Commonality Connections in Western Animation.
- Arcane: In the third episode of season one, Big Bad Silco seeing Powder distraught over being abandoned by her sister, left crying right next to the corpse of his own brother-figure who he himself felt betrayed by no less, convinces him to take her under his wing as his adopted daughter (now named Jinx). It's also deconstructed as Silco is rather emotionally desperate to prevent Jinx's sister from reaching her after he finds out she's actually alive to preserve this bond in feeling abandoned with his adoptive daughter.
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko bonds with an Earth Kingdom girl when he discovers that she too has a terrible burn (though hers is on her leg). Later, he's also able to bond with Katara over the fact that they both lost their mothers to the Fire Nation, to the point where Katara is even willing to try and heal his scar. Of course, he betrays her about twenty minutes later, so it takes a lot to properly earn her trust when he goes through with the Heel–Face Turn.
- In the two-part premiere of Batman Beyond, Bruce demands that Terry return with the Batsuit and threatens to remotely shut it down if he doesn't. Terry tells Bruce that he read up on him and knows what happens to his parents, and that he's determined to catch the guy who murdered his own father. This convinces Bruce to let him continue.
- In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, "The Mother Of All Vreedles", Ben attempts to do this with Ma Vreedle, but it falls flat.Ben: Wait! I'm a mother too. So I know what you're going through.
Ma Vreedle: Where are the kids now?
Ben: Out in deep space somewhere. Maybe this wasn't the best example. - Subverted and Played for Laughs in DC Super Hero Girls 2019, Poison Ivy briefly considers befriending the similarly eco-conscious Jessica Cruz, only to discover to her horror that Jessica is a vegan who only eats plants. Ivy treats plants like most people love beloved pets and therefore subsists on an all-meat diet.
- Final Space: Little Cato at first wants little to do with the Team Squad after his father's apparent death. That changes when he learns Gary went through the same thing as a kid that he's going through, during Gary's time-traveling reunion with his father and front-row seat to the man's Heroic Sacrifice.Little Cato: Didn't know we were members of the same club.
- In the DiC Entertainment version of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, the episode "That's Entertainment" had General Hawk and Captain Krimov bond after discovering that they're both fans of Jackie Love.
- In the Gravity Falls episode "Dipper vs. Manliness," Dipper has to prove himself by killing the Multi-Bear. However, he can't go through with it once he realizes the Beary Friendly (if still dangerous) creature loves the same girly, Guilty Pleasure pop song that Dipper listened to earlier in the episode.
- Played for Laughs in the first episode here
, during a montage of Mabel's bad flirting attempts.
- Played for Laughs in the first episode here
- Robot in Invincible (2021) attempts this with Monster Girl about how people have difficulty looking past one's appearance. It falls flat as she doesn't get his meaning, asking how a robot could understand. That said, she grows to appreciate it after Robot goes through several lengths to help her when she's severely wounded by Battle Beast.
- In Kim Possible's Christmas Episode, Ron and Dr. Drakken get stranded at the North Pole (and no, Santa's workshop is nowhere in sight). They continue to fight each other, but after learning that they both love the same TV Christmas special (and are dismayed by its cancellation) they apply its Power of Frienship Aesop to their own situation and make peace.
- King of the Hill:
- Hilariously subverted in "A Beer Can Named Desire", when Bill invites his friends, including the Hill family, to stay with him in his family's estate in New Orleans. Hank Hill, the all-American football fan, tries to chat with Bill's cousin Gilbert:Gilbert: What fascinating thing are y'all doing?
Hank: Uh, I'm gonna be throwing at a target about yea big at the Cowboys/Saints game. If I make it, I win a million dollars.
Gilbert: Golden Richards was a Dallas Cowboy.
Hank: (intrigued) Yeah, he caught a touchdown pass at Super Bowl XII.
Gilbert: He was a beautiful man. I knew him, briefly...
(Hank shudders) - In "Not In My Back Hoe", Hank strikes up a friendship with Hal after both men were aggravated at how unhelpful the Mega-Lo-Mart employees were towards both of them.
- Hilariously subverted in "A Beer Can Named Desire", when Bill invites his friends, including the Hill family, to stay with him in his family's estate in New Orleans. Hank Hill, the all-American football fan, tries to chat with Bill's cousin Gilbert:
- Let's Go Luna!: In "Aren't We a Pair?", Carmen discovers that she and Leyla have a lot in common. They're both butterflies who have pets (with said pets even having similar sweets-based names, no less), they both love succulents, and they both like music.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- The episode "Maud Pie" focuses on the rest of the mane cast having difficulty getting along with Pinkie Pie's Emotionless Girl sister, Maud. They find their Commonality Connection in their mutual love for Pinkie after they see Maud leap headlong into danger to save Pinkie's life.
- Though they initially despise one another and ultimately refuse to become outright Villainous Friends, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow at least become somewhat fond of each other after bonding over their mutual hatred of Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
- The Owl House
- The first big turning point in Luz and Amity's relationship comes when Luz discovers that Amity is a fellow fan of The Good Witch Azura and (after spending the night being chased by a monster) offers to lend her the latest book in the series as a peace offering to make up for accidentally reading her diary.
- Similarly, Word of God states that Evelyn and Caleb's relationship started similarly to two dog owners meeting each other, with them both thinking Flapjack is super cool and their bond growing from there.
- While it's debatable whether or not it counts as canon, storyboards for "For the Future" show that it was supposed to be revealed that Luz's parents first met at a Cosmic Frontier convention, mirroring her relationship with Amity.
- In the Ready Jet Go! episode "How Come the Moon Changes Shape?", Sean and Carrot find that they have a lot in common, like how they are both nervous during space travel. Carrot encourages Sean to be less nervous.
- Samurai Jack; in "Jack and the Flying Prince and Princess'', Jack bonds with Astor and Verbina over the fact that all three are young nobles trying their best to save their people from a great evil (Aku and a rival alien empire respectively). After they make their escape from Earth and complete their mission, Astor and Verbina have a statue of Jack commissioned so they will always remember him and wish his own mission well.
- In Scary Godmother, Hannah stops being scared of Bug-a-Boo because they both like pizza with olives.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Besides their intellectual affinities, Entrapta and Hordak bond over their rejection trauma. Hordak was sent to die in the front lies by Horde Prime because of his degeneration caused by a genectic flaw. Entrapta was convinced by Catra that the princesses left her to die in the Fright Zone which she finds believable given that she always had trouble interacting with others. The point is the princesses weren’t much nice to Entrapta, just tolerating her because they needed her knowledge in technology. So, Entrapta had good reasons to believe she had been abandoned.
- The Simpsons:
- In "I Love Lisa", when Ralph Wiggum develops a crush on Lisa, he tries to get a conversation about mutual interests going. "So, do you like...stuff?"
- Played for Laughs in "Lemon of Troy," which involves the rivalry between Springfield and neighboring Shelbyville. Everyone in Shelbyville seems to be an Expy of a Springfield resident, and Milhouse's counterpart is also named Milhouse. The pair are so shocked to find someone with the same geeky name that they wind up crying in each other's arms.
- Skull Island: It's heavily implied that Irene and her Number Two Sam originally met and bonded over a shared sense of loss. When Cap asks Irene where they met, Irene says (to Cap's surprise) that it was in group therapy. It's later revealed that Annie is Irene's Missing Child whom the latter believed to be killed at sea for years. When Kong is chasing down Annie, a distressed Irene shouts at Sam that he doesn't know what it's like seeing her daughter in this situation, and Sam sternly reminds her that she knows that's not true: he knows exactly what it's like.
- In the South Park episode "Chef Goes Nanners", Cartman and Wendy have to work together on a school assignment. Though he's initially lazy and she's irritated in him, they wind up bonding over the fact that they eat their Oreos the same way. The episode ends with Status Quo Is God, though, thanks to Wendy kissing Cartman to end the UST and they actually get more antagonistic to each other in later seasons.
- In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Boating Buddies", Squidward explains to Mrs. Puff that the reason he's taking boating school is that he was trying to avoid SpongeBob, and refers to him as the bane of his existence. Mrs. Puff, who also has a history of having to put up with SpongeBob, responds with "Yours too?"
- Squirrel Boy: In an attempt to play along Kyle's revenge scheme, Salty Mike pretends to be friendly with Andrew. It becomes legit when the parrot realizes that Andrew collects rocks that look like Snack food, a hobby he also shares. Rodney and Kyle aren't happy about this, but given the nature of the show, their friendship ends to keep the Status Quo in check.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Moist Vessel", after Lieutenant O'Connor admits that he's a jerk for pretending to be someone he's not just so that others would think he was unique and interesting, Ensign Tendi instantly latches on to the trait that they share in common.Tendi: We're both jerks! We wanted to be liked and lied about it. I think that means we're best friends!
