Found Family | The Most Wholesome Trope Ever Written [ Trope Notes ]

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Күн бұрын

Found Family is the most wholesome trope that you can write. Fight me. It brings together characters of all different types and walks of life and makes of them a pack bonded even more tightly than friendship can allow.
Today I'm talking about Family of Choice. From how to write it, to categories, to basics. And with examples ranging from Guardians of the Galaxy to Avatar the Last Airbender, to Brooklynn 99, to The Last of Us, to Lilo and Stitch, because yes, this trope is just that versatile.
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Пікірлер: 113

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I'm going to try this new thing where on each new video I drop a random fact about myself, so here's one. I lived in Costa Rica between the ages of 9-16 and for a time we rehabilitated a baby raccoon. We named him Stitch after Lilo and Stitch and I have never had a pet more aptly named in my life (except maybe my current cat whose name is Khajiit). Have you ever had a pet where their name suited them perfectly??? (Not rhetorical, reply with your answers)

@Sailortwilight 3 жыл бұрын

Wahhhh so cute!!! I named the first kitten I found and rescued Haley after Haley's comet, because I thought at the time it would be a rare event... her brother found me about 6 months later, and after that the animals I found my friends helped me rehome haha. :-)

@gabriellacontreras7769 3 жыл бұрын

Living in Costa Rica as kid must have made wonderful memories 😁🌻 my cat named Ruger is named perfectly! He is a red-furred, firey, pistol of a cat that hunts and protects his home and found family (me 😁❤).

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

@@Sailortwilight That's such a cool name! A reminder of how special she is. What did you end up naming her brother?

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

@@gabriellacontreras7769 It definitely made for some interesting memories. I had to look up what a Ruger was lol but having done so that indeed seems like a great name

@Sailortwilight 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten so he ended up being trickier to name haha! My friends and I named him Li Mu Bai Bandit Tasuki, but I ended up calling him my Lil Boy, and that somehow ended up shortening to Lebo, and when he got older I sometimes called him Beebs since he was a big boy. But when he was young he knew when I yelled his full name he had time to run (when he would attack his sister, thankfully that stopped for the most part after he was neutered). :-)

@sararusch 3 жыл бұрын

To repeat what so many of the comments have said, Found Family is easily one of my favorite tropes. I think everyone enjoys the feeling of reading or watching a group of people who *choose* to be together instead of having to put up with people just because "they're family" (looking at you, toxic blood-family relationships). It's just so cozy and feel-good-y. And I think the reason you can't find any bad examples of this trope is because if the writer did it badly you wouldn't recognize it as Found Family. Instead, it would just be a group of people that you wonder why the writer put them together when the chemistry clearly isn't there.

@margretsnae 3 жыл бұрын

I immediately thought of Matilda and Miss Honey. An awesome mother-daughter found family.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Good example!! I completely forgoy about that one

@Shatterverse 3 жыл бұрын

Father/son found family that I've seen usually is more mentor than protector plot-wise.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Do you mean with adult child or kid child?

@PapaGohn 2 жыл бұрын

Tony Stark/Peter Parker

@moonyasnow36 2 жыл бұрын

As an autistic LGBTQ+ person with niche interests who's always felt outcast from society and my peers, I love the found family trope so much. Though my family could definitely be worse (and one side of it is worse than the other) I still cry every time I see a character find one person / a group of people who really understands them and accepts them fully for the ways in which they differ from the norm. It's my favorite kind of romance, too: one or more person who's never felt fully loved or accepted for who/what they are finding someone they can be 100% themselves around without any sort of fear of judgement makes me cry waterfalls of happy tears every goshdarn time.

@Stormkrow280 2 жыл бұрын

Blood makes us relatives, love is what makes a family “family” Also Chris Sanders, the director of Lilo and Stitch, as well as the creator and voice of Stitch himself, worked on How to Train Your Dragon and created Toothless.

@ShadeSlayer1911 Жыл бұрын

The resemblance between Stitch and Toothless is definitely there.

@redpanda6497 5 ай бұрын

@@ShadeSlayer1911 It's the art style.

@A_Wee_spook 3 жыл бұрын

AN INTELLIGENT PET BEING A SIBLING IS TOTALLY VALID!!!

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Agreed

@ShadeSlayer1911 Жыл бұрын

One of my favorite examples of this that I feel is still slept on way too much is Henry Wong and Terriormon in Digimon Tamers. Actually the entirety of the main cast has their different types of partnership with their digimon. Takato and Guilmon are like Boy and his Dog. Henry and Terriormon are like Big Bro and Little Bro. Rika and Renamon are like coworkers who learned to be friends. Digimon is one of those franchises that probably has the greatest potential for the found family trope.

@ct-gv6yl 3 жыл бұрын

I think that this trope didn't work in Legend of Korra. We are supposed to believe that by the end of the story Mako, Korra, Asami and Bolin are best friends. But they barely spend any time together.

@PapaGohn 2 жыл бұрын

100% agree, there's a difference between a found family and a group of close friends. The difference is easily seen when comparing ATLA and LoK

@ShadeSlayer1911 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, even as a defender of LoK, I must say that they really aren't a family. I have a hard enough time believing that Mako and Bolin are actually siblings most of the time, let alone the rest of the gang.

@EsperanzaCreates 3 жыл бұрын

Found family is probably my favorite plot structure. I think that’s true of many who grew up in less than ideal homes. It’s definitely about hope. Everyone needs a sense of belonging on some level. When your family is a disappointment or nonexistent, you have to believe it’s possible to build a new and better one. Ohana!

@arandomqueerfanpeep7655 2 жыл бұрын

I think part of the reason you had trouble with the line between friends and found families is because it's more of a sliding scale, friends are family to some extent

@Rainjojo Жыл бұрын

As someone who grew up without much affection nor a stable mother, this trope had always comforted me because I wanted to find a tribe that loved me for who I am and not for the fact we’re related by blood like most toxic families who are forced to stay together. I also enjoyed playing things like the last of us growing up because I never had a father like Joel to guide nor push me.

@CloudKitten Жыл бұрын

The "grumpy old man adopts a child" trope is definitely one of my favs. And the Last of Us is probably my fav example. If you're into animated films and are looking for something new you may enjoy Sea Beast. It's a bit surface level, but is a pretty light-hearted and vibrant example of a found family father-daughter pairing. It doesn't have much interpersonal conflict between the pair, but that can be a boon sometimes.

@midnightlemon4255 3 жыл бұрын

I keep doing this, and then suddenly Vin Diesel is in my book

@Sailortwilight 3 жыл бұрын

This is a good problem to have!

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Lmao i love it

@Sailortwilight 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten His name is definitely a time capsule of things I loved at the time haha. We had just watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and I was deep into Fushigi Yuugi. XD He was a good kitty. He lived to be at least 17, maybe older because I found him fully grown, but he was my good boy. :-) They were both amazing cats.

@clarkparker4860 3 жыл бұрын

You probably beetlejuiced his spirit inadvertently by mentioning family to many times.

@an8strengthkobold360 2 жыл бұрын

The league of villains from MHA will always be my favorite found family. It's great to see it applied to the villains and helps humanize them. They're all a bunch of cringey weirdos working together to burn the world down and I love it.

@stevenmark4407 2 жыл бұрын

Dabi ain’t apart of it he literally doesn’t give a shit about any of them.

@ninacohen1132 Жыл бұрын

Same I love them so much. I really hope they get to be together at the end

@ShadeSlayer1911 Жыл бұрын

It's certainly a fresh twist when the villain uses the power of love and friendship.

@hjstackofbooks 3 жыл бұрын

Found Family is also great to show blended family types as well! I love this trope and its basically in all my stories aha XD

@topprofitstrategy4747 3 жыл бұрын

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@WaitWhat-zw2in 18 күн бұрын

My family relationships are amazing but watching those who didn't have those things find people that can fill those gaps

@ReinaHamazaki 7 ай бұрын

Spy×Family is a great example of the Found Family trope!

@lidianepeixoto9431 2 жыл бұрын

i need a list of found families on tv shows cause I feel like I've watched it all and i desperately need something new just to feel something

@CJCroen1393 3 жыл бұрын

One of my favorite manga series, +Anima (pronounced "Plus Anima") is all about Found Family. The four main characters are among the titular +Anima (people who gain the powers of animals during a near death experience) and are thus victims of discrimination at the hands of the society they live in, so they travel the world looking for a place they can live, and all four of them have been through trauma that they help each other work through.

@jeremyjean-pierre4977 9 ай бұрын

The story I had in mind is kind of a twist on this trope. Estranged family members (war orphan brother and sister) who all got their own “found family” whether they acknowledge it or not come back together as a biological family when one of them is in terrible distress (the one who believed he had one was rejected by his found family and the whole community due to a life threatening dilemma) So coincidentally the other family member comes back after years and is surprised to see the other as an outcast and as a single parent to a kid to boot. The family progressively gets bigger as the brother and sister get more kids under their charges and the found families becomes extended family of the “core family” (biological family) which leads to one their mental health back together while the other one learns the importance of family (biological and found) and heals from what estranged them in the first place. At the end, the family that was originally 2 became 3 then 4 then 8+ and they are all closely knit. (It’s a fanfic born of a subplot from a larger fanfic I had in mind)

@Anna-dd1tb 2 жыл бұрын

My favorite trope ever, and an impotant and conforting one for my aroace self

@izudust 2 жыл бұрын

Found family is definitely my favourite trope it’s so wholesome

@AntonWongVideo 3 жыл бұрын

The fact that you made a video about "found family" and DIDN'T include the Fast and Furious movies worries me How are you not going to include Vin Diesel saying in a grumbly voice "I don't have friends, I got family"? Like Wiz Khalifa said, "how can we not talk about family when family's all that we got"

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

H y p o t h e t I c a l l y. Would you unsub if I were to reveal I've never seen a fast and furious movie?

@rebbiejoanthony5362 3 жыл бұрын

I too noticed the lack of information on this trope, and it's my favorite! I appreciate this video so much! 💜

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

You are so very welcome. I apreciate your comment

@simbeau2012 2 жыл бұрын

This found family always gets overlooked in my opinion. Criminal minds. They even act like siblings and parents a lot during the episodes toward one another

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

I really would love to see more of it. I think it is becoming more common in life though, and will thus become more common and appreciated in fiction. Especially in books readers are getting a little burned out from the common romantic subplots and I think it will result in a shift to found family.

@roaches7963 2 жыл бұрын

You'll love the anime spy x family

@NoOne-rb2id 2 жыл бұрын

To go off the ending about Found Families gone wrong, I'd say Voltron towards the end would be a good example of that. One of the major criticisms that was popping up was about how despite the earlier seasons establishing a Found Family trope amongst the main cast, towards the end the characters all felt like they were disconnected from one another. Especially during the arc where Keith leaves the group entirely and there is barely a few throw away lines given by the cast to acknowledge he's gone let alone say they miss him like, ya know, if someone you loved left for months with little to no ways to contact them. Even most of the major character arcs in the show become more focused on a singular character with little others getting involved, like Pidge finding her brother. It's a fairly self contained episode with barely any of the other paladins involved despite how close they all are. Compare that to the characters arcs found in other found family trope shows like Avatar (where almost all arcs have at least one other main character to support the one experiencing an arc, the fandom even nicknamed ones with Zuko as getting a 'field trip with Zuko') and it becomes clear how disconnected the Voltron Found Family is.

@kirakoraawesome 3 жыл бұрын

in my opinion detroit become human sorta did found family wrong. Alice and Kara's storyline is mainly about found family. Alice's father is abusive and attempts to kill Alice one day. Kara (their android) helps Alice run away and then becomes Alice's mother figure. This is fine in theory, but for one.) both characters don't seem to get that much development past the beginning. In most found family stories I've seen they characters help fuel each other's development but in this one, it feels like they are pretty much the same ones after they ran away 2. (SPOILERS) Due to a shitty plot twist we find out that Alice is also an Android, and put the both of them in danger they didn't need to be. You see, androids don't need to feel cold, or need to eat. But Kara thinks that Alice is human, so alot of time playing Kara is making sure her needs are met, and both of them can possibly die because of it. Now, this flaw would be fine if it was agknowledged but it's not 3. Also, last point, the other side characters that sort of become members of the found family seem very disposable to the game. There is this character called luther that can sorta become Alice's father and protector, but he is able to die so much more than Kara and Alice. Anyway, I just dont feel like Kara and Alice are that compelling of a found family. The other found families in the game (conner and hank, and markus and Jericho) do feel more compelling mainly because they have character development which I feel is important to found families.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I still need to play the game

@stevenmark4407 2 жыл бұрын

I disagree it’s still found family. They found one another and care for each other as family. It’s done well it just changes what type of found family they’re doing by the twist part

@jeremyjean-pierre4977 9 ай бұрын

Found family is a good alternative to excessive shipping. Some people insist on ships when the sibling bond is perfect as is.

@ninji1394 3 жыл бұрын

I think one of my favorite examples of found families is the Raven Cycle. I love the character relationships in those books SO much.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I reaaalllly need to read the series. I actually got the audiobook and everything, it just hasn't found its way to the top of my TBR yet

@valhatan3907 2 жыл бұрын

One example you didn't mention for pet with sibling level intelligence is Darwin from *Amazing World of Gumball!* He literally a pet that became sibling lol

@stevenmark4407 2 жыл бұрын

That’s a special case 😭

@ChibiHoshiDragon 5 ай бұрын

Firefly Simon is told by his own biological father that if he is arrested again his father won't come get him River tells him "daddy" will come save them. Simon thinks she is talking about their father. Mal comes back to rescue him and his sister after being kidnapped and doesn't even knowing how in danger he is.

@Dekunutcase 3 жыл бұрын

Found family done wrong: any movie or book or game that does something bad to a character in the ensemble, but you don't even feel your tear ducts flinching because they didn't set it up correctly. They tend to be utterly forgettable. That's why you can't think of an example.

@Sailortwilight 3 жыл бұрын

It's so good to see a video from you, especially one about one of my favorite tropes! I think the beauty of a solid story about friendship and found family appeals to me so much because my own found family of friends, who I call my sisters, got me through the devastation of a divorce when I was so young. I am grateful to know them and have them in my life. I write a story that starts with that same trope, but becomes more found family as the series goes on. :-) If anyone wants to check it out, it features social justice werewolves too. Tainted Moonlight by Erin Kelly is the first book in the series. :-)

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

That's wonderful that you found a real-life found family

@GingaGirl2000 3 жыл бұрын

Found family, a.k.a. the best trope of all time. I've found I am personally really drawn to like, "a dad and his boy à la found family" type relationships? It could also just be a coincidence in what kinda media I consume lol but even so. This sub-trope of parental substitute can be found in stuff like The Mandalorian (a bit obvious innit but i love them), My Hero Academia (Dad Might for life even if in canon it's kinda more mentor-student, sorta) and I think ATLA (Iroh and Zuko) also counts? Guessing, in a way I'd count Héctor and Miguel from Coco in this too, albeit it's both a slight subversion and a very literal example of "found family" hdjshs Anyway I really love that character dynamic ;o; would love to see similar stories and dynamics but "mom and her girl" which I have yet to really find, which is a shame, I'm sure it would work out just as well. Anyway, a lovely video!

@myfriendjustin8381 10 ай бұрын

You should do a video on your most favorite tropes and make like a list or something

@animatorireenie8319 3 жыл бұрын

This is such a good video, thank you!

@epicwalrus7183 Жыл бұрын

This is my favourite trope of all time! I have so many found families I love: The team from Leverage, the Iron Triangle from Daomu Biji, the Manyang locals from Beyond Evil are my top three though. I love them and they love each other and just mentioning them will make me want to tear up, too much emotion XD

@ashwinarun9649 2 жыл бұрын

THIS ❤️❤️❤️😭 Could use a 2nd part with emotion analysis like you did for How to make your reader cry

@dreamjanus1177 3 жыл бұрын

You can also have a combination of found family and family of choice. There can be and are separations. In the LGBT community, this can be seen in the house systems of Ballrooms, they are choices (obligation) and not always at the same level as a found family (familiar type love).

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Very true

@theExev 3 жыл бұрын

This is so helpful! Thank you for making this video

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

You're so welcome!

@TheVeyZ 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video. I'm working on my first graphic novel that sort of falls under this category.

@Kwerty98 3 ай бұрын

We need a video explaining how did Voltron fucked up so badly at this trope. Maybe is because they forget about the whole connection and bonding this characters had? maybe is because at the end (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) it feels that they reunited only because of the dead of one member, and not because they actually feel like a family they would choose, maybe is because almost no one missed the character that leaves (yes, i mean keith), and even ignore the one that is still there (yes, i mean lance). Megan, you should check this out, or we could ask Red to do it idk, but it would be so cool! Anyway thanks for this video! i love it!

@margaret_adelle 2 жыл бұрын

The only way I can think of that found family can be done wrong is when the author rushes into it or neglects to show the relationships developing that dynamic over the course of the story. Think the 2016 Suicide Squad. When Chato Santana declares the group his family before using his powers to help them, it feels hollow. It was near the final climax, so theoretically there should have been enough time to build up to that. But the story spends so much of it's runtime on specific members of the squad (namely Harley and Deadshot) that there's no space for a group dynamic to develop. So when they pull out the "look, they're family now" you don't feel it.

@artquezada29 2 жыл бұрын

Omg I just watched ur channel its amazing

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

Awww. thank you!

@kristieillingworth1890 2 жыл бұрын

Leverage is my favorite found family tv show

@ChibiHoshiDragon 5 ай бұрын

Firefly is mine

@kristafilomeno4971 3 жыл бұрын

Omg I was totally thinking of HIMYM right before the clip! XD

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

HIMYM for the win. I would have featured it more here but it will get some screen time in my unreliable narrators video coming up so I gave more of the floor to Brooklynn 99 for this one

@kristafilomeno4971 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Brooklyn 99 is always a winner! 😍

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I'm a season behind and am excited to catch up

@featherquill9476 2 жыл бұрын

I wish there could be something I could follow to write a found family over a period of a few books and have it be a smooth growth, obviously found family can be a rough path, but I mean in regards to keeping it from feeling rushed or just shoved into the characters' lives

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

Do you mean like a sort of narrative structure but for found family? I wonder how common the patterns are between stories.

@featherquill9476 2 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Exactly that! I know stories differ HUGELY but it would be nice to have guidelines like one plot/pinch point being "so and so are in a situation bringing them together" and then the growth shows how they try to coexist in old ways that no longer work but then they are able to or something like that, or for example maybe a super super loose structure similar to strangers to friends with an extra growth in it that makes them family. I'm good at following structure, not making it 😅 but something of that nature I suppose

@featherquill9476 2 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Actually now that I think on it more, I think it would be similar to a coloring book, you have a picture and there's guidelines to what color to choose. For example a picture of a strawberry would be red. But you don't have to. You're not wrong if you don't. Coloring books may become your art and instead of coloring it red you can make it 100 times better than it ever could have been because there isn't a definite right or wrong. But for those who still need to climb the ladder to the jumping board, it will help to know that you can always color the strawberry red and it still feels right to you. It can still be good that way. Ya know?

@ulricheberleschneider2423 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, you're awesome. Deal.

@MWinklerBooks 3 жыл бұрын

sooooo... you're saying tragic death is a type of found family? ;) I agree with the name found family, for the reasons you mentioned as well as alliteration. Seriously though, I loved this video!(I always do) You did such a great job breaking it down. (you always do)

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Seriously though thank you for this comment, I loved it (I always do). That's a really good point about the gruff character types. It does seem like we just really like seeing them grow soft spots. I guess it falls into the heartwarming category? I'm not really sure of the psychology behind that. As for Drax I agree with you wholeheartedly that he's an excellent character. I think part of the reason people love him is that as you noticed he doesn't really fit into a standard category. Because he seems to have elements of the straight man in comedy but while having a sense of humor, he's wise at times but not at others, he's gruff warior type but is also soft and honest and not scarred of expressing feelings. He sort of defies common archetypes and I think that's what makes him so great ❤ really great points here!

@MWinklerBooks 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Awww, thank you!

@everest5718 9 ай бұрын

Fanfiction is where most of my favourite found family stories are ✨✨✨ the only downside is watching or reading the base material again and realizing they haven’t gone through the adventure you read and is so dear to you now 🥲

@Shatterverse 3 жыл бұрын

Your mispronunciation of "inevitably" - twice - was funny.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I watched this video all the eay through 8x during editing and didn't catch it. My husband watched it once and burst out laughing. Words, how do they work? Lol

@LOONACORE 3 жыл бұрын

it's a real shame that the psychiatric field don't take much interest in these kinds of relationships in modern day anymore. maybe they're too self conscious of ending up sounding freudian or something. but i've always been curious about the psychological effects of unconventional carer roles. this can be stressful when forced upon someone, like sister turned caregiver in lilo & stitch, or even child turned caregiver to their own parent, or it can be motivational and promote self development when someone like captain holt voluntarily takes that role in a younger person's life. would love to see it taken more seriously by academics in the future!

@erin6818 3 жыл бұрын

Kara and Alice❤️

@hannahmiller4663 2 жыл бұрын

Daughter of smoke and bone!

@emilestorms2717 2 жыл бұрын

Sense8 on Netflix

@spinninglegends 3 жыл бұрын

Who else is mostly here to find found family stories to read

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

For reading specifically (besides what I mention in the video) might I recommend the Illuminea Files and Lifelike. Lifelike is more a broken family and Illuminea files is more frienship vibes but if you're into scifi they're pretty great and qualify as found family

@spinninglegends 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Wow thank you! I guess I'm up for any form of media but I've been on a reading kick.

@topprofitstrategy4747 3 жыл бұрын

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@samanthaledesma604 3 жыл бұрын

ACOTAR is a bad found family

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

In my head I don't even really categorize that as found family. It felt more like 'triple date' lol I can't remember, are the dark angel dudes brothers? It's been a long time.

@samanthaledesma604 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten I never thought of it as one either, but I remember the other saying that they were in book 3