History Main / WelldonesonGuy

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'',

* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', both Mohinder Suresh and Elle Bishop have seeking the approval of their fathers as their driving motivation. Mohinder is try to prove the theories of his deceased father, while Elle's father sends her out to kill people for him.
** Also, for all of his wacky murderous brain-stealing shenanigans, it seems all Sylar really wanted from life was the approval of his parents. Then again Sylar has a ''lot'' of problems, obviously. So he could have either mommy issues, daddy issues, neither, or both. Though in the past few episodes he has apparently developed his dead mother's personality, going so far as to shapeshift into her (and use her voice) when he's talking to ''himself''. Clever camera angles make this hard to determine but when he's with another character [[spoiler: Michah]] the camera shows him change back and forth. Creeeeeepy.

* It was revealed on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' that the six words Robin wants to hear her dad say are "Robin, I'm proud of you, [[CanadaEh eh]]."
** This is also a huge issue of Barney's, as multiple episodes show, most notably 'Showdown' and 'Cleaning House', and he doesn't even know who his father is. And now that he has met his father, and after getting radically worse, he may actually be getting better.

* In ''TheXFiles'', Agent Spender had this going for [[spoiler:the Cigarette-Smoking Man, his biological father]], of all people. Well, at least until he tried killing his mom.
** Scully also spent a lot of time and energy trying to prove to her parents, but especially her dad, that her decision to join the FBI was a good one. She doesn't find out how proud of her her dad actually was until he's dead.

* TheLordOfTheRings: As noted in the Film category, poor Faramir was TheUnfavorite, though he fared slightly better than his movie counterpart.

->"''A father has to be a provider, a teacher, a role model, but most importantly, a distant authority figure who can never be pleased.''"

* In ''TheQuickAndTheDead'', all The Kid wants is the respect of his evil bastard father. As such, he enters a gunfighting competition, eventually facing his father down. The father tries to talk him out of the duel. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, and the father shoots him dead.]]

** [[KnightInSourArmor Jon Snow]] seems to greatly desire [[TheStoic Eddard Stark's]] approval, to the point that he has a few dreams about being [[SoProudOfYou accepted as a true Stark]] and given the rights to Winterfell. He suffers a lot of guilt over that last part though, given [[HeroicBastard his status]]. [[spoiler:While Ned did love and respect him and wanted to tell him so, Joffrey's interference meant he would never get the chance. Made more complex by recent hints that Ned might not actually be Jon's father at all]]

* Anastasia is rewritten into this in ''Disney/CinderellaIIIATwistinTime.''

* [[Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra Storm]][[Film/GIJoeRetaliation Shadow]]was this as a boy.

* A large chunk of the plot in ''Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins'' is that successful TV talks how host Roscoe (Martin Lawrence), TheUnfavorite, still can't get his father (James Earl Jones) - or anyone in his family except for his mother - to recognize and/or congratulate him for his accomplishments while still showering love and praise on his cousin Clyde (Cedric the Entertainer) for his car dealerships.
* Actually role reversed in the 2007 remake of ''3:10 To Yuma'' in which Dan Evans (Christian Bale) desperately wants to earn the love and respect of his bratty, ungrateful son William (Logan Lerman), thus inspiring him to take criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the train that will take him to prison (which will also provide him with some extra cash as a reward).

* Cyclops to some extent with Xavier. In most versions and for a large part of his publication, Scott was motivated by a desire to impress his surrogate father. In fact, a large part of the reason he shifted so much in personality following Jean's (second) death was from him realizing how terrible a father Xavier truly was to him, and then experiencing fist hand ''why'' he was like that.
* A ''stunningly'' dark subversion in Garth Ennis' Preacher series. Jesse Custer breaks the back of the man who shot his father in front of his eyes, then later killed his mother [[spoiler: (or so he thought)]] and generally acted like a world-class sociopath... all the while teaching Jesse to ride, shoot, fight and fix engines. What are Jody's last words to him? "Prouda' you, boy..." Custer reacts by snarling out "DIE!" and strangling whatever life is left in him.

* Subverted in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Better Than Life", when Rimmer reflects he never heard his father say he was proud of him, before entering the titular LotusEaterMachine. In the fantasy world he is an incredibly popular and successful figure, but when his father appears, it's to fulfill the Cat's fantasy of hearing him call Rimmer a total smeghead. It's after this point that Rimmer's subconscious rebels against him and converts the fantasy world into a horrible nightmare.

* In ''DespicableMe'', Gru had difficulty trying to impress his mother as she keeps on saying "eh" on his accomplishments. In the end, [[spoiler:she does say that she is quite proud of her son.]] Also, in a lesser sense, we have [[spoiler: Vector and his father Mr Perkins.]]

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' has Eva Ushiromiya, towards [[AbusiveParents her father Kinzo]]. [[DrunkWithPower This]] [[CainAndAbel causes]] [[KillEmAll problems]].

** ''All'' the angels suffer this, more or less, because God is a [[ParentalAbandonment crappy parent]]. Like Lucifer, despite his rebellion, but Michael's relationship with God intentionally parallels Dean's with John, except Michael is perfectly willing to kill what used to be his favorite brother if he believes that's what Daddy wants. Raphael has retreated into nihilism ("We just want it to be over") and Gabriel into hedonism, and that's the four that ever actually "''met'' the man," as Uriel put it. Uriel's faction have actively given up and want to side with Lucifer. Anna is probably the closest to indifferent to God's opinion of any angel appearing on the show; it's fitting she's also the only one with a consistently female appearance.

** ''All'' the angels suffer this, more or less, because God is a [[ParentalAbandonment crappy parent]]. Like Lucifer, despite his rebellion, but Michael's relationship with God intentionally parallels Dean's with John, except Michael is perfectly willing to kill what used to be his favorite brother if he believes that's what Daddy wants. Raphael has retreated into nihilism ("God has left the building") and Gabriel into hedonism, and that's the four that ever actually "''met'' the man," as Uriel put it. Uriel's faction have actively given up and want to side with Lucifer. Anna is probably the closest to indifferent to God's opinion of any angel appearing on the show; it's fitting she's also the only one with a consistently female appearance.

* Future Trunks from ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' kind of got to have it both ways. Despite being repulsed by his father Vegeta's evil behavior, he still wanted his approval and often [[ShrinkingViolet behaved deferentially]]. Vegeta, being [[{{Jerkass}} Vegeta]], considered this a weakness and mocked him for it. He was surprised (and more than a little pissed off) when Trunks actually followed through on his threat to attack him if necessary to prevent Cell's transformation, even though that meant giving up all hope of winning his approval. When Trunks later ''died'' at Cell's hands, Vegeta found himself experiencing guilt for probably the first time ever, and [[PapaWolf went APESHIT on the murderer]]. Realizing that, after Trunks was revived and returned to his own timeline, Vegeta gave a small but powerful farewell salute.

* Subverted in the [[FurryFandom furry comic]], ''AssociatedStudentBodies'', where one of the main characters told the story of his childhood being physically abused by his drunken father so badly that he was driven to drink himself, stealing his father's booze. Eventually, the wolf cub grew up tall and strong enough to fight back effectively enough give his father a furious beating. However, even while he was lying in a pool of blood, his father's only comment was an admiring one, "'Bout time you were a man." For his part, the cub was completely disgusted by this perverse admiration of bloody violence and left his father to enlist in the military as soon he could.

* In UmiNoMisaki, Shizuku puts her all into being a proper cape maiden to try to get her ''mom'' - a previous cape maiden - to approve of her.
* A [[OnePiece younger Luffy]] wanted to be friends with Ace, the older kid living with him, [[spoiler: and Ace's friend Sabo,]] who found him to be a weak, annoying crybaby, and lead him into tons of deadly situations to escape him, but he kept coming back. Eventually, Luffy shows how tough he really is, and they become brothers.

** This is also a huge issue of Barney's, as multiple episodes show, most notably 'Showdown' and 'Cleaning House', and he doesn't even know who his father is.
** He has now met his father, and after getting radically worse, he may actually be getting better.

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, [[{{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 {{Fantasy-Forbidding Father}} 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.

--->'''Klaus:''' It seems I have misjudged you. [["Well Done, Son" Guy Well done, son.]]