History Main / WhyAreYouNotMySon

** To be fair the Weasleys do want Harry as a son, but not because they love him more than their own children, but because they love him as one of their own.
** Ron gets off easy compared to Neville. In addition to the pressure of living up to his Auror parents, his grandmother likes to ask him why he couldn't be more like Harry (and she only speaks to him once in the series). At the start of book six, Professor [=McGonagall=] tells Neville that it's time his grandmother started appreciating the grandson she had instead of the one she thought she ought to have.
*** It's [[spoiler:a CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming when his grandmother finally [[SoProudofYou says how proud of him she is]]]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad,'' this comes about after Steve complains about Stan forcing him to get involved with his interests. As a result, Stan takes an interest in Steve's friend Barry. [[ItGotWorse It Gets Worse]] when Barry stops taking his anti-psychotic medication and decides to eliminate Steve from the picture.

-->-- ''TheSpectacularSpiderMan''

* Norman Osborn in the first ''SpiderMan'' film is a more unintentional example, clearly impressed by Peter's brilliance and implicitly comparing his own son, Harry, negatively to Peter. [[ItWasHisSled As everyone knows]], Norman becomes the villain the Green Goblin, and Harry ends up going crazy and following in his father's footsteps.

* ''TheSpectacularSpiderman'' also uses the Norman Osborn favoring Peter plot, but this version of Norman is much more malicious and openly demeans his son.
* ''{{Recess}}'', "More Like Gretchen": Gretchen and Spinelli spend the day with Spinelli's parents, who can't stop gushing about Gretchen.

* In ''{{Batman}}: Heart of Hush'', Tommy Elliot's mother constantly praises Bruce Wayne as an intelligent, successful man of the world while keeping her own son under her thumb and getting in the way of his own dreams of success. Tommy grows increasingly frustrated by this, especially since he thinks of Bruce as a spoiled playboy.

** Dick seems to feel this way in "Downtime" when {{Batman}} takes Aqualad aside for a private talk, even though it's not really the case (Bats actually chewing out Aqualad). Bruce later mends things with a pick-up basketball game.

* One ''SpongebobSquarepants'' episode has Spongebob trying to act very mature, and his grandparents pampering Patrick instead. Spongebob ends up breaking into tears and admitting he likes being babied.

* Subverted in the episode dealing with Daedalus and Icarus in ''TheStoryteller''. Daedalus is frustrated by his son Icarus' clumsiness and lack of inventive genius. A cousin comes to stay with them who does have this brilliance and attracts Daedalus' favor. The twist, is that although he acts like a WellDoneSonGuy towards Icarus, Daedalus "accidentally-on-purpose" kills his nephew, both because he reminds him of disappointment in his own son, and because he sees him as a rival.

** Ron gets off easy compared to Neville. In addition to the pressure of living up to his Auror parents, his grandmother likes to ask him why he couldn't be more like Harry (and she only speaks to him once in the series). This leads to a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Professor [=McGonagall=] tells Neville that it's time his grandmother started appreciating the grandson she had instead of the one she thought she ought to have.

* Reed Richard's father in ''UltimateFantasticFour'' blatantly prefers the more athletic Ben Grimm to his own genius son.

* The movie ''O'' is ''{{Othello}}'' [[HighSchoolAU set at a high school]], and has the Iago character as the son of a coach and the Othello equivalent being his favorite player. Unlike the original play, this makes "Iago" somewhat sympathetic rather than acting ForTheEvulz.

* In S1, [[{{Series/Heroes}} Sylar]] seemed to be under the impression that Chandra initially preffered him to Mohinder. At least, that's what Sylar tells Mohinder.

<<|ParentalIssues|>>

** Dick seems to feel this way in "Downtime" when {{Batman}} takes Aqualad aside for a private talk, even though it's not really the case.

* A subversion on ''{{Glee}}'': Burt Hummel is quite accepting of his CampGay son Kurt, even though he's a fairly masculine man himself. But when Finn becomes his stepson, Burt and Finn start bonding over their similar interests, and Kurt fears that this trope is occurring, until his father assures him that though he may not always understand Kurt, he always loves him.

* On ''YoungJustice,'' [[AnIcePerson Icicle Sr.]] praises Tommy Terror (actually {{Superboy}} in disguise) and compares him favorably to his son, Tommy/Superboy's cellmate [[WellDoneSonGuy Icicle Jr.]]

* In ''AmericanDad,'' this comes about after Steve complains about Stan forcing him to get involved with his interests. As a result, Stan takes an interest in Steve's friend Barry. [[ItGotWorse It Gets Worse]] when Barry stops taking his anti-psychotic medication and decides to eliminate Steve from the picture.

** Ron gets off easy compared to Neville. His grandmother likes to ask him why he couldn't be more like Harry, and she's never even ''spoken'' to Harry. This leads to a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Professor [=McGonagall=] tells Neville that it's time his grandmother started appreciating the grandson she had instead of the one she thought she ought to have.

** Dick seems to fell this way in "Downtime" when {{Batman}} takes Aqualad aside for a private talk, even though it's not really the case.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''MagicTheGathering'': Vuel is Sidar Kondo's real son, Gerrard his adopted son. When Gerrard inadvertently makes Vuel fail his RiteOfPassage, Kondo rejects him, and he eventually turns into Volrath, Gerrard's eventual mortal enemy.
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[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* To an extent, Ron encounters this in ''HarryPotter''. He already feels like TheUnfavorite compared to his siblings, but there are also some moments where his parents dote on Harry and he feels slighted.
** Ron gets off easy compared to Neville. His grandmother likes to ask him why he couldn't be more like Harry, and she's never even ''spoken'' to Harry. This leads to a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Professor [=McGonagall=] tells Neville that it's time his grandmother started appreciating the grandson she had instead of the one she thought she ought to have.
* In ''ClanOfTheCaveBear'', Brun shames his son Broud by referring to Ayla, a girl, as the son he should have had.
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* On one episode of TheReplacements, Riley goes to Canada on an exchange program and the boy from Canada who arrives to live with the Darlings ends up being so well liked that the family neglects Todd.

* In ''Kings'', the ruling King Silas prefers David to his son [[DepravedHomosexual Jack]] because David is straight and Jack isn't.