Tropescilloscope: Captain Ersatz

A character who is meant to be very similar to one from another series, but just different enough to avoid copyright infringement. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

More Tropes Broken Pedestal Dramedy Heel–Face Turn Unwitting Instigator of Doom Idiot Ball Unresolved Sexual Tension Cluster F-Bomb Left the Background Music On Dramatic Gun Cock Central Theme Expy The Bad Guy Wins Whole Plot Reference Drill Sergeant Nasty Crucified Hero Shot Obstructive Bureaucrat Deadpan Snarker True Companions Madness Mantra Guns Akimbo As the Good Book Says... The Place Gorn "Well Done, Son!" Guy Lighter and Softer Green-Eyed Monster Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Names to Run Away from Really Fast Mundane Made Awesome Imagine Spot Tranquil Fury Camera Abuse Bad "Bad Acting" Fainting Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Parental Substitute The '90s All There in the Script Determinator Russian Films An Arm and a Leg Product Placement Extreme Doormat timeperiod Death by Irony Laser-Guided Karma I Want My Beloved to Be Happy NO INDOOR VOICE Curse Cut Short I'm a Humanitarian Bavarian Fire Drill Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Red Shirt Match Cut Mooks Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Slap-Slap-Kiss Crazy-Prepared Zombie Stories Fatal Family Photo Kids Are Cruel The Voiceless Black Best Friend Belligerent Sexual Tension Missing Mom No Antagonist Never My Fault Distracted by the Sexy MacGuffin Casting Gag Reasonable Authority Figure What the Hell, Hero? Henpecked Husband Bloodless Carnage Malevolent Masked Men And Starring Hypocrite Ascended Extra Evil Is Petty Visual Pun Major Injury Underreaction She Cleans Up Nicely The Alcoholic Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Bare Your Midriff Blood from the Mouth Retcon Dual Wielding 20 Minutes into the Future Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Adaptational Attractiveness Film Noir Fatal Flaw Destination Defenestration Evil vs. Evil A.I. Is a Crapshoot Mexican Standoff Random Events Plot Totally Radical Retirony Femme Fatale Bland-Name Product Rewatch Bonus Eye Scream Black Comedy Rape Grey and Gray Morality Extremely Short Timespan Hell Is That Noise Took a Level in Jerkass Aside Glance Ambiguous Disorder Older Than They Look Be Careful What You Wish For Cruel and Unusual Death Hong Kong Films The Hero Male Gaze The '50s Beard of Evil Token Minority Easily Forgiven Brick Joke Interrupted Suicide Riddle for the Ages No-Sell Christmas Movies Index Dogged Nice Guy Non-Indicative Name Parental Abandonment Those Two Guys No OSHA Compliance Body Horror The Power of Love Big Applesauce Your Head A-Splode Chiaroscuro Evil-Detecting Dog Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Dutch Angle Alas, Poor Villain Stealth Hi/Bye Mighty Whitey Better to Die than Be Killed Plucky Comic Relief Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Take a Third Option Deal with the Devil Ghost Fiction Broken Aesop Offscreen Teleportation Animal Title Index B-Movie Australian Movies Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Death Glare Closed Circle Only a Flesh Wound Peek-a-Boo Corpse Boom, Headshot! Improbable Weapon User Badass Longcoat Fantasy Films The Ace Let's Get Dangerous! Evil Plan Honor Before Reason Badass Normal Never Found the Body Mama Bear Beauty Is Never Tarnished Killed Mid-Sentence It's Personal Pretty Little Headshots Stalker with a Crush Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Reckless Gun Usage The Lancer Punch-Clock Villain Dumb Blonde Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Jump Scare Posthumous Character Sir Swears-a-Lot Fan Disservice Vampire Fiction Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Irony Mr. Exposition My Greatest Failure Historical Hero Upgrade Those Wacky Nazis Asshole Victim Coming-of-Age Story Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Ambiguously Gay Hollywood Darkness Break the Haughty Japanese Films Adaptational Heroism Noodle Incident Big Bad Duumvirate Guile Hero Skewed Priorities The Faceless Canadian Movies Artistic License – Law Obviously Evil Chekhov's Gun Cassandra Truth Big Bad The Cameo The Dragon Training Montage Knife Nut Only One Name Amusing Injuries Sinister Minister Immune to Bullets Last-Name Basis Fire-Forged Friends Italian Films Bring My Brown Pants Failed a Spot Check Artistic License – History Refuge in Audacity Wrong Genre Savvy It's All About Me The Reveal Cool Old Guy Cool Old Lady My God, What Have I Done? Psychological Thriller Drowning My Sorrows Cold-Blooded Torture Decoy Protagonist My Beloved Smother Genre Shift Corrupt Corporate Executive Dark Action Girl Stepford Smiler Get Out! French Films Woman Scorned More Dakka Mistaken for Gay "The Reason You Suck" Speech Pay Evil unto Evil Plot Hole Sexy Discretion Shot The Cavalry All There in the Manual Film Series Big "NO!" Bury Your Gays Evil Is Hammy The Great Depression Overprotective Dad Humiliation Conga La Résistance Shoot the Shaggy Dog Diabolus ex Machina Genre Savvy Conspicuous CG Logo Joke All Just a Dream Anyone Can Die Smoking Is Cool folderlabel Tempting Fate Dying Moment of Awesome No Ending Wham Line Crapsack World Rousing Speech Suddenly SHOUTING! After the End Actor Allusion Big Eater The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Big Brother Instinct You Killed My Father Damsel in Distress Pretty in Mink Documentary Funny Foreigner Leitmotif Put on a Bus Adaptation Name Change Leave the Camera Running The Stoner Fiery Redhead Implacable Man Really Gets Around Laughing Mad Rule of Cool Frame-Up Epic Movie Oh, Crap! Arc Words Works Set in World War II "Awesome McCool" Name Redemption Equals Death Ominous Latin Chanting Jerkass Together in Death Re-Cut Batman Gambit Action Survivor Bittersweet Ending Chekhov's Skill Dark Is Not Evil Neck Lift Race Lift Breaking the Fourth Wall Eiffel Tower Effect A Date with Rosie Palms Adaptational Badass Armor-Piercing Question Novelization The Chessmaster Action Prologue Married to the Job Unusual Euphemism Historical In-Joke Expository Hairstyle Change Mythology Gag Our Zombies Are Different Adaptation Distillation Mugging the Monster Undying Loyalty Mr. Fanservice The Casanova Apocalypse How Informed Ability No Name Given The Brute Star-Crossed Lovers Dissonant Serenity Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Properly Paranoid Translation Convention Revenge Bullying a Dragon Fate Worse than Death Twist Ending Freeze-Frame Bonus Dull Surprise Mad Scientist The '80s Blackmail Air-Vent Passageway Morality Pet Historical-Domain Character Silent Movie Romantic Comedy The Film of the Book The Mole Bloodier and Gorier Enemy Mine It Will Never Catch On Shower Scene Foil Made of Iron Mystery and Detective Films Psycho for Hire Red Herring As You Know Anachronic Order Half the Man He Used to Be Meaningful Name BFG Superhero Karma Houdini Broken Bird Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Genre Throwback Super Strength Stealth Pun Epic Fail Amoral Attorney Worthy Opponent Mercy Kill Not Using the "Z" Word What Happened to the Mouse? Author Appeal Contrived Coincidence Hate Sink Faking the Dead Smug Snake The '70s Character Development Ironic Echo Sassy Black Woman Loads and Loads of Characters Dressing as the Enemy And I Must Scream Deconstruction Index of Film Westerns Pet the Dog Dirty Cop Didn't Think This Through Affectionate Parody Badass Boast A God Am I Accidental Misnaming Soundtrack Dissonance Gilligan Cut Anguished Declaration of Love Improvised Weapon Affably Evil Creator Cameo Disappeared Dad Those Two Bad Guys The Starscream Meaningful Background Event This Is Gonna Suck Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Film Noir Index Slasher Movie The Ghost Bunny-Ears Lawyer Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil May–December Romance Authority Equals Asskicking In Medias Res Does Not Like Shoes Big-Bad Ensemble Adaptational Villainy Creepy Child Did Not Get the Girl Rasputinian Death Heroic BSoD Cowboy Cop Funny Background Event Death Seeker Here We Go Again! Cool Guns Arranged Marriage Darker and Edgier Card-Carrying Villain Meaningful Echo Tap on the Head Despair Event Horizon Earn Your Happy Ending He Knows Too Much Too Dumb to Live Evil Laugh Deus ex Machina Pyrrhic Victory Say My Name Empathic Environment Foregone Conclusion Stylistic Suck Spanner in the Works Took a Level in Badass Reality Is Unrealistic Jerkass Has a Point Fingore Romantic False Lead Evil Counterpart Man on Fire Bond One-Liner The Atoner Black Comedy Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Ugly Guy, Hot Wife "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Soft Glass Celebrity Paradox The End... Or Is It? Captain Obvious Badass Grandpa Berserk Button Alliterative Name Trailers Always Spoil As Himself Dark Reprise Sci-Fi Horror Jerk Jock Awesome, but Impractical Wounded Gazelle Gambit Taking the Bullet Villainous Breakdown The Quiet One Tagline Fun with Acronyms Early Installment Weirdness Determinator aka: The Determinator Historical Villain Upgrade Flipping the Bird Hero Antagonist Gainax Ending Even Evil Has Loved Ones Bar Brawl Manipulative Bastard Sequel Hook The Stoic Humans Are Bastards Drugs Are Bad Calling the Old Man Out Setting Update The Oner Composite Character Good Is Not Nice Bilingual Bonus Obfuscating Stupidity Big Damn Heroes A Father to His Men Groin Attack For the Evulz Betty and Veronica The '60s As Long as It Sounds Foreign Naïve Newcomer Straight Gay Double-Meaning Title Credits Gag Bowdlerise Monumental Damage All Girls Want Bad Boys Scenery Gorn Brother–Sister Incest Author Avatar Science Fiction Films Department of Redundancy Department Moment Killer Red Right Hand You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Kubrick Stare Wham Shot Exact Words Not What It Looks Like Biopic Eagleland Sacrificial Lion Love Triangle Narrator Flashback Police are Useless Annoying Younger Sibling Camp Gay Age Lift Ax-Crazy Eldritch Abomination The Dog Bites Back Papa Wolf Fantastic Racism Pimped-Out Dress Double Entendre Reality Ensues Vomit Discretion Shot Unusually Uninteresting Sight Light Is Not Good Ambiguous Ending I Need a Freaking Drink Bait-and-Switch Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie The Smart Guy Not Quite Dead Brainless Beauty Scary Black Man Rule of Symbolism Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Vacation Films Adults Are Useless Shout-Out Vomit Indiscretion Shot Sole Survivor Villain Ball Once More, with Clarity! Truth in Television For Want of a Nail Action Girl Rated M for Manly Horror Comedy Bi the Way Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Comically Missing the Point Outrun the Fireball Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Poor Communication Kills Motor Mouth Not So Above It All Ship Tease German Films Men Are the Expendable Gender Room Full of Crazy Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Pre-Mortem One-Liner How We Got Here Villain Opening Scene Cool Shades Fish out of Water Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Auto Erotica Bad Boss Villain with Good Publicity Chekhov's Gunman Freudian Excuse Gratuitous English Very Loosely Based on a True Story Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Hoist by His Own Petard Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Ms. Fanservice Award-Bait Song Take That! Red Eyes, Take Warning Almost Kiss Spell My Name with an "S" You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Gold Digger Due to the Dead Death by Adaptation Never Trust a Trailer Rich Bitch Horror Films Wicked Cultured Gender Flip Scare Chord Disney Death Fake Shemp Grievous Bottley Harm Nice Guy Video Credits Cain and Abel And the Adventure Continues Off with His Head! British Films Disguised in Drag Off-into-the-Distance Ending Darkest Hour N-Word Privileges Face–Heel Turn The Stinger Heroes Want Redheads Only in It for the Money Hope Spot Stock Footage Anti-Villain The X of Y Protagonist Title The Load Chewing the Scenery Death by Sex Only Known by Their Nickname The Chick Captain Ersatz Demoted to Extra Time Skip Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Friend to All Children Wretched Hive Anti-Hero Reality Has No Subtitles Back from the Dead One-Word Title The Bully The Big Guy Punny Name Manly Tears Sequel Escalation Dark and Troubled Past Self-Deprecation Slasher Smile Scenery Porn Facial Horror Eyepatch of Power Hair-Trigger Temper From Nobody to Nightmare Four-Temperament Ensemble Jitter Cam Animated Credits Opening Antagonist Title Car Fu Victoria's Secret Compartment An Aesop Shipper on Deck The Remake Rule of Three Adaptation Expansion The Mafia Dies Wide Open Silence Is Golden Line-of-Sight Name Show Within a Show Police Brutality Every Car Is a Pinto Break the Cutie Hidden Depths Fat Bastard Shut Up, Hannibal! Instant Death Bullet No Celebrities Were Harmed Curb-Stomp Battle Catch-Phrase Roaring Rampage of Revenge Parental Neglect Redshirt Army Fourth Date Marriage Framing Device Naked People Are Funny Attempted Rape Love at First Sight One-Man Army I Did What I Had to Do Beta Couple Sports Stories Kill It with Fire Hollywood Law Title Drop Chase Scene Downer Ending Cloudcuckoolander Serial Killer Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Establishing Character Moment Not So Stoic The Hero Dies Bond Villain Stupidity Hero of Another Story Kick the Dog Meet Cute Psychopathic Manchild Have a Gay Old Time Dirty Old Man Large Ham Cat Fight Happily Married Adult Fear Unreliable Narrator Evil Sounds Deep Arch-Enemy Public Domain Feature Films The Un-Reveal Sanity Slippage The Sociopath Sealed Evil in a Can Recycled IN SPACE! Badass in a Nice Suit Agony of the Feet Heel Realization Playing Gertrude Drives Like Crazy Final Girl Ass Shove Brutal Honesty Disproportionate Retribution Anachronism Stew Early-Bird Cameo One Steve Limit Would Hit a Girl You Have Failed Me Danny Peary Cult Movies List Bolivian Army Ending Ungrateful Bastard Race Against the Clock Fanservice Kick the Son of a Bitch Daddy's Girl Everyone Has Standards Corpsing Offscreen Moment of Awesome Music Stories Lampshade Hanging Rule of Funny Small Name, Big Ego No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Artistic License – Geography Mood Whiplash The Lost Lenore Dwindling Party Getting Crap Past the Radar Insult Backfire In the Back I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Depraved Bisexual Spiritual Successor Running Gag The Smurfette Principle Evil Brit Pragmatic Adaptation Villain Song O.O.C. Is Serious Business Cat Scare Becoming the Mask Shell-Shocked Veteran Dropped a Bridge on Him Villain Protagonist He Who Fights Monsters The Alleged Car Deliberately Monochrome Children Are Innocent Butt-Monkey Homage Combat Pragmatist Defiant to the End Famous Last Words Exactly What It Says on the Tin The Ditz Spiteful Spit Aluminum Christmas Trees Hooker with a Heart of Gold Face Death with Dignity Ripped from the Headlines Toplessness from the Back Badass Bookworm Insistent Terminology Death of a Child Same Language Dub The Musical Babies Ever After The Dreaded Country Matters Retired Badass Beware the Nice Ones Market-Based Title Jerk with a Heart of Gold Our Vampires Are Different Adapted Out Eureka Moment Action Genre Suspiciously Specific Denial Loophole Abuse Defrosting Ice Queen Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! There Is No Kill Like Overkill The Vamp Nothing Is Scarier Only Sane Man Politically Incorrect Villain She's Got Legs All Men Are Perverts Male Frontal Nudity Shown Their Work Knight Templar Book-Ends Actually Pretty Funny Daylight Horror What You Are in the Dark It Can Think Intergenerational Friendship An Axe to Grind Rape as Drama Cool Car Deliberate Values Dissonance Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Make It Look Like an Accident No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Based on a True Story Kill 'em All Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Unspoken Plan Guarantee Stuff Blowing Up Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Important Haircut Fanservice Extra Gone Horribly Right Manchild A Minor Kidroduction Mind Screw Accidental Murder Real Life Writes the Plot Bald of Evil Maybe Ever After Costume Porn Shirtless Scene Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Creative Closing Credits Serious Business Not Even Bothering with the Accent Thriller War Is Hell Slashed Throat Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Catapult Nightmare Canon Foreigner Artistic License – Biology Intrepid Reporter Woman in White Greater-Scope Villain Five-Man Band Manic Pixie Dream Girl Black Dude Dies First Would Hurt a Child Television Movie Index Abusive Parents Storming the Castle Big Fancy House Dramatic Irony Made of Explodium Throwing Your Sword Always Works Needs Wiki Magic Love Adorkable Driven to Suicide '80s Hair Not So Different Taking You with Me Handicapped Badass Hypocritical Humor Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Blatant Lies Leaning on the Fourth Wall Abhorrent Admirer Parental Incest Nice Hat From Bad to Worse Developing Doomed Characters Up to Eleven Lock and Load Montage Artistic License – Gun Safety Bloody Hilarious Artistic License – Military Bottomless Magazines Dirty Coward Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Karmic Death Covers Always Lie Heterosexual Life-Partners Call-Back Pragmatic Villainy Faux Affably Evil Military and Warfare Films Sadistic Choice Foreshadowing Precision F-Strike Well-Intentioned Extremist Bound and Gagged Disney Villain Death Continuity Nod Alpha Bitch Crazy Jealous Guy Chuck Cunningham Syndrome I Have Your Wife Call-Forward Demonic Possession All for Nothing Paper-Thin Disguise Blood Knight Overly Long Gag Even Evil Has Standards Neck Snap "Shaggy Dog" Story Insane Troll Logic Does This Remind You of Anything? In Name Only Your Cheating Heart Suspiciously Similar Substitute Vitriolic Best Buds Martial Arts Movie World of Ham Red Oni, Blue Oni Advertised Extra Gory Discretion Shot Improbable Aiming Skills Adaptation Dye-Job Artistic License – Physics Real Life Spared by the Adaptation Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Black and Gray Morality Animal Motifs Word of God Domestic Abuse Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Yandere Heroic Sacrifice