Spin Offspring

Well, I bought the salon from my mom, and Emma's...a teenager now, and believe it or not, she's actually going to Degrassi just like we all did. It's like some kind of weird deja vu.
—Christine "Spike" Nelson, in a Degrassi: The Next Generation Deleted Scene.

When, rather than using Spinoff Babies (the main characters of an older series being made younger) you instead make a show about the descendants of people from the original premise. Sometimes evolve out of a Kid From the Future. May overlap with both Generation Xerox and Legacy Character, but can also exist independently of both tropes.

Sub-Trope of Changing of the Guard.

Popular Fanfic device, especially if there are canonical descendants. Very much Truth in Television.

Examples of Spin Offspring include:

Anime and Manga

  • The Japanese have done a few anime series about the fictional descendants of The Shinsengumi, including Tobe! Isami (Soar High! Isami) and Kidou Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken.
  • Japan does this a lot, actually. For example, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a different "JoJo" for each arc, but most/all are blood relatives one way or another (to exemplify: Jonathan is grandpa to Joseph, who is grandpa to Jotaro, who in a subversion, is nephew to Josuke!).
    • Giorno gets the most distant relations to any other, infact his father side of his family is downright screwed up (his dad is Dio, no less!), but regardless he bears the birthmark.
  • The title character of Lupin III, as well as Goemon. And Koichi Zenigata. And Ganimard III. And Lawrence III of Arabia. And...
    • Lesser known is Lupin VIII, a 1982 series centering on Lupin III's descendant five generations down the line. It never got broadcast due to the estate of Maurice 'LeBlanc (creator of the original Arsène Lupin) wanted more money than the producers were willing to pay.
  • While Chibiusa is always a main character on Sailor Moon, a later one-shot manga story, deliberately set in an alternate universe and timeline, starred the children of the Guardian Senshi, plus a brand new younger sibling to Chibiusa by the name of Kousagi. Almost all of the kids had the same names and appearances as their parents except for Kousagi, who actually looked like her own character.
    • The manga had numerous one-shot Chibiusa stories that ran in a separate magazine.
  • The anime Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals was based on the world of Final Fantasy V and starred one of Bartz' descendants. Presumably the "Queen Lenna of Tycoon" is also a descendant of the original Lenna, though she's just a supporting character.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Vi Vid. A Spin-Off of Lyrical Nanoha (yes, a Spin-Off of a Spin-Off) starring Nanoha's adopted daughter, Vivio.
  • Dragonball Z was supposed to be this, but popular demand just didn't allow Toriyama to keep Goku out of it.
    • Inverted in that Bardock, the father of Goku both got an anime special and is getting a little manga spinoff.
  • Kinnikuman Nisei is about Kinniku Mantaro, the son of the original Kinnikuman.
  • Gundam Wing sequel novel Frozen Teardrop takes the cast from the anime and puts them in the mentor roles while Generation Xerox versions of Duo (his son), Trowa (his student) and Quatre (his younger sister) do all the heavy lifting. As does Heero Yuy, who was in cryogenic stasis the whole time.
  • The main character of The Kindaichi Case Files, Hajime Kindaichi is the grandson of famous detective character Kosuke Kindaichi, created by Seishi Yokomizo.
  • Shaman King Flowers follows Yoh's son, Hana, as well as the next generation Shamans.


Comic Books

  • Spider-Girl and the majority of the teen hero characters from Marvel Comics' MC-2 lineup.
  • In another example from Marvel Comics, three of the Young Avengers (Stature, Wiccan, and Speed) are children of former Avengers members. A fourth (Patriot) is the grandson of the first Captain America (comics). Vision is an interesting case since, new body aside, he essentially is the original Vision.
  • Older Than They Think: The Green Hornet was, believe it or not, originally introduced as The Lone Ranger's great-nephew.
    • Not all that unbelievable; the Hornet and the Ranger were both created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker as broadcast content for Trendle's Detroit radio station, WXYZ. The relationship isn't that well known, though, since it wasn't referred to that often in the Hornet's series, and in the 1950s Trendle sold the rights to The Lone Ranger to another company, which prevented the relationship from being explicitly mentioned in any subsequent Green Hornet shows or other adaptations.
    • Similar example, although it's more of an All There in the Manual than something explicitly stated: Billy Blaze is the grandson of B.J. Blazkowicz, with a more Anglicized last name.
  • The original Infinity, Inc. was a DC Comics series about the children (and wards, etc.) of the Justice Society of America. Effectively the Teen Titans of their universe, though they lost this status when all of DC's Earths were merged into one. They faded into obscurity soon after. Though the JSA itself was eventually reintroduced.
  • Marvel Comics wanted to do a spinoff of The Avengers for a DVD. Instead of using the popular Young Avengers franchise because characters were linked to controversial topics like drug-abuse, rape, and homosexuality, they made Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, which is essentially "Avengers Babies" with 12-year old children of the Avengers having adventures. No, really.
    • A What If story used a similar idea with a different conceit: The Marvel heroes were unable to return home following the Secret Wars, so they settled down and had kids. The story focuses on those kids, lead in particular by the daughter of Captain America (comics) and Rogue.[1]
  • The short lived incarnation of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers #0 included the Whip III, granddaughter of the Whip II (a New Old West Zorro wannabe) and great-great-granddaughter of the Whip I (an Old West Zorro wannabe); I, Spyder, son of the original 7SoV member (and traitor) Alias the Spider; and Gimmix, daughter of Merry the Gimmick Girl and, therefore, neice of the first Star-Spangled Kid, who was also an original 7SoV member. In Seven Soldiers #1, the Bulleteer turns out to be directly descended from Aurakles, the world's first superhero.

Fan Works


Film (Animated)

  • Several Disney sequels:
  • The 1980 animated movie A Snow White Christmas stars the daughter of King Charming and Queen Snow, also named Snow White, who's on the run from the wicked queen (who has returned and turned her parents to ice) and is rescued by seven giants.


Film (Live Action)

  • The 2000 Shaft stars Samuel L. Jackson as the nephew of the original, played by Richard Roundtree who makes a cameo appearance.
  • The Air Bud movies transitioned into this with Air Buddies which focuses on the sports-playing Golden Retriever's puppies. Later movies however moved away from sports and more into common adventure.
  • Ace Ventura Jr. A horrible idea, further plagued by the fact it is a sequel to a Jim Carrey movie(s) that doesn't have Jim Carrey in it and is a sequel to a franchise that is more or less two decades old.
    • On a similar note, see also 1993's Son of the Pink Panther.
    • Inverted with Son of the Mask as the son isn't related to Stanley in anyway. Though moreover he got the powers of the mask as his father happened to be wearing it when he made love to his wife.
  • The Fly II focuses on Brundle's son.
  • Dr. Dolittle 3 stars the daughter of the title character (Eddie Murphy remake) who would also get a following movie.
  • Tron: Legacy: Sam Flynn proves to take after his dad.
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull subverts this at the end: the theme music begins to swell as Mutt picks up Indy's hat, but Indy grabs it back from him.
  • Ultraman Zero, the main character of a series of films, is the son of Ultra Seven.


Literature

  • Famous 5: On the Case (The Famous Five's kids)
  • A go-to trope for many of Anne McCaffrey's 21st century books. (Particularly the Petaybee and Talents series.)
  • Once the staple of the Xanth series: The original central character, Bink, was supplanted by his son, Dor, who was supplanted by his kids, daughter Ivy and son Dolph.
    • Unfortunately, due to the abundance of anti-aging magic in the Xanthverse, all these characters are still alive—as well as their kids, grandkids, and great, great grandkids. Meaning, well, you know...
  • Sons of the Oak, a Continuation of David Farland's The Runelords Trilogy Saga that focuses upon the son of the Earth King battling an even bigger Bad.
  • The second and third books in the Old Kingdom trilogy mostly concern Sabriel and Touchstone's children.
  • Susan Sto Helit, star of several Discworld novels, is the daughter of Mort, star of the book of the same name. Quite how old that makes Rincewind and Granny Weatherwax is unclear. Blame the History Monks.
  • Savage Sam: Son of Old Yeller follows the journey of Travis and Savage Sam, the son of Old Yeller to rescue Little Arliss and Elizabeth Circe from Indians.
  • This is basically the premise of the entire Redwall series. There's a strong continuity spanning centuries of family lines that seem to have a propensity toward getting wrapped up in epic conflicts every couple decades or so.
  • A fair number of the later-set Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, although for the most part their parents are there with them. Star Wars Legacy is almost entirely populated by new characters and the descendants of the old heroes.
  • The second trilogy in Kushiel's Legacy follows Phedre's adopted son, Imriel.
  • Second-Stage Lensmen ends with Kim Kinnison and Clarissa MacDougal getting married. In the next novel, their children go on to become the most powerful beings in the universe.
  • The last two books in the Anne of Green Gables series revolve around the adventures of Anne and Gilbert's children.
  • In Warrior Cats the New Prophecy, the second arc of Warrior Cats, the action focuses on Leafpool and Squirrelflight, kittens of The Hero and his Love Interest from the first arc, as well as Brambleclaw, son of the Big Bad Tigerstar. The third arc Power of Three, is about the kittens of Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. ( Not really). Then the fourth arc Omen of the Stars focuses on the kittens of minor characters Birchfall and Whitewing, as well as the characters of the third arc.
  • The Lord of the Rings is a particularly subtle example. Gimli and Legolas are descendants of secondary characters from The Hobbit (Gimli's father Gloin was one of the meaner dwarf protagonists, and Legolas's father was actually an antagonist). The protagonist, Frodo, is a nephew of hero of the The Hobbit. However, Bilbo raised and treated Frodo as a son.
  • Peter Pan is just begging for this, since every female descendant of Wendy is eventually going to get picked up by Peter and taken to Neverland to be his new "mother". While J.M. Barrie never wrote any sequels, plenty of other writers have. Notably, there's Return to Neverland (a Disney sequel about Wendy's daughter Jane), the film Hook (in which Peter grew up and married Wendy's granddaughter Moira), the book Lost Girls (which deconstructs the whole concept) and Gail Carson Levine's Fairies and the Quest for Never Land (in which modern-day Wendy descendant Gwendolyn gets her turn).
  • Most of the Vorkosigan Saga is about the son of the first two books' protagonists.
  • The A to Z Mysteries has the Calendar Mysteries, following the adventures of Bradley and Brian Pinto (Josh's younger brothers), Nate Hathaway (Bradley's friend), and Lucy Armstrong (Dink's cousin).


Live Action TV

  • The Adventures of Shirley Holmes (Sherlock Holmes' great-grandniece).
  • The 2008 Knight Rider TV movie and subsequent show was about the son of David Hasselhoff's character.
  • In a way, the Sci-Fi limited series Tin Man does this: It's revealed that DG and Azkadelia are descended from the Gray Gale - Dorothy Gale.
  • The entire premise of each new season of Blackadder, with some extra generations thrown in.
  • While there's a notable lack of family ties between them, three generations of Star Trek share this trope's characteristics.
  • The short-lived revival of Minder starred Archie Daley, the nephew of the star character Arthur Daley from the original series back in the 70s/80s.
  • In The New Tomorrow, a spinoff-slash-sequel show to The Tribe, the children worship their god Bray, who was a character in The Tribe. They also fear Zoot (who is Bray's brother, and acknowledged in the new series as the devil), showing that quite some time must have passed for a religion to have begun to form around them.
  • Kamen Rider Den-O begat the Cho-Den-O film series, starring Ryotaro's Grand-Kid From the Future, The Taros', plus several characters that weren't even in Den-O originally.
  • The TV series Young Maverick, dealt with the adventures of Ben Maverick, the son of Beau Maverick (and cousin of Bret and Bart Maverick) from the original Maverick series.
  • Girl Meets World, premiering in 2014 on the Disney Channel, is a direct sequel to Boy Meets World, and will follow the adventures of Riley Matthews, daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews.

Radio

  • In the 1990s The BBC did a comedy follow up to their popular 1940s drama serial Dick Barton: Special Agent entitled Richard Barton: General Practitioner. The focus was on Dr Barton trying to curtail his increasingly senile father's attempts to thwart entirely imaginary enemies of democracy in a small village, with flashbacks to the elder Barton's glory days. Interestingly, written by the son of Dick Barton's creator, Edward J. Mason.

Video Games

  • Originally, the cast of Lunar 2 were going to be the kids of the couples from the first game. This idea was nixed and the plot set 1000 years later, this does explain why everyone is pretty much a 50/50 mix of the previous crew.
    • One of the party members, Lemina, actually is the descendant of Mia from the original Lunar, and bears some striking resemblances to her physically.
  • Tales of Destiny 2 is about Kyle, the son of the two main characters from the first game, but aside from him, that's pretty much it.
  • Fire Emblem played around with this on occasion. The fourth game, Genealogy of the Holy War, had the main characters at the start of the game die off halfway through and be replaced with their children. Many (though not all) of the characters in The Sealed Sword were the children of characters in The Blazing Blade, which would be a straight example if not for the fact that Sealed Sword was made first. (A couple of characters from Sealed Sword were the parents of characters in Blazing Blade, and grandparents of other characters in Sealed Sword. Still doesn't work because the game that came out first takes place later.)
  • Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, starring the son of Cecil and Rosa, the main characters of Final Fantasy IV. There's also the daughter of Yang and Sheila joining in.
  • The Mr. Driller series stars Susumu Hori, who is the son of Dig Dugs Taizo Hori and of Kissy from the little-known Baraduke. Both father and son have made appearances in each other's games since the first Mr. Driller game.
  • The player character of Fallout 2 is a direct descendant of the player character in the original game.
  • At least some of the player characters in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn are apparently the descendants of the player characters from the original GBA games (example: Matthew, The Hero, is Isaac's son, and looks and plays a lot like him). Due to the series' extensively developed Shipping community, along with the equally awe-inspiring Ship-to-Ship Combat, this may have some interesting results in the fandom.
    • In fact, almost all of the characters are descended from the heroes or minor characters. Matthew's mother is revealed to be Jenna, Tyrell's father is Garet, but he is apparently unrelated to Rief, Mia's son. Rief's sister apparently develops a crush on Piers, ruling him out as a possible father. Karis is Ivan's daughter, but no indication is given as to who her mother might be. The remaining characters are Eoleo, who is the son of Briggs and was actually seen in Golden Sun 2 as a baby, and Himi, daughter of minor characters Susa and Kushinada from the same game. The only character whose parentage is totally ambiguous is Amiti, although There's strong indications that Alex is his father in the ending. Interesting to note that while Isaac and Garet show up, and Mia, Ivan, and Piers are frequently mentioned, there's barely any talk of Jenna, and Felix and Sheba are conspicuously absent.
  • The fairly mental Amiga/Atari ST game Wizkid was a sequel to Wizball, and Wizkid was, unsurprisingly, Wizball's son.
  • Okamiden features Kuninushi, the son of Okamis Susano and Kushi, teaming up with Chibiterasu, son of Okamis protagonist Amaterasu (as well as one of the cutest things ever).
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude and Box Office Bust features Larry Laffer's nephew, Larry Lovage as the main character in both games.
  • Harvest Moon DS and it's Distaff Counterpart take place 100 years after A Wonderful Life and Friends Of Mineral Town. Everyone is an Identical Grandchild and the valley folk fall in love with the same people. The only differences are their depth, some look changes, and their names in Japan.
  • King's Quest: while Graham hasn't exactly retired from adventuring, the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh games followed his kids.
  • Isa, the male protagonist of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, is the son of the two protagonists of the first Sin and Punishment.
  • Soul Calibur V has Sophitia's kids becoming the new main characters.
  • Red Faction did this with its spinoff movie, Origins, and last game, Armageddon - the protagonists of each, Jake and Darius Mason respectively, are the son and grandson of Alec Mason, protagonist of Guerrilla.
  • Lands of Lore 2 follows of the son of the villain of the first game.
  • Star Ocean the Second Story features Claude Kenny, son of two major characters from the original.
  • Phantasy Star II has Rolf discovering that he's descended from Alis Landale, the heroine of the first game. Since Chaz of the series' next chronological installment was orphaned as a child, we have no idea whether or not he's related to them, but he looks almost exactly like Rolf except for his blond hair.
  • Jr Pac Man anyone?


Webcomics

  • The main characters of Umlaut House 2 are mostly the kids and students of the characters from the first comic. Two of whom, Volair and Saundra's son Pierce and Jake and Rick's daughter Rhonda, were actually introduced a year before "1" ended.
  • Original Life follows the children of Fisk Black, main character of Better Days.
  • Violet, of Coming Up Violet was in Fur Will Fly but she was about six (instead of in high school) and her mother and stepfather were more significant characters in the latter series/
  • Act 6 of Homestuck has an inversion, introducing teenaged Alternate Universe versions of the main characters' biological parents.


Western Animation

  • James Bond Jr. (claimed by the theme song to be James Bond's Nephewism, because although Bond did enough sleeping around that he probably could staff an entire spy agency with his juniors, you can't say that in the title sequence of a Saturday Morning Cartoon!)
  • In a roundabout way, Batman Beyond; though Terry McGinnis is Bruce Wayne's protege rather than his son it eventually comes out in the Fully-Absorbed Finale that thanks to Cadmus, Terry biologically is Bruce's son.
  • The Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show
  • The Oz Kids, which starred Dorothy's children Dot and Neddy, the Tin Boy, Scarecrow Jr., Jack Pumpkinhead Jr., the Cowardly Lion's cubs Boris and Bela, the Wizard's son Frank, and Glinda's daughter Andrea.
  • The Legend of Korra features Tenzin, the son of Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender, as the Airbending mentor to his father's latest incarnation, and Toph's daughter Lin Beifong as the local chief of police. Mentioned (but likely to appear at some point) are Tenzin's older siblings Kya and Bumi as well as Zuko's unnamed daughter who is the most recent Fire Lord.
  • It's never made clear the relationship between Inspector Gadget and Gadget Boy and Heather; if it's the same character at different ages or two distinct ones such as father and son. Heather is not unlike an older Penny, but the two girls are clearly different.
  • Robotech does this in the Masters Saga to tie it into the Macross Saga. The protagonist, Dana Sterling, is Max and Miria's daughter, and Bowie is (according to the non-canon novels, at least) is the nephew of Claudia Grant, one of the Bridge Bunnies from Macross.
  • 101 Dalmatians: The Series focuses on Pongo and Perdita's puppies...well, most of them. Lucky, Cadpig and Rolly are the leads, while Dipstick, Whizzer, Two-Tone, Patch, and Tripod (who's new to the series) are side characters. Jewel is The Ghost.


Multiple Media

  • Slight variation in the Galaxy Angel Media Franchise: because the original Angels were, of course, the stars of a dating sim and Bishoujo Series, it would be a little offputting if they were all shown married with kids. Instead, in Galaxy Angel II and Galaxy Angel Rune, they have spinoff counterparts with other connections, ranging from Milfeulle's kid sister to Forte's combat protege. Vanilla actually does have a kid, but she's adopted.
  • The 1987 Dragnet film features Dan Aykroyd as the nephew of Jack Webb's Joe Friday from the radio and TV series (with the same name). Interestingly, Harry Morgan reprises his original role as Bill Gannon in the film, now as a captain.
  • Monster High is a series about the children of famous monsters such as Dracula and the Mummy who go to the same high school.


Almost-Examples

  1. ↑ or rather Carol Danvers, whose absorbed personality apparently overwhelmed Rogue's
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