Playing With / It's All About Me

Basic Trope: A character who only thinks about themselves and their interests, other people be damned.

• Straight: Roberto can't seem to last a single conversation without mentioning how awesome he is at least twice.
• Exaggerated:
  • A gigantic tidal wave is about to destroy Roberto's city. He's in a safe place big enough to shelter other people but he doesn't consider it his job to help them.
  • Roberto is a Narcissist.
  • Roberto thinks the universe itself turns around him.
• Downplayed:
  • Roberto has a few friends he cares about, but not anyone else.
  • Any generosity Roberto shows is quite reluctant.
  • Roberto's first priority is his own advancement, but he is willing to help others if it doesn't directly conflict with his goals.
• Justified:
  • Roberto was raised a Spoiled Brat, with the idea that no one else but him mattered in the world.
  • Roberto has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
  • Roberto has Complete Immortality while everyone else is mortal in some way. In his eyes, he's the only one that matters because he's the only one who's going to live long enough either way.
  • Roberto is a child/toddler.
  • Roberto views the entire world from the perspective of a story or video game, where he is the undisputed hero and everyone else only serves to fulfill his "narrative".
  • Roberto is not willing to admit the deeply ingrained beliefs he has about the world are still there, because he desperately wants to be seen as a good person without actually putting in the hard work needed to unlearn his bad habits and horrid beliefs in his mental framework.
• Inverted:
  • Good Samaritan
  • Humble Hero
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation
  • Roberto is consumed by self-loathing and obsesses over his flaws, misdeeds, and mistakes. He expects everyone else to hate him as much as he hates himself, and can't quite wrap his head around the idea that other people might not care.
  • Whenever Roberto talks to someone, he gets obsessed with telling them how awesome they are.
  • Roberto doesn't expect others to notice or care about him at all, and when his words or actions upset someone, can't fathom why they give a shit what he says or does.
• Subverted:
  • Roberto did all he could to get what he wanted, betrayed all of his friends, trampled on everyone, and finds out that he's Lonely at the Top...
  • It was all an act. Roberto is actually humble and selfless.
  • Beneath this arrogant exterior there is a very insecure man deep down, who has convinced himself that he is that awesome.
• Double Subverted:
  • ...but since nobody is worthy of him anyway, what's the big deal?
  • Roberto starts Becoming the Mask.
  • Roberto only faked being insecure. He really is that arrogant.
• Parodied: Roberto is at his birthday party gets a call saying that his mother has been in a horrific car accident, and is being rushed to the hospital. Roberto hangs up and complains how people are always ruining his special day.
• Zig Zagged: At the beginning of the episode, Roberto is completely selfish. However, he learns his lesson, and by the end he's willing to try and help other people without benefit for himself. However, by the time the next episode has rolled around, he's suffered from Aesop Amnesia and has to learn his lesson all over again.
• Averted: Roberto isn't particularly selfish or egocentric.
• Enforced: The writers have already written Roberto as a jerk, so why the hell not go as far as they can?
• Lampshaded: "Can we talk about important things now? Like me and what I want?"
• Invoked: Attention Whore
• Exploited: Jack can manipulate Roberto easily by flattering him.
• Defied:
  • Turns out Roberto cares deeply about other people but he fears that showing it would cause people to try and take advantage of him.
  • "If you toss us under the bus because you can only think about yourself, I swear you'll have a hell of a good reason to be really concerned about yourself."
• Discussed: "Why did you bring Roberto along? He's not going to help one bit and you know it!"
• Conversed: "Roberto is gonna end up The Scrappy of this story before the credits roll."
• Deconstructed:
  • Roberto is about to fall from a cliff, only being held by a rope that threatens to break anytime. He asks his companions for help but they answer:
    "Save you? We thought you didn't need ANYONE, Roberto. Since you're so good, we know you will find a way to save yourself."
  • Roberto has had a history of being backstabbed and abandoned by his "friends" and "comrades"; nobody cares about him, so why should he care about anyone but himself?
  • Roberto is so utterly unable and unwilling to care about anyone except himself that he alienates everyone around him, because who wants to deal with someone who literally can't care about anyone else?
  • Roberto's fixation on himself is driven by a desire to do whatever it takes to preserve his image of himself no matter what. If he did something that utterly contradicts his perception of himself, he will twist every single aspect of the truth into something that feels more comfortable no matter how full of falsehoods it is, because his ego cannot tolerate the possibility of his self-image being shattered under any circumstances. Thus, when he's in a situation where the truth of his nature is shown to him in a way he cannot ignore, he has a complete breakdown, causing colossal amounts of collateral and emotional damage in the process.
  • Roberto viewing the world from the perspective of a story or a game means that he cannot recognize other people as people. As such, he goes around tormenting, harassing, killing, or other horrific things simply because he believes that it's all part of his grand story. In the process, he ends up making powerful enemies of the family or friends of the people he hurts, who all make it their goal to destroy him for his selfish behavior.
  • Roberto desperately wants to think of others, but can't due to a brain disorder. People vilify him for being a prisoner of his own mind, until he decides there's only one way to stop being a jerk.
• Reconstructed:
  • His friends eventually save Roberto and then make him humbly apologize for his attitude. He still behaves self-centeredly, but only as long as his friends (or in his words "creatures") don't make the "foolish" decision to abandon him.
  • Roberto reveals that he can care about people he's just very cautious about who he shows it to as he's afraid of being taken advantage of again.
  • Roberto acts kind enough not to alienate anyone.
  • Roberto is so utterly delusional that even if his true nature is shown to him in a manner he has to face, he'll twist the facts in the most absurd ways to fit his grossly warped self-image.
  • Roberto views his life as a party-building video game (with himself as the undisputed leader of course). He's manipulated or outright forced enough people to work with him that he can defend against the many enemies he makes. Plus, the fact that so many people are focused on him, even in a negative way, reinforces his illusion of importance.
  • Roberto undergoes treatment for his pathological egocentrism. Progress takes considerable time and effort, so he still acts self-centered on occasion, but becomes an overall better person.
• Played For Laughs: Roberto is the kind of guy who whines about how he's gonna need to re-perm his hair in the middle of an Alien Invasion. Everybody else looks at him like he's gone nuts, and at least one of them can't stop himself from chuckling at the absurdity of it all.
• Played For Drama: Roberto whines about needing to get his hair re-permed in the middle of a funeral. Everybody else in the room gives him the evil eye, instantly changing their opinion of him to "insensitive piece of shit", and chances are he's made enemies with some of them.
• Played For Horror:
  • Complete Monster
  • Roberto is the Token Evil Teammate of the group, and a few deaths will be to blame on him because narcissism and usefulness rarely go hand-in-hand in horror stories. Worst case scenario, he will sell all of his friends to the villain, thinking that it will get him spared. Absolute worst case scenario? He will kill them all himself.

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Go back to It's All About Me, at least over there they talk about the important person: ME!

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