Family Guy/Characters: Difference between revisions

Voiced by [[Seth MacFarlane]], using a voice that sounds like [[All in The Family|Archie Bunker]]'s, only whinier.

{{tropelist|Tropes exhibited by this character include:}}

* [[Adult Child]]

* [[All Women Are Prudes]]: A believer of this trope. Lucky for him, he's married to an aversion (who even agrees with him about the trope).

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Happens often. notably in the Christmas special.

* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: Is almost (d)evolving into this in later episodes, a lot of her role consisting of joining Peter in giggling over immature gags or even sharing similar sociopathic tendancies. The extent of this is [[Rule of Funny]] however.

* [[Flanderization]]: Originally a genuinely compassionate [[Mama Bear]] whose occasional bouts of self righteousness and impulsiveness led to [[Not So Different]] moments involving her husband, in later seasons is an extreme [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]] and is almost as [[Jerkass|callous and self centered]] as Peter. Especially towards Meg, who she seems to outright hate, and sometimes towards Peter.

** For the most part her ''entire persona'' is based on [[Rule of Funny]] or [[Depending on the Writer]] (even more so than the majority of the cast). Whether she is genuinely [[Women Are Wiser|wiser]] or basically a [[Jerkass|female version of Peter]] pretty much depends on where the gag takes her.

* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: Lois is about to be taken in for shoplifting in "Breaking Out is Hard to Do." She goes to get her purse...and makes a vehicular escape.

* [[Jerkass]]/JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In later seasons (though arguably more a case of [[Comedic Sociopathy]] early on).

* [[Lack of Empathy]]: At her worst.

* [[Mama Bear]] but sometimes also [[Abusive Parents|Abusive Mom]]

* [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]]: Though granted it's FAR more justified in later episodes.

* [[Broken Bird]]: Some episodes depict her being both emotionally fragile and disturbed, derived from a desperation for love and attention.

** Fortunately it is starting to get toned down (there are maybe three prominent examples that spring to mind in season, and two of them aren't really that horrible; in one they aren't overly rude, in the second it was kind of [[Hypocritical Humor]] (Peter is worried about the guy doing his wife, yet has no problem with him nailing his teenaged daughter, which is arguably worse).

** In the most recent episode, Meg's mention of her teacher "rubbing her shoulders for 45 seconds" is taken seriously and Lois is shown to be quite concerned.

* [[Brainy Baby]]

* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Victory is mine!" was his for a least the first few seasons.

* [[Creepy Child]]

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Not as noticeably so as Brian, but he has his moments.

** More of a [[Depraved Homosexual]], [[No Bisexuals|according]] [[Word of Gay|to]] [[Word of God]].

* [[Disguised in Drag]]: Stewie disguises himself as a girl in "Go, Stewie, Go!".

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Averted so very, very, hard.

** He does seem to have a good relationship with Chris, though.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Sort of, since he became less of a [[Villain Protagonist]] as the series progressed.

* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Occasionally demonstrates he may have a crush on Brian.

* [[Lack of Empathy]]: In the early seasons.

** He gets better in later seasons.

** [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: He still has more moments of clarity than most of the other Griffins.

* [[Like a Weasel]]: His most common method of picking up women in later seasons. In "Peter's Got Woods" he meets a beautiful black woman and tries to curry her favor by getting Chris' school renamed for Martin Luther King Jr. In another episode, when a woman says magicians turn her on, he ''immediately'' blurts out "I'm a magician!"

* [[Motive Decay]]: In early seasons Brian wants to date a woman of depth and substance, having gotten tired of [[Brainless Beauty|Brainless Beauties]] who have no idea what he's talking about when he wants to have meaningful conversations. Later on, the Griffins (Lois especially) make fun of him for dating nothing but said Brainless Beauties and Quagmire even calls him out on this in his [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] from "Jerome Is The New Black" (with Quagmire pointing out his hypocrisy by stating, "Yeah, I date women for their bodies, but at least I'm honest about it...") Not to say that he still end up in dates with women of depth that end badly, most notably Carolyn and Ida, the former who Cleveland snagged, and the latter who turned out to be Quagmire's dad [[Transgender|post-sex change]].

* [[My Instincts Are Showing]]: Brian acts like a human for most of the time, but sometimes he shows dog traits; for example, he will chase balls, is attracted to the sound of dog food in a bag, and is terrified of the vacuum cleaner.

* [[The Generic Guy]]: Cleveland doesn't have much of a personality to being with, but this is more prominent when we compare him to the [[Psychopathic Manchild]] Peter, the [[Lovable Sex Maniac]] Quagmire or the [[Handicapped Badass]] with [[Large Ham]] tendencies Joe. Since becoming a [[The Cleveland Show|lead character]], he has gained [[Denser and Wackier|brasher wackier tendancies]] but still seems toned down in comparison.

* [[Motor Mouth]]: In one cutaway gag, Cleveland used to work as an auctioneer (who have to be [[Motor Mouth|motor mouths]] as per their job description) until he got hit in the head and now speaks slowly as a result.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Or at least the closest thing to one in the series.

* [[Punny Name]]: Named after a professional U.S. Football team, the Cleveland Browns.