I Am Not Him
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Q: You hit me! Picard never hit me! —Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Q-Less"
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Sometimes, there's a character that does things differently than others would expect of another character, such as when the Tyrant Takes the Helm or there's a Bait and Switch Tyrant. He will be called out on it, being told that the other character would not behave this way. To that, he will simply answer with the Stock Phrase "I am not him". He is not that other guy, and everyone will have to learn to accept that.
I Am Not My Father is a family-centered Sub-Trope.
Compare I Am What I Am.
Not to be confused with I Am Not Shazam, I Am Not Spock, I Am Not Leonard Nimoy, I Am Not Weasel or My Name Is Not Durwood. This is not the inversion of Actually, I Am Him, either.
Anime
- Simon's World of Cardboard Speech in episode 11 of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is about him coming to terms with the fact that he can't be exactly like Kamina.
- Naota from FLCL has a similar speech in the fifth episode, where he demands that Mamimi stop calling him by his older brother's nickname "Ta-kun".
Literature
- In American Gods, Mr. Wednesday is the American incarnation of Odin ("Wednesday" comes from "Wotan's Day," "Wotan" being another version of "Odin")and is a real Jerkass not to mention the Big Bad of the novel. Shadow, the protagonist, later meets the Scandinavian Odin who is a rather more likable Boisterous Bruiser, who explains that Wednesday was him, but he was not Wednesday.
Live Action TV
- The page quote is from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Q-Less", the only episode to feature Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Q and Sisko are in a 20s-style boxing ring, and Q is trying to get Sisko to fight. After a while, Sisko finally punches Q down, much to his surprise. This was to help differentiate Sisko from the previous Star Trek captains, particularly Picard.
- It should be noted that Q doesn't trouble Deep Space Nine again after this incident.
- Monk: In one of Natalie's first episodes, Monk complains that Sharona always paid for the wipes. Natalie tells Monk, "I am not Sharona." It came across as a weak cover for the fact that Natalie was a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Sharona, and that the episode was originally written for Sharona.
- Rossi from Criminal Minds gets a line similar to this in one of his early episodes after he replaces Gideon.
Newspaper Comics
- Rosalyn the babysitter in Calvin and Hobbes pulls this at one point, after Calvin complains again and again that Mom does it differently.
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Rosalyn: "I'M NOT YOUR MOM, ALL RIGHT?!" |
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Web Comics
- The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob— Galatea: "But you should know there's a significant difference twixt my sister and I. I understand how my claws work."
Western Animation
- A variant in Batman Beyond Return of the Joker.
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Joker: "The real Batman never--" (grunts in pain) |
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