Basic Trope: A wide age gap between siblings.
- Straight: Alice is 15 years older than her brother Bob, starting college before Bob even started preschool.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is several decades older than Bob and has kids of her own who are Bob's age.
- One of the parents is an immortal (or at least very long-lived) being who has had children centuries apart.
- Alice's daughter, Claire, is 3 years older than Bob and Alice's children in general had an almost sibling-like relationship with their uncle. Alice's youngest is the only one with a normal uncle-to-nephew age with Bob, which ironically feels unnatural and weird to him. Bob doesn't have kids until he's much older and marries a woman young enough to be his daughter and Claire has kids at a young age, so Claire's grandchildren, and thus, Alice's great-grandchildren and Bob's children are of similar age.
- All of Bob's siblings are 15-21 years older than Bob, and Bob is the same age as his nephews and nieces.
- Downplayed: Alice is almost a decade older than Bob.
- Justified:
- Alice was an only child for years, and then later in life she asked for a younger sibling.
- Alice and Bob are half-siblings on their father's side.
- Their parents wanted only one kid at the time, but after Alice moved out and had kids, they wanted another kid.
- Alice is the result of a Teen Pregnancy, while her brother Bob was born when their parents were at a more reasonable age to have children.
- Alice and Bob are from a species that have Time Abyss capabilities.
- Alice and Bob's parents had a large number of children: Alice is their oldest and Bob their youngest.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob are twins who are only a few seconds apart.
- Alice and Bob have the same father but different mothers. Their mothers gave birth to them at the same time, making them the same age.
- Alice and her uncle Bob are the same age, or close to (often overlaps with played straight).
- Absurdly Youthful Mother
- Subverted: Alice is actually Bob's mom rather than his older sister, as she had him very young and kept it a secret.
- Double Subverted: But it was just a rumor. Alice really is way older than Bob.
- Parodied:
- People mistake Alice for Bob's mom.
- The relationship between Alice and Bob is less like that of typical siblings and more like one between and a grandparent and their grandchild. Alice will constantly spout about how things were better back in her day while Bob has to teach his older sis how to use the latest tech.
- Zig Zagged: Alice and Bob have several siblings, some close in age, others way far apart.
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob aren't siblings.
- The age gap between Alice and Bob is less than ten years.
- Enforced: The producers added Bob in an attempt to shore up the show's ratings.
- Lampshaded: "Have you ever noticed that your older sister is more like a mom than a sister?”
- Implied:
- Bob mentions having a nephew or niece, despite being no older than 13.
- Alice mentions how her kid and her sibling were playmates, which could mean that they're rather close in age.
- It's not really clear how old Alice and Bob are, but due to some factors (e.g. Alice and Bob are played by actors with a significant difference in age), it's possible that Alice may be much older than Bob.
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "No, that's not my nephew, that's my brother"
- Conversed: "Why did your parents have you after your sister was already like 10 years old?"
- Deconstructed:
- The considerable age gap means that Alice has a hard time relating and bonding with Bob. This results in Alice becoming an Aloof Big Sister towards Bob, which just widens the emotional distance between them and makes Bob feel rather lonely.
- Given the massive age gap, Bob has to experience the tragedy of losing his parents at an unusually young age, which gives Bob PTSD, and a bit of guilt because although it feels it, his parents were not young when they passed. Worse yet, Alice passes away from natural causes when Bob isn't much older, compounding the trauma.
- Reconstructed:
- When Alice notices how his loneliness and the nonexistent relationship they have starts to take a toll on Bob, she decides to change her ways. With Alice actually trying to bond with Bob, the siblings' relationship takes a turn for the better.
- Bob doesn't hold anything against his parents or sister for being so much older than him, it just is what it is. He instead naturally finds himself in a May–December Romance and his kids are all born close together, with the logic being at least one of their parents will probably still be around when they're in their 50s.
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