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Overused Copycat Character: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"I am the result of [[Hideaki Anno]] failing to [[Uncanny Valley|
|'''Rei''', ''[[Evangelion Abridged]]''}}
▲{{quote|''"I am the result of [[Hideaki Anno]] [[Uncanny Valley|failing to make my character unsettling]], and [[Rei Ayanami Expy|instead my very archetype was copied repeatedly.]]"''|'''Rei''', ''[[Evangelion Abridged]]''}}
Basically, when a character has been [[Captain Ersatz|copied]] enough times, that works start making jokes about how often the character is copied.
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Now of course this isn't saying the original character is bad. It's merely mocking when other people are really unoriginal with their characters.
A [[Sub
Compare [[Captain Ersatz]], [[Expy]], [[Copy Cat Sue]], [[Follow the Leader]], [[Serial Numbers Filed Off]].
Contrast [[Public Domain Character]], [[Historical Domain Character]].
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime]]
* In anime, ''[[Gundam]]'''s Char, to the point of him [[Char Clone|having his very own trope.]]
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Rei Ayanami might not be A CHAR, but she's [[Fountain of Expies|got enough clones to give him a run for his money.]]
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* Not to be outdone, ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'''s title character [[Shana Clone|has also inspired a significant following of clones as well.]]
▲== Comics -- Books ==
* [[Wolverine]] got enough imitators in [[Image Comics]], when it first started, for magazines such as [[Wizard Magazine]] to joke about it.
** Wolverine has been copied so many times in Marvel comics themselves (though since they own the character, they can make them different versions of Wolverine instead of [[Expy|expies]]) that they've parodied it at least twice:
*** In an issue of ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'', the team travels to a dimension that's basically the Marvel Universe with the craziness turned up to 11, and at one point see a line of different versions of Wolverine practicing his catch phrase while waiting to audition to be the "real" Wolverine.
*** Later, in an issue of ''[[Exiles]]'', a book about a rotating cast of characters from different dimensions being assembled to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] throughout [[The Multiverse]], the only information available about a particular "what went wrong" is that only Wolverine could solve it, so an entire team is assembled consisting of different versions of Wolverine. During the mission, they discover that they are not even the first such team, and encounter the remains of dozens of other versions of Wolverine from teams that failed.
* [[Phil Foglio]] mocks the [[Trenchcoat Brigade]] in ''Stanley and his Monster'', by having the latest [[Hellblazer
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Godzilla]]'', to the point you can say "Godzilla-sized" and everyone will know what you're talking about.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* In the [http://somehedgehog.livejournal.com/245807.html blog post] ''Adventuring Party Politics: The Campaign is Getting Ugly,'' apparently McCain rips off [[The Lord of the Rings|Aragorn]]:
{{quote|
* [[Conan the Barbarian]] (less the original version than the [[Marvel Comics]] and sequels by other writers) has had many imitators.
** The barbarian class in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' was created more or less entirely for the benefit of people who wanted to play as Conan.
* In one of the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' books it's revealed that a large group of "generics" (fictional characters that haven't developed any character yet) were being stored in ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', and they all imprinted on T.H. White's version of Merlin. Eventually, they were relocated to [[Eccentric Mentor|every fantasy novel ever]].
* Drizzt Do'Urden, the [[Chaotic Good]] [[Dual
** In this case, [[Executive Meddling]] "helped" - dual-wielding was made Ranger class feature in AD&D 2ed. and then Salvatore was directed to churn out Drizzt books. Icing on the cake? Even ''Salvatore himself'' reacted on this trend by saying he "[https://web.archive.org/web/20100515195346/http://ww2.wizards.com/books/mirrorstone/Article.aspx?doc=fr_delveintothedrow fears for the integrity of the evil drow race as antagonist]". Talk about [[Fan Dumb]]... eventually even Wizards staff does a brilliant lampshading of this in an advertisement of his book
==
▲* Drizzt Do'Urden, the [[Chaotic Good]] [[Dual Wielding|dual-scimitar-wielding]] [[Always Chaotic Evil|Drow elf]] ranger of the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' setting of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. This trope used to be called [[Drizzt Syndrome]] because it's a long joke for fans that some players like to play thinly veiled copies of him.
▲** Icing on the cake? Even ''Salvatore himself'' reacted on this trend by saying he "[http://ww2.wizards.com/books/mirrorstone/Article.aspx?doc=fr_delveintothedrow fears for the integrity of the evil drow race as antagonist]". Talk about [[Fan Dumb]]... Wizards does a brilliant lampshading of this in an advertisement of his book series -- the ad is set out like a 4th Edition power card, and the "additional effects" bar says, "You'll probably want to make a character named Drizz't."
▲== Video Games ==
* Characters in the mold of Sephiroth from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' (derisively called "Sephiroth Clones") are becoming increasingly common, especially in later ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games. On any given ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' server, you will find ''dozens''. All of them [[Our Elves Are Different|Elvaan]] males, all with long silver hair, almost always [[Katanas Are Just Better|Samurai]].
* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'''s Dante and his "stylish" swordsmen ilk: cool, confident badass swordsmen who cuts down shit while keeping the laundry bill small doing it.
* Suda51 of ''[[No More Heroes]]'' has a particular hatred of them.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]''
* When the first expansion for ''[[
* The ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' series had, by the point of ''[[Mortal Kombat 3
* Rather humorously [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* A Drizzt [[Expy]], aptly named Zz'dtri, shows up in ''[[
* ''[[Goblins]]'' [http://www.goblinscomic.com/07102005 also skewers] [http://www.goblinscomic.com/07112005/ the idea]. Gleefully.
* ''[[
* Cale'anon, [[The Hero]] of ''[[Looking for Group]]'' is an '''accidental''' example of this trope, though an outright parody regardless, as the creators, Ryan Sohmer (the writer) and Lar De Souza (the artist), claim that they had never heard of Drizzt before creating the comic. It should be noted, though, that Sohmer fully acknowledged the Snafu after finally reading a Forgotten Realms book by R.A. Salvatore, and thought it incredibly humorous that he'd written such a perfect parody of the character. This accidental parody probably also stems from the fact that Sohmer has commented several times about having played ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' since childhood, and is well known as a player of ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Cale was originally a parody of the quintessential Ranger/Hunter, which Drizz't himself just happens to be; this led to an accidental parody being done ''on purpose'', as it were.
* ''[[The Noob]]'' in "Clichequest" MMORPG has several dozen players named various variations of the different members of [[The Lord of the Rings|the fellowship]]. Even the [[Idiot Hero]] tried to name his character "Aragorn" in the first strip. Leading to "[[I Am Spartacus|I am Legolas]]" moment, when it turns out almost everyone [http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/140/ in Elfboro] is named Legolas one way or the other (Leggolas, Legolaus, Legolazz, Leg'olas, Legholas, etc).
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* This phenomenon became so prevalent in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' that the various game masters would issue a moratorium on certain character concepts. Almost always, the sudden rush of copycat characters would be in result to outside stimuli. For example, when ''[[X
* [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] ridicules the overuse of the humorless, hard-ass [[Space Marine]] archetype for [[First
* Parodied in one chapter of the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''[[
▲== Web Original ==
▲* This phenomenon became so prevalent in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' that the various game masters would issue a moratorium on certain character concepts. Almost always, the sudden rush of copycat characters would be in result to outside stimuli. For example, when ''[[X Men]] 2'' came out, there was a sudden rush of teleporting martial artist characters. When ''[[The Incredibles]]'' was released, there was a sudden flood of [[Rubber Man|stretchable characters]], and so on.
▲* [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] ridicules the overuse of the humorless, hard-ass [[Space Marine]] archetype for [[First Person Shooter]] protagonists. While Master Chief of ''[[Halo]]'' isn't the ''direct'' source from which the character type is derived, he is held out as the most obvious and recognizable example of the archetype.
▲* Parodied in one chapter of the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''[[Those Lacking Spines (Fanfic)|Those Lacking Spines]]'', where the "Heroes" fight a guy named "Jeffiroth", with the implication that he to be the first of many similar [[Copy Cat Sue|Copycat Sues]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Follow the Leader]]
[[Category:Tabletop
[[Category:Overused Copycat Character]]
[[Category:
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