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