History Main / SelfPlagiarism

** A lot of Pixar stories are joked about how they follow the idea of "What if [species/inanimate objects] had feelings", such as WesternAnimation/{{toy|Story1}}s, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]], WesternAnimation/{{monsters|Inc}}, WesternAnimation/{{fi|ndingNemo}}sh, [[Franchise/{{Cars}} cars]], WesternAnimation/{{rat|atouille}}s, [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut feelings themselves]].

* Disney acquired the film rights to ''Literature/BedknobAndBroomstick'' to use as a backup in case they couldn't acquire the film rights to ''Literature/MaryPoppins''. After the film adaptation of ''Film/MaryPoppins'' proved to be a smash, they went ahead and made ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' anyway, leaving them with two films about British children under the care of a woman with magic powers. Some of the songs in ''Bedknobs'' were originally written for ''Poppins'' but were unused.
** Both films also starred Creator/DavidTomlinson, though this might have been a bit of a CastingGag.
* The song "Men in Tights" from Creator/MelBrooks' ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'' takes its tune from "Jews in Space" from his ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI''.
** Mel Brooks also recycles the same ''jokes'' over and over again. In one of his DVDCommentary tracks he even admits to doing way too many gags involving the camera bumping into an object in the foreground.

* One of the criticisms of ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' was it was a rehash of the plot of ''Film/BatmanForever'': an established villain (Two-Face/Mr. Freeze) goes on a crime spree that our hero or heroes must stop, a former Wayne Enterprises employee (The Riddler/Poison Ivy) snaps and decides to become a villain, someone new (Robin/Batgirl) comes to live at Wayne Manor, the new villain teams-up with the already active one, the new person learns Bruce Wayne is Batman (and in ''& Robin''[='=]s case, Dick Grayson is Robin) and becomes a crime fighter, the new villain screws with the Batsignal (the Riddler making it the dot of a question mark/Poison Ivy replacing the Batsymbol with Robin's), Batman gets a new costume for the final battle (as do Robin and Batgirl in ''& Robin''), the villains are beaten, and even the end shot is the same: the heroes running towards camera with the Batsignal behind them.

* After Howard Devoto left {{Music/Buzzcocks}} and started {{Music/Magazine}}, Pete Shelley played him a descending guitar riff and told him he could use it for his new band: It became the the chorus of "Shot By Both Sides" by Magazine, but Shelley also used it for the Buzzcocks song "Lipstick".

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}}, the illustrious Simon & Kirby perpetrated a textbook example by slapping together The Defender for ''USA Comics'' not six months after creating ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. Where Captain America was the patriotically-attired spy-hunting alter ego of humble soldier Steve Rogers featuring a pre-teen sidekick named Bucky, who for some reason went by that name in both of his identities, and occasionally a government agent named Betsy Ross, the Defender was the patriotically-attired spy-hunting alter ego of humble Marine Don Stevens featuring a pre-teen sidekick named Rusty, who for some reason went by that name in both of his identities, and in the first story a government agent named Sally Kean. Had some bonus ValuesDissonance too, as the one place where the Defender innovated over Cap was in being casually, appallingly racist towards the Japanese. A few issues in, they dropped the Defender and brought Cap himself in.

* In 1995, Atari Games released ''VideoGame/Area51'' which is a LightGunGame that uses digitized actors for the characters and 3D for everything else. Two years later, they released another light-gun shooter named ''Maximum Force'' which had a different theme but was pretty much identical otherwise. Both games used the [=COJag=] (Coin Operated [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar Jaguar]]) system board, and many of the machines ended up converted into 2-in-1 machines with both ''Area 51'' and ''Maximum Force''.

* ''Viper Phase 1'' is this towards ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'', except [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace set in space]]. Both were made by Seibu Kaihatsu, and it shows. How so? It got an UpdatedRerelease to make it more in line with the ''Raiden'' games, not to mention the UsefulNotes/PlayStation port of the first game getting the former's soundtrack as an unlockable.

* Creator/DougMoench would occasionally use the same plots and characters in his '80s ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' and ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' runs. Sometimes, he would even mix up the names.

* ''Series/MutantX'', Marvel making a live-action ''Franchise/XMen'' show despite no longer having the live-action rights to the X-Men.

** One of the best examples would be a bridge consisting mostly of the repeated line "Godspeed, godspeed, godspeed, speed us away", which has appeared in, among other songs, "Nowhere Fast" by Fire, Inc. (from the ''Film/StreetsOfFire'' soundtrack); "Bad for Good" from Steinman's own album of the same name, later covered by Music/MeatLoaf; and "Graveyard Shift", a song from his in-development ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' stage musical.

* Between the SNES ''Super VideoGame/PunchOut'' and the Wii remake, Nintendo made a similar boxing game called ''VideoGame/{{Teleroboxer}}'' for the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy.

* The UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy shooter ''VideoGame/VerticalForce'' is very similar to the earlier shmups ''Soldier Blade'' and ''VideoGame/StarSoldier''. All of them were made by Creator/HudsonSoft.

* Music/GilbertAndSullivan plundered Gilbert's old "Bab Ballads" for plot ideas on a few occasions.

* Creator/HiroMashima pulls this with the characters of Sieg Hart in ''Manga/RaveMaster'' and Seigrain/ Jellal Fernandez in ''Manga/FairyTail'', both sporting the same visual design of a blue haired guy in white with a distinctive facial tattoo and playing the similar roles of an powerful wizard who serves as an antagonist before becoming an ally. Likewise Happy from ''Manga/EdensZero'' is pretty much a direct lift of the Happy of ''Manga/FairyTail'', both cats sharing the same name and personality as the PluckyComicRelief with only minor design differences.

** A wild turn is a system accusing Peter Parker of stealing the work of long-time foe Doctor Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus to get his science degree. What Peter can't tell anyone is that this was when [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan Ock had taken over his body]] so it was Otto pushing his own work. While stripped of his degree, Peter realizes he can't complain because he really didn't earn it himself.

* Baloo the bear from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' became so popular that Disney hired the character's voice actor Phil Harris back to play an {{expy}} of the character in their next two films. Thomas O'Malley in ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' is identical to Baloo personality-wise but isn't the same species, while Little John from ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' has a different personality but looks almost exactly like Baloo (save for being orange rather than gray).
* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', Little John and Lady Kluck dance like Baloo and King Louie in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''. Robin and Marian dance like Duchess and Thomas in ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats''. Marian dances with a pig, an owl, a rabbit and a dog in a manner similar to the dance that Snow White and the Dwarfs do in ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''. An elephant sounding off like a trumpet is stopped by Lady Kluck, like Colonel Hathi stopping a Jungle Patrol elephant in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''. Sir Hiss uses HypnoticEyes similar to Kaa in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''.
* A chase scene in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' between Baloo, King Louie and Mowgli is similar to a chase scene with Mole, Water Rat, Mr. Winkie and the Weasels in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''. The wolf cubs move together and wag their tails like the puppies in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''. Mowgli returns to the wolf den, and gets licked by wolves, like Arthur returns to the castle, and gets licked by dogs, in ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''. The elephant Colonel Hathi is based on the elephant Goliath I from the animated short ''WesternAnimation/GoliathII'', where some elephant scenes are taken, including the elephants stopping and piling up.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', the fanfare following "Painting the Roses Red" is the same as from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', Napoleon and Lafayette have some of the same barks from ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Belle and the Beast have a ballroom dance like Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip in ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty''. Both are like the ballroom dance of Cinderella and Prince Charming in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', Taran crawls under a branch and goes through the trees in the Forbidden Forest, in search of Hen Wen, in the same way Arthur searches for Sir Kay's arrow in ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', Red Eyes the bear uses the same growls as Brutus and Nero in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers''. A squirrel running along a tree branch is from Arthur running as a squirrel across the tree branches in ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', Toby the Basset Hound uses sounds from ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', ''Literature/OldYeller'', ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', and ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp''. Toby howls and runs through the street, and scares a wagon, like Trusty in ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'', Trusty moves in his sleep like Bruno in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'', Sir Kay shoots an arrow at a deer resembling Bambi's mother in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}''. Sir Ector hits Sir Kay in the same way Horace hits Jasper in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''.

* The death of Uncle Ben inspires the hero to go after outlaws everywhere, in Creator/StanLee's ''Rawhide Kid'' #17, August, 1960, and ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, March 1963.

* Creator/DavidEddings has this happen in at least ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''Literature/TheMallorean''. Indeed, the ''characters'' [[GenreSavvy recognize]] and {{discuss|edTrope}} the repetitions of stories in their own lives, even noting the [[JustifiedTrope reason]] for it happening. At one point, a character even ''exploits'' this, noticing how similar the current situation is to a previous one and choosing to handle it differently.

* Music/{{Steppenwolf}}'s "Born to Be Wild" and "Faster Than the Speed of Life" are another example of songs from the same album that sound almost identical. Both songs were provided by the same outside writer, Mars Bonfire: rumor had it that the song was specifically written to capitalize on the success of "Born To Be Wild", but lead singer John Kay thought it was ''too'' similar, explaining why [[StepUpToTheMicrophone drummer Jerry Edmonton]] sang it instead.

* Guitarist Stuart Zechman, a member of Stabbing Westward who also did some work with the band Music/{{Filter}}, wrote an identical chorus riff for both Stabbing Westward's "Ungod" and Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". The bands mutually agreed not to sue for plagiarism, and Stabbing Westward very rarely plays "Ungod" live, since "Hey Man, Nice Shot" was released as a single and became the much better-known song.

* Creator/ChrisClaremont: Hidden somewhere in a dark corner of the Mutant Research Center on Muir Island is a dirty little secret from our character's past; a child no one knows about, who is an incredibly powerful mutant with a damaged psyche. The first time it was Moira's son Proteus, the second time it was Professor X's son ComicBook/{{Legion}}.

* In ''ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain'', one of the Kingpin's lieutenants speaks with an excessive amount of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, which is played for laughs. Creator/FrankMiller would later use the same type of gag when writing Shlubb and Klump (AKA Fat Man and Little Boy) from ''ComicBook/SinCity''.

[[caption-width-right:272:[[https://web.archive.org/web/20150520231247/http://www.cracked.com/funny-316-family-guy/ Strictly]] [[StrictlyFormula MacFormula]].[[labelnote:shows]]Left to right: ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow''.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:additional similarities]]Oh, and all three non-human best friends are voiced by Creator/SethMacFarlane.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:differences]]Tim the Bear has a family and doesn't live with Cleveland; the others don't (although Brian had Jillian as his long-term girlfriend [[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E5WhistleWhileYourWifeWorks for a whole season]] until [[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E2MovinOutBriansSong they broke up]]) and live with their respective main characters.[[/labelnote]]]]

** And of course, ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSnorks''. (And the ''Trollkins''. And the ''Biskitts''. And the ''Paw-Paw Bears''. And the M-...one gets the picture.)

* Music/TalkingHeads has "Life During Wartime", "Walk It Down", and "Girlfriend Is Better", which all sound very much alike.

* Creator/ShinyaMurata works on several concurrent manga with recurring themes, AnimalMotifs in fights and reused character designs. Peharps the most notable case of this is ''Manga/{{Himenospia}}'' being published alongside ''Manga/{{Blattodea}}'' as of 2020. ''Himenospia'' is a [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace reimagining of plot elements]] from ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' and ''Blattodea'' is the ''Arachnid'' sequel. It got to the point both stories did a throwback to a particular BigDamnHeroes scene from ''Arachnid'' within a short time of each other.

* A more literal example occurs with Creator/ArthurCClarke's novel ''[[Literature/TheSpaceOdysseySeries 3001: The Final Odyssey]]'', which simply cut and pastes several paragraphs concerning the Monolith builders' intentions from ''2001''. The same applies to a description of Europan life in ''2010'', which was reused almost verbatim in ''2061'' and ''3001'', and the destruction of the ''Tsien'' in ''2010'' that was readapted in ''2061''. Clarke acknowledged as much in the afterword of ''2061'':

** ''Film/{{Westworld}}'' depicts an amusement park built around unique attractions, robots. After the initial magnificient impression, chaos and death ensues when the robots outgrow their design and safeguards. Skip ahead two decades and change robots to dinosaurs and you get the wildly successful ''Literature/JurassicPark''.

* The band Mystic Moods Orchestra recycled "The First Day of Forever", from their album ''Awakening'' (1973), for the US opening theme (also aired in some other Western coutries) of the Japansese series ''Series/{{Spectreman}}'', under the request of the producer of the US airing. The band recorded a slightly modified and shortened version of the song's instrumental background. It got new lyrics from Gregory Sil, then the band recorded the new version as "Spectreman's Theme".

* It's a TabletopRPG where you play people who are also supernatural creatures. They have their own society with complex internal politics, use their own slang, and are divided into subgroups with their own names and varying game-mechanical and social differences. They have various impressive powers, but also many weaknesses, some of which are a souce of angst for them. Which Creator/WhiteWolf game are we talking about?[[labelnote:answer]]Pretty near all of them.[[/labelnote]]

* In 1995, Atari Games released ''VideoGame/Area51'' which is a LightGunGame that uses digitalized actors for the characters and 3D for everything else. Two years later, they released another light-gun shooter named ''Maximum Force'' which had a different theme but was pretty much identical otherwise. Both games used the [=COJag=] (Coin Operated [[UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar Jaguar]]) system board, and many of the machines ended up converted into 2-in-1 machines with both ''Area 51'' and ''Maximum Force''.

* A version of self-plagarism is how practicing works - and some creators doing this may think that is all they are doing:

* As WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows pointed out, Rednex followed up their reworking of Cotton-Eye Joe with "Old Pop in an Oak", which had an almost identical melody and instrumentation to the former. "The Way I Mate" also falls victim to this.

** A lot of Pixar stories are joked about how they follow the idea of "What if [species/inanimate objects] had feelings", such as WesternAnimation/{{toy|Story1}}s, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]], WesternAnimation/{{monsters|Inc}}, WesternAnimation/{{fi|ndingNemo}}sh, [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} cars]], WesternAnimation/{{rat|atouille}}s, [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut feelings themselves]].

* As described in Tumblr about the history of Creator/{{Pixar}}:
** Pixar, 1995: What if WesternAnimation/{{toy|Story1}}s had feelings
** Pixar, 1998: What if [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2001: What if WesternAnimation/{{monsters|Inc}} had feelings
** Pixar, 2003: What if WesternAnimation/{{fi|ndingNemo}}sh had feelings
** Pixar, 2004: What if [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles superheroes]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2006: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} cars]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2007: What if WesternAnimation/{{rat|atouille}}s had feelings
** Pixar, 2008: What if [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2009: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Up}} dogs]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2012: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Scotland]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2015: WHAT IF [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut FEELINGS]] HAD FEELINGS
** Pixar, 2015: What if [[WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur dinosaurs]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2017: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Coco}} Mexicans]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2020: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Onward}} elves]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2020: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Soul}} black people]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2021: What if [[WesternAnimation/{{Luca}} sea monsters]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2022: What if [[WesternAnimation/TurningRed Canadians]] had feelings
** Pixar, 2023: What if WesternAnimation/{{element|al2023}}s had feelings
*** Other web film critics like WebVideo/YourMovieSucksDotOrg and Screen Rant have point out that a lot of Pixar movies have the same formula with a basic premise: The protagonist gets separated from a loved one alongside another character that he/she dislikes and they have to make an adventurous journey until they both learn to respect each other and rejoin with the loved one and/or the rest of the cast.

* Creator/JossWhedon also borrows a SignatureScene from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' for his movie ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', namely the scene where [[spoiler:the secret government agency has a whole lot of monsters locked up in underground cages, and then those monsters all break out and attack]].

** Pixar, 2006: What if [[WesternAnimation/cars1]] had feelings

** Pixar, 2006: What if WesternAnimation/cars1 had feelings

** Pixar, 2006: What if WesternAnimation/{{cars}} had feelings