Ineffectual Loner: Difference between revisions

* Played with in ''[[GaoGaiGar]]''. [[The Stoic|Soldato-J]] doesn't fight alone, but he doesn't have the same kind of camaraderie with his partners that [[The Hero|Guy]] and [[Kid Hero|Mamoru]] have with [[True Companions|theirs]]. Despite this, he's actually better at his job than Guy is, at least at first, and makes his entrance by curbstomping a trio of [[Robeast]]s moments after they'd beaten Guy to a pulp. He goes on to be Guy's [[The Rival|rival]] for the rest of the series before [[Not Quite Dead|apparently]] going out in a blaze of glory at the end of the tv series. FINAL plays this a bit straighter; while he remains as badass as he's ever been, J is also completely unable to do anything against the Sol Masters until the heroes show up (to be fair, [[Justified Trope|he was outnumbered eleven to one]]), and can't even challenge his own [[Evil Counterpart]] until he teams up with Renais and gains a new [[Super Mode]] / [[Combination Attack]] with her.

* Fakir in ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' certainly starts off this way. As soon as the main heroine figures out he's [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|not really that bad of a guy]] she tries to convince him to team up with her, but it takes until near the end of the season until he finally does, and even then it's reluctantly. In the second season he doesn't mind quite as much, but he still maintains a bad habit of trying to do things on his own.

** Natsuki Kuga from the same series is a by the numbers case of this. Pretty much every solo action we see her undertake onscreen doesn't work, or blows up in her face. Her attempt to dissuade any Hime from showing up to Fuuka in the first episode really sets the stage for this. From there, there's her plan to deal with the {{spoiler|panty thief orphan}}, her discovering and attacking {{spoiler|Alyssa Searrs}}, and her attempts to deal with {{spoiler|the seemingly traitorous Nao}}. Ironically, this all leads up to her final confrontation with {{spoiler|Shizuru}}, which she only wins because she acknowledges that she's not alone in the world, and thus {{spoiler|super-powers up Duran to the same level as Shizuru's Kiyohime}}, allowing her to carry out her plan: {{spoiler|eliminate Shizuru (and by extension, herself) in order to give Mai a clear shot at ending the entire Festival, thus sacrificing herself for the good of others.}} Quite the full circle of [[Character Development]]. Her special in the 25th episode even has her acknowledging the power of [[Power of Friendship|friendship]] and [[Power of Love|love]].

{{quote|"The feelings Shizuru had for me and the feelings Mai and Tate had for each other made me realize people can't live alone. It might seem obvious to anyone else, but it was an important truth I discovered only recently."}}

 

== Video Games ==

* Subverted in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]. Through Nils Daerden and Marina Wulfstan, who actually get stat bonuses for being alone and penalties for being with others. In short, they actually DO work better alone. The latter is also considered by many to be the best sniper in the game.

* Subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' with the character Delita, who exhibits the philosophy and behavior of the Ineffectual Loner, but proves not to be ineffectual at all. This can be attributed to the title's uncharacteristically (for Final Fantasy) heavy emphasis on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|"cynical" end of the scale']] -- [[The Hero]] Ramza would be [[The Messiah]] if he could, but in Ivalice, it just doesn't work that way.

[[Category:Archetypal Character]]

[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]

[[Category:Introversion Tropes]]