History Main / AllWorkvsAllPlay

** Gumball is often lazy and hedonistic, preferring to goof off rather than focus on his responsibilities. Anais, by contrast, is a studious ChildProdigy who does what she is told. That being said, Gumball ''has'' occasionally shown to do work [[BrilliantButLazy but only when he feels like it]].
** Richard is a couch potato with no job, while his wife Nicole is far more dedicated to housework and chores. One episode even showed that if Richard ''does'' find a job, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Elmore would face extinction]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': {{Invoked|Trope}} in one episode where Stan and Francine decide to raise Steve and his clone in their own ways, with the clone being the All Work and Steve himself being the All Play. Stan makes the clone do chores, exercise, and study, whereas Francine allows Steve to do whatever he wants, such as playing video games all day, eating junk food, masturbating, and staying up late at night. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} when the clone turns into a [[AxCrazy sociopathic murderer]] due to the stress of having to work 24/7 and Steve turns into an [[FatSlob overweight, lethargic couch potato]] from having nothing to work for.

** Played with with Dexter and [=Dee Dee=] (respectively All Work and All Play), where there would be episodes where Dexter would be more relaxed like [=Dee Dee=] or [=Dee Dee=] more work-minded like Dexter only to turn back at the end. StatusQuoIsGod or an aesop of being yourself?
** Sometimes averted in certain episodes, as Dexter frequently worries about normal things for a boy his age, such as his favorite television heroes, and being liked by the neighborhood kids.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz is very fun-loving, airheaded, and impulsive, while [[spoiler:her girlfriend]] Amity is more studious, reserved, and serious.

** Also downplayed with Benson and Pops. Benson is devoted to his job as park manager and persistent in keeping his workers in line. Pops, although far from lazy, is usually too scatterbrained and childish to perform his duties at the park, preferring to play with toys and catch butterflies.

Usually, a scenario to give AnAesop about balance between responsibility and leisure, this has been seen incarnated in different ways through media but at times is just the essential characteristic between two characters. Compare AllTakeAndNoGive.

* Subverted in a ''Lupo Alberto'' strip: [[Literature/TheGrasshopperAndTheAnts a grasshopper knocks at the anthill's door, the ant tells him he should have worked during summer and to scram]]... And the grasshopper tells him to shut up, because he's there to bring the tickets for his next concert that the queen has bought, and he should hurry in bringing them to the queen before she rips his antennae.

* Haruhi (work) and Tamaki (play) in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', due to their social backgrounds. Really, Haruhi vs. the entire host club (minus Kyouya and arguably Mori) are this.

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has a single person example with Fujiwara. [[spoiler:She used to be an honor student who never had any time to play due to spending every waking moment practicing the piano until she was on the verge of a burnout. After Kaguya convinced her to quit, she decided to make up for lost time and became TheHedonist.]]

* Averted in Highlights' ''Literature/GoofusAndGallant'' where you are meant to always root for Gallant, the All Work.

* H. G. Wells ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' has the Morlocks (All Work) and the Eloi (All Play), and is actually an Aesop of the "If This Goes On" variety about the class differences of Victorian England.

** HilarityEnsues: that's pretty much Sheen's MO in real life now.

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': The red team has Simmons (All Work) and Grif (All Play). It's played for laughs.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': {{Invoked|Trope}} in one episode where Stan and Francine decide to raise Steve and his clone in their own ways. Stan makes the clone do chores, exercise, and study, whereas Francine allows Steve to do whatever he wants, such as playing video games all day, eating junk food, masturbating, and staying up late at night. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} when the clone turns into a sociopathic murderer due to the stress of having to work 24/7 and Steve turns into an overweight, lethargic couch potato from having nothing to work for.

* Liszt and Alice Kiriki in ''LightNovel/OkamiSan''. Due to the series' fairy tale theme, they're based on the UrExample below (List being the Grasshopper, and Alice being the Ant).

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob=] is a devoted worker to the Krusty Krab and a NeatFreak, in contrast to his best friend Patrick, a FatSlob who doesn't have a job and goofs around 24/7.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittlePigs'': The first two pigs are All Play, while the third is All Work.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Marge and Lisa are All Work while Homer and Bart are All Play. This gets lampshaded a couple of times.

** Applejack is a solid and reliable hard worker, who will faithfully help her friends even at the risk of overextending herself. Rainbow Dash is BrilliantButLazy and would rather nap and save her work for the last moment. Some episodes display a FriendlyRivalry between the two. Subverted, however, when Rainbow Dash is pursuing her dreams of a Wonderbolt. She DOES try hard. She's also an example of HardWorkHardlyWorks.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': Chip is All Work and Dale is All Play.
* Henry and Stanley in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'', though Henry isn't ''as'' uptight as most examples.
* Sonic and Princess Sally in ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM''. While Sonic is one of the most active Freedom Fighters, he tends to treat missions like a game and fool around, while Sally is a humorless workaholic who constantly berates him for being reckless. A lot of the time Sonic's careless attitude gives an opening for the villains, though he has occasional moments of brilliance.
* From ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', the Pines brothers. As they grew up from childhood, Ford became all work, and Stan remained all play. This drove a wedge between the twins to the point that Ford was willing to abandon Stan for an (admittedly serious) honest mistake. While Stan has become a little better about this in his adult years, Ford largely remains at his extreme. Averted with their nephew and niece, Dipper and Mabel Pines. While Dipper is the more serious, mature twin, he certainly knows when to loosen up and have fun, and Mabel is playful and fun-loving, but knows when to be serious. They get along a lot better than their uncles.
* On ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans'', Jay is All Work and Neil is All Play. The others fall somewhere in the middle, and usually take turns trying to persuade Jay to loosen up a bit. (Getting Neil to be more serious is generally understood to be a lost cause.)
* In ''WesternAnimation/InnerWorkings'', Paul's Brain is All Work, believing that any deviation from Paul's humdrum life will have disastrous consequences, while Paul's Heart is All Play, wanting Paul to break out of his routine and enjoy life more. [[spoiler: The Brain gradually realizes that he's just making Paul miserable, and learns to let Paul lighten up a little.]]

** Twilight Sparkle is the studious pupil of Princess Celestia herself, who can always be found studying or using her powers of SuperOCD to organize an event. Pinkie Pie is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who doesn't always pay close attention to whatever's going on and whose answer to any problem is to throw a party at it. Literally ''at it''; she has a '''party cannon'''.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The red team has Simmons (All Work) and Grif (All Play). It's played for laughs.
* Done in ''Machinima/SteveAndCarlos'' with the title characters, Steve being all play and Carlos being all work. Played for laughs much like the inspiration Red vs Blue.

* ''Franchise/FatalFury'': Terry is all play, spending most of his time on playing arcade machines and eating cheeseburgers. His brother Andy, however, is all work, spending most of his time in Japan honing his skills. Despite this, Terry was always ahead of Andy because of his greater fighting skills and natural talent, which is honed by street-fighting that shapes up Terry's instinct for the unpredictable.

* ''Frannchise/FatalFury'': Terry is all play, spending most of his time on playing arcade machines and eating cheeseburgers. His brother Andy, however, is all work, spending most of his time in Japan honing his skills. Despite this, Terry was always ahead of Andy because of his greater fighting skills and natural talent, which is honed by street-fighting that shapes up Terry's instinct for the unpredictable.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fatal Fury}}'': Terry is all play, spending most of his time on playing arcade machines and eating cheeseburgers. His brother Andy, however, is all work, spending most of his time in Japan honing his skills. Despite this, Terry was always ahead of Andy because of his greater fighting skills and natural talent, which is honed by street-fighting that shapes up Terry's instinct for the unpredictable.

* Agon and Unsui of ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}''. Though this seems to stem from what they were born with. Agon's incredibly talented and a quicker learner so he's never needed to work. Unsui is an average guy with an inferiority complex.

* Liszt and Alice Kiriki in ''LightNovel/OokamiSan''. Due to the series' fairy tale theme, they're based on the UrExample below (List being the Grasshopper, and Alice being the Ant).

* In many episodes of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' like [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E18HollywoodBabylon "Hollywood Babylon"]] and [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E15TallTales "Tall Tales"]], Sam is all work and Dean is all play.