Fountain of Expies: Difference between revisions
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''Who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me''
''Who dress like me; Who walk, talk, and act like me''
''And just might be the next best thing, But not quite me!"''
|'''[[Eminem]]''', ''The Real Slim Shady''}}
A character who is so popular and impactful that many other characters created afterwards are heavily inspired by it. They share even more than its [[Character Archetype]]s, they are its [[Expies]]: basically the same old character recycled, with some minor changes, to make it fit into the new setting. The original one gives inspiration not just for their basic [[Characterization Tropes]], but for parts of their relationship dynamics, personality, and appearance.
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'''Subtropes'''
Definitely real people:
* [[The Ahnold]] ([[Arnold Schwarzenegger]])
* [[Alice Allusion]] ([[Alice in Wonderland|Alice]]) (sometimes)▼
* [[Big Red Devil]] ([[Satan]])▼
* [[Bruce Lee Clone]] ([[Bruce Lee]])
* [[Jeanne D'Archetype]] ([[Joan of Arc]])▼
* [[Malcolm Xerox]] ([[Malcolm X]])▼
* [[Mr. Alt Disney]] ([[Walt Disney]])▼
* [[The Mean Brit]] ([[American Idol|Simon]] [[The X Factor|Cowell]])▼
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]] ([[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Those Wacky Nazis]])▼
Religious figures:
▲* [[Big Red Devil]] ([[Satan]])
* [[Grandpa God]] (the "old man" depiction of [[God]])▼
* [[Messianic Archetype]] ([[Jesus Christ]])▼
Definitely fictional characters:
* [[The Cape (trope)]] ([[Superman]])
* [[Char Clone]] ([[Mobile Suit Gundam|Char Aznable]])
* [[The Cowl]] ([[Batman]])
* [[Darth Vader Clone]] ([[Star Wars|Darth Vader]])
▲* [[Grandpa God]] (the "old man" depiction of [[God]])
▲* [[Jeanne D'Archetype]] ([[Joan of Arc]])
* [[Looks Like Cesare]] ([[The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari|Cesare]])
* [[Looks Like Orlok]] ([[Nosferatu|Graf Orlok]])
▲* [[Malcolm Xerox]] ([[Malcolm X]])
* [[Mascot with Attitude]] ([[Sonic the Hedgehog (video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]])
▲* [[The Mean Brit]] ([[American Idol|Simon]] [[The X Factor|Cowell]])
▲* [[Messianic Archetype]] ([[Jesus Christ]])
▲* [[Mr. Alt Disney]] ([[Walt Disney]])
▲* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]] ([[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Those Wacky Nazis]])
* [[Phlebotinum Girl]] ([[Mecha Show]])
* [[Rei Ayanami Expy]] ([[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Rei Ayanami]])
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* [[Trenchcoat Brigade]] ([[Hellblazer|John Constantine]])
* [[Tuxedo and Martini]] ([[James Bond (film)|James Bond]])
{{examples|Other examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn from ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' was so popular [[The Woobie|for]] [[Token
* Yasunori Kato, antagonist of the classic series [[Teito Monogatari|Doomed Megalopolis]], has inspired a slew of imitators, which have in turn inspired others, to the point where it's difficult to tell who inspired who after the original. Characters of his lineage include [[Street Fighter|M. Bison]], [[Riki
* Goku from ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' was the original [[Shonen]] [[Idiot Hero]]. Besides the basic "lovable idiot" aspect of the character, his imitators also tend to copy several other character traits of his, such as his [[Blood Knight|extreme love of fighting,]] [[Big Eater|his equally big love of food,]] [[The Messiah|his immensely compassionate and unselfish nature]], and his [[Chaste Hero|lack of sexual awareness.]] And the [[Anime Hair|improbable hairdo]].
** The hairdo part is [[Lampshaded]] by an NPC in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', the main character of which looks quite a bit like Goku. In fact, he was designed by Toriyama himself.
** Also, Vegeta himself helped define the concept of [[The Rival]] archtype. You could most likely list some of the expies as much as you could the [[Rei Ayanami Expy|Rei]] or [[Shana Clone]]s.
*** And of course Veget himself can be seen as an expy of Piccolo, and Piccolo an expy of Tien. The three of them define [[The Rival]] archetype and are all [[Anti-Hero]]ic, [[The Stoic|cold]], [[Ineffectual Loner|loners]], [[Foil|to show the contrast with]] [[The Hero|the heroic]], [[Hot-Blooded|loud]], and [[The Messiah|friendly]] Goku.
* Another Shonen Jump starter was ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'''s [[Fallen Hero|Sensui]]. Before him there were just [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]] and [[Smug Snake]] [[Chessmaster]] villains in anime/manga, then with his extremely suave persuasions, [[Villain Sue|extremely broken]] ([[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|in more ways]] [[Alas, Poor Villain|than one]])
** Though Sensui has some more traditionally ''direct'' (as in, based directly on ''him'' in particular and not just the type of overpowered shounen [[Anti-Villain]] he created) expies as well- [[Filler Villain|Jin]] [[Bleach|Kariya]], [[Hunter X Hunter|Chrollo]] (unsurprisingly, from a manga by [[Yoshihiro Togashi|the same author]]) and [[Saiyuki|Homura]].
* [[Captain Harlock]] is very iconic in [[Space Opera]] anime, and he shows up damn near everywhere in anything where there are huge spacey battleships. Notable Harlock expies include [[Last Exile|Alex Row]], stoic renegade captain of the legendary steampunk battleship "Kill'em All" Silvana, and the villainous [[Cowboy Bebop|Vicious]], who even has the weird bird, probably to make up for his distinct lack of a battleship.
* In a similar vein to the [[Rei Ayanami Expy]] above, [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Kaworu Nagisa]] has a similar amount of Expies. You will often find a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] [[Bishounen]] who's [[Ambiguously Gay]] and aims for the lead character. If [[Foe Yay]] is part of the character, he's [[Ensemble Darkhorse|more than qualified]] for the Expy.
* [[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Relena Darlian/Peacecraft]], herself the [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Sayla Mass]] to Heero Yuy's Amuro Ray and Zechs Merquise's Char Aznable, has expies of her own in [[Turn A Gundam
* [[Berserk|Guts]] is the pretty much the basis for ever "manly" Japanese hero after him. Some examples are Ike and Hector from [[Fire Emblem]] and Auron from [[Final Fantasy X]].
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* While ''[[Superman]]'' could be said to be the [[Trope Codifier]] for the whole [[Superhero]] genre, he is even more directly the inspiration for every single [[The Cape (trope)|Cape]] superhero in terms of personality and outfit, and for anyone with the standard [[Flying Brick]] powers (including the aforementioned [[Dragon Ball|Goku]]!).
** Similarly, [[Batman]] (himself borrowing heavily from [[Zorro]] and [[The Shadow]]) gave rise to basically every single [[Badass Normal]] in Comics, particularly those that [[The Cowl|work during the night.]]
** If there are expies of Superman and Batman in a story there is probably an [[Wonder Woman]] expy somewhere there to complete the
** Robin as well [[Trope Codifier|set the pace]] for the [[Sidekick]] in comics. Following his creation, numerous other Kid sidekicks were created, [[Bucky Barnes|Bucky]], [[Aquaman|Aqualad]], [[Green Arrow|Speedy]], [[The Flash|Kid Flash]], the list goes on.
* ''[[Wolverine]]''. Nearly every "[[Nineties Anti-Hero|exciting new character]]" introduced in the [[Dark Age|Dark Age of Comics]] was a cheap knockoff of him.
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* Almost without exception, if a work is intended as a parody of/meditation on/deconstruction of/homage to the idea of superheroes in general, there WILL be a [[Justice League]] of Expies and/or an expy [[Fantastic Four]].
** [[Justice League]] Expies include the Champions in ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]''; the Seven Sentinels in ''[[Top Ten]]''; the Honor Guard in ''[[Astro City]]''; Marvel's [[Squadron Supreme]]; the League of Honor in ''The Pro''; The Guard of ''[[Silver Age Sentinels]]''; and the Freedon League of ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]''.
** Fantastic Four expies include the Parrs of ''[[The Incredibles]]''
== [[Film]] ==
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* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]''. The inspiration for hundreds of [[Defective Detective|eccentric private detectives]] in all kinds of settings, many of them explicit [[Expies]], to the extent that from the time he became popular until ''Trent's Last Case'' [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] the type in 1913, it was well-nigh impossible to find a [[Great Detective]] who ''didn't'' rip him off, or, for that matter, a crime-solver who wasn't at least a parody of a [[Great Detective]]. Several characters inspired by Holmes have become distinctive popular characters in their own right, including Gregory [[House (TV series)|House]] and [[Batman]].
* Drizzt Do'Urden, as mentioned on the [[Overused Copycat Character]] page.
* The ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' [[Big Bad]], Sauron- though the [[Evil Overlord]] archetype is almost as old as humanity itself, many modern fantasy Overlords owe quite a bit to this guy, particularly if they live in an [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]] in [[Mordor]], are [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]] for most or all of the story, are [[Tin Tyrant]]s decorated with [[Spikes of Villainy]], use an [[Artifact of Doom]], which may double as a [[Soul Jar]], and they [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|cannot comprehend good]].
** Also, Elves. Extremely common in fantasy literature, but post-Christianity and pre-Tolkien, fae in general were portrayed as small, cute, harmless, etc.
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' gave us: Cyborgs/Androids afraid of losing their humanity (the [[Tin Man]]), Cowardly Powerhouses (Cowardly Lion), the most iconic [[Wicked Witch]] of them all, and a very typical girl heroine (Dorothy).
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[[Category:Follow the Leader]]
[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:
[[Category:This Index Is Copypasted]]
[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]
[[Category:Isn’t it Iconic]]
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