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