History Main / AdoptionDiss

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Sakura Matou is the adopted heir of the Matou family, which causes her adopted brother Shinji to resent her, to the point of [[spoiler:raping her daily]] since the reason she was adopted from the [[spoiler:Tohsaka]] family was because Shinji was [[MuggleBornOfMages completely unable to use magic]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' Rean Schwarzer was subjected to this by [BlueBlood Patrick]], and feels it's his fault that the other nobles are talking behind the Schwarzer's backs about how they haven't been able to produce a blood heir.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', SelfDemonstrating/GLaDOS brings up the player character being adopted as an insult repeatedly. [[YouAreFat Also that you're fat]]. An advocacy group took umbrage with Creator/ValveSoftware over this, thinking it was reflecting badly on adopted families and playing this trope straight, but Valve's response was that it was obviously too over the top to be taken seriously and it was coming from the mouth of a villain. In ''Videogame/Portal2'', when [[spoiler:Wheatley]] gets on the act, she asks what's wrong with being adopted. Then, while he sputters, she tells Chell, "For the record, you are adopted, and that's terrible. But just work with me."

Usually used to portray the character using the insult as a {{Jerkass}}, since it's a low blow and good KickTheDog material. If a parent does this to a child during an argument they're likely a ResentfulGuardian, and may have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment later. A sibling is often particularly prone to this if their adopted brother or sister was given an inheritance or other status over them, in which case they're likely to be TheResenter. It's also sometimes used as an insult towards someone who isn't even adopted, especially if the person slinging the insult has no way of actually knowing this, and is a favored tactic of TheBully. The usual comeback to this insult is that an adopted child's family specifically [[FamilyOfChoice chose them]].

* Attempted by PamJee's classmate in ''Webcomic/{{Something Positive}}'', shut down when PamJee points out that adoption isn’t an easy thing, and that her parents adopted her PROVES they wanted her.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', Guts' adopted father Gambino allowed his lover Sys to adopt the baby Guts after they found him [[DoorstopBaby beneath the corpse of his hanged mother]] mostly so Sys, who earlier had suffered a miscarriage, wouldn't go mad with grief. Once Sys contracted an illness and passed away Gambino felt guilty that he had been unable to by her side as she was dying while Guts had, and made no secret of his hatred for Guts and the circumstances of them finding him, which he believed caused Sys' death, and put him through brutal TrainingFromHell, including selling him to pedophile solider Donovan for three silver coins.

Contrast HappilyAdopted, when the adopted character has no problem with being adopted. Related to AdoptionIsNotAnOption, where a couple refuses to even considering adopting a child with no reason given.

Contrast HappilyAdopted, when the adopted character has no problem with being adopted.

* In ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen'' Mark is nicknamed "[=FedEx=]" by his siblings, who say that the Fed-Ex truck dropped him off at the house to imply this trope. It's this nickname getting used one too many times after a TraumaCongaLine that ultimately causes Mark to try and run away.

* In ''{{LightNovel/Bakemonogatari}}'', the fact that Tsubasa Hanekawa isn't actually related to either of her legal guardians (who are, respectively, her stepfather's second wife and the man she in turn married when her first stepfather died) is a huge part of why they're so abusive to her, including not allowing her to have her own room so she has to keep all of her belongings and her bed in the hallway and at least one occasion where her stepfather punched her in the face until she bled. And it turns out that her step-parents don't even like each other, and are planning to divorce once she reaches legal age to avoid the scandal of abandoning an orphan.

* In ''LightNovel/Bakemonogatari'', the fact that Tsubasa Hanekawa isn't actually related to either of her legal guardians (who are, respectively, her stepfather's second wife and the man she in turn married when her first stepfather died) is a huge part of why they're so abusive to her, including not allowing her to have her own room so she has to keep all of her belongings and her bed in the hallway and at least one occasion where her stepfather punched her in the face until she bled. And it turns out that her step-parents don't even like each other, and are planning to divorce once she reaches legal age to avoid the scandal of abandoning an orphan.

* In ''LightNovel/Bakemonogatari'', the fact that Tsubasa Hanekawa isn't actually related to either of her legal guardians (who are, respectively, her stepfather's second wife and the man she in turn married when her first stepfather died) is a huge part of why they're so abusive to her, including not allowing her to have her own room so she has to keep all of her belongings in the kitchen and at least one occasion where her stepfather punched her in the face until she bled. And it turns out that her step-parents don't even like each other, and are planning to divorce once she reaches legal age to avoid the scandal of abandoning an orphan.

* This was a big part of the reason Azura in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' had such a DarkAndTroubledPast prior to the game. She and her mother Arete were taken in by King Garon in Nohr after the death of his first wife Queen Katerina and both faced severe verbal abuse from Garon's concubines due to her mother being seen as a [[SketchySuccessor a subpar replacement for the beloved deceased queen]] and Azura not being a blood related member of the family. While Garon himself always treated her well, her Nohrian step-siblings were told by their mothers to avoid interacting with Azura because of her adoption (though they weren't happy about that). This left such scars on her that she seems to ''expect'' this trope from her Hoshidan adopted siblings, telling Ryoma and Hinoka that they don't have to pretend to love her anymore now that their "real" sibling, the Avatar, is back, and she apologizes to the Avatar in their Hoshidan supports for "stealing" their birthright from them. However, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Ryoma and Hinoka tell her their familial love for her was never faked, and the Avatar assures her that they don't blame her at all.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', Sakura Matou is the adopted heir of the Matou family, which causes her adopted brother Shinji to resent her, to the point of [[spoiler:raping her daily]] since the reason she was adopted from the [[spoiler:Tohsaka]] family was because Shinji was completely unable to use magic.

!!Examples

[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'', Guts' adopted father Gambino allowed his lover Sys to adopt the baby Guts after they found him [[DoorstopBaby beneath the corpse of his hanged mother]] mostly so Sys, who earlier had suffered a miscarriage, wouldn't go mad with grief. Once Sys contracted an illness and passed away Gambino felt guilty that he had been unable to by her side as she was dying while Guts had, and made no secret of his hatred for Guts and the circumstances of them finding him, which he believed caused Sys' death, and put him through brutal TrainingFromHell, including selling him to pedophile solider Donovan for three silver coins.

[[AC:Film]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheAvengers'' where Thor is at first defending [[BigBad Loki]], then promptly does a VerbalBackspace.
-->'''Bruce Banner''': I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.
-->'''Thor''': Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother.
-->'''Black Widow''': He killed eighty people in two days.
-->[{{beat}}]
-->'''Thor''': He's adopted.

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live Action Television]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

-->'''Child:''' Is any of this going to be true?
-->'''Marcus:''' Yes. Probably a lot of it. You're adopted.

[[AC:Visual Novel]]

[[AC:Web Comics]]

--> ''Bailey: "You're adopted!"''
--> ''Tarot: "So are you!"''
--> ''Bailey: "I don't think that worked."''
* In ''{{Webcomic/Drowtales}}'', Quain'tana [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4983 outright tells]] Syphile that adopting her was a mistake on her part, since while her mother was a good soldier Syphile has none of her strength or conviction. Quain does eventually admit that Syphile GrewASpine, immediately before [[spoiler:killing Syphile after her attempted assassination of Quain fails miserably]] and Syphile gave her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. In this case Quain has no issues with adoption itself, since she had formally adopted two (adult) members of the clan as a way to honor them and is quite pleased with both of them.

[[AC:Web Original]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS2E12TheWords The Words]]" Gumball's ultimate proof to Darwin that words can hurt people is telling him "You, are not my brother. You are just a pet! Who grew legs!" He takes it back after he makes his point.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' Gumball's ultimate proof to Darwin that words can hurt people is telling him "You, are not my brother. You are just a pet! Who grew legs!" He takes it back after he makes his point.

* In "Homer's Triple Bypass" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer, before undergoing heart surgery, tells his children some encouraging words in case he dies. However, he's no good at speeches, so the kids themselves help him out. Bart takes advantage of this by tricking Homer into telling Lisa, "You're adopted, and I don't like you."

* This was a big part of the reason Azura in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' had such a DarkAndTroubledPast prior to the game; since she and her mother Arete were taken in by King Garon in Nohr after the death of his first wife Queen Katerina, and both faced severe verbal abuse from Garon's concubines due to her mother being seen as a [[SketchySuccessor a subpar replacement for the beloved deceased queen]] and Azura not being a blood related member of the family. While Garon himself always treated her well, her Nohrian step-siblings were told by their mothers to avoid interacting with Azura because of her adoption (though they weren't happy about that). This left such scars on her that she seems to ''expect'' this trope from her Hoshidan adopted siblings, telling Ryoma and Hinoka that they don't have to pretend to love her anymore now that their "real" sibling, the Avatar, is back, and she apologizes to the Avatar in their Hoshidan supports for "stealing" their birthright from them. However, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Ryoma and Hinoka tell her their familial love for her was never faked, and the Avatar assures her that they don't blame her at all.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', SelfDemonstrating/GLaDOS brings up the player character being adopted as an insult repeatedly. [[YouAreFat Also that you're fat]]. An advocacy group took umbrage with Creator/ValveSoftware over this, thinking it was reflecting badly on adopted families and playing this trope straight, but Valve's response was that it was obviously too over the top to be taken seriously and it was coming from the mouth of a villain.

* This was a big part of the reason Azura in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' had such a DarkAndTroubledPast prior to the game, since she and her mother Arete were taken in by King Garon in Nohr after the death of his first wife Queen Katerina, and both faced severe verbal abuse from Garon's concubines due to her mother being seen as a [[SketchySuccessor a subpar replacement for the beloved deceased queen]] and Azura not being a blood related member of the family. Garon himself always treated her well, and her Nohran siblings mention that they didn't like being told by their mothers to avoid interacting with Azura because of her adoption. It's also inverted with her Hoshidan adopted siblings, since she preempts this trope by telling Ryoma and Hinoka that they don't have to pretend to love her anymore now that their "real" sibling The Avatar is back, and she apologizes to the Avatar in their Hoshidan supports for "stealing" their birthright from them. However, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Ryoma and Hinoka tell her their familial love for her was never faked, and the Avatar assures her that they don't blame her at all.]]