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Obnoxious In Laws / Western Animation

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Obnoxious In-Laws in Western Animation.


  • In one episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Robotnik is about to marry Katella, the guest character of the week. Momma Robotnik crashes the wedding and instantly starts a room-destroying fistfight with Katella because she didn't invite her (Sonic did to mess with Robotnik). Katella (who was forcing Robotnik to marry her) quickly decides to call the wedding off.
    Katella: The last thing I need is that battleax for a mother-in-law!
  • The Amazing World of Gumball:
    • Nicole is at constant odds with Richard's overprotective mother, Jojo, to the point that in Jojo's first appearance, "The Kiss," Nicole and Richard sped off before her bus arrived just so they didn't have to deal with her; thankfully, Jojo entering a new relationship mellows her out. Nicole also doesn't have a high opinion of Richard's biological father Frankie, due to him being an unapologetic con artist who abandoned his family when Richard was young, but puts up with him for Richard's sake. Meanwhile, Nicole's parents, Daniel and Mary, didn't approve of Richard since he didn't meet their impossibly high standards for Nicole, even trying to set up their daughter with another man, which led to Nicole cutting them out of her life for years; again, they've mellowed out thanks to old age, and the end of "The Parents" has them make up with Nicole.
      • It should also be noted that "The Choices" shows that Jojo did attend Nicole and Richard's wedding, while Daniel and Mary did not. Later on, in "The Parents," Daniel and Mary reveal that they had intended to come, but their Literal-Minded nature made them mistake the term "RSVP" for a foreign country, and they missed it.
  • In American Dad!, Francine's Chinese adoptive parents don't have any bad feelings for Stan, however whenever they show up they tend to take over the place.
    Stan: They're loud, they're pushy, they make me feel like a guest in my own house!
    • At the end of the episode, Francine's parents save Stan when the house catches fire, and her father expresses genuine fondness for him (saying that they don't have to worry about Francine's well-being because she married well). Stan's relationship with the Lings is shown to be much better in later episodes.
  • In the Biker Mice from Mars episode "Stone Broke", the main villain Lawrence Limburger tries to get his funding back by adding his superior Lord Camembert's head to Mt. Rushmore and teleporting the whole thing to Camembert's garden. While only Camembert's head makes it there thanks to the actions of the Biker Mice, Camembert still gives Limburger his funding back because the stone head crushed his mother-in-law to death.
  • Bob's Burgers: While it may seem that Bob's dislike of his wife's family is the typical sitcom in-law relationship, and at first it does seem that way, later episodes show that Linda's sister and mother are genuinely unpleasant people that others don't like. Her father meanwhile is totally oblivious and is simply grating because he's sickly and out of it. Linda, due to a misguided view of loving them, unwilling to be truthful to hurt Gayle's feelings and being oblivious to her mother being emotionally abusive, thinks that Bob is just overreacting and loves them as much as she does. The animosity is at first played for laughs, but the more Gloria and Al appeared the more their behavior worsened until Gloria was established as an abusive woman whose treatment of her family is downright appalling. It's to the point Bob has a hard time convincing anyone he'd be upset if Gloria finally died.
    • In "Crawlspace", Linda's mother so grates on Bob that he hides from her by pretending to be stuck inside the wall. Hilarity Ensues, but by the end of the episode, they seem to be patching things up. However, later episodes show it did not stick. If anything, Bob hates being around Gloria due to her having No Indoor Voice, no respect for him, and seems okay with inconveniencing Linda for the smallest of things.
    • There are a few episodes where Bob comes into conflict with Linda's neurotic sister Gayle, like in "Art Crawl" where she guilt-trips Bob and Linda into displaying her paintings of animal buttholes in the restaurant, or when she tried to have an affair with Bob in "Dr. Yap" after he mistook her for Linda and kissed her while high on his dentist's anesthetic. It finally came to a boiling point in "Gayle Making Bob Sled" when, after Gayle spent the episode faking her leg injury and forcing Bob to do all sorts of humiliating stuff for her, Bob admits how much he hates Gayle. By the end of the episode it seems they've reconciled when Gayle tries to help Bob to make up for what she did, but they never exactly become friends in later episodes to the point Bob would rather not be around her.
    • The episode "Have Yourself A Maily Linda Christmas" shows just how much Bob cannot stand Linda's family. When Bob is forced to spend time with Gayle, Gloria, and Al in the same room, being told Linda won't be there to keep them under control causes Bob to nearly have a hysterical breakdown.
      Linda: I'm sorry, I love you very much.
      Bob (on the verge of crying): NO YOU DON'T!
  • In The Cleveland Show, Cleveland's mother Cookie frequently exchanges insults with Donna. Her first appearance implies she was not happy about her initially breaking her son's heart to be with Robert.
  • Elise's parents in Dan Vs. to Chris. Chris, being the Nice Guy he is, tries to win them over, with limited success. Elise, on the other hand, finds their visits stressful because of their treatment of Chris, and Dan tries to convince Chris that his efforts to get them to like him are futile. In "Family Camping Trip" Chris does manage to win over Elise's mother, but her father still seems to hate him, even more so, due to one-upping Elise's ex-boyfriend, who they liked and approved of, who proved to be a coward in the face of danger. Exaggerated in "Chris". Elise's parents try to goad Dan into killing Chris. Dan refuses to go along with their plans since he doesn't trust people who want to have their own son-in-law killed off. Thankfully, Chris' brother-in-law isn't quite as bad as his parents.
  • The Danny Phantom episode "Prisoners of Love" shows that Maddie Fenton's sister Alicia despises her brother-in-law Jack.
  • Bernice from Duckman is a downplayed case, in that she is only nasty towards Duckman, often insulting him, pointing out how much of a horrible person he is, laughing at him, and outright beating him at any opportunity she gets, but deep down actually cares about him and might harbor feelings for him (as hinted in the episode where they accidentally sleep with each other, and sees what her late sister Beatrice saw in Duckman). Her negative opinion about him also holds water, as, let's face it, Duckman is a lousy father, a pervert, a moron, a rotten detective, among other things.
  • The Fairly Oddparents:
    • Mama Cosma is this to Wanda and Big Daddy is this to Cosmo. Strangely, the two bond over the fact they can't stand who their children married, even though you'd think they would hate each other for constantly trying to kill their respective child. For example, after Mama Cosma announces she'd want a camera crew for Wanda's supposed demise then adds a hasty, bad lie about it being to "collect evidence against the perpetrators," Big Daddy says this to her:
      Big Daddy: You're an evil, manipulating shrew. And Big Daddy likes that about you!
    • In "Timmy Turnip", it turns out Timmy's maternal grandparents don't like his father, even continuously referring to him as the "son-in-law that we don't like" and, as a Running Gag, gives him bags full of rabid weasels.
    • "Double-O Schnozmo" introduces Cosmo's titular big brother. Cosmo idolizes Schnozmo due to the latter's claims of being a secret agent with a nemesis named "Dr. Maybe"; Wanda, on the other hand, can clearly see that Schnozmo is just a pathological liar and a con artist, and flat-out doesn't trust him (and not without reason, since he swipes Wanda's earrings twice). For what it's worth, when Wanda informs Schnozmo that Cosmo found out about the lies and is heartbroken, Schnozmo is willing to go along with Wanda and Timmy's plan to make things right, if only for his little brother's sake.
  • Family Guy
    • Peter Griffin's father Francis doesn't like that Peter has married Lois, who is — to quote a sign on their car after their wedding — "a Protestant whore". Lois is very happy when he dies.
    • Lois' father Carter runs away with this trope as far as his relationship with Peter, to the point that he even lied in court when Peter was accused of murdering Lois (in Stewie's simulation). Other points of cruelty include putting out his cigar in his chest, forcing him to eat a pine cone while ostensibly saying it's to help Lois, and forcing him to drink his diabetic blood (and then being absolutely amazed that he actually did it.) Before her death, Lois' Aunt Marguerite was apparently so mean, a visit from her was an Oh, Crap! moment for Peter.
    • Peter usually gets along well with Lois' sister Carol (she being the only one in Lois' family who supported Lois and Peter's relationship), though is implied to loathe all of her previous husbands for their annoying habits. Her current spouse Mayor Adam West is kooky and childlike enough to become Peter's friend, however.
  • In The Flintstones, Wilma's mother is like this with Fred. Though, he does treat her appropriately with equal hostility. In some incarnations, this is because Wilma's family is rich, and they're rather disappointed that Wilma married "beneath" her. However, considering how she shoves aside an airline attendant when disembarking a plane, she's obviously nasty to nearly everyone. In fact, it's easy to describe Wilma's mother as having a personality eerily similar to Fred's (to the point that she's even built like him despite sharing a near identical appearance to Wilma). If anything, Fred and his mother-in-law can't stand each other because they're too much alike.
  • Lord Bravery from Freakazoid! was shown to have a less than pleasant relationship with his mother-in-law.
    Lord Bravery: Most people your age die. Why...don't...you?
  • Glenn Martin, DDS: Glenn is a successful dentist, but Jackie's rich father hates him for not being rich enough.
  • Cotton Hill from King of the Hill. And Minh's father isn't too fond of Kahn, either. That said, Cotton only barely treats Peggy worse than he treats Hank.
    Cotton: You're not even good enough to be married to my worthless, nothing-of-a-loser son!
  • The Loud House:
    • In The Loud House, Lynn Sr., as well as the Loud Kids themselves (minus Lana), consider Rita's aunt Ruth this due to her being a lazy slob and a big eater, she forces them to watch her cats, eat old moldy pudding that she offers, and to massage her feet; as such, neither he, nor do the kids (minus Lana) enjoy visiting her, that on some occasions, they'll try some sort of tactic to avoid visiting her, but some of those tactics end up being All for Nothing.
      • Lincoln tried getting out of it one time in "Two Boys and a Baby" by asking if he and Clyde could babysit Lily, only for them to be suspected of contracting the chickenpox after bringing home the wrong child and have to quarantine with her (she already had the chickenpox) until they're better.
      • Voluntary at the end of "Suite and Sour". With Lynn Sr. and Rita planning a romantic getaway at the Royal Woods Spa, the kids dread the thought of visiting her for the entire weekend that they convince them to take them with them, only for them to end up causing all sorts of trouble and being confined to the hotel room for the entire weekend. Later, the entire family gets kicked out. Feeling guilty for getting themselves kicked out of the spa, the kids decide to spend the weekend at Aunt Ruth's so their parents can get the relaxation they deserve. The real reason the family got kicked out was not because of the havoc the kids caused, but because of Lynn Sr. and Rita Skinny Dipping in the pool after hours and they decide to tell them when they're older.
      • Another time, in "Ruthless People", when the Loud House is infested with termites and has to be fumigated, Lincoln's half of the family (consisting of Lori, Lola, Luna, Lynn, and Lynn Sr.) tried to convince the other half (consisting of Leni, Lana, Luan, Lucy, Lisa, Lily and Rita) to switch places with them to avoid staying with her so they can stay with Pop-Pop at Sunset Canyon instead, only to find numerous disadvantages at the nursing home, from a broken air-conditioning unit to a 6:00 PM curfew, while the other half is living it up at a lake house she brought in a time share. Lincoln's half then convinces the other half to switch places again, only to deal with the same termites that infested the house thanks to Lana saving them from being exterminated. Lincoln's half hoped the others would be just as miserable at Sunset Canyon after what they dealt with there, only for them to end up on the short end of the stick again due to the nursing home renting out a cruise ship because of the broken AC unit.
      • Then, in "A Bug's Strife", when Aunt Ruth forces the kids to watch her slideshows of the Malls of the Midwest (with Leni being the only one enjoying it), Lynn Sr. tries to get out of visiting her by Playing Sick, only for him to deal with an annoying cricket, and when Rita suspects him of being mentally ill due to the house being destroyed due to him trying to exterminate the cricket, they suggest they stay at Aunt Ruth's until the house is repaired.
  • Some MGM cartoons directed by Tex Avery have brought this up as a Take That! moment, such as in the several "of Tomorrow" cartoons, which featured a Running Gag about detestable (and occasionally lethal) features reserved for the mother-in-law, clearly intended to show how unwelcome she is.
  • In Rick and Morty, Rick is treated as a burden by his son-in-law due to being a Mad Scientist who wrangles his grandson Morty (and inevitably the rest of the family) in weird and dangerous misadventures, but for whatever reason Rick's daughter insists on letting him stay in the family. Rick for his part treats Jerry with nothing but contempt due to the fact that Jerry is a dullard who got his daughter pregnant when she was 17. Rick also isn't fond of the fact that Jerry is the father of his grandchildren and that his genes could affect them and turn them into losers. There's also a hint that Jerry is possibly jealous of the amount of time Summer and Morty spend with Rick and that they might view Rick as more of a role model than Jerry. However, unlike most examples, Rick doesn't spend regularly spend any time or effort trying to break his daughter and son-in-law up. While he did orchestrate their temporary separation at one point, that was because he'd overheard Jerry trying to convince the family to turn him over to the Galactic Feds. He's quick to accept it when they get back together later.
  • The Simpsons:
    • Patty and Selma (and their mother to a lesser extent) hate Homer so much they've nonchalantly reacted to his heart attack then proceeded to find Marge a man despite the fact he hadn't died, bought a tombstone with "Homer J. Simpson. We are richer for having lost him.", tried to get him kicked out of town, tried to have a law proposition passed that would make it illegal for him to live in Springfield, and kidnap/torture him (in full-blown Lighter and Softer-ish Saw rip-off style) during the renewal of his vows with Marge (they seriously thought that if they kept him away Marge would just up and go choose another man eventually). This doesn't even include verbal insults. Obviously, this is depending on the episode. In one episode, Selma thanks Homer for helping her get Ling (her Chinese adopted baby), and Marge's mother didn't really get angry and actually said that Patty and Selma were evil. Selma is more often the more civil one and Patty even asked Homer to perform her wedding after he became an ordained minister. Selma is often more polite to Homer whenever Patty is not around and it's implied that the only reason she's hostile towards him is because she's jealous that Marge was able to have a healthy marriage with a man, and according to Marge, Homer actually feels sorry for Selma because she has to live with Patty.
    • Agnes Skinner with her son Seymour. She hates Seymour's choice in women, especially Edna Krabappel.
  • In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Mary Jane's aunt Anna has nothing but bad things to say about Peter in spite of the fact that Peter was never anything but courteous towards her. She sets out to find fault in every little thing he says/does. At one point she sics The Punisher on him! (Albeit unintentionally. She just happened to believe that Peter had something to do with MJ's disappearance and voiced this concern to Frank and she happened to be Right for the Wrong Reasons: it was Peter's fault, because she was collateral damage to one of his fights as Spidey. But, once again, Anna didn't know that — she's only thinking Peter's to blame for no good reason other than her own immense distrust of him.) "Return of Hydro Man part 1" is when Peter finally gets sick of it and calls her out on it.
  • Woody Woodpecker: In one episode of "The Bears' Family Album" segment of The Woody Woodpecker Show, Charlie Bear tried to escape his mother-in-law, who spent the biggest part of the episode nagging him into spring cleaning while all he wanted to do was fishing with a friend. As an unexpected result of his last plan, Charlie met a guard who, once meeting the mother-in-law, decided Charlie had already had enough and let him go while he started to point out irregularities with her car. Charlie and his friend ended the episode laughing at her misfortune with the guard.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil: "Game of Flags" shows there's more than a little hostility between Queen Moon's side of the family (the Butterflies, a clan of conniving and foppish nobles) and King River's side of the family (the Johansens, a clan of uncouth barbarian warriors).
  • Rugrats:
    • Charlotte Pickles is this to Stu and Didi Pickles (her husband Drew is Stu's brother). However, Charlotte really isn't outright mean to them or anyone else, though she does often come off as rather snobbish and condescending.
    • Meanwhile Didi's parents, while they take the occasional jab at Stu (as part of their Jewish stereotyping), seem to have a friendly relationship with their son-in-law, and Stu has very few cross words to say about them in turn. Averted entirely with Grandpa Lou, who is close enough to Didi, that she’s comfortable with calling him “Pop”. Lou does often bicker with Didi's father Boris, however.
  • The Legend of Korra — Toph appears to be this to Bataar Beifong Sr., the husband of her youngest daughter, Suyin (more commonly called "Su" for short). However, Toph doesn't really seem to hate her son-in-law—though she certainly hates it when he tries calling her "mother," which Toph makes extremely clear to him when he tries making small talk with her.
  • Gramma Alice in Big City Greens is this to her ex-daughter-in-law, Nancy, distrusting her for her criminal past. At least one flashback suggests she was like this during Nancy and Bill's marriage as well.
  • F is for Family: Frank's parents-in-law openly despise him, constantly make snide remarks about his lack of success in life, and blame him for getting Sue pregnant so early, forcing her to drop out of college. Frank is happy to give it right back, pointing out their hypocrisy over their estranged son, who's implied to be gay.
  • T.U.F.F. Puppy: Leader of D.O.O.M. Verminious Snaptrap has a brother-in-law named Larry (who is married to Snaptrap's sister), with Snaptrap's low opinion of him made very apparent by the show's running gag of Snaptrap subjecting Larry to all sorts of abuse.
  • Young Justice (2010): King Nereus, Mera's father and Aquaman's father in-law. He openly despises him, much to Mera's irritation. While he's not outright trying to kill Orin like his comics incarnation, it's also clear he wouldn't be broken up if someone else did. Even when it looks like he might have softened slightly and started supporting Orin... he hasn't.

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