji:''' You don't seem to be too shocked about it, though.
'''Haken:''' Sorry about that. Should I faint and start screaming a little? [[Hidden Depths|...If I did something like that, it'd just make Kaguya and the others worry more about me, right?]] }}
* Dwarves in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' have an odd way of measuring their moods; it's a strict positive/negative thing. Did their wife and children just get killed by a [[Our Monsters Are Weird|Forgotten Beast]]? This can be balanced out by a eating in a ''really'' nice communal dining room, sleeping in a nice bedroom, and obtaining a well-made pair of socks, leaving them at least "quite content" overall.
** The [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] is that quite content is more "coping with life" than it is "sort of happy". At anything below "quite content", Dwarves are at risk of snapping in one way or another, throwing a potentially [[Disaster Dominoes|Fortress destroying]] tantrum, being [[Driven to Suicide]] or going permanently [[Ax Crazy]]. Or going into a fell mood and killing some random dwarf...
* In the little known game ''[[
* ''[[Half-Life]]'' has the one and only Gordon Freeman, a young physicist who never saw combat before [[The End of the World
** The HEV suit automatically dispenses morphine, antitoxin and other substances as the need arises, plus whatever they have in those instant-heal medpacks. It's likely he's basically riding a nigh permanent morphine/adrenaline/drug rollercoaster, with too many ups and downs for him to stop and think about what's going on.
* ''[[Corpse Party]]'' deconstructs this. While Seiko Shinohara is secretly a bit of a [[Stepford Smiler]], her apparent lack of angst despite being trapped in a nightmarish situation causes her best friend Naomi Nakashima to accuse her of being creepy. This leads to an fight between the two and they separate. {{spoiler|The next time they meet, Seiko is hanging from a pillar in the girl's bathroom. And there is no way for Naomi to save her.}}
* In ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'', [[The Hero|Sagi]] is surprisingly optimistic and agreeable throughout most of the game, despite the various misfortunes and defeats he suffers. He does have [[Unstoppable Rage|a few moments]], but his default mood seems to be very cheerful.
* Two of the three playable Servants in [[Fate Extra]], [[The Empress|Red Saber]] and [[Genki Girl|Fox Caster]] have shades of this, (the third servant is [[Deadpan Snarker|Archer]] [[Fate/stay
* In stark contrast to many other vampires, Valvatorez from ''[[Disgaea 4:
{{quote|
'''{{spoiler|Artina}}:''' Oh, Mr. Vampire... I'm trying to be serious right now.
'''Valvatorez:''' I'm being serious too. }}
== Visual Novels ==
* Arcueid of ''[[
** Arcueid might actually be an odd example. During the 800 years that she's hunting Roa and his various incarnations, her mentality is like a machine's. After Shiki {{spoiler|kills her the first time}}, she mentions that what Shiki did caused something to break inside her mind. So it could almost be said that Arcuied went insane, but by going insane she became sane. Or something.
** Also Shiki, which was intentionally done and is noted upon several times. Presumably it was done in order to contrast him with the likes of {{spoiler|Kohaku, Hisui or Ciel}} who just can't leave the past alone, and it kinda helps that his memory is Swiss Cheese due to his stepfather's actions, to the point that he doesn't really remember two of the most traumatic instances of his childhood except subconsciously. Though the one time he realized that he was suppressing his guilt over {{spoiler|murdering Arcueid}}, he was completely horrified with himself and immediately began apologizing to her.
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== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[Ship In A Bottle]]'', Ship takes being stuffed away for a century oddly well, [[Living Forever Is Awesome|mainly because she's immortal]]. Alan provides the requisite lampshading, but Ship does hint she's hurt that her former master, Ronald, forgot about her.
* ''[[Last
** Daisy's had her leg amputated and has been held prisoner/tortured for at least the past three months prior to her arrival on the show. We can justify some of her dissonance by assuming {{spoiler|if she IS Scout Arael, she's been conditioned previously to withstand some of what happened to her}} and that on top of this, her Autistic traits make it harder to notice if she's angsting.
** Jigsaw's also been hiding away from her family and everyone else in the three months between turning into a vampire ({{spoiler|and believing she murdered her sire}}). She's been surprisingly calm since.
** Slick's been in jail for ''six years'' for a crime he didn't
** White Noise has been in jail for ''forty-seven years'' although in his case he definitely did the crime, he just claims he was ordered to do it. Granted, [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|he also became filthy rich]] while he was locked up, but still.
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', Ash angsts constantly about the problems from his-now-her [[Gender Bender]]. But she never angsts (or even notices) that her pre-[[Gender Bender]] life was in some ways worse; he had [[Missing Mom|no mother]], his father was cold to him, he had a grand total of two friends (or, for that matter, people he even talked to), and so on. In fairness, the intense mental and emotional effect of suddenly becoming the opposite gender and having your entire life and past changed to something ''you'' don't even know everything about overnight isn't exactly easy. Furthermore, a fair amount of angst is due to the fact that his life is ''better'' as a girl.
** Emily just lost the last ''two years of her life''. Oh, and all of her former "friends" didn't make the jump back. So, she's isolated, stressed, and confused, and she rarely complains about it. She even says so, which pisses off Ash since he's NOT happy with the change. Then they have a big "I want to help you, but I like my own life" thing, where she probably was about to admit she'd love for Ash to be a boy again, because she wants in his pants, but not as a girl.
* It takes something major to keep the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' cast down for long. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] with Bun-Bun, who is noted for his great emotional resiliance, and Torg, [http://pics.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=980505 for different reasons]:
{{quote|
'''Psyk:''' The long of it is, he does not explore consequences in depth, so he has no unknown fears to confront. And his memories are limited, so he has no fears from his past. The only things he seems to "fear" stem from simpler things we would not even regard.
'''Torg:''' ''Hey'', are you saying I'm too stupid to be afraid?
'''Psyk:''' That's the short of it. }}
** Averted with Angela, who has to be committed to an insane asylum after the "[http://pics.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000626 KITTEN]" adventure, while the main characters go off to have [[Beach Episode|fun in the sun]].
* ''[[
** Although there is the implication that some of Zig Zag's behavior is a result of her coping with her bad childhood.
** You have to admit that resorting to cheap [[Freudian Excuse]] to justify her various excentricities has to be irritant anyway.
* Jodie of ''[[Loserz]]'' ''is'' alright about [[Disappeared Dad|her lack of a father]] and her status as an accidental baby.
* The ''[[
** {{spoiler|Dave just tossed a [[All the Myriad Ways|dead copy of himself]] out the window}}. He then spends ten minutes [[Averted Trope|staring at]] [[Not So Stoic|his blood-stained hands]]. Rose [[Sanity Slippage|might be cracking]], too. [[Cerebus Syndrome|Blame Cerebus.]]
** John is still a good example of this, he watched {{spoiler|Jade [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrificed her dream self]] to save him, was woken up from dreaming ''right'' before being reunited with his father}}, and is ''still'' being told over and over again that [[You Can't Fight Fate]], but none of it seems to have had any significant effect on his optimism yet.
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** In a couple panels, Nepeta is ''smiling'' even as she's sitting next to {{spoiler|the corpse of her beloved lusus crushed in a cave-in.}} She may have known by then that {{spoiler|she could resurrect Pounce, in a way,}} but ''still.''
** And ultimately averted: it seems that the news of {{spoiler|her mother's death}} has finally pushed Rose over the edge.
{{quote|
* Hanna from ''[[Hanna Is
* In ''[[DMFA]]'', the fae are [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_833.php suggested] to be like this in-universe (somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] by [[We Are
* In ''[[School Bites]]'', Charlotte's first words after discovering with shock that she's now a vampire: "[[Cursed
** Heather from ''[[Vampire Cheerleaders]]'' has the same reaction:
{{quote|
* Anyone and everyone from ''[[Sonichu]]''. When two characters are killed off panel, they mourn all for about ''one panel'', before they instantly get over it and return to doing whatever they were doing. They don't even linger on it. Of course, to be fair, this is because the author just can't write anything that affects his characters
* ''[[
** Grace has had the most horrible life out of all the characters. When confronted with it, she reacted appropriately, but once it's all over? It's like she never suffered years of trauma at the hands of the [[Complete Monster]] [[A God Am I|Damien]], who beat her when she displeased him, and intended to use her to breed an army of chimeras! Nope, it's all swept under the rug. She's the most upbeat, positive character in the comic.
* Played for laughs in ''[[Goblins]]'', where Biscuit the Orc states that 600 years of demonic torture barely fazed him since members of his clan are taught to accept loss without pain or regret to become immune to emotional pain. When told that his clan was wiped out 200 years ago, he responds with a simple "Meh, oh well".
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== Web Original ==
* Chaka of the [[Whateley Universe]]. Turned into a mutant, the mutation changed him from a he to a she, had to leave home and go to [[Super-Hero School|Whateley Academy]], targeted by more than one campus [[Big Bad]], has fought supervillains who kill people, and never angsts. A lot of the reason is because the old Tony hated his life, because he knew he was [[
* The ''Winds of Change'' universe features this a ''lot''. Everyone in the world is suddenly transformed into anthropomorphic animals - of various degrees too, some are even forced to dramatically alter their lives because some of the most high-degree morphs would practically be just like a standard wolf with hands! Some of the poor Aquatics got a load of people who didn't understand exactly how they function in charge and making decisions and had to alter their lifestyles ''the most'' out of anyone. Then there are those people who either got lost entirely to animalistic instincts or had lost family members to said instincts. And yet maybe 1% of the population actually seems to have any issues with those...Especially in America.
* ''Metamor Keep'', a story universe that shares several authors with the ''Winds of Change'' often has this too. There are people who're transformed into anthropomorphic animals, some are [[
* Vindicator of the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' was kidnapped via mind control by a telepathic supervillain. She was then used as a sex toy for about a week before being rescued. You'd never know she was physically traumatized by how she acted later.
* Because of [[Rule of Funny]] and [[Negative Continuity]], [[That Guy With
** [[The Spoony Experiment
{{quote|
'''Spoony:''' Eh, I got better. }}
** Very rarely, it's sometimes averted. Being led to believe that he fathered a girl and tortured her nearly drove [[Atop the Fourth Wall
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** He doesn't dwell on it, sure, but he angsts plenty whenever something forces him to think about. He went into a [[Heroic BSOD]] when they found Monk Gyatsu's skeleton. He is also a [[Reincarnation]], so he's sort of been through every possible emotion already, and probably has a better grip on it than most 12 year olds.
** [[The Chick|Katara]] has a breakdown at the end of the Puppetmaster episode after learning the [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] against her will. In the next episode she seems to have gotten over it, probably since she now has the means to exact her revenge...{{spoiler|or so we (or she) think(s).}}
** In "The Desert," Aang becomes furious over Appa's (one of his two remaining friends from over 100 years ago) disappearance, unfairly lashing out at his friends for seemingly not caring and Toph for not saving Appa (she had to choose between saving him and preventing the Library's collapse, and chose the latter). This climaxes in him finding the thieves and going into [[Unstoppable Rage|the Avatar State]] until Katara calms him down. In the next episode, "The Serpent's Pass," he tries to keep his feelings inside, following this trope, until, with Katara and a refugee family's help, he learns that he should express his feelings.
* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
** A notable exception is the start of "The Dragon's Graveyard", where after losing yet another way home the entire group is sunk in depression, and the youngest breaks down in tears.
** In one episode, they learn that time in the real world passes differently from time in the fantasy world. So, they can at least take comfort in the fact that they haven't been gone long enough for their parents to be worried.
* Philip J. Fry of ''[[
** It could have just taken a while for it to hit him.
** This trope is later subverted ''big time'' as his failure to live up to the standards of his fellow employees (especially Leela, who gradually becomes the love of his life) force him to [[The Ditherer|deal with his shortcomings]].
* One of the segments in the film ''[[Heavy Metal (
* In the relatively [[Darker and Edgier]] second season of the ''[[Legion of Super
* In the ''[[Superman:
** To be fair, it ''does'' say "Two Weeks Later." That's enough time to angst over such losses for a couple of days, and afterward adjust to having a loving replacement family, since she's shown to be staying at the Kents' house (and Ma and Pa Kent are two of the best foster parents anyone could
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider
** To be fair, he ''did'' seem sad when {{spoiler|Eddie was dragged off to Ravencroft Asylum}}, and in the first fight he tried to reason with him, but it was when Eddie said that they weren't brothers and pointed out that Peter had an aunt and uncle, while Eddie had ''no one'', and made it very clear that he would hurt everybody in Peter's life that [[Neutral Good|Spider-Man]] said "We're done talking". Also, "cracking jokes to prevent overwhelming angst" is pretty much Spidey's thing.
* The [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] occasionally acted this way in the most [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
** There are examples of this, but the Return of Savanti
* The main characters of ''[[
{{quote|
** In later episodes, they even say their lines with boredom more than anger. They probably just get tired of it happening ''[[Crossing the Line Twice|every single week]]''.
** A recent episode reveals that [[The Chew Toy|Kenny]] is the only one aware he ever died. Everyone else forgets it ever happened the next morning. And Another episode had one of the boys feeling very angsty over another one being near death. [[The Chew Toy|Kenny]] is, of course, pissed that they never feel this way about him. And yes, he dies 10 seconds later, but no one notices.
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** To be fair, though, in the previous movie they lost him ''in the middle of the ocean, during a friggin storm, traveling to another, unknown country''. [[Genre Savvy|A mere fall off the train in a desert in the same state doesn't stand a chance.]]
* In ''[[Gnomeo and Juliet]]'', Featherstone the flamingo just instantly dives out of his shed and goes bananas with happiness upon being released. He was trapped inside for ''20 years.'' And separated from his lover for all that time.
* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', the genie says he's been trapped in his lamp for 10,000 years, a fate that would have driven any of us [[And I Must Scream|insane with boredom]]. But he seems fine apart from a "crick in the neck." Although, being a genie, maybe he has ways to amuse himself that we don't.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Nightmare Moon's imprisonment doesn't seem to have affected her sanity (or Luna's) either.
* [[Justified]] in the ''[[Young Justice (
** In the follow up episode "Disordered", {{spoiler|Superboy}} expresses guilt because he ''didn't'' angst one bit during "Failsafe" {{spoiler|even when he thought everything was real.}}
* ''[[
* In ''[[Sherlock Holmes in
* Where do we start with Finn from ''[[
== Real Life ==
* This is the basis of the Japanese cultural ethic of ''gaman''
** One example need to be mentioned is [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. He was allies with [[Oda Nobunaga]], and Nobunaga ordered Ieyasu to kill his own wife and son. Ieyasu endured it and never let this become a reason against Nobunaga.
* The British used to have a heavily stiff upper lip attitude through the Victorian era until the 60's, and though it's fading, it's still present to the extent that they will still internalise and repress their emotions rather than make them known.
** We like it that way; it's tidier.
* It's not unusual for cultures to expect this [[Double Standard|from the male members of society]] - [[Men Don't Cry]].
**Quite understandably to be fair. If too many men cry the rest will ''run''. [[For Want of a Nail|Then there won't be any society to be a member of.]]
* [[wikipedia:Flat affect|Flat or blunted affect]] is a symptom of many mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
* People cope with trauma in different ways. Two people could go through the exact same circumstance, such as losing a loved one. One person could fall apart and slip into a depression, while another might mourn and be sad, but be able to handle it much better.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:YMMV Trope]]
[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]
[[Category:Angst? What Angst?]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]
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