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Adaptation Deviation

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"Holy crap! A ballad already?! And such a bold departure from the original source material!"
— Betelgeuse, Beetlejuice

When a work is adapted (whether to another medium, another culture/demographic, or both), you can safely assume that something from the original work will be changed in the process. Maybe characters are added, combined, split up, or omitted; maybe someone lives who originally died or vice versa, or maybe the whole thing is set in a completely different city/country/planet. The reasons for these changes can be as varied as the changes themselves, ranging from Artistic Vision to Executive Meddling to the constraints of the medium. Whatever they may be, expect cries of "That's not right at all!" from devoted fans of the original whenever these crop up. Accumulating enough of these may result in Adaptation Decay, at which point the adaptation starts to lose its resemblance to the original altogether.

Super-Trope to much, but not all, of the Media Adaptation Tropes index.

Please note that faithful adaptations can exist, or at least adaptations that don't directly contradict the source material in any way (e.g., by using Happily Ever Before on a work with a Downer Ending). Also, change is not necessarily a bad thing, and can make a work more accessible to other people or even iron out the kinks in the original work (such as an Adaptation Distillation, which seeks to make a more expansive/convoluted work easier to grasp).

See also the Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification.

Subtropes:

    open/close all folders 

    Changes to the Characters 

    Changes to the Plot 

    Changes to the Setting 

    Miscellaneous Subtropes 
  • Adaptation Drift: An adaptation deviates more and more from the source material as it goes on.
  • Adaptation Title Change: An adaptation of a work has a different title than the source material.
  • Adapted Out: The adaptation omits a character or plot element from the original work.
  • Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The adaptation changes or omits certain aspects of the original work that wouldn't fly today with audiences.
  • Cultural Translation: Replacing a reference in the original with a local equivalent.
  • Dub-Induced Plot Hole: An error in translating a work into a foreign language that affects either or both the story consistency or/and the characters.
  • Ret-Canon: Incorporating elements from a later adaptation into the original canon that it came from.
  • Woolseyism: Replacing a reference in the original with something else that works just as well. A common occurrence in language translation.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

Works with their own pages:

Other Examples

    Anime & Manga 
  • Ace Attorney (2016): The courtroom layout in the anime is a bit different than in the games. The defense is on the left side and the prosecution is on the right, unlike in the game, in which the opposite was true. The court also features chairs for the defendants to sit during the trial. The games showed them on the witness stand regardless of whether they were testifying, except for when they were serving as the assistant or when Phoenix was defending himself.
  • The Asteroid in Love anime doesn't reveal that Ao will have to move away as a result of her father's transfer until Ao shares the information with Mira in Episode 8, when Chapter 27 is adapted. In the manga, Ao had been told about her father's transfer in Chapter 23, but waited until Chapter 27 to tell Mira.
  • Attack on Titan: The anime version makes it so Levi never lifted Krista by her collar and never threatened her to become the queen like the manga did, probably because the anime staff didn't want Levi's popularity to decline because of his aggressiveness in the manga panels.
  • Bleach has a small but significant change to Kaien's death in the anime adaptation. In the anime, when Rukia returns despite having been ordered to flee, she is holding her sword in front of her as the possessed Kaien leaps at her, implying that Kaien regained control of himself enough to allow himself to die at her hands. In the original manga, Rukia is holding her sword at her side until the last second, so she actually stabs Kaien on her own volition; there is a manga-only sentence in her subsequent Internal Monologue in which she confirms that she did it on purpose.
  • Bokurano:
    • In the manga, Waku was a Chick Magnet. The anime changes it so that the only girls who came to his soccer games were the cheerleaders.
    • In the anime, Kirie manages to win his first fight without dying because his opponent committed suicide before Kirie even moved the robot. The manga reveals that not moving the robot doesn't make a difference. Possibly because of this change, neither Seki nor Kana end up having to fight, and so survive the story.
    • While both versions have the characters realize that someone in their group is not in the contract, and the person in question (Machi) is the same in each version, they handle the reveal a bit differently. In the manga, just before Kanji's battle, Ushiro admits that he isn't in the contract to Kanji, who seems to have realized that Machi isn't in the contract, either, and realizes just after his battle that Kana secretly joined the contract. In the anime, Ushiro joins along with everyone else, and Kirie discovers Machi's identity as the uncontracted pilot based on some red flags in her behavior.
  • The Bush Baby:
    • In the original novel, the bushbaby was a Christmas present given to Jackie by her father. In the anime, Jackie and Andrew discover him in the wilds after his mother is killed.
    • In the original novel, Jackie was born and raised in Kenya. Here, she moved to the country at three years old.
  • Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure into the Underworld has two anime films based on it, the 1984 original and 2007 remake. In the manga and original, the Magical Girl character, Miyoko Mangetsu, suffers a curse that turns her into a cat until she's exposed to moonlight, while in the remake she turns into a mouse instead (resulting in some hilarious moments considering what scares Doraemon the most). The rest of the story otherwise plays out as normal. Also, the original has Gian delivering the killing blow by throwing the silver dart into Demaon's heart; in the remake it's Nobita who did it instead.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003):
    • Winry is taller in the anime (the first one, which ended before the manga did and has its own plot) than in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. Edward, in contrast, never hits a growth spurt like in the manga, so he's always short. In Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, Winry is taller than the eighteen-year old Edward while in the manga he grows several inches taller than her.
    • The nature of the Homunculi varies from continuity to continuity. In the original manga and the Brotherhood anime, they're fragments of Father's soul, each representing one of his vices. In the first anime, a homunculus is created every time an alchemist attempts human transmutation; for example, Sloth was created by the Elric brothers' attempt to transmute their mother (which is why she's a woman rather than a hulking man), while Wrath was created from Izumi's attempt to transmute her child (instead of being Führer Bradley, who's Pride in this continuity). The first anime's homunculi have a weakness that the manga homunculi lack; items related to their original transmutation.
  • Hikari no Densetsu:
    • In the manga, Hikari says her favourite team is The Ocean. In the anime, this was changed to the Lions.
    • In the manga, Hikari's family refused to let her move to Bulgaria and train under Georgieva. In the anime, they let her.
    • In the manga, Shiina suffered from aplastic anemia, but in the anime this was cut out. Though Shiina is seen at the hospital at one point, implying she's an Ill Girl.
  • In Hitoribocchi no OO Seikatsu, Bocchi asks her mother for a smartphone but is told that she won't get one until her second year of middle school. In the anime, Bocchi's mother changes her mind and gives Bocchi one at the start of the last episode of the first season, shortly before the end of Bocchi's first year, with Bocchi mentioning that her mother thought it would be cheaper to do so at this point.
  • The Jungle Book anime has Father Wolf (called Alexander) defending the baby Mowgli from Shere Khan instead of Raksha/Mother Wolf (Luri).
  • Katri, Girl of the Meadows: The anime takes liberties with Katri's age (making her a small child instead of an adult), adds many Canon Foreigners as her best friends and gives them the spotlight, takes place in a World War I setting and also leaves Katri without a love interest. The ending of the series has has Katri reunite with her mother, while in the original novel she married Santeri and lived happily after with him.
  • Maken-ki!: The anime version only adapts parts of the manga's story in its first season and makes many changes to the main cast, in terms of how they're portrayed. Season 2 consists entirely of Filler episodes that focus almost entirely on fanservice.
  • One Piece: When Aokiji is first introduced, he shows off his Ice Ice Fruit powers by using them to freeze the ocean in order to allow Tonjit, an old man the Straw Hats had helped, cross to another island in the Long Ring Long Land in order to rejoin his fellow nomads. In the anime, the Straw Hats had parted ways with Tonjit by this point, and the encounter with Aokiji took place on a different island, where he froze the ocean to instead help some random shipwreck survivors.
  • The manga adaptation of Persona 3
    • The manga reveals a detail about the death of Ken's mother that was not hinted at in the game. Instead of Shinjiro losing control of his Persona and accidentally killing Mrs. Amada, the Shadow he killed belonged to Mrs. Amada, and would most likely have killed Ken if Shinjiro hadn't intervened.
    • In the game, the party had to defeat Jin and Takaya before proceeding on to Nyx. In the manga, some members stay behind to fight the Strega members in order to allow the others to advance, resulting in Akihiko, Ken and Koromaru fighting Jin, Mitsuru and Junpei fighting Takaya, and Minato, Yukari, Aigis and Fuuka fighting the Nyx Avatar.
  • The manga adaptation of Persona 4
    • Soji spends a fair amount of time with Adachi in November, now that Dojima and Nanako are in the hospital, leaving Soji home alone. In the game, Adachi's Social Link can't be done after November 5, possibly because it includes Nanako and Dojima.
    • On December 3, Dojima actually does make it to Nanako's side for what appear to be her final moments.
  • Persia, the Magic Fairy: The original manga was about an orphan raised in the wilderness of Africa, who was discovered by a zoologist who helped her find her parents. So, what did Studio Pierrot do when adapting it into an anime? Why, make her a Magical Girl with an Older Alter Ego and fairy superpowers, of course!
  • Persona 5: The Animation
    • The date in which Haru is set to move in with her abusive fiancé, which serves as the deadline for completing her father's Palace, is changed from October 11 in the game to September 30 in the anime, possibly to allow more time for side plots before midterms begin.
    • According to an interview with Director Masashi Ishihama, the anime will have a twist that will deviate from the game's story. Ultmately, however, the exact nature of the twist is unclear, apart from Ren hearing Akechi's voice as his Confidants cheer him on during the final battle.
  • The manga adaptation of Persona 5 also has a few changes.
    • In the game, the Phantom Thieves make at least five trips into Kamoshida's Palacenote  In the manga, there are only three, since Ryuji's evidence-gathering expedition is cut, and Ann awakens to her Persona just before the fight with Shadow Kamoshida.
    • In the video game, Kamoshida plans on having Ryuji and Ren expelled for threatening him, and Mishima for leaking Ren's criminal record to the rest of the school(on Kamoshida's orders). In the manga, Kamoshida, realizing he'll need a scapegoat for Shiho attempting suicide, claims that Ren and Ryuji, who'd talked to Shiho earlier, had been bullying her.
    • In the manga, the Phantom Thieves come up with their codenames when they officially form their group at the hotel buffet. In the game, Morgana has the group come up with codenames during the third trip to the palace, just before Ann joins.
    • The manga doesn't start with the casino heist or the Framing Device of Sae interrogating Joker, with the first scene of the interrogation being at the end of Volume 6, after Kaneshiro's change of heart.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team: In the original game, the protagonist stays a Pokemon. The manga, however, has Ginji wake up in his house as a human after his adventure ends.
  • Shaman King: The 2001 anime and manga are fairly close to each other with only slight changes up until the Shaman tournament begins, at which point both stories diverge fairly radically down to the 2001 anime getting a much different ending here Hao is defeated, while in the manga The Bad Guy Wins.
  • Soul Eater: It's stated early in the manga that for a Weapon to become a Death Scythe, their meister must gather the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch soul, the "evil humans" being those who made into Lord Death's list for common crimes like murder and theft, which include humans like Mifune and eventually Crona, who gain an execution order which somehow changes their souls and allows them to be killed. In the anime, however, the 99 souls are changed to Kishin Eggs, which belong to humans who ate human souls and began walking the path to becoming a Kishin. Also, the evil human souls in the manga are indistinguishable from regular ones, while the Kishin eggs from the anime appear as red and scaly. Hinting this, one-time characters such as Jack the Ripper, Alcapone and Lupin are seen eating or stealing souls in the anime, but not in the manga.
    • Related to this, Mifune has a soul strong enough to be worth 99 souls by itself, and thus Death says to Black*Star that Mifune can serve as a shortcut for him. In the anime, Mifune is simply said to have a super-strong soul, and Black*Star tries to use the souls of Alcapone's thugs to fill the quota.
  • In the Tamagotchi manga Manga de Hakken! Tamagotchi, the Tamagotchis live on planet Earth. In all other Tamagotchi franchise installments, including the original pets, the Tamagotchis instead live on a different planet called Tamagotchi Planet.
  • The ending to the Wandering Son anime implies Takatsuki and Nitori will "grow out" of their gender dysphoria. The manga version of the ending scene is considerably less optimistic and Nitori still identifies as a girl even when she finishes high school. Takatsuki did stop being male identified though.

    Art 
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti's painting of Haman's death on the Sistine Chapel ceiling doesn't show him being hanged on his own gallows like in the Book of Esther, but instead shows the genocidal villain being crucified. This may have come about because the Latin Bible which Michelangelo would be familiar with describes the gallows as a "crux," although other parts of the text make it clear he was hanged. The scene is described similarly by Dante in The Divine Comedy.

    Comic Books 
  • Supergirl (1984): In the original same named film, Selena snatches Nigel's magic wand from his hands and uses it to turn him into a ragged old man. In the comic adaptation, Selena uses the Omegahedron to transform him.

    Fan Works 
  • All For Luz: Because she gained holes in her palms from the Mass Super-Empowering Event on the day she was supposed to go to Reality Check Camp, Luz's mother takes her to the hospital to get looked at. Meaning Owlbert doesn't steal her Azura book and she ends up in the Demon Realm as in canon.
  • Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: For the sake of allowing the Ashford Student Council (except for Nina) to become the Paladins of Voltron, there are seven lions this time around, instead of five. The original lions are the Purple and Orange ones.
  • The Devil Fruit Hero: Rather than Bakugo being kidnapped during the summer camp attack, Izuku and Ben are the ones who are taken by the League of Villains.
  • Hours 'Verse:
    • Because Waking the Dreamer was written before the author played Royal, Kasumi's characterization is based on trailers. For example, she doesn't awaken to her Persona until half a year past the confrontation with Yaldabaoth in the fic, when in canon she awakens in early October. She's also actually Kasumi, having been Retconned into the real one when Maruki's non-prescence meant Sumire had no reason to believe she was her dead sister.
    • Unlike canon Strikers, Morgana is not present when Akira and Ryuji fall into their first Jail, on account of his getting a human body in an earlier entry letting him go places without Akira.
    • The hot springs debacle is excised in Patchwork Hearts, with Akechi simply explaining the misunderstanding to the girls who proceed to act like reasonable human beings about it. The whole party proceeds to go co-ed for a bit until the staff catches them and throws them out.
  • Of Gemstones and Watches: The author deviates very much from some of the works based on original episodes of the series.
    • In canon, Secrets featured Vilgax and revealed Max's secret occupation. Here, Vilgax is out of the picture; instead, Ruby and Max reveal their secrets, and the Grimm is the major antagonist.
    • Ben's starting playlist is different than canon.
    • Skurd is named "Doppler" here, and was created to help Kevin when him and the Antitrix start rejecting each other.
  • In Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders, Holly Kujo's illness was because DIO's gaining his Stand through Jonathan Joestar's body caused the latter's descendents to gain Stands, but Holly didn't have the fighting spirit to control her new Stand. The author of from porcelain to ivory to steel disliked the canon explanation, so instead Holly's harmful Stand is the result of a curse sent by DIO to torment Holly's father Joseph Joestar, who is Jonathan's closest living relative.
  • A Moth to a Flame: According to Marcy's Journal: A Guide to Amphibia, Valeriana the Bizarre Bazaar vendor was the one that created the Calamity Box to unite the races of Amphibia. Here, the box was created by the Wu Clan, Marcy's ancestors, over many generations to perfection. Originally sought to assert their influence over other worlds; however, with the collapse of their influence on Earth, it became their last ditch attempt at starting over from scratch, helping the Leviathan family, Andrias' ancestors, build Newtopia.
    • Marcy is the one who drops Sprig when Anne calls him her best friend, out of jealousy rather than Andrias' petty spite like in canon.
  • In the Persona 5 Adult Confidant AU, most of the characters retain the arcana they represent in canon, with two exceptions:
    • Sojiro Sakura goes from representing the Hierophant arcana to the Fool arcana.
    • Sae Niijima goes from representing the Judgement arcana to the Justice arcana.
  • Queen of Hearts also has a few arcana changes, partly as a result of Makoto Niijima being the main character and Ren "Joker" Amamiya being a side character and Confidant. Igor goes from the Fool Arcana to the Moon Arcana while the Twin Wardens go from the Strength Arcana to the High Priestess Arcana. In addition to this, several characters who weren't Confidants in the game become Confidants in the fic(e.g. Shiho, the student council), while the opposite is true for other characters(e.g. Yoshida, Kawakami).
  • Star Spark: While the story is still a The Loud House fanfic and the main family from the show's still the most important element from the fanfic, the story is focused on Stella's life and adventures rather than any slice-of-life antics from the family.
  • Watch Dogs: SIN-surrection: With Hachiman as the main protagonist, changes to Shimoneta's canon have been made.
    • Rather than an obscure symbol that resembles a nuclear power logo, Hachiman draws a flower on the track field.
    • In dealing with Anna's stalker situation, Hachiman throws smoke bombs at the stalkers, not only saving Anna, but also closing the door on the Accidental Kiss in canon and by extension, anything involving love nectar.
    • Related example, Anna resolves to better prepare herself against any and all future terrorist attacks by joining a task force led by Kyosuke Munakata.
  • In Torque (Jak and Daxter), the whole story of Jak II: Renegade deviates right from the start with Keira and Daxter reuniting with one another. Then the revelations that Jak is a loyal servant to the Baron. Which puts the fate of the story on Keira's shoulders instead of his.
  • Witches Rangers and the 141 is a crossover between Modern Warfare (original trilogy) and Strike Witches. That being said, there are unique deviations to either's canon:
    • There are Land Witches inserted into the fic's canon and a whole host of new characters to go along with it.
    • Following Shepard's betrayal (along with Ghost and Roach's survival), there is a one week gap between Soap and Price's escape from the Boneyard and their eventual assault on Site Hotel Bravo, instead of one day.
    • MW2 and MW3 establishes the Russian Invasion of the United States being exclusive to only the Eastern Seaboard, which is repulsed in an estimated timeframe of at most, one week. Here, both East and West are being invaded at once and their battles last around a month. After the New York battle, the Eastern Front is abandoned by the Russian Navy after Chapter 28, but the Western Front is still in open conflict.
    • After killing Shepard and casevac-ing Soap, TF 141 and the Russian Loyalists stay at the Northern India safehouse for about a week. Makarov's Ultranationalists assault the region only when Ghost, Roach, Scope, Toad, and Gertrud leave for their mission in Germany to capture Pike.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Bicentennial Man: The court battles from which much of the drama comes are distilled to the very last legal battle in Andrew's campaign to be recognized a human. The courts don't show up until the last twelve minutes before the end of the film, in order to make room for the mandatory Rom Com.
  • Call Me by Your Name: In the original novel, the Jewish characters are nonobservant and are, as one character puts it, "Jews of discretion." The reader knows that they are Jewish either from their wearing stars of David or simply from their say-so. The movie shows Elio's family observing Hanukkah.
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The original story was set in Baltimore, but the film occurs in New Orleans.
  • D-Day, the 2008 Russian Foreign Remake of Commando (1985) has a few deviations to the original, like one of the original film's setting in a mall changed to a waterpark (to justify a henchman being unable to contact his boss via mobile phone) and one of the punchlines altered (instead of "I'll kill you last" it's "You'll die hilariously"). The final fight between the hero and the dragon was also changed from a boiler room to a caviar plant, while the main villain and said dragon have their deaths' order swapped.
  • The Green Goblin's Last Stand: In the source comic, Spidey's battle with the Goblin after Gwen's death was a complete Curb-Stomp Battle that had him nearly beat a helpless Norman to death. Here, it's much more even-handed until the Goblin brings up Gwen, after which Spidey loses it.
  • "Impossible Dreams": In the original short story by Tim Pratt, Pete desperately wants to watch The Magnificent Ambersons from the Alternate Universe video store, but he can't because of the different DVD formats in the two universes. In the short film adaptation, his counterpart Daniel tries in vain to watch the version of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence directed by Stanley Kubrick, a film which is only mentioned in passing in the short story. Whereas Orson Welles recorded a DVD commentary for The Magnificent Ambersons in the short story, the still very much alive Kubrick added new features to the DVD of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence in 2010 in the short film.
  • Iron Man: The character was originally based in New York, but the MCU changed his home to California, where most of the technology industry is (Silicon Valley).
  • The most common complaint fans of It's a Wonderful Life have with the famous, beloved, classic film is the Values Dissonance-laden fate of George's wife. When George wishes he was never born, his wife Mary's alternate fate without him in her life is to be an Old Maid working at the library, which the film depicts as an unbearable, unspeakably awful situation; George takes this revelation even worse than his brother's death and other much more terrible changes (though probably for the unstated reason of his children not existing in any form, even in Pottersville). Compare her fate in the original short story "The Greatest Gift," where she ended up married to an abusive alcoholic — something viewers in any decade would find horrifyingly tragic.
  • Jaws: The book was set in a Long Island resort, but the movie is set on a New England island.
  • The DC Extended Universe's Justice League:
    • Barry Allen is a student and the youngest of the League, whereas his comics counterpart is usually fairly experienced, already with the Central City Police Department, and often leads the team.
    • The Justice League uniting to fight an alien threat is typical, but in both the Silver Age comics/Pre-Crisis continuity and the Post-Crisis continuity, the invaders were the Apelexiansnote . In the New 52, which is what the film is based on, they did battle an invasion from Apokolips, but it was lead by Darkseid, not Steppenwolf.
    • The above is kind of inverted with Zack Snyder's Justice League, in which Uxas - a young Darkseid - does lead the ancient times invasion an is more clearly Steppenwolf's motivation).
  • Laura:
    • The film features a different murder weapon from the book.
    • The book has twin glass ornamental globes in Lydecker's and Laura's apartments. The movie replaces them with twin clocks which were used to hide the murder weapon.
    • In the book, Laura is painted wearing a hunting outfit. This outfit, plus the fact there are no pictures of anyone else in her apartment, serves to emphasize her self-reliance (an unusual thing in a woman of that era, and also an echo of author Vera Caspary's own self-reliance). In the movie, she is painted in a negligee, emphasizing her attractiveness.
  • Nightfall (1941):
  • Superman: The Movie gave Krypton a crystal motif, and also invented the idea of Superman's S being a family coat of arms. Before that, it really was just an S.
  • Supergirl (1984) changed Argo from surviving on a chunk of Krypton to surviving in another dimension.
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine, infamously depicted Deadpool as not having a mouth. This is not a minor change, either, as one of Deadpool's nicknames in comics is "the merc with the mouth"note .

    Literature 

    Live-Action Television 
  • Foundation (2021): The first trailer shows several action scenes added to the work, and cast lists show the addition of new characters that use religion to control the Empire.
  • This is necessary for Ghosts (US) since the show is a Transatlantic Equivalent from the original British series:
    • Rather than the standard six-episode fare, it has a longer season and thus more episodes to make up the bulk due to being a US remake.
    • New ghosts, aside from Pete, had to be invented wholesale to adjust to American history and its eras while still filling in the roles of the originals. Also, the eras in which they died are closer to each other with a majority dying in the 20th century.note 
    • The couple's dynamic is inverted where the husband is more sensible yet cynical and the wife is incredibly optimistic and impulsive. This is best exemplified when Jay was initially apprehensive towards Samantha's ill-thought plan of converting the house into a B&B because of the costs and time they'll need to invest in.
    • Instead of falling out from the window, Samantha trips over a fallen vase caused by Trevor and proceeded to tumble down two flights of stairs. This near-death experience is what triggers her ability to see and hear ghosts.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: In the first season finale, the Three Rings of the Elves (Vilya, Nenya, and Narya) are forged before the other Rings of Power and with Sauron's direct collaboration in the early stages, where in Tolkien's works, it is stated that Sauron is unaware of their existence for a long time, and that he never touched them or assisted in their making. They were also the last Rings to be created, serving as the culmination of Celebrimbor's smithcraft.
  • The weakness of Devil Fruits is slightly altered in One Piece (2023). In the manga, the weakness applies to all forms of water, and makes it so that the user loses their abilities while also sapping away at their strength proportional to how much of their body is submerged. In this show, it's changed so that Devil Fruit users are only weak to seawater, and their weakness to it just makes it so that they lose their powers and aren't able to swim.
  • The Twilight Zone (1985):
    • "Dead Woman's Shoes" is only loosely adapted from the original episode "Dead Man's Shoes". In the original, the spirit of the murdered gangster Dane takes over the body of the homeless man Nate Bledsoe when he puts on his shoes in order to exact revenge on his treacherous partner Bernie Dagget. In The Remake, the spirit of the murdered socialite Susan Montgomery takes over the body of the shy, withdrawn woman Maddie Duncan when she puts on her shoes in order to exact revenge on her husband Kyle.
    • "A Matter of Minutes" differs somewhat from the short story "Yesterday Was Monday" by Theodore Sturgeon in its presentation of time. In the episode, every minute exists as a separate world that must be constructed and subsequently torn down once that minute has elapsed. In the short story, the workers construct days rather than individual minutes. Each day is referred to as an act which forms part of a larger play. People are considered actors who play their roles on a stage, a reference to the "All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It. The entire project is overseen by a producer.
    • "A Saucer of Loneliness" differs from the short story by Theodore Sturgeon in that it omits any reference to the protagonist (who is given the name Margaret in the episode) being placed on trial and receiving a prison sentence for her refusal to reveal the contents of the message that she received from the Flying Saucer.
  • The Untamed: While this show still follows the main concepts of the original story Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, some things here and there are either slightly changed or completely altered.
    • The biggest change is that it was a different person, Xue Chonghai, who founded demonic cultivation to be used in an effective way, centuries before Wei Wuxian was even born. He created the Yin Iron as well as the sword stuck in the Xuanwu of Slaughter. These 'Yin Iron' pieces allow Wen Ruohan to use demonic cultivation for his plans of conquest.
    • Various factors make this Wei Wuxian the weakest of all his incarnations when it comes to demonic cultivation in terms of raw power and control.
    • The amount of years that passed during the Time Skip is increased from thirteen to sixteen years. Lan Qiren ordered Lan Wangji into seclusion for three years as part of his punishment.
    • In the novel, Jiang Cheng is known to be the one who killed Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian clarified that it's false. The series reverses this fact. Episode 33 reveals that it's not actually false, but not completely true either.
    • When the Sunshot Campaign ended, the cultivation clans held a celebratory banquet in the Nightless City instead of Golden Qilin Tower as they did in the novel.
    • Lan Wangji, instead of fighting and injuring 33 Lan elders, stood against the Jin Clan at the end of the Sunshot Campaign.
    • By the time Lan Wangji takes Wei Wuxian back to the Cloud Recesses in the present time, Wei Wuxian already knows that Lan Wangji figured out his real identity, hence he doesn't wear his mask in his presence.
    • It isn't an arm that causes the deaths at Mo Manor and starts the plot, but the spirit of Baxia, Nie Mingjue's spiritual sabre leading to its master's remains. The Nie tomb is for the Nie clan's sabres because their spirits tend to become resentful. Jin Guangyao still hid Nie Mingjue's head in Golden Qilin Tower, but the rest of his body remained whole and was hidden in Coffin Town. This also leads to a different sequence of events at the climax. Nie Mingjue's fierce corpse doesn't rise and attack Jin Guangyao. Baxia does, however, by possessing Wen Ning. Nie Mingjue's angry spirit eventually rises too, then killing Jin Guangyao, although this happens off-screen.
  • Some Characters from The Walking Dead (2010) are different from their comic counterparts:
    • In Season 9, Rick Grimes is Put on a Bus and removed from the Alexandria region's story, something that never happened in the comics.
    • Michone's comic counterpart never left the Alexandria-led coalition of communities, whereas this Michonne leaves towards the end of the Whisperer War arc to find Rick (another instance of this trope).
    • How Negan got his trademark baseball bat and Iconic Outfit is played differently in the show:
      • Negan received "Lucille" from Laura (who is not a Savior at that time) while searching for more chemotherapy bags. In the comics, he picked up "Lucille" after his previous survivor group were Devoured by the Horde.
      • In the comics, Negan got his iconic leather jacket from an abandoned store. Here, he bought it for $600 prior to the outbreak, though the real Lucille hid it and later gave it back to him as an "anniversary gift".
  • The Wheel of Time (2021):
    • Eamon Valda is introduced after having tortured an Aes Sedai, then burns her at the stake. This emphatically does not happen in the books.
    • The books describe Mashadar as a silvery mist sprouting tendrils that kill anybody they touch. Here it looks like black lichen that quickly grows over ground and walls. When it touches a horse, the horse crumbles to dust. After Mat is infected, similar lichen occasionally appears on his lips.
    • Kerene died before the events covered by the first season in the books, with different circumstances.
    • The Waygate and its opening look nothing like in the books. Moiraine opens it just with One Power, and the purpose of taking Loial with the party is unclear at first (later he reads the direction sign). The darkness inside is similar, at least. How Ogier and non-channeling Darkfriends or Shadowspawn open the gates is not shown.
    • While a wounded Tam al'Thor does reveal the story of Rand's adoption in his ravings right from the start, it happens offscreen, and the viewers only see it in Episode 7.
  • Word of Honor follows the novel to an extent. It has the same world, same major plot points and until half of the show, the same pace. But there are differences, including:
    • There is more focus on the worldbuilding compared to the novel. The reason for this is the novel is a sequel to one of Priest's other novels, Lord Seventh, which goes into more detail about the worldbuilding, while Faraway Wanderers simply focuses on the main couple.
    • Side characters such as the top ten ghosts, the Five Lakes Alliance, the Scorpions and many others are given more screen time and development with their own fleshed out stories.
    • Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are made to be childhood friends who come from the same sect. This change was done probably to allow for more physical intimacy between the two; it wouldn't have passed censorship if they were strangers like in the novel.
    • Starting from Episode 30, a big part of the plot doesn't happen in the novel, which renders most of the episodes from that point almost entirely original. In the novel Wen Kexing doesn't fake his death, so Zhou Zishu doesn't have to pull out his nails and therefore, Wen Kexing doesn't have to sacrifice his meridians for Zhou Zishu. All of this leads to a completely different ending.
  • Y: The Last Man (2021):
    • Agent 355 had been flying from the Middle East when the plague hit. Here, she's planted with the Secret Service in the White House when it happens.
    • A big one in episode 7: Rather than be stuck in first Australia and then Europe, Beth shows up at the White House to be welcomed by Jennifer.
    • The Daughters of the Amazon leader gets killed by a disgruntled subordinate, which doesn't occur in the comic.

    Podcasts 
  • In Live From Mount Olympus, rather than visiting King Atlas and turning him into stone for refusal of hospitality, Perseus visits the Titan Atlas and offers to turn him into stone to ease his burden of holding the sky, but Atlas refuses.

    Radio 

    Video Games 
  • Batman: Arkham Knight sees Deacon Blackfire from Batman: The Cult sport a dreadlocked ponytail, a Rasputin the Mad Monk-esque beard, and tattoos on his chest rather than the short-haired, clean-shaven, lacking tattoos look of the comics.
  • Batman: The Telltale Series features a great number of liberties taken with the source material that makes it stand out from other Batman media.
    • Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, presents one very early in the series: rather than being old, short, and portly, he is presented as close to Bruce's age, lean, and handsome. While he maintains a bird-themed motif for his villainy, he now does so with a Plague Doctor mask. Also, instead of using a Parasol of Pain, he uses guile and technical expertise.
    • The Joker is introduced as "John Doe", a mysterious Arkham Asylum inmate who, going into the second season, is presented as genuinely friendly towards Bruce Wayne, in contrast to other media, which present him as sociopathic and self-centered. Depending on the player's choices, he may either turn into the Joker or become a Batman-inspired vigilante.
    • Harley Quinn is given quite a makeover, with her and the Joker's roles being reversed: in this game, it is John Doe who is the doting subordinate to Harley, who is now a ruthless (though still quite unhinged) crime boss.
    • One of the biggest changes is with Thomas and Martha Wayne, who are revealed to be not merely philanthropists, but the most influential criminals in Gotham's underworld prior to their murder. Much of the series follows Bruce's efforts to live with this legacy and distance himself from the vile deeds of his parents.
  • Spider-Man (Insomniac):
    • Spider-Man (PS4) takes place in a world quite a bit different from other adaptions of Spider-Man, including Peter Parker becoming an assistant to Otto Octavius after graduating college and leaving the Daily Bugle, Otto himself being Peter's boss and mentor and only becoming Doc Ock eight years into Peter's career as Spider-Man instead of being one of his earliest foes, Norman Osborn is the mayor of New York City and isn't the Green Goblin, Mary Jane Watson takes her incarnations in both the Ultimate comics and cartoon in pursing a career as a reporter for the Daily Bugle instead of acting or modeling, Miles Morales knows Peter personally and gains spider powers while Peter is still alive, there's no sign of Gwen Stacy, Jefferson Morales and Aunt May undergo Death by Adaptation, Mr. Negative is a member of the Sinister Six while usual team mainstays like Mysterio and Sandman are nowhere to be found, and Harry Osborn is sick and bonded to Venom.
    • For a more minor case of this, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 features the Best There Is suit. In the comic this suit comes from, the suit has a cowl just like Wolverine. In this game, it has a full face mask.

    Webcomics 
  • Foundation - The Psychohistorians: Jonathon Dalton changes the year of Seldon's death from 1 F.E. to 3 F.E. in order to resolve the contradiction of Seldon dying the same year that Terminus was colonized and Gaal meeting him two years before his death, but six months before Terminus is colonized.note  This adaptation also adds Funetik Aksents to Gaal Dornick and Lars Avakim, intended to imply a more diverse culture.
  • The Hare's Bride: In the original fairy tale, the second time the hare calls out to the girl to open the door, he says the wedding guests are hungry, and the third time he says they are waiting. The comic switches the order of these two around, so that he says "hungry" right as he bares his teeth and goes on the attack, creating some additional implications.
  • While not a strict adaptation, Looking for Group got its start as a parody of World of Warcraft. The name comes from the MMO chat term for a player forming a party to tackle a difficult quest, and each of the original four main characters corresponded to one of the Horde races in the game. But as the series went on, it drew less and less inspiration from Warcraft and eventually just became a comedic fantasy series. We can pinpoint the exact moment the series stopped being a WoW parody: when the team encountered a group of trolls (including recurring character Tim) who looked nothing like Benny, whose appearance is based on the trolls from the game but her background turned out to be completely different.
  • The Order of the Stick: The combo that the half-ogre spiked chain fighter uses in "Perfect Combo"—a Large creature + a spiked chain to attack both adjacent and reach-range foes + the Combat Reflexes feat to get multiple attacks of opportunity per turn, letting him attack Roy twice when he advances to sword range—is not actually legal in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition (the then-current D&D edition): a single movement can only trigger one attack of opportunity no matter how many threatened squares the target exits. To do what the half-ogre does actually requires a feat from the Complete Warrior add-on, "Hold the Line", which would allow the half-ogre to make an attack of opportunity for Roy's charge attack in addition to the movement out of a threatened square. Justified because OOTS's RPG Mechanics 'Verse only applies the rules-as-written as well as the characters in question can remember them: Roy comments in the same strip he got a C-minus in his Attacks of Opportunity class.

    Western Animation 
  • The Dungeons & Dragons (1983) cartoon takes quite a lot of liberties with the source material; for a few examples, Presto's magic works completely differently from a regular D&D wizard's, and the Dungeon Master is not normally an actual character in the game world.
  • Invincible (2021): Much like the adaptation of Kirkman's other famous work, the show shuffles things around to the point that certain key events from the comic books series happen at different times and characters can end up a part of arcs and stories they previously were not around for or cut from arcs they were a part of. There is also a bit more backstory, agency, and even competence given to smaller characters.
    • A change that occurred in-universe. In the comics, Mark's favorite comic is called Science Dog. In the show, his favorite comic is Seance Dog. It seems the character went from being a scientist to a wizard.
    • Unlike the comics, Nolan is never captured and enslaved by the Flaxans, as he entered their dimension willingly and he tears them and their world apart singlehandedly.
    • Episode Six, You Look Kinda Dead, changes quite a few things from the comics. D.A. Sinclair and the Reanimen appear much earlier, Amber wasn't there or even Mark's girlfriend at the time, and Mark's reason for wanting to go to college is completely different. Also William's hatred of nicknames is never brought up.
    • When Mark finally reveals his identity to Amber, instead of her being star struck and forgiving him for "abandoning" her during the Reanimen attack, she instead reveals she had figured it out weeks ago on her own and cuts ties with Mark briefly over not trusting her with this information.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man switches the arm Dr. Connors is missing. Most incarnations are missing the right one, whereas this one is missing his left.
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk's trademark bowler hat is usually nothing more than a regular hat that he just happens to always be wearing. When he appears in My Adventures with Superman, the bowler hat is portrayed as actually being a tiara that he wears to reach the full extent of his powers.
  • Thomas & Friends was prone to this when the first four seasons adapted stories from The Railway Series, the book series the show was based on.
    • The most important example was "Thomas, Percy and the Coal", the first story from More About Thomas the Tank Engine. While the book focused on Thomas and Percy having a falling-out after an incident with some coal, the book version ends with Thomas laughing at Percy's misery and Percy vowing revenge; since the series never adapted the last story "Drip Tank", the episode version adds in a new scene where the two engines make up their quarrel in the shed and promise to be more careful of coal in the future.
    • The 2015 special "The Adventure Begins" adapted the first two books in a new condensed format. While new scenes were added to document Thomas' first days on Sodor, the "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" segment was vastly different from its book and TV versions; unlike the original when Thomas had to fetch the breakdown train after James rockets past and hears he went off the line, the special version adds in a sequence where Thomas tries to save James before he crashes.
  • Winx Club has multiple instances of this in its differing English dubs.
    • In most versions, Bloom is the keeper of the Dragon Flame, and Daphne is her sister. In the 4Kids dub, Daphne is no longer related to Bloom, and Daphne gave her the Flame.
    • The first episode begins with Bloom waking up, getting her bike from her parents, then heads to the park where she meets Stella and discovers her powers for the first time. The 4Kids version reverses these scenes so that it begins with Bloom going to the park, meeting Stella and discovering her powers, followed by the scene where she wakes up at home happening afterward, adding in new dialogue where she realizes it wasn't a dream as she thought.
    • Sky and Brandon switch identities for the majority of Season 1. In the Nickelodeon-produced specials based on Season 1, they did not switch.
    • In the original, Riven briefly sides with the Trix as his own good. In the 4Kids version, he turns to the Trix's side after Darcy hypnotizes him.
    • Episode 7 has the Winx lose their powers for sneaking into Cloud Tower in the previous episode, and are forced to clean the school without magic as punishment. Due to the specials produced by Nickelodeon not adapting the previous episode, the situation was re-written as a special assignment for first year students.
    • In the middle of Season 1, Bloom finds out Mike and Vanessa adopted her and she's not from Earth. In the 4Kids dub, Bloom already knew she was adopted from the start, but didn't know why.
    • When Bloom first enters Alfea in the original, she initially poses as an unseen student named "Veranda of Callisto" so she can get in. This was taken out of the Nickelodeon special, and Faragonda knew who Bloom was from the start, and immediately accepts her in.
    • In Season 2, one of Darkar's minons poses as Professor Avalon to capture Bloom; in the Nickelodeon special, Darkar himself disguises as Avalon to capture her.
    • There were originally four Codex pieces in the original, but only one in the Nickelodeon version.
    • After Bloom was turned into Dark Bloom, Darkar sends the Trix to the Omega Dimension after saying they're no more use for him; in the Nickelodeon special, he instead sends them back to Lightrock Monistary.

Alternative Title(s): Adaptational Modification, Adaptational Deviation, Adaptation Modification

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