Basic Trope: A stereotypical Emo, usually a teenager.
- Straight: Erik wears all black, Guyliner, and complains about everything to the point of Wangst. May or not be also into Self-Harm.
- Exaggerated: Erik cuts himself and even threatens to commit suicide over the slightest inconvenience.
- Downplayed: Erik complains about everything, but it's not exactly Wangst.
- Justified:
- Erik has no reason to complain about his life, so the people around him (and the audience) have no reason to listen to him.
- Erik is depressed.
- Erik is past the age where his complaining is appropriate.
- The society he lives in has a Double Standard where it's okay for women to express sadness, but men can't.
- There Are No Therapists, so Erik doesn't have a legitimate source to vent his feelings on to.
- Inverted:
- Erik wears bright colors, loves life, and easily brushes off any angst that comes his way.
- Erik is an emotionless boy.
- Subverted:
- When Alice and Bob first meet Erik, he assumes his all black clothing and somber attitude is just usual self, but it turns out he just came back from a funeral.
- Erik dresses Emo, but has the polar opposite personality.
- Erik isn't actually an Emo, but a Gloomy Goth.
- Double Subverted:
- Until they see him again in his street clothes where he acts exactly the same way.
- ...At least until he takes a level in jerkass and starts to act more stereotypically.
- Unfortunately, the writer doesn't know the difference and thinks the subcultures are interchangeable.
- Parodied: Erik cuts himself over spilled milk.
- Averted: Erik doesn't complain about anything, legitimate or otherwise.
- Enforced:
- Erik's part of the Subculture of the Week.
- The author has taken a dislike for teenagers who act emo, and creates Erik as a way to mock them.
- The story's Aesop is "Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!", and Erik was created to show that The Complainer Is Always Wrong.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Erik avoids dressing in all black clothing and complaining, knowing that he'll end up not being taken seriously or end up getting mocked.
- Discussed: "Well, my little brother really got into Ghostemane and now it's all about black skinny jeans, Blackcraft shirts, and 'pensive' selfies with monochrome filters applied. Dare I tell him that he should drop the grill because everyone knows it's fake?"
- Conversed: "We're having a 2000s party next weekend and you're in my Top Eight." "Aw shit, time to bust out the guyliner and Invader Zim shirts and act like my life sucks." "Hell yeah, don't forget to say you're 99 years old and take as many surveys as possible." "I'm already planning out the playlist for when I take over the music for an hour - how does My Chemical Romance, Hawthorne Heights, old Paramore, Chiodos, Senses Fail, and old Fall Out Boy sound?"
- Deconstructed: It turns out Erik's life really does suck due to a Dark and Troubled Past and abusive household. However, the reason no one believed him is because they thought that his lifestyle was evidenced enough that he was "just whining for attention", which only ends up worsening his depression.
Go back to Emo Teen, or don't. It's not like I care.
