The Unfavourite: Difference between revisions

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** The series implies that Mai's parents treat their younger son Tom-Tom much better than her. When Mai was a little girl she was forced to be stiff and rigid at all times, never showing any emotion in case it damaged her father's political career (leading into her emotionally-stunted teenage years). By the time Tom-Tom was born, her father was already a governor and given control over an entire "colony" (said colony being a conquered Earth Kingdom City), so they're free to be more expressive and affectionate with him.

* Helga Pataki from ''[[Hey Arnold]]'' is the poster child for this trope, with her prettier, more intelligent, and away-at-college older sister Olga. Ironically, Olga herself says she'd rather be the Unfavorite: her parents' excessive attention and ''ridiculously'' high expectations (especially Bob's) push her into a permanent neurosis and becoming an [[Extreme Doormat]].

* ''[[Rugrats]]'' played with this a couple times. In one episode, Angelica convinces the twins Phil and Lil that every family has a Favorite and a Reject; each one spent the rest of the episode convinced that they were the Reject, and mistaking normal parental behavior as signs of this, until, in the end, they make up and decide to be Rejects together (and Angelica even decides to become a Reject). In another, Angelica's parents are going to have another baby, and she has a horrible dream about being rejected in favor of it (until it [[Attack of the 50 Foot Whatever|grows gigantic]] and tries to eat her).

* ''[[Rugrats]]'' played with this a couple times. In one episode, Angelica convinces the twins Phil and Lil that every family has a Favorite and a Reject; each one spent the rest of the episode convinced that they were the Reject, and mistaking normal parental behavior as signs of this, until, in the end, they make up and decide to be Rejects together (and Angelica even decides to become a Reject). In another, Angelica's parents are going to have another baby, and she has a horrible dream about being rejected in favor of it (until it [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|grows gigantic]] and tries to eat her).

** Don't forget this was quite the plot point of the first [[Rugrats]] movie. After Dil's birth, Tommy felt abandoned by his parents and attempted to return him to the hospital with the help of his friends, only to later grow fond of Dil and accept him.

** I remember one episode after the movie where Tommy starts to feel like the unfavourite out of his friends after Angelica teaches them how to cry and fake injuries to get attention from Tommy's parents, but Tommy won't do it. The parents are fussing over the other kids, but Stu does take a moment to apologise to Tommy and say he's glad there's nothing wrong with him. It's kind of sweet, but also sad.