Basic Trope: Character struggles with the scorn of their peers based on something their parents did wrong.
- Straight: Jake and Lucy's father was a convicted felon who passed away in prison, while their mother is a known alcoholic; because of this, the other adults see the two as a "lost cause" and have taught their children to scorn the pair.
- Exaggerated:
- Jake and Lucy struggle with their family's poor reputation because Daddy once shortchanged the grocery store by a penny, even though he corrected the mistake immediately after making it.
- Jake and Lucy were both conceived by rape, so everyone treats them like rapists even though neither of them even reached puberty yet.
- Downplayed:
- Jake and Lucy's father murdered the son of a local celebrity in a bar brawl and was executed. Their mother is rumored to have slept around and was Teen Pregnant with Jake; it's rumored that they aren't even both related to their infamous father, though that doesn't spare them from suffering for his bad reputation.
- The discrimination lasted for a few weeks; afterwards, Jake and Lucy were treated as normal people.
- Justified:
- The Eccentric Townsfolk believe in Generation Xerox.
- The society Jake and Lucy live in believes that personality traits are In the Blood.
- Jake and Lucy's parents were both terrorists, so the locals see abusing the two of them as being a form of Revenge by Proxy.
- Inverted:
- Jake and Lucy's upstanding parents are judged for their children's misdeeds.
- Jake and Lucy are presumed to be innocent and charitable at all times, in spite of their secret (or not-so-secret) misdeeds, because their parents have always been held in high-esteem.
- The people assume Jake and Lucy are good, because their parents were bad, and evil (supposedly) skips a generation.
- Subverted: Despite their parents having a bad rep, Jake and Lucy are judged for who they are.
- Double Subverted: ...At least, that's what everyone claims. In practice, it's clear that isn't the case by a longshot.
- Parodied: The townspeople are proven right as Jake and Lucy grow up to be exact clones of their parents.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- No one considers judging people by their parents.
- Jake and Lucy are orphans.
- Enforced: Rule of Drama
- Lampshaded: "Well, of course Jake and Lucy are bad; after all, we all know that evil passes from parent to child."
- Invoked: The mayor paid the media to post pictures of the criminal's family on TV so that they will be recognized.
- Exploited:
- Whenever anyone does something bad in the town, they use Jake and Lucy as a convenient scapegoat.
- When the villain needs followers, he showers Jake and Lucy with affection and praise; since he's the first person who didn't treat them like garbage, they become his loyal followers Because You Were Nice to Me.
- Defied:
- After the incident, Jake and Lucy's mother moves away from that community to spare her children that sort of treatment.
- The new Mayor of the town gives everyone a scathing admonishment, causing them to feel ashamed of themselves and to judge Jake and Lucy by their own merits.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "This show is sick! You shouldn't judge people by who they're related to."
- Implied: Everyone is afraid of Jake and Lucy, except for their few friends; the reason for this is never mentioned.
- Deconstructed: Having never really been given a chance, the siblings suffer until Jake is murdered while trying to keep the football team from raping his sister; when the police laugh off any thoughts of prosecuting the offenders, Lucy goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge that basically wipes the town off the map.
- Reconstructed: After slaying her tormentors, Lucy goes into exile: while overseas, she performs some acts of heroism and becomes a hero there; the people there love and admire her, and she moves permanently. When they learn about her past they not only support her, but also defend her from slanderers and would-be tormentors.
- Played For Laughs:
- Jake and Lucy are a Brother–Sister Team of scrappies.
- Jake and Lucy move to another country where they aren't well known and become a local hero thereafter they save the King from an assassin; when a crowd of onlookers gathers around to applaud them, Jake makes a comment about how them not knowing how to Boo and the King they saved actually has to explain what applause are.
- Played For Drama: Not only Jake and Lucy the town's scapegoats because of their parents' misdeeds, but those same parents also abuse them; due to this double whammy of being scorned by everyone for the actions of the very same people who abuse them, and shown No Sympathy whatsoever - Jake and Lucy are, eventually, Driven to Suicide.
Ewww, you're going back to Loser Son of Loser Dad? That's just what your father would do.
