Basic Trope: A character reveals to another character that they are that character's parent.
- Straight: Bob turns out to be Alice's father.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob turns out to be Alice's father and brings a photo album, family tree and positive DNA test to prove this.
- After Bob reveals himself to be Alice's father, Charles suddenly reveals himself to be Alice's long lost half-brother, then Danny chimes in, revealing himself to be Alice's (and Charles's) cousin who they've never met, Emily reveals herself to be Alice's daughter from the future and so on until pretty much all the major characters on the show are revealed to be related to Alice somehow. A Tangled Family Tree ensues.
- ALL human beings are descended from Bob.
- Downplayed:
- The fact that Bob is Alice's father is only a subtle fact no character in the show speaks about.
- Bob is Alice's uncle/grandfather.
- Justified:
- Alice's mother Fran divorced Bob and got sole custody, vowing never to let Bob meet Alice.
- Alternatively, Bob doesn't want his daughter to know who he is, and until recently did his best to prevent Alice from finding out
- Alice is the result of a one-night stand, or a whore's child — a lot of people could turn out to be her father, Bob included.
- Bob only recently found out that Alice and his Long Lost Daughter Maria are one and the same.
- Inverted:
- Luke, You Are My Father
- I Am Not Your Father
- The character knows who their father is from the start, but nobody else knows this.
- Subverted:
- Family Relationship Switcheroo
- Turns out Bob was lying.
- Hints are dropped to the effect that Bob is the Alice's father: there's a Disappeared Dad nobody wants to talk about, they have the same powers — and heck, they even look alike! Then Fran reveals that Harry was actually the father.
- Double Subverted:
- Hints are dropped to the effect that Bob is the Alice's father. Then, Alice's mother Fran claims that Harry was actually the father. Harry insists that he's not, and DNA tests prove that Bob is in fact Alice's father.
- However, it turns out that Harry and Bob are the same guy.
- Parodied:
- Bob proclaims himself to be Alice's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
- Bob proclaims himself to have had sex with Alice's mother.
- Alice has had every villain in the series claim to be her father, regardless of biological sex. And she's is downright sick of it:Alice: More of you villains have claimed to slept with my mom than Z-Pyramid Live! I'm goddamn fed up with every one of you sickos thinking I have obvious daddy issues you can use to manipulate me!
- Zig Zagged: Fran tells Alice that Bob is her father. Alice sets out on a quest to find Bob, only for him to reveal that he never even slept with Fran. But Alice looks an awful lot like Bob... but then Bob has a brother, Harry, who seems awfully interested in Fran. Because there's no DNA testing, we never find out who Alice's father was.
- Averted: Alice's paternity doesn't enter the story.
- Enforced: "How about this for a twist: these two characters turn out to be related!"
- Lampshaded:
- "Oh yeah? So where the hell's my allowance?!"
- "Well, this feels like a tabloid talk show
all of a sudden..."
- Invoked: Alice's family is used as an experiment to determine the differences in a family with and without a father, so someone forces Bob to leave the country and Fran to never mention it. Cue 18th birthday, where Bob returns and reveals himself.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Bob intentionally contacted Alice before the series started specifically so that she wouldn't grow up not knowing who her father was.
- Bob decides to not tell Alice that he's her father.
- Discussed: "I can't wait to see how they explain this."
- Conversed: "And they thought now would be the best time to reveal this because...?"
- Implied: Luke, I Might Be Your Father
- Deconstructed: The ramifications of this statement are thoroughly examined as Alice and Fran comes to grips with Bob's appearance. Alice, Fran, and Bob sit down and have a long heartfelt chat over their family's history and the decision to divorce. Whether Alice accepts Bob, Fran takes back Bob, or Bob truly loves either of them is yet to be seen.
- Reconstructed: Bob spent years of his life trying to find Alice, knowing what a terrible mother Fran would turn out to be. Alice is relieved to see Bob and accepts him wholeheartedly.
Back to the main page, because he's your father.
