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)

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