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Basic Trope: Time, tradition, or a relationship is explained by repeating a type of family member in a pattern for meaningful or emotional effect.

  • Straight: Charles, Bob's father is a hero in his town. Bob thinks, "I want to be a hero like my father and his father's father."
  • Exaggerated: "I want to be a hero like my father's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather."
  • Downplayed: "I want to be a hero like my father's and his father's... (realization) Yeah, I'm about as close to becoming a hero as I am to the North Pole."
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: ???
  • Subverted: "I want to be a hero like my father, his father, and his father's wife."
  • Double Subverted: "I want to be a hero like my father, his father's father, his father's uncle, and his father's father."
  • Parodied: Bob's line is incredibly long that it takes 10 years to finish the line.
  • Zig-Zagged: "I want to be a hero like my father's father's father's firstborn's thirdborn, and his thirdborn's father's mother's father."
  • Averted: Bob simply uses the words "great-grandfather".
  • Enforced: The creator used the pattern because the executives thought it was more appropriate for a scene.
  • Lampshaded: "I want to be a hero like my father and his father's father's father..." "Give me a dollar every time he says 'father' and I'll be rich."
  • Invoked: Originally, Bob was going to use the words "great-grandfather", but Alice told him to use "my father and his father's father" because it sounds better.
  • Exploited: "If you don't do it, you'll be just another coward just like your father, your father's father, and his father's father!" "Okay, I'll do it."
  • Defied: "I want to be a hero like my father and his father's fath-" "Can you just say 'great-grandfather' instead of repeating the same words over and over again?"
  • Discussed: "Bob doesn't like to use the word 'great-grandfather' all the time. Instead, he just says 'father's father'. That's kind of annoying.
  • Conversed: "I had to rewatch that scene for like, four times just to count how many times he said 'father'!"
  • Implied: "A lot of the text got scribbled out but this note says that Bob wants to be a hero like his f's and his f's f's. Strange."
  • Deconstructed: Due to Bob repeating the same line over and over again to his friends, he became used to "father's father" that he forgot his ancestor's names.
  • Reconstructed: Charles decides to teach Bob about his ancestors so he would not forget them again.
  • Played for Laughs: "I want to be a hero like my father and his father's father..." "Okay, quiet down. My grandfather's grandfather's grandfather can say that better than you! He's in the grave, though."
  • Played for Drama: "If Bob wants to be a hero like his father, he shouldn't! His father is actually a serial killer that pretends to be nice in front of Bob! If I remember correctly, Bob's father and his father's father have been doing this for years!"
  • Played for Horror: "Bob shouldn't be a hero if he wants to be killed by that Eldritch Abomination like his father's father's father."

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