History Main / LittleBigBrother

->'''Mario:''' Mama always said you were good at growing.
->'''Luigi:''' That's why I'm the tall one, "little" big brother.
-->--''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'', "Gopher Bash"

How can you tell which sibling is older on sight? Common sense and CaptainObvious say the taller one is older; after all, he (or she) has had more time to grow. But sometimes, due to circumstance or just RuleOfFunny, the ''younger'' sibling will wind up the taller. Expect [[HilarityEnsues hilarity to ensue]] when people identify the wrong sibling as the elder...

Sometimes happens on MeasuringDay. The obvious twin to BigLittleBrother.

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'''s Alphonse Elric had been taller than his elder brother Edward since childhood, but when he loses his body and is bound into a seven-foot-tall suit of armor, he ''towers'' over Ed, who is a hair under five feet (and gets [[TheNapoleon very defensive]] when this is pointed out). Due to his new metal form, he often gets mistakenly attributed with his brother's title of "Fullmetal Alchemist". At the end of the series, [[spoiler:Al's returned body, because of the atrophy it experienced, [[SubvertedTrope is now shorter than Ed]], who'd since grown considerably. However, when we see Al and Ed as adults in a family photo featuring Ed's family, complete with children, [[DoubleSubversion Al is several inches taller than Ed]]]].
** Also Pride. Eldest of the second generation homunculie, and bearing the shape of a seven year old child. Beside some of his ''family'' he looks fragile and weak. ''Don't you believe it!''
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': [[GentleGiant Elfman]] is the younger brother to [[SilkHidingSteel Mirajane]], but is incredibly [[BigBrotherInstinct protective]] of her, to the point that it's almost ridiculous.
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', the elder Toguro brother is the somewhat-tall, skinny one, while the younger brother is the [[TheJuggernaut unstoppable towering wall of muscle]].
* Tomoko of ''Manga/NoMatterHowILookAtItItsYouGuysFaultImNotPopular'' is considerably shorter than her younger brother. Not very unusual given he's only a year younger, but it still highlights her immaturity.
* Despite being twenty-two and having a younger brother who's twelve, Souichi from ''Manga/SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarfs'' is much tinier than his brother. In their case, it's not natural--Souichi has de-aged by several years and continues to grow younger, while Souji suffers from a case of RapidAging.
* From ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'' we have Yoshioka Seijuro, a tiny, pretty boy/playboy samurai who is HeirToTheDojo. Naturally his younger brother Denshichiro is ''huge'', and a stern, intimidating hulk of a man.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' Hagrid has a half-brother. Who, unlike Hagrid, is a full giant, so of course he's taller than Hagrid.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' [[spoiler:Harry Dresden, at closer to seven than six feet, towers over his older half-brother Thomas, who's a hair above six feet. In ''Cold Days'', Harry realizes that he now looks like the older brother, and that since Thomas is a White Court vampire, he will look more youthful than Harry for the rest of their lives]].
** The Gruffs play with this one. The fairy tales about the Billy Goats Gruff are about these guys, including the "my big brother will get you" shtick, where each older brother is exponentially bigger. [[spoiler:The Eldest Gruff is five feet tall and crushed a Denarian out of hand]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam Winchester is insanely tall (6'4" or 6'5"), while his [[KnightTemplarBigBrother notoriously protective]] [[BigBrotherInstinct big brother]] Dean is several inches shorter (around 6'1"). Sam teases him about it on occasion.
* In ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', we have the Sneak Brothers, the elder of which is a little red spiked skull, small enough to be held in his "little" brother's hand.
* Evan R. Lawson is taller than his brother, Hank Lawson, by a few good inches in ''Series/RoyalPains''.
* Genderflipped in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', where Dawn is taller than her older sister Buffy.
* In ''SuiteLifeOnDeck'' Mr. Moseby's little half-brother is a famous basketball player.
* Matty Levan from ''Series/{{Skins}}'' is notably shorter than his younger brother Nick; before Nick's centric episode in Series 5, fans thought Matty was the younger brother because of this.
* In ''WebComic/AxisPowersHetalia'':
** Prussia is shorter than Germany.
** England returned from a trip to find that America is taller than him. Keep in mind that he was physically a 12 year old before.
** Romano is the oldest, but shortest, of all three Italies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Even though he's shown as the cowardly one of the duo, Luigi is still the tallest of the Franchise/SuperMarioBros. Hell, in the animated adaptation of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' he's the [[TropeNamers trope namer]] of this.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'': Kiddy Kong
* The Brothers [[SummonMagic Guardian Force]] from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' consists of two minotaur-like...um...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin brothers]]. The elder one (who doesn't even come up to his younger sibling's knee) even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the party's, and more than likely the players', expectation when he first appears.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebAnimation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Zig-zagged with the Brothers Strong. Strong Mad, the eldest, is also the tallest. Strong Bad is the middle child, and shortest of the three. The youngest one, Strong Sad, is taller than Strong Bad but not Strong Mad.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Don", the eponymous character is introduced as Rigby's hypercompetent brother and an endless source of frustration for him. He has a deeper voice, acts more mature, [[{{Squick}} and looks like a grown man in a raccoon suit]]. It turns out that Rigby resents him because ''he's'' the younger brother, and people have ''always'' mistaken him for the older brother because he's been taller than Rigby since they were very young.
* ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowski'': Shogun Sanchez is shorter than Papercut Peterson.
* In ''WesternAnimation/EscapeFromPlanetEarth'' Gary is Scorch's older brother, but is noticeably shorter, and scrawnier.
[[/folder]]
----

<<|SiblingTropes|>>

* ''HomestarRunner'': Zig-zagged with the Brothers Strong. Strong Mad, the eldest, is also the tallest. Strong Bad is the middle child, and shortest of the three. The youngest one, Strong Sad, is taller than Strong Bad but not Strong Mad.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Don", the eponymous character is introduced as Rigby's hypercompetent brother and an endless source of frustration for him. He has a deeper voice, acts more mature, [[{{Squick}} and looks like a grown man in a raccoon suit]]. It turns out that Rigby resents him because ''he's'' the younger brother, and people have ''always'' mistaken him for the older brother because he's taller than Rigby.

-> '''Mario:''' Mama always said you were good at growing.
-> '''Luigi:''' That's why I'm the tall one, "little" big brother.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'', "Gopher Bash"

----

* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'''s Alphonse Elric had been taller than his elder brother Edward since childhood, but when he loses his body and is bound into a seven-foot-suit of armor, he ''towers'' over Ed, who is a hair under five feet (and [[TheNapoleon very defensive]] when this is pointed out). Due to his new metal form, he often gets mistakenly attributed with his brother's title of "Fullmetal Alchemist". At the end of the series, [[spoiler:Al's returned body, because of the atrophy it experienced, [[SubvertedTrope is now shorter than Ed]], who'd since grown considerably. However, when we see Al and Ed as adults in a family photo featuring Ed's family, complete with children, [[DoubleSubversion Al is several inches taller than Ed]]]].

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', the elder Toguro brother is the somewhat tall and skinny one, while the younger brother is the [[TheJuggernaut towering wall of muscle.]]

* Despite being twenty-two and having a younger brother who's twelve, Souichi from Manga/SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarfs is much tinier than his brother. In their case, it's not natural--Souichi has de-aged by several years and continues to grow younger, while Souji suffers from a case of RapidAging.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' [[spoiler: Harry Dresden, at closer to seven than six feet, towers over his older half-brother Thomas, who's a hair above six feet. In ''Cold Days'', Harry realizes that he now looks like the older brother, and that since Thomas is a White Court vampire, he will look more youthful than Harry for the rest of their lives]].
** The Gruffs play with this one. The fairy tales about the Billy Goats Gruff are about these guys, including the "my big brother will get you" shtick, where each older brother is exponentially bigger. [[spoiler: the Eldest Gruff is five feet tall and crushed a Denarian out of hand.]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam Winchester is insanely tall, while his notoriously protective big brother Dean is several inches shorter. Sam even teases him about it once.

* Evan R. Lawson is taller than his brother, Hank Lawson, by a few good inches in ''Series/RoyalPains''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Don," the eponymous character is introduced as Rigby's hypercompetent brother and an endless source of frustration for him. He has a deeper voice, acts more mature, [[{{Squick}} and looks like a grown man in a raccoon suit]]. It turns out that Rigby resents him because ''he's'' the younger brother, and people have ''always'' mistaken him for the older brother because he's taller than Rigby.

<<|SiblingTropes|>>

* Evan R. Lawson is taller than his brother, Hank Lawson, by a few good inches in [[index]]Royal Pains [[/index]]

* Matty Levan from ''Series/Skins'' is notably shorter than his younger brother Nick; before Nick's centric episode in Series 5, fans thought Matty was the younger brother because of this.

Sometimes happens on MeasuringDay. The obvious compliment to BigLittleBrother.

Sometimes happens on MeasuringDay.

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]], at six and a half feet, towers over his older half-brother Thomas, who's a hair above six feet. In ''Cold Days'', Harry realizes that he now looks like the older brother, and that since Thomas is a White Court vampire, he will look more youthful than Harry for the rest of their lives.

* ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'''s Alphonse Elric had been taller than his elder brother Edward since childhood, but when he loses his body and is bound into a seven-foot-suit of armor, he ''towers'' over Ed, who is a hair under five feet (and [[TheNapoleon very defensive]] when this is pointed out). Due to his new metal form, he often gets mistakenly attributed with his brother's title of "Fullmetal Alchemist". At the end of the series, [[spoiler:Al and Ed are adults in a family photo featuring Ed's family, complete with children, and Al, with his human body restored, is several inches taller than Ed]].