Basic Trope: A character, who is absolutely badass, has severe difficulty in social situations.
- Straight: Hiro runs into burning buildings to save people on a regular basis, but he's too scared to talk to Alice, who he has a crush on, even after saving her.
- Exaggerated: Hiro regularly gets people out of active warzones that others think impossible to traverse, but is quickly reduced to an incoherent, stammering, sweating, quivering heap practically every time he is put in any kind of social situation, and so he is too scared to talk to anyone, especially Alice.
- Downplayed:
- Hiro has saved many people in the past and been recognized for his heroics, but still can't find the courage to ask Alice out on a date.
- Hiro protects Alice from a bully, but visibly blushes when she thanks him.
- Justified:
- Hiro has been diagnosed with severe Social Anxiety Disorder or Asperger's.
- Hiro is trained to deal with dangerous situations. Unfortunately, flirting and social interaction weren't on the curriculum.
- Hiro is way more calm because he doesn't believe he'll be recognized, and won't get embarrassed because of it. Alice 100% recognizes Hiro whenever they meet, but she can barely make out the finer details when he's doing his hero work.
- Hiro is an alien, Ridiculously Human Robot, or artificial being, and his mind just doesn't work the same way human minds do.
- Hiro has a superhuman sense of battle tactics that takes up a lot of his brainpower, with little left over for social skills.
- Inverted:
- Hiro shamelessly flirts with Alice, but runs away when she's in trouble.
- Socially Awkward Villain. Jim "The Mastermind", is a ruthless Chessmaster who is mostly hidden in the shadows and rarely meets anyone face to face, preferring to communicate with his henchmen and contacts mainly through pre-recorded audio or written instructions he sends as letters or emails, or, if talk is directly needed, sending a trusted representative to speak for him. It turns that these quirks are not really a result of Jim being secretive or mysterious, but rather because he feels extremely anxious and unconformable around other people.
- Subverted: Hiro, after working up his courage for a bit, asks Alice out on a date...
- Double Subverted:
- ...except he was just imagining it.
- And then he doesn't say a single word throughout the whole date.
- Parodied: Hiro yawns and snacks on an apple while facing interdimensional Kaiju, but goes into a Troubled Fetal Position at the slightest hint that Alice is nearby.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Hiro is a somewhat shy badass, but seems to not have it stand in the way of his social life.
- Enforced: "Our audience is socially awkward. Let's make Hiro that way too."
- Lampshaded: "You're not afraid to run into burning buildings, but you are afraid to go talk to a girl?" "Yeah, pretty much."
- Invoked: Evulz constantly tries to make Hiro socially insecure to make him less effective.
- Exploited: Evulz makes an Evil Plan that will force Hiro to get help from others to resolve it, knowing Hiro will feel too socially awkward to do it.
- Defied:
- Hiro decides to ignore his nervousness and, while definitely nervous about it, asks Alice out on his first try.
- The Legion of Justice trains all its members in social skills, reasoning this can save their lives on some occasions.
- Discussed: "Didn't Hiro just save your life, Alice? So why is he avoiding you like that?"
- Conversed: "The shy badass in his unnatural habitat. Do you think he's going to ask her out this week?" "Nah."
- Implied: Hiro is seen rescuing Alice in one scene, and in a later scene, he's standing near her, acting shy and awkward, seeming to want to say something to her but unable to spit it out.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice notices Hiro's awkwardness and is creeped out by it.
- Hiro's reputation takes a hit. The public refuses to entertain the idea of a hero who has trouble talking.
- Alternatively, the public sees Hiro as being even creepier than Emperor Evulz.
- Reconstructed:
- Until she learns that there's nothing to fear about Hiro and he's much nicer than she thought.
- Hiro gets a more socially-adept friend as a publicist. Hiro himself begins to be seen as Endearingly Dorky after a concerted campaign to promote this image.
- * Played For Drama: Hiro suffers from severe social anxiety that causes serious problems in many facets of his life. He is very disappointed to find that gaining superpowers doesn't really resolve this.
C'mon she's back at Socially Awkward Hero. Just take a few deep breaths, walk up to her and pop the question.
