History Characters / TheBigBangTheorySheldonCooper

* SmugSnake: Very smug about his genius-level intelligence. He sometimes talks about himself as a new and improved human. Ironically he can often live up to his claims, its purely down to his ego that he fails. Indeed, many f the problems he encounters could be avoided if he wasn't so arrogant. A good example is "The Excelsior Acquisition", where he tries to fight a traffic violation on principle when a scene just before he finds out about his summons establishes he has several thousand dollars in uncashed paychecks.

-->'''Leonard:''' Sheldon, not everything is about you.\\

* BerserkButton: He has numerous examples:
** Perhaps it would be best to begin with an in-universe listing...
--->'''Raj:''' What did you do? Did you change the contrast or brightness settings on the television?\\
'''Leonard:''' No.\\
'''Raj:''' Did you take a Band-Aid off in front of him?\\
'''Leonard:''' No.\\
'''Howard:''' Did you buy generic ketchup, forget to rinse the sink, talk to him through the bathroom door?\\
'''Raj:''' Adjust the thermostat, cook with cilantro, pronounce the T in often?\\
'''Leonard:''' No!\\
''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Howard:''' ... Did you ''make fun of trains?''
** Don't mention Creator/WilWheaton around Sheldon, unless you want a "WHEEEEEAAAATOOOOOONNN!" that would make [[BigWordShout Shatner proud]]. (They made up at the end of "The Russian Rocket Reaction" and are now good friends -- according to Sheldon, anyways). Unfortunately, Creator/BrentSpiner then inadvertently replaces Creator/WilWheaton on Sheldon's Mortal Enemy list.
** Don't sit in Sheldon's spot on the couch. You will regret it.
** He also loathes being lied to, as it has caused some serious friction between some of his friends.
** While Sheldon is almost fine with cheap shots aimed at his mother, ''do not insult his Meemaw.'' (Grandmother)
** Being let down by his friends, but ''especially'' Leonard, is another one. After Kripke humiliated him on NPR, his misery is compounded when he finds out Leonard laughed.
** Sheldon usually doesn't resort to physical violence, but question the legitimacy of his work and back up your claims with tangible proofs and all bets are off!
** The following exchange:
--->'''Sheldon:''' You want me to share credit?\\
'''Scientist:''' Yes.\\
'''Sheldon:''' [[GetOut GET OUT.]]
** A minor example, but only his mother and sister are allowed to call him "Shelly". Also, only his "Meemaw" is allowed to call him "Moon Pie."
** Amy is a new one -- Sheldon actually physically assaulted Leonard (via a somewhat weak karate chop to the back of the neck) when he felt that Leonard might have been considering a rebound with her and firmly saying Amy's off-limits. He also hit Bert in the face when he insulted Amy, hard enough to where he needed his hand bandaged afterward (although Sheldon remarked how he wasn't even sure Bert realized he was trying to physically assault him).

* BreakTheHaughty: His inflated sense of entitlement and superiority often end up putting him through a thorough HumiliationConga. Subverted in that he never loses his arrogance, no matter how hard he may have been humiliated. He actually faints when Dr. Stephen Hawkings points out a small mathematical error in the paper Sheldon gave him. Played within the series finale when even AMY admits Sheldon is very hard to deal with at times. He takes it to heart and thanks his friends in his Nobel acceptance speech. Whether or not the lesson will stick with him this time is up for debate.

* HollywoodNerd: A tall, svelte attractive man who is noted by his girlfriend as looking like "sex on a stick" when he gets a more flattering haircut.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Has these moments not only with Amy, but with all of his friends and family. After an episode focusing on his {{Jerkass}} tendencies, he almost always has at least one PetTheDog moment to show that he cares for them. Even despite his SiblingYinYang with Missy, she admits at the end that she's very proud of him, and tells all of her friends that her brother's a rocket scientist. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Naturally, Sheldon gets upset at the "rocket scientist" bit, but still]]. [[spoiler:For all the bickering he does with Leonard throughout the series, we find out in ''Young Sheldon'' that he names his eldest son after him.]]

* {{Pride}}: A lot of the problems he encounters could be avoided if he wasn't so arrogant and proud. A good example is "The Excelsior Acquisition", where he tries to fight a traffic violation on principle when a scene just before he finds out about his summons establishes he has several thousand dollars in uncashed paychecks.

* SmugSnake: Very smug about his genius-level intelligence. He sometimes talks about himself as a new and improved human. Ironically he can often live up to his claims, its purely down to his ego that he fails.

** In "The Itchy Brain Simulation", he goes from a merely annoying InnocentlyInsensitive {{Jerkass}} to an EvilGenius MagnificentBastard.

** It's completely [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] with respect to Georgie. When he appears in Season 11, he turns out to run an extremely successful tire business, and it's also revealed that he stepped up to help run the Cooper household when their father died and their mother fell into depression over it. Given Sheldon's [[ItsAllAboutMe particular]] [[InsufferableGenius eccentricities]], Georgie ends up looking like the Responsible sibling between the two and is arguably richer, more successful, and certainly better adjusted to the world.

* HeroicSacrifice: Not a lethal one, but during a paintball war his comrades (Leonard, Howard, and Raj) lack the enthusiasm due to prior events, and don't really want to fight. Sheldon decides to walk outside, into the open, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick claim that geology]] [[TakeThat isn’t real science]], and take several shots to motivate them into fighting, resulting in victory. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Complete with slow-motion]] and a ''Film/{{Platoon}}''-style [[ShoutOut "death"]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Sheldon is probably the most unusual case for this trope. While he is very intelligent, he has been known to be a real nuisance to his friends, by trying to take all charge for Leonard's app idea, trying to sabotage them after they kick him out, staying at Raj and Howard's houses and keeping them up, never accepting gifts from others, kicking Raj out of his apartment due to regulations, and so on. He also forces the others to obey his ridiculously rigid schedules to the point of trying to control them and belittles his friends (especially Howard for daring to be an engineer). This is also explained well by Bernadette:
-->'''Bernadette:''' He doesn't understand when he's being mean because that part of his brain is getting a wedgie from the rest of his brain.

--->'''Sheldon:''' [[DisappearedDad When I lost my own father]] [[FriendlessBackground I didn't have any friends to help me through it]]. [[YouAreNotAlone You do.]]\\

* BerserkButton: He has numerous examples:
** Perhaps it would be best to begin with an in-universe listing...
--->'''Raj:''' What did you do? Did you change the contrast or brightness settings on the television?\\
'''Leonard:''' No.\\
'''Raj:''' Did you take a Band-Aid off in front of him?\\
'''Leonard:''' No.\\
'''Howard:''' Did you buy generic ketchup, forget to rinse the sink, talk to him through the bathroom door?\\
'''Raj:''' Adjust the thermostat, cook with cilantro, pronounce the T in often?\\
'''Leonard:''' No!\\
''[{{beat}}]''\\
'''Howard:''' ... Did you ''make fun of trains?''
** Don't mention Creator/WilWheaton around Sheldon, unless you want a "WHEEEEEAAAATOOOOOONNN!" that would make [[BigWordShout Shatner proud]]. (They made up at the end of "The Russian Rocket Reaction" and are now good friends -- according to Sheldon, anyways). Unfortunately, Creator/BrentSpiner then inadvertently replaces Creator/WilWheaton on Sheldon's Mortal Enemy list.
** Don't sit in Sheldon's spot on the couch. You will regret it.
** He also loathes being lied to, as it has caused some serious friction between some of his friends.
** While Sheldon is almost fine with cheap shots aimed at his mother, ''do not insult his Meemaw.'' (Grandmother)
** Being let down by his friends, but ''especially'' Leonard, is another one. After Kripke humiliated him on NPR, his misery is compounded when he finds out Leonard laughed.
** Sheldon usually doesn't resort to physical violence, but question the legitimacy of his work and back up your claims with tangible proofs and all bets are off!
** The following exchange:
--->'''Sheldon:''' You want me to share credit?\\
'''Scientist:''' Yes.\\
'''Sheldon:''' [[GetOut GET OUT.]]
** A minor example, but only his mother and sister are allowed to call him "Shelly". Also, only his "Meemaw" is allowed to call him "Moon Pie."
** Amy is a new one -- Sheldon actually physically assaulted Leonard (via a somewhat weak karate chop to the back of the neck) when he felt that Leonard might have been considering a rebound with her and firmly saying Amy's off-limits. He also hit Bert in the face when he insulted Amy, hard enough to where he needed his hand bandaged afterward (although Sheldon remarked how he wasn't even sure Bert realized he was trying to physically assault him).

* StaticCharacter: Justified; he [[InvokedTrope makes an active effort]] not to change himself. Also subverted since he has gradually changed over time, becoming more sociable, compassionate and understanding, making him one of the characters who changed the most by the end of the series.

** In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon intentionally tried to ruin Howard’s chance to work on something he really wanted to work using a series of petty reasons that no one but him cared about, only to accidentally let slip that Howard got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch. While this is an highly jerkass thing to do, especially given his reaction in The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation (S3E1), it doesn’t change the fact that Howard let a random girl into a secure area to pilot the Mars Rover, which eventually ended with her crashing it in a ditch, all in a vain attempt to get laid, then destroyed the evidence of it to cover his own ass. Even if it was something Howard really, really wanted to do, it still doesn't change the fact that he really, really didn't deserve the clearance because of that.
** In "The Lunar Excitation" when Zack question how the guys know their laser project won't blow up the moon, Leonard states that is an excellent question to which Sheldon quickly points out that it is not. Penny then tells Sheldon to play nice, but Sheldon states that it is not and proceeds to ask why someone would possibly think that they are going to blow up the moon, stating that ''that'' is an excellent question. Jerk though he may be, Sheldon was well within he rights to chastise Zack for asking such a stupid and ridiculous question.
* JerkassToOne: A "Crueler to One" example. Sheldon is an insufferable know-it-all who likes to belittle people for not being as intelligent as him. Howard gets the worst of it due to him possessing a Master's Degree (Sheldon once referred to it as a "trade school diploma") instead of a PhD like Sheldon, Raj and Leonard.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sheldon tends to lapse into this when he veers away from physics and into the life sciences. Sheldon acts like he knows United States history when he doesn't. He tries to convince Leonard that he should be a history professor instead of a physicist by testing whether Leonard knows that slavery in the United States ended in 1863. It didn't. At the Renaissance Fair, when he complains about the historical inaccuracies, but doesn't realize Leonard's knight costume is at least 200 years out of date. His "defense" to a charge of running a red light in "The Excelsior Acquisition" shows he knows absolutely ''nothing'' about the law, as well. On similar lines, his beloved Roommate Agreement is full of loopholes, and doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of a legal professional. Many of his beloved factoids, when outside the sciences, are actually common misconceptions: The Romans did ''not'' sow over Carthage with salt, for instance, as any archaeology undergrad could have told him. Even worse, sometimes he fails at ''science''. For example, when Amy is sick, and Sheldon wants to help her, he asks if she believes in the placebo effect, then shows the placebo - but the placebo effect only works if you believe the placebo actually is medicine. However, this is often be a result of DependingOnTheWriter, sometimes he is presented as being as smart as he thinks he is (or at least knowledgeable in a broad range of areas). The Rule (following the RuleOfFunny) often seems to be that he only slips into this whenever it would actually benefit him not to.

'''Penny:''' ''[sobbing]'' [[LampshadeHanging I really thought he was going to say “Let it go”]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:

* UnclePennybags: Surprisingly -- Sheldon's lifestyle is very low-budget and he saves his money, to the point he feels perfectly comfortable giving Penny enough money to both pay her rent and fix her car when it breaks down. Despite her assumption that Sheldon's obsessive tendencies would lead him to hound her, it turns out that he's incredibly lax when it comes to lending his money. He only lends money he believes he doesn't need in the first place, and honestly doesn't care ''when'' it's paid back, as long as it ''eventually'' is.

* UnskilledButStrong: In an intellectual sense. He's exceptionally bright, but has nearly zero technical/people/organizational skills and his default approach to problem-solving is to just stare at his whiteboard until a solution comes to him.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Sheldon's self-centered egotism and condescending behavior is the source of conflict for any given episode, even just by being sick and asking for help (his obnoxious neediness at that stage is dreaded by everyone).

* WhiteSheep: He likes to see himself as this, demeaning everything from Texas, including his family, as backwards morons who don't appreciate his genius. He even wrote a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' FanFiction about him being taken away from his family to the future. The truth is more complex, his family was middle class and had to dedicate a lot of their time and resources to Sheldon's education, who was already difficult to deal with. Both his siblings resent him to different degrees because of being OvershadowedByAwesome, their own modest accomplishments seem insignificant to Sheldon's genius.

* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Played with. While such a speech is usually one of great wisdom made by someone who isn't all that educated or book smart, it can't be said that Sheldon is either of those things. But he ''is'' very socially inept. So it comes as a surprise at times when Sheldon has rare gems of social wisdom (albeit wrapped in SesquipedalianLoquaciousness) that give Leonard new insights he couldn't see before.

* {{Geek}}/{{Nerd}}: His life is almost exclusively devoted to the huge interests of science, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and video games.

* {{Geek}}: His life is almost exclusively devoted to the huge interests of science, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and video games.

* {{Nerd}}: His life is almost exclusively devoted to the nerdy interests of science, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and video games.

* {{Nerd}}: His life is almost exclusively devoted to the nerdy interests of science, science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and videogames, much to Amy's chagrin.

** In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon intentionally tried to ruin Howard’s chance to work on something he really wanted to work using a series of petty reasons that no one but him cared about. Only to accidentally let slip that Howard got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch. While this is an highly jerkass thing to do, especially given his reaction in The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation (S3E1), it doesn’t change the fact that Howard let a random girl into a secure area to pilot the Mars Rover, which eventually ended with her crashing it in a ditch, all in a vain attempt to get laid, then destroyed the evidence of it to cover his own ass. Even if it was something Howard really, really wanted to do, it still doesn't change the fact that he really, really didn't deserve the clearance because of that.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Sheldon tends to lapse into this when he veers away from physics and into the life sciences. Sheldon acts like he knows United States history when he doesn't. He tries to convince Leonard that he should be a history professor instead of a physicist by testing whether Leonard knows that slavery in the United States ended in 1863. It didn't. At the Renaissance Fair, when he complains about the historical inaccuracies, but doesn't realize Leonard's knight costume is at least 200 years out of date. His "defense" to a charge of running a red light in "The Excelsior Acquisition" shows he knows absolutely ''nothing'' about the law, as well. On similar lines, his beloved Roommate Agreement is full of loopholes, and doesn't stand up to the scrutiny of a legal professional. Many of his beloved factoids, when outside the sciences, are actually common misconceptions: The Romans did ''not'' sow over Carthage with salt, for instance, as any archaeology undergrad could have told him. Even worse, sometimes he fails at ''science''. For example, when Amy is sick, and Sheldon wants to help her, he asks if she believes in the placebo effect, then shows the placebo - but the placebo effect only works if you believe the placebo actually is medicine. However, this is often a case of DependingOnTheWriter, sometimes he is presented as being as smart as he thinks he is (or at least knowledgeable in a broad range of areas). The Rule (following the RuleOfFunny) often seems to be that he only slips into this whenever it would actually benefit him not to.

* LimitedWardrobe: Almost always wears short-sleeved t-shirts with a longer shirt underneath, rolled up to the elbows. Superhero t-shirts are the most common, Franchise/GreenLantern (or a symbol of one of the other Lantern Corps) and Franchise/TheFlash especially. This leads to a rather amusing variation of CharacterizationMarchesOn, as in [[http://the-big-bang-theory.com/gallery/picture/274/ one early episode]] he follows the general pattern, but it's far removed from what he was later known for.[[note]]Interestingly enough, the color combination is that of classic Silver Age Lex Luthor's power armor, so maybe they went for the "evil genius" look.[[/note]]

* ManChild: While all the characters indulge themselves in childish things, Sheldon insists that ''someone'' take care of him the way his mother would when he's sick (or even just ''home''sick), locks himself in his bedroom where no one else is allowed when he's furious, curls up into a crying ball of sad on his bed when he's embarrassed, runs away from home when he's upset, is practically traumatized by the sound of people arguing[[note]]Although this one may be perfectly justified, as his parents often got into arguments when he was a child and it is also implied that a lot of the arguments were exceedingly violent (he mentioned that his father would start throwing plates and shattering them in the kitchen, and that his mom planned to place glass shards in his father's meatloaf), even when they said to Sheldon that they stopped fighting[[/note]], and is stubborn and petty beyond all reason. The only thing on this planet that can force him to behave rationally when he's angry or depressed is an order from his mother, whom Leonard calls "Sheldon's Kryptonite". He also responds positively to being patronized by Penny, especially if he gets a toy robot and a comic book out of it. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Bernadette at one point, after she successfully got him to go to bed by first reasoning with him about the effects of lack of sleep, and then simply treating him like an overgrown child and sending him to bed.

** Constantly makes fun of Penny for being born in Nebraska when he himself is from [[SouthernFriedGenius East Texas]].

** Is an opportunistic show-off when it comes to intellect, but in "The Jerusalem Duality" when Dennis arrived, Sheldon does not take well to being replaced by a 15-year old North Korean teenager as the smartest scientist in [=CalTech=]. If Sheldon were to follow his own words he would have bowed to Dennis and not shooed him to go away.

* InnocentBlueEyes: He has large, expressive blue eyes. They may or may not be a physical manifestation of how clueless he is when it comes to social interaction, despite his intellectual brilliance.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Even when he's trying not to be an InsufferableGenius (usually at the request of one of the other guys), he has a problem of insulting people anyway without realizing it. It's debatable whether or not he realizes how insufferable he really is. Much of his innocent insensitivity stems less from his arrogance and overbearing manner than his total ignorance of social conventions. For example, in one conversation with Penny, he asks her where she currently is on her menstrual cycle. He doesn't understand why it's inappropriate.

** In "The Apology Insufficiency", Sheldon intentionally tried to ruin Howard’s chance to work on something he really wanted to work using a series of petty reasons that no one but him cared about. Only to accidentally let slip that Howard got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch. While this is an incredibly jerkass thing to do, especially given his reaction in The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation, it doesn’t change the fact that Howard let a girl into a secure area to pilot the Mars Rover, which eventually ended with her crashing it in a ditch, all in a vain attempt to get laid, then destroyed the evidence of it to cover his own ass. Even if it was something Howard really, really wanted to do, it still doesn't change the fact that he really, really didn't deserve the clearance because of that.
** In "The Lunar Excitation" when Zack question how the guys know their laser project won't blow up the moon, Leonard states that is an excellent question to which Sheldon quickly points out that it is not. Penny then tells Sheldon to play nice, but Sheldon states that it is not and proceeds to ask how someone could possibly think that they are going to blow up the moon, stating that that is an excellent question. Jerk though he may be, Sheldon was well within he rights to chastise Zack for asking such a stupid and ridiculous question.

* TheGrinch: Sheldon hates Christmas, claiming it's a knockoff of the pagan celebration of Saturnalia, bemoaning being forced to participate by his zealously religious mother as a child, etc., all to the annoyance of Leonard, who just wants some Christmas cheer because ''he'' was forced to write papers by his family on Christmas. It all comes to a head during a Christmas themed game of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' where Sheldon leaves Santa (whom they were supposed to be saving) to die, ruining the game and Christmas spirit for all involved. He declares that the real reason he hates Christmas is that Santa never granted him his wish of bringing his "Pop-Pop" (grandfather, and the only family member to encourage his interest in science) back as a kid.

* HeroicSacrifice: Not a lethal one, but during a paintball war his comrades (Leonard, Howard, and Raj) have no enthusiasm due to prior events, and don't really want to fight. Sheldon proceeds to walk outside, into the open, and take several shots to motivate them into fighting, resulting in victory. [[MundaneMadeAwesome Complete with slow-motion]] and a ''Film/{{Platoon}}''-style [[ShoutOut "death"]].
* HiddenDepths: Sheldon proves to be surprisingly understanding and helpful when hearing about his friends' love problems. He also knows a lot about football, though it's only because his father always made him watch the games as a child, rather than out of his own interest; plus he grew up in Texas, where he mentions that football is inescapable there. Also thanks to his father he is apparently a crack shot with both a bow and a gun. Due to his upbringing, he is also a skilled ballroom dancer and archer. At times, he seems to know more than the other guys about proper social interaction, but his knowledge is shallow and he's ''very'' poor at applying it to real-life situations.

* HollywoodAutism: He's not officially diagnosed as Autistic but he's somewhere on the spectrum. Sheldon is a savant with science, literal-minded, possesses child-like qualities, had zero interest in sex or relationships, had an odd fascination with trains and is generally disliked by the others for his [[InsufferableGenius behaviour]]. Prior to meeting Leonard and Penny, Sheldon was socially impaired until he matured and eventually married Amy.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Choleric. He insists on taking decisions for the group, making him the de facto leader, he is devoted to his work, he is a goal-oriented person (who will go to any lengths to achieve said goals), he is typically overconfident, passionate for the things he cares about. He also has the flaws of the type such as being overly Bossy, needlessly stubborn, vindictive, insufferably arrogant, insensitive to the feelings of others, and rude to other people

** The real reason Sheldon hates geology is revealed on ''Series/YoungSheldon'': [[spoiler:it's because it reminds him of his break with childhood friend Libby, who was a big geology fan, and even got Sheldon and Tam hooked up on it for a while (although Tam was actually more hooked up on Libby). Sheldon broke up with Libby because he disliked when he knew she was a babysitter, wanting to seem a more mature boy, which she told to him and Mary Cooper when Libby and Mary were getting acquainted before she took Sheldon and Tam by car to Houston to watch an IMAX movie, while Libby broke up with Tam because he [[CasanovaWannabe tried to hit on her]] while they were watching the movie without Sheldon, since he ended up not going, and she did not like it.]]
** ''Young Sheldon'' also reveals the real source of his disdain towards engineering, which he takes out on Howard. [[spoiler:He had a very strict professor for an engineering class that constantly rejected and tore up his work for being wrong, and unlike his other professors he would not help him by telling him what he was doing wrong. When Sheldon finally figured it out he arrived late to class and was locked out, with him declaring he hates engineering.]]
** Paige having [[spoiler:fooled him into [[FaceDoodling drawing a moustache on his lip]] while he thought they were kissing]] in "A Second Prodigy and the Hottest Tips for Pouty Lips" and [[spoiler:punched him hard in the face]] in "Bible Camp and a Chariot Of Love" [[spoiler:soured Sheldon from love for a long time, until he met Amy]].

** There's also the episode where Sheldon runs away and leaves a goodbye video addressed to [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg "three friends and one acquaintance."]] The end of the episode reveals that the "acquaintance" is Howard.

** In ''Young Sheldon'', he once caused a fuss because a company began to produce his favorite bread cheaply to save money. He began to protest and start petitions to make it better, but when he ended up on the news he ended up accidentally implying that he supports Communism when describing how bread should be produced, not realizing what this actually meant beyond "it will get good bread again". He spends the rest of the episode acting like his bread is the main focus of discussion, not understanding what he has just done to his family or how they are suffering because of it.
** His breakup with Amy was caused because even after five years together he was more focused on his tv shows than her, and when he continuously bugs her about getting back together, to the point of openly insulting her, he just makes her madder until she officially breaks up with him.

* EntitledBastard: He always expects his friends to always be there for him and forgive him no matter how much he mistreats and belittles them. When Leonard doesn't invite him to Switzerland to see the Super Collider, he unfairly gets mad at him and wrongly blames Penny even though his poor treatment of Leonard is the reason why he wasn't invited in the first place.

* {{Foil}}: Primarily for Leonard, but can be this for Raj and Howard. Many of his nerdy interests and behavior can be seen as somewhat of an extreme version of the other three. While nowhere near as intolerable as Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard do show a sense of neediness that can irritate other characters.

** It's ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] with respect to Georgie. When he appears in Season 11, he turns out to run an extremely successful tire business, and it's also revealed that he stepped up to help run the Cooper household when their father died and their mother fell into depression over it. Given Sheldon's [[ItsAllAboutMe particular]] [[InsufferableGenius eccentricities]], Georgie ends up looking like the Responsible sibling between the two and is arguably richer, more successful, and certainly better adjusted to the world.
* ForScience: The only reason he gives for putting ground-up moths into Leonard's food, claiming it was to determine at what concentration food begins to start tasting "mothy".

* ChildHater: Sheldon is very much this, which probably stems from having been bullied so much as a child. When he tries to do a shooting for the Professor Proton show reboot, he instead ends up talking about a dangerous experiment, very complicated math and he doesn't even know how to talk to little kids due to his social awkwardness. After seeing the video, Leonard points out that he should stop showing his contempt for children. Sheldon even states that he doesn't like kids when Howard offers an invitation to his daughter Halley's first birthday party.
** [[spoiler:In season 12, Amy manipulates him into developing an interest in kids in order to convince him to eventually have children with her. It works, and Sheldon decides that he wants kids with her... fifteen of them (Amy makes it clear she only wants two). In ''Young Sheldon'', a narration by the adult Sheldon reveals that he and Amy do indeed end up having children together.]]
* ChildProdigy: While he definitely was, attending college at 11 and getting his first of two Ph.Ds at age 16, it's possible he's a deconstruction of the concept. His intelligence vastly alienated him from his family, gave him a big ego, made him highly neurotic and socially inept, and though it may or may not be related to his childhood brilliance he's also something of a man-child. He has a journal record of his attempts at potty-training, from the journal itself "April 18 -- This is humiliating, what was wrong with diapers?"

* ClockKing: Sheldon is obsessed with scheduling everything, planning things, has his daily schedule planned out and memorizes and tries to plan other people's schedules. He even unironically considers things related to planning, order, schedules, rules, and organizing a joyous experience. He even one mistook Howard and Bernadette talking about spending all day at the zoning office for bragging about a "fun day".

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Due to his [[ItsAllAboutMe self-interests]] and [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]], he often ignores or completely misses the point of what anyone else is talking about. This sometimes includes him completely changing the subject out of the blue, because the old one does not interest him, or using InsaneTrollLogic to get to the wrong conclusion.
* TheComicallySerious: In fact, it's pretty much his entire shtick (aside from neurosis, his uptight and fussy personality and love of trains).
* CommitmentIssues: Sheldon struggles with committing to Amy and has significant problems moving forward in their relationship. The issue stems from having previously thought of himself as a CelibateEccentricGenius who is above time-wasting romantic notions, and having an aversion to change. In one episode, both Leonard and Amy decide to move too fast for their partners and put moving in on the table. Sheldon and Penny are forced to confide their hesitations about it to each other.

* ConsistentClothingStyle: Sheldon always wears graphic t-shirts. Oddly, he dressed in button-down shirts as a child.

* CrazyCatLady: Gender inverted. In "The Zazzy Substitution" (Season 4, Episode 3), Sheldon and Amy break up. He tries to fill the void in his life by adopting 25 cats. This is treated as disturbing.