Adaptation Relationship Overhauls in Western Animation.
The following have their own pages:
- Francine in the original Arthur books clearly likes Arthur. This is heavily toned down in the cartoon, however, they have a fair amount of Ship Tease and are suggested to be a future Official Couple.
- Angry Birds: Summer Madness:
- In previous continuities, Red and Stella have been acquaintances, friends, and even had some Ship Tease. Here, the two are best friends, having known each other since they were hatchlings.
- In this series, Bomb has a crush on Matilda.
- In the original Ben 10 Ben and Gwen were, at best, Vitriolic Best Buds, and rarely an episode would pass without them name-calling, hitting and insulting each other. In Ben 10 (2016) (which is a reboot), they are a lot more affectionate to each other, don't argue as often or as harshly and act more like best friends than cousins.
- DC Super Hero Girls 2019:
- Dick and Barbara are usually friends and are frequently even love interests. In DC SuperHero Girls, they dislike each other and are rivals. Dick is brattier and meaner than the norm, with him constantly making fun of Barbara for wanting to be Batman's second Kid Sidekick.
- Depending on the target audience, almost every version of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are best friends or life partners, with Harley being basically the only human Ivy has positive emotions towards. In the show, Ivy can’t stand Harley whatsoever, with Harley's best (and possibly only) friend instead being Barbara.
- In the Discworld novel Soul Music, Susan's closest friends at the Quirm Academy for Young Ladies are Gloria Thogsdaughter the dwarf and Princess Jade the troll — both, like her, outsiders who are mocked by the other girls. In the Animated Adaptation, it's Gloria and Jade who are making fun of Susan.
- DuckTales (2017):
- In contrast to the original series, the triplets treat Webby as an equal instead of an Annoying Younger Sibling.
- Donald Duck's enemy-next-door Jughead Jones has become his anger management therapist, with whom Donald gets on much better. Donald is also a much better friend towards Goofy, whom he tends to bully and look down upon in other media.
- In the original, Tootsie the Triceratops was the loving pet of Bubba the cave-duck. In this series, she and Bubba meet for the first time (through Time Travel, since non-avian dinosaurs did not live at the same time as people), and they become enemies due to her extremely aggressive nature.
- Almost every media Daisy has appeared with Donald, their romantic relationship is already established before we see them interact. Here however, has Donald meet her for first time and falling in love with her.
- In the comics, Donald and Gladstone would compete for Daisy's affections. Here, Gladstone does not show any interest in Daisy and is willing to let her and Donald's relationship be, from what we can see during their only scene together in the Grand Finale.
- In the comics April, May, and June were Daisy's nieces and Distaff Counterparts to the triplets. Here, they're clones created by F.O.W.L., specifically May and June were cloned from April, who is Webby. Oh, and Webby was cloned from Scrooge McDuck.
- In the original 1984 version of Muppet Babies, the babies all live together in a nursery, with Nanny as their Parental Substitute. Why they don't live with their parents is never explained. In the 2018 reboot, the main setting is a daycare, Miss Nanny is the babies' teacher (hence why they call her Miss Nanny), and they have their own houses and parents that they go home to.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021):
- Cringer was Adam's pet in the original series. Here, Cringer is much older and is a Parental Substitute for Adam who was separated from his family with amnesia when he was six.
- Krass is just a comrade to He-Man and a soldier for Eternia in prior incarnations, but Krass in this incarnation is essentially Adam's adoptive sister.
- In the original series, Teela is Duncan's daughter, usually by adoption. With Duncan much younger in this series, the two have no relationship outside of working together for Kronis and Evelyn.
- Man-At-Arms and Trap Jaw generally have no connection to each other outside of the Heroic Warriors/Evil Warriors conflict. This time, Kronis took Duncan in as an apprentice and ward until Duncan eventually defected.
- Jellystone!:
- The original versions of Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har-Har (who is male) are Heterosexual Life-Partners. The Jellystone! versions of Lippy and Hardy (who is female) are married.
- Overlapping with Adaptational Sexuality; Jonny Quest and Hadji are canonically married
, but it wasn't explicit in the show. However, they were adopted brothers in the original. It could be that they're Unrelated in the Adaptation. - Yakky Doodle and Chopper are just friends in the original show. In this series, Yakky explicitly calls Chopper "Mom".
- On a non-family angle, Mr. Jinks no longer has any business with Pixie and Dixie. El Kabong and Bobbie Louie are no longer involved with each other either.
- While Rick and Morty is a parody rather than a straight adaptation of Back to the Future, it portrays the title duo as grandfather and grandson rather than an Intergenerational Friendship.
- Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
- While no one will deny that the turtles love each other, most incarnations have them squabbling and infighting quite a bit; Leo and Raph in particular sometimes come off as barely tolerating each other. Rise makes them more openly affectionate, still prone to ribbing each other but much nicer about it.
- In most TMNT media, the turtles meet April O'Neil at the start of the series. Here, all are friends from the beginning, having known each other since childhood.
- Casey Jones, a frequent ally of the Turtles, usually lives in their contemporary era. The trailer for the Big Damn Movie however establishes him as hailing from a Bad Future and having initially trained under Future Badass versions of the Turtles.
- Scooby-Doo:
- In Mystery Incorporated, the show starts with Velma and Shaggy already in a relationship. But as the first season progresses, it becomes evident that the two aren't compatible due to Velma's controlling attitude and Shaggy's inconsiderate behavior (not to mention Scooby's incredibly jealous attitude towards it), and they have a somewhat messy break-up midseason.
- The Mystery Incorporated Fred and Daphne are also in a relationship, but whereas other entries have them express interest in other people, Fred appears to not be attracted to anyone other than Daphne.
- Mystery Incorporated also has Scooby and Velma generally not too fond of each other, at least at first, spending much of the first season feuding over Shaggy's attention. In previous productions, most notably A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy?, it's all but stated that Velma is Scooby's second best friend after Shaggy.
- The live-action movie, Curse of the Lake Monster, has Velma and Shaggy enter a relationship, and unlike their portrayal in Mystery Incorporated, it's mainly happy and they end the movie still together.
- In Be Cool!, unlike their usual depictions, Fred and Daphne are not romantically interested in each other.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
- Catra and Adora are childhood friends raised together since they were both babies and become an Official Couple at the end of the series, when in the 80s cartoon they were just arch-enemies.
- Bow and Sea Hawk are no longer Adora's love interests but are just good friends, with Adora even being a Shipper on Deck for Sea Hawk and Mermista.
- Hordak moved away from playing a parental role to Adora to a distant overlord (with the parental role being given to Shadow Weaver instead), while Entrapta went from one of his low-ranking minions in the original series to his lab partner, probably closest friend, and possibly romantic interest in the reboot.
- Scorpia wants to be Catra's best friend instead of being Catra's fierce rival.
- Sonic Boom:
- Amy's affections for Sonic are more like your standard crush, rather than the near-Stalker with a Crush obsession seen in many of the games up to that point. In return, Sonic isn't constantly annoyed at her affectionate behavior and is actually more reciprocative, as opposed to running away on instinct at the sight of her.
- Throughout the Sonic series, the brotherly relationship between Sonic and Tails has been a near-constant element ever since Tails debuted in 1992. However, while still often the two closest characters in Boom, Tails is much more independent and the two seem to possess a lot of mutually exclusive hobbies, leading to relatively less character interaction between the two.
- Sonic and Knuckles' have a frat-boyesque friendship that gained more and more of a presence on the show as it went on. In the games, Sonic and Knuckles rarely interact one-on-one, with their relationship being one of Vitriolic Best Friends at best and competitive rivals at worst.
- Sonic Prime:
- In the games and most other media, Amy has a one-sided crush on Sonic, and if he's ever hinted to reciprocate he always keeps it to himself. In the show, what little we see of Prime Amy gives no indication she has feelings for him, and while all her alternate counterparts develop a deep attachment to him the most they ever call him is a "friend". The pair still gets a decent amount of Ship Tease, but it's almost entirely from Sonic's side, with him giving her and her counterparts Longing Looks and flirtatious dialogue on occasion.
- In the games, Rouge and Shadow are both members of Team Dark and are shown to be very close friends who will always be there for each other. In Prime, there is no such connection, as Rouge is a member of Sonic's friend group while Shadow explicitly doesn't have any friends.
- In Spider-Man comics, Alistaire Smythe builds Spider-Slayers because he blames Spidey for the death of his father. In Marvel's Spider-Man, he sides with Osborn against the Jackal in the Enemy Civil War to get out from his father's shadow, and enthusiastically pits his Slayer against Spencer Smythe's.
- Mario and Peach have a strictly platonic relationship in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. In the Super Mario Bros. games, they are heavily Implied Love Interests to each other. In the cartoon it can be justified as Mario seems to be middle-aged while Peach acts like someone in their late teens to early twenties. In the games they're both the same age, averting a May–December Romance.
- The 2011 Thundercats reboot changed just about all the relationships between all the characters:
- In the original, Lion-O and his second-in-command Tygra were, if anything, best friends, showing more concern and fear when the other was in danger than they did for anyone else. In the reboot, they're adopted brothers but arch rivals with little to no respect for each other. The only thing both pairs have in common is an amusing amount of subtext.
- The original had zero romance outside of a few very rare, isolated incidents of flirting between Lion-O and Cheetara, which never turned into anything significant. No one had a love interest, and no one was a love interest, not even among side characters. A major focus of the reboot is a love triangle between Lion-O, Cheetara, and Tygra, followed by Lion-O falling hard for Pumyra (who, thanks to Adaptational Villainy, turns out to be a Honey Trap who was Evil All Along). Had the series not been prematurely cancelled, Lion-O (much closer in physical age to her in this version) would have ended up with Wilykit after a Time Skip.
- The 2011 Panthro, now much older than the young prince, doesn't have nearly as much respect for Lion-O as his 1985 counterpart did.
- In the original, Grune was a Posthumous Character whose ghost threatens the team; he was Jaga's close friend when he was alive before he turned evil. In the reboot, since he's still alive at the start of the series and a generation below Jaga, he's made Panthro's closest friend and battle partner instead (prior to his Face–Heel Turn, of course).
- Total DramaRama: Many of the relationships between the characters' teen selves are overhauled with their toddler counterparts in this series.
- Leshawna was formed a female friendship Power Trio with Bridgette and Gwen in the first season of Total Drama, but in DramaRama, she isn't shown to be especially friendly with either of them, being occasionally hostile towards Bridgette and actually being afraid of Gwen instead.
- Harold as a teenager was well-remembered for his friendship with Leshawna and frequent attempts to impress her. In DramaRama, the two obviously lack their romantic interactions, but they are not especially close in any other way, which contrasts how the interactions between Owen and Izzy or Duncan and Courtney/Gwen in DramaRama allude to their teen counterparts' romances in some way.
- Duncan had hostile relationships with many of his costars in the original series, such as Harold (whom he loved bullying) and Bridgette (who disliked his mean attitude). However, his DramaRama incarnation gets along much better with the others instead, due to his jerkass tendencies being toned down.
- Gwen in the original series developed many friendships and complex relationships with other contestants, but in DramaRama, she's instead The Dreaded amongst the others due to being recharacterized as a sadistic Creepy Child. Ironically, the main exception seems to be Noah, who instead has a minor Odd Friendship with her in DramaRama rather than the mild mutual dislike for each other their teenage counterparts seemed to have.
- Beth's major Adaptational Jerkass qualities in DramaRama have resulted in some of the more pleasant relationships she had with others as a teenager (such as with Duncan at the end of the second season and Leshawna) becoming much more negative (she frequently squabbles with Duncan and Leshawna in many episodes like "Wristy Business" and "Sharing is Caring").
- Watership Down (1999): Blackberry and Campion have little to do with each other in the book or 1978 film. In the 90's animated series, Blackberry is changed to a female and they have a romance.
- W.I.T.C.H.
- In the comics, Will and Taranee are both new students when the story begins; in the show, Will is the only newcomer and Taranee is already friends with Cornelia, Hay Lin, Irma and Elyon, though she was new the previous year.
- In the comics, Elyon had a crush on Matt, and her jealousy of Will dating Matt was a factor in her Face–Heel Turn. Here, he doesn't appear to be anything more than another classmate to her.
