Trope: A (usually male) geek/nerd who is constantly sick, but overexcited.
- Straight: Dexter is a dork with glasses who needs to carry a Nerdy Inhaler at all times.
- Exagerated: Dexter is one of the smartest kids on Earth and relies on an airtight bubble to get around in.
- Downplayed: Dexter is asthmatic, but it rarely if ever comes up.
- Justified: Part of the reason why he's such a nerd is because his condition kept him indoors a lot.
- Inverted: Dexter is Book Dumb and is the picture of perfect health.
- Subverted:
- Dexter has what looks like an asthma attack, but in reality, he's just regular sick.
- Dexter's mother was actually committing Munchausen By Proxy to keep him under her control.
- Double Subverted: ...he's later diagnosed with asthma when it turns out to be real.
- Parodied: Every participant at a Fan Convention has some kind of illness.
- Averted
- Dexter is a nerd, but is physically healthy.
- OR he's asthmatic, hypochondriac, etc., but has average intelligence at best
- Enforced: Nerds are mockable, sickly ones even more so.
- Lampshaded: "Dude, like when is Dexter not sick with something?!"
- Invoked: Bob and Charlie fake asthma symptoms when pretending to be nerds.
- Exploited: Butch takes away Dexter's inhaler to bully him.
- Defied: Dexter gets tired of the bullying he faces and becomes a Handicapped Badass and Genius Bruiser as an adult.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The other kids at school bully Dexter, not aware that his condition is difficult to live with and even potentially fatal. This causes Dexter to feel even more alienated because of his condition.
- Reconstructed: However, the kids eventually learn what Dexter has to go through and apologize in a Very Special Episode.
Back to Sickly Neurotic Geek
