The older sibling trope is shitty and lazy, and there is no excuse for it to be this prevalent in 2025, point blank period.
(SPOILERS AHEAD for One Piece. Don't read unless you're fully caught up or don't mind. One of them is a thing that hasn't happened yet, at least not where I'm at, it's just really obvious that it will. Also spoilers for OG Fullmetal Alchemist maybe.)
This has been coming for some time, it was really just a matter of when the next time this stereotype shows up and ruins/turns me off from something before I put up this rant.
The Elbaph arc of One Piece has just become my least favorite arc in the series, and has ruined Shanks for me.
As if it wasn't bad enough how obvious it is that Loki is gonna turn out to be the good guy (writing this on May 5th 2025, I am on chapter 1140. Loki being the youngest gave it away.) and it's gonna be like Bruno from Encanto or something, but now Shanks has an evil older twin out of nowhere and this cool character is ruined.
Constantly making the older sibling in media evil and making the younger sibling the underdog/odd one out is such a dull overdone trope.
I have had a huge problem with it for years because it completely alienates me and invalidates me and the fact that I'm the only one who even notices or cares about this just adds to it. Like, I am actually mad when I see this.
In media, the older sibling can either be evil or a prissy overachiever who follows the rules (or both) and that is it. This is not fair and when it's the only thing you're shown throughout art and media it has an effect on real life.
And yeah, there are definitely more important/pressing issues than this but I can still be mad about this while also caring about more important stuff.
This is very personal to me because growing up, I was a complete inverse of this stereotype. I am the oldest of my siblings, and when we were kids I was the one getting mistreated. I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent child and grew up with a neurotypical and perfect younger sister.
My issues with this trope falls on deaf ears CONSTANTLY and I'm sick of it so l'm sorry but I have to bring up old family stuff. We’re good now and as long as that’s over I have nothing against them. But okay; I'm the oldest. I'M the one who was bullied. I'M the one who was "weird." I was the black sheep. I'M the one who did poorly in school. I'M the one who got the "why can't you be more like your sister?" talk. IT IS NOT FAIR.
It's like writers don't think older siblings are going to be watching or reading anything. We were all kids at one point. We were the same age our younger siblings are now and it's not okay to teach us that we're some horrible monster or a lame NPC for being conceived first.
Of course there are going to be situations where this stereotype really does happen. People exist. There are mean older sisters and brothers. But the fact that I can conjure up this giant ass list (80 examples as now) while I can count the number of good older sibling characters on one hand is fucking appalling. At this point they are really just demonizing older siblings and ass kissing younger siblings because we fetishize the shit out of youth.
Movies and books are supposed to be my escape from real life. It's really harmful that even my escapes tell me l'm not valid and there's no room for me in stories because I'm supposed to be the big bad evil one or the "obey your parents" prissy wet blanket while the younger sibling is always the good, rebellious cool one.
And I get why; younger = less life experience = underdog = root for the underdog. That mixed in with everyone’s subconscious younger = better. I know the reason but like?? It’s not a good reason? It should be defied and challenged once in a while.
This trope is lazy. Like flat out. There are better ways to write an underdog than this. We all know deep down that younger means better. It doesn't work.
Being younger means you have less experience so of course an older sibling will be better than you at some stuff. It doesn't make for a good "oooo poor lil underdog" story. Imagine being the oldest AND having your younger siblings be better than you at everything and finding success faster than you. It would get the underdog message across even moreso, and that would be a way worse position to be in. Almost no piece of media has ever explored this.
Also if an older sibling is jealous of a younger sibling, they must be wicked and cruel. But if a younger sibling is jealous of an older sibling, we're supposed to feel sorry for them.
I have actually refused to watch shows or movies because of this. It makes me genuinely mad. Especially when I’m so far along in a series or if I have a strong love for a franchise just for it to pull this.
And it wouldn’t be making me this mad if people at least knew it as a trope. Like if it became as much of a thing as the middle child being invisible and people just recognized it as a trope it wouldn't piss me off this much. If it became an eye roll ‘oop here we go again’ that the audience groans about it wouldn't have driven me to this.
But the fact that I have EIGHTY AND COUNTING examples so clearly authors are doing it with intent and are consciously aware and it still falls on deaf ears where everyone I mention it to is all ‘huh what are you talking about?’ or change the subject or try their absolute hardest NOT to understand is what makes me want to scream. Like, FUCKING 80+!!! There has got to be some real intent behind this and when I call it out no one understands or wants to.
Fiction does have an impact on reality. Constantly putting firtborns under this light affects the way firsborns are treated in real life.
Their struggles aren't taken as seriously, people are quick to side with the younger sibling when there is conflict no matter what, and they'll be considered a failure or a loser if they can't live up to the 'perfection responsible leader' role they never signed up for.
Of all the media I've consumed, I could only find 5 positive examples of good older sibling characters that defy the stereotype in some way (13 if I'm being extremely generous)
To have just 5 - 13 well written good older siblings and over 80 bad ones, that's not okay.
If everything in my life was exactly the same but I was the youngest instead, if I was still the lonely fuckup black sheep who was bullied but I was younger, I would have been able to feel heard and have dozens of characters to relate to. But instead I'm isolated and invalidated even more and can neither have the cake or eat it.
No one ever talks about this, and when I try to everyone will cover their ears and change the subject or misunderstand it.
I’m probably going to blaze this because I will be heard. This current One Piece arc has deeply upset me and I already dedicated so much time and money to the series. Even if I have to keep shouting and posting about this over and over, I will be heard.
I will delete comments that trivialize, invalidate, miss the point, say something like “technically (insert character) isn’t evil,” or otherwise miss the forest for the trees. I will be heard no matter how many times it takes.
EDIT:
Tumblr seems to be deleting all the rude comments before I can get to them or read the whole thing, but I caught two comments (rudely) telling me I should have tagged for spoilers.
I would never intentionally try to spoil people, but you are on the internet and this is such a small part of the story, a single panel that tells us the obligatory evil older twin is here. And the other thing I said was a prediction. A really obvious prediction that I know is going to happen but it still hasn’t happened yet? (At least not where I’m at)
One of them also said that because they’re the youngest and was abused, that this trope is good and accurate. And then invalidated my own trauma and experiences, gaslit me that the trope isn’t happening (so the trope is good AND it’s not real) and attempted a smear campaign on me.
I match energies on here. Give me respect and I will give you respect. I am under no obligation to be life’s bottom bitch all the time. This essay subject is THE most triggering and touchy personal thing of mine and I will not be discredited here.
You attack me on this subject and I will slap the same right back in your face.
Anyone who was actually concerned about the spoiler could have messaged me with, “Hello, I noticed you blazed a One Piece spoiler about one of the characters and it is potentially going to reach a lot of fans that haven’t read this far yet. Could you cover up the spoiler and tag it as such?”
And I would have said “Omg, I wasn’t even thinking about that. Yes, I will put a spoiler warning in. Thank you for telling me.”
That being said, if anyone genuinely has an issue with the top panel being shown and isn’t a dick, let me know and I can figure something out in a way that still gets the point across.
Tumblr seems to be deleting all my replies to people so I’m gonna address comments on here (the ones that Tumblr is showing)
@ the Edward Elric comment: Yes I love Ed so much, he is one of my favorite fictional characters if not my favorite. I only count Brotherhood Ed though, because in the original anime they shoehorn in a secret third older brother to Ed and Al who is evil.
@ Lin from Korra wasn’t the parent’s favorite: No, but she was the hardass ‘follow the rules’ one who tried to follow Toph’s footsteps, while Suyin got to be the rebel going against the grain. It doesn't mean Lin is a bad character, she just meets some of the annoying stereotypes. You can like any of these characters. I even like some of the characters on this list too, but I'm still gonna call it out.
@ not the sofia the first mention: …kay. There’s also one from the Kung Fu Panda TV series on Nickelodeon. This new Shanks/Shamrock brother dynamic is so old and it has on par writing with the Kung Fu Panda TV show.
@ blazing this post is some real older sibling behavior: If you actually read the whole thing and said this, I am jealous of your lack of empathy. I think I would be happier if I was more like you.
@ what about all these good older siblings in One Piece: Ace and Sabo are good but still have some issues. You also have to understand like, Luffy’s not an actual fascist nazi foiled up against poor Ace. I love Ace, but their dynamic is not exactly reverse to Shanks and Shamrock.
Nojiko wasn't bad list worthy but she did still have some 'good girl' vibes and she hated Nami when it was frustratingly obvious she wasn't working for Arlong because she wanted to. And she's still the NPC status quo and main character role always goes to the younger one. This isn’t really a problem, like Nojiko’s fine and there’s nothing wrong with having characters like her, but I would say she’s not really a good subversion either.
And for Katakuri I'm really talking about oldest, not second oldest or middle. And I only count same-sex/same-gender siblings. That's why I didn't have Zuko as a hard <3 example and have him under more of an honorable mention because he's just such a perfect subversion otherwise. If we're going by boy and girl siblings then there's plenty of good older ones and plenty more bad ones I could have used. Hancock is pretty good.
@ why do you think Tina is a bad one: I know a lot of people do like her, and I knew someone would question her on here. I put her in because I feel like they let the younger sister be the “cool” kind of weird and gave Tina the unflattering kind of weird. But I get that a lot of people actually like her. I might remove her.
For some of the rude comments that got deleted before I could read, I might blaze this again out of spite
Blazing again. Good job. You are proving my point that it's not always this way in real life. A good person wouldn't invalidate someone's trauma and make them feel like their experiences didn't matter.
Younger siblings absolutely do get mistreated by older siblings and it's BS that they have to go through that. But you're dehumanizing and a total bigot if you think it can never be the other way around.
A normal good person could have just gone, "I am the youngest and I did get bullied by an older sibling. I didn't realize this was such a huge trope, and I'm thankful I can feel heard but I'm sorry it's not like that for everyone. My experiences are valid and so are yours."
It's also just ageist?? You literally can't control when you were born? What happened to Franky's "EXISTING IS NOT A CRIME" speech.
For a pirate show about love and friendship and empathy, it has some of the nastiest unkind people as fans.
Eventually I'd like to enable comments again, but right now I need to protect my mental health. A handful of people have severely triggered me on here, and got me to be even more triggered by the trope than I originally was before posting about it.
I shouldn't have to stay silent on a topic that heavily affects me, so it's staying up. Once I've had enough time, I'll hopefully reopen replies. But the comments I received in May (it's November now) that gaslit and belittled me about my trauma, and using essentially "nu-uh" as a counter, REALLY got to me and I'm still bracing myself for abuse every time I check this.
Some of the recent comments are just "insert character isn't actually-" which I did say I would be deleting those but it's whatever.
Of course there are going to be some weaker examples on here that only mildly fit the trope. That does not diminish my claim. Like I get it your favorite show is on here; a lot of mine are too.
You should be able to critique things you like, and I am absolutely allowed to hold the #1 bestselling manga author to a higher standard.
"Wirt's on there so this whole thing is dum lol!!" Yeah, my weakest example Wirt is on here because Over the Garden Wall is basically giving us the message of "be like Greg, not Wirt" and other characters kind of reinforcing that Wirt has to do better because he's older, and Greg is celebrated for being whimsical and innocent and not a downer like Greg.
And now for Isabella Madrigal... I know. I've seen Encanto too. Isabella is under pressure with having to be perfect and she's jealous of Mirabel and vise versa. They both want what the other has, but the thing is only one is them is being an asshole. They could have made both of them equally mean to each other but they didn't. This video explains it best and is my reason for having her in here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FPR4AXHP4&t=3s
Yes there are plenty of older siblings with fleshed out backstories and reasons behind why they're an asshole. That's great. Make younger sibling characters with fleshed out backstories and reasons behind why they're an asshole. Like??? It's not a matter of how nuanced they are, it's that it's ALWAYS the older one.
That's as much as I'm gonna do for defending why a character is on here. If anyone still has qualms I can't help you. I think I've articulated myself very well, so atp it's like people are Patrick Star with me going "the lid! the lid! the lid!"
It's so simple. Just make nice older siblings. Just make relatable older siblings in your media. I'm not asking you to cut off your arm and give it to me.
