History Main / TinMan

-->-- '''Bender''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

The dark flipside of the trope is especially common in ScienceFiction or {{Fantasy}}, where whole races may be introduced as [[StrawVulcan "logical" and beyond base emotions]]; and then turns out to be arrogant, harsh, hateful, merciless or borderline unstable, as if they've lost their positive emotions but kept all the bad ones. Apparently, many authors confuse being emotionless with being a JerkAss who derides those emotions considered "weak", like [[SaveTheVillain mercy]], [[RuleOfEmpathy empathy]], [[GreaterNeedThanMine altruism]], [[TheFourLoves love]], [[HumbleHero humility]], [[GoodSamaritan compassion]] and the ability to [[TheEmpath see someone else's point of view]]. Or basic politeness. So instead of an indifferent race that cannot be bothered over differences and [[HollywoodEvolution levels of evolution]], what we get is a race that is willing to exterminate anyone with extreme prejudice because they feel arrogance and contempt, but neither shame nor horror.

* Older rock fans will remember Music/{{America}}'s song of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyKcDKU5oU same name.]]

** Olga is often said to have a stoic/expressionless facade, but she is more proud and passionate than she thinks she is, especially regarding the well being of her kind, the dark elves. Celestine, [[WeUsedToBeFriends once a close friend of hers]], noted that Olga "had always been a passionate creature" in the remastered version. Given that she has to [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask put on a brave face as queen]] of the dark elves, this is [[JustifiedTrope understandable]].

* On ''Franchise/StarTrek'' Vulcans (such as Spock) pride themselves on being completely without emotion (''that alone'' says it all, but their friends are too polite to call them on it) but clearly have them, while understated. The truth is more that they work hard to be controlled by logic rather than emotion, lest they turn into HotBlooded Psychopaths. However, being the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe's [[SpaceElves answer]] to [[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]], they do irritation and pride ''reeeeeeally'' well. Spock, like the trope namer, is actually the crew member most prone to things like TenderTears (though as a HalfHumanHybrid who strongly identifies with his Vulcan side, he struggles more with this than a full-blooded Vulcan might).
* Data on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' often claims that he is incapable of emotion, which is a source of curiosity and debate among both the crew of the ship and the fans of the show. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E16TheOffspring The Offspring]]", in an instance of him telling Doctor Crusher that he was incapable of giving love to Lal, his child, she looks skeptical and says that she finds that hard to believe. Not long after, he expresses what appears to be a subdued form of anger at the idea of Admiral Haftel judging him to be an unfit parent while judging him by different standards from a human. By the end, even the Admiral who originally wanted to take the daughter away for study is convinced that they share an emotional connection. When he actually uses the chip that his creator made to give him emotions, he tends to behave rather poorly. In general, the series supports the idea that perhaps he already has something like emotions without it; he simply doesn't quite recognize them for what they are, because he doesn't experience them the way humans do and the only other android he's ever met is his EvilTwin Lore (who does have human-like emotions and is also a psychopath). For example, he cannot "miss" people, but his subroutines become used to the presence of certain persons and their absence can affect him.
-->'''Data:''' You know that I cannot grieve for you, sir.\\

* The Series 400 mechanoid Kryten from ''Series/RedDwarf'' subverts this trope. When the Inquisitor says that he must be the most selfless person on the ship, Kryten points out that he's simply been programmed that way, and that he could only be a truly 'good' person by developing his own values. Unfortunately the values Kryten most admires are the negative ones, like arrogance and lying -- in fact when Kryten does show emotion he tends to act like a complete JerkAss, such as his bitchiness towards Kristine Kochanski, and the time he started bullying Dave Lister because Kryten believed (incorrectly) that he was an inferior model of mechanoid.

** While Kyril really is TheStoic, he professes to have forgotten a specific feeling -- empathy. At the same time, he also regrets that [[YouAreTooLate he couldn't save anyone in Rad]].
--->''He had long since forgotten empathy, but he was human enough to feel regret that he could not save anyone.''

* In ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' [[spoiler:Heiwajima Kasuka's reason for becoming an actor in the Light Novels is because he wanted to feel the emotions that other people feel through his roles. Outside of that he doesn't actually feel emotion.]]

* Wolfgang Grimmer, from ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', seems to believe that the abusive experimentation he experienced as a child destroyed his emotions, to the point that he couldn't even [[spoiler:grieve at the death of his own son]]. Objectively, he's a FriendToAllChildren who gets ''really intense'' at any suggestion that they're being hurt and has a serious UnstoppableRage problem. He's pretty clearly one of the "out of touch" ones.

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* The TropeNamer from ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. Nick Chopper was an ordinary Munchkin woodcutter who was trying to earn enough money to run off with his fiancée and be a proper husband. Her family didn't approve of him, so they went to the Wicked Witch of the East and had her curse his axe. He ended up a cyborg when a tinsmith (who was likely working for the Witch) replaced his mutilated body parts with tin. His entire goal of getting a heart was to go back to his girlfriend. Of course, by the time he ''does'' find her, [[spoiler:not only does he find out that she was seeing another fellow on the side (who was cursed in the same way and acts as a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], as he's delighted to not have a heart any longer), she's married to a Frankenstein-style creation the tinsmith made from the parts of both suitors!]]

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* Data on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' often claimed he was incapable of emotion, which was a source of curiosity and debate among both the crew of the ship and the fans of the show. In an instance of him telling Doctor Crusher that he was incapable of giving love to Lal, his child, she looked skeptical and said she found that hard to believe. Not long after, he expressed what appeared to be a subdued form of anger at the idea of Admiral Haftel judging him to be an unfit parent while judging him by different standards from a human. By the end, even the Admiral who originally wanted to take the daughter away for study was convinced they shared an emotional connection. When he actually uses the chip that his creator made to give him emotions, he tends to behave rather poorly. In general, the series supports the idea that perhaps he already has something like emotions without it; he simply doesn't quite recognize them for what they are, because he doesn't experience them the way humans do and the only other android he's ever met is his EvilTwin Lore (who does have human-like emotions and is also a psychopath). For example, he cannot "miss" people, but his subroutines become used to the presence of certain persons and their absence can affect him.
--> '''Data:''' You know that I cannot grieve for you, sir.\\

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