History Main / OutNumberedSibling

Th outnumbered sibling occurs when a character (usually the protagonist) is the only girl or boy in their family and feels surrounded by a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings (usually large)]] number of opposite gender siblings. This can result in the character hoping and praying for a sibling of their gender, ParentalFavoritism either for or against the characteror, and the character feeling either superior or inferior to the rest. More often then not, said character the outnumbered sibling is either the youngest or the oldest of them all.

Subtrope of MassiveNumberedSiblings. See also TheSmurfettePrinciple and IHaveBrothers

Note that this trope is only in play if the gender dynamic is integral the plot -- e.g the character feels outnumbered or surrounded. A large number of siblings without intergender conflict is a subversion.

* An ''OurGang'' short illustrates this trope with a hint of ValuesDissonance. Mickey is picked on by his two sisters and hopes that the baby his mother is pregnant with is a boy. Somebody tells him that [[UrbanLegend every fourth child in the world is born Chinese.]] He's upset by the idea of having a Chinese younger but eventually comes to accept it. Unfortunately from his point of view, his mother gives birth to another girl.

** In an earlier example, Drou Koudelka grew up with four older brothers and a MissingMom. She's as close to a {{Tomboy}} as Barayaran society allows.

* In ''TheSmurfs'' there is Papa who has 100 sons one daughter, Smurfette. Later, the Smurfs create another sister called Sassette)

Th outnumbered sibling occurs when a character (usually the protagonist) is the only girl or boy in their family and feels surrounded by a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings (usually large) number]] of opposite gender siblings. This can result in the character hoping and praying for a sibling of their gender, ParentalFavoritism either for or against the characteror, and the character feeling either superior or inferior to the rest. More often then not, said character the outnumbered sibling is either the youngest or the oldest of them all.

Note that this trope is only in play if the gender dynamic is integral the plot. A large number of siblings without intergender conflict is a subversion.

''Highly'' expect AnnoyingYoungerSibling and/or BigBrotherBully to come into place and reators will often throw in a MissingMom (for a girl) or a DisapearedDad (for a boy) for added effect. Extreme cases may include PromotionToParent as well.

Note that this trope is not in play unless the gender dynamic is integral the plot. A large number of opposite gender siblings without gender issues is a subversion.

Th outnumbered sibling occurs when a character (usually the protagonist) is the only girl or boy in their family and feels surrounded by a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings (usually large) number]] of opposite gender siblings. This can result in the character hoping and praying for a sibling of their gender, ParentalFavoritism in either for or against the characteror, and the character feeling either superior or inferior to the rest. More often then not, said character the outnumbered sibling is either the youngest or the oldest of them all.

''Highly'' expect AnnoyingYoungerSibling and/or BigBrotherBully to come into place and reators will often throw in a MissingMom (for a girl) or a DisapearedDad (for a boy) for added effect. And in extreme cases you can expect PromotionToParent as well.

This trope is what results when a character has a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings particularly large number of siblings]], and they're the only boy/girl. This can often result in the character hoping and praying for a sibling of their gender, ParentalFavoritism in either the character's or all the other's favor, and the character feeling either superior or inferior to the rest. More often then not, said character is either the youngest or the oldest of them all.

''Highly'' expect AnnoyingYoungerSibling and/or BigBrotherBully to come into place.

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''Highly'' expect AnnoyingYoungerSibling and BigBrotherBully to come into place.

* Surama from ''{{Wurr}}'' has four brothers and no sisters, and three of them are older than her.

* PlayedWith in ''Film/{{Brave}}:'' Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal family, with three younger triplet brothers. However, the main conflict of the film seems to be that Merida herself is a {{Tomboy}} [[RebelliousPrincess being forced into a ladylike role]] by her mother.

* In ''Film/{{Brave}}'', Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal family. Her younger brothers are identical triplets.

* In ''Film/{{Brave}}'', Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal Scottish family (the other three children are young boys that are triplets).

* Ginny Weasly of the HarryPotter series is the only girl in a family of seven children.
* Thumper from the film Bambi has five sisters, [[FridgeHorror which is reduced to four in the midquel]].
* It's not "massive" but on ''TheSimpsons'' Bart occasionally has pangs of this, as the a boy with two sisters and no brothers. One time he went to an orphanage and got himself an orphan to be a brother.
* Tends to be mentioned as the background of tough female cops, such as Jane Penhaligan from ''{{Cracker}}'' and Kate Todd from ''{{NCIS}}''. The idea being that their reason for seeking to compete in an all-male world is from attitudes gained in their childhood.
* Another "tough female cop" example is Jo Lupo from ''{{Eureka}}''.
* In the ''{{Dollhouse}}'' episode "The Target", Echo's persona is implied to have this in her fake backstory; when Boyd asks her if she knows how to use a gun, she replies with, "Four brothers, none of them Democrats."
* Mark in EdwardEager's ''Half-Magic'' and ''Magic by the Lake''. He is the only boy in a family of four children and his frustration with this is a occasionally a plot point.
* Theo from ''TheCosbyShow'' was the only boy in a family of five kids but I haven't seen enough of the show to know if he angsted over it.

* Wendy O. Koopa is the only girl of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Koopalings]] in the ''SuperMarioBros'' games.

* This is the basic presmise between the shortlived sitcom ''Odd Man Out'' A teenage boy has three older sisters and no brothers.
* In the VorkosiganSaga, Ekaterin has several older brothers and no sisters, and this is mentioned as being common among Barrayarans of her generation as the result of newly-obtainable sex-selection technology. In contrast to all the tomboyish examples of this trope, she specifically mentions this as being part of the reason why she's a ShrinkingViolet.
* In TheBible, Jacob has twelve sons - and one daughter, Dinah.
* ''LightNovel/SisterPrincess''. An orphan named Wataru Minakami discovers that he has 13 sisters, one of whom is [[spoiler:TheMole, and not actually one of his sisters]].
* HortonHearsAWho: The mayor of Whoville has 96 Daughters and one son, Jojo.
* In The Smurfs there is Papa who has 100 sons one daughter, Smurfette. Later, the Smurfs create another sister called Sassette)

* Daphne from ''{{Frasier}}'' has... what is it? Six brothers? She talks about them a lot.
* Lor from TheWeekenders has so many brothers that she loses count of how many there actually are.
* Quatre Raberba Winner of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' is the youngest child of his family and has ''twenty-nine sisters''. The catch is that [[spoiler:all of his sisters are [[DesignerBabies test-tubes babies]] due to difficulties with childbirth in space among early space colonists; Quatre was the only child born naturally, although [[DeathByChildbirth his mother died during childbirth]] and the fact that he wasn't artificially reproduced was kept secret from him.]] However, Quatre is shown to dearly love his sisters and it is [[spoiler:the near-death of his favorite older sister Iria (along with the death of his father) [[BewareTheNiceOnes which drives poor Quatre over the edge.]]]]
* In ''Film/{{Brave}}'', Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal Scottish family (the other three children are young boys that are triplets).

* At the end of ''Disney/LadyandtheTramp'' the title dog couple become the parents of three daughters (all Cocker Spaniels like their mother), and a fourth male puppy named {{Scamp}} (who is an indeterminate breed like his father).
** The exact same is true with [[{{Dogfaces}} Doppler]] and [[CatGirl Amelia's]] children from ''Disney/TreasurePlanet''.

* Posy from TheHungerGames has three older brothers.
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* Posy from {{TheHungerGames}} has three older brothers.

* Tends to be mentioned as the background of tough female cops, such as Jane Penhaligan from ''{{Cracker}}'' and Kate Todd from ''{{NCIS}}''. The idea being that their reason for seeking to compete in an all-male world is from attitudes gained in their childhood.

* ''Anime/SisterPrincess''. An orphan named Wataru Minakami discovers that he has 13 sisters, one of whom is [[spoiler:TheMole, and not actually one of his sisters]].

NeedsAnIndex

* Summer Winters from ''MoonOverJune'' traces her [[DoesNotLikeMen misandry]] to growing up with three older brothers and three younger brothers.

* Mark in {{Edward Eager}}'s ''Half-Magic'' and ''Magic by the Lake''. He is the only boy in a family of four children and his frustration with this is a occasionally a plot point.

* In ''{{Film/Brave}}'', Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal Scottish family (the other three children are young boys that are triplets).

** The exact same is true with [[{{Dogfaces}} Doppler]] and [[CatGirl Amelia's]] children from ''Disney/TreasurePlanet''.

* In ''{{Film/Brave}}'', Princess Merida is the oldest child and the only daughter of the royal Scottish family (the other three children are young boys that are triplets).

* Quatre Raberba Winner of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' is the youngest child of his family and has ''twenty-nine sisters''. The catch is that [[spoiler:all of his sisters are [[DesignerBabies test-tubes babies]] due to difficulties with childbirth in space among early space colonists; Quatre was the only child born naturally, although [[DeathByChildbirth his mother died during childbirth]] and the fact that he wasn't artificially reproduced was kept secret from him.]] However, Quatre is shown to dearly love his sisters and it is [[spoiler:the near-death of his favorite older sister Iria (along with the death of his father) [[BewareTheNiceOnes which drives poor Quatre over the edge.]]]]

* HortonHearsAWho: The mayor of Whoville has 96 Daughters and one son, Jojo.

I don't think two to one is a massive outnumbering.

Subtrope of MassiveNumberedSiblings. See also TheSmurfettePrinciple

* Theo from ''TheCosbyShow'' was the only boy in a family of five kids but I haven't seen enough of the show to know if he angsted over it.

NeedsMoreExamples, NeedsABetterDescription

This trope is what results when a character has a [[MassiveNumberedSiblings particularly large number of siblings, and they're the only boy/girl. This can often result in the character hoping and praying for a sibling of their gender, ParentalFavoritism in either the character's or all the other's favor, and the character feeling either superior or inferior to the rest. More often then not, said character is either the youngest or the oldest of them all.