History Main / TheUnFavourite

* ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz6LKhb5L7c Nano]] was neglected by her uncle who only cared about her little brother Yuki. Unlike most examples, Yuki actually loves her and was sad to see her go.

* ''WebAnimation/ManiManiPeople'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK1_Hs_EfE4 Michiru]] was neglected by his parents in favor of his older brother. He tried working hard but it wasn't working and the parents decide to fully focus on Michiru's brother. He tried to buy his parent's love using money borrowed from Moroboshi, but he soon stopped and realized that his parents weren't going to change and decided to cut all ties with them.

A [[MiddleChildSyndrome middle child]] can feel like this. Can easily escalate into BlackSheep or CainAndAbel, or in particularly nasty cases, one or both of the parents having a go at [[OffingTheOffspring offing the Unfavorite offspring]]. May be rooted in a DeathByChildbirth. May cross over with WellDoneSonGuy if the Unfavorite wants some recognition. If the favorite of the parents isn't even a member of their family, it's a case of WhyAreYouNotMySon. When each parent has one favorite and one Unfavorite, it's JacobAndEsau. In a workplace situation, see BosssUnfavoriteEmployee. When the parent(s) die, can become the DisinheritedChild. When even the family pet is favored over the unwanted child, it is TreatedWorseThanThePet. If this causes bad blood between the parent and their child, see HatesTheirParent.

A [[MiddleChildSyndrome middle child]] can feel like this. Can easily escalate into BlackSheep or CainAndAbel, or in particularly nasty cases, one or both of the parents having a go at [[OffingTheOffspring offing the Unfavorite offspring]]. May be rooted in a DeathByChildbirth. May cross over with WellDoneSonGuy if the Unfavorite wants some recognition. If the favorite of the parents isn't even a member of their family, it's a case of WhyAreYouNotMySon. When each parent has one favorite and one Unfavorite, it's JacobAndEsau. In a workplace situation, see BosssUnfavoriteEmployee. When the parent(s) die, can become the DisinheritedChild. If this causes bad blood between the parent and their child, see HatesTheirParent.

* WebAnimation/AttackOnMika:

* In Creator/EugeneONeill's ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', the main subplot centers around a prolonged spat between the main protagonist's cousin Nora and Nora's mother, apparently about Nora wanting to audition for a Broadway play and her mother saying no. At the end of the play, Nora finally admits that the audition was just the final straw, and that the real root of her anger and frustration is that she feels like ever since her father died, she's been an afterthought to her mother, as her mother focuses a disproportionate amount of attention on Nora's [[IllGirl sickly sister]] Laurie.

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]], the illegitimate child conceived by [[AffairBlameTheBastard infidelity on the part of one of the parents]] (if not [[ChildByRape even worse]]). But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick. In some extreme cases, this may cause RichSiblingPoorSibling, especially if one sibling is forced into service to the other.

And Heaven help the poor kid if [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth the favorite child is dead]]. (Possibly having received the status of "favorite" by dying.) See also YouShouldHaveDiedInstead. The same thing goes if the Unfavorite was a result of DeathByChildbirth, where the family hates the kid for [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild "murdering" their mother.]]

* Jonathan Aaron Steel, the protagonist of Music/{{WASP}}'s epic concept album ''Music/TheCrimsonIdol'' is this, forever unfavourably compared to his brother Michael, and the problem intensifies after Michael's tragic death.

** Abraham treated Ishmael as a RedHeadedStepchild, and Sarah treated him as a usurping bastard, despite the fact that he was conceived legitimately (for the time) ''and it was Sarah's idea.'' He didn't treat his six sons born to Keturah, the wife he took after Sarah died, any better, [[PutOnABus sending them "to the east"]] out of the Promised Land. Isaac was not only [[ParentalFavoritism his parents' favorite,]] he was ''[[UpToEleven God's favorite]]'' too. To be fair, God did send an angel to save Ishmael and his mother from dying in the desert.

* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Among the children of Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus easily wins the prize for "least favored". This is illustrated in Hera throwing him off Olympus at birth because he was so ugly. Ares is a close second, hated for representing the violence and bloodshed in war while Athena is heralded for representing the leadership and tactics of warfare.

[[folder:Religion]]

* In Creator/EugeneONeill's ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', the main subplot centers around the main protagonist's cousin Nora feeling like she's an afterthought to her mother due to the latter focusing a disproportionate amount of attention on Nora's [[IllGirl sickly sister]] Laurie. The two finally hash out their differences and make amends near the end of the play.
-->'''Nora:''' I can’t even talk to you. I don’t ''exist'' to you. I have tried so hard to get close to you, but there was never any room. Whatever you had to give went to Daddy, and when he died, whatever was left you gave to Laurie... I used to pray I’d get some terrible disease or get hit by a car so I’d have a leg all twisted and crippled and then once, maybe just once, ''I’d'' get to crawl into bed next to you on a cold rainy night and talk to you and hold you until I fell asleep in your arms.

** The Emperor's main problem was that he had a very clear idea of what his ''generals'' should be like, but neglected to consider that those generals even saw him ''as'' a father. As a result, you got Lorgar - who saw an entire world annihilated to teach him not to be religious; Perturabo - whose hopes and dreams were straight-out ignored in favor of "here is a siege, go fight it"; Fulgrim - whose obsession with perfection was left unchecked until it consumed him with the aid of a daemon; Angron - who saw the people he cared about left to die because the Emperor abducted him from a hopeless battle rather than deploying his high-tech military in support; Magnus - who was publicly humiliated; Mortarion - who spent years fighting to free his homeworld, only for the Emperor to steal his thunder in a spectacular way; Alpharius - the last primarch to be found, everyone disdained his unorthodox strategies and tactics and he joined sides with the only brother who acknowledged how brilliant he could be; and Horus - the ''most powerful military leader in the galaxy'' - who was left completely in the dark about why the Emperor was retiring to Terra, leading Horus to the not illogical conclusion that he was being left to do gruntwork while the Emperor sat back and enjoyed the spoils.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has Kathrine Steiner-Davion. The second child of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner-Davion, she grew up thinking that Hanse favored her older brother Victor over her (despite the fact that Victor was raised on ''another planet'' from her and her father). In fact, she was a spoiled RoyalBrat who was indulged by both her parents while Victor joined the military as soon as he was old enough and lived a fairly austere lifestyle. This wasn't enough for her, as she wasn't the heir to the kingdom (despite her actively avoiding meeting the mandatory military service needed to become eligible).

* ''Theatre/KingLear'' is a tragic subversion when Lear's favorite daughter Cordelia is banished and disinherited by her father. She still manages to find a physician to treat Lear's illness and be reconciled with him before their deaths.

* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''. Shiki really was the unfavorite of Makihisa and upon being wounded was promptly disinherited and kicked out. However, that's because not only were they not related - therefore making Shiki incapable of becoming the Tohno family head - Shiki was the son of Nanaya, the guy whose family Makihisa just killed off. He was kept around to take care of SHIKI (Makihisa's favorite) if he happened to Invert.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune Arc harshly suffers this trope throughout most of the series, poor guy...
-->'''Jaune:''' I'm tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree, while these friends fight for their lives. Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?
* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' has Lyn "Laeil" Burbank. While actually a niece rather than a daughter, her uncle and aunt still give her the same unfavorite treatment, treating her like something that just has to be tolerated, while lavishing all their attention on her JerkJock cousin, Anthony, who regularily makes her life hell. Once she's on the island, though, it isn't long before she gets [[CainAndAbel bloody revenge]] on him.
* Both WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic and WebVideo/AskThatGuyWithTheGlasses were told regularly they weren't wanted, giving them mass issues. The Other Guy, the older brother, is fairly normal in comparison and seems to have been treated better.
* In ''Literature/MotherOfLearning'', Zorian's parents disapprove of his lack of interest in the family business and by his poor charisma.

* A common trope in many ''WebAnimation/GachaLife'' videos, to the point where it's become its own ''genre''.
* Strong Sad serves this to Strong Bad from ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''
* Tacoma from WebVideo/DemoReel has a big family, and just about all of them abuse him emotionally for being a WhiteSheep who brought down his dad's ponzi scheme.
* The Faceless Ghost in ARG/EscapeFromEdenPark is an angry, spiteful spirit, holding onto her anger and jealousy at her older sister, who overshadowed her while they were both alive.

* Cooler in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' takes what Cooler implied about himself in ''Z'' and makes it explicit he is this compared to his younger brother Freeza, who was always favored and spoiled by their father King Cold. Goku [[SympathyForTheDevil actually shows sympathy for how his father treated him]], and one of the [[BerserkButton few ways to get under his skin is to compare him to Freeza in any way, shape or form]].
-->''"My brother would have stood around postulating and claiming his victory like some haughty greenhorn child. I know what it takes to get the job done. Which is why father should have...!"''

* Many a ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' [[NaiveEverygirl heroine]] with a WickedStepmother and step-sister(s). ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' is one of the most famous examples, if not the most famous example. Men sure had rotten taste in women back then.
** Fairy tales "Diamonds and Toads" and "[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/239.htm Tritill, Litill, and the Birds]]" take it even further by having [[AbusiveParents biological parents]] doing this to one of their children (usually the youngest).

** Even though it's a Shakespearean drama, Theatre/KingLear is a tragic [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of the above example when Cordelia is banished and disinherited by her father. She still manages to find a physician to treat Lear's illness and be reconciled with him before their deaths.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* April from ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' was the BlackSheep and completely ignored by almost her entire family (the main exception being her grandfather). The fact that she's regarded by much of the {{Hatedom}} as being the strip's OnlySaneMan is probably very much related to this fact.
** Making this even harsher, creator Lynn Johnson admitted that the Patterson family [[WriteWhoYouKnow was based on her own]], and that April represented the second daughter she wanted but never had. Apparently that went out the window, since as noted above, April is often the victim of InformedWrongness.
* Peter Fox from ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' tends to be this in the Fox Family.
** All three of the Fox kids do crazy things. Peter, being the oldest, tends to draw more attention since his zany antics include things like [[DrivesLikeCrazy driving like a maniac]], skipping homework, playing a guitar loudly and badly, and wrecking the house by throwing a football around indoors. In comparison, Paige's obsessive shopping, Jason's scientific screw-ups, and their mutual back-and-forth teasing is kind of small potatoes.
* When his older brother Chad is visiting from college, Jeremy from the strip ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' seems to fall into this.
** This wasn't helped by early depictions of Chad, which gave him a gleaming, perfect smile, the rest of his head unable to be seen, atop a perfect body to go with the notion that he could do no wrong. Later depictions make him look... like Jeremy with a beard.
[[/folder]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' backstory has strong vibes of this in the Primarchs. With a few exceptions the vast majority of them defected because of their father's disapproval and/or withering apathy. In the words of Roboute Guilliman, "The Emperor was a great scientist, a great leader, but a terrible father".

* New York is even worse when it comes to their basketball teams. The Manhattan-based New York Knicks are the most valuable team in the NBA, get a ton of press, and regularly sell out all of their games no matter what their record is. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets are largely an afterthought in the media and they've often struggled to get fans in the seats. This dynamic has best best displayed during the 2020-21 season. The Nets became one of the favorites for the championship following their acquisitions of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden and are well on their way to a deep playoff run and NYC largely does not care because the Knicks have experienced a resurgence under a core of young players the team drafted and might just ''make'' the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

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]], the illegitimate child conceived by [[AffairBlameTheBastard infidelity on the part of one of the parents]] (if not [[ChildByRape even worse]]). But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune Arc harshly endures this trope throughout most of the series, poor guy...

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune Arc practically embodies this trope throughout most of the series, poor guy...

* ''WebAnimation/RWBY'': Jaune Arc practically embodies this trope throughout most of the series, poor guy...