Media Adaptation Tropes

When a story existing in one medium is adapted into another medium (or several) and the pitfalls within.

Abled in the Adaptation: A character with a disability in the original work doesn't have that disability in the adaptation.
Actionized Adaptation: The adaptation is more action-oriented than the original work.
Accent Adaptation: A translation gives characters different accents than they had in the original language.

Adaptational Alternate Ending: The adaptation ends differently from the original work.
Adaptational Backstory Change: The adaptation changes a character's origins.
Adaptational Early Appearance: A character appears earlier in the adaptation than in the source material.
Adaptational Late Appearance: The adaptation moves a character's debut to later than occurred in the source material.
Adaptational Mundanity: The adaptation tones down or even flat out discards any supernatural and fantastical elements from the source material, making the story more grounded in reality.
Adaptation Amalgamation: An adaptation consisting of multiple stories merged together.
Adaptation Decay: An adaptation of a work is distorted between media.
Adaptation Deviation: The adaptation makes changes to the original work.
Adaptation Displacement: The adaptation becomes more well-known than the original work.

Adaptation Distillation: The adaptation removes or shortens elements to keep from running too long.
Adaptation Dye-Job: The adaptation changes a character's hair color.
Adaptation Expansion: A short story is given an adaptation that's much longer due to more content added to the plot.
Adaptation Explanation Extrication: The adaptation keeps a plot point, but leaves out the reason behind it.
Adaptation First: The adaptation is localized before the original work.
Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: The adaptation has a plot hole that wasn't in the original work.
Adaptation Inspiration: The adaptation has the same premise as the original work, but not the same tone or presentation.
Adaptation Name Change: The adaptation gives a character a different name from the one they had in the original work.
Adaptation Origin Connection: The adaptation makes it so that two or more characters with unrelated backstories now have connected origins.

Adaptation Overdosed: The work has been given a buttload of adaptations.
Adaptation Personality Change: The adaptation gives a character a different characterization from what they had in the original work.
- Adaptational Heroism: A villainous character is made heroic in the adaptation.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The adaptation makes a character meaner and less polite than they were in the original work.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The adaptation makes a character nicer than they were in the original work.
- Adaptational Villainy: A heroic or neutral character is made evil in the adaptation.
Adaptation Species Change: The adaptation changes a character's species.
Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The adaptation makes a character more angst-ridden than they were in the original work.
Adaptational Attractiveness: The adaptation makes a character more attractive than they were in the original work.
Adaptational Badass: The adaptation makes a character more impressive in terms of powers and/or combat skills.
Adaptational Comic Relief: The adaptation makes a character serve as comic relief when they did not have that role in the original work.
Adaptational Context Change: The adaptation has a song or piece of dialogue occur in a different context.
Adaptational Curves: The adaptation makes a character more muscular or curvaceous than they were in the original work.
Adaptational Dumbass: The adaptation makes a character less intelligent than they were in the source material.
Adaptational Early Appearance: A character who didn't appear until much later in the original work ends up making their debut earlier in the adaptation.
Adaptational Intelligence: The adaptation makes a character smarter.
Adaptational Job Change: The character has a different job in the adaptation.
Adaptational Karma: A character who got away with their misdeeds in the original work receives punishment for their actions in the adaptation.
Adaptational Modesty: The adaptation has a character wear clothes that are less revealing.
Adaptational Nationality: The adaptation changes what country the character is from.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The adaptation changes the relationship between two characters.
Adaptational Sexuality: A character's sexual orientation is changed in the adaptation.
Adaptational Skimpiness: The adaptation has a character wear clothes that are more revealing.
Adaptational Superpower Change: The adaptation changes what powers a character has.
Adaptational Ugliness: The adaptation makes a character uglier than they were in the original work.
Adaptational Wimp: The adaptation makes a character less impressive than they were in the original work.
Adapted Out: The adaptation omits a character from the source material.
Age Lift: The adaptation changes a character's age.
All Musicals Are Adaptations: The tendency for musicals to be adapted from pre-existing works.
Animated Adaptation: A non-animated work is adapted into an animated media.
The Anime of the Game: An Anime based on a Video Game.
Anthropomorphic Animal Adaptation: The adaptation changes human characters into anthropomorphic animals.
Ascended Extra: When the adaptation gives a minor character from the original work a more prominent role.
Audience-Coloring Adaptation: An adaptation that has a lasting effect on opinion of the overall franchise.
Audio Adaptation: Visual media is adapted to an audio play or radio program.
Big Bra to Fill: The actress chosen to play a character in the adaptation has smaller breasts.
Big Damn Movie: A film adaptation is more dramatic than the source material.
Bloodier and Gorier: The adaptation is more violent than the original work.
The Board Game: A work is adapted into a board game.
- Themed Stock Board Game: A pre-existing board game is given an edition tying into a specific work.
Canon Character All Along: A character in the adaptation initially appearing to be a Canon Foreigner turns out to actually be the adaptation's interpretation of an already established character.
Canon Foreigner: The adaptation features a character who didn't exist in the original work.
Canon Immigrant: A character created for the adaptation ends up being added to the continuity of the original work.
Character Exaggeration: The adaptation makes a character into a caricature of their original incarnation.
Chickification: A female character who can do well in a fight and look after herself is made helpless in the adaptation for the sake of the plot.
Cipher Scything: Adaptation of a video game with a featureless protagonist either gives the main character more depth and personality or leaves them out.
Comic-Book Adaptation: A work is adapted into a comic book.
Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Adaptations of superhero comics only have heroes and/or villains addressed by their real names.
Compilation Movie: A movie made by editing together several episodes of a television show.
Composite Character: The adaptation merges multiple characters into one.
Compressed Adaptation: The adaptation leaves out some scenes in order to manage a reasonable running time.
The Cover Changes the Gender: A song cover changes the gender of the original song's viewpoint character.
The Cover Changes the Meaning: The song cover plays the song in a different tone or context from the original version.
Covered Up: The cover of a song becomes more prominent than the original.
Creator-Preferred Adaptation: The creator finds the adaptation to be superior to their original work.
Cutting Off the Branches: Sequels to a game with Multiple Endings only regard one ending as canon.
Darker and Edgier: The adaptation is darker, grittier, and more mature than the original work.
Death by Adaptation: The adaptation kills off a character who remained alive in the original work.
Decomposite Character: The adaptation splits a character into two or more characters.
Demoted to Extra: The adaptation reduces a prominent character to having a less important role.
Denser and Wackier: The adaptation is sillier and more comedic than the source material.
Dies Differently in Adaptation: A character's death differs from how they died in the original work.
Disabled in the Adaptation: The adaptation gives a character a disability that they didn't have in the original work.
Disowned Adaptation: The creator of the original work does not like the adaptation.
Divided for Adaptation: A long work has the adaptation divide it into two or more installments.
Early-Bird Cameo: A character has a minor appearance before they are properly introduced later in the same work, in a sequel, or in their own series.
The Film of the Book: A book is given a film adaptation.
The Film of the Play: A play is given a film adaptation.
Film of the Ride: A ride is adapted into a film.
Freestyle Version: An artist uses someone else's music for a song, but sings their own lyrics.
Gender Flip: The adaptation changes a character's gender.
God-Created Canon Foreigner: A character exclusive to the adaptation was created by the original work's creator.
Happily Ever Before: The adaptation avoids the original work's Downer Ending by ending the story before things get sad.
Historical Badass Upgrade: A historical figure is made more impressive than they were in real life.
Historical Beauty Update: A historical figure is made more attractive than they were in real life.
Historical Downgrade: A historical figure is made wimpier and more incompetent than they were in real life.
Historical Hero Upgrade: A historical figure is made more benevolent than they were in real life.
Historical Villain Downgrade: A historical figure is made less evil than they were in real life, but is not necessarily portrayed as good.
Historical Villain Upgrade: A historical figure is made more villainous than they were in real life.
Hotter and Sexier: The adaptation contains more nudity and/or sexual content than the original work.
Human-Focused Adaptation: An adaptation reduces non-human characters' roles so the work focuses on newly-created human characters.
Indecisive Medium: A work in one medium uses stylistic quirks from another medium.
In Name Only: The adaptation differs so much from the original work that the shared title is the only indication that the work is an adaptation.
Licensed Game: A work is adapted into a video game.
- License-Added Game: A pre-existing video game has a version where the game is retooled to tie into a specific franchise.
- No Problem with Licensed Games: When the licensed game actually does the source material justice.
- The Problem with Licensed Games: Shoddy video game adaptations.
Lighter and Softer: The adaptation is more lighthearted than the original work.
Live-Action Adaptation: A work is given an adaptation done in live-action.
Lost in Imitation: The adaptation is influenced more by previous adaptations than the original work.
Marquee Alter Ego: The adaptation (specifically Live-Action Adaptation) has a character with a unique facial appearance or mask take it off to showcase the actor's face.
Meta Origin: The adaptation makes it so that all characters' origins were tied to a single event.
The Movie: A work is given a film adaptation.
Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Film adaptations of superhero comics have the heroes wear black costumes or costumes with darker colors than what were worn in the comics.
Named by the Adaptation: The adaptation gives a nameless character a name.
New Rules as the Plot Demands: Established rules are broken for narrative convenience.
No Adaptations Allowed: The creator refuses to allow adaptations of their work to be made.
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: A work of fiction uses a character that's an obvious stand-in for a real-life historical figure.
Non-Serial Movie: A television series is given a movie that is not canon.
Not as You Know Them: The adaptation's interpretation of a character is inconsistent with their established and generally accepted characterization.
Not His Sled: The adaptation of a work with a well-known plot twist alters the plot twist to surprise people expecting the adaptation to be exactly like the original work.
Not Wearing Tights: Superhero comic adaptation has the hero wear regular clothing only.
Novelization: A work is adapted into a novel.
Overtook the Manga: The adaptation wraps up the story before the original work reaches its conclusion.
Overtook the Series: The adaptation runs out of stories from the original work to keep the adaptation going, so it continues with new stories.
Pinball Spinoff: A video game is adapted into a pinball game.
Pragmatic Adaptation: The adaptation changes or omits elements from the original work that would be difficult or impossible to leave as they were in the source material.
Promoted to Love Interest: The adaptation makes a character into a love interest.
Race Lift: The adaptation changes a character's ethnicity.
Recursive Adaptation: An adaptation is given its own adaptation in the medium of the original work.
Recycled In Space: The adaptation is basically the original work with a gimmick added.
Recycled: The Series: A movie's premise is adapted into a weekly television series.
Related in the Adaptation: The adaptation makes characters who weren't related in the original work family.
Relationship Compression: The relationship between two characters develops quicker in the adaptation.
Repurposed Pop Song: A popular song is repurposed for advertising.
The Role-Playing Game: A work is adapted into a tabletop role-playing game.
Schrödinger's Cast: The adaptation has to work around a plot point dependent on a character who was killed off remaining alive or a character still alive in the adaptation having to die.
Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: A film is adapted into a stage play.
Secondary Adaptation: The adaptation is given an adaptation of its own.
Self-Adaptation: The adaptation is created by the same person who made the original work.
The Show of the Books: A television show adapted from a book series.
Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification: A five-point system rating how faithful an adaptation is to the original work.
Softer and Slower Cover: A song cover that is quieter and slower than the original song.
Sound to Screen Adaptation: An audio play or radio show is adapted to visual media.
Spared by the Adaptation: A character who died in the original work remains alive in the adaptation.
Superhero Movie Villains Die: In superhero comic adaptations, the villains rarely cheat death.
Tamer and Chaster: The adaptation has less sexual content than the original work.
Themed Tarot Deck: A tarot deck based on a specific series.
Third-Option Adaptation: An adaptation of an interactive work has a third choice made to get around picking between the two choices given in the source material.
Tie-In Novel: A work is given an out-of-continuity book adaptation.
Title: The Adaptation: The adaptation's title consists of the work's title, with a subtitle specifying the medium of the adaptation (e.g.: Trope Adventures: The Graphic Novel).
Truer to the Text: When an adaptation is more faithful to the source material than previous adaptations.
Unrelated in the Adaptation: The adaptation changes it so that characters who were relatives in the original work are now unrelated.
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: A work is essentially an exaggerated account of real life events.
Video-Game Movies Suck: The opinion that film adaptations of video games are awful.
Woolseyism: Translation alters the dialogue so it works better in the new language.
Xenafication: The adaptation makes a female more action-oriented.
You Don't Look Like You: A character's appearance in the adaptation looks nothing like how they were depicted or described in the source material.
Younger and Hipper: The adaptation makes a character younger.