Basic Trope: A character given to wry, sarcastic, or excessively dry humor, usually in the form of snide commentary or an occasional aside.
- Straight: Alice, Brave Bob's loyal girlfriend, continually makes witty and ironic comments on what he does, using gentle and usually affectionate sarcasm.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice speaks only in snarky commentary on Bob, on the universe, on passing cars, on what she had for breakfast that morning...
- Everyone is sarcastic and snarky... even those who can't or won't speak!
- The Snark Knight
- Downplayed:
- Alice's dry remarks are few and far between.
- Alice only snarks at people who are willing to snark back at her.
- Justified:
- Alice has a very dry wit, and Bob's moronic antics give her plenty of opportunities to display it.
- Alice is British.
- Inverted:
- Alice is Sarcasm-Blind.
- Alice Cannot Convey Sarcasm.
- Alternatively: Alice is unrelentingly sincere 24/7.
- Subverted: Alice makes a witty comment... then can't keep from laughing at her own joke.
- Double Subverted:
- She was actually laughing at someone else.
- Alice's raucous laughter ends up being another piece of sarcasm as well.
- Parodied: The character sprays acerbic wit all over everything - we do mean everything - and everyone loves it because it's funny.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes they snark, sometimes they don't.
- Averted: Characters mean what they say most of the time.
- Enforced:
- "This is a show full of idiots, and one smart, annoyed person".
- "This character's kind of a jerk, so let's reinforce that image".
- "...This is a show about making fun of people. Apparently, you were expecting Sesame Street".
- This kind of comedy and all related tropes (such as Casual Danger Dialogue) have become the new hotness in heroic characterization (Truth in Television with the spikes in The '80s and The New '10s post-The Avengers (2012)) so the writers are following the leader.
- Lampshaded: "Ooh, yay. Another dipshit that thinks he's Mike and this is Mystery Science Theater 3000."
- Invoked: "I want to be the sort of person who always has something witty to say".
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- "I should be sincere so people don't think I'm a Jerkass".
- Jane smacks Alice to stun her, shoves her against a wall and puts a gun in her mouth before thumbing back the hammer "I believe this makes perfectly clear my very low tolerance for people talking bullshit, don't you think?"
- "I don't see anything useful in talking constantly like I was in a Joss Whedon script, so I won't. By the way, look up that jerk's story on Wikipedia — do you wanna sound like something he wrote?"
- "Jokes are only funny when people know, at some point, that you're joking. You keep talking like that and people are going to think you actually mean that garbage."
- Discussed: "Alice always has something snarky to say".
- Conversed: "There's always someone on a show like that to snark at the antics of everyone around her".
- Deconstructed:
- Alice being an asshole drives everyone else away from them, and she feels the burn.
- Bob puts a bullet through Alice's head from her latest quip.
- No one can ever tell whether Alice is being snarky or sincere because she uses the same tone of voice for both, leading to serious misunderstandings.
- Jim is Sarcasm-Blind and it leads to quite a lot of tragedy between him and Alice.
- Using this type of voice, language and mannerisms when trying to make a point unfortunately places her in "too much Jerkass, not enough of a point" territory. The lesson here being "there is a time and place for satire”, and Alice learns it the hard way.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice don't care that they're driving everyone away, or thrive on it.
- Alice is a Knight in Sour Armor; their fundamental decency keeps their friendships intact despite the barbed quips.
- Bob pulls a gun out on Alice, who shoots him dead with her concealed gun and lets out one last quip over his dead body.
- Alice uses her snarky reputation to pass genuine, sensitive information off as another of her quips.
- Alice decides to never be sarcastic to Jim, knowing that she has literally all of the other fish in the sea to be rude to.
- Again, there is a time and a place for satire. When Alice decides reserve her snark to little moments that break the ice spread throughout her exposition instead of sneering through the whole damned thing, the point she tries to bring is better accepted.
- Played For Humor: Alice is the comedy sidekick and Genre Savvy Only Sane Man of the ensemble, constantly pointing out the suicidal stupidity of everybody else's Genre Blindness (which may or may not be contractually obligated, for further humor).
- Played For Drama:
- Alice is hiding a deep inner hurt, and uses sarcasm because she's afraid to get close to people after her grandmother died.
- Alice's girlfriend Janet, the Action Survivor part of the Action Duo, finally has had it after one quip too many from Alice (maybe said after killing one goon too many): "Would it kill ya to CUT IT OUT with the FUCKING INSULTS already!?" Alice’s answer will either be an explanation of how she is a Sad Clown, a deadpan response that will make Janet swear they are through (for a while) and/or Alice having a short moment of horrified silence.
- Played For Horror: Alice is The Sociopath and her belligerent, allegedly humorous answers to everything are a warning sign nobody picks up on until it's too late.
Deadpan Snarker: A link for the people who have evolved past the much-too-difficult practice of "clicking the back button on their browser".
