History Main / NotSoSimilar

Our hero hunts the tainted cannibals with unrelenting zeal and takes no prisoners. He's come to learn of another hunter who he has much in common with and believes to be a valued ally. They hunt the same prey using the same weapons, they both wear long coats with sunglasses at night and one night they finally met. It also turns out that both are NotSoDifferent from their common enemy either but for different reasons. Our hero has been exposed to the [[TomatoInTheMirror same taint as them]]. This other guy is more like them in [[HeWhoFightsMonsters his behavior]]. Our hero shows no mercy for the enemy only to make sure they harm no innocents. The other guy doesn't believe in innocents and will kill a person just to spite a cannibal. Our hero will draw his prey away from populated areas to minimize casualties and property damage. The other guy is a DestructiveSavior on his best day. Our hero believed they were allies fighting for the same cause but it turns out his "ally" sees him as another trophy to be mounted on his wall.

The narrative allows two characters, groups or otherwise may appear to be alike, they may even be able to fill the same niche in a story but then makes it clear what a mistake it would be to call them interchangeable and if given the opportunity will vehemently correct anyone who makes it. Expect one party to begin with "[[StockPhrase I'm nothing like ___]] if brought to their attention.

* Multiple Man has the power to create body doubles of himself and they usually work together, as they always embodied a part of his personality. Sometimes an isolated part of himself can end up behaving very differently from the whole however, many of his body doubles have caused trouble he really doesn't approve of.

* ''All Through The Night'' Criminal Gloves Donahue describes just how wrong Nazi Franz Ebbing is when the latter thinks they have enough in common to work together.

* One book in the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' introduces us to Kash, who one figure stubbornly insists another culture take on [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]], no matter how many times the fact it [[ObviouslyEvil isn't]] is explained to him.

* ''The Jungle'' has a passage dedicated to how some view political parties as autonomous machines full of same thinking people and how naive the believe is. It is demonstrated in a heated debate between a mildly anarchist man who views all establishments as oppressive and wasteful and says organized religion is the wort offender against a fiercely religious man who believes socialism owes its very existence to the teachings of Jesus Christ, who aimed to disrupt the wealthy and raise up the oppressed, so therefore Socialists should be using The Bible to promote themselves.

* To the uniformed, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy's could have been thought to be much alike. Tattooed, skinny(by Wrestler standards) weirdos who both wrestled in ECW. Before their rivalry became serious(before CM cashed money in the bank on Hardy) the two had a civil argument on Raw which ended in Jeff in saying "You know Punk, we're pretty different." As their rivaly became more bitter, these differences became apparent to everyone.

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype and LegacyCharacter. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. If the characters really were interchangeable at one point see CastSpeciation or DivergentCharacterEvolution. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

Our hero hunts the agents of corruption with unrelenting zeal and shows his prey no mercy. He's come to learn of another hunter who he has much in common with and believes to be a valued ally. They hunt the same prey using the same weapons, they both wear long coats with sunglasses at night and one night they finally met. It also turns out that both are NotSoDifferent from their common enemy either but for different reasons. Our hero has been exposed to the [[TomatoInTheMirror same corruption they work for]]. This other guy is more like them in [[HeWhoFightsMonsters his behavior]]. Our hero shows no mercy for the enemy only to make sure they harm no innocents. The other guy doesn't believe in innocents and will kill a target just to spite the agents. Our hero will drag his prey away from populated areas to minimize casualties and property damage. The other guy is a DestructiveSavior on his best day. Our hero believed they were allies fighting for the same cause but it turns out his "ally" sees him as another trophy to be mounted on his wall.

Two characters, groups or otherwise may appear to be alike, they may even be able to fill the same niche in a story but it would be a mistake to go so far as to call them interchangeable and if given the opportunity they'll let you know it. If not, those who know them well will. Expect one party to begin with "[[StockPhrase I'm nothing like ___]]!

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. If the characters really were interchangeable up before this trope was invoked see CastSpeciation or DivergentCharacterEvolution. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

-->-- ''The Jungle''

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. If the characters really were interchangeable up before this trope was invoked see CastSpecialization or DivergentCharacterEvolution. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

Our hero just recently noticed that the partner she patrols the city with is just like the guy in her lacrosse club. She could even mistake them for being the same guy the way she's never seen them together. They're both big, goofy, listen to the same music and have a wife named Alice. Further observation reveals that she never sees them together because they don't have much in common that isn't superficial. They are both have afros but Bob buys his hair care from grocery store, Steve makes his own. Bob works out at the gym to stay in shape for his job, Steve is a farmer whose job keeps him in shape. Bob is a night owl, Steve goes to bed at sunset and while Bob's likes to poke fun at things Steve is more of a practical joker.

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

Our shero just recently noticed that the partner she patrols the city with is just like the guy in her lacrosse club. She could even mistake them for being the same guy the way she's never seen them together. They're both big, goofy, listen to the same music and have a wife named Alice. Further observation reveals that she never sees them together because they don't have much in common that isn't superficial. They are both have afros but Bob buys his hair care from grocery store, Steve makes his own. Bob works out at the gym to stay in shape for his job, Steve is a farmer whose job keeps him in shape. Bob is a night owl, Steve goes to bed at sunset and while Bob's likes to poke fun at things Steve is more of a practical joker.

* ''JudgeDredd'' has the law enforcement collecting the genetic material of their best judges to ensure they can always create great judges to replace them. Though they often get carbon copies of outstanding judges though, the clones rarely end up like their predecessors.

* Multiple Man has the power to create body doubles of himself and they usually work together, as they always embodied a part of his personality. Sometimes an isolated part of himself can end up behaving very differently from the whole however, many of his body doubles have caused trouble he'd have to much restraint to consider himself.

* In ''Inception'', one of Dom's nightmares takes the form of [[spoiler his deceased wife]] Mal in order to guilt trip over his past mistakes. Dom overcomes it however by pointing just how much its imitation failed to compare to the real thing.

* X's copy in ''Megaman Zero'' claims to be a perfect copy. Zero retorts says the copy's strength and wisdom are both lacking in response.

* In the various DC-Marvel crossovers, although both universes have a planet Earth which is inhabited by a human species with broadly similar histories up to about the 1960s, it's been shown that they're fundamentally different down to even the background cosmic principles each is based on.

* In Fringe the original universe olivia can tell that the alternate version of her is not the same olivia. Peter can as well.

* In ''Batman Beyond'' The new Batman is somewhat annoyed that the old Batman's enemies expect him to be like his predecessor but he often uses this to his advantage.

[[AC:Literature]]
* One book in the ''Chronicles of Narnia'' introduces us to Kash, who one figure stubbornly insists another culture take on [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]], no matter how many times the fact it [[ObviouslyEvil isn't]] is explained to him.

* The kings of Assyria told the people of Judah not to be fooled when Hezekiah said God could save them because they had destroyed the gods of everyone else they conquered. Hezekiah told them that they were only allowed to do that because those gods were only idols made by human hands.

* The ''Transformers Armada'' Star Scream takes offense when the Autobots try to compare his behavior to Sideway's.

* In order to get Link's trust in ''The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'' Nabooru states "she's completely different from Ganondorf" even though she's technically his subject.

* In ''Batman Beyond'' Terry is somewhat annoyed the Joker assumes him to be like his predecessor but uses this to his advantage.

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. Sometimes invoked when EvenEvilHasStandards but not always. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

* In Neon Genesis Evangelion, Rei and Kaoru have an exchange that amounts exactly to him discussing NotSoDifferent and she invoking this.

** Also, when [[BadBoss Petrine]] suggests she and [[JerkAss Soren]] are the same he's quick to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech correct her.]]

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. See also, OurMonstersAreDifferent. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

Common cases include CloningBlues, ShadowArchetype, and LegacyCharacter. CounterpartComparison is when fandom does this.

!!Examples:

!Examples:

!!Examples

!Examples