History Characters / TheOfficeUSMichaelScott

* MeanBoss: An interesting example where he ''tries'' to be a BenevolentBoss (and at times is), but his giant ego and immaturity make him greatly disliked by his workers.

* AccidentalTruth: In one episode he pretends to have depression, and acts like he is going to commit suicide, while he has a hidden object that will cushion his fall, without knowing that this object is not actually going to cushion his fall in real danger, in addition to when he starts to talk. , it is implied that he really has depression.

* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** Michael invading Stanley's privacy and telling the office that he cheated on his wife. Despite the fact that Michael is portrayed as being in the wrong for invading his privacy, it's hard to feel too bad for Stanley when Michael tells everyone that he cheated on his wife. Because, after all, ''he's'' the one who cheated on his wife to begin with.
** When his nephew, Luke, finally gets on the last nerves of everyone in the office, Michael responds by giving him a spanking. In front of the entire office. While it is extremely unprofessional and dumb, considering how much of an idiotic douchebag Luke was, it's hard to argue that he ''didn't'' deserve to be humiliated like that.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In addition to his embarrassing sense of humor and neediness, his Season 1 characterization is a lot more selfish, bitter and antagonistic, and he's genuinely unlikable at points. In later seasons, while he never quite loses the neediness or the cheesy jokes, he generally becomes a bit sweeter, nicer and more of a romantic, and the latter two points are usually explained/justified as being a result of his loneliness and desperate desire for friendship and love.

** Even though he hired Luke to be in good terms with his half-sister, he is clearly shocked when Luke sabotages his employees' sales and becomes very creepy when interacting with them, leading to Michael spanking and then firing Luke.

** Noted by Jim in reaction to Josh Porter leveraging his position at the Stamford branch to get a better job at Staples, thus putting his employees (who'd thought that their jobs had been saved from the cuts) unexpectedly out work: Michael Scott, for all his faults, would never do that to his people.

* CasanovaWannabe: His "Date Mike", persona does about as well with attracting women as David Brent. Subverted when he doesn't try as hard and just bes himself.

* CannotKeepASecret: Whether it's Jim's crush on Pam, Oscar being gay, or news that the branch is closing, Michael is incapable of keeping a secret for more than ten minutes, often by dropping incredibly obvious hints within earshot of others. On the other hand, will never mention some things that he really should earlier because he sees them as unimportant or is trying to keep people from worrying (when regardless they should know what's going on).

* BuxomIsBetter: Michael rarely misses a chance to remind people he likes big boobs, and two of his "cons" about Jan were that her chest was "nothing to write home about" and she was lacking in "chesticles." Jan is well aware of this and gets a boob job in an attempt to win him back ([[spoiler:and it works, at least for a little while]]).
-->'''Michael''': ''[To Pam after she had told him not to get back together with Jan.]'' You made a good argument. Hers was bigger.

* HasAType: All his most important love interests (Jan, Carol, Holly) are blondes. He also briefly dated Pam's mom who was blonde as well. Made obvious in "Casino Night" when Carol and Jan stand side-by-side and look like mirror images of each other.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: There are a couple of times when he is genuinely angry, and dear Lord, he can be terrifying when that happens. The shift is big enough to get a just as angry Stanley to back down. He also shows an outright awesome level of negotiating skills when his fledgling paper company comes at odds with the new Dunder Mifflin management. Up until this point, he'd bumbled his way through every negotiation attempt, but then he suddenly demonstrates enough business acumen to completely rock David Wallace's resolve. To achieve this, he often needs to be backed into a corner before it comes out:

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's generally selfish, shallow, and obnoxious whether he realizes it or not. However, his employees all consider him a genuinely nice guy at heart and will rally around him when he needs it. Take his guilt over the Prince Family Paper Company, for a start. In turn, if the wellbeing of his employees is on the line, Michael will always step up to do the right thing. Lampshaded by Jim when a rival branch manager sells out his employees for a promotion:

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby). A big example of this is in "The Merger", when one of the Stamford employees, Tony, quits on the ''first day'' at the Scranton branch since he can't put up with Michael's antics. This leads Michael to rant that Dunder Mifflin doesn't hire quitters and fire Tony in a pathetic attempt to save face, since letting him quit would mean admitting it ''is'' his fault and that he's not the awesome boss he thinks he is. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All this does is earn Michael a phone call from an annoyed Jan, who says he should have just let Tony quit, because now they have to give him severance pay]].

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: David Brent won't be winning WorldsMostBeautifulMan awards, whilst Michael has a more well-designed face, is taller, styled better and in much better shape. Michael also noticeably has more relationships and sexual adventures than [[Gonk Brent]].

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: David Brent isn't a horrible-looking guy, but Michael is taller, styled better and in much better shape.

* IdiotHoudini: If it was real life, he would be fired within the year, ''at most''. Or better, not be promoted at all. In ''The Office'', he manages to stay regional manager at least seven years.

** Due to (or despite) his strange and distracting managerial style, the Scranton branch goes from being the worst performing branch in the company at the beginning of the series, to the ''most'' successful branch by season 5.

** Generally any time Michael stops acting like a goof and starts acting like an actual company manager would.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: His adoration towards Ryan is pretty much universally known. Thus it's a big surprise when Michael insults him in front of his own class when Ryan badmouthed the paper industry, but more specifically, ''him''.

''"Guess what, I have flaws. What are they? Oh, I don’t know. I sing in the shower. Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Occasionally I’ll hit somebody with my car.]] So sue me."''

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby). A big example of this is in "The Merger", when one of the Stamford employees, Tony, quits on the ''first day'' at the Scranton branch since he can't put up with Michael's antics. This leads Michael to rant that Dunder Mifflin doesn't hire quitters and fire Tony in a pathetic attempt to save face, since letting him quit would mean admitting it ''is'' his fault that he's not the awesome boss he thinks he is. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All this does is earn Michael a phone call from an annoyed Jan, who says he should have just let Tony quit, because now they have to give him severance pay]].

** He does have some grounds to question why Pam and Jim, both salespeople, did not inform him of their pregnancy. Given that it means he was about to lose two vital members of his staff for various degrees of time, it's not entirely unreasonable to expect some notice.

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby). A big example of this is in "The Merger", when one of the Stamford employees quits on the ''first day'' at the Scranton branch since he can't put up with Michael's antics. This leads Michael to rant that Dunder Mifflin doesn't hire quitters and fire the man in a pathetic attempt to save face, since letting him quit would mean admitting it ''is'' his fault. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All it succeeds in doing is earning Michael a phone call from an annoyed Jan, who says that now they have to give the guy severance pay]].

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby). A big example of this is in "The Merger", when Tony quits on his ''first day'' at the Scranton branch since he can't put up with Michael's antics. This leads Michael to rant that Dunder Mifflin doesn't hire quitters and fire Tony in a pathetic attempt to save face, since letting him quit would mean admitting it ''is'' his fault. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome All it succeeds in doing is earning Michael a phone call from an annoyed Jan, who says he should have just let Tony quit since now they have to give him severance pay]].

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby). A big example of this is in "The Merger", when Tony quits on his ''first day'' at the Scranton branch since he can't put up with Michael's antics. This leads Michael to fire Tony in a pathetic attempt to save face, since letting him quit would mean admitting it's his fault. All this does is earn him a phone call from an annoyed Jan, who says that now they have to give Tony severance pay.

* DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: Falls into this when he suffers from a ''very'' mild burn on his foot and ends up using a wheelchair. Throughout the episode, he acts as if it was ten times worse than Dwight getting a concussion from a car accident earlier.

* ItsAllAboutMe: It's not that Michael doesn't care about other people... it's just that he has problems grasping the idea that not everything has to be about him. If a situation centers on someone else, he'll immediately try to grab the attention or at least share the spotlight, no matter how inappropriate it is. Early on, he's actually unsure of what "open-mindedness" means.

* KarmaHoudini

* NeverMyFault: When someone (usually Pam) explains that a problem happened because of him, he'll quickly deny it and/or turn the blame on the person in question (or Toby).

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Varies throughout episodes.