History Main / LikeFatherUnlikeSon

** Bardock was a serious and proud warrior who would slaughter innocent races because it's in his blood, and despite being a low-class warrior, he was abnormally strong. His oldest son Raditz is similar, only openly more cruel and is a weak DirtyCoward. After getting hit on his head, Goku grew up as a cheerful and friendly IdiotHero and he can be a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.

* The manga version of ''Manga/SoulEater'' (the anime never reaches this point) paints the antagonism between [[spoiler:Lord Death and Asura]] in another light as it is revealed [[spoiler:Asura is a fragment of Death embodying Madness due to Order Death willingly cast away to further embody Order -as there has been revealed Madness does is not purely a force of chaos, as it can manifest from desires of Order, Knowledge, and Power, among other aspects-, making Asura the son of a TrulySingleParent. Guess who else is a fragment of Death? Death the Kid, who represents Madness due to Order.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Bolt and his father Blaze look almost identical (enough so that they participate in a Creator/MarxBrothers style MirrorRoutine when they first meet), but they're extremely different in personality. Blaze is a ne'er-do-well [[TheDrifter drifter]] who has had several UnsuccessfulPetAdoption experiences, does risky things like running between cars for kicks, and is an [[ExtremeOmnisexual exceedingly promiscuous]] dog who has AGirlInEveryPort and describes himself as being "trisexual" (meaning he'll try anything once). His son has had only one owner who he is [[UndyingLoyalty extremely devoted to]], did risky things on his TV show only because he believed his master was in danger, and is in a monogamous relationship with Mittens.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': Angela may look almost exactly like her mother, Demona (except for having her father's skin and hair color), but their personalities are as different as their names imply. Demona is a revenge-obsessed FantasticRacist, while Angela is sweet, moral, and genuinely bewildered by the concept of racism.

* ''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. [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] 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 [[Characters/TheSimpsonsHomerSimpson Homer Simpson]] somehow wound up fathering [[Characters/TheSimpsonsLisaSimpson Lisa Simpson]], 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.)

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': The differences between [[Characters/BigCityGreensChipWhistler 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]].

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonHumans Ren Serizawa]] is less stoic and secure than his late father was, and he's only just beginning to understand why Ishirō Serizawa and Vivienne Graham had such a reverent outlook on Godzilla and his Titan allies.

*** [[Characters/MonsterVerseRenSerizawa Ren Serizawa]]. He may look and sound like his deceased father from the [[Film/Godzilla2014 previous]] [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 films]] at first glance but beyond that, about the only common trait they share is a genius-level intellect, and it becomes clear that Ren and his father could ''not'' be more different. Ishirō Serizawa was a naturalist with a deep and profound reverence for the Titans (especially Godzilla), respect for nature, and criticism of mankind's arrogance and destructive hubris, and he heroically gave his life reviving Godzilla. Ren is supporting Apex Cybernetics' MugglePower agenda to dominate, enslave and kill the Titans (who are forces of nature) using technological means, including Apex's obscenely TooDumbToLive [[spoiler:use of '''[[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]]'s still-telepathic alien skull''' as the damned '''brain''' for a Mecha they've designed to be the WorldsStrongestMan (in fact, the novelization suggests it was probably Ren's idea to use Ghidorah's remains in such a way in the first place)]]. And the {{novelization}} shows Ren believes HumanityIsSuperior and humanity has TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies to dominate the Titans, and that he despises Godzilla as the focus of his ParentalNeglect resentment towards his father. In stark contrast to his father's death, Ren was forcibly killed by [[spoiler:Ghidorah's skull]] and met a completely forgettable and almost humiliating demise.
*** [[Characters/MonsterVerseMadisonRussell Madison Russell]] also has this in the film's novelization. She and her father Mark Russell differ in that Madison has no interest in being normal following her early upbringing with her mother in a LimitedSocialCircle at Monarch and her experiences in [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the previous film]] which turned her into a ShellShockedVeteran. Mark on the other hand has implicitly rejoined Monarch out of a sense of duty and would be all too happy to never have to deal with Titans again if it could be helped, and unfortunately he's projecting his own expectations of what would be an ideal life onto Madison which is straining their relationship.