Tin Man/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character laments his lack of emotions, despite showing emotion.

Straight: Tim sadly complains about not having any emotions.
Exaggerated: Tim openly cries about not having emotions.
Justified: Tim is a robot, who feels emotions, but doesn't realize it.
Inverted: Tim, The Stoic, is content to be emotionless.
Subverted: Tim realizes he has emotions, but acts like he doesn't hoping for sympathy.
Double Subverted: ...Or at least that's what his friends think.
Parodied: Tim becomes a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds because of his lack of emotions and then sees himself crying in a shard of glass and becomes The Pollyanna
Deconstructed: The reason Tim claims to have no emotions is because he has comitted horrible deeds in the past, and if he is emotionless he cannot feel crippling guilt over it.
- Tim wants to be a Sociopath.
Reconstructed: Tim gets therapy and learns to accept both his emotions and the fact he has them.
Zig Zagged: Tim alternates between wanting emotions and not wanting them, despite having them.
Averted: Tim realizes he has emotions.
Enforced: "We can't have Tim have no emotions at all, or people will think he's a sociopath. How about he feels emotions, but doesn't recognize them as such?"
Lampshaded: "How long do you think it'll be before Tim figures out he can feel?"
Invoked: Tim decides to claim he has no emotions, as he is very socially awkward and wants a good excuse should he say something stupid or offensive by accident.
Exploited: Sally does horrible things to Tim, while claiming that because he has no emotions, he shouldn't mind. Tim's denial breaks down, along with his mind.
Defied: ???
Discussed: ???
Conversed: "Someone needs to slap some sense into Tim, so he can figure out that he does have emotions."

Back to Tin Man