History Main / WhatTheHellDad

-->-- '''JosephStalin''' responding to his son Yakov's attempted suicide by self inflicted gunshot.

-->-- ''{{Shrek}} 2''

* JosephStalin's son Yakov was so heavily abused by his father that he attempted suicide. When Yakov was captured by Nazis in WW2 the Nazis offered to free him in exchange for several high ranking officers since he was Stalin's son. However Stalin refused the deal, believing that the deal was unfair because Yakov was not a high ranking officer himself. Yakov later died in a Nazi concentration camp.
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-->-- AquaTeenHungerForce

-->-- Shrek2

* [[Film/TheLastCrusade Henry Jones Sr.]], to such an extent that [[Franchise/IndianaJones his son]] preferred to be named after the dog instead.

* [[DragonballZ Son Goku]], full stop. With both Gohan and Goten.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Isshin and Ryuuken are both very aloof fathers in their own different ways with Isshin doing it via the ObfuscatingStupidity method and Ryuuken through TheSnarkKnight routine. With the latter, Ryuuken makes it clear to his son that he does ''not'' view his son as an equal in any way, shape or form. However, he still fits the trope because, when his son is unconscious (and so can't hear him), he indicates that he thinks his son isn't achieving his full potential. In Chapter 241, the two men even debate who the worst father is and the moment comes across as very depressing; they appear to loathe what they're doing, the implication being that they have their eye set on some mysterious big picture that forces them to treat their sons this way.

->Ooo, God you suck at basketball! (throws the ball in Ezekial's face) Go back to your Mama!

-> Come here... Why do you disappoint me? Second by second, you waste my time!

* {{Magneto}} is this to both his children.

* Rare female example: Ash's mom from ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}''. Actually, any parent in ''Pokemon'', considering that there are probably millions of kids all over the world wandering around the countryside fighting dangerous animals with other dangerous animals.
** Considering sending kids out on a Pokemon journey at ten years old is an integral part of Pokemon-verse society, this is really more an example of ValuesDissonance than the parents being examples of this trope. After all, most, if not all, of the parents in the show dote on their children quite a bit whenever they actually get a chance to do so.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Isshin and Ryuuken are both very aloof fathers in their own different ways with Isshin doing it via the ObfuscatingStupidity method and Ryuuken through TheSnarkKnight routine. With the latter, Ryuuken makes it clear to his son that he does ''not'' view his son as an equal in any way, shape or form. However, he still fits the trope because, when his son is unconscious (and so can't hear him), he indicates that the problem is that he feels his son isn't achieving his full potential. The two men even debate who the worst father is in chapter 241. The moment comes across as depressing because the two men appear to loathe what their doing, the implication being they have their eye set on some mysterious big picture that forces them to treat their sons this way.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Isshin and Ryuuken are both very aloof fathers in their own different ways with Isshin doing it via the ObfuscatingStupidity method and Ryuuken through TheSnarkKnight routine. With the latter, Ryuuken makes it clear to his son that he does ''not'' view his son as an equal in any way, shape or form but he still fits the trope because, when his son is unconscious (and so can't hear him), he implies that the problem is that he feels his son isn't achieving his potential. They even debate who the worst father is in chapter 241, and the moment comes across as oddly depressing.

Can lead to WellDoneSonGuy.

->'''Shrek:''' Oh, no, we usually prefer the ones who have been '''locked away in a tower.'''

* To the extent that she's a mother figure for Shinji, Misato in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''.

* Dr. Rusty Venture on ''TheVentureBros''. He even hires Sgt. Hatred (a known pedophile) as a bodyguard, and when it's revealed Hatred has a nickname for Hank, Rusty simply says [[{{Shotacon}} "You're sleeping with him, aren't you?"]]

-->JosephStalin responding to his son's (Yakov) attempted suicide by self inflicted gunshot.

* On ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'', after DisappearedDad Hohenheim comes back to see his kids (who are only 15 and 14), he figures they've taken care of themselves long enough that it doesn't really matter if he takes up a fathering role. And so he leaves ''again''!
** Then again his kids are [[{{Badass}} Edward and Alphonse Elric]].
** Anime Hohenheim was pathetic and low in pretty much every arena possible. Al really wanted him to stay, but he didn't listen. His {{Wangst}} reaches really annoying levels when you find out just how much of an asshole he is.
** Manga Hohenheim, on the other hand, met Ed and got summarily rejected, left again. Met Al much, much later and achieved an okay relationship with him with large amounts of communication and lots of comic relief, but in this case he treated both his teenage sons as at-least-equal combatants in the world-saving endeavor that he left them to work on in the first place. Very awkward about the whole father thing.
*** Of course, given what happened to him [[BigBad last time]] he accepted a fatherly role...
**** Ed wouldn't '''really''' make a philosopher's stone!

* ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' has several, since AdultsAreUseless:

* On ''FullmetalAlchemist'', after DisappearedDad Hohenheim comes back to see his kids (who are only 15 and 14), he figures they've taken care of themselves long enough that it doesn't really matter if he takes up a fathering role. And so he leaves ''again''!

* [[BigBad Fire]] [[AbusiveParents Lord Ozai]] from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Yes, his son survived what he put him through, with Uncle's help, and yes, his daughter was a highly competent {{Dragon}}, but he did not do the parenting thing, and sent them both into great danger very casually. Azula at least he trained personally.

* ''{{Bleach}}'': Isshin and Ryuuken are both very aloof fathers in their own different ways with Isshin doing it via the ObfuscatingStupidity method and Ryuuken through TheSnarkKnight routine. With the latter, Ryuuken makes it clear to his son that he does ''not'' view his son as an equal in any way, shape or form but he still fits the trope because, when his son is unconscious (and so can't hear him), he implies that the problem is that he feels his son isn't achieving his potential. They even debate who the worst father is in chapter 241, and the moment comes across as oddly depressing.

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* [[BigBad Fire]] [[AbusiveParents Lord]] [[CompleteMonster Ozai]] from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Yes, his son survived what he put him through, with Uncle's help, and yes, his daughter was a highly competent {{Dragon}}, but he did not do the parenting thing, and sent them both into great danger very casually. Azula at least he trained personally.

* Luke Skywalker in the StarWarsExpandedUniverse: Ben literally gets away with murder in LegacyOfTheForce. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He steals a Y-wing too.]]

* ''All'' the ''SouthPark'' parents are portrayed as this.

* Gambino from ''{{Berserk}}''. Apart from being a [[AbusiveParents full-blown douchebag]] to Guts as well as his teacher in being a mercenary, Gambino didn't do much in the way of parenting toward his adopted son. He even sent the kid onto the battlefield ''before'' he started his official training at the tender age of four, fully expecting Guts to not get his ass killed.

* [[BigBad Fire]] [[AbusiveParents Lord]] [[CompleteMonster Ozai]] from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Yes, his son survived what he put him through, with Uncle's help, and yes, his daughter was a highly competent CompleteMonster, but he did not do the parenting thing, and sent them both into great danger very casually. Azula at least he trained personally.