History ParentalSubstitute / WesternAnimation

** Sunset Shimmer in the ''Equestria Girls'' spinoff has AmbiguouslyAbsentParents and doesn't mention any family at all in the entire franchise, and since Celestia is the only pony in Equestria she seems to have any relationship to at all, it's not unlikely that Celestia is the closest she has to a mother.

*** [[spoiler:When the Hexsquad gets stranded on Earth, Camila takes Gus, Willow, Hunter and Amity in as well. She arranges sleeping spots for all of them (Amity and Willow in Luz and Vee's room, Hunter and Gus in the basement), puts a lot of effort into accommodating their dietary needs, and even refers to herself as a mother of six. At the end of "Thanks to Them", she dives into a lake without hesitation to save Hunter from drowning, and goes with the kids to the Demon Realm to ensure they all return to their families safely.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': Stu and Didi Pickles could be seen as this to their niece, [[BrattyHalfPint Angelica Pickles]]. While Angelica's parents, Drew (Stu's brother) and Charlotte (Drew's wife), are around and really do love their daughter, they're also [[{{Workaholic}} workaholics]] (especially in Charlotte's case) and can be rather negligent towards her (albeit unintentionally). Angelica's shown to spend a lot of time at Stu and Didi's house, and Stu and Didi (especially the latter) are shown to pay considerably more attention to Angelica and actually discipline her more often than most of the other adults on the show, including Angelica's own parents.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Johanna's aunt Astrid is this to her, [[spoiler:because her parents left her at age of 10, because of bargain they made to save her. Astrid even placed a memory spell on her niece, so she won't fell abandoned]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}: Johanna's aunt Astrid is this to her, [[spoiler:because her parents left her at age of 10, because of bargain they made to save her. Astrid even placed a memory spell on her niece, so she won't fell abandoned]].

** Both Captain Planet and Gaia serve as these to the Planeteers, whom they truly love like their own children (at one point, Gaia even says, "Children. [[SoProudOfYou They make a mother proud]]", as she watches them head off to a mission), and whom neither of them will hesitate to protect [[PapaWolf with his]] or [[MamaBear her life]], if need be. Also, considering some of the kids' histories (Wheeler's father was an abusive alcoholic, Ma-Ti's parents were murdered when he was little), it's clear that they really do rely on their two mentors as they would on actual parents.

* Bruce Wayne in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' functions as this to Terry [=McGinnis=] [[spoiler:until the reveal that he is Terry's ''biological'' father because of a crazy governmental genetics program.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', Sarah Lynn views/viewed [=BoJack=] as this. She had a [[StageMom manipulative and dream-crushing mother]], a stepfather who was [[PaedoHunt heavily implied to have sexually abused her]], and an unexplained DisappearedDad. [=BoJack=] already played her father on TV, so she found herself looking up to him as a real father figure, especially given his [[AntiAdvice "advice"]] to her. As an adult, she briefly used his house as a pseudo-sanctuary up until she was kicked out as he suggested she go to rehab (which she didn't do). However, this being said, she also showed shades of an [[OedipusComplex Electra complex]] as she had sex with [=BoJack=] twice during said stay.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'', Mandrake is a father figure to the youngest Defender, Kshin, who was orphaned prior to the start of the series.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Grim is this to Billy. Both of Billy's parents are alive, but his dad is an idiot and his mom is not the most mentally sound, so Billy respects and admires Grim much more than either of them. Grim cooks and cleans for Billy and is quite fussy about him doing his homework, but also provides an actually respectful adult male figure in his life. Billy even says in one episode that Grim is his idol, and Grim in turn occasionally displays outright fatherly affection for him.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': Both Captain Planet and Gaia serve as these to the Planeteers, whom they truly love like their own children (at one point, Gaia even says, "Children. [[SoProudOfYou They make a mother proud]]", as she watches them head off to a mission), and whom neither of them will hesitate to protect [[PapaWolf with his]] or [[MamaBear her life]], if need be. Also, considering some of the kids' histories (Wheeler's father was an abusive alcoholic, Ma-Ti's parents were murdered when he was little), it's clear that they really do rely on their two mentors as they would on actual parents.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Kaeloo is this to Quack Quack, whose parents are dead.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Cosmo and Wanda act more paternal than Timmy's [[ParentalNeglect amazingly neglectful parents]] could ever hope to.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', Sarah Lynn views/viewed [=BoJack=] as this. She had a [[StageMom manipulative and dream-crushing mother]], a stepfather who was [[PaedoHunt heavily implied to have sexually abused her]], and an unexplained DisappearedDad. [=BoJack=] already played her father on TV, so she found herself looking up to him as a real father figure, especially given his [[AntiAdvice "advice"]] to her. As an adult, she briefly used his house as a pseudo-sanctuary up until she was kicked out as he suggested she go to rehab (which she didn't do). However, this being said, she also showed shades of an ElectraComplex as she had sex with [=BoJack=] twice during said stay.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': Both Captain Planet and Gaia serve as these to the Planeteers, whom they truly love like their own children (at one point, Gaia even says, "Children. [[SoProudOfYou They make a mother proud]]", as she watches them head off to a mission), and whom neither of them will hesitate to protect [[PapaWolf with his]] [[MamaBear or her life]], if need be. Also, considering some of the kids' histories (Wheeler's father was an abusive alcoholic, Ma-Ti's parents were murdered when he was little), it's clear that they really do rely on their two mentors as they would on actual parents.

** The episode "Barthood" depicts Abe, Homer's father, making up for Homer's negligence where Bart is concerned at various points throughout Bart's life.

** As of Season 22's "Donnie Fatso," local mob boss Fat Tony [[spoiler:has been KilledOffForReal and replaced by [[BackupTwin his identical cousin from San Diego, also named Tony, who gains weight due to the stress of the role and thereby receives his nickname to boot]], causing StatusQuoIsGod to remain unaltered. The new Fat Tony is nonetheless seen acting as a father to the original Fat Tony's son Michael D'Amico, with "The Yellow Badge of Cowerage" acknowledging him as Tony's nephew rather than his son.]]

** As of "Donnie Fatso," Fat Tony [[spoiler:has been KilledOffForReal and replaced by [[BackupTwin his identical cousin from San Diego, also named Tony, who gains weight due to the stress of the role and thereby receives his nickname to boot]], causing StatusQuoIsGod to remain unaltered. The new Fat Tony is nonetheless seen acting as a father to the original Fat Tony's son Michael D'Amico, with "The Yellow Badge of Cowerage" acknowledging him as Tony's nephew rather than his son.]]

** Ned Flanders has sometimes provided competition as a father figure for Bart, most notably in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie.'' However, in the episode "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily," when the kids are [[AbuseMistake mistakenly]] taken away by Child Protective Services and placed with the Flanders family, Bart and Lisa find the Flanders hopelessly bland and miss their parents, [[WeWantOurJerkBack Homer just as much as Marge]], while Maggie takes to Ned and Maude to the degree that there's a fear she might prefer to stay with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/CampCandy'': When Vanessa's parents can't show up for parents' day, John takes the place of her father.

* Both [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Planet]] and Gaia serve as these to the Planeteers, whom they truly love like their own children (at one point, Gaia even says, "Children. [[SoProudOfYou They make a mother proud]]" as she watches them head off to a mission), and whom neither of them will hesitate to protect [[PapaWolf with his]] [[MamaBear or her life]], if need be. Also, considering some of the kids' histories (Wheeler's father was an abusive alcoholic, Ma-Ti's parents were murdered when he was little), it's clear that they really do rely on their two mentors as they would on actual parents.

** Farnsworth is the closest thing to family Fry has (he's Fry's very distant great-nephew), and Fry has a grandfather-like relationship with him. Except instead of being a [[GoodParents Good Parent]], Farnsworth is [[ParentalNeglect neglectful, abusive and uncaring]]...in a harmless sort of way.

* Hey Arnold: Because the title character’s parents went missing before the show started, his grandparents, Phil and Gertie, raised Arnold since he was a baby and pretty much raised him as their own, and consider him as much. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon in the show for more than one of Arnold’s classmates to comment that they wish they had his grandparents as theirs.

** In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder," Bart declines Homer's offer to spend more time with him, noting that over the years he's learned to find father figures in everything from random construction workers to "[[BullyTurnedBuddy Nelson here]]."
--->'''Nelson:''' ''([[StandardFiftiesFather seated in an armchair wearing a robe and smoking a pipe]])'' [[AdoptivePeerParent If you tie a string around your finger real tight, you can make it turn purple!]]

** In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder," Bart notes that over the years he's found father figures in everything from random construction workers to "[[BullyTurnedBuddy Nelson here]]."