First-Person Smartass: Difference between revisions

 

Compare [[Lemony Narrator]].

{{examples}}

* Kyon, the viewpoint character of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]''; a variation of the character type, as even though he's very [[Fauxlosophic Narration|intelligent]] and [[Little Professor Dialog|literate]], he's [[Book Dumb]] and rarely gets anything more than a B+.

** [[Unreliable Narrator|We can't determine it yet.]] In novels, there are some hints that he gets much better grades than he claims and may possibly be the top-grade student in the school, though he's already pointed out that he was jealous of Haruhi's intelligence on several occasions and he can't even keep up with Nagato and Koizumi's explanations of certain things. Although the way he talks and incorporates important historical and literary events into his narration suggests that he's fairly intelligent.

* Araragi from ''[[Bakemonogatari]]''.

* Issei in ''[[High School DxD]]'' has shades of this, however it's [[The Mentor|Azazel]] who's a lot more of a smart ass narrator whenever he discusses things in his point of view.

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* The protagonist of the mega-multi-cross fanfic ''[[Sleeping with the Girls]]'', mainly as a device to keep the protagonist deliberately unnamed as an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the ISO Standard self-insert fic.

* The narrator from ''[[Marie D. Suesse And The Mystery New Pirate Age!]]'' occasionally takes breaks from narrating the story to make fun of common cliches found in fanfics and point out logical fallacies.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]'' is pretty much made of [[Film Noir]] and this trope.

* ''[[Goodfellas]]''.

 

== Literature ==

* When [[Stephen King]] characters tell their own stories, they have a tendency to be this way, but it's mostly light and situational cynicism on display, rather than the characters being chronic smartasses. Michael Noonan of ''[[Bag of Bones]]'' is probably the best example.

* The titular Percy Jackson of ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]''. It's probably common amongst [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half-Bloods]], as a coping mechanism extension of their diagnosed-as-ADHD battle instincts. After all, if you find yourself standing before Hades, God of the Dead, who's cloaked in a robe sewn together from souls of the damned, then wondering what some poor saps must've done to get themselves assigned [[Imagine the Audience Naked|to being his boxer shorts]] has got to be better than having your mind lock up in fear.

** Confirmed, as ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'' [[Sequel Series]] shows the point of view of multiple demigods, all of whom are various levels of smartass.

* Archie Goodwin of the [[Nero Wolfe]] books might be the ur-example.

* The protagonist of Frank Portman's "King Dork" mentally snarks his way through the book, but is usually less than stellar at speaking aloud. To wit: "By my count, I had said no more than twenty-one words to her, and that's only if you count 'um'. And my first bit of dialogue had been nothing less retarded than 'I'm cool"

* Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos in the ''[[Dragaera]]'' series who besides being an aristocrat of a sort reflects Brust's [[Author Appeal]] in being a gourmet cook. One of the first examples of this in fantasy, along with [[Chronicles of Amber|Corwin]], and indirect [[Trope Namer]].

{{quote|I don't know if you have ever tooled off to East Dulwich to offer a strange female a hundred smackers to release your Uncle George. In case you haven't, I may tell you that there are plenty of things that are lots better fun.}}

 

* ''[[Dexter]]'' is just as much a smart-ass on TV as in the books, if not more so. There's even a subversion in one episode where Dex's internal monologue becomes external for a line; the only one who notices, of course, is [[Secret-Chaser|Doakes]].

* ''[[Burn Notice]]'' has Jeffrey Donovan's character Michael Westen consistently snarking about his situation and environment, though he walks the line between First-Person Smartass and [[Deadpan Snarker]] with stylish aplomb.

 

== Video Games ==

* The main character of ''[[Discworld|Discworld Noir]]''.

* Phoenix Wright of the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series fits the description as well.

* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight Sparkle]] is this in ''[[My Little Investigations]]'' as per [[Ace Attorney]] standards.

 

* Zombie, the narrator and [[Supporting Protagonist]] of [[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]] [http://hanna.aftertorque.com/?p=264 pulls this off pretty well].

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' straddles this and [[Lemony Narrator]]—it's told in second person and usually clearly from a certain character's point of view, but sometimes comes across more of an omniscient narrator, particularly when it [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Breaks The Fourth Wall]]. And either way, it is inevitably [[Deadpan Snarker|very]] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002375 sarcastic].

 

== Web Original ==

* Most of the narrators in the [[Metro City Chronicles]].

* Phase, in the webfiction ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. Phase is a superpowered mutant rather than a PI, but in the stories in which she is the narrator, she is a [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] commentator, very intellectual, well read, even for a teenager who has been to all the 'right' private schools, far too knowledgeable about food (even if she's spent her life as the heir to billions eating the finest food anywhere), and still associates with the other rich kids at the [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy.

* Gaven Morren of ''[[The Tale of the Exile]]'' is this, being partially based on Garret from the Thief series mentioned above.

* ''[[Freeman's Mind]]'' turns the [[Silent Protagonist]] of ''[[Half Life]]'' into a snarky, sarcastic sociopath.

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]