Generation Xerox: Difference between revisions

And heaven help you if your parents/mentors made a mess of their lives, because guess what? Yup, that [[Fatal Flaw]] was hereditary too. Better get to work figuring out just ''how'' they screwed things up, because if you don't, chances are the same tragedy's going to happen again. And it'll be ''your'' fault this time around, in which case you'll have no choice but to pass the entire scenario on to ''your'' son or daughter and hope that they can [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] -- a—a sort of generational [[Groundhog Day Loop]].

See also [[In the Blood]], [[Secret Legacy]], [[Superpowerful Genetics]], [[Hereditary Hairstyle]], [[Legacy Character]]. Often this leads to [[Parental Hypocrisy]]. [[Opposed Mentors]] will have opposed students who will become mentors themselves etc.

** As a matter of fact, the relationship between Naruto and his friend/rival Sasuke works as a [[Generation Xerox]] on three separate levels across multiple generations.

** Team Ame might count too. Yahiko/Naruto as the brash, hot-headed one and underdog, Konan/Sakura as the "smart" one of the three, Nagato/Sasuke as the Genius and most talented of the three. There's also hints of a love triangle going on but was resolved peacefully. Unlike the current one......

** Also, Gai/Rock Lee. Same haircut, same jumpsuit, same training regimen... Hell, I think they even have the same eyebrows. You could say this case is justified, since Lee is intentionally trying to emulate Gai (and, once Gai's backstory was revealed, it's implied that Gai chose Lee as a disciple for their similar backgrounds)... though he ''did'' always have the eyebrows.

** And in chapter 499, we learn that {{spoiler|Naruto's mother, Kushina, was the previous [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|jinchuriki of the Nine-tails]].}} He also takes after her in almost every way. They're [[Hot-Blooded]], like ramen, have similar [[Verbal Tic]]s (his "dattebayo" vs. her "dattebane")...

** This trope is taken to its most absurd conclusion in chapter 533, where its revealed that the Sarutobi-Ino-Shika-Cho formation goes back ''16 generations''. This could be justified because of the fact that their skills complement each other.

* [[[[The Hero]] [[Flame of Recca|Recca]] finds out he is exactly like his birth father, Oka when they finally meet. And coincidentally, he is exactly like his adopted father as well!

* One episode of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' features a duel between Yugi and a girl named Rebecca, who accuses Yugi's grandfather of stealing his Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from her grandfather. The duel ends up mirroring exactly a duel between the two grandfathers held in a caved-in archaeological site, with the last bit of water on the line. {{spoiler|Both Yugi and his grandfather ended up surrendering their duels even though they would have won with their last card draw.}}

* Subverted in ''[[One Piece]]''. The exploits of Luffy are implied to very closely mirror those of Gold Roger, the previous Pirate King; he also meets quite a few people who personally knew the guy (either that, or the successor of said person), and his actions are consistently described by these people as being exactly what Roger would do. However, it's pretty clear right from the start that Roger isn't Luffy's father, and it's outright confirmed later on. But the ''real'' kicker cameis inthe fairly recently:reveal that {{spoiler|Rogerthe actuallyyoung didGold have aRoger son:looked ''Aceexactly'', like Luffy's older brother, whoright absolutelydown ''despises''to the guytrademark and wants nothing to do with himhat. AndWhich iswas nowpassed dead.down Alsofrom subvertedRoger into that, accordingShanks to Whitebeard (who was Roger's rival), Ace wasn't much like his father in terms of personality.Luffy}}

* Rapidly subverted in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' manga, which has the earnest, 10-year-old genius mage Negi following in the footsteps of his hugely-famous [[Disappeared Dad]], the "Thousand Master" Nagi... Only later Nagi is shown to be a laidback magic school dropout who --althoughwho—although quite powerful-- hadpowerful—had to read spells off of a card and resorted to cheap tricks whenever possible (like, say, [[Mundane Solution|luring a certain vampire into a covered hole in the ground]]). In power and personality, they're completely different, and Negi increases the divide even further by choosing {{spoiler|the powers of darkness}}.

* A rough-looking [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]] from the north punches his way through adversity, [[No Sense of Direction|gets lost easily]] and is very [[Hot-Blooded]]. [[Rurouni Kenshin|Sanosuke Sagara, or his father Kamishimoemon]]?

** It is indicated that some of the problems between [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Shinji and his father]] are a result of the fact that both of them are very socially awkward. Furthermore, they share a depression induced by not being accepted by their peers, which is especially present when seeing the flashbacks of GendohGendo. Indeed, it has led some fans to speculate that if Shinji actually grew up, he could have ended up like GendohGendo

* ''[[Jo JoJoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Manga)|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'', so much.

* Seiichirou Kitano from ''[[Angel Densetsu (Manga)|Angel Densetsu]]'' not only is as scary as his father. He gets in the same exact problems at school because of that, and knows his girlfriend only when she understands he's [[The Messiah]]. Exactly the same as his father's. The only, marginal, difference between the two is that Seiichirou trades in being [[The Juggernaut]] (on top of being a [[Lightning Bruiser]]) for a metric ton of [[Selective Obliviousness]].

** In Chapter 6, {{spoiler|Vivio spars with Einhart and loses easily, disappointing her, as she thinks Vivio cannot possibly be the Sankt Kaiser. Vivio proposes a rematch in a week and hope to get strong enough to satisfy her. Since Vivio heard about Nanoha fighting Fate in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikersStrikerS]]'' Sound Stage 02, it seems she's inherited Nanoha's ideas about making friends}}.

*** But [[Futurama|that just raises further questions]] since {{spoiler|at least one member of the first generation is still alive.}}

* ''[[Dragonball]]Dragon Ball GT]]'' is particularly blatant with [[Identical Grandson|Son Goku]] [[Dead Guy, Junior|Jr.]] (and later Vegeta Jr.) in the TV special and the [[Distant Finale]] of the final episode.

** Subverted somewhat with Gohan, who seems to start off as something of daddy's boy, even surpassing Goku in potential, but whose gentle, pacifistic nature ultimately drives him to abandon his father's fighting legacy.

** {{spoiler|Edward's}} son even has the same style as him as a child. The first anime is even more obvious where in an [[OVA]] ''everyone'' is shown to have a relative that looks exactly like them, 100 years later. Ed's great-grandchildren look like him, Alphonse, and... Winry. [[Epileptic Trees]] commence, especially since that one was canon.

* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' gets hit with this quite badly in the official sequel novel ''Frozen Teardrop'', with most of the original cast members having a younger counterpart who looks and acts just like they did in the original anime; this includes Duo Maxwell II (Duo's son), Kathy Po (Sally's daughter), Trowa Phobos (Trowa Barton's protégé), Katerina Winner (Quatre's younger sister), and possibly Zechs Merquise II, whose relation to Milliardo Peacecraft remains unknown and who has yet to do anything other than show up at the latter's funeral. Zechs and Noin's children Milou and Naina also apply, though they're [[Gender FlippedFlip]]ped versions (Naina looks like a female Zechs while Milou looks like a male Noin).

* In ''[[Wild Rock (Manga)|Wild Rock]]'', Yuni and Selim, from [[Feuding Families]], fall in love but go their [[Star-Crossed Lovers|separate ways]]. When their sons meet they too fall in love as well, and unite the two clans.

* Reina of ''[[QueensQueen's Blade]]'' with her mother Maria Vance, all the more so because Reina took up her mother's armor.

* ''[[Arakawa Under the Bridge]]'' inverts the situation: when Ric's dad shows up on the bridge, his trousers are stolen. To avoid owing Nino a debt, he refuses her help --— abandoning his trousers and getting taken away by a police officer for indecency. [[For Want of a Nail]] (Nino retrieving the trousers), this is exactly what happened to Ric in the first chapter.

* ''[[Hana SakuHanasaku Iroha]]'' shows that Ohana's mother Satsuki was a lot like her daughter when she was younger (complete with the same voice actress). The situations were reversed (other work vs the inn), but played out exactly the same.

* In ''[[Anime/Mai Otome|Mai -Otome]]'', both Arika and her mother {{spoiler|Lena Sayers}} have a blonde friend who is [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|apparently a lesbian]] and {{spoiler|turns out to be secretly working against them; Erstin for Schwarz, Elliot for a Five Columns conspiracy to kill Sifr (although she decides to oppose the Columns and rescue Sifr with Lena)}}. Arika and Nina's personalities are similar to {{spoiler|Lena}} and Sifr's, although {{spoiler|the roles are reversed; Arika's mother Lena is like a somewhat more relaxed but still consistently serious Nina, and Nina's mother Sifr is like Arika}}.

* ''[[Gurren Lagann]]'' gave us the worthwhile [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJWQybYBE80 Parallel Works 8] which covers at least seven years of time. It shows a boy finding a Gurren [[After the End]], creating and leading [[La Résistance]], then rebuilding a civilization capable of challenging the Anti-Spirals. {{spoiler|The stories diverge when Simon is reminded he has someone worth fighting for.}}

* ''[[Hellblazer (Comic Book)|Hellblazer]]'s'' John Constantine's 19th century ancestor, Lady Johanna Constantine, is a suave, dashing sorceress with a tendency to doom her loved ones to horrible fates. The immortal Hob Galding also met an Elizabethan warlock called Jack Constantine, who came to a nasty end in a graveyard.

* In ''[[Spider-Girl (Comic Book)|Spider-Girl]]'', and related series like A-Next, most of the characters are awfully similar to their parents, mentors, or inspirations. The next generation of superheroes has [[Distaff Counterpart|different demographics]], however, as a disproportionate number of daughters fill their fathers' shoes. In their favour, they often have different personalities and motives, just similar career and fashion choices.

* An early ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' story had Supergirl join a Legion who said they were the children of the Legion Superboy joined. This was never referenced again, and Superboy and Supergirl were members of the same Legion from then on.

* The basic theme of [[Peter David]]'s ''[[Aquaman (Comic Book)|The Atlantis Chronicles]]''; Aquaman and Ocean Master are just the latest generation of feuding royal brothers, dating back to the founding of Atlantis.

* During the 50's and 60's, DC Comics experimented with the [[Superman]] of the 30th Century (which blatantly contradicted the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' continuity) and the [[Batman]] of the Future (which starred Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne, Jr. as Batman and Robin). Both features were unpopular and are widely considered lame because they were such thorough Generation Xeroxes that they lack individuality.

** Wolverine is trying his best to make sure that [[Opposite SexGender Clone|X-23]] doesn't fall into this, it's [[X-Force|not really working]].

* In ''[[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]] Century: 1910'', Macheath from ''[[The Threepenny Opera (Theatre)|The Threepenny Opera]]'' is the descendent of Macheath from ''[[The BeggarsBeggar's Opera (Theatre)|The Beggars Opera]]''. Since ''The Threepenny Opera'' was essentially a [[R EmakeRemake]] of ''The Beggar's Opera'', the two Macheaths presumably had nearly identical lives.

* ''[[DC One Million]]''. [[Superman|Kal Kent]] and [[Starman (Comic Bookcomics)|Farris Knight]] are the only one who are direct descendants of their counterpart (as far as we know), but the parallel heroes and villains are astonishing. [[Batman]]'s archenemy is [[The Joker|the Laughing Virus]] - and ''all'' his enemies appear to be versions of Bruce Wayne's [[Rogues Gallery]] - while Superman is friends with the bald [[Lex Luthor|Luthor Luthor]], but is later revealed to be enemies with the bald Lori Lombard-[[Sdrawkcab Name|Thorul]].

== [[Fan Fic Works]] ==

* ''[[Memories of Days Long Past (Fanfic)|Memories of Days Long Past]]''

* Especially common in ''[[Ranma One Half½]]'' and ''[[Harry Potter]]'' (Marauders or next generation) [[Fanfic]]. Even before the Deathly Hallows epilogue.

** Hell, the Sailor Moon fanseries "''Sailor Moon Z(odiac)''" does this with by giving almost every named character a Silver Millenium counterpart, up to and including (Insert Name Here)'s family status and relationships!

* Ninety-nine percent of "[[Next Gen Fic|Offspring Fic]]" use this, no matter ''what'' the fandom. Magical-girls will grow up ad produce magical-girls of their own, [[One Piece|the children of pirates and swordsmen will go off and form their own crews all made up of the children of the previous crew]]...There is a ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini|Higurashi]]'' fic with the offspring of all the canon characters, and there was a massive [[Groundhog Day Loop]] going on, with the offspring going insane in the exact order of their parents!

* Shiratamama's [httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20191029064639/https://danbooru.donmai.us/postposts?tags=shiratamama+if_they_mated&page= series] of ''[[K-On!]]'' fancomics about the daughters of Mio and Ritsu.

* In the ''[[Pokémon]]'' fanfiction byof [[Cori Falls]], it's revealed that Jessie's parents met under similar circumstances to her and James, and had similar adventures together. They even met Ash's dad, who has almost the exact same name as Ash himself (and Ash later goes on to act like him as an adult). In fact, the implications are that the Generation Xerox affects not only Jessie's and James's immediate families but every single one of their family members from before or after them.

* In ''[[White Rain (Fanfic)|White Rain]]'', Sakura uses something similar to Kakashi's bell test on her own genin team... with her own twist.

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|Star Trek]]'', we learn that Captain Kirk had a father who looked almost exactly like him, and was even Captain of the USS ''Kelvin'' ([[Death Byby Origin Story|though only for 12 minutes)]].

{{quote| '''Mad Dog: '''McFly, I thought I done told you never to come in here}}

*** In the ''[[Young Jedi Knights]]'' series, Jaina is described as looking a lot like Leia, but her personality more resembles Han. Leia, meanwhile, shares her mother's affection for interesting hair arrangements.

* ''[[Mamma Mia!]]!'' has a mild version: Sophie's relationship with her best friends Ali and Lisa is identical to that of her mother Donna and ''her'' best friends Tanya and Rosie - both groups have their own friendship chants and the similarity is [[Lampshaded]] in a later scene when both groups unwittingly have a near identical conversation.

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', this cuts both ways. Harry's father and his cohorts from their days at Hogwarts, the Marauders, map well onto Harry and ''his'' friends -- andfriends—and he meets every single one of them before the end of the third book. And {{spoiler|the "first day at Hogwarts" at the end of ''Deathly Hallows'' is a dead ringer for Harry's own "first day" way back in ''Philosopher's Stone''. This is emphasised when Harry's daughter Lily whines that she wants to go to Hogwarts ''now'' to her mother, Ginny... whose own mother said the same thing six books earlier.}}

** This is also subverted to an extent with Harry's father --— Harry unthinkingly assumes that their characters were xeroxed until Harry's father James turns out to have been a pampered little idiot in his teenage years, properly maturing only in the last year or two of school. It's implied that Harry's unhappy upbringing has made him a better person in some respects. Dumbledore also comments to Snape he finds Harry's personality a lot like his mother's, rather than his father's.

** The exception being the twins Aureliano Segundo and José Arcadio Segundo. The former is sociable, jolly and likes to party, which are traits associated with the José Arcadios; Aureliano Segundo is reserved and gloomy, and has military interests, like the other Aurelianos. It's implied that this is because the twins swapped names so often that eventually they lost track of their own identities - it's quite possible that Aureliano Segundo ''was'' José Arcadio Segundo and vice-versa.

* The writing of David Eddings, especially the ''[[Belgariad|Belgariad/Malloreon]]'' series and ''[[The Elenium|The Elenium/Tamuli]]'' series, in which characters specifically point out the similarity of events. This repetition is put down to Destiny by [[The Obi-Wan]]/[[Dirty Old Man]]/[[Byronic Hero]] Belgarath and [[Creepy Child]]/[[Oracular Urchin]]/[[Physical God]] Aphrael, respectively. At the end of both series, however, it is claimed that this cycle of Destined Events has been broken, making the future unpredictable.

* In ''[[Wuthering Heights (Literaturenovel)|Wuthering Heights]]'', Heathcliff and Isabella's son Linton Heathcliff has the worst traits of both of his parents, being a nasty, cowardly snob. On the positive side, Hareton EarnshawEaThe Elenium/rnshaw and Catherine Linton have a lot in common with young Heathcliff and young Catherine Earnshaw (in fact, Heathcliff deliberately keeps Hareton uneducated to mold him into a new version of himself), but turn out to be better than the older generation.

* There is something like this is seen in ''[[Vanity Fair]]''- Amelia, who is something of a [[Wide -Eyed Idealist]] [[Proper Lady]] has a son George who she terribly spoils, leading him on a path to become like his father, George, who was a snobbish [[Jerk Jock]] wannabe aristocrat, but whereas [[Dogged Nice Guy]] Dobbin wasn't successful in reforming the earlier George, he is able to mould the younger one {{spoiler|his step-son}} into a better person. The other [[Villain Protagonist|"heroine"]], [[The Vamp|Becky Sharpe]], has a [[Freudian Excuse]] for some of her behavior. She neglects her son Rawdon, who is named after his father who was better than most of his family who were a long line of [[Aristocrats Are Evil|evil aristocrats]]. While less of a character than young George, the younger Rawdon also seems to grow up to be a better person than his parents- he gives his mother a settlement [[Calling the Old Man Out|not to come near him ever again]] which contrasts with how his grandfather, [[Dastardly Whiplash|Sir Pitt Crawley]] tried to cheat his children out of inheritance owed to them.

* The whole plot of [[Madeleine L 'Engle]]'s ''[[A Swiftly Tilting Planet]]'' is Charles Wallace traveling through history tracing the interactions of three people [[Reincarnation|reborn again and again]] doomed to repeat the same actions as their ancestors.

* In ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, "Old Stoneface" Vimes is the Knight Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and is well known for his belief that ''nobody'' is above the law, to the extent that he famously arrested the ruler of the city. While this obviously refers to Sam, during the time period of the novels, it's also a description of Suffer-Not-Injustice, some 300 years earlier. (The difference: Suffer-Not-Injustice executed the king; Lord Vetinari was let off on a technicality, and it all turned out to be part of his [[Plan]]).

* A bizarre variant, in which there's no blood relationship, is the "Jack and Susan" mysteries by Michael McDowell. Whether it's 1913, 1933, or 1953 (and McDowell originally intended to write stories for the "_3" year of ''each'' decade), Jack Beaumont and Susan Bright are always 27 years old, meeting and falling in love for the first time. No explanation is ever even attempted -- thisattempted—this is just the way it happens.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* Although the various generations of the ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]]'' family are accompanied by [[Bumbling Sidekick|Baldrick]] and an [[UpperclassUpper Class Twit]], it's not until ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' that we get a real sense of history repeating, with more recurring characters from previous series than before, including one-off characters who take their own plotlines from the earlier series with them (Bob the [[Sweet Polly Oliver]], for instance, or Nurse Mary, who's a WWI version of Amy Hardwood from ''Third''). The fact the basic set-up is similar to ''Blackadder II'' (Edmund, Balders and the twit are all based in location 1. Blackadder is frequently summoned to location 2 where an obsequious hanger-on with equal status tries to get him in trouble with a psychotic loon who has power of life and death over everyone involved) is just the icing on the cake.

* In the ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' universe Dr. Soong was an eccentric scientist, whose work on creating artificial humanoids made him distrusted. One of his more powerful creations turned out to be a conscienceless monster who had to be stopped by the crew of the ''Enterprise''. Another, however, was a good person who aided the ''Enterprise'' crew in this. Arik (and Malik and Udar) from ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' or Noonien (and Lore and Data) from ''[[Star Trek: the Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek theThe Next Generation]]''?

** Season five also plays a weird version of it with generation one being God and two of his archangels, and the Xerox being the original Winchester triad. Dean being the 'good son' Michael the soldier, and Sam being [[The Devil|Lucifer]], the rebellious one. Gabriel makes this explicit. While at the same time Castiel's quest for an unanswering God is clearly meant to parallel the original series premise of 'two brothers on a road trip, looking for their father and killing evil things,' with a smidgen more subtlety.

* In the ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' episode "Bad Blood" [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]] reveal that {{spoiler|the enmity between the Gisbournes and the Locksleys started due to a love triangle between Guy and Robin's fathers, which ended with the woman involved being killed by one of them (Malcom of Locksley, and unlike Guy's murder of Marian, it was an accident). Ghislane of Gisbourne also shows flashes of her daughter's political ambition, and gets shouted down by a sexist community leader in a similar manner to the arrival of Isabella's husband.}}

*** This is being replayed with Lauren Graham's ''[[Parenthood (TV series)|Parenthood]]'' character Sarah and ''her'' daughter Amber.

* It's implied in the last episode of ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'' that Chris and Wyatt are going to follow in the footsteps of their parents and aunts.

* Played with in the ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' episode ''Crystal Skull''; turns out both Daniel ''and'' his grandpa are right about their pet archaeological notions that were laughed at and dismissed by everyone else in the business, including each other.

* ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]'': Sam and Pam Puckett are practically identical.

* The entire point of the miniseries ''[[Taken (TV series)|Taken]]''.

* The premise of ''[[Will and Grace]]'' was that years before the show's premiere episode, Will and Grace had met in college and dated until Will came out of the closet, and then had stayed close friends. In the series finale, the pair end up growing apart -- untilapart—until years later, when their kids meet in college and date (although their kids then go on to get married).

* An in-universe example in a ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode, where Garak asks Bashir what he thought of a Cardassian best-selling novel. Bashir claims it was too repetitive, showing the same thing happening to seven generations of Cardassians. Garak simply replies that "repetitive epic is the most elegant form of Cardassian literature."

* As much as neither of them will admit it, Shawn and Henry from ''[[Psych]]''. At least Lassiter seems to think so.

{{quote| '''Lassiter''': Working with [Henry] is exactly like working with Shawn.}}

== [[Music]] ==

{{quote| There is a chain that's never broken<br />

You know the story it's sad but true<br />

An angry man gets drunk and beats his kids<br />

The same old way his drunken father did<br />

{{quote| And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me<br />

He'd grown up just like me<br />

{{quote| We ran / Though we knew it couldn’t last<br />

Running from the past / From things that we were born to be<br />

Looking back it’s so bizarre<br />

It runs in the family<br />

All the things we are<br />

On the back seat of the car<br />

With joseph and emily<br />

We only see so far<br />

* [[Dream Theater (Music)|Dream Theater]]'s song Someone Like Him plays around with this. It's part of a bigger, 24-minute long song (yes, really!) about being trapped in patterns, and Someone Like Him discusses a character who's trying very hard to beat this trope and carve a different niche to his father's cushy lifestyle. He changes his mind.

{{quote| As far as I could tell there's nothing more I need<br />

But still I ask myself could this be everything?<br />

And all I swore that I would never be was now...<br />

So suddenly<br />

The only thing<br />

I wanted to become<br />

== [[Radio]] ==

== [[Theatre]] ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* An interesting example happens in ''[[Deus Ex Invisible War (Video Game)|Deus Ex: Invisible War]]'', where {{spoiler|the lead character turns out to be the descendent of the character from the first game, kind of, and he/she faces some similar obstacles and decisions as JC Denton did the first time around.}}

* Subverted, deconstructed and generally hashed into pieces by ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]''. The new player character seems to experience a sequence of events extremely similar to ones experienced by the previous player character in the previous game, with note-for-note character analogues and extremely similar level design. The character noticed this, too, and began to get pretty existentialist about it, wondering if he was somehow insane and imagining the whole thing. It turned out it was all [[Gambit Roulette|deliberately orchestrated]] to have precisely that effect on him. The game was a satire of reiterated sequels, hence the dark use of this trope.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'', Tidus travels with Yuna and several guardians including Auron on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin. Tidus, having come from an alternate world, hopes to find a way home as well. Ten years before, Tidus' father Jecht traveled with Yuna's father Braska and a younger Auron on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin, Jecht hoping to find a way home along the way. Turns out this is on purpose--Jechtpurpose—Jecht {{spoiler|as Sin}} arranged for Tidus to be called to Spira with Auron helping, and Auron later made sure Tidus stuck around with Yuna. Furthermore, Auron is attempting to subvert this trope because he's seen first-hand that the traditional way of fighting Sin that Braska opted for solves absolutely nothing, and thus he influences Tidus and Yuna to realize that and try to find another way.

** ''Tree of Tranquility'' takes this to an absurd point. If you start a [[New Game+]],you get to play as your son, or daughter, who looks [[Identical Grandson|exactly]] like you,or your opposite gender counterpart. Also, the villagers ''revert back to their original statuses''.

** Even worse in the case of ''DS''/''Cute'' and ''AWL'' is their wedding clothing. They wear similar clothing to their (great-?) grandparents. For example, Celia. [http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Puku6/Harvest%20Moon/1WeddingSerenaSm.png DS]{{Dead link}} and [http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq56/shilahalo/thCelia31.jpg AWL]. Not that we see either on screen, but still..

* The Yakras in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]''. The original posed as the chancellor of Guardia to get closer to the Queen so that he could kill her and sever the royal bloodline (which includes {{spoiler|Marle, a.k.a. the present-day Princess Nadia}}). All of his descendants followed a similar pattern, but you only get to kick the butts of Yakra I (600 A.D.) and Yakra XIII (1000 A.D., much later in the game).

* Sort of used in ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'', where Geo and all of his friends directly parallel Lan and company from ''[[MegamanMega Man Battle Network]]''. In fact, Echo Ridge looks almost exactly like AC/DC. Though in this case there's no biological connection, but it's still one hell of a coincidence that many of the same events played out between two very similar groups of people two hundred years apart.

** This is a large part of the [[You Can't Fight Fate]] theme in ''[[Sword of Mana]]'', where many of the heroes have similar roles to the Gemma Knights, and Vandole's only living descendant {{spoiler|''literally'' gets [[Hijacked Byby Ganon|possessed by his ancestor]] (or something) and tries to carry out the same kind of plan Vandole did}}.

* ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' fell into this trope hard and subverted it at the same time. Of the first three known characters, two are virtually identical to previous protagonists. The third protagonist, a green haired girl, drove the fandom insane from trying to figure out who she is.

* ''Zelda'' series does this as well, to the point of being Lampshaded by the opening cutscene of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]''.

** And taken to ridiculous extents in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks]]''. As if an army of [[The Hero|Links]] and [[Everything's Better Withwith Princesses|Zeldas]] wasn't already enough.

** And it ''ain't'' just Link and Zelda. Many Zeldas were raised by an Impa. There's also more than one Anju who needs you to get her chickens back, ''and'' more than one Guru-Guru playing the Song of Storms in a windmill. (Interestingly, in both cases, you get the characters unnamed in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', named [[And You Were There|but with different roles]] in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda MajorasMajora's Mask]]'', then they return in other games with their OOT roles but their MM names.) There are also a lot of identical mailmen - even the ''bird guy'' who's a mailman looks less like the other Rito and more like the usual mailman with wings and a funky 'do. That's just a taste; a full list would be endless. And then there are the slight name changes, like Marin and Tarin becoming Malon and Talon but essentially being the same. Other partial examples like the four carpenters (look alike, names change ''completely'') exist.

*** Justified, however, in the case of Tingle. [[Freshly -Picked: TinglesTingle's Rosy Rupee LandRupeeland|His game]] reveals that, rather than a lineage as one might think, Tingle is actually a curse placed on anyone foolish enough to make a deal with Uncle Rupee.

* The ''[[Bubble Bobble (Video Game)|Bubble Bobble]]'' series always features a green bubble dragon and a blue bubble dragon, regardless of setting.

* The fourth ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' game manages to distill this into a single game. All of the characters in the second half are the children of the characters in the first half, and the female characters all have the same classes as their mothers (well, most of them, anyway--genderanyway—gender inheritance is reversed for Brigid's children and there were extenuating circumstances for Altenna {{spoiler|kidnapped at a young age, brought up in a foreign land}} and Nanna {{spoiler|her mother's class was "Princess", and, well, she kind of abdicated that when she joined Sigurd's army}}); likewise, Aless and Celice, whose fathers are ''not'' up for interpretation, share a class with said fathers. (You can pair up the other members of your army such that the male children--andchildren—and Brigid's daughter, Patty--havePatty—have the same classes as their fathers, [[Crack Pairing|though you may get some slightly odd results.]]) Furthermore, it is quite possible to pair up Celice and Yuria, mirroring the romance between Sigurd and Diadora, and the fifth game ''strongly'' hints that Leaf and Nanna is more or less canon. As mentioned before, Nanna does not share a class with her own mother; she ''does'' have the same class as ''Leaf'''s mother, so this would qualify as mirroring the relationship between Leaf's parents. ( {{spoiler|Actually, the same thing sort of applies the other way around, as Leaf's class is Prince, which plays out only slightly different than Lachesis's Princess class in that Leaf cannot use staves before promoting.}})

** The fourth ''Fire Emblem'' game is not the only one that has that - Fire Emblem 6 and 7 has this, albeit mixed with [[Distaff Counterpart|Distaff Counterparts]]s. Many characters who appeared in Fire emblem 6 had parents who served in Fire Emblem 7. And sure enough...they look almost ''exactly'' like that one parent. The other parent is left rather open. For example, Roy looks ''exactly like'' Eliwood. His mother can be either Lyndis, Ninian {{spoiler|The half-dragon girl}} or Fiora. Neither of which are shown or even ''mentioned'' in 6. Hector meanwhile has a daughter who is pretty much a [[Distaff Counterpart]] of him (He's a fighter, she's a mage) and likewise, ''her'' mother is not shown or named. It can be either Lyndis (once more), Florina, or Farina. (It is also important to note that Florina, Fiora, and Farina are the Pegasus Sisters in Fire Emblem 7) Lugh and Ray are likewise basically Nino if she was genderswapped. (Their parents are either Jaffar or Erk) Sue is also a [[Distaff Counterpart]] to Rath, and looks ''exactly'' like him if he were a girl. Her mother is also not mentioned, but it's possible it was actually {{spoiler|Lyndids}}.

*** Meanwhile, several characters who have children in ''6'' do mention their parents. Fir the Myrmidon is a [[Generation Xerox]] of Karla - and the resemblance between her and her uncle Karel (appears in both 6 and 7) are also obvious. But who's Fir's father? Well it's actually Barte - who actually ''can join alongside her'' and is in both 6 ''and'' 7. (Amusingly if he dies in 7, Barte actually says "Uh oh, I'll be back when I heal this wound!") Canas in 7 also has a son in 6, but he was mentioned as already being born in 7. (Canas's mother also joins in 6)

* Episode 302 of ''[[The Adventures of Sam and& Max: Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max: Freelance Police]]'' stars Sameth and Maximus, the titular duo's great-grandfathers. They look and behave exactly like our heroes, only Sameth has a mustache and Maximus wears clothes.

* [[Nasuverse]] example: ''"Let us tell a story of a certain man. The tale of a man who, [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|more than anyone else, believed in his ideals,]] [[Fatal Flaw|and by them]] [[Despair Event Horizon|was driven into despair.]]"'' {{spoiler|[[Fate /Zero|Kiritsugu?]] [[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight|Or his foster son Archer, aka Shirou?]]}}

* The family of Fungalmancer Glop in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' takes this trope to the most absurd extreme imaginable. Every generation of the Glop family line is ''identical'' to the one before, having the same name, same appearance, same occupation, and ''exact same response when attacked''. Taking out the latest Fungalmancer Glop is a daily quest, and the trope is taken [[Up to Eleven|so far beyond eleven]] that you'd think you were killing the same stone trogg every day.

* ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'' reveals itself to be this in the opening cut scene. Playing the game through shows that the kids are apparently more competent.

* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' does this with Dante performing similar actions to his father, Sparda, which In chronological order seems to be showing that Dante surpasses his father over time:

** ''DMC3'': Sparda sealed Temen-ni-gru, Dante fights demons there but the tower's fate is never gone into.

** ''DMC1'': Sparda defeated Mundus as does Dante.

** ''DMC4'': Sparda sealed the Hell Gates, Dante destroys them.

** ''DMC2'': Sparda defeated Argosax, Dante kills him.

** There's also the fact that Dante wields his father's main sword in ''DMC1'' and one he inherited from him in all the other games. He also uses the one his brother inherited in ''DMC4''.

* Surma sends her daughter Antimony to the same school as she herself attended -- ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. It seems as if Annie's parents were the only members of that generation who moved away from the court, since Annie runs into most of her parents' social circle (who are now teachers), befriending the daughter (Kat) of Surma's friends. She also meets another acquaintance of Surma's -- Reynardine. Instead of walking up to her and saying "Hello, I knew your mum," however, Reynardine comes crashing through Annie's ceiling -- andceiling—and she's the only student in the ''entire dorm'' to see him.

*** A recent flashback has shown that Surma, who looks ''exactly'' like an older Annie, appeared to have had an almost identical relationship to Kat's mother as Annie has to Kat.

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Agatha's guardian had to give her an apparently magical (or at least sufficiently advanced beyond what the setting usually has--nothas—not that the series has stayed entirely away from magical effects) necklace specifically to prevent her from inheriting her hereditary position as the apparent center of the universe--withinuniverse—within a week of losing it, {{spoiler|she's escaped from the ruler of Europe's airship after his son fell in love with her, in tow with a talking cat and a legendary hero who then tries to kill her, after having defeated a hive of body horrors and having her foster parents ripped to shreds by a construct made by her mother. And it only picks up speed from there.}}

** There is evidence that [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041206 Klaus is a construct as well as a Spark] and the Jagers joke about [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021216 Klaus breaking his Spark son Gilgamesh up and using him for parts].<br />In a parallel vein, Agatha seems to be the only Spark [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040405 capable] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050504 of creating clanks] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090401 that have a Spark's power] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090420 to create] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090424 more clanks].

** Shalia adopted Erin. Candi adopts Charlie. Both Shalia and Candi have had five children in one sense or another.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* A subversion of the "replay with last minute change" occurs in ''[[Hey Arnold!]],'' where Helga is a finalist in the same spelling bee as her sister before her... and gets the same last word, "qualm". Like her sister Olga, Helga ''does'' know how to spell the word... but deliberately misspells it, in order to defy her father and step out of Olga's shadow.

* In the [[Western]], [[Identical Grandson]] episode of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', Valmont's ancestor is trying to release Shendu, and ends up being defeated by Jackie's ancestor.

* In the [[What If]] [[Flash Forward]] episode ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ken 10]]'', Ben's [[Identical Grandson|nearly-identical son Ken]] (he has darker skin, like his mother, and slightly darker brown hair, but is otherwise a Ben clone) is given an Omnitrix by his father on his tenth birthday because he got his when he was ten. It also has the same limitations as his original (time limit, limited number of aliens), and then Ken goes on to meet Devlin, the [[Superpowerful Genetics|transforming, superpowered son]] of Ben's formal rival Kevin ([[Theme Naming]], anyone? Oh yes). Ken also offers Devlin the opportunity to join the Tennyson family, the same offer Ben made Kevin as a child. However, Devlin actually accepts the offer, unlike his father.

** Ken must have inherited his mother's brains, though, as he actually thinks to {{spoiler|use Grey Matter to hack the Omnitrix's master control}}, something neither Ben, Gwen or Max ever considered.

* ''Famous 5: On The Case'', the [[Disney]] cartoon based loosely on ''[[Enid Blyton|The Famous Five]]'', plays this straight with the children of the original Five. Both boys have sons, both girls have daughters. Julian and his son Max are both action leaders, Dick and Dylan are both [[Smart Guy|smart guys]], George and Jo are tomboys, Allie and Anne are girly girls. And, well, Timmy Jr is still a dog, but that one's justified.

** George herself becomes a [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]]ped version of her father Quentin, as the eccentric scientist whose discoveries sometimes lead to the Five's cases.

* One episode of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' features the team that came before Sam, Alex and Clover: Pam, Alice and Crimson.

* In ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'', Timmy's 19th century ancestor has Cosmo and Wanda as his fairy godparents. And his successor from the far beyond future will also have them. And his ''future kids''.

* Inverted in ''[[DextersDexter's Laboratory]]'': In one episode, Dexter ages himself into an old man with an aging machine by accident, and his family mistakes him with his grandpa. In a later episode, we actually get to see his grandfather.

* Hayley and Stan of ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' have exactly the same personality - both are controlling, obsessed with being right, and generally treat their partners like crap. The twist is that while Stan is a hardcore conservative, Hayley is a hardcore liberal.

** Stan was a geek in his youth just like Steve... something he's spent most of his adulthood trying to cover up.

* In "Time Out For Vengence", ''[[Batman the Brave And: The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'''s take on ''[[Grant Morrisons Batman|The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', the historic Batmen are Bruce's ancestors, rather than Bruce travelling through time. Yes, even Cave Batman.

* An episode of ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' had a [[Flash Back]] to [[The Seventies]], when Grandpa was the Chinese Dragon. And far from the wise [[Old Master]] Jake knows, he's an [[Smug Super|egotistical showboater]] who talks in a constant stream of [[Totally Radical|barely comprehensible slang]], just like Jake.

* The unaired pilot for a ''[[Wacky Races]]'' revival, ''Wacky Races Forever,'' had the offsprings of the original racers.

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Both [[Bruce Lee]] and his son, Brandon Lee, died under mysterious circumstances, leaving half-finished films behind that would later be completed posthumously (Bruce ''[[Game of Death]]'', and Brandon ''[[The Crow]]''). The similarities between their deaths led to a number of conspiracy theories involving the Triads and other Asian organized crime associations.

* In an interesting inversion, Abe Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was saved from nearly being killed by a train by the brother of John Wilkes Booth, Edwin Booth. Ironically, Robert would go on to be at the train station next to James Garfield when he was shot, as well as arriving in Buffalo right when [[Mc Kinley]]McKinley was shot. Weird.

** Robert himself was aware of this weirdness, and apparently didn't like it. When invited to a presidential function after the incident with [[Mc Kinley]]McKinley, he refused, saying "No, I'm not going, and they'd better not ask me, because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present."

* Emperor Peter III of [[Tsarist Russia|Russia]] was a staunch Prussophile militarist, had a personality which oscillated between [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and [[Ax Crazy]], hated his wife [[Catherine the Great]], and led an erratic and inconsistent internal and foreign policy. He was deposed in palace coup orchestrated by Catherine and then murdered in prison. His son Paul I was a staunch Prussophile militarist, had a personality which oscillated between [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and [[Ax Crazy]] (with hints of [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]), hated [[My Beloved Smother|his mother]] [[Catherine the Great]] (and tried to undo many of her reforms) and led an even more erratic and inconsistent internal and foreign policy. He was murdered in a palace coup [[Self-Made Orphan|tacitly supported by his estranged son]] Alexander I, who, after assuming the throne, promised that "everything will be done as it used to be done by my grandmother". Unsurprisingly, both Peter and Paul are subject to lots of [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] and [[Vindicated Byby History]].

[[Category:GenerationLike XeroxFather, Like Son]]