Follow TV Tropes

Following

Playing With / Strong Family Resemblance

Go To

Basic Trope: Two related characters, usually a parent and child, look nearly identical.

  • Straight:
    • Bob looks almost exactly the same as Charlie, his father.
    • In a non–parent-child variant, two siblings look very similar.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Bob looks the same as his father Charlie, and his uncle Dan, and grandpa Ed, and great-grandpa Felix when he was younger...
    • The siblings are conjoined twins.
  • Downplayed:
    • Bob and Charlie share some of their father's features and some of their mother's... but only look alike in the dark or to people with bad eyesight.
    • Alternately, Bob looks like his uncle instead of Charlie himself.
  • Justified:
    • It turns out that Bob is actually Charlie's clone.
    • Bob and his brother are identical twins.
    • My Own Grampa.
  • Inverted: Though not adopted, Bob looks absolutely nothing like anyone in his family.
  • Subverted: It seems at first that Bob looks almost the same as Charlie and it's hinted that he must be his son, but it's revealed that they're unrelated, and the resemblance is coincidental.
  • Double Subverted: Then, Bob's parents inform him that he's actually adopted, and Charlie's his real father.
  • Parodied:
    • Bob and Charlie look exactly alike except for a height difference, which causes Bob's friends to think Charlie is him and vice versa.
    • Bob looks identical to Charlie, despite being adopted.
    • Bob looks identical to Charlie. Charlie is Bob's daughter.
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted: Bob might somewhat resemble his father Charlie, but the two still look very different.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded: "Wow, Bob, you're really growing up to resemble your dad, somehow."
  • Invoked: Bob idolizes his father Charlie and tries to make himself look as much like him as possible.
  • Exploited: Charlie changes his appearance or the appearance of his partner Dana to make it seem that Bob is Charlie & Dana's biological son, to prevent people from suspecting why Bob does not resemble his father or mother.
  • Defied: Not wanting to be mistaken for his father, whom he dislikes, Bob dyes his hair and tries to distance his appearance from Charlie as much as possible.
  • Discussed: "Aww, Charlie, your new baby's so cute!" "It'd be creepy if he grew up looking just like me, like all those movie children, huh?"
  • Conversed: "Dude, this new episode's confusing. Is that Charlie or his kid Bob there? I can't even tell anymore, they look so alike it's just creepy."
  • Deconstructed:
    • Young Bob loathes his father Charlie, and is constantly burdened by the stress of their strong resemblance, fearing that he will grow up to act just like him.
    • A whole society like this ends up having a stagnating gene pool because children are all direct clones of their parents.
  • Played For Drama: Bob looks a lot like his late father Charlie, which just serves to daily remind his grieving mother of the loss.
  • Implied: Bob and Charlie look very alike, but are Ambiguously Related.

Aw, this back button looks just like you!

Top