History DivergentCharacterEvolution / WesternAnimation

* Originally, the title characters in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' were extremely similar to one another. Overtime, however, Beavis would become nicer, (at least [[JerkassBall most of the time]]) but more hyperactive, while Butt-Head mellowed out, but remaining as rude as before.

* While ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' has the Duck triples still be largely indistinguishable, the Beagle Boys have their own names and differ from each other in appearance and personality, unlike the comics where the most often-seen members all look and act mostly identical and are only referred to by the numbers on their shirts.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': When Amity's parent -- Alador and Odalia -- make their first appearance in a brief silhouetted flashback, they're interchangeable and portrayed as a pair of elitist, [[AbusiveParents emotionally-abusive]] snobs. When they make a proper appearance in season two, they've been heavily tweaked to differentiate them; Odalia is still a cruel and controlling StageMom, but Alador has been revamped into an AbsentMindedProfessor who's main flaw is being too WeakWilled and apathetic to stand up to his domineering wife. This extends to their appearances, as Alador is redesigned a bit to look less similar to Odalia, such as being given a messier hairstyle and natural brown hair in contrast to the dyed-green look the rest of the Blight family has.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': The eponymous Venture Bros., who from conception to the pilot, and through the first season, were originally written almost exactly the same - {{Pollyanna}} Hardy Boys parodies that were forever trying to solve mysteries. By the end of Season 3, Hank has become much more brazen, excitable, and stupidly headstrong, taking largely after his Bodyguard and Hero Brock Sampson, while Dean becomes more sensitive, emotionally in check, and cynical, like his Father Rusty. Justified, as [[spoiler: by Season 4, not only are all of the brothers' clones are killed in a large battle as a makeshift army of soft zombie-like bodies (ItMakesSenseInContext), which were previously used as Reset Buttons for whenever the duo would die ([[TheManyDeathsofYou and it happened a lot]]), but Dean also learns this firsthand, completely warping his sense of self and his belief in his family.]]

** On that note, Dolph, Kearney, and Jimbo started out fairly interchangeable. Over time, Kearney has been established as having an infant son (to emphasize how many times he's been held back), while Jimbo has a [[BruiserWithASoftCenter softer side]] (along with religious and feminist tendencies) and good home life. Dolph, on the other hand, hasn't gotten much development.

** While there were a few minor differences, Fionna and Cake's universe started out as primarily a GenderbentAlternateUniverse to Ooo in Ice King's fanfictions [[spoiler:and Prismo's concepts]]. By the time of the ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTimeFionnaAndCake Fionna and Cake]]'' miniseries, everyone got majorly different histories when [[spoiler:the world turned mundane following Simon losing his magic]], and by its end they resolve to stick by the changes even after [[spoiler:TheMagicComesBack]].

* [[TheMentallyDisturbed Lemongrab]] and [[RoyallyScrewedUp his clone]] from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' were both originally equally [[CloudCuckoolander bizarre]] and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold angry]]. After [[spoiler: [[ImAHumanitarian he tried to eat his clone]]]], the original Lemongrab [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope became incredibly, insanely evil]] and [[FatBastard much fatter]], while the other became [[TookALevelInKindness nicer]] and skinnier. [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope Then they were caught in an explosion and were reformed back into one person]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' did this with Clone Troopers. In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', they all looked identical and wore near-identical armor; while ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' had their armor evolve to become much more specialized and distinctive, ''The Clone Wars'' goes a step further by showing that clones also have distinct personalities, and it shows them adopting nicknames, hairstyles, tattoos, and helmet art to make themselves stand out. The series also featured dozens of unique clones in very distinctive character roles.

** This also applies to Amity’s older siblings Edric and Emira as well. They’re SingleMindedTwins in their first appearance, but later episodes give them distinct personalities [[FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling with Edric being more silly and Emira being more grounded]].
** Boscha and Skara started pretty much as two members of Amity's GirlPosse, but after Amity's CharacterDevelopment kicked in, they started diverging drastically. Boscha becomes the new AlphaBitch, shown to be TheAce at grugby, highly competitive, sadistic and possessing a strong need of external validation, and antagonizes Luz and Willow. She gets DemotedToExtra in Season 2, while [[AscendedExtra the opposite]] happens to Skara, who gets far more spotlight and reveals herself to be actually nice, when free from ToxicFriendInfluence, quite strategic at sports, and ends naturally drifting away from Boscha towards Willow and her circle of friends. By the final season Skara is shown to have grown into a heroic person [[spoiler: fighting on the side of resistance against Belos and then Collector]], while Boscha ends deteriorating into [[spoiler:a petty tyrant manipulated by Kikimora. In her confrontation with Amity she actually breaks down, begging Amity to come back to the way things were originally]].

** [[TheUnintelligible Rico]]'s appearance-wise evolved too; in the movie he looks like a taller and skinnier Skipper and you could barely tell him apart from him or Kowalski. But in ''WesternAnimation/TheMadagascarPenguinsInAChristmasCaper'' and later in the series he has a scar on his beak and three feathers sticking up like hair to help him stand out.

** An inversion with Nelson and the trio of Dolph, Kearny, and Jimbo. Nelson's first episode establishes him as TheBully who picks on Bart, while the others were [[{{Delinquents}} juvenile delinquents]] who often encouraged Bart's misbehavior. The distinction vanished pretty quickly, with Nelson joining the others to form a quartet, and all four being content as delinquents or bullies as needed. Though Nelson could still be called ''somewhat'' distinct due to his relative friendliness with Bart and Lisa's crush on him.
** On that note, Dolph, Kearny, and Jimbo started out fairly interchangeable. Over time, Kearny has been established as having an infant son (to emphasize how many times he's been held back), while Jimbo has a [[BruiserWithASoftCenter softer side]] (along with religious and feminist tendencies) and good home life. Dolph, on the other hand, hasn't gotten much development.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' would occasionally use this when a character and their {{Expy}} would [[ExpyCoexistence]] coexist in the same universe.

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', Gumball and Darwin were sometimes TheDividual, both [[{{Keet}} perpetually enthusiastic]] and naive, often acting in unison. Other times, Gumball was [[IdiotHero very dumb and reckless]], while Darwin was [[StraightMan smarter and more moral]], but so passive that he usually went along with whatever Gumball was doing. Which one was written first is hard to tell given the season aired ''extremely'' OutOfOrder, but from the second season on, they're given a milder form of the latter characterization, where Gumball is reckless but not a complete idiot (and can even be the StraightMan between the two) while Darwin is assertive enough to actually argue with Gumball and [[BewareTheNiceOnes can be incredibly aggressive if provoked.]]

** The fourth season would introduce the Phantom Zone Kryptonian forces lead by [[KneelBeforeZod General Dru-Zod]], and among them, Faora Hu-Ul and her expy from ''Film/SupermanII'', Ursa, were given some characteristics to become differentiated from each other. The former was [[RaceLift changed to a black Kryptonian]] much like Zod himself, but was otherwise just one of his soldiers, while the latter remained white and was the general's wife. [[spoiler:Ursa would also bond with the Eye of Ekron and become Legion of Super-Heroes villain Emerald Empress, allowing her to have additional powers that Faora (who simply has the usual Kryptonian superpowers) doesn't have]].

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' applied this trope to differentiate Katar Hol / Hawkman from Hro Talak, an {{Expy}} from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' whose name is a SignificantAnagram of Hawkman's real name. As a result, Talak went from looking a lot like Hawkman to the Thanagarian version of a BaldOfAuthority.

** While in prior incarnations they were almost a PaletteSwap from each other with a different neck accesory, Fancy-Fancy and Spook -now the female Spooky- have become very distinct from each other: Spooky is the biggest cat of the gang with a near permanent blank stare, meanwhile Fancy-Fancy is at least as short as Brain and tends to be more emotional and childish.

** Boscha and Skara started pretty much as two members of Amity's GirlPosse, but after Amity's CharacterDevelopment kicked in, they started diverging drastically. Boscha becomes new AlphaBitch, shown to be TheAce at grugby, highly competetive, sadistic and posessing strong need of external validation, and antagonizes Luz and Willow. She gets DemotedToExtra in Season 2, while [[AscendedExtra the opposite]] happens to Skara, who gets far more spotlight and reveals herself to be actually nice, when free from ToxicFriendInfluence, quite strategic at sports, and ends naturally drifting away from Boscha towards Willow and her circle of friends. By the final season Skara is shown to have grown into a heroic person [[spoiler: fighting on the side of resistance against Belos and then Collector]], while Boscha ends deteriorating into [[spoiler: a petty tyrant manipulated by Kikimora. In her confrontation with Amity she actually breaks down, begging Amity to come back to the way things were originally]].