History ParentalSubstitute / WesternAnimation

* From ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime,'' Simon Petrikov served as this to Marceline when she was a child during the [[AfterTheEnd aftermath of the Mushroom War]]. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when Simon's [[ArtifactOfDoom crown]] eventually drove him irreversibly insane and transformed him into the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Ice King]]. While he still remembers her as someone that he likes and should be protective of, and thus still drawn to seeking her out, he has completely forgotten the true depths of their relationship.

** Pearl often behaves like a standard mother would towards Steven, such as occasionally scolding him, going AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents with him, being the first to panic when he's in potential danger, and helping him clean his room on a regular basis. She even refers to Steven as "my baby!" at one point.

** Pearl often behaves like a standard mother would towards Steven, such as occasionally scolding him, being the first to panic when he's in potential danger, and helping him clean his room on a regular basis. She even refers to Steven as "my baby"at one point.

** Pearl often behaves like a standard mother would towards Steven, such as occasionally scolding him, being the first to panic when he's in potential danger, and helping him clean his room on a regular basis. She even refers to Steven as "my baby"

--> '''Bender''': Sometimes I wish your real parents were alive. ''[Hugs Fry]'' Not often though.

* From ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime,'' Simon Petrikov served as this to Marceline when she was a child during the [[AfterTheEnd aftermath of the Mushroom War]]. This makes it all the more heartbreaking when [[spoiler:Simon's [[ArtifactOfDoom crown]] eventually drove him irreversibly insane and transformed him into the [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Ice King]]. He still remembers her as someone that he likes, and he's still drawn to her despite her frequently moving (implied to be Marceline hiding from the Ice King because it's too painful for her to see him), but he's completely forgotten the true depths of their relationship]].
** In her mid-to-late teenage years, Marceline would become quite close with an older man named Two Bread Tom. The details on their relationship aren't completely clear, but Two Bread Tom was honored for being "everyone's cool dad" after his death, so it's possible he took up a paternal role in her life.
** Also, Margaret and Joshua filled this role for Finn. Two loving, dog parents raising the last human child on Ooo. To some extent, Jake filled this role for Finn as well as it's heavily implied Margaret and Joshua both died very early in Finn's life.

** Rainbow Dash sways between this and CoolBigSis where Scootaloo is concerned, as the filly's parents have yet to even be so much as alluded to on the show itself.

** Twilight Sparkle can be seen as a mother or sister figure to Spike, knowing that she hatched him as part of passing the entrance exam at her school, as revealed in "Cutie Mark Chronicles" and also following the events in "Owl's Well That Ends Well". According to Lauren Faust, Spike's original backstory had him raised by Celestia as well since Twilight was a filly herself at the time, but she also said this was a storyboard concept and not official at the time. In "Father Knows Beast," Spike all but calls Twilight his mother.

** Twilight Sparkle can be seen as a mother or sister figure to Spike, knowing that she hatched him as part of passing the entrance exam at her school, as revealed in "Cutie Mark Chronicles" and also following the events in "Owl's Well That Ends Well". According to Lauren Faust, Spike's original backstory had him raised by Celestia as well since Twilight was a filly herself at the time, but she also said this was a storyboard concept and not official at the time.

* ''WesternAnimation/ProjectGeeker'': Lady Macbeth and Noah (though to a lesser extent than the former) frequently fill the role for Geeker, who although isn't technically a child due to being an ArtificialHuman is mentally stunted and requires a certain degree of caretaking.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': Stu and Didi Pickles could be seen as this to their niece, [[BrattyHalfPint Angelica Pickles]]. While it is obvious that Angelica's parents, Drew and Charlotte (Stu's older brother and his wife), really do love her, they're usually to busy with work to spend any actual "quality time" with her, and Stu and Didi (particularly the latter) are shown to pay considerably more attention to their niece and actually discipline her more often than most of the other adults on the show, including Angelica's own parents.

** Much of Superboy's season 1 character arc deals with him struggling to come to terms with being Superman's clone, and he frequently laments the fact that Superman is unwilling to serve as a parental figure, [[spoiler: which is further complicated by the fact that some of Connor's DNA is actually Lex Luthor's, and Luthor does actually consider Connor his son- [[FauxAffablyEvil at least when it serves his purposes]]]]. Season 2's TimeSkip mostly resolves the issue, with Clark and Connor settling into a fraternal relationship, with the implication that the Jonathon and Martha Kent became Connor's parental figures.

** In the episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", Bender acts as a parental substitute to Fry, going so far as to attend his holophone recital and yell at the teacher when she drops Fry as a student.

* Zuko in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' finds his parental substitute in his eccentric BadassGrandpa uncle, Iroh. While his biological father is an [[AbusiveParents abusive]], [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] tyrant whose "love" is entirely conditional, Iroh continues to be concerned only with helping Zuko find happiness even after Zuko stabs him in the back.

** Toph admits that she views Katara, who is only two years older than her, as a mother figure. Toph's own parents weren't particularly good. Katara also acts a mother figure to Aang, who never knew his own. In an interesting version of this trope, Katara's older brother Sokka expresses the same emotions and he can't remember his own mother because Katara has replaced her in his mind.

** Toph admits that she views Katara, only a few years older than her, as a mother figure. Toph's own parents weren't particularly good. Katara also acts a mother figure to Aang, who never knew his own. In an interesting version of this trope, Katara's older brother Sokka expresses the same emotions and he can't remember his own mother because Katara has replaced her in his mind.