[TV TROPES MEME]
((Sorry for the disorganization. Subject to update~))
ANTIHERO
Well. Obviously. But a good kind of antihero. Heine ends up doing a lot more good guy stuff than bad guy stuff, but he's violent as anything if you rouse him.
He violates the conventional QUIET ONE themes in that he's not all that physically imposing (he's about 5'8" minus his platform boots.) and sort of medium build on top of that. (Unlike Mihai, who's a more conventional cut for that particular trope.) Though he is fairly taciturn and seems to go through huge flashbacks and brush them off with a moody sentence, and it turns out despite his build he has legitimate inhuman powers thanks to his collar.
He's kept from being a complete INEFFECTUAL LONER because of the influence of Badou, his partner, and a few other close relationships with Nill or Bishop.
Theoretically, (Meaning head-canon) Heine looks and acts like what he does because he's ironically GENRE SAVVY in a weird way. He canonically likes movies, and playing video games. It seems he's self-taught to emulate a certain type of character he thinks he fits into. Being made what he is literally in terms of a physical weapon by an outside force, re-making his image into an anti-hero living to demolish the influence of his past, and maybe save a few fetish mods along the way while affecting being an antisocial jerk, would obviously be a little appealing to someone with the experience that more obvious acts of heroism or leadership end up killing everyone around him.
ASEXUALITY
The exact trope here is debatable since Heine is very obviously gynophobic thanks to his dead sister (ie: DOES NOT LIKE WOMEN) but since he's getting closer to Naoto, it could also be, IT'S NOT YOU IT'S MY ENEMIES since Heine has more than enough psych trauma in canon to justify that sort of trouble and that sort of response and reaction getting close to people he even likes. (The personality in his collar comments that Naoto is "cute", even. And see his partnership with Badou, who seems to comment rather casually that he thought Heine was gay for the longest time...)
Either way, he ends up as a CELIBATE HERO, and doesn't seem to care.
That said, if he had a sexuality, or even a romantic side, it would be straight. (See "HETEROSEXUAL LIFE PARTNERS")
In the end, as played here, it comes out to a matter of ease for a very peculiar mun who is herself asexual. Playing Heine as such is extremely comfortable to me, and possibly quite canon. As I play him, he's an Asexual BiRomantic.
AX CRAZY
During instances of BERSERK BUTTON collar-boosting, especially since it's more of an ENEMY WITHIN thing, only not entirely.
Heine will fight to put it off for a bit, of course, making it more of a SUPERPOWERED EVIL SIDE or even WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT INSANITY thing since pre-Berserk while he won't exactly PET THE DOG, he will stick out his tongue in a credible impression of a panting dog, and bark back at it.
Post-transformation, however, well...all those little puppies had better run, because it's DOG SHOOTING time, (Puns probably intended in this case.) complete with everyone's favorite SLASHER SMILE.
(MOG, the Watanuki-mun has remarked OOC "He always looks so happy when he's fighting, in the manga! ^^;;". She's absolutely right.)
BACKSTORY
It takes up chapters and chapters, and Heine's apparently the only one who actually remembers it fully.
Nonetheless, he doesn't share hardly any of it, except when Badou asks, because he likes to answer only literal, direct questions when he's feeling evasive.
(Possibly an indirect WHEN IT ALL BEGAN since just about every character seems to have some connection to it. Even Naoto's caretaker Fuyumine is set up as part of the same core group of assasins as "Herbst" and "Fruling" who work under Eizensturn--the scientist who created the Rammsteiner "soldier series "Heine belongs to.)
BAD@$$ ABNORMAL
Let's see...he regenerates from anything short of a head-wound or a complete amputation (which might just take time--it's uncertain), he has mild super-strength, crazy agility, occasionally goes axe crazy, and can gunfight.
Why do I need to elaborate?
BAD@$$ LONGCOAT
Managed sleeveless, too. Also, Heine's entire wardrobe is kind of a sort of bondage slave's FETISH FUEL considering he has platform boots with spikes coming out of them that he uses to kick people in the face. "Step on me" has a different meaning here.
As a bonus he has COOL SHADES which he wears at night. (Justified to some extent because he's an albino, and has light sensitivity, but why would you need them at night?)
BERSERK BUTTON
Don't touch him. Don't come near him if you're a girl. It leads to FLASHBACK NIGHTMARES. He's got more triggers than anyone. Speaking of which? don't pull his gun triggers unless you're him unless you can a "kiss on the cheek" that involves you losing the cheek in the process.
BIG BROTHER INSTINCT
With Nill. Definitely with Nill. Actually she's described as the only woman he's okay with touching him. Not like that. She's fourteen, and see ASEXUAL. Possibly because she looks a bit like Lilly...? (See DEAD LITTLE SISTER) Heine might be a jerk to everyone else, but if you have a frilly dress for Nill, he might even smile for a moment thinking about how excited she'll be about it.
Of course he goes back to being a jerk to everyone else afterwards.
BIO AUGUMENTATION
That thing on his neck? Yeah. "You don't have one, do you?"
CAIN AND ABEL
With Giovanni, the only other remaining member of the Rammsteiner series.
In this case, Heine is the white sheep of the family so to speak (ha ha), for betraying their mutual creator. Unlike most pairs in this particular trope, Heine is the "older sibling" but also the good guy. Trouble is he was "the best" and Giovanni was the UNFAVORITE. Giovanni was the one who couldn't go into his berserker mode at all. Giovanni was the kid who Heine had the back of because he couldn't shoot a gun, or do anything for himself, and was scared to death of even leaving the underground to escape being an experiment. Giovanni also was particluarly close to and maybe even loved their "sister" Lilly, and Heine seemed to have picked him out as his chosen LANCER
Not so anymore.
Now Giovanni's the only one immune to headshots, and he's there trying to capture Heine, or maybe just have a little fun shooting at him for old time's sake. What's clear is he doesn't remember his past properly, and for that, he blames Heine for killing everyone, and for that, he's almsot constantly there, mocking and goading Heine, tormenting him in dreams, and in waking.
Heine for his part, though possessing no qualms about shooting Giovanni in the head, seems to regret it, or at least feel something towards his "little brother" in that he adds quietly, "Rest in peace, Giovanni" even after eh beleives he's killed him.
Either way, can we say, RECURRING VILLAIN?
DARK AND TROUBLED PAST
Heine epitomizes this. There are huge chapters end on end about this. In short? If you have a cerberus spine attached to the back of your neck, your childhood is ruined and full of fighting things to survive.
DEAD LITTLE SISTER
Heine's sister Lilly, who incidentally was a bit too good at losing herself to her collar. Enough so that it turns out Heine's actually rather stable in comparison. (Lilly is completely developed as a POSTUHUMOUS CHARACTER through flashbacks.)
Nill's a bit of a REPLACEMENT GOLDFISH to Heine in this regard, only he doesn't treat her like Lilly, he just treats her a bit like a sister.
Heine's problems with women are completely oriented around killing Lilly, though, leading to some possibility of MOURNING AFTER applying as a trope. Albeit, most people under said trope don't rip their dead little sisters in half with their bare hands and wake up to find out what they've done.
DOES NOT LIKE WOMEN
It's Gynophobia, technically.
He's actually scared of them. Enough so that a waitress passing too close by with his coffee can send him scooting back across the seat and into whoever's next to him. And touching him, God forbid, is enough to send him into an actual fit, with face-veins and foam.
Unlike most people in this trope however, Heine is portrayed pretty sympathetically. His fear of women comes from killing Lilly. Actually, it's more that he's afraid of killing them, and can't let himself close, rather than being a case of simple misogyny, or a case of comedy!gay.
As mentioned before, if Heine were to get past his ASEXUALITY and his paranoia relating to what he is, evidence points towards him being straight. (Particularly in regards to Naoto.)
Then again, Heine has enough trouble getting close to anybody.
EVIL ALBINO / HEROIC ALBINO
Self explanatory, I think. The evil/heroic tradeoff depends on how much of his collar comes into play. Saving prostitutes at random, however, smacks of hero. (Nill, if you're wondering. Yes, she's fourteen. She's also an "angel" fetish mod designed for a single purpose, and Heine identifies with being created for just one thing. Again, DOGS is an M-rated manga.)
On the subject of the "albino hitman" comment under EVIL ALBINO, Heine is hardly a sharpshooter in his canon in any event unless he closes with you, and I try to work in light sensitivity and degraded eyesight for him as much as possible to compensate. His aim isn't horrible, but it's not spectacular in canon. He also dual-weilds, though. (GUNS AKIMBO)
GRATUITOUS ENGLISH
"F*** up, gentlemen!" among others, proving Heine is just as charming in multiple languages.
In hometrail this is absolutely moot since there's universal translation running.
HETEROSEXUAL LIFE PARTNERS
Well. Asexual for Heine. We're not sure about Badou. But Heine and Badou do hang out an awful lot, and they are work-partners, not to mention they get scads of fanfiction. Even Naoto gives them meaningful looks.
Caring for someone is clearly what you show when you plant your boot in their face to keep them from getting hurt in a regenerating gun battle. (See "VITRIOLIC BEST BUDS")
Badou claims, "I'm only gonna say it once. We're not like that."
HIDDEN DEPTHS / CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Nice enough to be noted even on the TV tropes main page for the series. In Heine's case, developing enough to be alright with Nill, and have serious tension and grudging, growing trust with Naoto, etc. Mostly his things about women seem to be changing. (He's softening just a little.)
IMPOSSIBLY COOL CLOTHES / IMPROBABLE WEAPONS USER
Totally subverted on the first because while Heine's wardrobe is pretty cool, it tends to only last for one gunfight before it has to be taken home for Nill to painfully try to repair. (Without much success because it turns out Badou's the one who's impressively domestic when it comes to fixing buttons.) And the "improbable weapon" doesn't refer to his guns, which are rather normal, and even need to be visably reloaded, but rather, the chain on his mauser, which he uses to trip attack opponants, break necks, grapple arms, etc.
In hometrail the chain comes in handy for disabling vampires if you need them to hold still while you shine their faces off. Not that Heine didn't get confused for one a few times, and get kicked out of the city, first.
KUUDERE
Kind of.
He fits for Type 1, anyway. (This is definitely open to interpretation, I'd say...)
LUKE I AM YOUR FATHER
Well. Brother. Pretty much on anyone else with a cerberus spine. (Ie: Luki, Noki, Giovanni, etc.) Not for nothing is one of Heine's interests on his interests page related to this.
MARK OF THE BEAST
A pun in this case. Everyone in the family seems to wear matching collars. (Or not as matching in one case.) It confers as mentioned above in several places, NIGH INVULNERABILITY, and/or being practically IMMUNE TO BULLETS. (Or knives!)
ONLY MOSTLY DEAD
Hand in hand with that last bit. In the original DOGS (seen as a prequel or starter) Heine gets shot out of a window, then gets up, regenerates, walks back to Bishop's church where he changes his shirt, grabs Badou by the hair and proceeds to take down a brothel full of mafia men with his nicotiene deprived partner.
In DOGS: Bullets and Carnage, Giovanni's prime entrance involves shooting Heine eight or nine times point blank with pauses just to see how close he can push him to death. Heine actually briefly appears inside a formless void, talks to his "dog", then comes back to himself and proceeds to have a huge gun-battle with Giovanni.
In this case, the difference between this and All-dead is a headshot.
In hometrail one has to wonder if even that would keep him down for long, since it didn't for Arthur (specificities), who's otherwise normal.
ORPHANAGE OF FEAR
Not orphans, test-tube babies, apparently, but you get the point. Everyone with a cerberus spine starts out somewhere. (See "DARK AND TROUBLED PAST")
...For the record, Einsturzen is not "gaunt and dour", she's downright voluptuous, but she's also completely nuts.
WHERE I WAS BORN AND RAZED applies in Heine's case. Except Giovanni says he didn't do a good enough job of it and therefore the ROARING RAMPAGE OF REVENGE needs to be worked on a bit for the second act. Assuming Heine can ever find the entrance to the underground ever again. (LASER GUIDED AMNESIA sucks.)
POWER TRIO
Heine, Badou, and Naoto.
Heine thinks it should still be a duo because this group doesn't need sword-toting chicks who keep stalking him for information and demanding stuff. (No matter what his collar thinks.)
Character Development says otherwise.
SPELL MY NAME WITH AN S
Earlier fan-translations made Heine's name "Haine". Official translation goes with "Heine" which is apparently short for "Heinrich" in some German countries, but I wouldn't ask him if I were you.
THEME NAMING
A little more obvious to people with the appropriate tastes in music, but "Rammsteiner" in Heine's name is taken from the german industrial band "Rammstein". Badou is Badou Nails in tribute to "Nine Inch Nails", and even Angelika Einsturzen, Heine's creepy doctor/creator is named after "Einsturzende Neubauten".
In a further tip of the hat to this, all of Heine's Prose-Log cut texts have been Rammstein Lyrics so far.
TYKEBOMB
Possibly for young!Heine plus cerberus spine. (Or for anyone young with that kind of hardware strapped to their neck.)
UNSTOPPABLE RAGE
Moreso than most characters under the trope because unlike them, Heine doesn't stop just because you hurt him or kill him unless it's a head shot.
Put him in a room with Wolverine. You'll have one heck of a party.
This is also a subset of his BERSERKER battle-style.
VITRIOLIC BEST BUDS
Heine and Badou, and definitely type 2. During battle there's a definite back and forth. Largely it's more on Heine's side than on Badou's since snarking Heine back would take up Badou's valuable whining time. Plus you see occasional breaks as one or the other loses sanity and the other's forced to take over being the straight man the sane guy.
On Heine's end this involves snarking Badou's whining every chance he gets, trolling him, but also rescuing him every time he's in danger. (Though this doesn't stop Heine from kicking him in the face post-rescue, grumbling "Why is it always something with you?")
Heine will also kick him in the face to keep Badou from getting blasted to smithereens by gun-toting psychotic regenerating twins.
They epitomize this, but at the same time, they manage to have moments of genuine non-snarking discussion where they carefully skirt around topics of importance and banter about how the rest of the world is full of morons, too. So they are legitimately close, albeit in a genuinely male dynamic.
At hometrail Allen Walker seems to privately think of this particular dynamic as "Lavi and Kanda, only more married".
WHILE ROME BURNS
See Heine's profile page:
Heine: There's something peaceful about this...getting the guys together and sliging some lead around...
Badou: Would you please explain to me what the Hell is peaceful about this?
Being a battle-raised violent mostly-immortal person seems to have its perks.
Also: getting captured by the mafia and turning down joining them because it "seems like it'd be a real pain".
If Badou is in a nicoteine-deprived fit, this can overlap into DISSONANT SERENITY
This attitude also attributes to some/all of Heine's intentional or unintentional trolling at Hometrail.
WHITE HAIRED PRETTY BOY
Ehhhhhhh.
Might be. I have difficulty telling. There seems to be some manga-reaction as though he might be given that one mafia boss who adds that he's his type and why doesn't he think about joining them.
Magato also seems to immediately assume Heine is Naoto's boyfriend (while Heine simultaneously assumes Magato is Naoto's boyfriend, which is probably a Freudian Slip with Garters. That's my phrase for it, anyway.)