Basic Trope: An older sibling is far more childish in comparison to their younger sibling(s).
- Straight: Mary's older brother Spencer is an irresponsible, goofy manchild. Mary is Wise Beyond Her Years and tends to be his voice of reason.
- Exaggerated:
- Spencer literally acts like a young child despite being in his 20s.
- Mary is the youngest of a large number of siblings, and they're all extremely immature.
- Downplayed:
- Spencer is a few years older than Mary, and tends to be something of a Kiddie Kid at times.
- Spencer mostly acts his age, but does have a few childish interests, such as enjoying entertainment aimed at younger audiences, which Mary has less of.
- Spencer and Mary are twins, and Spencer is older by just a few seconds/minutes, but the trope still plays out anyway.
- Justified: Spencer tends to interact with younger children a lot (such as due to being a babysitter) and that's affected his personality.
- Inverted:
- Annoying Younger Sibling
- Mature Younger Sibling
- Spencer is Mary's older brother, and is very mature for his age.
- Subverted:
- Spencer is taller than his sister Mary, and acts childish. However, it actually turns out that Spencer is Mary's younger brother.
- Spencer was only putting on the childish act.
- Double Subverted:
- It turns out that Spencer actually being the younger child was just a joke.
- For the 2nd one, Spencer may have an actually mature behavior, but he's still secretly a manchild and likes collecting toys.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged:
- Depending on the Writer, Spencer may act more childish, or more mature.
- Spencer tends to act childish, but he also has a Big Brother Instinct, and drops his childish personality whenever Mary is in trouble.
- Spencer and Mary take turns being the Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling at times.
- Averted:
- Spencer does not act more childish than his younger sister.
- Mary doesn't have siblings.
- Enforced:
- "We should add some Sibling Yin-Yang. Let's make Mary's older brother more childish than she is."
- Spencer and Mary is a show aimed at kids who are around Mary's age, but Spencer is still very important to the plot, so the creators of the show have him act younger than he is in order to appeal more to the target audience.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Spencer tries to be One of the Kids.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Spencer learns to act more mature.
- Discussed: "Why doesn't my older brother act his age?"
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Spencer is never shown onscreen, but Mary mentions having an older brother who acts immaturely.
- Played for Laughs:
- Spencer is portrayed as The Ditz and/or a Cloudcuckoolander, and is one of the main comic reliefs.
- A Running Gag is people mistaking Spencer for Mary's younger brother. What might not help matters is if Mary is taller than him.
- Played for Drama: Spencer is bullied and/or underestimated for his immaturity.
- Played for Horror: Spencer is also a Psychopathic Manchild.
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