History Main / WellDoneSonGuy

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Well, at least he has his priorities in order]].]]

In other genres, this can be a bit more understated, with the "Well Done, Son!" Guy simply giving our hero an approving nod from a distance (or saying, [[Film/{{Babe}} "That'll do, pig"]]). If the "Well Done, Son!" Guy is a TricksterMentor or ZenSurvivor, they may have a very long and painful road ahead of them to get even that. May be part of an InadequateInheritor plot. The FantasyForbiddingFather usually inspires this sort of feeling. This dynamic is usually father-son. Mother-daughter and father-daughter are not too unusual, but mother-son is rare (unless it's the JewishMother scenario, which is almost always PlayedForLaughs). The final chapter is often DyingReconcilliation.

In other genres, this can be a bit more understated, with the "Well Done, Son!" Guy simply giving our hero an approving nod from a distance (or saying, [[Film/{{Babe}} "That'll do, pig"]]). If the "Well Done, Son!" Guy is a TricksterMentor or ZenSurvivor, they may have a very long and painful road ahead of them to get even that. May be part of an InadequateInheritor plot. The FantasyForbiddingFather usually inspires this sort of feeling. This dynamic is usually father-son. Mother-daughter and father-daughter are not too unusual, but mother-son is rare (unless it's the JewishMother scenario, which is almost always PlayedForLaughs).

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The case of Alexander III and Nicholas II, the last two Tsars of Russia before the Russian Revolution put an end to the monarchy. Alexander had nothing but contempt for his son and heir Nicholas, deriding him as weak and worthless and demeaning him to his face. He also did little in the way of actually preparing Nicholas for the heavy responsibility of ruling the Russian Empire, leaving the young man woefully unprepared for the job when Alexander died in 1894. Throughout his reign, Nicholas proved timid and indecisive and lacked strong leadership and political skills. Nicholas was a devoted father and husband, and an all-around family man... but in large part thanks to his father, he simply wasn't cut out to be a king, and couldn't manage his own autocracy. Later Alex Kerensky took over, and, [[AndNowYouKnow well]]...
* Political commentary and biopics tend to paint UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush as suffering from this trope.
** This despite G.W. himself, his mother, and pretty much everyone else in the family stating in print and on video, in public and private, that George H.W. has never been less than a doting father whose children have always known they have his unstinting love and support.
* UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill's early life was driven by a desire to form a close relationship with his aloof and uninterested father, Lord Randolph; Churchill envisioned quickly getting to Parliament as the best means of being able to work closely together, father and son, a dream that was shattered when his father died young.
* Though exceptionally well-educated and provided for, as children [[UsefulNotes/MaryTudor Mary I]] and UsefulNotes/ElizabethI were desperate for attention and approval from their misogynistic father, UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, which had a lot to do with their respective styles of ruling and general personalities. The way he treated their mothers was also a big part of it (though this is judging him by [[ValuesDissonance modern, Anglospheric cultural standards]]; he was, according to some, [[FairForItsDay a pretty good fellow for his day]]). There's also the fact that each of them was named Princess of Wales (heiress to the throne) upon her birth, only for Henry to deem each of them illegitimate and strip them of the title as he moved on to his next wife. The mess left behind was so convoluted that Henry had to spell out the line of succession in his will to prevent misunderstandings; on his deathbed, he seems to have repented at least some of his behavior, and restored ''both'' daughters to the line. (This didn't keep things from going pear-shaped when his son Edward VI died nine years later, though.)
* UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, according to several biographers, had this type of relationship with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and the Duchess's [[EvilChancellor evil advisor]], Sir John Conroy. The only thing of value the Duchess "owned" was her daughter, the heiress presumptive to the throne, and in order to capitalize on the fact, they demanded that Victoria be ''perfect''. Nothing was ever good enough, which Victoria's diary entries show caused her a great deal of angst. Her relationship with her mother did improve after she became Queen, at least, especially after Conroy's death; documents revealed just how terrible a steward he was and how much his influence drove the Duchess to treat her daughter badly, leading her to apologize.
* Creator/SylviaPlath wrote in her journal about how she wanted her mother to love her. She realized that her writing would never be hers until she stopped writing for her mother's approval and started writing for herself.
* As Japan was tearing apart the film ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki (who had a long-term rift with his son and was skeptical of his son's filmmaking abilities) unexpectedly came to its premiere. Then he wrote a note to his son. "It was made honestly. I liked it."
* Creator/HenryFonda was described by his famous children Creator/{{Jane|Fonda}} and Creator/{{Peter|Fonda}} as cold and detached. Jane wrote in her autobiography that her father was more open to strangers than to her: "Often I run into people who describe finding themselves sitting next to him on transatlantic flights and go on about what an open person he was, how they drank and talked with him "for eight hours nonstop." It makes me angry. I never talked to him for thirty minutes nonstop!"
* The traditional dynastic model for much of the Muslim world is that formulated by the fourteenth-century North African historiographer Creator/IbnKhaldun, which assumes that dynasties are formed generally by the leader of some powerful nomadic people conquering a settled region and replacing the current rulers while leaving everything in place. It holds that the first generation is still savage, but very strong, the second generation is adapted to civilized living, and inherits his father's connections and vision, the third generation begins to be soft, arrogant, and insufficiently political, and from the fourth generation it's all downhill until the new conquerors come.
* [[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204652904577191440888199840.html This]] ''Wall Street Journal'' piece argues that the four presidents from G.H.W. Bush to Obama all have daddy issues: They either have a hero figure as their father and a privileged background or no relationship to their father at all: '''"No recent presidents can boast paternity that seems ordinary or normal, finding middle ground between the intense expectations of a powerful, prominent parent and the disasters of badly broken families with absent birth fathers."'' Makes you wonder if that explains their political decisions. Oh, and all 2012 candidates, as well as many candidates from the previous elections (e.g. Al Gore, John [=McCain=]), also fell into this pattern...
* Creator/DavidCassidy had this with his father Jack, who resented the fact that his son's career was far more meteoric than his own.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WebAnimation/BravestWarriors'', the Cereal Master's daddy issues are lampshaded, discussed, and resolved in less than five minutes. It's a, uh... [[WidgetSeries rather strange series.]]

* Until they realize he's actually fairly worthless, newbies from WebSite/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses are desperate to please WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic. He never notices them. Film Brain still kept his crush until ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', but that ends bittersweetly.

%%* Biff starts out like this in ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman''.
%%** Happy is still like this, but to a slightly lesser extent.

Most often, that ''one guy'' is his emotionally distant father, though it can also be TheAce, TheMentor, an AloofBigBrother, or especially that AlwaysSomeoneBetter individual, usually as an old friend of the hero. Almost always a SpecialGuest, and often a LargeHam as well. When it's a recurring character, usually a [[MeddlingParents controlling parent]].

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the case for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series where she debuts, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she insists to all the adults that she'll the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she wants to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth's deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just so he could warp his sense of justice and one day frame him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his daughter a passing glance. Later on, however, with the knowledge that [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Gregory, which led to a penalty on his record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name, but she's now aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- she tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system,]] that a child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him beforehand.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the case for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series where she debuts, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she insists to all the adults that she'll the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she wants to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth's deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just so he could warp his sense of justice and one day frame him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his daughter a passing glance. Later on, however, with the knowledge that [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Gregory, which led to a penalty on his record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name, but she's now aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- she tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him beforehand.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the case for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she insists to all the adults that she'll the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she wants to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth's deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just so he could warp his sense of justice and one day frame him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his daughter a passing glance. Later on, however, with the knowledge that [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Gregory, which led to a penalty on his record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name, but she's now aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- she tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him beforehand.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she insists to all the adults that she'll the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she wants to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth's deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just so he could warp his sense of justice and one day frame him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his daughter a passing glance. Later on, however, with the knowledge that [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Gregory, which led to a penalty on his record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name, but she's now aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- she tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him beforehand.

A really unpleasant variation is when the "Well Done, Son!" Guy is already ''dead'', which in most cases means the approval and emotional bonding will never happen. At best, the character may gain some comfort by following [[MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave his understanding of what the deceased would want if he were alive]].

** Eva Ushiromiya, towards [[AbusiveParents her father Kinzo]]. [[DrunkWithPower This]] [[CainAndAbel causes]] [[KillEmAll problems]].

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she insists to all the adults that she'll the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she's desperate to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth's deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just so he could warp his sense of justice and one day frame him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his daughter a passing glance. Later on, however, with the knowledge that [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Gregory, which led to a penalty on his record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name, but she's now aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- she tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him beforehand.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback to several years ago, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Edgeworth just placates her and decides to play along since he can see [[ThePerfectionist how much being "perfect" matters to her,]] since that's supposedly all a von Karma is allowed to be. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she keeps insisting to all the adults that she's about to become the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she's desperate to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth and his deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just to warp his sense of justice and one day frame and convict him for murder,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his biological daughter a passing glance. Come the second game, however, with the knowledge [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Edgeworth's father Gregory, which led to a penalty on his court record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name and its creed of absolute perfection, but she's fully aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- during the final case, she solemnly tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system without remorse,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him before they knew the truth. A beautiful bit of CharacterDevelopment, indeed.

* Pink in ''Music/TheWall''; especially bad because Pink never knew his father at all ("Daddy's flown across the ocean..."). It's twice as tragic because of the gigantic void that his absence leaves behind.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback to several years ago, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Edgeworth just placates her and decides to play along since he can see [[ThePerfectionist how much being "perfect" matters to her,]] since that's supposedly all a von Karma is allowed to be. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she keeps insisting to all the adults that she's about to become the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she's desperate to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth and his deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just to warp his sense of justice and one day frame and convict him for murder to get back at his father,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his biological daughter a passing glance. Come the second game, however, with the knowledge [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Edgeworth's father Gregory, which led to a penalty on his court record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] Franziska still takes pride in her family name and its creed of absolute perfection, but she's fully aware of the kind of man her father truly was -- during the final case, she solemnly tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is [[spoiler: a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system without remorse,]] that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him before they knew the truth. A beautiful bit of CharacterDevelopment, indeed.

* The traditional dynastic model for much of the Muslim world is that formulated by the fourteenth-century North African historiographer Ibn Khaldun, which assumes that dynasties are formed generally by the leader of some powerful nomadic people conquering a settled region and replacing the current rulers while leaving everything in place. It holds that the first generation is still savage, but very strong, the second generation is adapted to civilized living, and inherits his father's connections and vision, the third generation begins to be soft, arrogant, and insufficiently political, and from the fourth generation it's all downhill until the new conquerors come.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/list_small_5655.jpg]]]]

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback to several years ago, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Edgeworth just placates her and decides to play along since he can see [[ThePerfectionist how much being "perfect" matters to her,]] since that's supposedly all a von Karma is allowed to be. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she keeps insisting to all the adults that she's about to become the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she's desperate to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth and his deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just to warp his sense of justice and one day frame and convict him for murder to get back at his father,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his biological daughter a passing glance. Come the second game, however, with the knowledge [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Edgeworth's father Gregory, which led to a penalty on his court record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall,]] while Franziska still takes pride in her family name and its creed of absolute perfection, she's fully aware of the kind of man her father truly was, and during the final case, she solemnly tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system without remorse, that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him before they knew the truth. A beautiful bit of CharacterDevelopment, indeed.

** The first ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game, a spinoff within the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, shows that this has long been the for Franziska von Karma; there are clear hints of it in second game in the original series, but you see it firsthand in Investigations. In the fourth case, which takes place in flashback to several years ago, thirteen year old Franziska declares a competition with her adoptive brother Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first, and proudly boasts about it to her father, Manfred von Karma. Edgeworth just placates her and decides to play along since he can see [[ThePerfectionist how much being "perfect" matters to her,]] since that's supposedly all a von Karma is allowed to be. Considering how von Karma seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to prove herself, and why she keeps insisting to all the adults that she's about to become the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. She calls her father "the anchor of her life," and it's obvious that she's desperate to outshine Edgeworth so he'll take more of an interest in her -- he doesn't even agree to come watch her first case once she becomes a prosecutor, and instead dismissively says that he'll think about it. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth and his deceased father Gregory vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he [[spoiler: brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just to warp his sense of justice and one day frame and convict him for murder to get back at his father,]] it makes sense that he often didn't give his biological daughter a passing glance. Come the second game, however, with the knowledge [[spoiler: her father coerced a confession fifteen years ago during a case against Edgeworth's father Gregory, which led to a penalty on his court record that inspired him to murder Gregory and let an innocent man take the fall, while Franziska still takes pride in her family name and its creed of absolute perfection, she's fully aware of the kind of man her father truly was, and during the final case, she solemnly tells Sebastian Debeste, after he's learned that his father is a HateSink of a man who murders and manipulates the justice system without remorse, that the child must acknowledge the sins of their father, no matter how much they may have revered him before they knew the truth. A beautiful bit of CharacterDevelopment, indeed.

** The ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' game focusing on Miles Edgeworth shows that this has long been the for Franziska. In the fourth case, 13-year-old Franziska declares a competition with Edgeworth to see who can solve the crime first and proudly boasts about it to father Manfred von Karma. Edgeworth just placates her and decides to play along since he can see [[ThePerfectionist how much being "perfect" matters to her,]] since that's supposedly all a von Karma is allowed to be. Considering how he seems to care much more about Edgeworth's progress and skills than hers, this explains a lot about how desperate she was to establish herself as a prosecutor and why she keeps insisting to all the adults that she's about to become the best prosecutor around once she takes the bar. Keeping in mind that Edgeworth and his deceased father vexed von Karma for fifteen years, so much so that he brought Edgeworth into his home and under his tutelage just to warp his sense of justice and one day frame and convict him for murder to get back at his father, it makes sense that he often didn't give his biological daughter a passing glance.

In the end, one of two things happens. Rarely, the "Well Done, Son!" Guy will turn out to have some kind of [[BrokenPedestal massive character flaw]], and our hero will realize that it's been a mistake to weigh his opinion so highly. This may result in the betrayed hero CallingTheOldManOut. Most of the time, though, everything comes to a head when the "Well Done, Son!" Guy finally asks the hero why he's gone to such ridiculous ends. The hero fesses up, and the "Well Done, Son!" Guy explains that he's respected the hero all along, and [[YouDidntAsk assumed the hero already knew]]. If the "Well Done, Son!" Guy is the hero's friend instead of his father, he'll often also explain that he'd always desperately wanted the respect of the hero as well (hell, sometimes the ''father'' wanted the kid's respect, especially if there's something big and nasty in his past, probably either ignored by or unknown to the hero).

Contrast SoProudOfYou and HatesTheirParent. Also see WellDoneDadGuy, which is the inversion of this trope. This may be caused by AntiNepotism.

In the end, one of two things happens. Rarely, the "Well Done, Son!" Guy will turn out to have some kind of [[BrokenPedestal massive character flaw]], and our hero will realize that it's been a mistake to weight his opinion so highly. This may result in the betrayed hero CallingTheOldManOut. Most of the time, though, everything comes to a head when the "Well Done, Son!" Guy finally asks the hero why he's gone to such ridiculous ends. The hero fesses up, and the "Well Done, Son!" Guy explains that he's respected the hero all along, and [[YouDidntAsk assumed the hero already knew]]. If the "Well Done, Son!" Guy is the hero's friend instead of his father, he'll often also explain that he'd always desperately wanted the respect of the hero as well (hell, sometimes the ''father'' wanted the kid's respect, especially if there's something big and nasty in his past, probably either ignored by or unknown to the hero).