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