Basic Trope: A cynical character who is nevertheless obstinately good.
- Straight:
- Alice is an experienced police detective who honestly expects most of her cases to end in tragedy... but not for lack of trying.
- Alice is punished every single time she tries to do something good. Despite her worldview, she still does what’s right to better humanity.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is an Iron Woobie who is constantly undermined by those around her.
- Alice is a borderline nihilistic Misanthrope Supreme who can't go a single episode without making a speech about how Humans Are Bastards, and yet, the moment she sees a Bus Full of Innocents she is the first to try and save them through a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Alice is a Determined Defeatist who always goes on about everything she does will end in failure and tragedy, but she still tries to do the right thing because in her head "trying and failing is better than not trying at all".
- Downplayed: Alice is sarcastic but not particularly pessimistic.
- Justified:
- Most of her cases have been long-dead or badly prosecuted.
- As a cop Alice has witnessed Police Brutality and racial profiling, dealt with scumbag murderers and rapists, and on top that people hate her and assume she's a Corrupt Cop just because she's a cop.
- Alice might think she lives in a Crapsack World, but also thinks that being Good Feels Good even though it might suck from time to time.
- Alice might be cynical and think things will turn out for the worst, but she knows that there's still a chance that she's wrong and something good might happen.
- Alice isn't fond of the state of the world, but that's all the more reason not to take it lying down, even if nobody else gives a shit.
- Inverted: Alice is an up-and-running villain filled with idealistic zeal of how easily she's going to Take Over the World.
- Subverted: The Reveal is that Alice is actually a Dirty Cop.
- Double Subverted:
- ...except she was framed.
- But that was in the past and she is trying to make up for it.
- ...and so is everyone else. It's more suspicious if you aren't. Alice's bribes are voluntary payments from people grateful she actually did her job.
- Parodied:
- Alice is continually ranting about how Being Good Sucks and Humans Are Bastards, while at the same time stepping in to save every person she can and screwing the rules and the money to do what she thinks is right.
- Alice is constantly going on these rants while doing heroic deeds.
- Alice is The Cynic in a Sugar Bowl.
- Alice is continually ranting about how Being Good Sucks and Humans Are Bastards, while at the same time stepping in to save every person she can and screwing the rules and the money to do what she thinks is right.
- Zig Zagged: The framing was actually a lie fabricated by Alice in order to hide what's Beneath the Mask. Which, in itself, was a lie to preserve her cover.
- Averted:
- Alice is heroic, cheerful, and optimistic.
- Alice is so cynical that she doesn't bother to fight on.
- Enforced:
- True Art Is Angsty.
- "The world can suck at times, People need a hero who realizes this and fights on regardless."
- Lampshaded: "Why do you fight so hard if you know you're just going to lose?" "Things are bad enough already. I'm not letting them get worse."
- Invoked: "I Gave My Word."
- Exploited: Alice is assigned the case because the criminals are more likely to mistake her for someone who can be bribed.
- Defied:
- Whenever depression threatens, Alice remembers all the cases she closed successfully.
- "Screw This, I'm Outta Here Those irritating optimists are better suited for this job!"
- Discussed: "Let me tell you right now — I would rather have Det. Lime investigating my murder than any wet-behind-the-ears Wide-Eyed Idealist who thinks every criminal is always caught."
- Conversed: "You know, for a character as cynical as Det. Lime, she seems to be awfully heroic."
- Implied: Alice goes into a rant about how the world is a Crapsack World. When someone asks her why she fights, Alice gives them a meaningful look, but we don't see what she said.
- Deconstructed:
- Remaining obstinately Good Feels Good, causing her cynicism to slowly ebb away into a more idealistic mindset.
- Alternatively, she continues to protect a Crapsack World, not because it's the right thing to do, but because she's a Blood Knight who thrives on conflict.
- Alice's cynicism drives more idealistic folk away from her due to being excessively bitter whilst other cynics scorn her for futilely trying to help people.
- Whilst Alice still tries to do good in spite of her cynicism, the people around her don't, in no small part due to her bitterness rubbing off to them. They either cross the Despair Event Horizon and quit (one way or the other), double down on their methods for fighting evil and become Knight Templars, or outright join the villains so that they'll at least be on the winning side.
- Reconstructed:
- While she enjoys the warm fuzzies from fighting the good fight, she still goes into every case without expectations.
- ... Not that this is stops her from fighting anyway. She didn't become a "good guy" because she thought she was on the winning side, she became one because she does what is right.
- Played For Drama:
- Alice gets her ideas thrown back in her face by a Knight Templar or Fallen Hero who shares the same cynical beliefs as she does, forcing her to confront her own ideas and see how her attitude could create the same problems she despises.
- Bob confronts Alice about this and comes to a conclusion of his own: that Alice continues on not because she genuinely wants to do good in the world but because she's hopelessly addicted to it. Fighting is what gives her purpose and she's afraid to admit it to herself.
- Played For Laughs: Alice lives in a Sugar Bowl and her attitude is comically unjustified. She's still working with the heroes, but they can't help but roll their eyes at her ill-founded cynicism.
The Knight in Sour Armor is over here, ya goof... why do I even bother sometimes (mutter mutter)...