Team Dad

I don't care if he called your hair stupid, it's not okay to hit! You're both grounded!
"From now on, there are no more secrets in this family."
—Optimus Prime, Transformers Animated

The opposite number to the Team Mom, more often than not the disciplinarian, lead-by-example-kind of character in contrast to the warm, nurturing tendencies of a Team Mom. The Team Dad is almost always the oldest member of the team and if he isn't the leader, then he's definitely the mentor, and in family-based teams, he is the father (or at least the big brother) of at least one member. He tends to be strict and gruff, but he never hesitates to put his life on the line for his team members. Sometimes the facade might even crack and he'll show undisguised pride over his "kids", particularly if the team members are True Companions.

Like the occasionally non-female Team Mom, Team Dads aren't Always Male, but the rare female ones are almost always the exception.

If a team has a Team Mom and a Team Dad, expect them to either play a Good Cop, Bad Cop routine on the rest of the team or come in conflict over their "parenting" philosophies. Cue "Mom and Dad are fighting" jokes from the "kids" if Team Mom and Team Dad aren't a couple, quickly followed by "It's not like that, we swear" from them (but they're very likely to end up together, anyway).

Compare Papa Wolf, whose children are his Protectorate; while the tropes can overlap, the Team Dad strives to make the "children" (who also tend to be older than the Papa Wolf's, and are less likely to be blood relatives) able to fight and defend themselves. A stern version of The Face, of which this trope is a subtrope.

Compare also A Father to His Men.

Examples of Team Dad include:

Anime And Manga

  • Axis Powers Hetalia - Even after The American Revolution, England can't fully get his former protege America off his back. And even more after the Allies are formed and he often has to be the Only Sane Man... if you stretch the "sane" part a bit.
    • Austria also is like this towards North Italy and The Clan. As a bonus, he marries the local Cool Big Sis and makes her his Team Mom.
    • China is a mix of this and Team Mom to the Asians.
    • Denmark sees himself as the leader and "older brother" (re: this) of the Nordics. The others don't seem to agree.
  • Black Lagoon: Dutch very much fills this role to his employees on the Lagoon.
  • Cowboy Bebop: Jet Black, who also is the male Team Mom.
  • Cyborg 009 - Dr. Isaac Gilmore and Dr. Koizumi. Chang Changku (Cyborg 006) has traits of both this and a male Team Mom (hilariously lampshaded in an episode of the 2001 series).
  • Digimon:
    • Digimon Adventure brings us the current page image, Jou/Joe Kido. There was a very good reason he was appropriately chosen to be the bearer of the "Crest of Reliability" as the dub calls it, and pretty much all of the possible translations for its Japanese name (Honesty, Faith, Sincerity) are fitting too. Despite being scared out of his wits and always vouching for the "safest" option, he was often the first to throw himself at attacking Digimon to protect the other Chosen children (aka Digidestineds) and his own partner Digimon, even though said partner Digimon was there to protect him! His top priorities were always to make certain everyone was safe, getting along, and would give emotional support and advice when needed. This carried over into the sequel too - despite being regularly bogged down with the rigors of Japanese higher education, Jou/Joe was always there as a figure of guidance and support for Iori/Cody, the youngest of the Digidestineds, whenever he needed him.
    • Digimon Savers - Captain Satsuma. Better known as a stern disciplinarian to everyone else in DATS, he is also a Badass Longcoat and very dangerous when the need arises.
  • Kalos Eido, boss of the Kaleido Star troupe. To a smaller degree, Marion's father; makes sense since while Kalos handles the big decisions, Mr. Begnini is the one in charge of the stagehands and technical issues.
  • Macross and Robotech - Captain Henry J. Gloval.
  • Mazinger Z: Prof. Yumi was Team Dad by the heroes (and Parental Substitute for Kouji and Shiro). He was mature, serious and disciplined, and tried to lead through those traits.
  • Dragon Ball - Master Roshi, at least until the Saiyan arc. Piccolo also qualifies in the Cell and Boo arcs.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam - Bright Noah. Who ends up married to the local Team Mom, Mirai Yashima.
  • Gundam 00: Johann Trinity is this to his siblings Michael and Nena, as a part of him getting a Promotion to Parent of sorts. Among the Gundam Meisters, Lockon Stratos (the first one) is arguably a mix of this and Big Brother Mentor.
  • One Piece : Franky towards his original True Companions before he left, and now, as confirmed by Word of God, towards Luffy's crew.
  • Ouran High School Host Club - Tamaki Suoh is the self-proclaimed Team Dad (and assigns Kouya the Team Mom role), but the rest of the team pretty much just play along because they feel like it; when they boycott him, Tamaki throws tantrums about why they're being so disobedient. This gets even more complicated once Tamaki starts developing feelings for Haruhi that he keeps handwaving as "fatherly concern".
    • This, of course, leads to Ho Yay courtesy of the Twins: "Mommy kept a secret from Daddy." Tamaki himself also calls Kouya "Mom" on occasion.
  • Brock in the Pokémon anime, who like Jet Black does double duty as both the Team Dad and the Team Mom.
    • In BW, Cilan makes a strange aversion, considering how similar he is to Brock.
    • Pikachu takes up the role when no humans are present, mostly to take care of the baby pokemon like Togepi or the later Axew and Scraggy.
  • Romeo X Juliet - Conrad, with the bonus of having his grandson Antonio in the group and having raised Juliet and Cordelia after the Capulet massacre.
  • Science Ninja Team Gatchaman - Kozaburou Nambu, also The Professor.
  • Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle - Kurogane, to go along with the overwhelming sea of Ho Yay between him and (male) Team Mom Fai. This becomes particularly visible around the Wham Chapters in which everything goes to hell and Kurogane does quite a bit of stepping up and taking charge in order to keep the team together.
  • This trope is very common in sports anime, with the captains and/or coaches acting as if they were the fathers of their teammates or pupils (and possibly working alongside a Big Brother Mentor and/or a Cute Sports Club Manager):
    • Bamboo Blade - Toraji "Kojiro" Ishida, for the Muroe High School kendo team.
    • Captain Tsubasa - Roberto Hongo (Nankatsu Elementary), Kouzou Kira (Meiwa Elementary), Takashi Furuoya (Nankatsu Junior High) and Makoto Kitazume (Tohou Junior High).
      • Tatsuo Mikami and later Gamo Minato are Team Dads to the Japanese National Squad. To a degree, so is Munemasa Katagiri, but in a more distant way.
    • Hajime no Ippo - Genji Kamogawa (Kamogawa Gym), also a Badass Grandpa. Sendoh's trainer Yanaoka (Naniwa Gym), Ozma's coach Hachinohe (Hachinohe Gym; Ozma does nickname him "dad" in canon), Volg's trainer Ramuda and Eiji Date (Nakadai Gym) after he retires are quite younger versions of the trope.
    • The Prince of Tennis - Captains Kippei Tachibana (Fudomine) and Kunimitsu Tezuka (Seigaku), alongside vicecaptain Genichirou Sanada (Rikkai), are Team Dads for their school tennis teams. If we check on coaches, the best example is Ojii from Rokkaku, whereas Taro Sakaki from Hyoutei and Osamu Watanabe from Shotenhouji are younger versions. Also Mikiya "Banji" Banda from Yamabuki, though he's more of a Trickster Mentor.
    • Slam Dunk - Coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai and captain Takenori Akagi from Shohoku, as well as coaches Moichi Taoka from Ryounan (who specially shows his Team Dad ID by counseling freshman!Uozumi when he almost leaves the team due to his upperclassmen's bullying) and Riki Takato from Kainan.
    • Eyeshield 21 - Youichi Hiruma fits the trope quite well... If you don't pay attention to his: blackmailing everyone he wants to, screaming and shouting, constant evil laughing, torture training, shooting his own teammates, and adding a certain swear word to every noun he says. Also, his ability to turn his head 180 degrees, spiky dyed hair and teeth that are just as sharp, his habit of spinning his AK 47 like a pencil and shooting it at the same time. As long as you don't pay attention to that, he fits the bill.
    • Future GPX Cyber Formula - Tetsuichiro Kurumada of Sugo Asurada and Edelhi Bootsvorz of Missing Link after his Heel Face Turn.
  • Jiraya eventually becomes this to Naruto. The similarity of their relationship to that of a father and son is even recognized at one point by Naruto (Jiraya, meanwhile, points out that he is NOT a kid anymore and tells him to get back to training).
    • Iruka Umino, being actually responsible for most of the pre-ninja training of the kids, bounces between Team Dad and Team Mom (specially to Naruto). Also Kakashi and Asuma, as team leaders.
    • Believe it or not, but Sasuke was actually this to team 7 in part one. Before Itachi came back and mind raped him Sasuke was fiercely protective of Naruto and Sakura even if he acted like he didn't care most of the time.
    • Interestingly enough, Shikamaru seems to be developing into this for the Konoha 11 Group. Makes sense, they lost their Team Dad Asuma to Hidan.
    • Let's not forget that Hiruzen Sarutobi aka the Third Hokage was the Team Dad for the whole of Konoha. (Except Danzo.)
    • To a degree, it can be said that every male Kage plays the Team Dad role for their village, in their own ways. As the new Kazekage, Gaara is still too young, but he's got Baki-sensei to back him up. Baki himself wasn't exactly the Team Dad for the Sand siblings at first, but acts more like that after the Time Skip.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima has some odd examples. Takamichi Takahata seems to fill this position in the early chapters, but the position eventually gets passed to Chamo. Later on, Jack Rakan, of all people, seems to fill in.
  • Captain Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach acts more like a father than a captain towards his subordinates.
    • In a huge subversion, so did Sousuke Aizen... before he faked his own death and then was revealed to be the Big Bad
  • In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kouzou Fuyutsuki and Gendo Ikari would be the Team Dads... if the series was, well, NOT Neon Genesis Evangelion.
    • Gendou deconstructs the trope big time (he's Shinji's father and team leader all right, but his actions are only remotely dad-like towards his adoptive daughter of sorts Rei), but Fuyutsuki plays it straight as he's still got some degree of concern for others around him. That's what gets him arrested by SEELE.
  • X 1999 - Wind Master Aoki Seiichirou is this with Kasumi Karen taking on the role of "Team Mom".
  • In Gintama Gintoki acts as a father figure towards Shinpachi and Kagura.
  • In Fang of the Sun Dougram this role is split between Professor Samarin and Dick Raltaff. Samarin is the leader the liberation movement, but is especially close to the protagonist and his team, while Raltaff is more of a mentor.
  • Enho from The Twelve Kingdoms mixes this and Old Retainer. Keiki also has some shades of the trope.
  • Inuyasha, believe it or not. He's pretty unorthodox, but he tries to give The Chick / The Lancer/ Team Mom emotional support, physically prevents the Action Girl from giving up on her brother and the Smart Guy from throwing his life away, and is an example for both the Tagalong Kid and the aforementioned Mom's little brother.
  • Tomoya Okazaki from Clannad, as the Only Sane Man in his group.
  • Hellsing's Alexander Anderson has his moments with his people. Surprisingly, so does Alucard in the manga in a twisted way, towards his interaction with Seras (in special), Bernadotte and mercenaries. He's also known to lecture the vampire punks before he kills them, and when he starts calling Seras by her name he actually pats her on the head almost like a dad praising his little girl.
  • Mamoru Chiba acted like one from time to time in Sailor Moon, mostly to the Inner Senshi since he was older and more responsible than them, being a mentor figure towards Ami in particular and always taking care of Chibiusa, his future daughter.
  • Houshou Takigawa, aka Bou-san or Monk, from Ghost Hunt, with Ayako as Team Mom.
  • A rather sui-generis one is Akira Mimasaka form Hana Yori Dango. He doesn't particularly care about forcing morality on the group (and probably couldn't if he wanted to) but is the general mediator for conflicts and seems to take it upon his shoulders when the group isn't getting along, eventually leading to him getting in a fistfight with Tsukasa when the latter won't stop stirring up drama with Rui.
  • Kanba Takakura from Mawaru Penguindrum, who has to take care of both his younger siblings and their penguins. With his sister Himari as the Team Mom.


Comic Books

  • X-Men - Charles Xavier/Professor X, played by Patrick Stewart (who plays Jean-Luc Picard) in the live action version, possibly to invoke this trope.
    • Also, Depending on the Writer, Magneto acts like this with the Brotherhood. During his many Heel Face Turns, he becomes a father figure for the X-Men as well. Most notably, when he took over the X-Men after the death of Charles Xavier, he found himself struggling with his role as both leader and father figure towards the teenaged mutants.
  • Batman to his whole extended Bat-family, particularly to the Robins, who are his adopted sons (except for Damian, his biological kid). Alfred, the Wayne family butler, also has a bit of this going on (tends to be a lot more empathetic than Bruce).
  • Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) of the Fantastic Four (and he's married to the Team Mom).
  • Splinter considers himself the adopted father of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In some versions this is extended to the turtles' additional friends, including April and Casey.
  • Long-time Teen Titans foe Deathstroke is an evil version of this for the Titans teams he has put together. During the Titans East storyline, he even acted more fatherly towards Inertia than he did to his own children as part of his plan to get the Titans to accept them. He gave the little psycho the serum he needed for Super Speed while warning him not to abuse it, advised him to dump his even more psychotic girlfriend, and hooked him up with the Rogues in Central City once everything went south for Titans East.
  • The Avengers once had a discussion about Captain America (comics) and Iron Man over who was Team Mom and who was Team Dad.
    • They're still doing this; as recently as issue 7 of the 2011 volume of The Avengers, there's a scene where Spider-Man says "This is uncomfortable." Another character assumes he's talking about half of Avenger-dom being on a single Quinjet, and he says "No, I was talking about Mommy and Daddy fighting," in reference to the fact that Cap is pissed at Tony for his secrecy about the Infinity Gems.
  • Captain Atom was this for the Justice League Europe. This was helped by the fact that he was also the Only Sane Man and was romantically involved, at least for a while, with the Team Mom, Catherine Cobert. But he was also the on responsible for keeping the team's ridiculous antics under control, counseling them when they were depressed or otherwise in need of advice or just a reassuring ear, and of leading them into combat.


Fanfic

  • The Dwarven Noble protagonist assumes this role in Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns, a part that Alim, the elf, sometimes fills in.
  • In Vocaloid fanon, Kaito tends to be this, when not being an idiot. This is primarily due to his shared status as the oldest with Meiko, however.


Film


Literature

  • The Little Men of Plumfield has Franz—oldest student, part-time teacher, President of The Club, and their mentor's and Team Mom's nephew.
    • And there's also Dr. Alexander Mackenzie Campbell, aka Uncle Alec, from Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom.
  • Jake in Animorphs, also the team leader. Marco teases him about this mercilessly, especially since the Team Mom, Cassie, is his girlfriend.
  • Arguably, Remus Lupin was somewhat like this in Harry Potter And the Prisoner of Azkaban.
    • Which is lampshaded repeatedly, since Harry never had a true father figure before. It becomes quite important later, when the Generation Xerox-trope is subverted.
  • In Uncle's Tom Cabin, main character Tom takes up this role pretty much towards everyone in the places he works at. Yes, even at Simon Legree's horrible manse, where he helps the other slaves and they call him "Father Tom" - even the local Broken Bird, the cynical and arrogant Cassie.
  • Roland Deschain of The Dark Tower is this to his team of Gunslingers, and is a more literal adoptive father to Jake Chambers. This is lampshaded by his title in the group, "Dinh," which means "lord," "leader," or "father" in the High Speech.
  • In The Silmarillion, Maedhros fills this role, keeping his nastier brothers in check (for the most part).
  • Both Vimes and Carrot play this for the City Watch, Vimes with his practically legendary anger (has killed at least two werewolves with his bare hands, and can lift a 300 lb ape without realising it), and Carrot with his royal charisma, or his strength (can stick a sword through a stone pillar, and punch out a troll).
  • In Death: Feeney. Roarke has even said to Feeney in Divided In Death that Feeney has been more of a father to Eve than Richard Troy, that son of Satan, ever was.
  • Lieutenant Panga in Someone Elses War, to the team of ex-Child Soldiers.


Live Action Television

House: *calling Wilson on the phone*Hi, honey. How are the kids?

  • Law and Order - Jack McCoy; previously, Adam Schiff and Arthur Branch were his Team Dads.
  • Law and Order Special Victims Unit - Captain Donald Cragen; his role in the show is more that of Mission Control, but his relationship with his subordinates is Dad-like. At one point, Fin lampshades the trope by greeting Stabler and Benson with "Dad's mad." When he's temporarily reassigned after the nightmare that was Season 8, he bids the team farewell with, "Try to behave yourselves."
  • Leverage - Part of Nathan's Character Development is his growth from mere Mission Control to surrogate father for a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
  • MASH - Colonel Potter.
  • NCIS - Jethro Gibbs, especially to Abby, whom he sees as a daughter-surrogate; she even calls him "dad" on at least one occasion.
    • Abby also spells out the entire "Mom and Dad" setup with Jenny Shepard, preempting an oncoming argument with a pretty accurate summary of what's about to happen, and ending:

Abby: The kids don't like it when Mommy and Daddy fight.

    • When Gibbs saw someone playing a video game, he says: "My son, Tony, plays that" as a way to start a conversation.
    • Not to mention Ziva calling him, with tears in her eyes, "the closest thing I have to a father".
  • Noah's Arc: Chance, being the typically more rational, level-headed leader. Also is the oldest of the main 4 characters.
  • Numb3rs (Don Eppes. He cultivates a slightly less authoritarian manner than Gibbs - not quite first among equals but not as forbidding. Kind of "team big brother".)
  • Scrubs - Dr. Cox, mostly unwillingly.
  • Stargate SG-1 - O'Neill and Hammond both qualify.
    • As well as Landry in the last two seasons.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation - Jean-Luc Picard.
  • The character "Competitive Dad" from The Fast Show takes the concept and blows it up to a ludicrous extreme.
  • Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds is literally and figuratively the daddy of the team.
  • Malcolm Tucker of The Thick of It is Her Majesty's Government's Team Dad. The scariest, most abusive one imaginable.

"Never mind what Mummy says, just do what Daddy says"

  • Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness.
  • Red Foreman (played by Kurtwood Smith) from That '70s Show. Much to his own displeasure.

Red: This house is always littered with kids! It's like we're... Mormons!

Pete: I'm like your big brother, Myka is like your big sister, and Artie is so much like your dad it's kinda annoying.

  • White Collar: Peter is the team dad of the FBI's white collar division. All the agents, especially Jones and Diana, are 100% loyal to him. And he has to practice tough love with Neal. A lot.
  • Station Officer Sidney Tate in the first three series of "London's Burning".


Video Games

  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword and The Sealed Sword - Marcus the Paladin, though in the latter he's more of a team granddad given his old age.
    • Oswin the Knight is a Team Dad towards Hector (who lampshades the trope by calling him "old man"), Serra (whom he can marry through supports) and Matthew. It's even more evident in Hector's route, in which the Genre Savvy Uther sends him after the runaway Hector with this trope in mind.
    • Also, Seth the Silver Knight from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. Bonus for being a Paladin too.
      • As well as King Hayden, Moulder the Priest and Gerik the Mercenary.
    • In Path of Radiance, the Greil Mercenaries had their leader, Greil, who was also the biological father of Ike and Mist. However, Mist only really became part of the team after Greil's death.
    • In Seisen no Keifu, fomer Cute Shotaro Boy Oifaye grows into this in the second part. Levin may fill in partially, though he's not that much of a good dad to his own kids if he gets paired up (Not completely his fault, as it's implied he suffers of a bad case of Laser-Guided Amnesia).
  • Metal Gear Solid - Big Boss, while he wasn't exactly the world's greatest dad to his clone-sons, has improved the lives of just about everyone who works for him by giving them sanctuary at Outer Haven. Then Solid Snake showed up in a cardboard box.
    • Solid Snake himself becomes Team Dad after adopting Sunny (and having acted as Raiden's mentor).
    • The Boss was a female version of this to Naked Snake and the Cobras (as well as Team Mom)
  • Super Robot Wars Original Generation - Kai Kitamura; his deceased mentor Kar-Wai Lau must've rubbed on him a lot. Captain Daitetsu is more like the Team Grandpa, but otherwise fits.
  • For a good-aligned party in Baldur's Gate II, Keldorn can come across very strongly as a Lawful Good, evil-smiting paladin Team Dad. His age helps-his daughter is about the same age as most party members, including the protagonist.
  • This trope is mentioned outright in Wild ARMs 5, with Greg being referred to as the team dad.
  • Kratos during the Journey of Regeneration in Tales of Symphonia. When he leaves the party later on, Regal eventually joins and fulfills the role to a lesser, if more traditional, degree.
  • Captain Basch von Ronsenberg in Final Fantasy XII becomes quite warm and fatherly towards Vaan and Penelo. Some would say creepily so. He maintains a rather odd indifference towards Ashe for most of the game, however.
  • Samos from the Jak and Daxter series fills this role. In addition to being the gruff Parental Substitute for the titular duo, he's Keira's actual father as well as a source of wisdom for the group.
  • Coach from Left 4 Dead 2, especially towards Ellis and Rochelle.
  • Sazh Katsroy of Final Fantasy XIII towards Hope and Vanille.
  • Terra has shades of this in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, to go along with Team Mom Aqua and Ventus, who is more or less their son despite being only two or three years younger.
    • This is even lampshaded in the original Japanese text when Scrooge gave Ven the passes to Disney Town. As opposed to the translation, where Ven was told "to take two grown-ups," he was told to "bring his parents."
  • Xigbar kind-of acts like this toward Roxas in 358/2Days, although he falls under the "twisted" variety due to being a massive Troll who likes knowing more than other people. He keeps up the condescendingly-paternal thing when he meets Sora in KHII.

"Have you been a good boy? Oh...it sounds like you haven't."

  • Peppy Hare from the Star FOX series is the oldest member of the current team, having been a member of the original team alongside Fox McCloud's father, James. More recently, he has retired from piloting duties but still offers tactical advice and acting as mentor to the team. He is also very much a father figure (especially to Fox) and at one point, Falco even jokingly calls him "Gramps".
  • In Mass Effect 2, Shepard has to take on this role for his (or her) crew, helping them get through their issues and serving as an example. Both Paragon and Renegade versions of Shepard take on the poppa role, especially when conflicts within the crew arise, like the one between Legion and Tali, or Jack and Miranda. Paragon is the "Let's all calm down and talk this out kids, because we have to work together," sort of father, while Renegade Shepard is more of the "Shut up, you stupid kids, you're acting like idiots! Now do what I say before I beat the crap out of you!" father.
  • Rosenkreuzstilette beings us Graf Michael Sepperin, the kind of Affably Evil Team Dad who became the Big Bad at first by making a Deal with the Devil, becoming a vampire, and learning the dark arts, among them necromancy, just to (supposedly) protect his biological daughter and because he cares for his own fellow magi that much. As he himself would say, "Creating a world for Magi and ensuring my daughter's safety are one and the same."
  • Halo: Reach Jorge-052 acts as this for Noble Team. Since he is a Spartan II not a Spartan III, this makes sense.
  • Vashyron from Resonance of Fate is at least ten years older than his partners, possibly around his thirties. He'd be better if he didn't teach his teenage companions to kill mooks indiscriminately.
  • Aveline, from Dragon Age II is a female example. She's a Da Chief and your Friend on the Force. She often butts heads with the more lawless members of the main group, but it becomes very clear that she's doing her best to protect them. The same group also has a male Team Mom, Varric.


Webcomics

  • Rich out of Thespiphobia fits certain points, especially the Papa Wolf at times. However he's usually too peppy and sweet to fit either of these.
  • General Protection Fault - Dwayne.
  • Cole from Pv P - sometimes to a wallbangerish degree.
  • Durkon of The Order of the Stick is relatively laid-back (for a dwarf), and his Cleric class kind of makes him the moral centre by default. He's often seen giving fatherly advice and direction to side characters.
    • It helps that his patron deity is Thor; a deity that gets up to the kind of shenanigans Thor does tends to be pretty lax on the fire and brimstone unless you really, really fuck up.
  • Mr. Verres of El Goonish Shive is this to the main characters and is the father of one of them.
  • Homestuck: Karkat Vantas. Yes, the bossy, misanthropic, foul-tempered leader Karkat. He was surprisingly effective in the role - he actually cares about the trolls in his charge, is determined to keep the team together and functional, and quite effectively helps them deal with personal issues. He's also their literal father, having created them all through ectobiology and weird time shit, even himself.
    • Vriska suggests that this actually doomed their SGRUB session since trolls are so naturally combative that three out of their four different kinds of romance revolve around managing hate as the basis (or demise, in the case of moirallegiance) of interpersonal relationships; trolls, she says, aren't meant to work together. Of course, then there's the times when it implies that much of the conquest and hate that has defined the species is a cultural choice made by rulers generations ago, and that under leaders like Feferi or Karkat the species could actually thrive. It's fuzzy which direction Hussie's decided to go with this.


Web Original

89. Must not refer to the Commander as "Dad".


Western Animation

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender has Prince Zuko—Kids, you can have your beach party after you save the world! The team unanimously follow him when The Hero disappears. They seem to be emphasizing this trait in the new comics. Even before that, there was his "You're a talented kid" speech in "The Firebending Masters". The camera angles, which exaggerated the height difference between him and Aang, clearly were meant as a reference to this trope. Did not help to stop those who shipped him with Katara, the Team Mom.
    • Before he came along, Sokka tried to serve as the group's dad, which Katara even lets him know he's not good at.
  • Bionic Six - Jack Bennet aka Bionic-1. The Bionic 6 are made up of him, his wife and Team Mom Helen, and their children - biological and adopted.
  • Gargoyles - Goliath (also Action Girl Angela's father) and Hudson. Who really is the father of Broadway.
  • The Secret Saturdays - Solomon "Doc" Saturday (also a literal/biological father).
  • Transformers Animated - Optimus Prime. Most versions of Optimus could count (especially Primal), but Animated Optimus is the most explicitly dad-like.
    • This would make Ratchet the grumpy grampa who demands you get off his lawn.
  • Skeleton Warriors has Ursak, who is actually the uncle of the other three heroes.
  • Dungeons and Dragons: Hank the Ranger.
  • Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - Zachary Foxx is not only raising his two children after his wife met A Fate Worse Than Death at the hands of the series Big Bad, but often acts as a father figure to his team, especially Shane and Niko, who do not have parents.
  • Brock Samson from The Venture Brothers, despite being a macho brute of a Badass action hero, has quite clearly taken up the role of Hank and Dean's parental figure; he's responsible for the feeding and clothing of the kids (and their father) and in one episode can be seen checking the boys over for head lice as he outlines a combat plan to one of his colleagues. Hank, at least, also looks up to him and asks him for advice.
  • Mr. Chan in The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan is an obvious example, but sometimes Henry acts as this when there's more than just him and Stanley in a group.
  • Aqualad took on this role early in Young Justice. Since he's the most mature of the group, he often ends up playing mediator between his teammates' conflicting egos. He's also a Big Brother Mentor to both Robin and Superboy.
    • Also Batman is quite fatherly to the team, particularly Robin.
  • Eddy from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy sometimes behaves this way towards the other two- for instance in one episode when Ed and Double D are arguing, Eddy's first response is to seperate them with a, "SHUT UP! Both of you!"
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has Master Splinter to the turtles.
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