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“HEY! You think you can just sing with my daughter like that? If you want to date her... You're going to have to go through ME first!”
― Daddy Dearest, Friday Night Funkin'[2]
Daddy Dearest, alternatively referred to as the Dad, is the main antagonist of Friday Night Funkin'. He is the antagonist of Week 1 and one of the two main antagonists of Week 5 along with Mommy Mearest. His tracks include Bopeebo, Fresh and Dadbattle, and he shares the tracks Cocoa and Eggnog with Mommy Mearest. He is the demonic ex-rockstar husband of Mommy Mearest and father of Girlfriend, and he attempts to eliminate his daughter's boyfriend by any means possible, as he does not approve of the relationship between the two.
Appearance
Daddy Dearest has a demonic-looking appearance with lavender skin, black eyes with red glowing pupils and grayish-lilac hair vaguely shaped like a demon's horns. He wears an open black suit jacket without a shirt that reveals his gray chest and pubic hair; black pants held by a belt with a golden buckle; and a silver watch on his left wrist. He has some stubble on his chin and wrinkles on his forehead. He holds a microphone in his left hand while keeping his arms crossed.
During Week 5, he wears a green version of his attire from Week 1. He sits on Mall Santa's throne with Mommy Mearest on his lap. He wields a handgun in his right hand while holding his wife around the waist with his left hand.
Personality
Daddy Dearest is selfish, cruel and uncaring, as he has attempted on multiple occasions to kill Boyfriend without caring about the consequences it will have on his daughter. He also appears to be somewhat petty, as he hires Pico to kill Boyfriend after the latter beat him in Week 1. However, he is not as ill-willed as his wife Mommy Mearest, who has been confirmed to be far worse than Daddy Dearest.[3]
In Smile Good, Boyfriend!, he let Boyfriend enter his home, just to use a voodoo doll of the same to torture him just for fun, showing he enjoys the pain of others, or Boyfriend in this case.[4]
History
Daddy Dearest finds out his daughter Girlfriend was about to have sex with her new boyfriend, Boyfriend. However, he does not approve of the two dating, so he stops them before they could get it on and says to Boyfriend that if he wants to date his daughter, he's going to have to go through him first, so being an ex-rockstar, he challenges him to a rap battle, a challenge Boyfriend immediately accepts. After their first sing-off, Daddy Dearest tells the young man that his performance wasn't too shabby, and they sing again. After their second fight, he tells him that he will only consider letting the two date if he can beat him in one last song. He is eventually defeated, and Boyfriend and Girlfriend leave The Stage. However, Daddy Dearest's malicious intentions don't stop there, since in Week 3, he hires Pico as a contract killer and orders him to kill Boyfriend as revenge for his defeat. However, he only gave Pico the location of his target without telling him who he had to kill, and to Pico's surprise, it turns out to be Boyfriend, his ex-boyfriend. Instead of following his task, Pico decides to rap battle with Boyfriend just like they used to in their younger days.
In Week 5, Boyfriend and Girlfriend went to the mall to meet Mall Santa. Daddy Dearest hears this news and holds Mall Santa hostage to stop him from snitching and takes his throne for himself and his wife, Mommy Mearest.[5] Once the duo arrives, Daddy Dearest and his wife once again challenge Boyfriend to another rap battle, before they're eventually replaced by Monster as Boyfriend's opponent.
In Week 6, Daddy Dearest traps Boyfriend and Girlfriend into a dating game while they were hanging out, presumably as another attempt on Boyfriend's life. Spirit also reveals that several years ago, Daddy Dearest trapped many other people into the game, including Spirit himself. For this reason, he vows to get out of the game and "borrow" Boyfriend and Girlfriend's bodies to get revenge on Daddy Dearest and avenge everyone else stuck with him.
Right before the events of Week 7, Daddy Dearest and his wife send Boyfriend and Girlfriend on a vacation by sending them on a plane, which turns out to be another attempt at eliminating Boyfriend. The plane, however, crashes after the events of an unnamed upcoming level, and Boyfriend and Girlfriend land in the Restricted Military Zone. It later turns out that Boyfriend and Girlfriend had trackers on themselves the whole time, so the parents could be certain that Boyfriend died in the crash, and to be sure, the parents send Pico again, this time to confirm Boyfriend died. However, just like in Week 3, Pico goes against his job, this time saving Boyfriend while shooting at the Tankmen army during Stress.
In a sneak peek for the upcoming level,[6] Daddy Dearest is seen offering to pay Pico a stack of cash to do something to Boyfriend, as his speech bubble is seen with a small picture of Boyfriend. Later on in the trailer, Darnell and Nene are seen chasing Pico for a currently unknown reason. The full image of Daddy Dearest paying Pico, Darnell and Nene was later posted on Newgrounds, revealing that he's paying them to kill Boyfriend, as indicated by his full speech bubble and the "assassins" tag on the Newgrounds submission. Notably, Pico is the only one in the image who is not shown to have accepted any money from the father.
Relationships
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is Daddy Dearest's daughter. He likely has good intentions with his daughter, but he is highly overprotective of her. He will not let her date whom she wants and even tries to kill her boyfriend after he beats the father in a singing battle, which occurs after he stops the couple from having sex. He does not seem to care about how killing Boyfriend will affect his daughter.
Mommy Mearest
Mommy Mearest is Daddy Dearest's wife. As they are both singers, it is possible that they met through the music business.[7] Not much is known about their relationship, but they seem to be quite close, as Mommy Mearest sits on Daddy Dearest's lap during Cocoa and Eggnog. The two also work together to attempt to kill Boyfriend and as bosses of Pico.
Boyfriend
Daddy Dearest hates Boyfriend for dating Girlfriend and wants him dead, as he often tries to kill him when the couple are trying to enjoy spending time together. Even though Daddy Dearest is an evil demon, Boyfriend is not afraid to face off against him in rap battles in order to be allowed to date his daughter. Despite his hatred for Boyfriend, Daddy Dearest compliments his singing skills in unused cutscene dialogue for Fresh.
Pico
Daddy Dearest hires Pico as a contract killer, tasking him with killing Boyfriend after the latter humiliated him during Week 1. However, Pico instead decides to spare Boyfriend upon discovering that he is his target. Despite this, Daddy Dearest employs Pico again to confirm Boyfriend's dead body, but Pico betrays the father once more and saves Boyfriend's life. As a result, Pico is in deep trouble with the father.
Henchmen
It seems that the Henchmen work under Daddy Dearest, as one of them drives a limousine with a hood ornament of his head.
Mall Santa
Daddy Dearest takes Mall Santa's throne for himself, holding him at gunpoint to prevent him from snitching.[5] While the mall Santa isn't worried about the gun that much,[8] he is still quite scared as this happens.
Spirit
14 years ago,[9][10] Daddy Dearest trapped Spirit in Girlfriend's dating sim game for unknown reasons. Spirit despises Daddy Dearest as a result, seeking to make him pay for what he has done to him and others.
Darnell
Darnell is one of the people Daddy Dearest hires to kill Boyfriend, as he accepts the money that the father gives him to do this. He may be loyal to Daddy Dearest, as he fights Pico after the latter betrays his bosses.
Nene
Nene is one of the people Daddy Dearest hires to kill Boyfriend. He offers her money to do this, which she accepts. It is possible that she is loyal to the father and his orders, as she attacks Pico after his second failure to follow his orders.
Trivia
General
- Daddy Dearest is the second character who does not have a "danger" icon, the first being Girlfriend, the third being Senpai, and the fourth being Spirit. However, there is a copy of his regular icon in its place.
- This is also true for his and Mommy Mearest's shared icon in Week 5. However, even if a different icon were to replace it, there's no programming for it to change anyway.
- Oddly, his earlier icons did include a "danger" version but were left unused.
- This is also true for his and Mommy Mearest's shared icon in Week 5. However, even if a different icon were to replace it, there's no programming for it to change anyway.
- Terms like daddy dearest, mommy dearest, etc. can be used ironically to refer to a self-serving parent who treats their offspring poorly. Daddy Dearest's name is therefore fitting, considering how overprotective and cruel he is as a parent.
- Daddy Dearest and Mommy Mearest are tied for the most tracks in Friday Night Funkin', with 5. Currently they are the only characters in the game to have more than 3 songs.
- Daddy Dearest is the only character to have a singing animation that lasts a single frame, hitting a left note. Unlike him, every other character's singing animations have at least 2 frames.
- Daddy Dearest was the first antagonist initially programmed and designed for the game as he appeared in the Ludum Dare prototype.
Lore
- Daddy Dearest was responsible for Pico and Boyfriend's interaction in Week 3 due to him hiring Pico as a mercenary to assassinate Boyfriend as revenge for his defeat in Week 1.
- Daddy Dearest is one of the few characters in the game to have a known surname, the others being Mommy Mearest, Tankman, Ritz The Rat and Hank J. Wimbleton.
- Daddy Dearest is mentioned briefly during Week 6 by Spirit, hinting that he may have conflict with other characters.
- ninjamuffin99 has confirmed that Daddy Dearest will return to rematch Boyfriend in the future.[11]
- Daddy Dearest doesn't drink anything whatsoever.[12]
- According to a Tweet by ninjamuffin99,[13] Daddy Dearest didn't play any instruments during his rockstar career as he was only a vocalist.
- Daddy Dearest only sings with Boyfriend out of a weird pride and to be condescending as a performer.[14]
- Daddy Dearest is an incredibly powerful character, according to ninjamuffin99.[15]
- Daddy Dearest is rich, along with his wife, Mommy Mearest.[16]
- Daddy Dearest uses iPhones, which he hands down to Girlfriend.[16]
- Daddy Dearest apparently does not feel pain, because when he stabbed himself with a knife, he was surprised (because he thought he stabbed the Boyfriend doll), but then he slapped his head and didn't seem to care.[4]
- Daddy Dearest may be immortal, because after being stabbed by multiple sharp objects in his head, he was still fine but angry.[4]
Gallery
View Daddy Dearest's full gallery here.
References
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