History Main / SiblingSenioritySquabble

* And in PeterDavid's [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: TNG]] novel "Vendetta", Picard's old Academy classmate Morgan Korsmo tries to give him orders because he got his captain's pips a few weeks before Picard.

* And in PeterDavid's [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Star Trek: TNG]]'' novel "Vendetta", Picard's old Academy classmate Morgan Korsmo tries to give him orders because he got his captain's pips a few weeks before Picard.

* Done with Apollo and Artemis in the ''Percy Jackson'' series.

* Averted in Heinlein's {{The Rolling Stones}}, where the twins Castor and Pollux jokingly address one another as "Grandpa" and "Junior".

* In ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin'', Stella is older than Loretta and tends to take on a larger share of authority and responsibility. At the end of the game, [[spoiler:while Stella tells her father that it was an older sister's duty to bear the responsibility, he tells her not to overdo her role before passing on. When Stella collapses sobbing, Loretta tells her that she will become stronger so she can take more of the burden and Stella will not have to suffer as much]].

* ''3-2-1 Penguins'': Jason notes that Michelle is only 5 minutes older and holds out his hand to indicate "5" only to realize that as a cartoon he only has [[FourFingeredHands four digits per hand.]]

* Subverted with a double twist in ''Sea Legs'' a children's novel by Alex Shearer. Eric and Clive are twins, though not identical ones, and Clive is perfectly willing to admit that he was born second but only, he insists, because Eric shoved him out of the way when they were being born. [[spoiler:At the end of the novel, the midwife who was there when Eric and Clive were born pays a visit and reveals that she had gotten them mixed up, that it was actually Clive who was born first. Becoming the eldest changes Clive's perspective on life.]]

* A rare non-sibling example found in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Paris tried to order Torres to do something. Torres refuses on the grounds that they're the same rank, so Paris plays the seniority card. Torres immediately points out that he only has about a week over her.

* Averted in Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones", where the twins Castor and Pollux jokingly address one another as "Grandpa" and "Junior".

* Averted in The Rolling Stones, where the twins Castor and Pollux jokingly address one another as "Grandpa" and "Junior".

* Hank Venture mentioned that he and Dean were about 4 minutes apart in ''VentureBrothers''. How true this is is debatable, since they're clones and may well have been activated at exactly the same time.

* ''Seven Little Monsters'': One frequently asserts authority (or at least attempts to) by saying she's the oldest. Someone (usually Four) almost always snarks that she's only the oldest by a few seconds. One's typical response is, "And oh what a difference those few seconds make."

Twins often argue, among themselves or with others, about the respect they are due because of age, even though the difference is minuscule. In the most common form, Twin A will attempt to give their side leverage by saying that he/she is oldest, which will cause Twin B to retort "Yeah, by five minutes" and therefore defuse such an argument.

*Actually there is no contradiction. Artemis says that she is older and Apollo says otherwise, so Rick Riordan does not say anything contradictory. The truth is that Apollo was just playing to annoy Artemis, but she was right. (She is the older twin.)

* Widget and Sludge in the 2009 ''Film/AstroBoy'' film.

--> [[spoiler: Travis]]: Big brother? How do you know I didn't pop out first?
--> [[spoiler: Henry]]: [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat You're prob'ly spoutin' off about which one of us popped out first]].

* ''DragonTales'' took this to the extreme, with one head of a two-headed dragon popping out of the egg five minutes before the other.

* In ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', the Numbers cyborgs type numbers do not represent their actual birth order; Sette (Type VII), is the youngest of them, while Dieci (Type X) is older than several others. As a result, Quattro (Type IV) is annoyed that Cinque (Type V) being technically older due to being born first, and refers to her as she would a younger sibling. In ''SoundStageX'' and ''Manga/ViVid'', [[spoiler:Nove]] is somewhat unwilling to accept that she's [[spoiler:Subaru's]] ''younger'' sister after her adoption.

* TheBible: Jacob and Esau squabbling over who is the rightful heir. Esau ends up giving it to Jacob for a "mess of pottage" (lentil soup).

* Completely [[AvertedTrope averted]] in SuperMarioBrothers Whenever he's not a HeroicMime like his brother, Luigi is more than happy to address Mario as "Big bro" or something similar. Particularly noticeable in SuperPaperMario's epilogue, where it's the very first thing you read.

* A rare non-sibling example found in ''StarTrekVoyager'': Paris tried to order Torres to do something. Torres refuses on the grounds that they're the same rank, so Paris plays the seniority card. Torres immediately points out that he only has about a week over her.

* Data and Lore in ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', androids created with the same physical template, both argue that seniority gives them precedence. (Lore had lied and said Data was the older twin.)

* Despite being twins, Unsui of ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is referred to as the "elder brother" quite often. Of course, it's partially because he acts the part, often taking responsibility for his "younger brother's" actions, despite the fact that they're the same age. Agon could be seen as an extreme (and violent) version of the AnnoyingYoungerSibling trope.

** Anime Knives is pretty definitely finagling the elder role from the start, though, although they do still use 'kyoudai.' Vash even seems to have accepted his authority for a couple of years after the Fall, before flipping out that Knives is still on his KillAllHumans kick, shooting him in the leg, and running like hell. This has led to a split understanding in the fanbase.

* An entire episode of ''PairofKings'' plays with this; Brady claims to be the older twin, prompting Boomer to go to an oracle to find proof.

* Hank Venture mentioned that he and Dean were about 4 minutes apart in ''VentureBrothers''. Of course, how true this is is debatable, since they're clones and may well have been activated at exactly the same time.

* ''{{Rugrats}}'': Lil is two minutes older than Phil, continued to come up in arguments in ''All Grown Up''.

* The seniority of rank example also occurs in the 1964 film ''{{Zulu}}'', between Lieutenant Chard and Lieutenant Bromhead. This [[WildMassGuessing might have been]] the origin for the ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' example.

* When the Auditors of Reality obtain bodies in ''[[{{Discworld}} Thief of Time]]'', they begin to argue about who incarnated first because "seniority is seniority".
* And in PeterDavid's StarTrekTNG novel "Vendetta", Picard's old Academy classmate Morgan Korsmo tries to give him orders because he got his captain's pips a few weeks before Picard.

* Despite being twins, Unsui of ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'' is referred to as the "elder brother" quite often. Of course, it's partially because he acts the part, often taking responsibility for his "younger brother's" actions, despite the fact that they're the same age. Agon could be seen as an extreme (and violent) version of the {{annoying younger sibling}} trope.

* Liza and Tate from the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime have this dynamic, with Tate suffering a bit of an inferiority complex considering how Liza holds her seniority (and the fact that she continuously pummels him in battles) over him.

* In ''TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', Koume and Kotake have a moment within an argument, compounded by the fact that one of them misrepresents her own age ''to her own twin''.