History Main / KnockingTheKnockoff

Compare PretenderDiss, which is used by characters within the same work, not between different works.

* ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' features characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' universe crossing over to a version of the DC universe, and thus plays this trope both straight and in the inverse. The straight example is ComicBook/TheJoker openly deriding Mime and Marionette, who are blatant expies of himself and ComicBook/HarleyQuinn. The inversion is Doctor Manhattan, an expy of ComicBook/CaptainAtom, shrugging off attacks from Captain Atom himself (though Atom is, appropriately, the character who is best able to actually ''hurt'' Manhattan).

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Many people saw ''Series/{{Alias}}'', an action-adventure show about a young female spy, Sydney Bristow, as strongly influenced by Buffy. In the episode "Beneath You", one of the Potential Slayers shown being murdered by the First Evil's minions has pink hair and a leather jacket similar to one of Sydney's most iconic looks.

* In ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', one of the many monsters Godzilla fights against is Zilla, a CaptainErsatz of the Godzilla incarnation seen in ''Film/Godzilla1998''. Zilla is [[StylisticSuck deliberately]] done [[SpecialEffectFailure in cheap CGI]] instead of a rubber suit like all the other monsters, [[CurbStompBattle is defeated by Godzilla in 20 seconds]] and the BigBad calls it a "useless tuna-eating lizard" after that. The irony of course is this helped pave the way for Zilla being RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap (though it's her appearance in [[ComicBook/GodzillaRulersOfEarth the comics]] that solidified it), as fans warmed up to her as a VillainousUnderdog after it was established she was canonically a separate, and admittedly cool-looking, {{Kaiju}} with her own set of abilities who had the guts to take on ''the'' Godzilla.

Compare PretenderDiss, which is used by characters within the same work, not between different works. Also usually does not involve CloningBlues.

* ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' features characters from the ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' universe crossing over to a version of the DC universe, and thus plays this trope both straight and in the inverse. The straight example is ComicBook/TheJoker openly deriding Mime and Marionette, who are blatant expies of himself and ComicBook/HarleyQuinn. The inversion is Doctor Manhattan, an expy of ComicBook/CaptainAtom, shrugging off attacks from Captain Atom himself.

* The original Advertising/EnergizerBunny commercial was a direct parody of the Duracell Bunny commercials, where a line of similar battery-operated drum-playing rabbits ran on different batteries. One by one, the bunnies would run down, except the one powered by the Duracell battery. When Duracell lost its US trademark of the Bunny in 1988, Energizer's take on the commercial had the Energizer Bunny show up as an uninvited guest to create the implication that [[AsbestosFreeCereal Duracell always compared itself to carbon-zinc batteries and not similar alkaline batteries like Energizer]]. In 1994, a Canadian Duracell commercial parodying ''Literature/TheTortoiseAndTheHare'' would fire back; after outlasting the other tortoises, the Duracell-powered Tortoise passes by a pink rabbit sleeping under a tree, implying that by this point, Duracell had compared its batteries to Energizer's.[[/folder]]

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} has often had to deal with people -- both in-universe and in real life -- accusing him of being a ripoff of DC Comics' ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}.[[note]]For the record, Rob Liefeld insists the resemblance was coincidental.[[/note]]

'''JD:''' Oh, I do love that show. It's like they've been watching our lives, and then put it on screen.\\
'''Elliot:''' Heh, yeah.

The underlying charge of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} and/or [[PoorMansSubstitute inferiority]] is vital. This is not when a work simply provides its own caricature of a wholly unrelated character from another work as a way to mock them, which is just regular {{Parody}}. This is also an objective trope, so whether the audience thinks the creators who are doing the mocking have a point or not doesn't matter. In fact, the newer character may actually be more popular or better critically received than the older one. The original and the expy also must be made by ''different'' creators. If the original creators themselves create a shoddy copy of their own character and then proceed to take pot-shots at it, that's just SelfParody[=/=]SelfPlagiarism. Relatedly, if a notable figure is playing up to a popular perception of themselves instead of reacting to a copy, that's AdamWesting.

* In ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'', Darkseid meets Thanos and calls him [[Main/DarkseidDuplicate "a pale imitation".]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The crossover with ''The Simpsons'', "The Simpsons Guy", used this as a plot point with the catalyst being how Duff is similar to Pawtucket Patriot and the latter being sued over it. Then going on how similar some of the characters between each shows are to one another in the court scene. With the twist being [[spoiler: that the judge is none other than ''[[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]]'' whose show the Simpsons is often cited to be an Expy of, which in turn led to the inspiration for Family Guy itself.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Copycats," which is a long TakeThat at the Chinese "Animation/MiracleStar" commercials that plagiarized scenes of the show, their Gumball and Darwin analogues being a goat and a frog respectively. The Wattersons are disgusted at their ripoffs and try to get them violently killed. Even before this episode was made, creator Ben Bocquelet [[https://twitter.com/benbocquelet/status/555450448040443904 acknowledged the ripoff.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Copycats," which is a long TakeThat at the Chinese "Miracle Star" commercials that plagiarized scenes of the show, their Gumball and Darwin analogues being a goat and a frog respectively. The Wattersons are disgusted at their ripoffs and try to get them violently killed. Even before this episode was made, creator Ben Bocquelet [[https://twitter.com/benbocquelet/status/555450448040443904?lang=en acknowledged the ripoff.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The crossover with the Simpsons, "The Simpsons Guy", used this as a plot point with the catalyst being how Duff is similar to Pawtucket Patriot and the latter being sued over it. Then going on how similar some of the characters between each shows are to one another in the court scene. With the twist being [[spoiler: that the judge is none other than ''[[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]]'' whose show the Simpsons is often cited to be an Expy of, which in turn led to the inspiration for Family Guy itself.]]

** In one episode, the Simpsons are watching a ShowWithinAShow that's an obvious parody of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''. The family makes several comments about how similar their lives are to the show, with Bart even saying "It's like they filmed our lives." The obvious implication is that ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' is a rip off of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

The underlying charge of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} and/or [[PoorMansSubstitute inferiority]] is vital. This is not when a work simply provides its own caricature of a wholly unrelated character from another work as a way to mock them, which is ubiquitous for most [[{{Parody}} parodies]]. This is also an objective trope, so whether the audience thinks the creators who are doing the mocking have a point or not doesn't matter. In fact, the newer character may actually be more popular or better critically received than the older one. The original and the expy also must be made by ''different'' creators. If the original creators themselves create a shoddy copy of their own character and then proceed to take pot-shots at it, that's just SelfParody[=/=]SelfPlagiarism. Relatedly, if a notable figure is playing up to a popular perception of themselves instead of reacting to a copy, that's AdamWesting.

The underlying charge of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} and/or [[PoorMansSubstitute inferiority]] is vital. This is not when a work simply provides its own caricature of a wholly unrelated character from another work as a way to mock them, which is ubiquitous for most [[{{Parody}} parodies]]. This is also an objective trope, so whether the audience thinks the creators who are doing the mocking have a point or not doesn't matter. In fact, the newer character may actually be more popular or better critically received than the older one. The original and the expy also must be made by ''different'' creators. If the original creators themselves create a shoddy copy of their own character and then proceed to take pot-shots at it, that's just SelfParody / SelfPlagiarism. Relatedly, if a notable figure is playing up to a popular perception of themselves instead of reacting to a copy, that's AdamWesting.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Dan Hibiki from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' was created to mock the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series' main protagonists, Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, who Creator/{{Capcom}} viewed as knockoffs of ''Street Fighter'''s main protagonists, Ryu and Ken. Dan essentially looks like Robert wearing a [[PinkMeansFeminine pink]] version of Ryo's gi, while being a total JokeCharacter and ButtMonkey who fights using a completely useless fighting style and [[SmallNameBigEgo thinks much higher of himself than is actually warranted]].[[/folder]]

[[caption-width-right:249:[[ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal The Batman Who Laughs]] meets [[ComicBook/JudgeDredd Judge Death]].[[note]][[https://www.deviantart.com/adehughesart/art/Laugh-This-Off-Imposter-767159973 Image]] by [[https://www.deviantart.com/adehughesart AdeHughesArt]]. Used with permission.[[/note]]]]

* Several matches in ''Webvideo/DeathBattle'' are explicitly this. Most notable examples include:
** Deathstroke vs. Deadpool.

** Trunks Briefs vs. Silver the Hedgehog.

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} has often had to deal with people -- both in-universe and in real life -- accusing him of being a ripoff of DC Comics' ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}.[[note]]For the record, Rob Liefeld insists the resemblance was coincidental.[[/note]]

* ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' has a regular game called "Pick-up Song", where a song is played in live, a panellist starts singing along to it whilst the music is faded down, and the panellist continues singing ''a cappella'' with the aim being to be as close as possible to the original song when the sound comes back on. When the TV show ''That's Showbusiness'' started using a more or less identical game (the only difference being that as it was on TV, the original music video or footage of the performance would also be played), the similarity did not go unnoticed by chairman Humphrey Lyttelton:
-->'''Humph''': Now we go on to a very entertaining game which I came across while watching the recent television series ''That's Showbusiness'', with Mike Smith. In it, people sing along to a song they're given, and the song is then faded out. The object is for them to be in time with the music when it's faded back again... Brilliant. [[SarcasmMode I don't know where they get their ideas from...]]
-->'''Barry Cryer''': Humph, the producer of that show's Christian name is Nick.
-->'''Humph''': Ah, that explains it all... to somebody. Not to me.

* ''WesternAnimation/NewLooneyTunes'' episode "One Carroter In Search Of An Artist" has Bugs Bunny at the mercy of a devilish animator, similar to the classic Looney Tunes cartoon "Rabbit Rampage." At one point, the animator redraws Bugs Bunny as his 2005 iteration, Ace Bunny from ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'', which was widely decried by Looney Tunes fans.
--> '''Bugs Bunny''': Now you're just messin' with me.

* In ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', one of the many monsters Godzilla fights against is Zilla, a CaptainErsatz of the Godzilla incarnation seen in ''Film/Godzilla1998''. Zilla is [[StylisticSuck deliberately]] done [[SpecialEffectFailure in cheap CGI]] instead of a rubber suit like all the other monsters, [[CurbStompBattle is defeated by Godzilla in 20 seconds]] and the BigBad calls it a "useless tuna-eating lizard" after that.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': When the Titans first meet [[ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} Slade]], they mistake him for his expy, ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}. Slade, in response, tells them how much more serious he is along with how people should be confusing Deadpool for him on account of him coming first.

* With the premise of ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' involving two (usually) related characters rapping against each other, this inevitably comes into play whenever a character and an {{Expy}} of the character are involved, with the original often calling out the {{Expy}} for being a cheap ripoff.

** In one episode, the Simpsons are watching a ShowWithinAShow obviously meant to be ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''. The family makes several comments about how similar their lives are to the show, with Bart even saying "It's like they filmed our lives." The obvious implication is that ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' is a rip off of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

* In ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', one of the many monsters Godzilla fights against is Zilla, a CaptainErsatz of the Godzilla incarnation seen in ''Film/Godzilla1998''. Zilla is deliberately done [[SpecialEffectFailure in cheap CGI]] instead of a rubber suit like all the other monsters, [[CurbStompBattle is defeated by Godzilla in 20 seconds]] and the BigBad calls it a "useless tuna-eating lizard" after that.

** UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler faces off against Literature/{{Dracula}}, the fictional vampire inspired by him, and in the battle is portrayed in the Hollywood image of Creator/BelaLugosi from ''Film/Dracula1931''. Vlad is quick to point out his campy attire, among other aspects that were dumbed down for media portrayal.

*** In "The Italian Bob," Sideshow Bob loses his position as mayor of Salsiccia after the town finds out he's a wanted killer in the United States. The Italian police officers confirm this by checking their book of American criminals, which includes Peter Griffin ("plagiarismo") and even [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad Stan Smith]] (wanted for [[SelfPlagiarism "plagiarismo di plagiarismo"]]).
** In one episode, the Simpsons are watching ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''. The family makes several comments about how similar their lives are to the show, with Bart even saying "It's like they filmed our lives." The obvious implication is that ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' is a rip off of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.