| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 4 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1512587971026912600 |
| 5 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 7 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mighty_ducks2.jpg]] |
| 8 | [-[[caption-width-right:350:Left: [[Film/TheMightyDucks A film about a down-on-its-luck youth hockey team's journey to stardom.]][softreturn]Right: [[WesternAnimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries An animated series about hockey-playing duck superheroes.]]]]-] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"Every single word in this title is a lie. There are [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles no teenagers, no mutants, no ninjas, and no turtles]]. Well, there actually may be turtles -- it's hard to tell."'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Website/HardcoreGaming101''', on the Vietnamese bootleg iOS game ''[[http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-ios-bootleg Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This occurs when a derivative work (an adaptation, a remake, or [[ContinuityReboot a reimagining]]) is so different from the work it took its name from that the ''only thing'' actually tying it to the original work is the title, a few character names and, if lucky, the broad premise. It would stand perfectly as an original work if references to the source were removed. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This can happen when the work was originally intended as something completely different, but, being slightly similar to an existing franchise, it is changed to fit in that franchise, or it can be straight-up title hijack. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | One reason this happens is the fact that established properties and "name awareness" makes things ''much'' easier to get greenlit than original properties. In some cases producers purchase franchise rights for the name alone, and slap it on their own original product as a way of getting it pushed through the studio system. VideoGame and CultClassic franchises are especially prone to being used this way by third parties with no other interest in the franchise, as they are often relatively cheap to buy or license for this purpose. In some cases, this is even done for the purposes of [[AshCanCopy hanging onto the trademark]]. If the project began life as an original work and was altered in the process to be part of an established work, that makes it a DolledUpInstallment. The inverse of this would be DivorcedInstallment. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Many a CashCowFranchise has descended to this at least once. It may be considered the OddballInTheSeries. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The response often involves TheyChangedItNowItSucks, but an In Name Only work [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools may well be decent, or even good (if not better)]], as long as it's assessed on its own merits rather than being measured by how faithful it is to the original work; in effect, the work in question is a ''{{Contested|Sequel}}'' AlternateContinuity or Adaptation. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | If the work in question is not an attempted adaptation of another work, but merely sports a misleading name, that's a NonIndicativeName. If the name used to be relevant but less or even not later, it is ArtifactTitle. If an adaptation continues after the original source material runs out, that's AdaptationExpansion. If multiple works share the same name but are unrelated, you have SimilarlyNamedWorks. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A good way to tell if an example is really this trope or just a bad adaptation: if one were to change the title to something else, would anyone understand that the work is supposed to be an adaptation? If the answer is "no", then the adaptation is this trope.[[note]]Changing character names is not necessary for the test; there is always the possibility of coincidence, or of ShoutOutThemeNaming.[[/note]] See also OldGuardVersusNewBlood. A TransplantedCharacterFic may often feel like this. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Contrast SerialNumbersFiledOff, SpiritualSuccessor,[[note]]Which are basically In All ''But'' Name[[/note]] ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, {{Expy}}, {{Remake}}. |
| 28 | [[noreallife]] |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Example subpages: |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[index]] |
| 34 | * [[InNameOnly/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]] |
| 35 | * InNameOnly/LiveActionTV |
| 36 | * InNameOnly/VideoGames |
| 37 | * InNameOnly/WesternAnimation |
| 38 | [[/index]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | !!Other examples: |
| 41 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 44 | * The manga ''Blue Dragon Ral Grad'' has nothing in common with the ''VideoGame/BlueDragon'' video game or anime series, except for the presence of LivingShadow BondCreatures which themselves are very different in nature between sources. |
| 45 | * ''Anime/DancougarNova'' doesn't have a whole lot in common with the original ''Anime/{{Dancougar}}'', instead resembling ''Anime/{{Gravion}}'', another Masami Obari mecha anime. |
| 46 | * The anime adaptation of ''Manga/EatMan'' has very little to do with the original story other than Bolt Crank being the main character. |
| 47 | * ''Anime/FinalFantasyUnlimited'' has virtually nothing to do with its namesake series aside from the presence of Chocobos, Moogles, and a character named Cid. |
| 48 | * ''Anime/GaikingLegendOfDaikuMaryu'' is a completely new story from ''{{Anime/Gaiking}}'', but reuses the mecha design of the {{Robeast}} Daiku Maryu, and the HumongousMecha Gaiking, as well as a couple of character names. |
| 49 | * This was the point of ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'', which turned a SpaceOpera into a GagSeries when the first game was delayed. See WriterRevolt. |
| 50 | * Subverted in ''Anime/GaReiZero''. The first episode introduces an entirely new crew of badass main characters, completely different from the ones in the [[Manga/GaRei manga]]. [[spoiler:The episode ends with Yomi appearing and taking them all out.]] Turns out [[spoiler:the anime ''is'' related to the manga in that it centers around Yomi's StartOfDarkness]]. |
| 51 | * ''Anime/GatchamanCrowds'' has most superficial elements of ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' stripped away in favor of thematic and series mythology-related similarities. Thus many old fans regard it as this. |
| 52 | * ''Manga/GetterRobo'': |
| 53 | ** The anime ''Getter Robo Go'' and the manga have essentially nothing in common, barring that they feature the same mech with a three-person piloting team, and a number of characters sharing the same names. The manga is a direct sequel to the original ''Getter Robo'', while the anime is self-contained, and many aspects notable to the manga, such as the fast-paced action, CosmicHorrorStory themes, and incredibly dark tone, are absent; the anime is almost entirely a typical SuperRobot series. A large number of other characters, including the entire returning ''Getter Robo'' cast, are absent. It's also an odd one out in terms of ''Getter Robo'' in general, with aspects like the Getter Rays and the typical cast being absent. |
| 54 | ** In ''Shin Getter Robo Armageddon'', this is done with Go. The manga version is the protagonist of ''Getter Robo Go'', and is shown as a blunt, HotBlooded, battle-ready type who hails from a common background and is mostly the AudienceSurrogate. In ''Armageddon'', he's a more secondary character, his personality is far more stoic, calm, and mysterious, and he has the ''most'' unusual background of the crew, being an ArtificialHuman with supernatural powers created to control the Shin Dragon. The only thing they share is their appearance, their first name, and the fact that they're both Getter pilots. This seems to have been done to [[DivergentCharacterEvolution differentiate him]] from Ryoma, who has a bit of a lock on the "gruff, hot-tempered hero" archetype in the franchise. |
| 55 | * Despite its name, Creator/GoNagai's manga and anime and novel series ''Anime/GodMazinger'' has nothing to do with ''Anime/MazingerZ''. The characters, the setting and the plot are completely unrelated, and the HumongousMecha hardly looks like Mazinger. Apparently the similar title is because it was intended to be a ''Anime/MazingerZ'' sequel, but that concept was scrapped, and ''Anime/GreatMazinger'' and ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' were created instead. |
| 56 | * The Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film ''How Do You Live'' bears the same name as the famous 1937 novel but bares a completely original story. Instead the book it's named after exists InUniverse while the story is more of a fantastical autobiography of sorts based on Miyazaki's childhood and how the book (which was a gift from his mother) shaped him a lot as a person growing up. This is likely why it was re-titled ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron'' for international audiences. |
| 57 | * ''Anime/IdolmasterXenoglossia'' retains ''some'' of the characters' personalities from the original video game, but changes... well, everything else. |
| 58 | * Despite sharing part of the title, ''Manga/InTheHeartOfKunoichiTsubaki'' has nothing to do with the 18+ Platform/{{Steam}} game also bearing the ''Kunoichi Tsubaki'' name. |
| 59 | * InUniverse example in ''{{Manga/Kochikame}}'': when a popular manga gets an anime adaptation, Ryotsu manages to change the adaption in such a way that the result is nothing more than an extended commercial. |
| 60 | * ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'' is very, ''very'' loosely based on ''Literature/TheArabianNights,'' but don't expect it to go further than some names and a [[ArabianNightsDays vaguely Arabian/Persian aesthetic]]. |
| 61 | ** The main character, Aladdin, does have a genie for a while (in a flute, not a lamp or ring), but instead of a random kinda-jerky street kid is an AllLovingHero ChildMage. He's also kind of a pervert, though, which actually ''does'' fit the original legend. |
| 62 | ** His best friend Alibaba is [[spoiler:a prince]] desperate to liberate his home country. Instead of stealing from a group of forty thieves, he ''leads'' a group of thieves (who are JustLikeRobinHood, but {{Deconstructed}}) for a while. He has a (foster-)brother named Cassim who's a villain, as in the legend, but there aren't many similarities past that, the original Cassim being just greedy with Cassim in the anime being a revolutionary firebrand. |
| 63 | ** Scheherazade is the biggest example of this--instead of PluckyGirl telling stories in the FramingDevice, she's a mysterious CourtMage of a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Roman-esque empire]] who spearheads a war against a neighboring country. |
| 64 | ** Sinbad, interestingly, is more or less an {{aver|tedTrope}}sion--the basic idea of "poor guys gains his fortune as an adventurous sailor" remains the same, though the adventures are different and his role in the main series is set after they're complete. |
| 65 | * Masou Kishin Cybuster is this to ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGaiden''. Some familiar names are part of this series. And a few familiar robots... and that's about as far as it goes. Three of the four heralds of the elemental lords don't even get a counterpart in the anime. |
| 66 | * Creator/OsamuTezuka's manga ''Manga/{{Metropolis}}'' is [[SuggestedBy "suggested" by]] Fritz Lang's ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'', in that Tezuka was inspired to write the manga by a single still image he saw from the film: that of a female robot being born. The two works have a few basic similarities, but they're coincidences--Tezuka hadn't seen the film, and didn't even know what it was about, when he wrote the manga. |
| 67 | ** A 2001 anime film, also titled ''Anime/{{Metropolis|2001}}'', is another, quite interesting case. It claims to be based on Tezuka's manga--even billing itself ''Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis''--but is in fact an odd mishmash of that manga, several ''other'' Tezuka mangas, ''and'' the Fritz Lang movie. The film mostly does its own thing, merely borrowing a lot of elements from those works, making this an In Name Only adaptation of an In Name Only adaptation! |
| 68 | * ''Anime/TheMillionaireDetectiveBalanceUnlimited'' is inspired by an [[AdaptationalDisplacement obscure novel by the same name]]. However, aside from having the same title character and general premise (and having a character named Suzue, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul although the characters' relationship has been completely changed]]), the Anime is a completely original story. |
| 69 | * InUniverse, ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam'' has a moment where one transfer student talks about the SpacePirates supposedly having a Gundam and another student remarks "These days, the media calls anything with two eyes and antennae a Gundam". A margin note from artist Yuichi Hasegawa reveals that Creator/YoshiyukiTomino (the creator of the ''Gundam'' franchise) specifically asked him to include this line. |
| 70 | ** This is also something of a joke on how frequently ''Gundam'' gets reboots of this variety. Some stories do take place in the original universe or carry through the original themes and worldbuilding elements, but others have nothing in common aside from having robots that are named Gundams and designed somewhat after the ones in the original series. ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' is one of the more obvious examples, outright jumping from RealRobotGenre to SuperRobotGenre. |
| 71 | * ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'' was theoretically adapted from a novel (''The King's Fifth'', by [[Literature/IslandOfTheBlueDolphins Scott O'Dell]]) but has almost nothing in common with it. There are characters named Zia, Esteban, and Mendoza, and they are looking for the Cities of Gold; that is more or less where the similarities end. In the book, Esteban is a teenage mapmaker, Zia is a tough tomboy who volunteers to help the Spanish expedition, Mendoza is not a nice person, there are no medallions or hidden temples or puzzles or mysterious Olmecs at all, and so on. |
| 72 | * The television spinoff of ''Anime/NinjaScroll'': ''Anime/NinjaScrollTheSeries''. |
| 73 | * The anime adaption of Toshio Maeda's Nightmare Campus has almost nothing to do with the story of the manga, with the only similarities being that they both share characters called Masao, Esedess, Abe and Yuko. |
| 74 | * ''Manga/OsomatsuKun'' is about the misadventures of six rowdy brothers and their wacky cast of cohorts in Akatsuka Ward. ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' more or less follows that description, but changes the brothers to [[{{NEET}} jobless]] [[ManChild manchildren]], rids them of their sense of camaraderie and [[DivergentCharacterEvolution gives them all completely different personalities]] and looks (which was their [[AlwaysIdenticalTwins primary joke]] back in the day), demoted all of the side characters (especially the former {{Breakout Character}}s Iyami and Chibita) and exaggerates ''their'' personalities, and [[GenreShift changes the style of humor.]] The only way you can tell it's a sequel is when they mention it or when they [[RecycledScript do a plot]] from the old series. |
| 75 | * The [[AnimeFirst manga adaptation]] of ''Anime/PrincessTutu'' has little to do with the show--the names of Ahiru's friends were changed, Ahiru isn't a duck, Mytho isn't really a prince, Drosselmeyer never appears, and the only animal is Professor Cat, for some unexplained reason. The most unrecognizable is Edel, who goes from being a quiet, mysterious woman in doll-like clothing and a huge updo to an [[GenkiGirl energetic mentor]] who wears slinky dresses and her hair down--oh, and just happens to be [[spoiler:the BigBad of the manga]]. The consensus among fans range from "It's sort of funny I guess..." to [[FanonDiscontinuity pretending it doesn't exist at all]]. |
| 76 | * Despite the title and what the credits claim, ''Anime/RomeoXJuliet'' has nothing to do with Shakespeare's Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet aside from character names (but not their personalities) and really serves as a composite of plots and characters from several of his plays. The English version made use of some Shakespearean dialogue. |
| 77 | * The first ''Manga/SonicTheHedgehog'' manga is about a 10-year old hedgehog named Nicky living in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals. Nicky has a cool alter ego called Sonic. The manga is loose with being an adaptation--featuring almost nothing but {{Canon Foreigner}}s (though Amy and Charmy were later given the CanonImmigrant treatment) and only having loose connections to the first few game's {{Excuse Plot}}s. |
| 78 | * ''Anime/TalesFromEarthsea'' is a mish-mash of plots from two different ''Earthsea'' books(''Tehanu'' and ''The Futherest Shore'') and borrowed the title ''Tales From Earthsea'' from an unrelated short story collection. [[http://www.ursulakleguin.com/GedoSenkiResponse.html LeGuin was NOT amused, meanwhile]] but she was still (slightly) more amused by the anime movie than by the maligned [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] miniseries, specifically noting it was "more dissatisfying than outright bad". |
| 79 | * ''Tama and Friends: Search for it! The Magic Puni-Puni Stone'' is technically this to the original ''Anime/TamaAndFriends'' series. Not only did the series have a total genre shift, and a real villain was introduced into the series, but the characters now live in a fantasy world and are more like petting zoo people compared to the original series where they're largely normal animals. Needless to say, this turned out to be a FranchiseKiller that put the franchise on ice for a decade before any revival attempts were made. [[CreatorKiller It's also one of the factors that contributed to Group TAC's demise]]. |
| 80 | * ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': |
| 81 | ** ''Anime/TenchiMuyoWarOnGeminar'' has extremely loose connections to the Tenchi franchise. The main character, Masaki Kenshi, is Tenchi's younger half-brother, but that's the closest it gets, other than Kenshi occasionally making vague references to his older sisters (i.e, [[MarryThemAll the girls in Tenchi's harem]]). In fact, the series' title in Japan is not ''Tenchi Muyo'', its ''Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari'' (Literally meaning: Sage Machine Master Story in the Different World), and was created by Masaki Kajishima as a very loose spinoff to his ''Tenchi Muyo franchise''. Creator/FUNimation [[DubNameChange changed the title for marketing purposes and to better establish it as a part of the ''Tenchi series'']]. |
| 82 | ** ''Anime/TenchiMuyoGXP'' is primarily centered on Tenchi's Kouhai school friend, Yamada Seina, and his cast of characters. However, it's ZigZagged because there are several episodes in which characters from the original [[Anime/TenchiMuyoRyoOhki Ryo-Ohki]] series make guest appearances, including one in which Tenchi himself appears. This is in contrast to Geminar as stated above, where the most you get is a vague mention. |
| 83 | ** ''Tenchi Forever'' bore little resemblance to the light novel that inspired it. It also takes place in the same universe as ''Tenchi Universe'' instead of the original [=OVAs=]. |
| 84 | ** ''Anime/SasamiMagicalGirlsClub'' has almost nothing to do with the ''Magical Girl Pretty Sammy'' or ''Magical Project S'' series that inspired it, except for a magical girl named Sasami, and appearances of a couple Tenchi characters in drastically different roles. |
| 85 | * ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' fans back in the day felt this way when the Lion series ended and they first saw Vehicle Voltron.[[note]]In Hispanic countries, the reaction was inverted since the Vehicle series aired first.[[/note]] The reason for this is because it is actually a DolledUpInstallment of a completely unrelated anime series. |
| 86 | * ''Manga/HadesProjectZeorymer'' -- originally a {{hentai}} manga. The title mech and the name of a female character are the only thing the manga and anime share. |
| 87 | * ''Anime/BrigadoonMarinAndMelan'': Is inspired by the Theatre/{{Brigadoon}} play, but the only thing they have in common is a VanishingVillage. It's in Japan instead of Scotland, the protagonist is a teenage school, girl instead of male hunters, there's robots, etc. |
| 88 | * ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'' has very little to do with "Literature/SnowWhite"--the title alone tells you that Shirayuki doesn't match the physical description, and she's not a princess by birth, though she still winds up with a prince. There are no dwarves or WickedWitch [[WickedStepmother stepmother]]. There is a poisoned apple, but it's sent from an AbhorrentAdmirer and it's the ''prince'' who eats it; Shirayuki saves him, but through her skills as an herbalist, not any sort of magic. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Asian Animation]] |
| 92 | * The ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' season ''Mr.Wolffy, Mr.Right!'' has an entirely different story and setting and the characters look a lot different compared to the other seasons. Because of this, it doesn't really have a lot to do with the original ''Pleasant Goat''. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 96 | * Some of the characters in ''Toys/AmeComiGirls'' (a DC comics {{Elseworld}} series derived from a statue line featuring DC female characters, and gender-flipped versions of male characters, redesigned in an anime-influenced style). For instance, [[ComicBook/InfinityInc Jade]] goes from being the daughter of the [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/GreenLantern to a blind [[RaceLift Chinese]] teenager. She ends up being chosen as the new Green Lantern of Earth, rather than being born with her powers like the original Jade. |
| 97 | * The second ''ComicBook/{{Bloodstrike}}'' team is made up of longtime team leader Cabbot Stone, and {{Legacy Character}}s to his original teammates. The legacies have ''very'' little in common with the originals in terms of powers, personalities, and costumes, but share their codenames. For instance, whereas the original Tag was a woman with the ability to freeze enemies in place, the new Tag is a woman with super speed. In-universe there's no explanation for this, but writer Tim Seeley went on record as saying that it just didn't feel right to have Bloodstrike without Deadlock, Shogun, Fourplay, and Tag, even if they were new characters. |
| 98 | * The ''ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown'' keep being reinvented. In the 1991 miniseries by Creator/JephLoeb and Tim Sale Prof was dead, Rocky was an alcoholic, Ace was ComicBook/DoctorStrange and Red was Franchise/{{Rambo}}. The 1996 series by Steven Grant introduced an entirely new team, as did the 2004 miniseries by Creator/HowardChaykin. And in the ComicBook/{{New 52}}, Creator/DanDiDio creates a group of nine characters with the names of the original and 1996 Challengers, but none of the personalities. |
| 99 | * Michael Fleisher's run on ''ComicBook/HarlemHeroes'' was focused on a gang of convicts caught up in a conspiracy to assassinate the President, rather than the sport of Aeroball from the original strip. In fact, the only reason that the name came up in story was due to the games being played in prison and the skill of the protagonists at Aeroball. |
| 100 | * There's an {{Animesque}} [[http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/luluzinhateen002.jpg Brazilian spin off]] of ''ComicStrip/LittleLulu'' where the characters in question are teens. The plot is basically a generic teen SliceOfLife (with some drama here and there) with characters whose only similarities with the original are their names. And the original cartoons produced by Creator/FamousStudios in the 1940s bore almost no resemblance to the comics, keeping only the title character Lulu (though [[DemotedToExtra some of her friends did appear in a few shorts, very few though]]). |
| 101 | * ComicBook/NovasAventurasDeMegaman was a Brazilian comic attempting to place the characters in an AfterTheEnd scenario where Dr. Wily managed to TakeOverTheWorld. Beyond the general appearance of the characters, though, there wasn't much left tying it to the video games. Radically altered backstories, personality changes and Roll's increased importance are the most obvious changes compared to the games. |
| 102 | ** Incredibly, it could have been even worse. One of the original writers, José Roberto Pereira, had big plans for his original character Princess. Said plans included having her ''kill off every other character in the cast'' so the comic could focus on her. Once the higher-ups learned of this, José got fired and Princess was [[PutOnABus unceremoniously booted.]] |
| 103 | * [[ComicBook/SilentHill Scott Ciencin's comic book adaptations]] of ''Franchise/SilentHill''. Just about the only things preserved is the name of the town, a cult, and a list of monsters, something that's pretty jarring as they were [[WorldOfSymbolism designed to be symbolically attached to very particular characters of their specific stories]], but are presented here without context. The behavior of said villainous cult and monsters are entirely unlike what's presented in the games, and the depiction of the town itself from the games as [[PsychologicalTormentZone a dark, knowing force that attracts and inflicts trauma]] instead gets a proxy in the form of [[CreepyChild an evil girl in a white dress]] with [[BrattyHalfPint bratty snark]] and [[SirSwearsalot a filthy pottymouth]]. |
| 104 | * Many of the characters in the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' series of {{Elseworld}}s are notably different from their mainstream continuity counterparts: |
| 105 | ** Of particular note is Dr. Otto Octavius, one of the primary antagonists of ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir: Eyes Without a Face''. ''Noir'''s version of the character is a sickly, emaciated, wheelchair-bound neurologist. He's a white South African, a Nazi sympathizer, and heir to a large fortune. His actions are motivated by racism. The only thing he has in common with mainline Dr. Octopus is the use of mechanical arms, in this case surgical aids attached to his chair. |
| 106 | ** In ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'', there aren't even mutants. Instead, Professor Xavier has a theory that TheUnfettered are the next stage of human evolution, leading to an entire team of non-powered [[TheSociopath Sociopaths]] that share names and a couple of character traits with the mutant heroes. |
| 107 | * This trope is a deliberate unifying premise in DC's "Creator/TangentComics" line and the "ComicBook/{{Just Imagine Stan Lee|CreatingTheDCUniverse}}" series. Unlike {{Elseworld}}s, which is a re-imagining of a DC character that usually retains most of the core elements, Tangent and Just Imagine attach the existing names to completely different characters with different powers, costumes, origins, appearances, and personalities -- the latter having been co-designed by Stan Lee. Usually, the only common element is that they're metahumans in a modern setting. For instance, ComicBook/TheAtom's standard take is that he's a scientist who uses dwarf star matter to shrink down to microscopic size, with the most famous holders of the name being named Ryan Choi and Ray Palmer, and a relative lesser light among the DCU's heroes. Meanwhile, the Tangent version of the Atom is named Adam Thompson, and is more of a SupermanSubstitute, with density-manipulation powers that he uses to become a FlyingBrick and a reputation for being one of his world's A-listers. |
| 108 | ** Stan Lee's versions, however, are a bit closer to their traditional counterparts than the Tangent ones: Superman is still a HumanAlien, Batman is still a BadassNormal, Wonder Woman still has a connection to mythology (although Myth/IncaMythology instead of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek]]), Flash is still a [[SuperSpeed speedster]] and Catwoman still [[AntiHero has kleptomaniac tendencies]]. |
| 109 | * In the foreword to the ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' Trade Paperback "Gods and Mortals", George Perez mentions that there were several proposals for the ComicBook/PostCrisis [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 reboot of Wonder Woman]], some of which had nothing in common with the original but the name. See also the "white-suited BadassNormal kung-fu superspy" [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 era from the early-to-mid 70s]], which has its fans but has hardly anything to do with any other version of the character. |
| 110 | * Back in the early 2000s, Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} decided to radically revamp two titles -- ''ComicBook/XForce'' and ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''. ''X-Force'' went from the exploits of a mutant paramilitary team to the exploits of a completely different mutant celebrity superhero team obsessed with fame. The title was well-received critically, partially because it inverted the whole "hated and feared" aspect of mutant culture -- after 14 issues it was relaunched as ''ComicBook/XStatix''. ''Thunderbolts'', on the other hand, went from the tales of a team of former supervillains seeking redemption to following an underground fight ring centered around C-list villains. This change was much less well-received. |
| 111 | * DC Comics created several characters during MediaNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}}, but by the end of WWII the interest in superheroes died down, and most titles (except Superman and Batman) were closed or moved to other genres. The [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] began with the relaunch of ComicBook/TheFlash: besides the name, the speed, and a few costume elements, Barry Allen had nothing in common with Jay Garrick, and his first appearance established that Jay Garrick was a fictional character in-universe. The same thing was done with ComicBook/GreenLantern, ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}, and others. But the prize goes to ComicBook/TheAtom, who went from a rough-and-tumble boxer who was kinda short to a physicist who could shrink to subatomic size. |
| 112 | ** Though in this case, things were {{retcon}}ned twice. The first time, it was revealed that the Golden Age characters lived on [[AlternateUniverse Earth-2]], while MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} characters lived on Earth-1. |
| 113 | ** The second time it was retconned to fit into the new continuity created by ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths. Alan Scott, for instance, was revealed to have received his power from the Starheart, an artifact created by the Guardians of the Universe (i.e., the same guys who made the Franchise/GreenLantern rings), and Jay Garrick and Barry Allen were later revealed to both have received their power from the "speed force". |
| 114 | ** ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} is a particularly odd example. In the Golden Age, he was an archaeologist who discovered that he was the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince. In the Silver Age, he was an alien cop who came to Earth pursuing a fugitive from his own culture and decided to hang around. However, while the two have very different origins, they're also weirdly and inexplicably ''similar''--their appearances are the same, they have nearly identical costumes, equipment, and powers, they both have a sidekick named Hawkgirl, and even their civilian names are practically homophones of each other (Carter Hall versus Katar Hol). Much of the notorious ContinuitySnarl surrounding him is because of post-Crisis writers trying to somehow combine the two. |
| 115 | ** Since DC's business theory (such as it is) is about hanging onto trademarks as long as possible, they have a long history of reusing names in some odd fashion or another. Such as the 1940s superhero Johnny Thunder, the 1950s cowboy Johnny Thunder, and the 1980s noir detective Jonni Thunder. Or all those unrelated characters named ComicBook/{{Starman|DCComics}}. This often leads to the point where a story tries to [[ArcWelding reconcile these different incarnations somehow]]. |
| 116 | ** This got something of a nod in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', where the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason, a two-fisted BadassNormal whose name basically just referred to the fact that he fought crime at night, passed the name onto Dan Dreiberg, a GadgeteerGenius with a very heavy owl theme. Dan picked up the name because he idolized Mason as a kid, and asked permission beforehand. (Specifically, it's a nod to Steve Ditko's very heavy revamp of the ComicBook/BlueBeetle.) |
| 117 | * When Creator/VertigoComics publish a series that shares a name with a Creator/DCComics property, that, and a few loose concepts, will be ''all'' it shares (with a few exceptions, such as ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'', ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', and ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol''). The most extreme example (if you don't count ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', which did at least feature the original character in two brief cameos) was ''Beware ComicBook/TheCreeper!'' which was about a 1920s Parisian surrealist who wore a costume vaguely similar to Jack Ryder's. |
| 118 | * ''ComicBook/Runaways2015'': |
| 119 | ** The series being released during the ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' storyline, while ostensibly inspired by the CultClassic ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series, features only one member of the original cast, and has a very different plot. |
| 120 | ** Most of the ''Secret Wars'' storylines go in a vastly different direction from the original storylines they're named after, while still sharing ''some'' connection with the original stories. Take Planet Hulk for example: [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk the original storyline]] is about the Hulk being launched into space and landing on a war-torn planet, while the Secret Wars tie in is about [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] and Devil Dinosaur traveling through a Hulk-populated wasteland. |
| 121 | * The ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel relaunch of ''The Illuminati''. Previously the Illuminati was a team of heroes who tried to police and protect the world in secret, and they eventually had a villainous counterpart in Norman Osborn's Cabal. The ANADM series focuses on a group of villains brought together by the Hood to protect villains from heroes. |
| 122 | * In the ComicBook/New52 version of ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', this was a criticism of Bart Allen/Kid Flash. The original was Barry Allen's FunPersonified [[KidFromTheFuture Grandkid from the Future]]; at first the new Bart seemed to fit in personality, but he had IdentityAmnesia and had apparently never worked with ComicBook/TheFlash before. As time goes on, we learn that his real name is Barr Tor (Bart Allen being an alias) and that while he is from the future, he is unrelated to Barry Allen and does not use the Speed Force. Also, he started a galactic war and is wanted for war crimes, which rapidly takes a DarkerAndEdgier toll on his personality. Like the example below, DC later brought back the original Bart Allen as a separate character stating he'd been trapped in the Speed Force since the beginning of the New 52. |
| 123 | ** The same is true for Wally West. He was still Iris West's nephew, but he now had a RaceLift and an AgeLift; the latter was a problem, because it meant that he had no connection to his former friends like Dick Grayson, who were still portrayed as adults post-reboot. He was also a hoodlum with a more sullen personality. Eventually ComicBook/DCRebirth brought the original Wally back and {{Ret Con}}ned the new version into his same-named cousin (though a later retcon undid the "cousin" aspect and confirmed the newer Wally was literally meant to replace the original). |
| 124 | * ''ComicBook/XMenPhoenixLegacyOfFire'' is a X-Men series that doesn't really share many things in common with X-Men and its themes: firstly, the characters are {{demihuman}}s from another dimension instead of {{mutants}}; secondly, while many names and terms are familiar they aren't necessarily the same (the main protagonist Jena Pyre is intended to be ComicBook/JeanGrey with Madelyne being her older sister instead of her clone and the comic's setting is named Limbo after Belasco's domain in the mainstream continuity) and lastly, despite the team's name in the title, they aren't actually featured in the comic and has absolutely no relation with X-Men from the Manga/MarvelMangaverse, which is the same continuity that ''Legacy of Fire'' belongs to. |
| 125 | * One of the more controversial aspects of [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW IDW's 2005 Transformers series]] was their tendency to completely reinvent popular characters. Characters like Arcee, Elita 1, Spike Witwicky, and Star Saber, who were all originally kind and heroic, are made antagonistic and violent and have almost nothing in common with other incarnations of themselves. Inversely, Cyclonus, who's a villainous Decepticon in most media, is turned into an unaligned anti-hero with no relationship to the Decepticons. Likewise, Galvatron, who is often Megatron upgraded by Unicron, is a completely separate character (a MythologyGag to his toy, which also claimed he was his own 'bot to avoid spoiling the film). |
| 126 | * The ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars Sourcebook'' was fairly infamous for doing this: despite being intended as a reference book, several characters (''especially'' Japanese ones) had their personalities rewritten on purpose, sometimes to hook up better with the established universe, sometimes adding implications that were never there in their original appearances, and sometimes just writing them as the exact opposite of what they used to be. One of the more notorious is Mantis, who, in his original appearances, was a territorial and irritable loner who'd attack his own allies if they tried getting close to him--in the sourcebook, he's described as friendly, even-tempered, and approachable. |
| 127 | * Tom Scioli deliberately [[InvokedTrope invoked this]] for ''ComicBook/TransformersVsGIJoe''. Rather than make a straight adaptation/crossover, he chose to mostly ignore the official lore and make stuff up based on the toys themselves, crafting the feeling of a kid playing with action figures and making up stories as they go along. Thus you get stuff like Destro being an immortal cyborg rather than an arms dealer or Ultra Magnus as TheGrimReaper rather than a no-nonsense commander. That said, there's also a lot of {{Mythology Gag}}s that confirm that Scioli is very familiar with both. This is taken even further with a special that was apparently meant to be [[RecursiveAdaptation a comic adaptation of a nonexistent film that adapted the original story]], where the process has essentially turned it into an in-name-only adaptation of an in-name-only adaptation. |
| 128 | * ''ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'': Marvel's many versions of the character often don't have a lot to do with each other; some share a vague connection to the Kree or Mar-Vell, but Monica Rambeau in particular had basically nothing to do with any of it, especially at her debut. This is largely due to the original owner of the name in the Marvel Universe being [[DeaderThanDead pretty permanently dead]], but also Marvel wanting to retain the trademark ([[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} if only to keep DC from snapping it up]]), and therefore the name got passed around a lot. [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]] seems to have finally locked down the mantle, though, and is sort of a LegacyCharacter to Mar-Vell, so it looks like things have worked out. |
| 129 | * Towards the end of ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'', a group named the Hulkbusters formed -- though instead of the armed forces group meant to fight the Hulk, this version was a trio of gamma mutants consisting of the Hulk himself, She-Hulk, and Doc Samson. |
| 130 | * ''ComicBook/BillyMajesticsHumptyDumpty'' has very little to do with the original nursery rhyme. Instead of being about a sentient egg falling from a wall and irreparably breaking into pieces, the story is about an egg-shaped HalfHumanHybrid conceived from a redneck [[ChildByRape raping an alien woman]] who proceeds to try and kill his father and uncle to avenge the aliens the rednecks killed. |
| 131 | * This was explicitly called out in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', where a new version of ComicBook/InfinityInc debuts. A lot of them have the same names (Skyman, Jade, Fury, Nuklon), but that's where the similarities end; most of them have very different powers and outfits, and no connection to the originals. As it turns out, this is because they're sponsored by Luthor, who bought the rights to the name and trademarked a bunch of other codenames for the sake of name recognition (and also to dare the JSA to try starting something). This ends up being particularly aggravating to Obsidian, who was Jade's twin brother and is ''very'' annoyed to see his dead sister's name borrowed like that. |
| 132 | * The only thing the ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'' version of John Wraith has in common with his main counterpart is the name and a connection to the Weapon X program. Everything else about the man is different, though as the original Wraith was a black mutant who was one of the program's victims and the ''Ultimate'' version is a white human in charge of Weapon X. |
| 133 | * In the ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse, there's a team called X-Patrol, which, in theory, is ComicBook/XForce merged with ComicBook/DoomPatrol. In practice, important members of both teams were AdaptedOut, while characters who aren't related to the teams were added to the mix. The ''only'' character who really is a pure result of [one X-Force's member + one Doom Patrol's member] is the team's leader Niles Cable, who's Cable (from X-Force) merged with Niles Caulder (from Doom Patrol). Elasti-Girl, being a merge of her DC's namesake with Domino, ''would'' also qualify... if she hadn't [[ComicBook/TheWasp Janet van Dyne]] added to the combination, to the point of being her civilian name. |
| 134 | ** For the Doom Patrol's part: Important members like Robotman, Negative Man and Mento were AdaptedOut, while DC characters who aren't members of the Patrol ([[ComicBook/TeenTitans Starfire]], ComicBook/DialHForHero, [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes Ferro Lad]]) were taken into the amalgamated group. |
| 135 | ** For the X-Force part: Paige Guhtrie and Hank [=McCoy=] were never part of the team. Neither was the Wasp, who isn't even a mutant, in first place. |
| 136 | * ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn2021'' has nothing to do with the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn''. The original spun out of ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' and put ComicBook/TheAvengers and ComicBook/FantasticFour in a pocket universe (and the hands of Creator/RobLiefeld and Creator/JimLee) for about a year real time. The 2021 event spins off from ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJasonAaron'' and involves Mephisto's version of the ComicBook/SquadronSupreme and alterations to reality in the main Marvel Universe. Likewise, this also applies to the one-shot ending the 2021 event, ''Heroes Return'', whereas the original ''ComicBook/HeroesReturn'' was about the Avengers and Fantastic Four returning to their home universe (and specifically in the article's case, the Avengers reforming). |
| 137 | * ''ComicBook/{{Demon Days|MarvelComics}}'', an Elseworld story by Japanese illustrator Peach Momoko, uses a lot of characters inspired by characters in the Marvel universe -- Sai is a version of ComicBook/{{Psylocke}}, [=JuJu=] is a version of ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}}, Hulkmaru is an {{Oni}}-version of [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]]. But that's pretty much where the similarities end -- for example, Logan is there, but he's Sai's [[CanineCompanion dog]] and Venom is a [[SnakesAreSinister giant snake demon]]. |
| 138 | * While the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comic did turn the Condiment King from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' into a CanonImmigrant, all he really had in common is the gimmick. [[AdaptationNameChange The original character was named Buddy Standler, whereas the comic one was named Mitchell Mayo]]. And that's not the only difference: Standler was stocky and Mayo [[LeanAndMean thin]], [[AgeLift Standler was an adult and Mayo started off a teenager]], [[AdaptationalJobChange Standler was a comedian and Mayo worked in fast food]], Standler wore mostly blue and white, while Mayo was RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver; and most importantly, Standler was a one-shot character who was BrainwashedAndCrazy into a HarmlessVillain by the Joker in one of his more EvilIsPetty moods, while [[AdaptationalVillainy Mayo is willingly a villain]] [[AdaptationalBadass who eventually became a]] NotSoHarmlessVillain. |
| 139 | [[/folder]] |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 142 | * ''Fanfic/AlwaysVisible'': The only characters from the film who retained their names - namely Delia, Jerome and Jo - were completely redesigned. |
| 143 | * ''WebAnimation/BartTheGeneral'' has very few characters from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[[note]]Homer (who starts being called "Omarn" around Episode 3), Bart (who starts being called "Berton" around Episode 2), Marge, Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, and Smithers appear. Lisa (who is green for some reason), Rod, and Todd also cameo in the first episode only to die. Millhouse is referred to but never actually appears[[/note]] and is generally nothing like the show. This becomes more noticeable in Episodes 2 and 3, which show that the world of Springfield -- er, ''Duckberg'' -- is completely different and filled with bizarre side-characters. The plot is instead something about [[Series/{{Neighbours}} Toadfish and Stonefish]] coming in to Springfield to "take over," [[Series/HouseMD Dr. House]] falling out of a living airplane, and some... cult-thing ran by a purple jaguar killing people over a video tape Bart/Berton made of Marge in the shower. It could very well involve completely original characters and still make the same amount of sense it does. [[MindScrew Which is to say, very little.]] |
| 144 | * ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' gradually devolves into what may as well be an original story with some characters who coincidentally share their names with characters from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. |
| 145 | * ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902145 Civil Wars, Whistleblower Tactics, Schematic Drafting, And The Finer Points Of Sith Adoption: The Essential How-To Guide For The Engineering Jedi]]'' is theoretically a ''Franchise/StarWars'' fanfic taking place some time before the events of A New Hope. In practice, basically no characters or organizations that have any screentime (barring Palpatine) have more than passing resemblance to their characters. The original series is a SpaceOpera about the conflict between the evil Empire and the heroic Rebel Alliance. This fanfic series is more of a family oriented military slice-of-life story. |
| 146 | ** Luke, rather than a somewhat whiny NaiveNewcomer AcePilot, is instead a GadgeteerGenius on par with Tony Stark while also being an extremely charismatic public speaker and a total ball of sunshine that basically everyone adores. He's also apparently talented at basically everything from surgery to tracking to molecular engineering, and can consciously use the Force despite no training. |
| 147 | ** Darth Vader in canon TheHeavy who is quick to [[YouHaveFailedMe execute any underlings who fail him]] and is perfectly willing to murder his own son if he refuses to join him. Here, he acts like a doting mother towards Luke, whom he has no idea is related to him, to the extent of ''singing lullabies to him'' when the young man is injured. While in canon, Vader ruthlessly killed Admiral Ozzel for bungling an attack on the rebels and nearly murdered Admiral Motti for insulting him, this Vader doesn't do more than glare at Piett for openly defying him at every turn. |
| 148 | ** The canon Empire were for all intents and purposes [[ANaziByAnyOtherName space nazis]] and usually the only "good" ones were lower level members of the military who often defected. In this series, almost all seem to be genuinely nice people who emphasize tolerance towards others with the one notable exception being Admiral Piett. |
| 149 | %%* [[http://spoon300.deviantart.com/gallery/31302955 Doctor Who: The Manga]] |
| 150 | * The works of ''Creator/HansVonHozel'' often do this almost literally, since some only reference the title of the work they are based on. |
| 151 | ** His ''Manga/{{Gravitation}}'' and ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'' fics are particularly blatant examples. |
| 152 | ** His ''Film/RushHour'' fic is actually about the ''board game'' of the same name. |
| 153 | ** Also, his ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'' fics are essentially about wars between the Beatles (who can only say "Liverpol") and ABBA. |
| 154 | * The only thing tying mauroz's ''Webcomic/FriendshipIsMagic'' series with [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the show it is based on]] is the name of the comic series and characters, bringing it closer to a MagicalGirl manga. |
| 155 | * ''Fanfic/FriendshipIsMagicalGirls'' is an In Name Only version of mauroz's comic. Despite sharing a similar premise ({{Magical Girl}}s) and a similar name, it is entirely different. When confronted about it, the author claims that he wanted "to do something a bit different than Mauroz's magical girl comic strip". |
| 156 | * Also, while we're in the topic of this, do not confuse ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' with ''{{WebAnimation/EQUESTRIA GIRLS}}'' (yes, it is in all caps). The two [[StylisticSuck very clearly]] do not have anything to do with each other, apart from the characters. |
| 157 | * ''FanFic/HomestuckHigh'' bears very little resemblance to the original Homestuck, with the only thing even remotely related to the alleged source material being the character names and the title of the fic itself, and after the first chapter has nothing to do with high school. |
| 158 | %%* ''Fanfic/MyBravePonyStarfleetMagic''. |
| 159 | %%* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7444084 Robo Bando]] is this to ''Manga/ElfenLied''. |
| 160 | * "New Universe Three: The Friendship Virus" by Chatoyance manages to simultaneously be a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction ''and'' a ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureau Conversion Bureau]]'' story in name only. |
| 161 | ** Ponies are not present except for a few offhand mentions of the show itself. |
| 162 | ** The eponymous bureaus of ''The Conversion Bureau'' are not present and there is no [[{{Animorphism}} human-to-pony transformation]]. Instead, the bureau is a bioterrorist group inspired by [=MLP:FiM=] to engineer and release a SyntheticPlague that feminizes men. |
| 163 | * On a broader note, ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheChatoverse The Chatoverse]]'' shares little more than superficial trappings of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. |
| 164 | * About everything written by Creator/PeterChimaera falls into this category. Off course, this is to be expected, as Chimeara is known for his intentional poor grasp of the source material he writes about. Highlights include: |
| 165 | ** His [[Fanfic/PeterChimaerasDigimonTrilogy trilogy of Digimon fanfics]]. None of the characters and concepts of the real ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise appear or are mentioned in these stories. In fact, the only thing related to Digimon is the name, but even that is improperly used, as Peter Chimaera uses it for a single character, rather than a collective term for multiple species of digital beings, as it is in the real franchise. |
| 166 | ** His ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' fanfic really takes this trope literally. In an authors note, Chimaera tells the reader that someone requested him to write a Cowboy Bebop fanfic. But because he never watched the anime, he instead decided to write about Bebop from ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' taking on the role of a cowboy, making this a literal Cowboy Bebop fanfic. |
| 167 | * Pretty much the only things related to ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' that ''[[https://www.roblox.com/games/493629299/Crossover-Sonic-3D-RPG-V3 Crossover Sonic 3D RPG]]'', a Platform/{{Roblox}} game, has are the FunnyAnimal characters, rings, Chaos/Fake/Sol Emeralds, and certain character animations. The game revolves around TheCorruption, a smog which infects people with purple fungi and turns them aggressive, and the Hero who saved the uninfected. |
| 168 | * The much-loved ''Fanfic/ThirtyHs'' bears no resemblance to ''Literature/HarryPotter'' aside from a few character names, and even those are often altered. |
| 169 | * Basically every single character in ''Fanfic/HogwartsSchoolOfPrayerAndMiracles'', but the Dursleys and Voldemort are some of the most glaringly obvious examples. (The Dursleys are a nice, loving family, Petunia is a career-woman, and Voldemort is [[spoiler:an internet-troll mocking atheist stereotypes by deliberately posting exaggerated versions of them on his Reddit-account.]]) |
| 170 | * [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11499076/1/The-Last-Brony-Kingdom-Hearts-With-a-Black-Sora ''The Last Brony: Kingdom Hearts With a Black Sora'']] is almost nothing like ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. Black Sora and Black Riku have the same names as their original counterparts, but they are otherwise completely different characters. The Heartless and Keyblade do make an appearance, but they have very little effect on the plot. And the "similarities" end there. |
| 171 | * Creator/CallistoHime 's two ''Zelda''/''Fire Emblem'' crossovers, ''Time Cannot Erase'' and ''Among the Ashes'', are this in regards to the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' saga, as her portrayal of the characters and nations are completely off. This is mostly due to the fact that at the time of the writing her knowledge of ''Fire Emblem'' was limited only to the info in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''. |
| 172 | * Fanfic/ContractLabor: Keitaro Urashima has his canon counterpart's looks and ChildhoodMarriagePromise; everything else is completely different, especially his personality. The story itself has only minor bits of canon's RomCom HaremAnime roots, instead being DarkerAndEdgier with more focus on the younger girls being buillied and Keitaro frequently using his family's connections to get things done. Even the ChildhoodMarriagePromise and Keitaro's desire to enroll at Tokyo University are at best rarely mentioned, instead of being the main focus. |
| 173 | * Part of the reason ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' was able to pass itself off as an original story was that its original form as ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' fanfic was pretty deep into this territory. On top of being a TransplantedCharacterFic, the Edward and Bella in ''Master of the Universe'' don't have much in common with Meyer's Edward and Bella; it's very hard to imagine the Edward Cullen who stayed a virgin for over a century and stridently opposed sex before marriage being into BDSM. |
| 174 | * Parodied in ''WebVideo/GrittyReboots''. Its ''If You Give A Mouse A Cookie'' trailer has the bare minimum to do with the original picture book. It's a gritty ''horror'' movie where the mouse is a murderer. |
| 175 | * ''Fanfic/CitadelOfTheHeart'': |
| 176 | ** Usually, the SeriesFic has this stick with primarily the characterization of canon characters, or the few canon characters with so little characterization that an OCStandIn is used instead. |
| 177 | ** In terms of actual fics which are more or less this on a broader scale, [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12318020/1/Sword-Art-Online-Special-Edition ''Sword Art Online: Special Edition'']] is this to ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' due to the larger emphasis on the real world, some of the noteworthy villains from the canon being either downplayed with almost none of them reprising their BigBad roles, and the biggest example being the mixture of AIs which can materialize into the real world via HardLight akin to Franchise/{{Digimon}} or the presence of {{Physical God}}s who pose an OutsideContextProblem altogether. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, and the]] SharedUniverse aspect going on between it and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12752772/1/Reflection-Code ''Reflection Code'']], a fic based on ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. |
| 178 | * ''FanFic/MyImmortal'' is allegedly a Literature/HarryPotter fanfic; however, it can be hard to tell at times. The focus is mostly on an original character, and there are some others like her. All of the Harry Potter characters featured are rather unlike their canon selves, and some gain new names immediately after being introduced. The characters do go to Hogwarts, but it's a dozen chapters before anyone casts a spell. The setting itself has some differences as well - most blatantly, the wizarding world interacts with the muggle world oddly frequently (for instance, the protagonists are huge fans of Music/MyChemicalRomance despite the fact that they're wizards and it's a muggle band, and several such muggle bands manage to perform in places they normally would be unaware of). |
| 179 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax|2012}}'''s fandom was pretty infamous for this at its height, as the majority of its content was TransplantedCharacterFic starring the Once-ler and nobody else. This led to [[FountainOfExpies a vast proliferation of alternate-universe versions of the character]], most of whom proceeded to interact exclusively with either characters from other properties or ''other'' alternate-universe versions of the character rather than the film's actual cast. When the fandom went on the wane, many blogs featuring alt-Once-lers rebranded themselves as blogs featuring [[AscendedFanfic original characters]]--and this really didn't take much work, as usually the only things those characters had in common with the original was being a skinny pale guy with a mildly dorky personality. |
| 180 | * At the peak of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''[='s=] popularity, it was notorious for featuring the "Once-ler problem" almost to the letter with Sans; most of them, no matter how ambitious the basic concept and no matter the effects it could have on rest of the game's cast, only explored things from Sans's (and occasionally Papyrus's) point of view, resulting in a huge number of alternate-universe Sanses that mostly interacted with characters from other [=IPs=]--and just like the Once-ler, there were entire [=AUs=] dedicated to all of these Sanses meeting and hanging out with each other, making the connections to ''Undertale'' even more tenuous. Unlike with the Once-ler, almost all of these AU counterparts were still recognizably Sans at the end of the day, so when things started cooling off in the fandom, they were mostly abandoned instead of being retooled into original characters. |
| 181 | * ''Fanfic/TheNutdealerExpandedUniverse'' is a more literal example than usual -- the series's entire premise is crackfics based on anagrams of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'''s titles, and no actual elements from the source games appeared until the ninth entry, "Elated Run". "Unrelated" lampshades this with one of its tags being "this is getting so far from the source material omg". |
| 182 | * Jeffrey Keith Wong’s MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''Just Won't Die'' involves Ranma Saotome having a personal vendetta against Genom due to the death of his family from boomers. However, while Ranma has his canon counterpart's looks and past, his personality resembles a good counterpart of Happosai, and his fighting style is something more out of Anime/DragonBallZ then the original series. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 186 | * The 1997 animated film ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'' was supposedly "based on" the play by Marcel Maurette. Creator/DonBluth turned it into a musical with Rasputin as an undead sorcerer with a talking bat sidekick, among other changes (the play had already been faithfully adapted to a 1956 film starring Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman). |
| 187 | * The [[WesternAnimation/CaptainSabertooth animated adaptation]] of ''[[Theatre/CaptainSabertooth Captain Sabertooth and the Magic Diamond]]'' has only some of the bare bones of the plot. Justified since the original play, the songs aside, was pretty unimaginative to begin with. |
| 188 | * ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers the original cartoon series]]. The film is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry, with Chip and Dale being AnimatedActors who had the series serve as the height of their careers. |
| 189 | * Lampshaded in Creator/WaltDisney's original ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' in the Nutcracker Suite segment. The narrator says "You won't see any nutcracker on the screen. There's nothing left of him but the title." |
| 190 | * ''Anime/FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin'' is a noted example. Direct sequels notwithstanding, the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games all take place in different settings, but at least have some shared elements: fantasy worlds (with {{steampunk}} and bits and pieces of sci-fi increasingly mixed in for later games), heavy use of magic, swordplay, revolutionaries, tyrannical political institutions, series mainstay creatures like Chocobos, etc. Unlike the high fantasy settings of the games, the film was set in a distantly futuristic Earth, one that had essentially none of these mainstay elements. |
| 191 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' takes place in ancient Greece, and the main character is the son of Zeus and has SuperStrength. After that point, similarities start getting thin on the ground. The setting is a PurelyAestheticEra, and the plot is more a blend of ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' than any myth featuring Hercules. Hercules is significantly altered from a man of divine lineage empowered by the milk of Hera to a full-blooded god whose power was mostly drained by the minions of Hades, and he goes through heavy AdaptationalHeroism. Meanwhile, the main antagonist of the story is [[EverybodyHatesHades changed from Hera to Hades]], who was a minor and relatively friendly character in the original story. Many other ideas, such as Philoctedes or the film's portrayal of Megaera beyond her name and status as a love interest, are entirely invented. There are shout-outs to the original myths in there, like visual nods to the Twelve Labors and the climax being loosely similar to the Gigantomachy, but it's very much its own beast. |
| 192 | * The Creator/{{DreamWorks|Animation}} [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2010 adaptation]] of ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon''. While some character names are the same, the plot and setting is otherwise completely different. (An article linked to on [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] said the new directors found the original story too "sweet and whimsical") |
| 193 | * Though [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney the Disney version]] of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is often accused of {{Disneyfication}}, it has absolutely nothing on the Creator/GoldenFilms [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameGoldenFilms version]] [[TheMockbuster released the same year]]. It takes place in Notre Dame Cathedral, the plot involves a hunchback named Quasimodo falling in love with a Romani woman, the antagonist's name includes "Claude", and there's a character named Pierre. ''Everything else'' is different. For some idea, the Esmerelda character is named [[AdaptationNameChange Melody]] and has the ability to bring musical instruments to life (said talking instruments serve as the film's main comic relief and are arguably the focal characters), Quasimodo is not deformed but rather a handsome man whose hunchback arose from difficult work and is corrected with better posture, and the film's antagonist is Jean-Claude and is essentially an {{Expy}} of [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]] with the twist of being Quasimodo's half-brother. The film ends with Quasimodo and Melody getting together and living happily ever after--the original has a complete DownerEnding, and even the Disney film famously ends with DidNotGetTheGirl. |
| 194 | * Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'' bears little resemblance to [[Literature/TheJungleBook Kipling's original]] except for a few character names and the basic premise of a boy RaisedByWolves: |
| 195 | ** It turned Kaa into a literal SmugSnake, Baloo into a hedonist, and Bagheera into something of a godfather. |
| 196 | ** Mowgli is changed from a NobleSavage to a BrattyHalfPint. |
| 197 | ** At one point in the Kipling stories, Kaa the python hypnotizes a troupe of monkeys into becoming his helpless (ahem) dinner guests; later on, Mowgli singes Shere Khan's fur with a burning branch, and when that fails to get rid of him, Mowgli and the wolves stampede a herd of water-buffalo over him. As if that wasn't enough, in the story "Red Dog", Mowgli causes the marauding dogs of the title to be attacked by millions of angry bees; those who survive this by jumping into the river are attacked by Mowgli with a knife, and any that are left must then face Mowgli and his enraged wolf pack. Incidentally, Mowgli does most of this while he's naked. It should come as no surprise that none of this (save the part where Mowgli fights Shere Khan with a burning branch) makes it into the Disney version. |
| 198 | ** Hathi is a bumbling but benevolent ModernMajorGeneral, rather than the heavily scarred, human-hating ShellShockedVeteran from the stories. |
| 199 | ** Shere Khan is a suave and dangerous badass, rather than the crippled but occasionally dangerous shadow of a once great predator from the book. |
| 200 | ** King Louie is a CanonForeigner; the monkeys in the book, called ''Bandar-log'', have no leader. [[note]] In fact, Louie has no right to be there in the first place, since [[MisplacedWildlife there are no orangutans in India]]. [[/note]] The vultures aren't present in the book either; the most prominent bird character is Chil the Kite. |
| 201 | ** The pronunciation of Mowgli's name is entirely wrong -- the first syllable is supposed to rhyme with "cow," as Kipling himself suggested, rather than with "crow," as Disney's version does. |
| 202 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueGodsAndMonsters'', much like the Creator/TangentComics and ''ComicBook/{{Just Imagine|StanLeeCreatingTheDCUniverse}}'' continuities, takes place in a version of the DC Universe where familiar names are used, but the characters in question don't really have much in common with their namesakes. The most blatant example is this continuity's Wonder Woman, who is Bekka of [[ComicBook/NewGods New Genesis]] rather than Diana of Themyscira. |
| 203 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI'' incorporates many of the original songs and characters from [[Theatre/TheKingAndI the Rodgers and Hammerstein play of the same name]] that it was based on, but in trying to be kid-friendly introduced many plot elements, comic relief, and supporting characters that made it jarringly dissimilar from the play. There's now a villainous subplot by [[EvilChancellor Kralahome]] to take over the Kingdom of Siam, evil wizardry, a generic teenage romance, and annoyingly cute animal sidekicks. Fans of the play and moviegoers alike did not take kindly to this version and [[DisownedAdaptation the estates of Rodgers and Hammerstein pulled all support for anymore animated films based on the duo's works]]. |
| 204 | * ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'': |
| 205 | ** The [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 first movie]] does keep the essentials of the original Creator/WilliamSteig [[Literature/{{Shrek}} book]] (a fairytale satire about a disgusting ogre who befriends a donkey, fights a dragon, and marries an ugly princess) but otherwise has a very different story. |
| 206 | ** While it's more of a spinoff of the ''Shrek'' series, ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011'' has very little to do with [[Literature/PussInBoots the original fairy tale]]. The only thing the two have in common is that there is a talking cat that wears boots. |
| 207 | * ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' has not much to do with the ''Literature/SinbadTheSailor'' mythos aside from the titular character's name. Instead of the traditional ''Literature/ArabianNights'' setting, the title character is a Greek adventurer/sailor. |
| 208 | * The ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' Tinker Bell movies were extremely different from the books in that they got rid of most of the book characters altogether and completely changed the personalities of all those who were left (including the titular character). Examples include Clarion, who stopped going by a nickname and used her full name and title instead, and who stayed out of the majority of the action, unlike the books. Vidia became a main character and her major Jerkass moments were excluded, making her a much sweeter person. It also got rid of the plot of the books in favor of more family-friendly stories and gave Tinker Bell a much nicer personality, removing her snark, and a twin sister. |
| 209 | * Aside from the names, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has very little in common with the comics it's inspired by, including {{Race Lift}}ing the entire team and moving the setting from Japan to [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]], an AlternateHistory version of San Francisco. |
| 210 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManSpiderVerse'': Outside the concept of having multiple Spider-Heroes from across the multiverse meet, none of the ''Spider-Verse'' films have anything to do with the plot of the 2014 ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' storyline from the comics, where hundreds of Spiders must come together to defeat Morlun and his family, or any of its sequels, which revolve around maintaining and protecting the Web of Life and Destiny. In fact, the first installment (''[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse Into the Spider-Verse]]'') has far more in common with the plot of the 2012 ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'' storyline, as both have Peter Parker enter Miles' dimension and serve as a mentor for the novice superhero. |
| 211 | * ''WesternAnimation/ChickenhareAndTheHamsterOfDarkness'' has nothing to do with the ''ComicBook/{{Chickenhare}}'' graphic novels, aside from the fact that the main character is a half chicken/half hare FunnyAnimal and his turtle friend is named Abe. There's also a female character named Meg, but instead of being a half demon, she appears as a skunk. Instead of following the original source, it's a family film about an Franchise/IndianaJones-esque hero who looks for a treasure with his friends, hoping to earn some respect from the people who bully him. Not to mention that the main character looks like [[{{WesternAnimation/Zootopia}} Judy Hopps's]] lost mutant brother, which suggests that the filmmakers are milking the furry wave ignited by Disney. |
| 212 | * The 1966 Creator/GeneDeitch adaptation of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', even when one accounts for being only twelve minutes long, is, charitably, loose. The broad strokes of the plot are there, as are a handful of setpieces, and the main character is still a hobbit named Bilbo trying to defeat a dragon, but everything else is changed so heavily as to be near-unrecognizable. The non-Thorin dwarves, the elves of Rivendell and Mirkwood, the Great Goblin, the wargs, the eagles, Beorn, the spiders, the Laketowners, Bard, the Battle of Five Armies, and Bolg are all absent entirely. Random character names are changed or mispronounced (Smaug is now Slag, Thorin is Torin, the trolls are "groans"), and [[CanonForeigner an entire new character is added in the form of Princess Mika]], who serves as a DesignatedLoveInterest for Bilbo. And what scenes do carry over are heavily altered, including the addition of a [[TheChosenOne prophecy]], the "groans" turning into trees instead of stone, the riddle-game being cut out, and a sequence of Bilbo defeating "Slag" by shooting him with a giant crossbow with an arrowhead made of the Arkenstone. All in all, there's maybe 10% of the book in there--which isn't surprising, being an AshcanCopy and all. |
| 213 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''Franchise/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was a ShowWithinAShow from the 90s that inspired the show Andy watched as a child that in turn inspired the ''Buzz Lightyear'' toyline, but the movie has little to do with any of the few details that were given about the ''Buzz Lightyear'' franchise in ''Toy Story'' universe (that is, an AffectionateParody of [[SpaceOpera space operas]] like ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Franchise/StarWars''). |
| 214 | [[/folder]] |
| 215 | |
| 216 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 217 | * The author of the ''{{Literature/Alatriste}}'' novels, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, related in an interview his encounter with two screenwriters who wanted to "adapt" his character for the movie screen. Their proposal was to toss both plot and historical reality aside and make instead a drama about the relationship between Alatriste and the Queen of Spain (a person he never interacts with in the books), who would be revealed to have grown up in poverty with Alatriste before making it big and becoming queen. |
| 218 | * For various reasons, the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Massacre'' had to be heavily rewritten by script editor Donald Tosh from John Lucarotti's original scripts, so much so that Lucarotti actually asked to have his name taken off the screened episodes. When he came to write the novelisation, Lucarotti took the opportunity to tell the story he'd wanted to tell in the first place, rather than the one that was aired. It has only a passing resemblance to the TV story. |
| 219 | * ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' (a novella of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): An in-universe variety with the various member states of the Azish Empire. Technically, the Prime Aqasix is the ruler of all nine states. In practice they only really have control over Azir, and the various other member states only honor their rule with some traditional practices and vaguely following their lead on international issues. |
| 220 | * Dacre Stoker's book ''Literature/DraculaTheUnDead2009'' is a case of the trope being applied to the concept of the book being an "authorised" sequel, as Dracula has been in the public domain for more than a century in both the US and its country of origin. As such, ''anyone'' can create their own take on Dracula's story, including the creation of sequels. There also some who believe that, given how much the book changed from the original novel, that the book itself also qualifies for the trope in general. |
| 221 | * In 1924, the {{Creator/StratemeyerSyndicate}} issued a [[Literature/TheBobbseyTwins Bobbsey Twins]] children's novel, ''The Bobbsey Twins and Baby May,'' in which the two sets of twins searched for the mother of a foundling child. By 1968, when Stratemeyer had begun a complete reissue of the series, with mostly slight-to-moderate rewrites for a more modern audience, the original story was no longer even remotely credible, and so an entirely new book was written, ''The Bobbsey Twins '''Adventures with''' Baby May,'' in which the title character was a ''baseball-playing baby elephant.'' |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 225 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB615_Ksvd0 Alice Deejay's "The Lonely One (Airscape remix)"]] is related to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5eIrLsOdew the original song]] in name only, other than the fact that the latter was also co-produced by Svenson & Gielen, the duo behind Airscape. [[https://youtu.be/bVd_utcM6aE The Goetz & Marc A. remix]] likewise uses no recognizable assets of the original apart from a vocal snippet. |
| 226 | * The 2008 reformation of Captain Jack bears no resemblance musically to their predecessors. (Francisco Gutierrez, the original face of the band, passed away in 2005) |
| 227 | * Music/AphexTwin has said that some of his "remixes" for other acts were done without even ''listening'' to the originals, let alone ''using'' any part of them. He's probably not the only remixer who's done this, but most wouldn't admit to it. If you enjoy Aphex's work then it probably isn't going to make much difference to you whether he uses any of the originals or not. |
| 228 | * DJ Tandu's original solo production of Ayla's "Ayla" sounds practically nothing like [[EclipsedByTheRemix the much better known arrangement]] with DJ Taucher, which has been the basis for nearly all remixes since, including Tandu's own remix. |
| 229 | * Music/TheBeachBoys is technically this trope. While the band still tours to this day, the original Beach Boys technically dissolved with the death of lead guitarist Carl Wilson and the departure of Brian Wilson and Al Jardine in 1998. Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks would attempt to continue touring as "America's Band" but, following several cancelled bookings, acquired the rights to tour under the Beach Boys name. David Marks would leave in 1999, leaving Mike Love and Bruce Johnston as the only original members, with the former being the only founding member left in the band. |
| 230 | * Music/BlackSabbath has ''Seventh Star'', which was meant to be a Tony Iommi solo album. Due to ExecutiveMeddling, it was released as a Black Sabbath album. |
| 231 | ** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Heaven & Hell's ''Music/TheDevilYouKnow''. Since Ozzy had already re-united with Black Sabbath at the time, Dio formed a new band with the same line-up as his time with Black Sabbath. This ended up as Heaven & Hell's only album, since Dio passed away a year later. |
| 232 | * Music/BringMeTheHorizon is an interesting example. The lineup has been largely the same, but their first album ''Count Your Blessings'' is a {{deathcore}} album that sounds ''nothing'' like their material after shifting to {{metalcore}}. They became one of the most respected metalcore acts, so what's their next natural step? Abandon it completely for a {{nu metal}}[=-=]influenced electronic rock sound fit for mainstream rock radio. If you showed someone who never heard their music without any context, would they ever guess that the same band that made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWggPLXeOkU this]] would be the same band that made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJEahE-4juQ this]], who in turn would make ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow_qI_F2ZJI this?]]'' Didn't think so. |
| 233 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX-PoUAqNY0 Cygnus X's remix]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6IKl4CUNio The Art of Trance - Madagascar]], which is the basis for most subsequent remixes, uses almost no material from the original version. |
| 234 | * Music/DirEnGrey is a particularly interesting case; while the band's lineup hasn't changed since its inception, [[NewSoundAlbum every other album sounds like it's been done by a different band]]. Yep, the same guys who wrote the VisualKei CultClassic ''GAUZE'' are the exact same guys who wrote the TechnicalDeathMetal album ''DUM SPIRO SPERO''. |
| 235 | ** That's not all. They've rearranged many of their older songs in their new style; while some are simply rerecorded with minimal alteration, much of the older material have been entirely rewritten. |
| 236 | * The Meat Puppets' ''Golden Lies'' was originally intended to be an entirely new Curt Kirkwood project called Royal Neanderthal Orchestra, hence his being the only original member of the band involved. As with the Red House Painters example, this is because he couldn't get the label to put the album out without the Meat Puppets name attached to it. ''Golden Lies'' was at least in a similar style to what the Meat Puppets had been doing in the mid-90s, albeit with a somewhat heavier sound and the curious addition of some RapRock influences. This lineup of the band also put out a LiveAlbum that was a mix of ''Golden Lies'' material and older Meat Puppets songs. |
| 237 | ** Los Angeles art punk group Monitor's 1980 self-titled album includes one song entirely performed by Meat Puppets; Monitor wrote the song "Hair" themselves, but when it came to recording, they had trouble keeping up the breakneck tempo the song required, so they invited the Meat Puppets to the studio and had them play it instead. "Hair" has subsequently appeared as a bonus track on a reissue of the first Meat Puppets album. |
| 238 | * The group Gregorian is closest to its namesake in that it's a choral group. Their music involves harmony and full instrumentation, neither of which are involved in true Gregorian chanting. |
| 239 | * Music/GunsNRoses: They have been since 1985, two months after LA Guns and Hollywood Rose merged, when Axl Rose fired all the former LA Guns members (making the name of the band confusing) and replaced them with Slash, Duff [=McKagan=], and Steven Adler. |
| 240 | * Outside of the similar title and chorus, "Washingtons By Your Side" from ''Music/TheHamiltonMixtape'' has no relation to ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'''s "Washington On Your Side," since it is centered around the lack of respect people give Wiz Khalifa because of his success instead of the Democratic-Republicans' anger at Alexander Hamilton. |
| 241 | * The reformation of Hole... with only Music/CourtneyLove as an original member. Her former partner [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120924002439/http://grungereport.net/?p=30 was highly critical.]] |
| 242 | * A rare case of a singer In Name Only-ing his own song. Ike Reilly's "Duty Free" was covered by Cracker. Reilly then re-wrote the song, keeping only the opening line and part of the chorus the same for his album "Salesmen and Racists." |
| 243 | * Music/InsanePoetry was once a group consisting of three rappers and a DJ. One of the rappers, Cyco, continues to release music under the name Insane Poetry even though the group has disbanded. |
| 244 | * Music/{{Kiss}} has ''Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions'', which was a basically a Music/{{Soundgarden}} album with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on vocals, instead of Chris Cornell, bearing little resemblance to the glam-flavored hard rock of their other albums. |
| 245 | * Music/MagicAffair's take on "Bohemian Rhapsody", made for the ''Music/{{Queen}} Dance Traxx'' [[CoverAlbum Tribute Album]], is essentially an instrumental piece, with a sample of Freddie Mercury singing the original song's first line being played several times at one point. You might also recognize a hook as part of the original song's background music. Well, that's pretty much it. And since we're at it, Magic Affair normally does eurodance and does employ vocalists. |
| 246 | * Perhaps the main criticism of Music/{{Megadeth}}'s ''Risk'' is that it didn't sound like a Megadeth album, being entirely devoid of the ThrashMetal of their previous releases, leaning more towards a mixture of HardRock and AlternativeMetal (even ''Youthanasia'' and ''Cryptic Writings'', which hinted at the direction they would take with ''Risk'', had at least a couple thrash metal tracks). Due to this criticism, Megadeth quickly re-introduced thrash metal into their sound. |
| 247 | * The main version of Mr. Freeman's "I Feel So Good" is him singing a reggae pop song or something along those lines, while the Seven Gemini Remix is him rapping over an urban beat. They don't appear to have anything in common except for prominently including the phrase "I feel so good". |
| 248 | * Remember Music/NewOrder's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_L_-CKg6pw "Confusion"]]? No? Remember that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6UXQ_9IRo8 dance track]] from the vampire night club in Film/Blade1998? Yes, the latter is somehow a remix of the former. |
| 249 | * Music/{{Queen}} + Paul Rodgers on ''The Cosmos Rocks''. Might as well have been called 'Paul Rodgers, and two ex-members of Queen were at the studio that day'. |
| 250 | * According to John Frusciante, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' ''By the Way'' was meant to be this. Aside from two of the singles, the album is almost entirely devoid of the Funk Rock the Chili Peppers were known for. Instead, it was more focused on Psychedelic Pop Rock. Their next album, ''Stadium Arcadium'', re-introduced the Funk elements that were largely absent on ''By the Way'', though, not quite to pre-''Californication'' levels. |
| 251 | * Music/RedHousePainters' fifth album, ''Songs For A Blue Guitar'' was originally supposed to be a solo Mark Kozelek effort, but when 4AD dropped Kozelek and his project and he got picked up by Island Records, he was pressured into renaming it to a Red House Painters effort. What listeners were treated to was something so vastly removed from the nightmarish, stark textures of the first 4 albums that the album was only lukewarmly received at first. Many were a little jarred to hear Mark suddenly singing slightly more upbeat, borderline SouthernRock songs with some minor folk influences. The album has warmed up in overall opinion, though. |
| 252 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JZTLfntKI This is Steve Nalepa's "Monday".]] And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHGxEVHZXlU this is The Glitch Mob's remix of it.]] Other than the riff at the beginning, the two have very little in common. |
| 253 | * The [[TheNineties 90's]] incarnation of Music/{{Ultravox}}. Four years after the band's 1988 split, keyboardist/violinist Billie Currie decided to reform the group with a totally new five-piece lineup, with himself as the only remaining member from the previous one. The band put out two poorly-received pop-rock albums, far removed from the PostPunk and NewWaveMusic Ultravox had become famous for, before dissolving again in 1996. |
| 254 | * The English versions of Music/{{tatu}}'s Russian songs (sometimes). |
| 255 | * Music/{{Underworld|Band}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fr1x-N3-k8 "Born Slippy"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlLWFa1b1Bc "Born Slippy.NUXX"]] are two completely different songs. The latter became much more popular, [[SongAssociation due to being featured in the film]] ''Literature/{{Trainspotting}}''. |
| 256 | * Most Music/VelvetUnderground fans consider ''Squeeze'' to be this, especially since none of the original members - especially core songwriter Lou Reed - play on it. |
| 257 | * All remixes of The Vengaboys - Kiss (When The Sun Don't Shine), the best known of which is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMSzK-K38eQ&feature=fvst Airscape remix]]. |
| 258 | * The "Inferno Mix" of Xorcist's "Scorched Blood" sounds nothing like the original. |
| 259 | * Music/{{Yes}} had a particularly bizarre example, where after a complicated series of membership changes, there existed a band named Yes consisting of original members Chris Squire and Tony Kaye, along with Alan White, drummer since 1973. Their sound was sleek '80s radio-friendly pop-rock. Meanwhile, the band ''Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe'', made up entirely of ex-Yes members, essentially was classic 1970s Yes [[InvertedTrope in everything ''but'' name.]] Their tour was called "An Evening of Yes Music Plus," but they couldn't call themselves Yes, despite being closer to the band's prog roots and original sound than the official Yes. |
| 260 | * Any instrumental mix of a song which remains credited to the original singer, even when that person had no artistic input beyond their singing in the first place (which, of course, no longer appears!) Examples might include [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMDnA--eocc this]] vocal-less mix of Music/KylieMinogue's early hit "I Should Be So Lucky" (back when she was still a puppet of the Stock Aitken Waterman "hit factory"); she neither wrote, nor apparently appears on this mix of the song, but it's still credited to her.\ |
| 261 | This goes as far back as the 50s. Calypso singers would normally be backed by a jazz orchestra, and backing tracks would be recorded in advance. Sometimes, the singer would not get round to voicing a track in time for its inclusion on an album or single, so the song would be released as an instrumental. If it was filler on an album it would be credited to the singer, if it was a single track, the orchestra would normally be credited on their own. Lord Melody was infamous for this because he often missed deadlines by being in other countries recording for other record labels.\ |
| 262 | Ska, rocksteady and reggae artists of the 60s and 70s also did this sort of thing, leading to at least one mistake on a Bob Marley And The Wailers box set "Man To Man" where the song Mellow Skank, an instrumental track by The Hippy Boys(a group that featured several members of The Wailers backing band but none of the singer-songwriters) was included. The song was actually an instrumental of a song called Talk Of The Town by Glen Adams. |
| 263 | * Since the 1980s (if not earlier), there have been numerous cases of musical groups legally (and sometimes illegally) using the name of a well-known rock and roll or pop group, even though the group in question has no original members. This has been a sore spot for years with original group members, especially those who wish to continue performing under their original name, only to find "imposter" groups holding the name rights. (Note: naming groups impacted by this would violate the "No Real Life Examples" rule on this page, so please do not add names here). |
| 264 | * In Brainbug's "Nightmare (Sinister Strings Mix)", the only vestige left of the [[EclipsedByTheRemix forgotten]] original mix is the DreamMelody from the breakdown. The rest of the original was a piano trance tune in the style of Robert Miles. |
| 265 | * Both Music/ThrowingMuses and Belly have a song called "Angel", both written by Tanya Donelly. Besides that and the title, there's no connection between them. |
| 266 | * More's "Around the World (Superclub Mix)" is all but completely different from the original mix, the only remnant being a highly distorted clip of the chorus. |
| 267 | * Mario Piu & More: "All I Need (Mas Mix)" rearranges the tune into a trance instrumental that sounds nothing like the original. |
| 268 | * The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIHxk3fUkkM Megamind remix]] of Mauro Picotto's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjg8DhZXNrQ "Komodo"]] is essentially a stand-alone original track. At least the Picotto remix left in the "Wait, please" vocal from the original. |
| 269 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnHxKxlDao DJ Icey's remix]] of Music Instructor's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ySBAcIoxo "Super Sonic"]] more or less completely recreates the track from the ground up. |
| 270 | * [[https://youtu.be/rqUsLW9EQTQ The Headstrong remix]] of Two Little Boys' "Stylophonia" has no recognizable trace of [[https://youtu.be/RWqvhtPtfqk the original song]] remaining; even Rolf Harris's voice clips that it was originally built on are absent. |
| 271 | * The Nightcrawlers' [[https://youtu.be/ZBR2sraqEVI "Push The Feeling On (The Dub Of Doom)",]] remixed by Marc Kinchen, is a completely new track built around a vocal hook assembled from chopped & screwed snippets of [[https://youtu.be/A4tZiThZPdE the original]] lyrics. |
| 272 | * Following the breakup of their original lineup, the producers of 2 Unlimited attempted to revive the formerly stadium house/techno act as a bubblegum dance-pop girl group, in accordance with late '90s trends. Not surprisingly, this incarnation only recorded one album, ''II'', before themselves dissolving. |
| 273 | * The James Holden remix of Watergate's "Heart of Asia", originally a trance rendition of Music/RyuichiSakamoto's theme tune from ''Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence'', turns it into a nearly unrecognizable progressive house track, with the OneWomanWail (which wasn't present in the film score) being the only remnant of the main mix. |
| 274 | [[/folder]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 277 | * Aside from the name and a few small sprites on the playfield, Bally's ''Pinball/SpaceInvaders'' [[PhysicalPinballTable pinball machine]] had no relationship to the [[VideoGame/SpaceInvaders arcade game it was named after]]. The art design made it look more like an ''Film/{{Alien}}'' pinball than anything else. |
| 278 | * A version of the Creator/{{Sierra}} [[DigitalPinballTable computer pinball game]] ''VideoGame/ThreeDUltraPinballThrillRide'' was released for the Platform/GameBoyColor. Aside from the name and general premise, it has almost nothing in common with the original. |
| 279 | * From 1976 to 1978, Creator/{{Bally}} released home versions[[note]]that is, PhysicalPinballTables for home use[[/note]] of several of their arcade pins: ''[[Pinball/CaptainFantastic Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy]], Pinball/{{Fireball}},'' and ''Pinball/EvelKnievel''. Since the home versions reused the same playfield layout and components, they ended up having completely different playfields, rules, and artwork from their original namesakes. |
| 280 | * Similarly, starting in 2012, Creator/SternPinball released lower-priced home versions of their games under the moniker of "The Pin". ''[[Pinball/{{Transformers}} Transformers: The Pin]]'' came out in 2012 as an Amazon exclusive, while ''[[Pinball/TheAvengersStern The Avengers: The Pin]]'' was released in 2013. As both games shared the same cabinet and layout, removed the originals' dot-matrix display, animations, and sound effects, and are limited to two players, they ended up being In Name Only versions of their originals. |
| 281 | * The Platform/{{Atari 2600}} version of ''VideoGame/DavidsMidnightMagic'' bears almost no resemblance to the original Platform/AppleII game, aside from being a DigitalPinballTable using predominantly black and dark red colors. This was mainly due to limitations of the Atari 2600 itself, which couldn't produce asymmetrical playfields, so [[PragmaticAdaptation they had to create a new field entirely.]] |
| 282 | * Despite sharing the same name and many game rules, the Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem version of ''VideoGame/RollerBall'' is significantly different from the MSX version, with a completely different playfield, a new bonus screen, and a gratuitous New York skyscraper setting. |
| 283 | [[/folder]] |
| 284 | |
| 285 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 286 | * Some ProfessionalWrestling fans refer to Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Wrestling/{{ECW}} revival as ECW In Name Only, due to the fact that it seems completely opposite from the old ECW in terms of atmosphere, storyline tone, wrestling style, and talent level; WWECW is another popular name for it. Others [[FanonDiscontinuity don't even give it that level of respect]]. True, it did start out very much like the original ECW - just to get the old fans to tune in - but soon enough Wrestling/CMPunk took over the program and there was much more emphasis on actual wrestling ability than the GarbageWrestling of the glory days. [[ExecutiveMeddling It's doubtful that much of that stuff would have got past the censors anyway]], especially since WWE was trying to cultivate [[LighterAndSofter a family-friendly image at the time]]. Still, the likes of [[Wrestling/BobHolly Hardcore Holly]] and Wrestling/KellyKelly did their best. |
| 287 | ** The sad thing about "WWECW" is that in a vacuum it was regarded as a pretty good wrestling show, with lots of young talent that just couldn't find a spot on the already overcrowded ''Raw'' and ''Smackdown'' rosters and (mostly) straightforward sensible booking. But it still wasn't really ECW or even close to it. Had they called it something, hell ''anything'' else it would be looked at a lot more fondly. |
| 288 | [[/folder]] |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 291 | * The purpose of Creator/TheBBC Radio 4 series ''The Rivals'' is to showcase 19th century detectives who aren't Literature/SherlockHolmes. However, most of them take great liberties with setting, characterisation, and so on, although they generally keep the character names, who did it and the gimmick they used (while often completely reinventing the motive). Some of them even change the detective's idiosyncrasies, such as making Arthur Morrison's Martin Hewitt a "society detective" who has a friendly rivalry with a French master criminal who doesn't appear in the original story (or ''any'' Martin Hewitt stories) at all. |
| 292 | * The 1940s radio series, ''The Weird Circle'' specialized in Book-To-Radio adaptations that had nothing in common with the source material other than the titles. |
| 293 | [[/folder]] |
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| 299 | |
| 300 | [[folder:Sports]] |
| 301 | * As the old VFL expanded to become the [[UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball Australian Football League]], most of the Melbourne-based teams lost their links to the suburbs (U.S. = neighborhoods) whose names they bear. Collingwood, Hawthorn, and St Kilda no longer have any connection to their original home suburbs, and the other local grounds are only used for training and social purposes. Also, the Brisbane Bears were originally based 70 miles from Brisbane, and their mascot was a koala ([[ArtisticLicenseBiology Koalas are not bears]]). They have since moved to actually play in Brisbane, and merged with Fitzroy to be known as the Lions. |
| 302 | * Averted in the case of the Cleveland Browns. In 1996 the original team moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] established a new Cleveland Browns expansion team in 1999, but in the league's eyes the new Browns are a continuation of the original and the Baltimore Ravens are a separate franchise. |
| 303 | ** Similar situations exist in other leagues. The [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] has the Charlotte Hornets and its de facto successor, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer MLS]] has the San Jose Earthquakes and its own de facto successor, Houston Dynamo. |
| 304 | ** Played straight in some cases like in the [[UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague NHL]], the current Winnipeg Jets is officially NOT the original Winnipeg Jets reborn - the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes did not relinquish its original Winnipeg Jets history to the new Jets, only its name and colors. |
| 305 | *** And in the NBA, there were two separate versions of the Baltimore Bullets - one of them is the only dead NBA team to win an NBA Championship, the other is the current Washington Wizards. |
| 306 | * 2022 saw the inaugural season of the USFL, an American spring football league.[[note]]"Spring football" as in it's played in the spring, not that the ball has a spring in it.[[/note]] Outside of owning the name and associated trademarks the current USFL has no connection to the USFL that flamed out in the mid-80s. |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 310 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} Manhunter'' started life as a property completely unrelated to the ''Rifts'' RolePlayingGame. Then Myrmidon Press got permission to use the Palladium Rules system for their title, and decided to tack on the ''Rifts'' name. The only thing that connects the game to ''Rifts'' is that magic and technology exist side-by-side, and sparse, obviously shoehorned in mentions of rifts in time and space appearing later in the setting. |
| 311 | [[/folder]] |
| 312 | |
| 313 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 314 | * ''La Gioconda'' is allegedly based on ''Angelo, tyran de Padoue'' by Victor Hugo; they are every bit as different as chalk and cheese (e.g., Hugo's play is set in Padua (''Padoue'' in French) whereas ''La gioconda'' takes place in Venice). |
| 315 | * The 1919 Broadway musical ''Irene'' was revived in 1973 with a completely different book and most of the score replaced by miscellaneous song hits from the period. |
| 316 | * ''Skyscraper'' (1965) was originally supposed to be a musicalization of ''Theatre/DreamGirl''. It ended up sticking the original play's main character, Georgina Allerton, into an unrelated plot about a contractor planning to buy an old brownstone and demolish it to build a skyscraper. |
| 317 | * The only things the ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' musical and the [[ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie comic strip]] it was based on has in common is the title character, Oliver Warbucks and Sandy. Writer Thomas Meehan initially did some research on the character by re-reading all of the comic strips available at the time, but since he couldn't find anything worth adapting, he instead invented a wholly different continuity with a different cast of supporting characters, and moved the setting to Depression-era New York. |
| 318 | * The Musical ''Theatre/BringItOn'' has basically no relation to any movie of that name, one of which it supposed to be an adaption of, except that they're all about a cheerleader. |
| 319 | [[/folder]] |
| 320 | |
| 321 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 322 | * Invoked in ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/06/03/dark-science-01 "Dark Science"]] arc: Ronnie Awning made adaptations of famous works without reading them. Which allowed his sponsor to use the authors turning in their graves for energy generation. |
| 323 | * ''Webcomic/{{Megamanspritecomic}}'' has hardly anything to do with the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' canon, featuring its own characterization and story. |
| 324 | * Website/PlatypusComix's longest-running series, ''Webcomic/ScrambledEggs'', received inspiration from a juvenile fiction novel titled ''Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs'', but Peter Paltridge says the only similarities the current comic and the novel have include some characters' names and the use of "No kidding!" as a catchphrase. |
| 325 | * Parodied with ''Webcomic/TheWayOfTheMetagamer 2: In Name Only'' -- a FictionalDocument sequel to ''Webcomic/TheWayOfTheMetagamer'', starring The Detective and TheWatson. |
| 326 | [[/folder]] |
| 327 | |
| 328 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 329 | * [[Website/{{Cracked}} Cracked.com]] has nothing in common with the (defunct) ''Magazine/{{MAD}}''-inspired [[Magazine/{{Cracked}} magazine]] except the name and comedy theme. |
| 330 | * There is a ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' comics series available for the iPhone, and probably other portables. Flash is a former CIA operative, and Dale a current one; they know each other from the Agency, and Dr. Zarkov is a close friend of Flash. He's also considered a terrorist, and believed to be creating [=WMD=]s. |
| 331 | * PlayedForLaughs in the ''WebAnimation/AwesomeSeries'' parody of ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix''; Egoraptor hadn’t played the game, nor did he know a lot about [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog the franchise]], so rather than trying for a serious parody, he just took the basic mechanics and made shit up. Hence why it includes things like [[TheQuietOne Espio]] being a psychopath with roidrage and a plot that amounts to “the Chaotix stand around and talk about drugs for five minutes”. Given the series’s usual brand of SurrealHumor, it fits perfectly. |
| 332 | * The only thing ''WebVideo/CarmillaTheSeries'' has in common with the ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}'' book is that its two main characters are a human named Laura and a vampire named Carmilla who have a LesYay-filled relationship. Everything else, from the characterizations to the plot to the setting, is so radically different that the web series is basically its own original work. |
| 333 | * ''WebVideo/DrJekyllAndMrHydeTheGameTheMovie'' markets itself as a faithful adaptation of [[Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde the Robert Louis Stevenson novel]], it has about as much in-common with the book as [[VideoGame/DrJekyllAndMrHydeNES the game]] did (which the film is an actual adaptation of). |
| 334 | * ''WebVideo/BennettTheSage'' in his review of [[https://youtu.be/vs1UtyW8-nI Ninja Cadets]] has referred to the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' series, among other types of series and movies where the ninja character is the protagonist, as Ninja’s in Name Only (Nino) as he believes they don’t fit the standard character type of ninja’s especially if they’re aligned Lawful, i.e: they don’t set up traps or ambushes against opponents, fight dirty, etc. |
| 335 | [[/folder]] |
| 336 | %% |
| 337 | %% |
| 338 | %% The Real Life section has been cut as nothing but Natter, Justifying Edits, non-examples, Complaining about things you don't like, and soapboxing. Don't restore it. This is an admin warning. |
| 339 | %% |
| 340 | %% |
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