History Main / TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily

** Giovanni straddles both sides of the line, actually. First off, there's especially his sinister and monomaniacal side which he showcased on the Mewtwo movies. And then...there are scenes...like...you know when... [[FetishFuel That hunkahunka manloaf is covered with insect Pokemon]], and his Greek god body in general. His random bouts of Pokemon-related psychosis can also make him [[NightmareFuel seem more scary to some.]] Never get between a man and his dreams...[[BerserkButton or obsessions, after all.]]
*** The scenes mentioned were only [[ImagineSpot Meowth's boss fantasies]]. ([[HoYay Take that as you will.]]) Though who knows what Giovanni does in his spare time...

* The StarterVillain Mafia of Cooks from ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' do seem to rob people and drive non-Mafia restaurants out of business, but they also do things like punch barrels dressed as old ladies to scare people. And while they're happy to [[WouldHurtAChild wallop Hat Kid if she lets them]], Hat Kid and her trust umbrella are more than a match for any Mafia goons. They later show up in [[TheLostWoods Subcon Forest]], but as ''victims'' to the far more dangerous inhabitants of the Forest.

** The Goodfeathers are a pigeon version of this, as well.

* Team Rocket in the ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue are portrayed as an organized crime group, but are too laughably ill-equipped to keep an 11-year-old from easily storming their base by force. [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/159-security/ This parody comic]] perfectly captures the essence of this example.

* The idiot burglars Harry and Marv from ''Film/HomeAlone'' are a classic example, though also somewhat of a deconstruction. Although they are incompetent enough to fall into Kevin's ill-conceived traps, the traps don't actually stop them, but instead just piss them off. Although they originally just wanted to loot the house of its valuables and weren't interested in hurting Kevin, their focus ends up shifting from robbing the house to getting revenge for all the pain that the kid has put them through. Eventually they ''do'' catch him, and he is only saved from their wrath by a neighbor coming up behind them and [[TapOnTheHead knocking them out with a shovel]].

* Almost all of the [[{{Mooks}} Grunts of various teams]] from Franchise/{{Pokemon}}. They never truly pose a threat past Poisoning all of your Pokémon to a knockout with their [[GoddamnBats Goddamn Zubat]]. Once you get to the Commanders, Admins, and Leaders, though...
** In the games, Giovanni of Team Rocket is just plain ''bad''. The first two times you run into him, he threatens that he will make you "experience a world of pain!" Yeah, that guy threatens an eleven year old with physical violence.
** Averted in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Pokemon XD]]''; while various members of Cipher [[LaughablyEvil could be goofy]], the entire organization, even the low-level flunkies, was treated as incredibly dangerous--silly goons were the exception, not the rule.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', the heroes often fight the Enforcers, a bunch of hired goons who worked for a gang called the Dark Hand. However they are ''very'' [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain woefully incompetent criminals]], usually treated as recurring joke villains instead of actual threats. The Dark Hand Enforcers never even use any guns in combat (Finn did own a pistol at one point, but he never gets the chance to fire it).

* The Mafia of Cooks from ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' do seem to rob people and drive non-Mafia restaurants out of business, but they also do things like punch barrels dressed as old ladies to scare people.

* There was a short on {{Animaniacs}} in which Yakko, Wakko, and Dot completely humiliated a Godfather-esque mafia boss who tried to kick them out of "his" table at a small Italian restaurant. The Don was actually played fairly straight, but was totally GenreBlind to the fact that he was up against a [[KarmicTrickster group of Cartoon Tricksters]] who didn't care who he was and had the ability to [[RealityWarper violate the usual]] [[CartoonPhysics laws of reality]] in order to BreakTheHaughty.

What do you do when you need some big, tough guys to menace the heroes, but don't want to risk having them actually, you know, ''hurt'' anybody? You call in The Family for the Whole Family. They're not the scary, make-it-look-like-an-accident mobsters seen in [[TheMafia Mafia]] movies; they're the [[HarmlessVillain harmless]], ineffectual, and very, ''very'' [[StupidCrooks stupid mobsters]] that are a staple of family-oriented comedies. No matter how many of them are in their group, you can be sure of two things: there will only be one shared gun among them all, and they'll always forget that there's a trigger on it when they want to threaten someone.

* ''Manga/{{Nisekoi}}'' revolves around the son of a {{yakuza}} boss and the daughter of a {{mafia}} don who hate each other ([[{{becoming the mask}} at first]]), but have to fake a romantic relationship to prevent a gang war. Aside from whipping out a bunch of guns upon first seeing the two together, none of the respective gangsters do anything remotely illegal, or even unsavoury. They're pretty much just wacky hangers-on who occasionally intimidate people.

* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse is famous for its [[RootingForTheEmpire lovable villains]], but there are a few villains--and heroes-- of this sort:
** The Diversity Alliance, a human-hating Marxist group in Young Jedi Knights. Being a children's book, yeah.
** The Lost Tribe of the Sith, who don't seem as dark as Bane's Sith, Kun's Sith, or Lumiya's Sith. That said, they have plans to use Ben's DNA to create a master race of Sith.
** Finally, Abeloth. Relative to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in other literature, Abeloth is relatively tame. Also relative to [[Literature/NewJediOrder three]] [[Literature/DarkNestTrilogy previous]] [[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce series]], she's definitely LighterAndSofter. Though that says a lot about just how dark those prior stories were that an insane, murderous EldritchAbomination was a LighterAndSofter villain.

* Harry and Marv from ''Film/HomeAlone'' are a classic example, though also somewhat of a deconstruction. Although they are incompetent enough to fall into Kevin's ill-conceived traps, the traps don't actually stop them, but instead just piss them off. Although they originally just wanted to loot the house of its valuables and weren't interested in hurting Kevin, their focus ends up shifting from robbing the house to getting revenge for all the pain that the kid has put them through. Eventually they ''do'' catch him, and he is only saved from their wrath by a neighbor coming up behind them and [[TapOnTheHead knocking them out with a shovel]].

* Pulled off substantially better in ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': the main minions are rats, but later a frog hitman shows up, along with [[AcceptableTargets French]] [[McNinja ninja-frogs]]. It would be kind of mean except that their leader is voiced by French-Moroccan actor Jean Reno, who's clearly in on the joke.

What do you do when you need some big, tough guys to menace the heroes, but don't want to risk having them actually, you know, ''hurt'' anybody? You call in The Family For The Whole Family. They're not the scary, make-it-look-like-an-accident mobsters seen in [[TheMafia Mafia]] movies; they're the [[HarmlessVillain harmless]], ineffectual, and very, ''very'' [[StupidCrooks stupid mobsters]] that are a staple of family-oriented comedies. No matter how many of them are in their group, you can be sure of two things: there will only be one shared gun among them all, and they'll always forget that there's a trigger on it when they want to threaten someone.

* The Pianta Syndicate from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor.'' The game never confirms or denies if they do any family-unfriendly crimes behind the black, instead focusing on the godfather's daughter and her boyfriend as they try to go on wacky vacations. (They ''are'' implied to run an illegal gambling ring, however, and possibly also a black market.)
* The ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' games have Sonny Resetti, a mole who blows up at players who shut down without saving, but never does anything to them. Which is good, because you'll see him even if the game froze and you ''couldn't'' save.
** Probably more related to this trope would be "Crazy Redd", a fox who runs a furniture black market. Complete with needing a password to get in, police on the watch for him, and the occasional painting bought from him being a forgery. However, most of this is played for laughs, and if you have good insurance, you'll get refunded (at least some) for the phony paintings.
** Tom Nook, THE resident mobster. Redd is just a crook, but Nook brings his nephews into the mix.
* The Plob from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestHeroesRocketSlime''

* The Pianta Syndicate from ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor.'' The game never confirms or denies if they do any family-unfriendly crimes behind the black, instead focussing on the godfather's daughter and her boyfriend as they try to go on wacky vacations.

* Big Daddy's organization in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' acts like your typical gangster family, with Big Daddy himself even voiced by [[Series/TheSopranos Tony Sirocio]], but they work in garbage collection.
** [[BlatantLies Yes...garbage collecting]].
*** Subsequent episodes (as well as the premiere) show that yes, Big Daddy's company ''does'' do actual garbage collecting, just...with mob-like tactics and some gangster work on the side.
* Luigi Vendetta, the opera-singing juvenile [[CanadaEh Canadian]] Mafia boss Kick sends to exact revenge on his brother Brad in ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowski''.

* Harry and Marv from the first two ''Film/HomeAlone'' movies are a classic example, though also somewhat of a deconstruction. Although they are incompetent enough to fall into Kevin's ill-conceived traps, the traps don't actually stop them, but instead just piss them off. Although they originally just wanted to loot the house of its valuables and weren't interested in hurting Kevin, their focus ends up shifting from robbing the house to getting revenge for all the pain that the kid has put them through. Eventually they ''do'' catch him, and he is only saved from their wrath by a neighbor coming up behind them and [[TapOnTheHead knocking them out with a shovel]].

* Harry and Marv from the first two ''Film/HomeAlone'' movies are a classic example, though also somewhat of a deconstruction. Although they are incompetent enough to fall into Kevin's ill-conceived traps, the traps don't actually stop them, but instead just piss them off. Although they originally just wanted to loot the house of its valuables and weren't interested in hurting Kevin, eventually their focus shifts from robbing the house to getting revenge for all the pain that the kid has put them through. Eventually they ''do'' catch him, and he is only saved from their wrath by a neighbor coming up behind them and hitting them with a shovel.

* Harry and Marv from the first two ''Film/HomeAlone'' movies.
-->'''''{{Website/Cracked}}''''' This is one Hollywood lesson that's [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop legitimately dangerous]]. Real crooks show up pissed off, desperate and with weapons. And, even strung out on meth, they're not stupid enough to be foiled by quickly scampering under coffee tables (even crackheads are known to negotiate simple obstacles). The real world has a term for kids who try to use Micro Machines to outsmart bad guys during a robbery: missing and presumed dead.
** By that same token, the bumbling spies from ''Film/HomeAlone3''. Bumbling burglars are believable; but the inherent stupidity of a band of highly-trained secret agents doing anything other than simply shooting the little brat between his eyes caused most viewers to pretend this installment [[FanonDisContinuity never happened]]. Well, that and many, many other reasons.
** Actually, the ends of both Harry and Marv's appearances subvert this trope. They eventually ''do'' catch the kid, and they ''are'' planning to kill him (with ColdBloodedTorture in the first one), and they're only stopped by the intervention of an adult.
** In fact you could argue that Harry and Marv are a subversion, as in the beginning they have no plans to harm Kevin at all, simply tie him up and get him out of the way while they empty the house. It's only after going through all of Kevin's traps that they get pissed off enough to actually kill him. It's ''Kevin'' that gets HoistByHisOwnPetard.
** They still play it straight enough by falling for said traps repeatedly.

* ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' has Horace and Jasper, the pair of bumbling, oafish criminals hired by Cruella DeVille to help with her plans to make a Dalmatian-fur coat.

* ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' has [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Horace and Jasper]], the pair of bumbling, oafish criminals hired by Cruella DeVille to help with her plans to make a Dalmatian-fur coat.

* The mob run by Mr. Big in ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}''. He's fully ready to "ice" Nick and Judy (a police officer, no less) for meddling in his business before his daughter intervenes, but what exactly his organization does that he doesn't want people meddling in is left up to the viewer's imagination.

In the 1990s, it was popular to add these characters to DomCom movies to pad the script with villains for a ''HomeAlone''-inspired climax. (Creator/JohnHughes, who wrote the script for ''Home Alone'' and a few of the other examples on this page, ''loved'' this trope.) Just to drive home the point of them being totally superfluous to the point of the movie, they are totally absent from most trailers and summaries of the film - only existing for some B-plot slapstick gags to add an extra 20 minutes on to what would otherwise be only 1 hour of screentime.

* Harry and Marv from the first two ''HomeAlone'' movies.

** By that same token, the bumbling spies from ''HomeAlone 3''. Bumbling burglars are believable; but the inherent stupidity of a band of highly-trained secret agents doing anything other than simply shooting the little brat between his eyes caused most viewers to pretend this installment [[FanonDisContinuity never happened]]. Well, that and many, many other reasons.

-->--'''Cicci''', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' ("Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang")