History ExpyCoexistence / WesternAnimation

** The episode "Toot Goes Bollywood" features the character Phat Allen, who, as another character is quick to claim, "has absolutely no affiliation with Bill Cosby's lovable character [[WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids Fat Albert]]."

** The episode "Toot Goes Bollywood" features the character Phat Allen, "who has absolutely no affiliation with Bill Cosby's lovable character [[WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids Fat Albert]]."

*** ''Cosmic Wars'' was created to make fun of the backlash against ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''...even through the aforementioned episode [[ProductionLeadTime aired in 2004, two years after]] ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' came out. ''Cosmic Wars'' was almost identical to ''Franchise/StarWars'' in every way, with only minor tweaks to the names and characters (e.g. Jar Jar Binks became Jim Jam Bonks, and "May The Force Be With You" became "May The Power Be On Your Side"), and is shown to be the exact same kind of phenomenon. The creator Randall Curtis is essentially a CaptainErsatz of Creator/GeorgeLucas, except for shorter stature. However, ''Star Wars'' had already been established to exist in their universe several times. In fact, the franchise plays a role in some of the show's most famous moments, and with a few arbitrary exceptions, ''Star Wars'' was directly mentioned after this episode aired as well. It became even more blatant when Disney bought Fox (and thus the rights to ''The Simpsons''), just seven years after they already purchased the ''Star Wars'' rights, as the show began acknowledging its ties to its new parent company more closely, especially in regards to ''Star Wars'' references.

* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'': WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse was created by Creator/WaltDisney as an expy for his other famous cartoon character WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit after losing the rights for the latter. After Creator/{{Disney}} finally got the rights back after a deal in 2006, Oswald is now sometimes included in media related to Mickey (most popular in the ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' video games.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger is depicted as the President of the United States, looking and sounding almost exactly like regular expy Rainier Wolfcastle. While Wolfcastle was basically his CaptainErsatz down to even minor details, the movie completely throws this out the window, as Wolfcastle does not appear or get acknowledged, and Schwarzenegger is established prominently.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' features Ed Wuncler III, who primarily exists to satirize UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush: a needlessly violent UpperClassTwit from an old conservative family who goes off on [[StupidCrooks disastrous criminal expeditions]] with his idiot friend Rummy and escapes consequences due to [[BornLucky luck]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections his family]]. Despite this, it's been shown matime ny times that Bush does indeed exist in the show's universe.

** The original series had Slappy Squirrel, who was said to be one of the original ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' characters. One episode shows a cover of a cartoon collection of such characters, and she is shown to be on it. However, in RealLife she never appeared in any media unrelated to ''Animaniacs''.

** Launchpad [=McQuack=] was introduced in the original series as an expy for WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck (although Donald would occassionally appear, he was heavingly DemogedToExtra compared to the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts and the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse). In the reboot, Donald [[AscendedExtra was promoted to main character]] alongside Launchpad.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', whether a character exists in canon, exists as a fictional character, or doesn't exist at all seems to vary on the needs of the scene. The creators have even claimed that one of their favorite gags is acknowledging that the thing they're parodying also exists in-universe.

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': In "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS2E8BusterAndBabsGoHawaiian Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian]]", Creator/RobinWilliams appears at the gate of the Warner Bros. studio, dressed like Peter Pan from the 1991 Spielberg film, ''Film/{{Hook}}''. The following episode, "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS2E9HennyYoungmanDay Henny Youngman Day]]" features a segment called "Stand-up and Deliver", where Red Rad Robin Kill-em's, a parody of Robin Williams, performs at a comedy club.

* Cheetor in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' was introduced as being an equivalent of Bumblebee from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', with a few traits from Hot Rod: a bright yellow rookie scout who served as a KidAppealCharacter like the former, who would go on to become the resident Optimus's successor like the latter. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersCyberverse'' [[AdaptationPersonalityChange a slightly more mature Cheetor]] would show up and join the Autobots, with the episode "Spotted" being about Bumblebee teaching Cheetor to scout.

** Early in the second season episode [[Recap/RugratsS2E1ToyPalaceSandHo Toy Palace]], they established Thorg who is a spoof of King Kong. In the season finale [[Recap/RugratsS2E26ToothOrDarePartyAnimals Party Animals]], Stu and Drew were arguing that either Tarzan or King Kong are the "King of the Jungle", whom Thorg is based after.
** [[Recap/RugratsS2E21FeedingHubertSpikeTheWonderDog Spike the Wonder Dog]] has their own version of Lassie named Oodles the Talking Poodle. They acknowledged Lassie exists as they mentioned that dog in the theme song.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' features Ed Wuncler III, who primarily exists to satirize UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush: a needlessly violent UpperClassTwit from an old conservative family who goes off on [[StupidCrooks disastrous criminal expeditions]] with his idiot friend Rummy and escapes consequences due to [[BornLucky luck]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections his family]]. Despite this, it's been shown many times that Bush does indeed exist in the show's universe.