History BigBrotherInstinct / WesternAnimation

* Most ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' TV series feature human characters, with said characters usually being kids, teenagers, or young adults. Expect every Autobot in the show (especially Prime and Bumblebee) to drop everything if their human friends need them, or to go out of their way to help them if they can. Given they all share the character trait of being [[AllLovingHero All Loving Heroes]], this makes sense.

** [[BarbarianHero Finn]] is ''fiercely'' protective of his [[LivingEmotionalCrutch adoptive brother Jake]], despite technically being the younger of the two. He's very easy-going, but if you hurt Jake, all bets are off -- he will unload a can of whoop-ass on anything that touches his brother. Played straighter towards [[ParadoxPerson Fern]], as Finn constantly supports and encourages him, psychs himself up to slay a monster by pretending he's saving Fern, and mercilessly [[spoiler: killing the Grass Entity]] to protect him.

* Mako from ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' spent his childhood watching over his brother Bolin and he still is in his adulthood. When Bolin was kidnapped by the Equalists, he ''threw one of his captors across the screen'' Hulk-style, or in this universe, Korra-style.

** Though they are all about the same age, Rainbow Dash can be this to her friends, but especially [[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]], [[PluckyGirl Pinkie Pie]], and even [[TagalongKid Spike]]. She's willing to kick the teenage dragon's asses when she finds out what they're going to do to Spike. She also stands up for Fluttershy against some bullies back when they were fillies. She ends up having this attitude towards her fan-filly Scootaloo, being affectionate with the filly and fiercely protective of her when she's in trouble.
** [[BadassBookworm Twilight Sparkle]] was responsible for hatching her dragon assistant, Spike, when she was little. Since then, Twilight has been a surrogate big sister to him, and always caring for him. When Nightmare Moon takes over Equestria, the first thing she does is put an exausted Spike to bed before she starts searching for the Elements of Harmony, and Twilight was also willing to hurt the teenage dragons if they laid a claw on him.
** Applejack to Apple Bloom, of course. She'll jump in front of a Chimera in a heartbeat to protect her little sister.

** Luz has a protective streak towards King, Gus, and Willow once she befriends them. Because of this, she will defend them anytime they're in trouble and/or getting bullied.

** Hunter, who in the later part of season two befriended and developed this towards Gus, and to a lesser extent toward protagonist Luz. A point of interest is that, even in Hunter's villain days, many fans noticed a sibling-like dynamic between Luz and Hunter in the form of petty squabbling and him treating his younger foe like a nuisance ("She can ruin someone else's day."), but seeming reluctant to actually hurt her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson usually wouldn't give a damn about what happens to Lisa on a mundane basis, and the two have an intense sibling rivalry, but his instinct does kick in every time something serious happens.

** Kenny [=McCormick=] cares a great deal about his younger sister, Karen. So much so that [[spoiler: he dresses up as his superhero persona, Mysterion, and acts as her GuardianAngel.]]

** Alternatively and less immediate, Kyle and Ike's relationship has varied throughout the course of the show; originally, Ike was more of an AnnoyingYoungerSibling who idolized Kyle, following him to school and copying his mannerisms, while Kyle held a more superficial malice towards his brother (when he learned Ike was adopted, he completely shunned him for a while). Nowadays, Kyle goes to great lengths to keep his little brother safe, from stopping him from running off to Somalia, to dragging his friends to Canada on Christmas Eve to get Ike back from his biological parents. Ike has now become Kyle's greatest drives, even moreso than his antagonism towards Cartman. Kyle was perfectly willing to let Cartman kill himself in Somalia, and even the thought of other classmates following him did not budge him from his celebrations. Realizing ''Ike'' had joined Cartman however [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone completely reversed his feelings]].

** Stan himself shows this on occasion towards Kenny and Kyle, even though he isn't much older than them (Both Stan and Kyle are 10 years old, the former being the first to turn 10, and Kenny still being 9) and none of them are related. Stan often offers [[TeamDad them emotional support, disciplines them and has gone through great lengths to keep them safe, even risking his own life at times]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward have a ''very'' brother-like relationship, with [=SpongeBob=] acting like the AnnoyingYoungerSibling. Even though Squidward often shows resentment towards his "younger brother," he cares a lot about [=SpongeBob=] deep down, and will make sure to stand up for him if need be.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': Obi-Wan has this towards Anakin, who in turn has it towards Ahsoka. A villainous example exists between Savage Opress and [[spoiler:Darth Maul]], as while the latter still has a stiff adherence to the Sith code and forceful enforcement of the Master/Apprentice chain, Savage is still the only being he shows legitimate caring and concern for.

** Amethyst can be considered one when hanging out with Steven, given her easygoing, fun-loving nature; she even teases Steven for being concerned about her in "An Indirect Kiss" when he uses his healing saliva to fix Amethyst's cracked gem:

** Garnet for Steven as well, since she's the strongest member of the team with a very protective instinct.
** Steven can be this to the Gems, helping to reassure them whenever they are having self-esteem issues.
** Connie becomes one to Steven in "Steven's Birthday" [[note]] in spite of Connie's and Steven's respective ages of 12 3/4 and 14, and that Steven can shapeshift as noted in "So Many Birthdays"[[/note]] when he magically shapeshifts into a baby, offering to stay behind and care for Steven:

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': The Titans have this towards each other. Of additional note is [[BadassBookworm Raven]] having this towards her "kids" (Melvin, Timmy Tantrum, and Teether), [[PluckyComicRelief Beast Boy]] towards his adoptive family (the Doom Patrol), and [[TheLancer Cyborg]] towards the Titans East team.

* Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} often acts as a mentor to one of the younger heroines on the team: Kitty Pryde (comics), Jubilee (comics''/''[[WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries animated series]]), or Rogue (film''/''[[WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution second animated series]]).
** For the X-men franchise as a whole this trope is all over the place. In general, when the students are in danger, the older ones will protect their younger peers and the teachers will all break out their MamaBear or PapaWolf sides. Or as Xavier himself puts it...
-->'''Charles Xavier:''' I pity the poor, misguided fool who goes to that school seeking trouble.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
** Nightwing is this to the current Robin, Tim Drake after the TimeSkip.
*** Given how the quarrel between him and Batman (leading to him quitting Robin to become Nightwing) never happened in this universe, he is close to Jason Todd (confirmed on [[WordOfGod Ask Greg]]); and after Jason's death, understandably he is more protective of Tim than ever.
*** Nightwing has this for all the younger team members. When the Reach kidnaps Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy, Impulse, and Blue Beetle, he orders the rescue squads to proceed despite the probability of discovery, only saying "Get our boys."
** Other examples include Cheshire, who was ready and willing to murder to Aqualad when she believed he'd murdered her little sister; Miss Martian, who is scary protective of Superboy and Lagoon Boy (her boyfriends) and Beast Boy (her surrogate little brother); and Aqualad, who hates being the leader of the team but continues to, believing that Robin is too young.
** In Season 2, Superman finally showed at least one sign of this towards Superboy by taking a missile in the chest for him (presumably a missile that would've packed too much punch for Superboy) fired at the younger half by deep cover mole Aqualad.

* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991:''
** Big Binky from "He Saw, She Saw" will go out of his way to protect his little sister Emma from harm (even if he won't take his binky out of his mouth).
** Tommy cares a lot about his younger brother, Dil. He openly objects to Phil and Lil trying to return him to the hospital in [[WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie the first movie]], and is often quick to defend Dil if someone says bad things about him.
** Chuckie Finster will [[CowardlyLion defy his usual cowardice to save Tommy]] many times over, despite not being related to him. After his father Chas marries Kira in ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Kimi becomes his new little sister, which becomes the plot point of "Big Brother Chuckie". At first, Chuckie worries that he won't be able to protect Kimi since [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy she's as adventurous as he is cowardly]], and that she doesn't really need him to protect her. Near the end of the episode, when he sees two boys kicking sand at each other, and some of the sand lands on Kimi, he works up the courage to tell the boys to leave her alone. Fortunately for him, the boys mean no harm to Kimi, apologize, and walk away.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': This show has possibly the most emphasized use of Sonic's Big Brother Instinct towards Tails than any other ''Sonic'' show. In "Tails' New Home", Tails summarizes it perfectly:
-->'''Tails''': A family is just people who care about each other more than anyone else, right?\\
'''Sonic''': Right.\\
'''Tails''': You're it!

** [[BarbarianHero Finn]] is ''fiercely'' protective of his [[LivingEmotionalCrutch adoptive brother Jake]], despite technically being the younger of the two. He’s very easy-going, but if you hurt Jake, all bets are off – he will unload a can of whoop-ass on anything that touches his brother. Played straighter towards [[ParadoxPerson Fern]], as Finn constantly supports and encourages him, psychs himself up to slay a monster by pretending he's saving Fern, and mercilessly [[spoiler: killing the Grass Entity]] to protect him.

** Bubblegum herself is very gentle and understanding towards her timid brother Neddy. When [[spoiler: her uncle Gumbald]] threatens him, Bonnie instantly gets over her fear and snaps "stay away from my brother!"

* Jake Long, a.k.a. the ''[[WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong American Dragon]]'' has a very perky, know-it-all sister that grates on his nerves more often than not, but his brotherly instincts kick in if there are any signs of danger towards her. And when the prank he plays on her in "Family Business" [[GreenEyedMonster out of jealousy of the attention she's getting from the magical world]] disarms her [[BadassInDistress long enough to get her kidnapped]], [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he's utterly sick at what his actions have wrought]] and [[BigDamnHeroes immediately rushes to her rescue]].
** Haley herself returns the sentiment when she stands up for Jake after their grandfather accused him for deliberately ditching his dragon duties just so he could take a break in "Being Human".
* "WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}:

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Sokka and Katara switch off in who's taking care of who when it comes to [[FiveManBand the group.]]
** But played completely straight in "The Deserter" when Aang accidentally burns Katara with inexpert Firebending, Sokka tackles Aang to the ground and yells.
-->'''Sokka''': I told you we shouldn't mess around with this! Look what you did! '''YOU BURNED MY SISTER!'''
** In a rare moment in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' after Sokka expresses his care for Katara, Zuko follows his example and [[ComfortingComforter puts his blanket over]] Azula. Pretty heartwarming to be that gentle to the girl who manipulated and tried to kill him a dozen times...but at the end of the day, ''she’s still his sister''. Both Zuko and Azula have this for their younger half-sister, Kiyi, in the comics.
** In the comic ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderRebound Rebound]]'', Mai takes down a room of Ozai loyalists to save her little brother from being indoctrinated into their father's radical group.

** Katara is both an inverted example to Sokka and a straight to Toph. In "The Runaway" Sokka has a talk with Toph about how, even though Katara's motherly attitude can be annoying at times, he has come to rely on it in the years after his own mother's death. She had been there, acting as a mother figure, for so much of his life that when he tries to picture his actual mother's face, he can only picture Katara's. This gets Toph admit that she realizes that Katara cares for her - the real her - more than her own mom ever did.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' gives us Hunter, who in the later part of season two befriended and developed this towards Gus, and to a lesser extent toward protagonist Luz. A point of interest is that, even in Hunter's villain days, many fans noticed a sibling-like dynamic between Luz and Hunter in the form of petty squabbling and him treating his younger foe like a nuisance ("She can ruin someone else's day."), but seeming reluctant to actually hurt her.

** Stan himself shows this on occasion towards Kenny and Kyle, even though he isn't much older than them (Both Stan and Kyle are 10 years old, the former being the first to turn 10, and Kenny still being 9) and none of them are related. Stan often offers [[TeamDad them emotional support, disciplines them and has risked his life multiple times for their sake]].

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard''. Kion is Kiara’s younger brother, but stronger because he has the Roar of the Elders. He’s seconds away from using it on Kovu when he thinks Kovu is going to harm Kiara. Kiara has to stop him from doing it so the guard can be filled in on what they missed-namely Kovu marrying Kiara and becoming future king.

** In a rare moment in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' after Sokka expresses his care for Katara, Zuko follows his example and [[ComfortingComforter puts his blanket over]] Azula. Pretty heartwarming to be that gentle to the MagnificentBitch who manipulated and tried to kill him a dozen times... but at the end of the day, ''she’s still his sister''. Both Zuko and Azula have this for their younger half-sister, Kiyi, in the comics.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': While it is never made clear whether Stumpy's sister exists or not, he does ''not'' like it when people insult her.

** Vi has this for her little sister Powder and their foster brothers She always makes sure Powder is never in harm's way, [[spoiler:which is why she's wracked with guilt for hitting Powder and blaming the girl for the deaths of Vander and their brothers.]]

** Vi has this for her little sister Powder and their mutual friends. She always makes sure Powder is never in harm's way, [[spoiler:which is why she's wracked with guilt for hitting Powder and blaming the girl for the deaths of Vander and their friends.]]