Basic Trope: In a pair of siblings, one is laid-back and the other is diligent.
- Straight: Finn and Rick are brothers. Finn is laid-back, foolish, and relaxed, while Rick is dedicated, responsible, and hardworking.
- Exaggerated: Finn is a lazy layabout who's never worked a day in his life; Rick has never held down fewer than three jobs since he left his education.
- Downplayed: Both men have jobs, but Rick is a much harder worker than Finn.
- Justified:
- Their parents died when Rick and Finn were boys, and they have used different coping mechanisms since then.
- Finn and Rick's parents were very strict. That caused Rick to become disciplined, but Finn seeks to make up for the childhood he never had.
- There's a big age difference between Finn and Rick, explaining their differing levels of maturity.
- Finn has a disability preventing him from working as hard as Rick.
- Rick was given more education than Finn, leaving him better prepared for life as an adult.
- Inverted: Rick and Finn are a pair of foolish brothers, or a pair of responsible brothers.
- Subverted:
- Finn is laid-back and relaxed — when he's not at work. When he's on the clock, he's as hardworking as Rick.
- Rick is hardworking and dedicated — until he's off the clock, whereupon he becomes lazier than Finn.
- At a point where it matters critically, Finn comes through while Rick does something foolish.
- Despite appearances Finn is actually the responsible and hard working one. Meanwhile Rick despite his more polished appearance is lazy and foolish.
- Double Subverted:
- But Finn can only seem to hold a job down for a couple weeks at most.
- But Rick knows this as well as anyone, hence why he schedules his time efficiently.
- Parodied: Finn actually earns their keep by wandering around and singing songs to anyone who will pay him. Meanwhile, Rick just sits around reading productivity books — but never doing anything productive.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Occasionally, a problem comes up that Rick isn't equipped to deal with. Finn steps in with a solution, states that he is Brilliant, but Lazy, and then proceeds to do nothing until the next crisis.
- One of the brothers is responsible while the other is irresponsible, but which is which varies depending on the situation.
- Averted: Both Rick and Finn are normal, with equal parts of Foolish and Responsible within them.
- Enforced: The siblings were written as a Right Way/Wrong Way Pair from the beginning.
- Lampshaded: "Even as everything else goes wrong, Finn, I sure can count on you to slack off."
- Invoked: Finn's laziness and Rick's workaholic streak are ways they can get back at one another; by purposely pressing the other sibling's Berserk Button they don't have to confront their real issues.
- Exploited:
- Rick knows Finn hates working, so he invites him to live with him, pays all his bills, then blackmails him when he has him in his financial grasp.
- Finn never has to work because he constantly takes advantage of Rick's ingenuity and industriousness.
- Defied:
- Finn decides to show some responsibility for once.
- Rick decides that maybe work isn't everything.
- Discussed:Finn: Seriously, Rick? I'm practically raising your kids because you're working so much.
Rick: Yes, if, by "raising" them, you mean feeding them junk food and teaching them how to play poker, Finn. - Conversed: ???
- Implied: Rick is much wealthier and more hurried than Finn.
- Deconstructed: Finn dies poor and young, while Rick earns himself a good life as a Self-Made Man.
- Played for Drama:
- Finn is unable to find work anywhere after a while, because his own employment history is so spotty.
- Rick dies friendless and alone because he's too busy working his life away.
Back to Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling
