Basic Trope: A character described as a loner is actually always with other characters.
- Straight: Jack, said to be a loner, is always shown hanging out with Tom, or Jill, or Sally, or —
- Exaggerated: Jack is always in the middle of the party.
- Downplayed: Jack has been referred to as a loner, but has one or two friends that he hangs out with occasionally.
- Justified:
- He's described so by other characters, and despite Infallible Babble, they're wrong.
- He's not there voluntarily. You can tell by his awkwardness.
- Jack calls himself a loner because he thinks it makes him cool.
- Inverted: Suzie is called gregarious and is always seen alone.
- Subverted:
- Jack, a loner, is always seen with other people, but the POV character only sees him for small parts of the day.
- He's always seen with other people, who are only paying attention to other people, never to Jack.
- It is Fantastic Racism on the part of the speakers - calling his friends not people.
- Double Subverted: Except that he's not alone the rest, either.
- Parodied: Jack growls out that he hates people, and wants to be as far away from socializing as possible... to his adoring fan club, Paid Harem, and a large group of assorted friends and family, who are all "ruining [his] loner image."
- Zig-Zagged: It looks like all the talk about Jack being a loner is just hype, he's having a birthday party! Which he threw as a joke, he's dying to get out. Except it's because he's so happy lots of people showed up, but he doesn't want anyone to see him cry.
- Averted:
- Jack is not described as a loner.
- Jack is seen alone.
- Enforced: The creators want to characterize Jack as a loner to make him edgier, but couldn't have him alone all the time because he needs other people to dump and/or hear exposition from.
- Lampshaded: "For a loner, you seem to have a lot of friends."
- Invoked: Jack spreads the rumor he's a loner to try and seem edgy and get a date.
- Exploited: Jack makes friends with the people pitying him for "being so lonely".
- Defied: No one ever calls Jack a loner because they don't want to make him seem cooler than he really is.
- Discussed: "So how's the asocial lifestyle treating you?" "Great! I get invited to a ton more parties now!"
- Conversed: "So is anyone who is called a loner actually asocial?"
- Deconstructed:
- Characters who describe others as loners are indulging in Malicious Slander out of spitefulness.
- Characters who call themselves loners are actually posing.
- Jack, a loner, loses his sanity and kills anyone who dares go within 10 feet of his personal space.
- Reconstructed: Jack is a Stepford Smiler, he may look and act sociable, but on the inside he feels completely alone.
Back to Informed Loner, and please check your fan club at the door.
