Basic: A sympathetic character becomes stoic, cynical, aggressive and/or badass to cope with emotional trauma.
- Straight: Since the death of her beloved brother Henry, Gabriella has become cynical, hard-hearted and more prone to aggression to cope with her pain.
- Exaggerated: Gabriella, an adorable little Wide-Eyed Idealist, becomes a murderer/drug dealer/rapist to cope with Henry's death.
- Downplayed: Gabriella's worldview shifts from optimistic to realistic but does not go all the way to pessimistic. Although she becomes more distrusting, she is not one for insults or aggression.
- Justified: Cannot be justified because this trope is about a coping mechanism (i.e., does not defy logic).
- Inverted: Gabriella was a cynic before Henry died. After that, she realized that she had to love life because she might lose it at any time, and became The Pollyanna.
- Subverted: We see Gabriella a few weeks after Henry's death acting cynical and sour, but turns out that was just an initial grief reaction and she's back to her old happy, idealistic self.
- Double Subverted ...which was a mask to get people to trust her, and she's actually very, very cynical. When someone mentions Henry, Gabriella responds by decking them in the face.
- Parodied: Gabriella quite literally turns into a dragon who breathes fire after Henry dies- but she's still totally happy and optimistic.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes Gabriella will be tough and cynical, and sometimes she'll be an emotional wreck.
- Averted:
- Gabriella reacts to her grief in a different way and her heart does not permanently harden.
- Grief is not present.
- Enforced: In the original draft, Gabriella is a cynical, abrasive character for no reason other than being a toxic asshole, but the producer went against the writers' wishes and changed her characterisation in hopes of making the work sell better. In the present draft, Gabriella's abrasiveness is currently the result of coping with emotion pain.
- Lampshaded: "That's Gabriella. She used to be sweet and cute, but then her brother Henry died, and now she's all dark and nihilistic."
- Invoked: The villain, Inez, murders Henry in order to turn Gabriella into this, the first step to recruiting her for her evil organization.
- Exploited: Inez didn't kill Henry, but she notices that Gabriella is cynical and jaded now, and knowing that she might be more in line with Inez's group's morals now, she offers her a spot in the evil organization.
- Defied: Hero group leader Jayden sends a squad to protect all Gabriella's loved ones so she does not become a broken bird and stray from good.
- Discussed: "Just watch, Gabby's going to turn into one of those girls who thinks the entire world is a hellhole and nothing is happy, ever."
- Conversed: "This Gabriella character is so heartbreakingly cynical. Sort of like you, Kari."
- Deconstructed: After a while, it becomes too hard for Gabriella to keep up the appearance of being strong, and she has a Heroic BSoD.
- Played for Laughs: Gabriella, the happiest optimist of the group, becomes an emo after Henry's death. The group leader promptly finds a new optimist.
- Played For Drama: Usually is.
- Played for Horror: Gabriella completely snaps and becomes a serial killer, brutally murdering all her friends.
Back to Broken Bird.
