History Main / LikeFatherUnlikeSon

* In ''Film/{{Matilda}}'', the title character's parents are incredibly [[AbusiveParents horrible]] and stupid people who prefer watching mindless {{Soap Opera}}s and game hhows. Matilda's father in particular is an incredibly [[HonestJohnsDealership dishonest car salesman]]. Matilda in contrast however is a very sweet and [[WiseBeyondTheirYears extremely intelligent]] girl who loves books and learning. She's also fully aware of how wrong and dangerous the stunts her father pulls to make a quick buck. How she could be the child of such horrible people is beyond baffling.

** Daeron II the Good was very much unlike his father Aegon the Unworthy. While Aegon was a hedonist who cared nothing about ruling, Daeron was a principled and self-controlled man who took his duties seriously. This helped fuel the rumors that Daeron was not Aegon's biological son but rather the son of his uncle Aemon the Dragonknight who was ''the'' KnightInShiningArmor.
** In the case of House Targaryen, this pattern occurs for several generations including Daeron's. Prince Daemon Targaryen lived and loved dangerously and epitomized everything good and bad about being Targaryen, while his sons Aegon III and Viserys II were BoringButPractical, with Viserys serving as a capable Hand of the King to Aegon and his sons for decades. Aegon III's eldest son Daeron I was an ambitious YoungConqueror, while Baelor I was a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who was called "the Blessed" and "the Befuddled" in equal measure. Viserys' son was Aegon IV the Unworthy (see above), the hedonistic father of Daeron II.

* ''Webcomic/MoringMarkTOHComics'': Jay probably couldn't be any more different than Bosha if she tried, despite being her literal clone. Boscha was a cruel JerkJock in her child and teen years who placed all her self worth on playing grudgby. Jay on the other hand is best friends with the daughter of Boscha's former bullying victim and expresses a dislike for that very same sport. Pretty much the only thing the two have in common apart from their looks is [[DeadpanSnarker a taste for sarcasm]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'', Hector Con Carne the VillainProtagonist of the series is an evil crime lord reduced to an anthropomorphic BrainInAJar bent on taking over the world. Hector's son from the future Destructicus Con Carne whom Hector somehow conceived with his MadScientist minion Major Dr. Ghastly (it's complicated) is completely different in alignment to him. The muscular non-BrainInAJar Destructicus decides to become a superhero who fights against the forces of evil such as his parent's organization. Destructicus however still loves his parents, though only Ghastly, both her present and older self, and Hector's older self returns their son's affections (again it's complicated).

** Lacey is a dainty girl and a Fairy-type specialist, while her father Clay is an imposing man and a Ground-type specialist. However, both of them have Excadrill as their ace (in Lacey's case, she uses Terastalization to turn her Excadrill into Fairy-type)..
** Drayton is a BrilliantButLazy battler who doesn't take his education seriously, in contrast to his grandfather who is a stern and dedicated mayor. Their only similarity is that Drayton still specializes in Dragon-type like dear granddad.

* ''Webcomic/MoringMarkTOHComics'': Jay probably couldn't be any more differnt than Bosha if she tried, despite being her literal clone. Boscha was a cruel JerkJock in her child and teen years who placed all her self worth on playing grudgby. Jay on the other hand is best friends with the daughter of Boscha's former bullying victim and expresses a dislike for that very same sport. Pretty much the only thing the two have in common apart from their looks is [[DeadpanSnarker a taste for sarcasm]].

* ''Film/T2Trainspotting'': Begbie escapes from prison, and hides with his wife and son, and decides to get back to a life of crime, trying to take his son Frank Jr. with him, but Frank just isn't into the family business.

* Namond Brice from ''Series/TheWire'' doesn't have the stuff to become a gangster like his father Wee-Bey.

** White Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Yellow Diamond are all tyrannical {{Evil Overlord}}s. Pink Diamond, who is TheBabyOfTheBunch of the Diamonds, is typically at her worst InnocentlyInsensitive and [[spoiler:TheHighQueen of the Earth colony]].

** Greg is a very [[GoodParents emotionally-supportive]] OpenMindedParent who raised Steven with the Crystal Gems in very unconventional ways (like informally [[HomeschooledKids homeschooling]] him) and was pretty disorganized for most of his life. Late in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'', we see Greg's parents were very conservative {{Control Freak}}s, albeit good providers, who he cut ties with in adulthood. Much like Sadie and Pink Diamond, there's a heavy implication Greg was overcompensating for the way his parents treated him -- which backfires when [[RebelliousRebel Steven himself rebels]], telling his father that [[GrassIsGreener Greg was the one with the better childhood]].

** Finn's father Martin is the exact opposite of his son in personality. Instead of being selfless and moral like his son, he is a criminal with [[TheSociopath truly sociopathic behavior]] and LackOfEmpathy. His appearance is also different, dressed in red and bald, unlike his son, who is dressed in blue and has long hair. The episode "Min and Marty" does show a bit light on his character, showing Martin was nowhere near as bad as we see him now.

* Stan Smith from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' is an extremely patriotic Republican CIA agent who advocates things such as the legalization of guns. Stan's daughter Hayley is a GranolaGirl whose political views completely contrast those of her father, such as being against guns. Despite the contrasting views, the two actually care for each even if they don't show it often. Stan in particular doesn't like people calling Hayley a whore.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': The differences between Chip Whistler and his father are as different as night and day. While Chip's father is a kind and wise man on top of being an HonestCorporateExecutive, Chip is a spoiled brat all grown up [[spoiler:who becomes a CorruptCorporateExecutive]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill is a hard-working man with a love of football and a dislike of anything out of the norm for him. His son Bobby is a goofball who has no desire for sports and is always interested in something new and unique. Hank also is very much unlike his father, Cotton, who is a borderline abusive, bitter [[DadTheVeteran WWII veteran]].* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the SpinOffspring of the characters from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' contrast a bit from their parents.
** Aang in the first series was often a playful happy-go-lucky kid. Aang's son Tenzin grew up to be a stern mentor figure who's often a stick in the mud. Despite this, Tenzin was considered the favorite of Aang's three children (in part due to being the only Airbender among them) and it's implied they had an extremely close relationship, though in the present [[WellDoneSonGuy Tenzin feels he can barely keep up with Aang's power and fame]] and has a strained bond with his siblings Kya and Bumi.
** Toph in the first series was an independent girl snarker who ran away from her strict home which wanted her to follow tradition. Toph's older daughter Lin is a serious IronLady who became DaChief in order to follow in her mother's footsteps as a cop despite Toph's own wishes against such a choice. The contrast is even more highlighted in their actions as police chiefs. Whereas Lin is a strict ByTheBookCop who only did things not by the book after resigning from her position, Toph [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem abused her position]] as she immediately covered up for her other daughter Suyin when she got arrested.

* Rarity from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is a sophisticated {{fashionista}} who can easily fit in with any of the upper class. However, her traits contrast with both of her parents who can be best described as run-of-the-mill middle-class uncultured gaudy clothes-wearing ponies. The contrast between her and her parents is even highlighted by their accents. Rarity has a Mid-Atlantic accent which sounds very cultured and almost British. Her father and mother have accents that are very undeniably American, an exaggerated Midwestern Accent and {{Joisey}} accent respectively.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Odalia Blight is a status-obsessed ControlFreak who happily manipulates those around her for profit. While she tries to steer her children into taking after her (even forcing Amity to dye her hair a similar color to hers) they all end up veering away from her. Amity chooses to hang out with the lower-status friends, Odalia doesn't approve of and sheds much of the cold facade her mother forced her to adopt. Edric and Emira are mischief makers and tearaways; happy to go behind their mother's back if it means helping out Amity. It's notable that none of them ended up studying the same oracle magic as her with Amity pursuing abominations like her father and the twins pursuing illusions. As the show goes on Edric and Amity show more in common with their father than their mother.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons,'' [[TheDitz goofy]] LowerClassLout Homer Simpson somehow wound up fathering Lisa, a sensitive, socially conscious ChildProdigy. This makes a bit more sense in the episode "Mother Simpson," in which we learn that Homer himself was the son of free-spirited social activist and GranolaGirl Mona Simpson, whom Lisa takes after. (Homer most obviously takes after [[ItRunsInTheFamily his father Abe]], [[JustifiedTrope who did the bulk of raising him after Mona left]], though he and Mona have some noticeable SharedFamilyQuirks.)

** Star, the main character, is upbeat and energetic to the point of being almost hyper. Her parents are stodgy, deadpan, and display a tiny bit of strictness. Eventually we find out Star's father is boisterous and adventurous like she is when out of the public eye, so it's just her mother that Star contrasts with. We eventually see Moon was more like Star when she was younger, but [[spoiler: Moon was forced to grow up much faster when Toffee killed her mother, Comet Butterfly and thus became a queen much faster.]]
** Marco, despite his protestations to the contrary, is a very safe person, to the point he is almost doing it unconsciously. His parents, however, are free spirits who embrace new experiences even if they are dangerous. Marco is trying to change out of his safe nature (and going to increasingly reckless lengths to do so.)
** Solaria and Eclipsa are a much more extreme contrast. Eclipsa is a LadyOfBlackMagic who fell in love with a monster and [[{{elopement}} abandoned her kingdom to marry him]]. Her mother Solaria was [[SociopathicSoldier Mina Loveberry's]] mentor, and a militant swordswoman who took VanHelsingHateCrimes to [[ANaziByAnyOtherName genocidal levels]]. Their [[StellarName names]] and motifs are ''literally'' [[DarkIsNotEvil night]] and [[LightIsNotGood day]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Hank Hill is a hard-working man with a love of football and a dislike of anything out of the norm for him. His son Bobby is a goofball who has no desire for sports and is always interested in something new and unique.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the SpinOffspring of the characters from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' contrast a bit from their parents.

** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade The Blazing Blade]]''[='s=] Hector is usually known for his big stature, expertise at axe-fighting, and BrilliantButLazy and HotBlooded personality. His daughter Lilina from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'' is quite petite, a magical prodigy (despite Hector's possible wives being physical fighters), a hard worker, and is far closer to being a [[NiceGirl sweet]] AllLovingHero.

** Coming full circle in ''Series/{{Frasier2023}}'', Frasier's son, Freddy, has dropped out of Harvard and become a firefighter. Their relationship at the start of the series is strained, to say the least.

-->--'''Martin Crane''', ''Series/{{Frasier}}''

** George [=McFly=] in the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first movie]]'s original timeline was a spineless geek who let Biff Tannen continue to bully him even after they graduated high school. George's youngest son Marty is a cool but hot-headed kid who stands up to bullies especially if [[NobodyCallsMeChicken they call him chicken]], although the "original" version of his eldest son Dave appears to be closer to George personality-wise.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed'': [[spoiler: Glimmer is Rex’s daughter and is implied to be Pyra’s as well. However, while her dad is a {{Pollyanna}} (although he TookALevelInCynic as he got older), and her mother is is a NiceGirl, Glimmer is a DeadpanSnarker, making her much more like her Aunt Mythra]].

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* In ''Webcomic/SkinDeep'', Ike's mother is super racist ([[FurryComic speciesist?]]) and obsessed with "proper behavior befitting a proud buggane family", and it's [[HenpeckedHusband all her husband can do]] to keep her from going into offensive tirades in public. Ike himself (who actually moved to another city to get away from her) gets along with almost everyone and is in an InterspeciesRomance, and his two half-brothers seem to be following his example.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10264509/479/Tales-of-Fairies The Truth about Bickslow]]'', where the ''Manga/FairyTail'' guild are surprised that not only are [[TheHyena Bickslow's]] parents alive and he isn't ConvenientlyAnOrphan like most of the rest of them (they actually live in Magnolia), but they're a cheerful, doting, and ordinary couple composing of an accountant and a housewife.