Crossovers
- Throughout Code Prime, the Britannians and Decepticons, despite being nominally aligned together, tend to argue to hell and back and attempt to one up each other. This comes to a head in Chapter 22, Divided They Fall, where Airachnid ends up trapping Cornelia and Starscream in half of the wreck of the Harbinger so that she can claim the immobilizer. Not only do the Autobots and Black Knights get away with the weapon (in part because Airachnid immobilized all of her allies in addition to the Autobots and Black Knights), Lelouch was able to use his Geass on Cornelia to obtain information on all of Britannia's military operations in Japan. Megatron smacks some heads after this and threatens any Con who refuses to properly work together for their greater agenda, which miraculously works, though their relationship with Britannia doesn't get any better and ultimately the Decepticons overthrow and conquer the Britannian Empire.
- Shadows over Meridian: When Vathek learns from Amelia that Vera led her and the rest of their friends into danger just to get her personal revenge, he laments on the actions of Cavigor's Warden, Caleb and the conspirators situated in the Swamplands, and how those extremists can't seem to understand that they shouldn't be going rogue now that the entirety of Meridian is being threatened by Phobos and Kage.
- System Restore: One of the most persistent issues Byakuya and Hajime run into while trying to unite the other students against Monobear is that Mahiru simply does not like the idea of Togami being in charge, and goes out of her way to nitpick and criticize everything he does, trying to encourage others to step up and take control away from him or otherwise undercut his efforts.
- A Brighter Dark: Ryoma becomes so focused on the war with Nohr that he completely ignores the opinions of the Obstructive Bureaucrat shoguns that run the different provinces of Hoshido. While this appears to be an awesome moment at first, Ryoma realizes that dismissing nobles of high status isn't such a good idea when you need their assistance in fighting a war, and they eventually break away from Hoshido all together to fight the war on his own.
- Champion: The Capitol excels at turning the citizens of the various Districts against each other, such as promoting religious clashes in District 7 or making the workers in District 3 feel inferior to their scientists. However, they don't need to lift a finger to sow discord in District 10, due to its three distinct tribes constantly warring with each other.
- In Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race, by Episode 13, tension between Roll and ProtoMan has hit a breaking point, and they may fight soon if not stopped.
- lies of attrition: After Chrysalis tells Chat Noir that Ladybug lied to him about the Wish and Gabriel's death, and Ladybug accidentally confirms it, Chat forms an Enemy Mine with Chrysalis to take Ladybug's Miraculous and reverse the Wish, eventually splitting the heroes into two factions: one in favor of Ladybug, and one in favor of Chat Noir.
- Truth and Consequences: After Ladybug discovers his Secret Identity, Gabriel convinces her to keep silent and work with him to engineer a solution that will spare Adrien from learning the Awful Truth and prevent the Agreste family from being torn asunder. However, he uses this leverage to try and tear apart the heroes' ability to work together in this fashion, turning them increasingly against each other.
- The Unlikely Ally: Key's goal is to avert this by uniting the magical girls together against a common foe rather than letting them fall to infighting over limited resources.
- Sort of invoked in The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World. The four are baffled that the Guardians and the Circle, the two main good Power Groups, haven't banded together to fight the Black Tower, which is poised to take over C'hou in just over a year. Indeed, the two groups actually spend more time sniping at each other than attempting to defeat the baddies. When the four ask if there's any chance at all the two groups can cooperate, they're told that the two groups have been rivals for a long time, and it would take more than the defense of the minor, extrauniversal C'hou to bring them together. Which of course makes them wonder why the Pyar gods would bring both of them over—not to mention the people who make up the Animals, and the secret Power Groups who are cooperating with no one.
- Chasing Dragons: Any hope that the remnants of the slavers' Grand Army had of escaping from the abolitionists' siege at Ghoyan Drohe intact falls apart due to its internal factionalism — the Tattered Prince's mercenaries (which represent most of the Grand Army's remaining cavalry) desert and flee, while the Volantene Militia and the Exile Company turn on each other when the Militia realizes that the Company is planning on using them as a diversion to cover their own escape. This all leaves the Grand Army disorganized enough for the abolitionists to charge in and wipe the floor with them.
