Too Much Alike

Birds of a Feather flock together right? Not always. The exact opposite of Opposites Attract, Too Much Alike is when the relationship (romantic or otherwise) of two characters falls apart, not because of how different they are, but because of their similarities (the best option is to find someone who is somewhere between exactly like you and your antithesis).

This usually happens for one of three reasons:

• The characters are prone to bouts of Self-Deprecation. If they hate themselves, they'll grow to hate the other.
• They have a trait that needs to be complemented. For example, a Motor Mouth will want someone who is a good listener, not another Motor Mouth (this is what led to the romanticization of Opposites Attract).
• Eventually, the characters become The Corrupter to the other, being too indulgent of their traits and forcing one to opt out for both their sakes. Normally the most tragic one.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is often (but not always) a root cause of Headbutting Heroes and Vitriolic Best Buds. See Not So Different for when the common similarities, usually, serve to bring people closer.

Examples of Too Much Alike include:

Anime and Manga

• Winry and Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist are prone to fighting because of their identical short tempers. They do eventually become a couple though.

Comic Books

• Hobbes, dryly, notes that this is why Calvin can't ever get along with his duplicates. Calvin doesn't see it, of course. Those guys are jerks!
• In the 2014 Thor comics, Lady Sif theorizes this is why she and Thor never seem to work out.
• In IDW's original run of Transformers comics, some theorize that this is why Optimus and Megatron couldn't work out a peaceful solution. Neither one's pride would allow them to back down or compromise their ideals.

Films

• In Avengers: Infinity War, Tony Stark and Stephen Strange butt heads on account of both being Insufferable Genius Deadpan Snarkers who both think theirs is the right way to fight Thanos.

Literature

• Peeta theorizes that this is why Katniss and Haymitch argue so much in The Hunger Games.
• The Big Three in Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Though Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon are all very different, it's their similarities that keep threatening to tear them apart.

Live-Action TV

• 30 Rock:
  • Jack and Avery. The kick in the pants is when Avery gets kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il.
  • The same goes for Liz and Carol Burnett. Not that Carol Burnett.
• The Doctor has a real problem with this in Doctor Who:
  • The first instance of this occurs with the First Doctor and Vicki. Both serving as Replacement Goldfishes to the other, they'd alternatively bring out the worst and best in the other.
  • Per the mechanisms of regeneration, the Ninth Doctor subconsciously moulded the Tenth Doctor after some of Rose Tyler's traits. As such, she and him were far too comfortable around one another and very prone to bringing some of their worst traits to the surface. And ultimately, the sheer amount of arrogance this causes in both of them is what separates them.
  • But both examples pale in comparison to the relationship between the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald, with the Doctor being willing to do anything for sake. Anything. Over the course of their travels, Clara evolved into the Doctor's Distaff Counterpart, with both alternatively bring out both the best and the worst in the other, and even began thinking of herself as indestructible as him, leading to her demise. Hopelessly mad with grief, the Doctor, who loves Clara more than anything in the universe, risked a massive temporal paradox, as in potentially destroying the whole universe, to have her back, and this causes Clara to realize that they have to be apart for the sake of everything.
• Monica's boyfriend Pete in Friends who was, like her, a stubborn Control and Competition Freak. Fittingly enough, her next major relationship is Chandler.
• This plays a role in how Dr. House chooses his team. He wants people to challenge him and offer ideas he wouldn't think of, even rejecting a qualified applicant due to them fulfilling this trope.
• How both of Barney's major relationships fell apart in How I Met Your Mother. In the case of Quinn, his Distaff Counterpart, the fact that Barney can't trust himself means he also can't trust her which led to both of them writing up pre-nups thicker than a college textbook for the other to sign. In the case of Robin, both of them are hugely driven and ambitious, unable to settle down for long which meant accommodating one person's career came at the expense of the other's. In both cases, he decides that he's Better as Friends with them.
• Why Jerry's engagement to Jeannie Steinman fell apart. They're both self-loathing narcissists who eventually realized they hated each other. That said, they part ways totally amicably and marvel at their always being on the same page.
• Victorious:
  • Aside from him being Jade's ex-boyfriend, this seems to be why Tori doesn't want to pursue a relationship with Beck. Though she loves hanging out with him and everyone says that they're perfect for each other, the fact that she's his Distaff Counterpart leads Tori to believe that they would stagnate in about three weeks or so.
  • Implicitly a factor in why Jade hates Tori so much. Tori is everything that Jade is, even better in every way that counts, but can do it all without resorting to bullying and fear trafficking. There's only room for one alpha in each pack after all.
  • Also a reason why Jade also hates Tori's sister, Trina. They're both Small Name, Big Ego Smug Snake Attention Whores.
• In the episode School Dance of Zoey 101, Nicole is paired up with a guy exactly like her. Much to her annoyance he won't ever shut up or lose his peppiness. Cue her ranting to Dana about how annoying this is.

Video Games

• Said word for word by (male) Shepard when he breaks up with Miranda in Mass Effect 2.

Western Animation

• Stan and Hayley in American Dad. Though they opt for wildly contrasting political views, they treat them exactly the same as the other does and defend them just as violently. If, for whatever reason, they're forced to pull an Enemy Mine, then they become unstoppable.
• Yoda seeming gave Ahsoka to Anakin in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, counting on Birds of a Feather so Ahsoka could reach her full potential. Unfortunately, this happened; Type 3, Anakin became far too attached to his Padawan; and was exploited by Palpy in the Season 5 finale to incite Anakin's emotions and make him lose faith in the Jedi Order.
• Marge and Barbara Bush are pretty sure that this is why Homer and George W. Bush can only fight.
• Hinted at with regards to White and Yellow Diamond in Steven Universe. Yellow seems to want her mother's attention the most but always seems to fall short, implicitly due to White setting higher standards for Yellow than Blue or Pink, knowing she could do better than either of them.
  • Also a factor in Pink and Spinel's relationship. Pink wanted to be seen as a Diamond, not a clown. Giving her Spinel likely only reinforced to Pink that she had to grow up and stop being the Comic Relief.
• Megatron and Starscream's antagonism seems to be derived slightly from this. Once upon a time, Megatron was The Starscream before he became The Emperor of the Decepticons. In some fictions, this is exactly why Megatron gave Starscream his high-ranking job. To keep a close optic on the wildcard who might one day actually pose a genuine threat.
• Keith and Lance have some shades of this in the first season and a half of Voltron: Legendary Defender, specifically that they both enjoy taking charge when Shiro isn't around and always seem to think that they know best. By the Season 2 finale, they're smoothed everything out.
  • To a lesser degree, Lance and Shiro. Shiro is harder on Lance, yet often acts like him.