History Main / PatchWorkKids

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', the very first thing Achilles's codex notes about Zagreus is that "any questions of his parentage are soon resolved" just by looking at him, and it's not wrong. Zagreus is such an even mix of his parents that he even winds up with [[MismatchedEyes each of their eyes]] instead of inheriting a pair from one. This is partly why Hades was so adamant about keeping the Olympians from learning of him--[[spoiler:it's much more difficult [[IWasNeverHere to pretend Persephone never set foot in the Underworld]] when its crown prince is so clearly her son as much as his own]].

** The three Night Fury--Light Fury babies (called "Night Lights") have the same primary scale color of one parent (and the eye color of that same parent), but with spots that are the same color as the other parent.

[[folder:Fan works]]
* This trope is a common practice in fanart (usually involving not just physical characteristics from both parents but their powers and clothes as well) to the point of having its own tag on image sites (such as "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=touhou+if_they_mated if_they_mated]]" and "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/pools/323 Let's Make Touhou Kids!]]").
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld'' ends with BabiesEverAfter for both the main human couple of [[spoiler:Hiccup and Astrid]] and the main dragon couple of [[spoiler:Toothless and the Light Fury]], and both of them have this:
** The son of [[spoiler:Hiccup and Astrid]] looks exactly like the child version of [[spoiler:Hiccup as seen in the flashbacks during the film]], but with [[spoiler:Astrid's blond hair]]. Conversely, their daughter looks very much like a child version of [[spoiler:Astrid]], but with [[spoiler:Hiccup's reddish-brown hair]].
** The three [[spoiler:Night Fury--Light Fury babies (called "Night Lights")]] have the same primary scale color of one parent (and the eye color of that same parent), but with spots that are the same color as the other parent.

As a sub-trope of AllGenesAreCodominant, real-life genetics may take a back-seat to LEGOGenetics and ArtisticLicenseBiology.

Compare GenderEqualsBreed, where the child looks like the parent whose gender it shares, and StrongFamilyResemblance, where the child's appearance is based on just the one parent.

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Elan inherited his outlook (and alignment) from his mother and his love of the dramatic from his father. His EvilTwin Nale gets his outlook from his father and his love of the needlessly complicated from his mother. They both inherited their father's hairstyle and mother's hair colour.

* The DistantFinale for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' shows this trope in action with Li'l Cheese, son of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich. His eyes are green like his father and has the pink hair of his mother. Although his coat is yellow, a color neither of his parents share, it is a "cheesy" color similar to the orange on Cheese Sandwich. Even his cutie mark is a fusion of the two: it's a slice of cheese pie, combining his dad's accordion-like grilled cheese motif and his mom's family name.

* The children's book ''Pussy Owl: Superbeast'' by Brigid Brophy is about the offspring of the Owl and the Pussycat from the poem of the same name. Pussy Owl has an owl's body and wings, but a cat's head, back legs and tail.

* The page image is a [[{{Fanon}} hypothetical]] lovechild of two ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' characters, Fujiwara no Mokou and Wriggle Nightbug, who are both girls (but usually portrayed as the "guy" in shipping because they're the only characters to wear pants in an otherwise quasi-all-female cast). This trope is a common practice in fanart (usually involving not just physical characteristics from both parents but their powers and clothes as well) to the point of having its own tag on image sites (such as "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=touhou+if_they_mated if_they_mated]]" and "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/pools/323 Let's Make Touhou Kids!]]]]").

!!Examples:

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHuFstJ0opc An animated advert]] for a brand of fabric conditioner in Britain is ''literally'' this - a family depicted as being made up of sewn patchwork samples from lots of different fabrics, with the kids combining aspects of both parents' ragwork skins.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': During an interview, [[WordOfGod the author, Masashi Kishimoto]] said that a child born between a Hyuga and a Uchiha would have a Sharingan in one eye, and a Byakugan in the other.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Elan inherited his outlook (and alignment) from his mother and his love of the dramatic from his father. His EvilTwin Nale gets his outlook from his father and his love of the needlessly complicated from his mother. They both inherited their father's hairstyle and mother's hair colour.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia,'' the Quirks in Todoroki's family seem to be tied to hair color--his mother is AnIcePerson with white hair, his father is a literal FieryRedhead. Todoroki can produce each power from opposite sides of his body, so, sure enough, he has MulticoloredHair. Two of his siblings have white hair flecked with bits of red, implying that they got more ice than fire.

* In VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', the very first thing Achilles's codex notes about Zagreus is that "any questions of his parentage are soon resolved" just by looking at him, and it's not wrong. Zagreus is such an even mix of his parents that he even winds up with [[MismatchedEyes each of their eyes]] instead of inheriting a pair from one. This is partly why Hades was so adamant about keeping the Olympians from learning of him--[[spoiler:it's much more difficult [[IWasNeverHere to pretend Persephone never set foot in the Underworld]] when its crown prince is so clearly her son as much as his own]].

* In Hades, the very first thing Achilles's codex notes about Zagreus is that "any questions of his parentage are soon resolved" just by looking at him, and it's not wrong. Zagreus is such an obvious mix of his parents that he even winds up with [[MismatchedEyes each of their eyes]] instead of inheriting a pair from one. This is partly why Hades was so adamant about keeping the Olympians from learning of him--[[spoiler:it's much more difficult [[IWasNeverHere to pretend Persephone never set foot in the Underworld]] when its crown prince is so clearly her son as much as his own]].

See SuperpowerfulGenetics for superpower heredity, and HalfHumanHybrid when one of the parents isn't human (and the hybrid tends to exhibit both traits of the parents).

* LightNovel/ReZero's ''[=RemIF=]'' timeline features Subaru's children Spica and Rigel. Rigel takes his father's looks and eyes but has his mother's hair; Spica is the opposite.

* The page image is a [[{{Fanon}} hypothetical]] lovechild of two ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' characters, Fujiwara no Mokou and Wriggle Nightbug, who are both girls (but usually portrayed as the "guy" in shipping because they're the only characters to wear pants in an otherwise quasi-all-female cast). PatchworkKids is a common practice in fanart (usually involving not just physical characteristics from both parents but their powers and clothes as well) to the point of having its own tag on image sites (such as "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts?tags=touhou+if_they_mated if_they_mated]]" and "[[https://safebooru.donmai.us/pools/323 Let's Make Touhou Kids!]]]]").

* Hiro Mashima ended up running into a downplayed version of this when [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2888056 he drew]] the WhatIf designs for two pairings' potential kids in ''Manga/FairyTail''.[[note]]The first kid was a request during New York [=ComiCon=], the second he threw in for kicks[[/note]] Lucy and Natsu's kid has the standard feminine eyes for girls and Lucy's face shape, but her outfit and hairstyle makes her look like an [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/2630418 earlier drawing]] of a Rule63 Natsu. Gray and Juvia's kid has Gray's hair color, but Juvia's fashion sense. His eyes look like a combination of his parents', though.

For example, Alice and Bob have a daughter who inherits her mother's freckles and exact hair style, along with her father's eye colour and big feet. Other examples might include a child that has [[MultiColoredHair two-toned hair]] or MismatchedEyes, so that both parents' most recognisable characteristics are represented simultaneously.

* The DistantFinale for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' shows this trope in action with Li'l Cheese, son of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich. His eyes are green like his father and has the pink hair of his mother. Although his coat is yellow, a color neither of his parents share, it is a "cheesy" color similar to the orange on Cheese Sandwich. Even his cutie mark is a fusion of the two: it's a slice of cheese pie, combining his dad's acordion-like grilled cheese motif and his mom's family name.

* The DistantFinale for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' shows this trope in action with Li'l Cheese, son of Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich. His eyes are green like his father and has the pink hair of his mother. Although he's yellow, a color neither of his parents share, it is a "cheesy" color similar to the orange on Cheese Sandwich.

* The ''ComicStrip/{{Zbeng}}'' comics have a series of books centering on the biographies and possible future of individual characters. A section present in each of the books is the character's potential children with other characters –- well, except for the book about [[SadistTeacher Zaafani]], where the section deals with the consequences of the males seeing her naked instead –- no amount of BrainBleach can handle ''that''.

* ''Series/LateNight with Creator/ConanOBrien'' had a recurring bit called "If They Mated," in which images of a celebrity couple were combined into NightmareFuel. (Often by the end of a segment, they would subvert this by putting ridiculous theoretical couples together and getting silly non-patchwork results –- Conan himself plus ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'''s Daphne, whom he claimed he had a crush on as a kid, resulted in WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants.)

See SuperpowerfulGenetics for superpower heredity.

* One of the VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}} virtual pet toys, specifically the Tamagotchi m!x and Tamagotchi On, uses this as its primary gimmick. If you marry your Tamagotchi with another, it will have a child that has a random mix of features from both of its parents (so, for example, it could have the body of its mother and the facial features of its father).