Unclear Description: I Work Alone

Ok, so basically I Work Alone is that a character expresses that he wants to work alone (regardless of whether he actually does so) and is primarily a character trait; Ineffectual Loner is a character who tries to work alone and turns out to be pretty bad at it, is related to The Complainer Is Always Wrong, and is primarily a plot trait; Informed Loner is when the narrator or the work itself states that a character is always alone, but these descriptions don't seem to match the visuals (e.g. he is always alone except when the story focuses on him), and is primarily an Informed Attribute.

Does that sum it up?

Well, that's my read on it.

Let's look at some "doesn't like to work with others" wicks to be sure:

• Cancer has trust issues and thus bears a tendency to do whatever she can and then some on her own. Even then, she expects cooperators to follow her whims and direction unquestioningly. This is presented as something of a character flaw that is both addressed and called out on. Acknowledged as a flaw - is this enough to be Ineffectual Loner?
• Angie, who constantly asserts that she doesn't need help or a partner. Not even when moving a sofa. To be fair, she tucks the sofa under one arm and casually walks off with it. Doesn't say whether or not she's taught teamwork, although moving the sofa by herself implies she doesn't need it.
• Mr. DJB speculates that the reason why he goes after Bernie on his own is because getting the rest of the force involved would lead to an investigation over all the stuff Hopkins stole. One-time thing, doesn't apply to this "character trait" definition.
• Raylan dislikes working with other people. While most of the time he doesn't need any help, he's often making his job a lot harder without backup - this reaches critical mass in the season 2 finale, where he survives two separate situations only because he had Boyd and the other Marshals following him in secret. He eventually grows out of it by Season 4 - he finally realizes that just having Rachel, Shelby, Tim or Bob stand next to him makes responding to unforeseen events much easier. Ineffectual Loner
• Sonic prefers to go it alone and do things his own way; thus, he repeatedly refuses Amy's attempts to get him to rejoin the Resistance. Character trait
• Nikita's policy for the last three years has been to turn away or otherwise get rid of all parters assigned to her, as she much prefers to work alone. Robin is yet another attempt by her mother to accept a patner Character trait

I do wonder if that definition skirts too close to Aloof Ally...

Edited by Synchronicity on Dec 15th 2020 at 5:23:57 AM

My impression of Aloof Ally was that it is about their attitude towards those they work with. So a character who is working with others but is unfriendly and dismissive towards them would qualify.

Clock is ticking!

It appears we've these options:

• Disambiguate I Work Alone between (at least) Aloof Ally, Informed Loner, Leave Me Alone!, and Ineffectual Loner. (Maybe also The Hermit but I maintain it has very little to do with this trope.)
• Define I Work Alone as a character who prefers to work by themselves or refuses to work with others, regardless if they actually do end up working with others.

Anything else?

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 17th 2021 at 1:54:11 PM

Nope.

Sounds good to me.

Crowner.

Attached it.

Since we got an active crowner, clock's shut off.

I think we have consensus.

Preliminary description up at Sandbox.I Work Alone.

Looks good

Clock expired; closing.

~Synchronicity asked whether this can be completed still in the metathread, so reopening and moving back to TRS.

Thanks, Septimus. I'm in the process of sorting on-page examples onto the sandbox. I expect to finish that over the weekend.

Two weeks late, but Sandbox.I Work Alone is ready for review.

But TBH, I don't think I have any enthusiasm for cleaning this one.

Looks good to me. Covers a variety of portrayals.

I think it looks good.

Sandbox swapped in to main page.

Looking at the wicks, I don't think wick cleaning is super necessary for this one, since many of the wicks are "character doesn't like to/refuses to work with others".

Edited by Synchronicity on Apr 11th 2021 at 10:31:28 AM