History Main / SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute

** Frmo one game to the next half the cast will be this for the previous game. There's a set of archetypes that are well known in the fandom such as the two (occassionally three) cavaliers and the Jeigan.

* ''{{Tekken}}'' series: Roger Jr. replaces Roger. Hwoarang replaces Baek (who then returns). Jin Kazama replaces his father Kazuya (who then returns, Jin getting a different fighting style). Combot replacing Mokujin for Tekken 4. Devil Jin replacing Devil. Asuka replacing Jun Kazama. Christie replacing Eddie. Julia Chang replacing Michelle Chang. Forrest Law replacing his father Marshall Law (who then re-replaces his son in the next game). And, of course, each Jack-bot is the newest model (though apparently with the same mind transferred over).

** Apparently in the Korean versions, Misturugi was replaced by Arthur, a Caucasian samurai with the same moveset. He was then available in Soul Calibur III as a bonus character.

* In FinalFantasyV when [[spoiler: Galuf dies in a HeroicSacrifice, his daughter Krile]] inherits his exact stats and abilities through the crystal's energy and blessing.

** This is actually lampshaded [[IncrediblyLamePun Depres]][[TearJerker singly]] in the episode "Depressing News", when Hawkeye is lamenting to B.J. how the war rolls on even as the people fighting it are killed or replaced (using the surplus tongue depressors that have been shipped to the 4077th as a visual aid):
-->'''Hawkeye:''' Tongue depressors, doctors, soliders, we're all the same...(holds up one tongue depressor) Trapper John goes. No problem, there's plenty more where he came from. (tosses it aside and picks up another) B.J. Hunnicutt. Same size, same shape. (picks up another) Frank Burns out... (picks up another) Winchester in. Just a hair's difference. (picks up another) Henry Blake. (snaps it in two) Rest in peace, Henry. (picks up another) Incoming Sherman Potter. (to B.J.) My God, hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough?

** This is actually lampshaded in the episode "Depressing News", when Hawkeye is lamenting to B.J. how the war rolls on even as the people fighting it are killed or replaced (using the surplus tongue depressors that have been shipped to the 4077th as a visual aid):

* Katie Holmes opted out of the role of Rachel Dawes for ''The Dark Knight'', (possibly due to Tom Cruise's brainwashing) so she was replaced with another actress, ''Maggie Gyllenhaal'', who actually did surprisingly well in the role.

* In ''IndianaJones AndTheCrystalSkull'' Jim Broadbent plays a character meant to be a stand-in for Marcus Brody, who had died since the last movie, just as the actor Denholm Elliott had died in between films.
* The upcoming movie [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZB44Ea1A0k GrownUps]] features a reunion of the so-called "Bad Boys of {{SNL}}" from the early '90s: Adam Sandler, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Chris Rock, plus Kevin James. You can't help think that if Chris Farley was still alive he'd be plaving Kevin James' role.

* Kyra from ''PhantasyStar IV'' could be viewed as an Alys replacement, with her boomerang and Foi spells.
** Those are the ''only'' two things they have in common. Kyra does learn the Foi family of spells, and she does use boomerangs, but they have none of the same skills, have very different personalities, and are visually total opposites. If anything, Kyra might be close to what Alys was like in her much younger years, but nothing about Kyra makes her a candidate for a Replacement Alys. (it also doesn't help that there are two major boss battles and several plot events between the last weapon meant for Alys and the first one meant for Kyra)
** Although they both act as a big sister to Chaz

* In the remakes of Generation II {{Pokemon}} games, Gold and Silver, the original female playable character, (who, admittedly did not appear until Crystal,) Kris, has been replaced by another character, dubbed "Soul" by the fandom. Her appearance is relatively similar to Kris, (leading some to think she's just a redesigned version of her,) and seems to fit this trope so far.
** It's still unknown if Kotone is a redesigned Kris.
*** In the anime, they've been seen as completely separate characters, Marina and Lyra. Marina was a character in the anime special The Legend of Thunder who made some cameos in ads and on a t-shirt in the third series. Late in the third series, Lyra shows up and gives Dawn a Cyndaquill egg and asks if Dawn and Ash are a couple.
*** In [=~Pokémon Special~=], both trainers are treated as the same character. It helps that [[http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy208/LuverChan_97/Pokemon/illust09.jpg Crystal was originally depicted with brown hair to begin with]].
** From Generation 3 games on forward there were some Mons that are somewhat similiar (or copys) of already existing Mons. Example: Instead of Caterpie, Butterfree, Weedle and Beedrill as bug type Mons that evolve from worm like creatures, we get Wurmple (essentialy Weedle, with same stats and attacks) that evolves into Beautifly (Smettbo) or Dustox (of which later has been handeled better, it is still a poison type but is more of a moth than a bee).
*** Also, Ekans and Arbok were replaced by Seviper (in terms of gameplay and even the show with Jessie getting Seviper after leaving Arbok). This evolved, too, in a [[Didn´t do the research]] when on some 4kids programm was asked into what Arbok is evolving with Seviper being the right answer, although this was never the case in the games.

* Final Fantasy V replaces [[spoiler: the character Galuf with his grandaughter Krile, and she literally inherits his powers when the crystals transfer from him to her.]]

* ''MarriedWithChildren'': Straitlaced banker Steve Rhoades (David Garrison) was Marcy's husband for four seasons, and then was replaced by [[LeisureSuitLarry pretty-boy]] Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted [=McGinley=]) when Garrison wanted to leave the show to avoid being typecast.

**** Correction: the above entry seems to imply that Anderson was fired and replaced with Browder, when in fact Anderson retired. He'd been wanting to leave for a while, to spend more time with his daughter (rather than being stuck working in another country) but as every season since season 5 had been expected to be the last he kept returning for the "final" year with a reduction in his total screentime. When the show was renewed after season 8, and it was clear that season 9 would definitely ''not'' be the last one, he finally bit the bullet and quit. He's also had increasing problems for injuries making any sort of physical role difficult.

* Comedian Arite Lange replacing Comedian Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling on ''[[HowardStern The Howard Stern Show]]''. Somewhat averted in that while the two did have similar hobbies and character traits, Lange was specifically hired as an on air personality, where as Jackie was only sometimes on air, with his main job as writer.

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*** And Eve served the part of Cordelia that was to play Angel's foil.

*** And as a general rule, if a Sentai villain doesn't wear a suit, and is thus visibly not american, they'll be replaced with an actor who is for the Power Rangers iteration. This is usually done for TheDarkChick, but male villains aren't immune either,[[PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Flurrious]] replacing [[GoGoSentaiBoukenger Gajah]] for example

** ''KamenRiderDecade'' has done this to most of the cast of the shows they visited, using the conceit of {{Alternate Universe}}s. Sometimes these changes are justified ( for instance KamenRiderKuuga's actor considers the series an OldShame). However, a good number of actors have returned to play their original characters as well, even if they're also AU incarnations.

** Ross was a cavalier, immature, fun-loving, womanising action man. Kovacs was a brooding, world-weary, introvert, haunted by demons from the past. [[{{SoYeah}} So yeah...]]

* Carried out with style by British fantasy show ''Hex'', where new girl Ella, an experienced witch, shows up at the start of the second season and by the end of the second episode has [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext stabbed original lead witch Cassie]] and taken her place as the show's main character.]] She goes on the have an almost identical doomed relationship with [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys demon spawn Malachi]] that Cassie had with demon Azazeal in the first season. To round things off, Malachi is Cassie and Azazeal's [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome magically-aged]] son. So yeah...

* Mike Nelson, replacing Joel Robinson on ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'', as well as TV's Frank replacing Dr. Erhart, and of course Pearl Forrester replacing her son. The show also had its share of {{The Other Darrin}}s and {{The Nth Doctor}}s.
**One could argue that all of these are instances of averting of this trope, as they were all quite different characters than their counterparts, though their "role" was usually the same.

* KeanuReeves character in ''{{Speed}}'' was replaced by Jason Patric's character in the sequel, with Sandra Bullock being the holdover from the first film and having mentioned her previous relationship.

* ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'' replaced half of its cast but also made sure they were different characters. B.J. Hunnicut was a family man while Trapper was a womanizer, Major Winchester was a snooty but highly competent JerkWithAHeartOfGold to Major Burns' incompetent {{Jerkass}}, and Col. Potter was an old school war veteran and task master while [[{{McLeaned}} Col. Blake]] was oblivious to almost everything.

* 24 had a couple for the character of Mandy. Season 4's Nicole is a prime example, because she behaves in EXACTLY the same way as Mandy would [[spoiler: She has sex with a character to get him on side, then reveals her true colours. Mandy did more or less the same thing in the first episode]][[/folder]]

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* {{24}} had a couple for the character of Mandy. Season 4's Nicole is a prime example, because she behaves in EXACTLY the same way as Mandy would [[spoiler: She has sex with a character to get him on side, then reveals her true colours. Mandy did more or less the same thing in the first episode]]