History Main / TheUnFavourite

* In their comedy routines, Tommy Smothers of the [[TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour Smothers Brothers]] often lamented to his brother Dick that "Mom always liked you best!"

* In their comedy routines, Tommy Smothers of the [TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour Smothers Brothers] often lamented to his brother Dick that "Mom always liked you best!"

** A milder example in ''Egg Monsters from Mars,'' where Dana's parents spoil his younger sister Brandy, but don't go out of their way to do the same for him.

* Flora, in the ''Franchise/ProfessorLayton'' series, seems like this sometimes because the Professor keeps trying to leave her at home when he goes on investigations, but allows Luke -- who is younger -- to tag along. Although the Professor's reasoning is good (he's unwilling to take a young lady into dangerous situations), it's a bit wince-worthy, especially since Luke is only the Professor's apprentice and Flora is his actual foster daughter.

->''"You ever hear Dad introduce us to people?'' [brightly] '''This is our daughter, Dottie.'' [disgustedly] ''And this is our other daughter...Dottie's sister.' Should have just had you and bought a dog."''

* In the ''Literature/ObsidianAndBlood'' series, Acatl ''became'' this upon deciding to be a priest for the dead instead of following his older brother Neutemoc and become a warrior. Their parents, who had been peasants, really wished for their sons to reach a higher status in society, so the younger son's decision to go off and become a priest with no wordly possessions was [[{{Understatement}} not popular]] with them. Never mind that he managed to climb the ladder and become the [[HighPriest High Priest]] of his order. It becomes a major plot point in the first book.

** SelfDemonstrating/{{Thanos}} doesn’t even bother denying that he considers Nebula the worst of his adoptive children. All of his kids were subjected to ToughLove and TrainingFromHell, but Nebula got the worst of it by far, to the point it sometimes crossed into outright ''torture''. Just for comparison, when Gamora turned against Thanos, Thanos all but forgave her and never stopped loving her. When Nebula did the same? The next onscreen interaction between them had Thanos horrifically torture her and then later hatefully spit that the only reason he didn’t kill her was because it would’ve been “a waste of ''spare parts''”.

* ''Film/StarTrek'' has some interesting cases with Jim being the unfavorite compared to ''his dead father''. His mother couldn't stand the resemblance between them and would often do nothing to stop his stepfather from beating him, neglecting him and traveling far away just so she wouldn't have to look at Jim.

** Severus Snape was revealed to have grown up with parents too busy fighting with each other to give a rip about him. It's especially sad, considering he was an only child.

* In [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/be/9b/12/be9b12881d229ffc7b8c96328d7194a9.jpg this]] ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' comic, a shiny Eevee is abandoned by its mother because its unusual coloration will attract predators. Because of this, it thinks of itself as ugly and an abomination. It is eventually adopted and cared for by Calem, who bonds with it strongly enough that it evolves into a Sylveon.

** Jason Todd has been considered the unfavourite ''at best'' since his resurrection, since his tactics and methods fly in direct conflict with Bruce's and he's attacked other heroes in the past -- at worst, he's not even considered part of the family. While his relationship with Bruce improved somewhat once he stopped killing criminals, he's not loved as much as Dick, respected as much as Tim or given as much acceptance and leeway as Damian. DependingOnTheWriter, he was the unfavorite even before his death -- with Bruce making it fairly obvious he would prefer Dick in the role -- but other writers posit that this was all in his head, with ''Dick'' considering himself the unfavourite (although this one ''is'' established as being entirely in Dick's head -- he's actually The Favourite).

** In the 616 timeline this actually would be quite an exaggeration. It seems to have been true of Bobby Drake (Iceman), but none of the other original five (Scott's parents were actually abducted by aliens before getting to see his and his brother's powers manifest). It was also not true of Colossus, ComicBook/{{Storm}} (her parents were killed too early), Thunderbird I, Kitty Pryde, Rogue (she ran away from home before her powers manifested), or Jubilee (her parents were dead before her powers manifested). With reference to their human adoptive parents, it was not true of ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}, the ComicBook/ScarletWitch, Nightcrawler, or Comicbook/{{Gambit}} (who was actually preferred to his adoptive father's biological son).

** Jason Todd has been considered the unfavorite in the Batfamily ever since his resurrection, though that isn't because Bruce loves him less but because he opposes Batman by taking control of the drug trade in Gotham and killing supervillains. (He stopped doing the latter for a while in DCRebirth, and his relationship with Bruce accordingly improved.) Also, he's legally dead still, which makes it difficult to invite him to the paparazzi-strewn Wayne family events. This is probably why he wasn't in the Wayne family portrait in Batman and Robin #10, but Jason took it as a personal slight. DependingOnTheWriter, he was the unfavorite even before his death, but other writers posit that this was all in his head. In the 80s comics, Dick actually believed ''he'' was the unfavorite because Bruce had adopted Jason and not him. (Dick wasn't adopted until Gotham Knights #17, published in 2001. Jason was adopted in 1985's Batman #383.)

* Sal Walkerton in ''WebComic/DumbingOfAge'' has always felt overshadowed by her twin brother, who is both BrilliantButLazy and [[spoiler: "whiter" than her - they're mixed-race, but Walky himself considers ''her'' black and himself "generically beige".]] By her teens, she was so starved for attention that she had a breakdown and held up two convenience stores, at which point her parents shipped her off to Catholic school.

* In ''Literature/PrincessAcademy,'' Miri believes herself to be the unfavorite to her older sister Marda, because their father allows Marda to work in the village stone quarry, but not Miri, supposedly because she is so small and skinny for her age. [[spoiler:Actually, this is not the reason. It is because Miri's mother died in a quarry accident, and their father loves Miri so much he can't bear the thought of her dying in the same way. He did not want Marda to work in the quarry either--he loves both of them--but he had no choice if they were to survive.]]

** Also in the Batfamily, Jason Todd, the second Robin, is even more the unfavourite. Interestingly, he always ''considered'' himself the unfavourite, even before actually becoming it. Initially, Bruce merely expected him to be just like Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and this led to him thinking he was the Unfavourite. Even this is DependingOnTheWriter, as many writers have made it clear that this is more something in Jason's head, and that Bruce never had this expectation of him. However, after coming back as the Red Hood, he is at best the unfavorite, and at worst not considered a part of the Batfamily at all. To drive the point home? Bruce commissioned a painting of all the core male Batfamily members, and Jason wasn't even ''invited''.

* Practically the first thing we learn of Leah in ''Literature/TheBible'' is that "Leah was not loved." [[FromBadToWorse Things don't really improve for her, either]]. [[ThrowTheDogABone This does not escape God's notice, for He blesses her with strong fertility, resulting in many children.]]
** And it doesn't stop with Jacob's wives. All his sons except Joseph were considered The Unfavorite, as Jacob lavished Joseph with a special coat that made his other sons jealous. When Joseph was taken away into Egypt without Jacob's notice, Joseph's other full brother Benjamin became the center of their father's attention.

* Shows up a lot in the Bible:
** King Saul of Israel viewed himself as this when compared to [[TheAce David]]. In this case, however, Saul had actively made himself this by disobeying God repeatedly and even then God still made it clear that Saul was to be treated as his anointed king until he personally removed him. David never over-stepped his bounds and, despite having many opportunities to do so, never tried to kill Saul lest he also lose God's favor.

The nasty end of ParentalFavoritism. Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be a Beta. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent let-down]] to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed, [[RedHeadedStepChild the adoptive, foster, or stepchild that came before the parents had a biological child]]. But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick.

The nasty end of ParentalFavoritism. Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be a Beta. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent let-down]] to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed. But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick.

* Downplayed, and played oddly, in the backstory of ''Literature/PaladinOfSouls''. The Castle Warder of the border fortress Portfors had a long term affair with the quasi-abandoned wife of the nominal commander (who was serving as Chancellor in the distant capital), and while he did not formally acknowledge the younger boy Illvin as his own until his lover's early death the math made it a very open secret. He took it upon himself to serve as a parent to Illvin and his older half-brother Arhys, but while parental affection for his own son came naturally there was a degree of conscious, mindful effort where Arhys was concerned... and both kids could tell. It is implied by Illvin decades later that, had Arhys not spent his adolescence packed and ready to ride out on an hour's notice [[WellDoneSonGuy when the great Chancellor dy Lutiz sent for his son]], ''he'' could well have become [[TheResenter embittered & envious half-brother]] so many presumed Illvin was.

** An overtly talented and/or intelligent child may become one, especially if father is less talented/intelligent than the child, because he will experience the child as a threat to his authority and attempt to eliminate that threat. Alternately, a gifted child might be favored over less-gifted siblings and parents may excuse them from chores so they can do schoolwork, or may get angry if another child struggles in class that the gifted child excelled at. Groups that advocate for gifted children caution strongly against this, and inform parents that all their children have value regardless of intelligence level.

** An overtly talented and/or intelligent child may become one, especially if father is less talented/intelligent than the child, because he will experience the child as a threat to his authority and attempt to eliminate that threat.

* ''LittleBusters'': [[spoiler:[[GenkiGirl Poor]] little {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Haruka]] is constantly at odds with [[spoiler:her sister, Kanata]], but as we learn through the story, [[spoiler:Kanata]] is really just protecting [[spoiler:Haruka]] from their family, a really messed up band of villains who, among other despicable things, forces the eligible daughter to copulate with two fathers to have a higher chance of producing an heir, then taking the infant from the mother right after birth to be raised in the main household by the evil old matriarch, as well as being insular, clannish, ultra-conservative, and abusive. When the mother [[spoiler:had twins]], and one of the fathers is arrested and branded a criminal, the family set upon a plan to make sure one of the siblings was eligible and tagged the child of the good father, whilst the other would be labeled the child of the criminal (against any logic which would state they would really have no knowledge of who the father was, or even if the two children were conceived by different father's sperm). [[spoiler:Kanata]] ends up able, smart, athletic, and hard-working, while [[spoiler:Haruka]] is lackadaisical, clumsy, mischievous, and a general loser [[spoiler:which is completely an act, as a rebellious reaction to the endless abuse at the hands of her family and perceived abuse at the hands of the sister she once trusted]]. Subsequently, the family turns [[spoiler:Haruka]] into a brutal version of TheUnfavorite, beating, torturing, insulting, and criminally abusing [[spoiler:her]] at every turn.