I Work Alone: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''I don't do partners. You know that, Cap.''|'''Herschel Biggs''', ''[[LA Noire]]''}}

 

 

In any of these situations, the answer will always be the same. ''"I work alone."''

** [[Played for Laughs]] in the case of Takeshi Momoshiro and Ryoma, who try to play doubles and simply cannot do so in the Fudomine arc. Momoshiro gets over that later and becomes a decent doubles player, but Ryoma stays a singles player.

* In ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'' Sharon calls Break "Mr. One-Man-Show" because of his tendency to refuse help and go off on his own. He even says himself that he doesn't know how to fight as a team. He's actually pretty good at taking care of business by himself, but due to his {{spoiler|recent blindness and deteriorating overall physical condition}}, his willingness to rely on others, however slightly, is part of his character development.

* This was actually the [[Fatal Flaw]] of ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'''s Yuri Tsukikage. She was so confident in her abilities as Cure Moonlight, that she ignored her partner, Cologne, in finding allies. End result? A massive [[Curb Stomp Battle]] leading to Cologne's death and her temporary depowerment.

* [[Ineffectual Loner|Barnaby]] holds this stance for the first third or so of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', insisting that [[The Messiah|Kotetsu]]'s only good for getting in the way and being annoying. He changes his tune completely post-[[Defrosting Ice King|defrosting]], to the point that he doesn't see any reason to be a Hero unless Kotetsu's there with him.

 

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', Amarant works alone. Naturally he is a "survival of the fittest" kinda player... and eventually learns [[The Power of Friendship]] from Zidane, after an object lesson or two.

* ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'':

** Urdnot Wrex points out that he's never been much of one for working in an organized army, as "things get....''messy.''" He works best alone, or "in very small groups." Fortunately, Shepard's team counts as such.

* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', [[Final Fantasy VIII|Squall]] works alone. The game manages to look at his attitude from a couple of different angles; although the early parts of Squall's story mode seem to set it up as a [[Loners Are Freaks|problem he needs to get over]], and he eventually ends up working with [[Final Fantasy V|Bartz]] and [[Final Fantasy IX|Zidane]], the latter half of his story mode reveals that his choice to travel alone isn't because he doesn't trust the other heroes, but because he prefers to help them by taking on the villains by himself and eliminating at least some of them before they can cause the others problems.

** More complicated than that, even. He fights alone because he doesn't want the burden of ''directly'' protecting people (it's too stressful, and far too easy to make a mistake and get someone killed), and because he trusts his friends to be able to take care of themselves. He knows they're strong and capable, so he doesn't worry about them unless he has to (such as when he saves Zidane and Bartz). He's not ''opposed'' to helping others, and in fact he does it without hesitation (running to rescue Bartz with Zidane, for example), but he just finds it's easier to push his limits when he's on his own.

** Funnily enough, the Warrior of Light also has shades of this. Not in his attitude, but in his actions, [[Not So Different|not entirely unlike Squall]] (who irritably observes the comparison in his [[Inner Monologue]] when the Warrior of Light confronts him about his choice to go it alone). What ultimately subverts this, however, is the Warrior of Light's [[The Determinator|absolute faith in his fellow comrades and Cosmos]], [[Batman Gambit|which is probably something the latter counted on]].

* ''[[Thief]]''; Garrett says it near the end of the second game; there's an Aesop present, and it probably sticks, though he backslides furiously throughout most of the sequel.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': "Me Grimlock go with you... but me Grimlock go with you -- alone!"

* [[Iron Man]] expresses this attitude at the start of ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'', when he fights crime out of a personal ambition to keep his weapons out of enemy hands. Soon, four other superheroes help him defeat Graviton. Iron Man subsequently proposes the formation of a full-time superhero team, to combat threats one hero can not overcome alone.

** [[Hawkeye]] became betrayed by his crimefighting partner, [[Black Widow (comics)|Black Widow]], and arrested by SHIELD early on into the series. After he breaks out of jail and clears his name, he decides to chase down Black Widow alone, until [[Incredible Hulk|The Hulk]] makes him join the Avengers. Even then, he expresses an initial preference for the other Avengers not to join his personal pursuit.

* The title character of ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (animation)|Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' doesn't initially warm up to the thought of assisting four rookie superheroes as part of his SHIELD training.