Sibling Seniority Squabble: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', Hiashi Hyuga was born seconds before Hizashi. The difference is especially crucial in the Hyuga clan, as Hiashi grew up to become head of the clan, while Hizashi was made into a branch house member and expected to obey Hiashi {{spoiler|and give his life to protect him... or so Neji thought}}, under threat of his cursed seal activating and causing him pain or killing him.

* Used in the movie ''Hangman's Curse''.

* Variant: the French musical ''Les Demoiselles de Rochefort'' has the younger twin calling the other "old girl," leading the other to reply:

* The seniority of rank example also occurs in the 1964 film ''[[Zulu]]'', between Lieutenant Chard and Lieutenant Bromhead. This [[Wild Mass Guessing|might have been]] the origin for the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' example.

* Variation: A deleted scene from ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'' includes the main characters trying to get their mother to tell them which of them is older, presumably so they will then be able to use this trope. Eventually she tells them, "The one with the bigger cock!"

* Widget and Sludge in the 2009 ''[[Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy]]'' film.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Sweet Valley High]]'': "Elizabeth was 4 minutes older than Jessica, but sometimes it felt more like 4 years..."

* When the Auditors of Reality obtain bodies in ''[[Discworld|Thief of Time]]'', they begin to argue about who incarnated first because "seniority is seniority".

* The "promoted two minutes earlier is still seniority" variant was used in [[Aaron Allston]]'s ''[[X Wing Series|Wraith Squadron]]'' novels.

* Done with Apollo and Artemis in the ''Percy Jackson'' series.

'''Artemis''': We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue— }}

* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', ''The Horse and His Boy''. King Loon explains that Prince Cor, rather than his twin brother Prince Corin is first in line to succession, because he's the elder by 20 minutes. [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] because Corin is quite happy about this while Cor is not.

* [[The Bible]]: Jacob and Esau squabbling over who is the rightful heir. Esau ends up giving it to Jacob for a "mess of pottage" (lentil soup).

 

* Zack is ten minutes older than Cody in ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', and he has no problems making sure his brother remembers that fact.

* A rare non-sibling example found in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'': Paris tried to order Torres to do something. Torres refuses on the grounds that they're the same rank, so Paris plays the seniority card. Torres immediately points out that he only has about a week over her.

** In real life, seniority is serious business. My department had to lay off two people, and one day of seniority was going to determine who stayed. (In the end, it was averted by the ''most'' senior employee taking early retirement instead.)

* Data and Lore in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', androids created with the same physical template, both argue that seniority gives them precedence. (Lore had lied and said Data was the older twin.)

* On ''[[All Together Now]]'', Anna comments on how she is fifteen minutes older than Thomas and wonders if she kicked him in the head on the way out.

* An entire episode of ''[[Pair of Kings]]'' plays with this; Brady claims to be the older twin, prompting Boomer to go to an oracle to find proof.

 

== Radio ==

* Used at the beginning of the Peabody-winning drama "Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom."

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', Koume and Kotake have a moment within an argument, compounded by the fact that one of them misrepresents her own age ''to her own twin''.

* In ''[[No More Heroes]]'', we find out that {{spoiler|Travis and Henry are twin brothers}}; however, it is not discussed until the sequel (in an overly long answering machine message) that {{spoiler|Henry}} is supposedly the older twin, something {{spoiler|Travis}} is quick to make a snarky remark on:

{{spoiler|Henry}}: [[The Tape Knew You Would Say That|You're prob'ly spoutin' off about which one of us popped out first]]. }}

* ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'': Twins Cash and Carrie try to use this on each other. The problem is, since they were both adopted, neither knows who the older sibling is.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Hank Venture mentioned that he and Dean were about 4 minutes apart in ''[[Venture Brothers]]''. Of course, how true this is is debatable, since they're clones and may well have been activated at exactly the same time.

* Lampshaded in a ''[[Space Ghost]]'' episode:

'''Jace:''' A guy can learn a lot in two minutes! }}

* Inverted on ''[[The Simpsons]]'', when Selma laments Patty's good fortune in being "two minutes younger" and thus presumably more desirable to men than Selma herself.

* ''[[Dragon Tales]]'' took this to the extreme, with one head of a two-headed dragon popping out of the egg five minutes before the other.

* In one episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'', Dr. Director's [[Evil Twin|evil (fraternal) twin]] is four minutes older, and blames his megomaniacal ambitions on the fact she didn't defer to him as a kid.

* Scooter and his sister Skeeter arguing above, over who gets filmed by a camera the kids are playing with in ''[[Muppet Babies]]''.

* ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' "The Malicious Mr. Mind!" Mary Marvel argues that Billy Batson is only older than her in superhero form, otherwise she's older than him by three seconds.

 

== Real Life ==

'''Bill Kaulitz:''' Yeah, he's so proud of it! So, please. 10 minutes? ''Oh wow''. }}

 

[[Category:Twin Tropes]]

[[Category:Sibling Seniority Squabble]]