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