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SketchyMofo10

[help] Questions on the Four (Five) Temperament Ensamble

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I've been wanting to create a story lately that has a team of five characters and the Four Temperament Ensemble (including Supine/Eclectic) seems like a good way to balance their personalities. For if you've never heard of said trope.

I feel like this would allow me to be flexible with character personalities whilst keeping them all varied. What I've been wondering is what these personality types might look like if they were all "emotionally unstable." Choleric and melancholic are described as this but I'm wondering what Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Supine/Eclectic could look like if they weren't stable either.

Another idea that I had was making the characters seem like they fit with each personality type, but really they fit closer with another. For example, the Choleric would be presented as such and would seem fitting for that temperament. In reality, it's either a mask or something else that keeps them from showing that they're really Phlegmatic. I don't know how well this would work. Does anyone have any suggestions on what this could potentially look like or if this is even a good idea?

tl;dr: Making a story with a team of five taking inspiration from the Four (Five) Temperament Ensemble. Would I be able to make all of the characters "emotionally unstable," including the Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Supine/Eclectic ones? What would it look like if the characters appeared to fit in with the Temperaments but each truly fit in with another temperament?

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aabicus

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Sanguine: A popular trope for this is "Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond". Their outgoing attitude stems from a desire to be loved, and they can go to extreme lengths to curry favor when they get off on the wrong foot with a new person. Another common trope is that this character uses their social life to distract themselves from their responsibilities as an adult, which inevitably causes problems as real life creeps up on them and they never solve the problem (Tuca from Tuca & Bertie is a great example). Alternately, sometimes these characters use optimism as a coping mechanism and will refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of a situation, electing to always force themselves to be cheery no matter what's happening to them. (Louis from Left 4 Dead is an example of a character who uses this.)

Phlegmatic: A good way to play phlegmatic is "secretly not so above it all". IE this character is just as dysfunctional as the rest of the cast, but because they're playing the straight man for even more dysfunctional characters, they don't even notice their own faults. Michael Bluth from Arrested Development is a good example.

Supine/Eclectic: Characters in a subservient position can handle supine quite well because they suffer from self-esteem issues and usually struggle to gain respect. They could be an enabler who brings out the worst in the others through supporting others' problematic behavior. Think of the effect Donkey from Shrek or Dwight from the Office had whenever the main cast was trying to decide on a plan of action. If your party is a street gang, this would be the pickpocket kid who always sides with whoever suggests the least practical plan, preventing the leader from throwing it out on principle.