Sometimes a storyline or character doesn't land well with audiences for various reasons that a creator doesn't predict. Maybe a character comes off as too Unintentionally Sympathetic when they were intended to be hateable, or sometimes they come off as too Unintentionally Unsympathetic to garner the pathos they needed. Other times a well-liked character is underwritten and not given room to reach their full potential, or was handled in a way that might've been Fair for Its Day, but nowadays comes off as dated and full of Unfortunate Implications. Either way, audiences felt that the writing fell flat somewhere.
But that doesn't mean the writers will necessarily give up and throw it all away. Perhaps they have enough fondness for the idea to take a second stab at it, but this time taking audience criticisms into account to do better. Sometimes this will take the form of a direct What If? Alternate Universe that repeats the original storyline and characters, but with details changed to avoid whichever writing issues caused the negative reaction in the first place. Sometimes it's an adaptation to a different medium in a distinct continuity featuring a different version of the character or universe, which allows them to have a fresh start with updates to suit the new medium. Sometimes it's a sequel or Creator-Driven Successor with an Expy or a Recycled Plot that captures the Broad Strokes with some modifications.
At any rate, the most important fact is that this second attempt is received much more warmly by audiences, both being acknowledged as another take on the original flawed inspiration and seen as superior to the original.
Related to Salvaged Story, which is when this kind of change happens directly within the same continuity. Also related to Author's Saving Throw, which is for when creators openly acknowledge audience criticisms and declare their intention to do better. See Culturally Sensitive Adaptation, which is an attempt to garner this reaction by updating a work to better reflect its audience's values. See also Alternate Music Video if a well-known music video was an improvement to the first one.
If a remake is perceived as doing a particularly good job of improving upon the source material, it may result in Remade and Improved. If a remake improves some aspects but removes the charm of being So Bad, It's Good, the reaction would would be So Bad, It Was Better. Compare Character Rerailment or Rescued from the Scrappy Heap, for when this is done to a controversial character or depiction of them in such a way that fan opinion improves significantly. For when this is applied to gameplay aspects, see Salvaged Gameplay Mechanic.
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Anime & Manga
- Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel:
- One common criticism of Shirou falling in love with Sakura was that it felt rather rushed in the original novel due to the time between his realizing his attraction to Sakura and falling so in love with her, that he's willing to throw his ideals away to protect her, is unbelievably short. It comes across less as Shirou awakening to a Childhood Friend Romance he just never noticed, but instead having a switch go off by the writers to make him fall for her. The films provide some major Adaptation Expansion that heavily focuses on their backstory in an effort to specifically avert this.
- Byakuya Matou was portrayed in the novel as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who pretended to care about Shinji only to cut all ties with him after he found out the truths of the family. The manga adaptation of Heaven's Feel shows Shinji's backstory from a neutral point of view (while in the novel it was told from Shinji's point of view); revealing that, while distant, Byakuya did care about Shinji at some point or at least wanted him to have a normal life away from magecraft.
- The original TV run of Gundam: Reconguista in G is generally held as a runner-up for the worst series in the Gundam universe with a very messy and nonsensical plot. The compilation movies on the other hand are generally seen as a massive improvement over the TV series by reworking some more bizarre plotlines that plagued the original while also giving the necessary expansion to others that were sorely lacking in information or impact. While they don't fix all the shows issues, they are generally seen as far more watchable and the ideal way to experience the show.
- The King of Fighters XII was almost-universally received as an especially weak link of The King of Fighters series, with many writing it off as an Obvious Beta for its sequel. Its manhua adaptation, despite being exclusive to China and thus relatively obscure, is seen as a significant improvement, with praise being given to its larger cast of characters (especially when compared to the game's mere 22 — less than the very first game), its over-the-top plot to make up for the game having no plot at all, and especially its well-regarded fight scenes.
- Miraculous Ladybug's 2021 manga adaptation:
- The manga does not adapt its source material's Out of Order chronology, allowing plot and character development to immediately affect continuity instead of being reset at the end of the episode.
- In the show, when Hawk Moth suspects Adrien of being Cat Noir, the plot point is brought up and resolved in a single episode completely unintentionally, with Adrien never even knowing his secret identity was at risk. In the manga, Marinette and Hawk Moth are both troubled by the thought for several chapters, and Plagg and Adrien both remark upon the threat if they're discovered. Although Marinette eventually concludes after several chapters of reflecting on their interactions that they can't be the same person because their personalities are so different, Hawk Moth continues to have his suspicions.
- In the show, Cat Noir's flirting more often than not tends to annoy Ladybug. In the manga he's more admirative of her and complimentary. Likewise, Marinette's inability to express her feelings to Adrien is instead rendered as her having a tendency to ramble, but she can communicate just fine with him and even objects when he uncharacteristically snaps at Nathaniel. As a result, the two are able to carry conversations not founded upon the two of them crushing on each other, making their interactions feel friendlier and their romance feel less forced.
- Pokémon Horizons: The Series: With Ash out of the picture, Horizons aimed to distinguish itself from its predecessors by addressing several of the glaring flaws of the prior series.
- One of the biggest complaints about Journeys was the fact that, in spite of its "world travel" premise, it gave a very unequal focus to the 8 regions. A combination of the "home base" of the heroes being in Kanto and the show keeping its episodic nature meant that there were far more episodes in Kanto than in any other region, since any episode where Ash and Goh didn't travel would take place in Kanto by default. This also caused Galar to be placed Out of Focus and, outside of Leon, a handful of Gym Leaders, and the Darkest Day storyline (which is shooed out within the first third), get little to no exploration, in spite of it being the Gen 8 anime. This series addresses those problem by giving the heroes a flying ship for a base and introducing a more linear story. Now the main characters spend several episodes in any given region before moving on to the next, and episodes that take place within the Brave Asagi don't favor any region. The series starts in Kanto too, but quickly moves to Paldea to give the new region representation, and after that it moves to Galar, which is allowed much more time to shine. The main character even catches a Hatenna for additional Gen 8 representation.
- While Chloe’s search for a goal was meant to be seen as sympathetic, many fans complained that having it last for the entirety of Journeys made it seem like she had no purpose in the series other than just existing as the designated Pokégirl, with her story arc rotating in and out with Ash and Goh's being seen as too disruptive to the pacing. While those complaints began to flare up again towards Liko when it seemed like Roy was growing more as a Trainer and a protagonist than her, Episode 20 reveals that this was intentional on the writers' part, with Kabu himself noticing this flaw and calling her out on being too passive and unambitious to be able to grow as a Trainer compared to Roy and that she needed to figure out a goal for herself, with Liko reflecting on these words at the end of the episode.
- Chloe was later made into sort of a tritagonist for Journeys a fair bit of the way in, but many thought she still didn't appear enough, had barely any involvement in the main story-line, and she never really developed a dynamic with Ash. Horizons has a character that is kind of the tritagonist as well, but intently fixes all three issues: The character in question, Dot, appears frequently, helps Liko and Roy search for Rayquaza and has battled the Explorers, ensuring she has solid contributions to the story, and she quickly develops a dynamic and growing friendship with Liko where Liko helps her gradually go out of a shell while Liko comes to terms that Dot is actually her idol, the streamer Nidothing.
- The previous series under Ash's tenure as a whole faced heavy criticism for its abundance of Filler episodes that contributed little to Ash, his companions, his Pokémon, or even Team Rocket's Character Development, especially since it produced largely unmemorable characters-of-the-week with a few exceptions here and there. Horizons has largely reduced, if not outright eliminated, filler stories in favor of episodes favoring development between its main cast, supporting cast, villains, and Pokémon alike, and what weekly guest characters they bring on wind up having a greater contribution to their growth (notably, Kabu is the one who convinces Liko she's being an Extreme Doormat at her own expense).
Comic Books
- The comic adaptation of The Last Jedi does things like attempting to explain Luke's mindset better, having Holdo immediately tell Poe she has a plan and needs his support rather than antagonizing him for no reason, and showing Admiral Ackbar's final moments rather than killing him offscreen.
Fan Works
- Code Prime: The fic borrows elements from Worlds Collide (TMNT) and improves on them here.
- Worlds Collide notoriously kills off the rest of the supporting antagonists from ATLA as soon as the Foot Clan takes hold of the narrative, effectively diminishing the antagonistic drive of the ATLA universe in the story and shifting it towards the TMNT world. The only ones still in by that time are Azula and Hama, though it's now the Foot's show. Code Prime, while it does kill off some minor villains, manages to keep more major villains from Code Geass alive and still give them some plans to do in the second cour even after the Decepticons take over. And even if much of the CG antagonists are already dead, the significant damage done by the heroes force the Decepticons to take the route pursued by the minor universe: unleashing Neo Ragnarok. This means that while the newer villains take over the story, the old villains still have some fight left in them.
- Worlds Collide sets the ATLA universe after the events of Book 1: Water and into Book 2: Earth. This isn't necessary a bad thing, but the intention of the Turtles mentoring Aang somehow wouldn't feel connected to the story's beginning, especially since they just came and knew of the situation, leading to some Infodump from the Turtles' perspective. Here, the story begins at the very start of the Code Geass series proper, allowing the Autobots' mentorship to feel more natural and the canon to flow more naturally, and thus, much exposition is saved regarding the matter. Both J-WITCH and A Red Rose In the Blue Wind would follow this, the latter even using the same setup as Worlds Collide albeit starting earlier so as to follow Team RWBY and JNPR's character. The author even stated this in his reason for discontinuing Avengers of the Multiverse, preferring to start the story at the start of their character development.
- The reason for Shredder attempting to take over the Fire Nation is merely "I cannot share power because I only rely on myself" which, while solid, feels more like a rather flat For the Evulz moment. Here, Megatron's motivations are more solid regarding his Pretext for War against Britannia: Charles had been planning the Ragnarok Connection behind his back for somewhat noble reasons, and Megatron, clearly not a fan of the motivation itself, decides to take over in his stead, even reworking Ragnarok in R2 to fit his overall vision.
- While Worlds Collide massively shook the status quo by having the Fire Nation be usurped by the Foot Clan, the canonical endgame is still the same (defeating an oppressive force and restore the world to the heroes). Here, the canonical endgame for Code Geass is MASSIVELY changed due to the rise of the Decepticons, allowing for a more unpredictable and engaging story long after the midpoint.
- However, both Worlds Collide and Code Prime improve on an older fanfic with a similar crossover premise: Transformers: Avatar Chronicles
. To wit:
- Avatar Chronicles was infamous for showing how incredibly imbalanced the Transformers world is compared to the ATLA universe. The two stories split both franchises involved (Transformers and ATLA) and gave them to much more balanced entities; it's quite engaging to see Transformers in a Real Robot setting, while ATLA is paired with the street-level Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making fights more streamlined.
- One of the most controversial scenes in Avatar Chronicles was Megatron firing into Aang and forcing him out of the Avatar State, largely because it broke Willing Suspension of Disbelief and even then, Aang would have been completely obliterated no matter what had happened. Worlds Collide rectifies this by having Aang fight the Shredder and ending with him being stabbed by the latter's claws, in effect mortally wounding him and still leaving a body behind to contiue the story. Meanwhile, Code Prime has all instances of Megatron firing on humans with his fusion cannon a guaranteed fatality; the only reason V.V. survives these attempts is due to the innate immortality of his Code (something established in canon), and one of the most iconic scenes in the story is Megatron firing his fusion cannon on Charles zi Britannia and subsequent chapters making sure that he was indeed killed off.
- The fanfic was notorious for introducing so many characters from Transformers in large increments into the Avatar universe in the early chapters, making it hard for the story to follow just who's who is in the fanfic. TMNT's roster is rather small and much of the story focuses on just the Gaaang and the Turtles, with the only ones following being more major characters. Meanwhile, Code Prime R1 focuses solely on a reasonable set of Transformers characters, the new additions it made throughout its story are rather small but all playing major roles, and when it's time to start bumping up the cast, it was done in R2, right after Megatron had just summoned reinforcements to obliterate Britannia and making it clear that the fight has just escalated.
Films — Animated
- Big Hero 6: The main villain Professor Callaghan can arguably be seen as an attempt to fix some complaints fans had with Hans, the villain of Frozen, namely that that The Reveal came too late in the film for them to make as much of an impact as previous villains, their motivations and backstory received very little focus, and they were pretty much a Plot-Irrelevant Villain in terms of the story. By contrast Callaghan is firmly the Big Bad with his motivations to avenge the death of his daughter and destroy Krei getting fully fleshed out and they have a lot more screen time to establish their villain cred.
- The Grinch (2018): People disliked the Whos (aside from Cindy) in the live action movie for being unlikable jerks that made fun of the Grinch both as a kid and an adult, as well as displaying the negative aspects of the Christmas season. The Whos in this film, however, resemble those of the original book and Chuck Jones special who simply enjoy Christmas for what it is and are genuinely friendly folks.
- While the Super Mario Bros.-game franchise continues to be very successful and big, the live-action movie based on the games was very ill-reviewed, was a massive Box Office Bomb, and an immediate Franchise Killer for any cinematic adaptations of the games for 30 years, till Nintendo and Illumination teamed-up for an animated adaptation. The Super Mario Bros. Movie got far better reviews, grossed more than the live-action movie did in its entire lifetime in one day, and is seen as a more faithful adaptation of the games by far with a lot of easter eggs and storylines that make it an entertaining ride for longtime fans and newcomers alike.
Literature
- Several reviews for The Missus noted that Alessia and Maxim's romance comes off as much healthier and less fraught with drama than Ana and Christian's romance from E. L. James' previous series; some readers have even found this book's depiction of their relationship to be an improvement from The Mister due to it toning down the power imbalance. A recurring criticism of Ana and Christian's romance was that it unintentionally came off as dysfunctional and abusive rather than a flawed yet loving relationship, and arguably glamourised abusive behaviour. While Maxim and Alessia's relationship still has some issues, comparatively they come off as much more affectionate and supportive towards each other and they tend to use clear, honest communication to resolve relationship conflicts. While it's been pointed out that the Official Couple so easily and quickly resolving most of their problems causes some narrative issues (namely contributing to the story's lack of long-term stakes and tension), their relationship comes as a breath of fresh air compared to the toxicity of Christian and Ana (not to mention other fictional couples inspired by Fifty Shades who were similarly problematic).
- Throne of Glass: There was some controversy over Nehemia's role early in the series, namely that she's one of the only major characters of color and her role essentially boils down to being Celaena's friend and dying horribly less than halfway through the series purely to motivate Celaena. It doesn't help that something very similar happens to Sorscha (who is implied to have mixed ancestry) in the third book. We're later introduced to Yrene Towers, a biracial woman whose father is from Eyllwe (Nehemia's country). Her meaty role in the later books and in particular her being the one to take out the Big Bad almost seems to have been added to make up for the Nehemia controversy.
- For those who think that Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a Useless Protagonist who only won the factory simply because he was the last kid on the trip, the book's endless number of adaptations fix this by giving him a reason as to why he won the factory in the first place.
Live-Action TV
- Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024): Despite how polarizing some changes to the source material have been for certain fans, there are inclusions and alterations that have been generally seen as improvements over the original:
- Having Zuko's crew be the battalion of soldiers that he spoke up for, a decision that led to Ozai exiling him, is almost unanimously agreed to be one of the best changes the show makes from the original.
- In the cartoon, some felt the Mechanist was Unintentionally Unsympathetic because he desecrated the Northern Air Temple and caused Aang distress, even if he was merely trying to find shelter. With him and Teo being encountered in Omashu instead, this problem doesn't occur.
- One of the biggest missed opportunities of the original was how Iroh and Ozai never interacted onscreen despite being brothers. Here, they actually speak to each other a few times, and we even see him call Ozai out for challenging Zuko to an Agni Kai and then exiling him afterwards.
- Kyoshi manifesting through Aang to defeat the Fire Nation soldiers who are threatening the inhabitants of her island is considered even better than Aang's method in the cartoon (recruiting a nearby sea monster to put out the blaze the soldiers caused).
- When Iroh is captured by the Earth Kingdom, one of the soldiers expresses legitimate grievances against him from his siege of Bah Sing Sei.
- Zhao doesn't merely beat Zuko to capturing the Avatar: Zuko loses Aang to Zhao's forces! This gives Zuko an even stronger motivation to "rescue" Aang as the Blue Spirit.
- Monk Gyatso appearing in the Spirit World to console Aang was heavily praised as it allowed Aang to see his old mentor and friend and finally forgive himself.
- Yue's link to the Moon Spirit is made more pronounced beyond just her hair being white by having her both be a waterbender and capable of interacting with the Spirit World.
- The spirit oasis was expanded from a tiny park to a reasonably-sized forest.
- The firelords show why they're the boss by suckering the world with diversions TWICE - first by convincing them that the attack is on the Earth Kingdom, not the Air Nomads, and second, that their goal is to conquer the North, instead of Omashu.
- Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor was intended as a Darker and Edgier take on the character, being a morally gray Defrosting Ice Queen as a throwback to the First Doctor. However, he made such a bad first impression with viewers, who derided him for decades as the worst Doctor in the show's history, that Colin Baker was fired from the role by The BBC, cutting off his tenure prematurely. Years later, the Ninth and Twelfth Doctors would revisit the basic outline behind Six to much more acclaimed results, this time placing more emphasis on the Doctor's heroism and giving a number of What the Hell, Hero? moments at the hands of both himself and his companions. Furthermore, Nine and Twelve's darker qualities were made the results of trauma as a veteran of a Great Offscreen War and lingering post-regenerative insecurity, respectively, rather than making them inherent parts of the incarnations' personalities. Incidentally, the better reception of Nine and Twelve would also contribute to Six's positive reappraisal by the fandom, who now view him as simply being a victim of wasted potential prior to his Character Development in Big Finish Doctor Who.
- Moon Knight (2022): A common criticism of Love Interest Marlene Alraune and a significant reason for her controversial reputation within comics fandom is that her favoritism towards the Steven Grant alter and the way she discusses Marc Spector's DID with him, while Fair for Its Day, could frequently come off as ableist to modern viewers. Here, Layla El-Faouly (essentially Marlene merged with the Scarlet Scarab (comic book alias of Abdul and Mehemet Faoul)) is depicted as being immediately sympathetic to Marc/Steven's DID, with any initial hostility having all to do with misunderstandings resulting from Marc's communication issues. In fact, when Steven tells her of Marc's plan to essentially undergo Death of Personality so that he can front exclusively for her benefit, Layla is horrified, and her characterization as an Understanding Boyfriend resulted in her being much more well-received by the fandom.
- Reacher: The series is considered a better Jack Reacher adaptation than the Tom Cruise films (Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back) with the title character being Truer to the Text both physically (played by the very tall and muscular Alan Ritchson) and in behavior, and the plot being given more time to develop over a season compared to a two-hour film.
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017):
- A common criticism leveled at the book series is that the sheer amount of misery makes it a case of Too Bleak, Stopped Caring and some readers plain give up on it. While the show didn't completely escape accusations of this from some, others praised it for being whimsical/outlandish enough not to go too far with it.
- The first four books are extremely episodic, with the hints of a broader developing story only beginning in the fifth. The show integrates the VFD plot right from the start and the four stories are tied together much more tightly.
- Aunt Josephine was more or less considered a selfish character in The Wide Window due to her willingness to give the kids to Count Olaf to save herself. In the series, however, she stands up to Count Olaf and rips him a new one in a misguided way, a far cry from her book counterpart.
- The series does away with the bit in "The Ersatz Elevator" that many fans found too horribly contrived even for this series, where Violet and Klaus actively stop the Quagmires from explaining the entire VFD mystery and then find them gone before they can follow up on it.
- Some people found the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender in the book to be offensive when combined with Fat Bastard. The show reworks the Henchperson as a lethargic Cloudcuckoolander with several Hidden Depths, who was much better received by audiences.
- The show gives a much more believable but remaining misinformed reason for the villagers to believe that the Baudelaires are murderers. In the original book, Olaf gives rather flimsy evidence for the orphans being at the scene of the crime, despite them having solid alibis. In the TV series, however, the orphans use an invention to try and break Jacques, who was mistaken for Count Olaf, out of the jail cell. This gives Olaf a stronger case because not only were the orphans breaking the village's strict rules about technology, but it also made it look like they were trying to break into the cell to kill Count Olaf.
- Season 3 also greatly tones down the Baudelaires' Black-and-White Insanity, as many book fans had grown increasingly irritated at their acting like any action with the slightest hint of moral ambiguity instantly made them as bad as Olaf. It ends up going with a more nuanced view that there are no truly completely good or bad people in the world.
- The show removes the part in "The Slippery Slope" where the Baudelaires deliberately release the villain they just took hostage, an action which seemed a bit naive considering the circumstances.
- "The End" was criticized by some for leaving the fates of many characters vague and bleak. The adaptation gives a more optimistic conclusion: Quigley is reunited with his siblings, Fernald and Fiona are reunited and have finally located their father, Count Olaf's henchpeople start their own acting troupe, the Incredibly Deadly Viper is strongly implied to have successfully reached Ishmael's boat to deliver the life-saving apple, and the Baudelaires take off on their boat and are implied to have gone on many more adventures with Beatrice the Second.
- The show finally goes into detail about Count Olaf's backstory, something that was only hinted at in the books.
- Kit's death by poison when she refused the apple cure was widely panned as contrived and based on science that had been discredited by the time of The End's release. In the show, Kit does take the cure she needs... but it only delays her symptoms long enough to give birth.
- The Wheel of Time (2021): In the books, it's mentioned that Moiraine had "pillow friends" among her fellow Aes Sedai in her youth, including Siuan, although it's presented as a case of Situational Sexuality due to a lack of boys to hang around with and as an adult her love interests are all men, most notably Thom Merrilin. Nowadays, this depiction of same-sex relationships is regarded as a bit problematic due to the suggestion that such relationships are a 'phase' or less mature than heterosexual romances. The series instead approaches it by depicting Moiraine and Siuan has having a serious romantic relationship that has continued up to the present (albeit in secret for political reasons); their romance ended up being well-received by viewers.
Tabletop Games
- The original edition of 7 Wonders came with a two-player variation that involved a dummy player and was poorly received due to its clunkiness. This was a factor in the creation of 7 Wonders Duel, a dedicated two-player version that revamps the Drafting Mechanic and introduces new twists like instant-win conditions. Duel was even better reviewed than its parent game as a whole, and the original two-player variation was dropped from the second edition of 7 Wonders.
Theatre
- Legally Blonde
- In the movie, Elle figures out that Brooke's pool boy is gay (and thus lying about having an affair with Brooke that could possibly be motive for her husband's murder) because he is knowledgeable about shoes. In the stage musical, what tips her off is his lack of response to the Bend and Snap, a move that has been established to be "99.999% effective on straight men". This change firmly establishes him as categorically being not attracted to women — not bisexual, not Camp Straight. It also pays off the earlier Bend and Snap scene, which, while iconic in the film, doesn't come back later in the narrative.
- When Elle goes to get Paulette's dog back from her ex, in the movie she represents herself as a lawyer, which she isn't yet. That's illegal. In the musical she uses the more nebulous term "legal team". Emmett (a licensed attorney) is there too. So now it's not illegal.
Toys
- Monster High:
- While G2 is still widely considered an Audience-Alienating Era, the era's dolls have been positively received in at least two aspects. One, more sculpted details were added to the dolls to exemplify their monster types better (e.g. werebeasts got sculpted-on fur at their wrists and ankles, Cleo got molded bandages on her arms and legs), making them stand out more compared to their earlier plain sculpts. Two, the doll bodies are overall sturdier than they were in G1, with less fragile joints and Lagoona and Gil (who had flimsy paint jobs to give them semi-transluscent limbs and hands) were reworked so they didn't have the same risk of paint damage. All of these changes were retained for the following generation.
- G3 managed to become this to both generations that preceded it.
- G1 was already fairly diverse, but it caught some flack for both lack of accuracy in some of the cultures depicted and for sticking to Only One Female Mold. G3 managed to improve upon this, with more complex ethnic/racial backgrounds being represented without being objectified or overplayed (and being made more accurate in some ways, like Abbey Bominable being more authentically depicted as ethnically Himalayan) and a wider variety of body types. Additionally, G3 also has more representation for physically disabled characters and introduces several openly queer and neurodivergent characters, something G1 lacked.
- G3 is also considered a much better attempt at rebooting the franchise than G2 was. While G2 was unclear about whether it was a reboot or not and had a habit of shooing out established characters in favor of Suspiciously Similar Substitutes, G3's status as a reboot is much clearer, and in terms of major characters it's largely stuck to those established in G1.
Web Original
- DEATH BATTLE!: The second joke battle involving real people of "Chuck Norris vs. Segata Sanshiro" is held in far more esteem than the first of "Justin Bieber vs Rebecca Black", especially in hindsight. While the first had a rather baffling premise of pitting up two then-widely hated teen pop singers against each other, went out of its way to portray both in an unflattering light (which many viewers considered to be actively contributing towards the increasingly frowned-upon practice of harassing vulnerable child stars) and had an ending that came across as a gratuitous and unnecessary Take That! towards not only both Bieber and Black, but also The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus (more specifically, through having all of the aforementioned musicians die in a car crash), the second instead chose to star two famous Memetic Badasses far more suited for a fight, treated both of them admirably throughout, and culminated in a far more spectacle-filled ending befitting their reputations in which the two of them destroy the universe and each other, with their fight being immortalized as a constellation.
Western Animation
- Arcane: One longstanding criticism of League of Legends is the lack of variation regarding its female character designs, where even with more recent female champions, they tend to have similarly slim builds and generically "pretty" faces regardless of their background. Arcane addresses this and adds more variation among the women, and also isn't afraid of having them looking realistically "plain" even within its stylized art style. Preexisting female champions get subtle tweaks that make them better stand out among each other and feel more appropriate, such as giving Vi actual defined muscles.
- Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles episode "And Justice For All" was infamously gutted by Disney from Greg Weisman's original script, turning a legal exploration of gargoyle citizenship into a generic but nonsensical Courtroom Episode. The Dynamite comics finally allowed Weisman to explore his original concept, with Goliath being tried on gargoyle sentience and the repercussions that would mean for the clan going forward.
- Invincible (2021):
- Now that he has much more writing experience, Robert Kirkman greatly regrets waiting so long to kill off the Guardians, a Shocking Moment that doesn't happen until Issue #7. The show does it in the first episode after giving us just barely enough time to get attached — if it had happened when it was originally set, it would've happened around the first half of the season and likely wouldn't have attracted as much attention.
- Nolan's fight with the Guardians is significantly expanded on, as Nolan's claim of killing for the sake of weakening Earth's defenses comes off as borderline Narm when they were easily taken care of and evidently not a threat to the Viltrumite. Here, there's more weight to the reasoning.
- Monster Girl is not nearly as flirtatious as she was in her source material, the furthest she gets is playful banter. This makes her character easier to swallow for many people, as someone in a prepubescent girl's body throwing out solicitations strongly veered into Squick territory.
- Several female characters have received more focus and development than they do in the comics where they were more satellite characters. Notable examples being Debbie and Amber.
- The moment Robot reveals to the Guardians of the Globe that he's a human in a cloned body of Rex's teen self is actually treated like an issue. In the comics, the moment was brushed over pretty much immediately, but here, the whole team is concerned with the revelation and many fans were appreciative of the subsequent interactions as a result.
- Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny: Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness was a divisive series, being the first KFP animated spinoff. You had just as many people who loved the series as they hated it and even then, negative opinions of the show aren't hard to find online, with criticism directed towards Po being an Adaptational Jerkass, Shifu and the Furious Five being mishandled, how the show doesn't deserve to be canon, etc. Being the second animated show of the franchise, The Paws of Destiny managed to bring Po back in line with his movie characterization and show newfound maturity in training a new generation. Additionally, it took certain elements of the first series that fans did enjoy, such as the more arc-driven "Enter the Dragon" two-parter centered on an evil dragon Big Bad and the series finale "Emperor's Rule" based on an ancient female mystic coming back to menace the heroes and remade them into more well-received full season story arcs involving Jindiao and the White Bone Demon. While The Paws of Destiny doesn't fix every issue fans had with LoA (considering that Shifu and the Furious Five aren't included), it's safe to say this second spinoff series managed to smooth over many issues people had with the first and give fans a second, more presentable KFP show that built upon the strong points of Legends of Awesomeness.
- Miraculous Ladybug: The New York special is one to the New York-based story from the comics. Both have similar premises (Ladybug and Cat Noir go to New York and meet its heroes); however, the comics story attracted considerable criticism for having scenes where the underage Marinette runs through the city nude before running into a group of stereotypically thuggish-looking black men (one of them outright being named Ghetto Blaster) and immediately assuming that they're robbing a building and will attack her (they're actually charity workers). The special, while not without its own flaws, was seen as a marked improvement — Marinette's antics were limited to the usual Love Square shenanigans, and it had two non-white characters (a black girl and a Native American girl) feature prominently and positively.
- While Not Quite Narwhal managed to be a best-seller, the book has earned some flak from critics for oversimplifying its conflict by having Kelp deciding he "doesn't have to choose" between the Narwhals and Unicorns and showing the two groups mingling literally at the last page, implying that everything will just magically work out. The cartoon, by contrast, makes it clear that Kelp can't be part of both communities at all times and that he considers the Narwhals who raised him as his true family, with many episodes either focusing on the difficulties of being a Child of Two Worlds or being entirely confined to one biome.
- The Patrick Star Show:
- "The Prehistoric Patrick Star Show" is another time-shift episode taking place in prehistoric times, just like "Ugh" from the parent show. While it's not hated, "Ugh" has a Broken Base and is usually considered one of the weakest episodes of the first three seasons due to the slow pacing of its SpongeBob segments. "Prehistoric Patrick" is a much faster-paced episode, with the jokes landing very quick, and it does a lot of things in its runtime rather than just focusing on the discovery of fire. While "Ugh"'s comedy entirely revolves on visual gags since the caveman characters can't speak, they can in "Prehistoric Patrick", giving it some new jokes. It also helps that it's a regular-length episode and not a special, avoiding Hype Backlash and being less fatiguing.
- The fan-favorite episode "The Patrick Show Cashes In" can be seen as another take on the divisive "Mid-Season Finale". Both are meta episodes that mainly revolve around a series of different skits. While "Mid-Season" had segments that had no thematic throughline and were often random for the sake of random, every single one in "Cashes In" takes the form of a Parody Commercial with hilarious satire of both Misaimed Merchandising and overly dangerous branded products, which is rooted in the episode's setup. "Cashes In" also throws a curveball in its plot with a business executive objecting to how unsafe the advertised products are, while "Mid-Season" remains with no stakes the entire time. Even the endings are different; "Mid-Season" ends with some indulgent Gushing About Guest Stars from Patrick, but "Cashes In" delivers An Aesop that TV shows don't exist to be merchandised and just making something that people like watching is enough.
- "Star Cruise" is a Recycled Script of "Gas Station Vacation": the Stars go somewhere and think they're at a resort/cruise, only to cause chaos and mess everything up. "Gas Station Vacation" had a Designated Villain with the Gas Land manager, who's meant to be seen as an unfair killjoy. However, the Stars' actions include shooting golf balls at employees, unleashing rabid animals on innocent people, and exploding the station by cramming a bunch of stuff into the microwave, while not listening to the reasonable rules the manager sets down, so it's hard to side with them. "Star Cruise", in contrast, has the receiving end of the torment be an alien captain who's intent on invading Earth. The Stars also actually end up saving a couple of people in jars from people harvested through their exploits. It ends up making the protagonists way more likeable and the episode a more enjoyable experience.
- Sonic Boom: In the videogames, especially during her Flanderization in the 2000's, Amy was a Stalker with a Crush towards Sonic, bordering on Yandere, with him being constantly put-off by her advances in spite of occasional Ship Tease. In the show, Amy is one of his True Companions who just happens to have a (very poorly hidden) crush on him, and Sonic treats her as a mutual friend he denies having further feelings for. This allows their relationship to remain a source of comedy while being far more tolerable, and also averts Satellite Love Interest by making her personality not entirely revolve around him.
- Tiny Toons Looniversity: One of the criticisms thrown at the original show was that it never truly took advantage of its school setting, instead veering into fantastical adventures unrelated to it. Looniversity places focus on the titular school and has most of its plots about the main cast hanging around.
- The Venture Bros.: One idea the creators tried to do fairly early on was create a parody of Doctor Doom, in the form of Baron Ünderbheit. Unfortunately, the parody amounted to just taking Doctor Doom and making him dumber and lamer, which left him unable to work as a Knight of Cerebus and didn't leave him with an interesting personality or much that was actually funny. The creators became so frustrated with him that they wrote him out of the show entirely, and when he returned, it was in a marginal role as a dimwitted muscle for the Revenge Society before vanishing again. When they revisited the idea again in the form of Professor Victor von Helping, it was with a much clearer concept in mind: von Helping was the son of a Doctor Doom Expy who had inherited a fair bit of his power and intelligence... but had no interest in supervillainy, and so used his scientific genius to become a friendly college professor and a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Carl Sagan. This time, the character had a strong defining joke (his genial demeanor contrasting with his intimidating heritage and abilities), and managed to fit into the show much better, as an antagonist for the Monarch and a mentor for Dean, with his presence being noted as a highlight of the episode.
