->''The one in back,'' \\
''The way he acts,'' \\
''Is he reminding you of anyone you know?'' \\
''Isn't he so'' \\
''Like certain people I could name?''
-->-- '''TheyMightBeGiants''', "Certain People I Could Name"

Short for "Exported Character", an Expy is a character from one series who seems very similar to a character in another, older series (Or even the same). A few minor traits -- such as age and name -- may change, but there's no doubt that they are almost one and the same. Often seen in different works by the same writer(s) or production team.

This can simply be the tendency of writers to prefer certain characterizations for important characters (or [[FollowTheLeader knowing which ones are most marketable/popular]]), or the influence of the design process. Or on the other hand, it may just be a [[WriterOnBoard bad attempt]] to try to revive a character that the [[TheWesley writer liked, but nobody else did]] and [[KilledOffForReal had to get rid of it]]. When by a different author, it may be a {{Homage}} to the original creator and/or character. In the negative sense, an expy can be seen as a just a bloated, gimmicky version of a perfectly serviceable past character. In a positive sense, it can refer to an "upgrade" of a two-dimensional or otherwise limited character to one more appreciably complex.

Theory: any CharactersAsDevice trope, if taken to the extreme, can result in the character appearing to be a mere expy of the {{Ur Example}}s for that trope. Especially if the character is subject to {{Flanderization}} to the point of having few defining characteristics outside of the trope they represent. See OverusedCopycatCharacter.

Most often seen in animation and video games, where it's much easier to make a newer character resemble an older one. Occasionally happens when characters from different stories end up sharing voice actors, making or even forcing their personalities to look even more similar, which often leads to [[ActorAllusion jokes based on the voice actor's former role]].

When a character strongly resembles a real person, rather than a fictional character, that's NoCelebritiesWereHarmed. When the character appears in the same show as the previous character, he's often a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.

The [[CanonicalListOfSubtleTropeDistinctions key difference]] between this and CaptainErsatz is that an {{Expy}} is not clearly supposed to be the character, but is rather very similar, while CaptainErsatz is obviously the same character but with the serial numbers filed off. Please keep this distinction in mind before adding an example here. Also note that a fictional counterpart to a real-life person would ''not'' be an {{Expy}}. A quick glance around TVTropes will reveal just how often these mistakes are made on this very wiki.

Compare to BleachedUnderpants, AlternateCompanyEquivalent, NamesTheSame, RomanAClef, WhyDoesEveryoneThinkImDeadpool. [[IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] [[CharacterLevel X]][[MicrosoftWindows P]].
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Without even airing (or having actual previews), it's fairly obvious that Ain of (the recently announced anime) ''Despera'' is an expy of Lain of ''SerialExperimentsLain''. Then again, it's possible that the entire ''show'' is an expy of ''SerialExperimentsLain''.
* The author of ''{{Hellsing}}'' admits that almost every damn character was 100% ripped off from his old works.
* Appearing only in the animated adaptation of ''TowardTheTerra'', Serge Starjon is the expy of Serge Batouille, the main character of ''KazeToKiNoUta''. Both are similar in appearance and personality.
* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' has a large cast who have traits of several other anime and video game characters. While it's common for moe personality types to be recycled endlessly anyway, many of the most prominent characters are toned-down analogues to ''LoveHina'' characters: Nodoka is a early Shinobu, KuFei is a Chinese version of Su, Chizuru Naba is a less foolish Mutsumi, Kaede is a squinty, easy-going but wholesome Kitsune, etc. Setsuna's similarities to Motoko are explained by them being using the same fighting style.
** Oddly enough, Naru seems to have been split into a few characters: Anya is the Embarrassed Naru, Chisame is the Nerd Naru, and Asuna is the Protective Naru.
** One should also note that Asakura's personality is quite similar to Kitsune's.
*** [[http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima!/33/03/ Nodoka]] is a dead ringer for [[http://www.onemanga.com/Love_Hina/96/05/ young-Kanako]].
** And does anyone else notice similarities between Evangeline and Kanako?
** A rather obscure one: [[http://www.onemanga.com/Mahou_Sensei_Negima%21/46/03/ Fate Averruncus]] is obviously based on Program Number 0 from Akamatsu's first manga, AILoveYou
** Also, several of the characters in Negima resemble the central characters from SailorMoon, at least physically. Asuna is Sailor Moon, Konoka is Sailor Mars, Nodoka is Sailor Mercury, Ayaka is Sailor Venus, and ... Akira is Sailor Jupiter. Of course this could be just due to the fact that there are LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, so coincidences are bound to occur.
* Despite the fact that they share little in appearance, Shampoo in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' was a deliberate attempt by RumikoTakahashi to do a better job with the character of Lum from ''UruseiYatsura''.
** The anime would have originally had Shampoo look a lot more like Lum; in the season one opening, there are eye-catches of Shampoo showing her with dark green hair and light blue eyes.
** {{Word of God}} says that the [[{{OfficialCouple}} Inu Yasha and Kagome romance]] is pretty much a mirror of [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and Akane's romance]]; I/K's is treated more "seriously" simply because it's an adventure show more than a comedy.
** But Inuyasha is a lot more Ranma then Kagome is Akane- note the perching, attitude, and even resemblance.
*** Inuyasha and male Ranma even share a voice actor (in Japanese and, in the later seasons, English as well).
** Akemi from Maison Ikkoku is suspiciously similar to Nabiki Tendo, in their eyes and their seductive, jovial natures. Also, she has minor traits of Ranma (face-making, selfish but nice, off-the hook). She could be practically be the offspring of Ranma and Nabiki...
*** Nabiki and Akemi share a few features, but neither one is a ripoff of the other. Deep down, waaaaay deep down, Akemi is still a nice person whereas Nabiki is [[{{Money Fetish}} The Ultimate Capitalist]]
** Yotsuya from ''MaisonIkkoku'' looks identical to Sekoi from Takahashi's early series ''Dust Spot'' (a.k.a. ''Wasted Minds''). The fact that Sekoi is a secret agent and Yotsuya keeps his job a secret from the residents of Ikkoku has lead some fans to wonder if they're actually the same person.
* The three main characters of ''[[KannazukiNoMiko Kannazuki no Miko]]'' were all upgrade expies from an earlier Kaishaku work called ''Cross Triangle''. (Kurusugawa Himeko and Oogami Souma even shared partial names with their predecessors -- Kurusu and Oogami.)
** All of them have returned yet again in supporting roles in ''Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora'': virtually unchanged, except that Himeko now affects [[{{Meganekko}} a pair of glasses]].
*** Then there's Kaishaku's most recent manga, ''Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian''. Guess who's back. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Seriously, take a wild guess]]. You may read the first chapter [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/zettai_shoujo_seiiki_amnesian/?no_warning=1 here]].
*** And if anyone's interested, there's also the web novel ''Himegami''. You know who are the main characters, [[http://www.himegami.com/1.html so here's the link]]. It's in Japanese, BTW, so you might want to wait for someone to translate it.
* The anime ''HunterXHunter'', based on a manga by Yoshihiro Togashi, featured a {{Ninja}} named Hanzo who was similar in design to Kazemaru (who was also a ninja) from ''YuYuHakusho'', which was also based on a manga by Togashi.
** Also, [[spoiler:Chrollo Lucifer]] arguably being an Expy of [[spoiler:Shinobu Sensui]]- right down to their coloring, their age (26), the similar FacialMarkings, the manner in which they fight (offense making good defense, manipulation of their enemies), and the fact that they both got/may have gotten their genocidal ideas from [[BrownNote watching a videotape]].
* Shii from ''PuniPuniPoemi'' is quite a lot like Hyatt from ''ExcelSaga'', only excluding the tendency to cough up blood, drop dead, and come back to life, and including glasses and outrageously huge GagBoobs. They even have the same voice actress, in both the Japanese and English versions.
* Many characters in ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'' have counterparts in the sequel, ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''. Right from the mouths of the [[WordOfGod powers that be]], the protagonist, Judai, was designed with Jyonouchi's personality and Yugi's dueling skills. The Season 2 BigBad, Saiou, is basically an {{Expy}} of Marik, using the same strategy as Dartz. Kaiba has ''two'' in Kaiser Ryo and Manjyome (mainly Kaiser Ryo, as Manjyome becomes increasingly goofier over the course of the series.) Also, Sho seems to be based on little Yugi.
** One also mustn't forget that both Fubuki and Asuka look like [[EpilepticTrees Kaiba and Jyonouchi's]] [[MisterSeahorse love-children]].
** Also, the Sacred Beasts are Expys of the God Cards.
** Jack Atlas in ''[=5D's=]'' is arguably an Expy of Kaiba. The dub plays this aspect up.
*** His assistant Mikage also seems to be an Expy of Scheris from [[Scryed]] in both appearance and her relationship with Jack.
*** Yusei Fudo is obviously an Expy of Yami Yugi. Even their hair is similar, though Yusei's is relatively less insane. Yusei also talks quite a bit about friendship.
*** Crow seems to be a partially tweaked Expy of Jonouchi with a [[AssPull very different introduction timing]].
*** And Bruno looks like an Expy of Johan from ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''.
* The ''FutariWaPrettyCure'' girls have counterparts in ''[[FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash*Star]]'' -- Saki and Mai. This is strong enough that a preview for the Italian version of Splash*Star boasts of the former's "return," though ultimately this was dropped for the actual dub.
** ''YesPrettyCure5'' apparently tried to do it again before changing their tune to make a more traditional MagicalGirl team; traces of Nagisa and Honoka can still be found in Rin and [[YourMileageMayVary your choice of Nozomi or Karen]], despite their being tweaked considerably. More obvious is Komachi, otherwise known as [[TokyoMewMew Retasu]].
*** And on the sequel, ''Yes! Pretty Cure 5 [=GoGo=]'', traces of [[SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo the silver Antauri]] could be found in Milky Rose during her AloofAlly phase.
* Possibly in an effort to make the typical cipher role interesting, the KyotoAnimation version of Yuuichi from ''{{Kanon}}'' is basically the well-liked Kyon (thus, "[[FanNickname Kyuuichi]]") from ''SuzumiyaHaruhiNoYuutsu'', complete with ShoutOut.
** Isn't that backwards? Yuuichi is quite snarky in the original Visual Novel dating back to 1999. If anything, Kyon is an expy of Yuuichi.
* Yukiho from ''[[TheIdolmasterXenoglossia The iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia]]'' looks ''exactly'' like Shiori from ''Kanon'', and even has a [[SnowMeansLove snow reference]] in her name.
* ''SailorMoon'''s Usagi is an odd example of an Expy appearing ''with'' the original character, as the ''Codename wa Sailor V'' manga, in which Minako first appears, predates the series. This results in strange similarities with hair color, both having a magical talking cat, and both having a {{Magitek}} disguise device. They also have identical-looking ''families'' (both based on the author's), although this was never alluded to in the later series, which would have made Minako the only other character with a sibling.
** Its different plot aside, the LiveActionAdaptation might be an example of retro-fitted Expies in the eyes of older fans. Minako's serious and semi-antagonistic attitude is extremely evocative of the [[SixthRanger Outer Senshi]]. An odder case is Luna, whose human form was changed to that of a child for AudienceAppeal, given a humorously useless Sailor form, and shares Usagi's hairstyle; all traits associated with ChibiUsa.
** Oddly enough, Takeuchi stated, that she originally wanted to give Usagi SILVER hair, to make her less of an Expy. Her publisher, however, told her not to, since a mysterious, calm colour like that would have interfered with her {{You Suck}} personality.
** There was also the transition of Amano -> Umino (although the latter got significantly more character development and sympathy) and (to a lesser extent) Hikaru -> Naru.
* ''SamuraiChamploo'' and ''CowboyBebop'' 's lead characters are designed by the same author and look it. Mugen evokes a Spike before his series began, but otherwise share the same afro, nihilism, and English voice actor.
* {{Lampshaded}} in ''{{Digimon Adventure 02}}'', where Taichi declared Daisuke to be the leader of the new group due to being the character most like him. Daisuke eventually turned out to be something like a parody of his first season counterpart, with all good and bad points humorously exaggerated. This is ''further'' parodied in that most of the time Daisuke ends up being completely ignored by ''his'' team, who are on paper far more suited for the role. (Since they all have a tendency to stand around paralyzed by angst and self-doubt, the totally unflappable Daisuke ends up saving the world anyway.)
** Plenty of other Digimon characters may or may not be Expies of each other, most notably of the "Lone Wolf With Sibling Complex (Sometimes Also A Genius)" variety.
** In ''DigimonTamers'', several ''adult'' characters appear to be modeled visually upon the children from the two previous seasons:
*** Takato's father resembles adult Daisuke in the Where Are They Now scene at the end of season 2 (both even have jobs connected to food, bread and ramen respectively)
*** Yamaki not only resembles but shares part of his name with Yamato from season 1
*** One member of the Monster Makers crew, an Indian woman, corresponds to Mina of season 2.
*** The teacher in Tamers looks like Hikari (who became a teacher) and even shares the same voice actress in the dub. (This led to fans being desperate to make them the same character, even though the two are very different in personality. The problem is made worse by the fact that the credits were very hard to read... the names "Nami" and "Kari" looked pretty much the same.)
***TheHero and TheLancer of each season pretty much the same "Serious cool guy thinks the hot-blooded spiky-haired guy needs to get serious, the latter thinks the former needs to lighten up" shtick, to the point that you wonder why they bother making them different characters. Tamers averts this outright, though, with sensitive AscendedFanboy Takato as the lead, and Henry/Jenrya (the Lancer type) having to be sort of a mentor at first.
* Most female leads in HayaoMiyazaki's films are Expies of [[NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind Nausicaa]]. This is almost averted in ''Laputa: {{Castle in the Sky}}'', until the main villain removes Sheeta's pigtails.
** Averted with Sophie in [[HowlsMovingCastle Howl's Moving Castle]], who, while still plenty cute in her young form, is definitely "plain" by comparison.
** Chihiro and Rin from ''SpiritedAway'' look a lot like Shizuku and her [[CoolBigSis older sister]] from ''Whisper of the Heart''.
** The males in most of Miyazaki's films look to be expies as well. Just look at Lupin and Ashitaka, and tell me they weren't drawn from the same cloth visually. Then, look at Haku from Spirited Away, they all look drastically alike.
** Miyazaki does this ''deliberately''. He treats character designs as "actors", and re-uses them between films. They're rarely expies in anything but appearance, though.
* Everyone in the ''GiantRobo'' {{OVA}} is an Expy of a character from various manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.
* Tite Kubo revived the protagonist of his ill-fated first manga, ''ZombiePowder'', as the arrancar Grimmjow Jeagerjaques in his more successful later series -- ''{{Bleach}}'' -- even drawing him in the exact same pose on one of the covers. Interesting in that the new character is an ''antagonist'', albeit one who seems well on his way to a HeelFaceTurn.
** ''ZombiePowder'' earns the distinction of producing two expies in one series from the ''same character''. An early design for Gamma is very clearly the design around for Renji Abarai.
* The relationship and design of Louise and Saito in ''ZeroNoTsukaima'' is greatly similar to Shana and Yuuji in ''ShakuganNoShana''. They even have the same voice actors. While she doesn't have a Yuuji/Saito counterpart, Taiga from ''{{Toradora}}'' is also in their mold.
** Much more. Kugimiya Rie voice-acted Shana of ''ShakuganNoShana'' (animated by J.C. Staff), Nagi of ''HayateNoGotoku'' (Synergy SP, J.C. Staff for the second season), Louise of ''ZeroNoTsukaima'' (J.C. Staff), Taiga of ''{{Toradora}}'' (J.C. Staff), and Yuuhi of ''{{Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka}}'' (TNK). Each character after Shana is an {{Expy}} and textbook {{Tsundere}}, is the female lead of the show, and is designed similarly (especially in the shows animated by J.C. Staff). Shana's "Urusai! Urusai! Urusai!" (Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!) CatchPhrase is often [[ShoutOut shouted out]] (literally and figuratively) by the various characters. From 2005-2008, at least one, and usually more, {{Tsundere}} characters voiced by Kugimiya have been airing simultaneously on Japanese TV. Despite the obvious HeyItsThatVoice effect, Kugimiya has avoided becoming a PigeonHoledVoiceActor and continues to play a broad range of characters.
* Subverted ''massively'' in ''{{Tsubasa}}'', where the major characters are warned that during their dimension-hopping, they will likely meet many different versions of the same person. This results in later volumes featuring Expys of characters from earlier in the same manga. Continuing with the "AlternateUniverse" theme, nearly all of these recurring characters are themselves Expys from an earlier {{CLAMP}} work.
** [[spoiler: And then inverted when one of the "same face, different place" characters really ''does'' turn out to be the same person they'd met before.]]
** [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] later on, when one Expy turns out to be the ''son'' of the character he mimics, for... [[OedipusRex less than healthy reasons]].
** CLAMP wrote ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' as a 20th anniversary {{Fanservice}} gift to its fans, so {{Expy}} is essentially the raison d'etre for the series. ''{{xxxHolic}}'' is a concurrent CLAMP manga series that intersects so tightly with ''{{Tsubasa}}'' as to require reading both to fully appreciate and understand each story. For the 100+ list of CLAMP {{Expy}}s in ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tsubasa:_Reservoir_Chronicle_characters#Crossover_characters Tsubasa Chronicle Crossover Characters]] Note that the crossovers with ''{{xxxHolic}}'' are mostly deleted from the anime adaptations because separate production companies animated each series, creating contractual and creative differences. {{Expy}} instances in ''{{Tsubasa}}'' vary in the anime because the series veers from the manga late in season two (though is recovered mostly in the ''Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations'' OVA series.
* Most ''{{Gundam}}'' series will have a character based on Char Aznable, [[FanNickname known as]] a Char Clone (or just "[[MemeticMutation A CHAR]]"). Wikipedia lists 16 Char Clones in the entire Gundam franchise to date. They're most easily identified by the fact that they wear a [[MaskPower mask]] for [[RuleOfCool little or no reason]] and occasionally have a penchant for piloting red mobile suits. They're almost always TheRival and/or TheDragon. Notable Char expys include Iron Mask from ''Gundam F91'', Zechs from ''GundamWing'' , Rau Le Creuset in ''GundamSeed'', and Neo Roanoke from ''GundamSeedDestiny'', most recent but without hidden identity Mr Bushido aka Graham Akre & even a literal clone of Char in the ''Gaia Gear'' series of novels & audio dramas.
** Char clones show up quite often in other {{Humongous Mecha}} series' as well (see Elzam Branstein's entry in the Games section). Lelouch from Code Geass is a borderline example. Apparently the idea of him wearing a mask came from executives who said something along the lines of "It just wouldn't be a Sunrise show without a mask".
** Mecha Expies are also par for the course in Gundam. ''Wing's'' Shenlong Gundam is an Expy of ''G's'' Dragon Gundam, ''X's'' Leopard is an Expy of ''Wing's'' Heavyarms, Deathscythe and Deathscythe H resemble Master Asia's Kowloon and Master Gundams respectively, grunt units are almost always based on either the Zaku or the GM & if the series features mobile suits that can transform it's guaranteed that at least one will have pretty much the exact same transformation scheme as the Zeta Gundam.
** Murrue Ramius and the Archangel from {{Gundam Seed}} are expies of Bright Noah and the White Base, full stop.
** [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Royalty]]? Check. Pacifist? Check. TheHero's LoveInterest? Check. Takes care of the war orphans? Check. Singer? Check. Yes, Marina Ismail from ''{{Gundam 00}}'' was probably intended as an {{Expy}} of Lacus Clyne of ''SEED'', except that she has nothing comparable to Lacus' [[{{Determinator}} iron will]]. And let's not forget that Lacus herself was partly an expy of [[GundamWing Relena Darlian]], also a royal pacifist LoveInterest for TheHero.
** Speaking of Relena, she seems to be based on Sayla Mass: former princess, different alias, and an older brother who became a soldier to avenge his parents' deaths.
**Fllay from {{Gundam Seed}} has several clones in every Gundam after SEED. Meyrin (and to some extent Lunamaria) Hawke and Nena Trinity all bear a resemblance to Fllay.
** Kira Yamato from {{Gundam Seed}} is said to be a mix of Amuro and Loran, having Amuro's mechanical aptitude and having almost every bit of Loran's events happened to him. Having a powerful mobile suit with PlotArmor? Check, having a distate for violence? Check. Relationship with Earthling daughter's who had her father killed by his people? check. Sexless romance with princess figure? Check.
* Considering they were both made by StudioGainax, it is not surprising that Dr. Jennifer Portman in ''ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld'' is an {{Expy}} of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
** Who, in turn, was an expy of Electra from ''NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', and in turn Shinji's character designer admitted to basing his appearance on Nadia. Gave her a haircut, basically.
* Lord Zet and Nekoneko of the flash series ''[=~Super Freakin' Parody Rangers~=]'' are deliberately obvious Expies of Zetto and Ruri from the creator's earlier work ''{{TTA}}''.
* ''{{Clannad}}'' is, in some ways, a revisiting of ''{{Kanon}}'', only somewhat more depressing and switching around the character dynamics. For example, Sunohara is Kitagawa as the main character's best friend, Tomoyo and Kotomi are the two different aspects of Mai, Fuko i.s Ayu, only sadder and not the winning girl, and Nagisa is Shiori, except that [[spoiler:she really dies]] and that she's the winning girl.
** It could be argued that Nagisa is Shiori because [[spoiler: she ''[[NotQuiteDead doesn't]]'' really die]], if you're going by KyoAni's (and the visual novel's) continuity.
** Also, Kyou and Ryou bear a striking resemblance to Kagami and Tsukasa of ''LuckyStar'', respectively. Mauve-haired twin sisters--[[SiblingYinYang one]] a {{Tsundere}} with long hair, [[DifferentAsNightAndDay the other shy and gentle]] with short, though the Fujibayashi twins are identical while the Hiiragi twins are fraternal. Amusingly enough, Tsukasa even remarks at one point that "Kagami" can also be read as "Kyou"...
*** Amazing in that KyotoAnimation finished ''LuckyStar'' before working on ''{{Clannad}}''.
*** Most likely a reference to the visual novel, which was contemporaneous with the original [[{{Yonkoma}} yonkoma]] on which the ''Lucky Star'' anime was based. It may also just have been a coincidence that the studio capitalised on to up the [[PanderingToTheBase otaku quotient]]; Kagami is actually named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagami_Yoshimizu her creator]].
*** [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tsukasa_and_Kagami_as_Ryou_and_Kyou.jpg This]] picture (which is also the header picture for the CosplayFanArt page) says it all.
** Misae is an {{Expy}} of [[FullMetalPanic Kaname Chidori]], down to the [[SatsukiYukino seiyuu]]. Hell, her last name is Sagara.
** Tsukasa is a visual (at least) expy of Akari Kamigishi from ''ToHeart'', which the series delights in pointing out. The poor girl once gets photographed by an {{Otaku}} who sees the resemblance and [[OtakuSurrogate Konata]] once gives her Akari's red uniform.
*** By transivity, Ryou is also a visual {{Expy}} of Akari.
* Hikari and Akari of ''ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld'' are considered to be Expies of Mahoro and Minawa of ''{{Mahoromatic}}'', so much so that they share the same seiyuu. In that same vein, Jennifer could probably be considered an Expy of Shikijo-sensei, considering her GagBoobs and BottleFairy tendencies; however, Jennifer thankfully doesn't have the same [[HotForStudent pedotastic crush on the male lead]] that Shikijou-sensei does.
** Mitsuka-sensei from ''{{DearS}}'' is a direct {{Expy}} of Shikijo-sensei, almost to the point of ripoff status, as they share the same English voice actress and creepy LittleKidLover fetish. Ren is an obvious expy of most of the persocoms from ''{{Chobits}}'', but more specifically, Chii.
* Most ''{{Mai-Otome}}'' characters are Expies of ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' characters. In fact, almost all of the main characters of Mai-HiME appear in Mai-Otome, although they may only be supporting characters or even extras. The reverse is often true as well -- the main character of Mai-Otome, Arika, appeared in Mai-HiME for only a few seconds at the end of the last episode. One character, the android Miyu, actually seems to be the exact same Miyu and not a new character after all, as though Mai-Otome is set in Mai-HiME's future. The future-time setting leads to some fan speculation about the Mai-Otome characters being reincarnations.
* ''OnePiece'' recently saw the protagonist of one of its creator's earlier stories(Monsters) appear as a zombie swordsman. In fact, the country that Monsters takes place in is mentioned in so many plot points that it is pretty much a part of One Piece canon.
** There's also the character of Monkey D. Garp who is Luffy's Grandfather. Originally, Garp was a character who appeared in one version of the pilot Romance Dawn. In this version, he was the one who gave Luffy the Gomu Gomu Fruit and he also was the one who inspired Luffy to become a pirate. Ironically, his current self frowns upon Luffy's pirate lifestyle.
** In addition, there were two characters who share similarites to Nami who appeared in previous versions of Romance Dawn. One was a Swordswoman who joined Luffy's crew, personality wise she was more gentle than Nami. Another was more similar to Nami's current self in terms of personality however from the way the Pilot's story was going it seemed like she wouldn't join the crew.
***Weirder case here because we have [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism no reason to think Oda was ever influenced]] by ''{{Berserk}}'', but the resemblance between Zoro and Guts is rather uncanny. It's as if Zoro is how Guts probably would've been if he was a allowed to have an easier life and [[spoiler:much, much more faithful friends.]]
** Some fans note that Jinbei may be an Expy of AquaMan. Aside from his [[MakingASplash water-based moveset]], he has the ability to telepathically communicate with aquatic life, which is explicitly noted to be an extreme rarity for Fishmen. He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway that is often associated with Aquaman when he states that he is of no use in land battles(of course, that's pretty relative; the very next thing he does is [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome punch the air to create a shockwave that knocks out everything near him]]).
* Shotaro Ishinomori introduced a character by the name of Roam in the ''LegendOfZelda'' manga he drew. This character is an obvious expy for Ishinomori's ''{{Cyborg 009}}'' character 002/Jet Link.
** Jet got yet another Expy in ''{{GaoGaiGar}}'s'' Pizza/Soldato J.
* Mahoro from ''{{Mahoromatic}}'' and Noel from ''ShinaDark'' are both {{robot girl}} [[RobotMaid maids]] who hate {{ecchi}} things with a passion voiced by Ayako Kawasumi. ''Mahoromatic'' and ''Shina Dark'' are by the same author, so the expyness makes sense.
**Also in Shina Dark. Noel's other form resembles the Numbers' from NanohaStrikerS. And Gallet resembles and has a similar personality to Signum from Nanoha. And to solidify it all, Shina Dark's artist is authoring a Nanoha spin-off.
** No, that's the definition of an Expy, it doesn't just 'make sense'.
** Chapter 19 plays with the Noel / Mahoro connection to it's logical extreme.
* Several characters & mecha from Mamoru Nagano's ''FiveStarStories'' are expies of ones from an anime he had earlier worked on with {{Yoshiyuki Tomino}} called ''{{Heavy Metal L-Gaim}}'', not the least of which were the {{Humongous Mecha}} Junchoon & its pilot Colus VI who are expies of L-Gaim's titular mecha and series protagonist Daba Myroad. Infact, the story arc in the manga focusing on Colus VI retaking his throne is an almost exact retelling of the plot of L-Gaim. Interestingly, L-Gaim features an expy of its own (whose name escapes me right now), a tinkerbell-esque fairy who bears an uncanny resemblance to one from a previous Tomino series, ''Aura Battler Dunbine''.
* Akira from the {{Hentai}} game ''{{Viper V16}}: Rise'' is a blatant Expy of Yuka from ''VariableGeo''. The two both work at [[FanServiceWithASmile maid cafes]], and both share the same character designer (Takehiko "[=KimuTaka=]" Kimura). A later ''Viper'' game in the same setting introduced Makoto, an Expy of ''VariableGeo'''s Jun.
* Nobuhiro Watsuki freely admits in the chapter notes to ''BusouRenkin'' that the series protagonist, Kazuki Muto, is a gender-swapped expy of Misao Makimachi from ''RurouniKenshin''. In addition, he notes (to his apparent surprise) that one of the minor villains is a thinly recast Enishi, and theorizes that he wanted to give Enishi a happier ending through his expy.
** Speaking of ''RurouniKenshin'', Nobuhiro Watsuki also Expies several Shinsengumi members by using them as bases for other non-Shinsensgumi characters. In particular, he used Hijikata as a reference for Aoshi, Okita for Soujirou (who also got Okita's birth name), Harada for Sanosuke, and Kanryuusai for Kanryuu.
** In fact, all three of Watsuki's post-''RurouniKenshin'' manga series contain a Misao: Colice in ''Gun Blaze West'', Kazuki in ''BusouRenkin'' and finally Elm in ''Embalming''. Elm is even paired up with an Aoshi expy, Ashuhit.
** Do not forget the many characters in RK that share way too many features with Marvel characters to be considered merely [[ShoutOut shout outs]]. Seeing The Hulk, Gambit, Apocalypse, or ''Venom'' fighting Kenshin in Meiji era Japan is... surreal, to say the least.
* ''[=~Pokémon~=]'''s [[TheScrappy most infamous]] expy is Ritchie, who also has a few of the same Pokémon as Ash (but he has a bit more common sense). Ash's Sinnoh rival Paul is an expy of GSC antagonist [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Silver]] in [[JerkAss personality]] and appearance, though ironically is even crueller than his original, releasing untold numbers of Pokémon that he captures because he finds them too weak (it's yet to be seen if he'll ever [[CharacterDevelopment grow out of it]] like Silver did).
** An ironic expy: Dawn's Mamoswine, of Ash's Charizard. Both are final stages of a Pokémon that evolves twice, both were caught in their first forms, both started to disobey their trainers after evolving to their intermediate form, and both went from their base forms to their final forms ridiculously quickly (Ash's Charmeleon evolved to Charizard just three episodes after evolving from Charmander; Dawn's Piloswine broke that record by evolving to Mamoswine just ''two'' episodes after evolving from Swinub). This is ironic because Charizard is a Fire-and-Flying type, and Mamoswine is an Ice-and-Ground type. However, while Charizard didn't start obeying Ash until 61 episodes after it first started disobeying him, Mamoswine comes around in just 13. The reason for changing their tune was the same, though.
* Suigintou from ''RozenMaiden'' has a couple now:
** ''KyouranKazokuNikki'' gives us Himemiya Senka who when first introduced shared Suigintou's white hair (intended to resemble silver), unnatural eye color, and creases under the eyes showing her disturbed mentality, and even remarkably reminiscent dress as well as obsessive jealousy and hatred towards a main character. She's even referred to as a "Solitary Doll," though in this case it refers to her replacement role as her family's shared abuse victim. [[spoiler: Like Gin, though, you eventually learn to empathize with her a bit once you know her background.]]
** ''The Daughter of Twenty Faces'' gives us a character known only as "the white-haired demon" so far. She shares Suigintou's long white hair, purple eyes, and psychotic creases under the eyes as well as a jealous, obsessive cruelty towards the main character. [[spoiler: While she looks human most of the time, her body is actually some kind of animated marionette, complete with RozenMaiden-like doll joints.]]
** ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'': In the second season. A very briefly seen character had pale hair with devious eyes. And she was even voiced by Rie Tanaka who also voiced Suigintou.
* The three major characters of ''DetectiveConan'' are visual Expys of the major characters of Aoyama's previous manga Magic Kaitou. Most especially, Kudo Shinichi is a visual Expy of Kuroba Kaito, a fact which is lampshaded by the fact that not only do they have the same seiyuu in the anime, Kaito is mistaken for Shinichi once in the early manga, and disguises as him, without his usual LatexPerfection masks. The resemblances between Aoko and Ran, and Nakamori and Kogoro, are downplayed as the Magic Kaitou cast is reintroduced into the later, and better-drawn, Detective Conan.
* Masataka Takayanagi from ''[[TenjhoTenge TenjhoTenghe]]'' and Kazu from ''AirGear''. Both are Oh! Great creations, and both are shy and reserved with untapped potential. Also, they both play second fiddle to hot headed leads Soichiro Nagi and Ikki, respectively.
* Dufaux, the bookreader of [[EvilTwin Zeon]], is an Expy of an unused design of Kiyomaro Takamine in ''GashBell''. Similarly, Ted bears a strong resemblance to one of the original designs of Gash.
* Sora Hasegawa from ''AhMyGoddess'' strongly resembles Yoriko Nikaido from the same mangaka's earlier series ''YoureUnderArrest''.
* Reading into some of [[FullMetalAlchemist Mrs. Arakawa's]] other works shows a few oddly familiar faces. She openly admitted that Jean Havoc and Lust were based on Jack and Kuo from Shanghai Youma Kikai. Then there's Dr. Tachibana, who looks like Ranfan with glasses.
* Nanaka from ''MyselfYourself'' resembles and initially acts like [[TallDarkAndBishoujo Komachi]] [[JerkAss Tsugumi]] from ''{{Ever17}}''.
* Most of class 2-D is taken from [[MobileSuitGundam Zeon]]. The resident CHAR is Harry [=MacKenzie=].
* In ''[=~Amanchu!~=]'', the author transported ''{{ARIA}}'s'' Akari back to earth, renamed her Hikari and [[AuthorAppeal gave her some scuba gear]]. And seemingly infused her with some interesting drugs, since Hikari tends to be even more spaced-out than her predecessor--which is quite a feat in itself.
* Kentaro Yabuki reused both the appearance and the powers of both Kyoko and Eve from ''BlackCat'' when designing Magical Flame Kyoko and Golden Darkness in ''ToLoveRu''.
** Train Heartnet, THE Black Cat, also gets an Expy in the form of a gun wielding killer called Black. he even has a gun that looks very much like Train's gun, Hades. he also seems to be based on Eraser!Train rather than Sweeper!Train.
* Mutsumi Saburo/Mutsumi Hojo from ''{{Keroro Gunsou}}'' is kind of a sendup to Kaworu Nagisa from ''{{Neon Genesis Evangelion}}'', to the point of having (decorative) [[spoiler: wings on his back]] for his first appearance in the manga, and his "introduction" scene in the anime mirroring [[spoiler: Kaworu's reveal as an angel]], complete with [[ShoutOut Beethoven's Ninth Symphony]] playing in the background.
* Signum from ''MahouShoujoLyricalNanoha'' is an obvious Expy of [[SuperRobotWars Lamia Loveless]]: they look quite similar if looked through a good light, some of Signum's attacks are similar to those of Lamia's Angelg (Main offender is Signum's bow attack, which is a ShoutOut to Phantom Phoenix. Her clothing in the final episode of StrikerS looks a bit like Lamia's, and they are voiced by the same [[KaoriShimizu Seiyuu]] in a very similar way.
** See also [[AmplifierArtifact Agito]] from StrikerS, who is such an obvious expy that Western fans have taken to calling her [[{{Disgaea}} "Etnagito"]]. Don't forget the [[MobileSuitGundam Amuro and Char]] vibes Nanoha and Fate give off, either: Nanoha's costume is even intended to evoke Amuro's signature RX-78-2 Gundam.
** Subaru has short hair, wears a bandana, is a big fan of [[TheHero Nanoha]], and goes out of her way to copy her techniques. That gives her a striking similarity to [[StreetFighter Kasugano Sakura]]. Though the techniques is only in the name and instead looks like the features of ''GaoGaiGar'', leading to her FanNickname 'GaoGaiGar-tan'
** Vita may as well be of [[GaoGaiGar Guy]] in loli form. Not only do they both sport a [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon huge mech drill hammer]], but the scene where Vita went up against the Cradle's engine and Eisen shattered (complete with dramatic fall) resembled Goldy shattering and Gaogaigar falling in [[GaoGaiGar FINAL]]. Vita's name is also involved with Hell and Heaven. (gemu giru gan go gufo, vita.) You also have [[http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/5430/vitaguy.jpg this]].
* Tamaki Suou and Kyouya Ootori from ''OuranHighschoolHostClub'' appear very similar to Satsuki and Toyua respectively from Hatori's older work, ''MillenniumSnow''.
* Gaku Namikiri of ''AbsoluteBoyfriend'' is basically Tasuki from YuuWatase's earlier work ''FushigiYuugi'', reincarnated as a supernatual low-ranking salesman. Though Gaku is slightly less HotBlooded, he's got the same [[TheIdiotFromOsaka Idiot from Osaka]] tendencies, the same [[LoveableRogue loveably roguish]] demeanor, the same gift for socially incorrect remarks, and the same ability to show up whenever the plot conveniently needs to be moved along.
** Before we note that [[AyashiNoCeres Tooya]] and [[AbsoluteBoyfriend Soushi]] are reincarnations of Tamahome (Tooya in looks and fighting skills; Soushi in looks), it must be said Tamahome is actually himself a reincarnation of Manato Sudou from ''FushigiYuugi'''s older sister, ''Shishunki Miman Okotowari''.
* Because of their many similaries ([[TheStoic Stoic]] ChildSoldiers who [[CharacterDevelopment grow more human]] after meeting and [[BodyguardCrush protecting]] an {{Ojou}}, have CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass goofball [[TheLancer Lancers]], and pilot HumongousMecha with dangerous but powerful technology), [[FullMetalPanic Sousuke Sagara]] is often considered an Expy of [[GundamWing Heero Yuy]]. When the two finally met in ''SuperRobotWars'', their similarities were [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], and Heero actually mentors Sousuke in an attempt to do something about his FishOutOfWater-ness.
* Claire, the protagonist of {{Claymore}} is an almost perfect expy of Ikuno from AngelDensetsu. Down to her behaviour. (And she's attracted to Raki/Yuji too). For some added expiness read the episode in which Kitano dreams during math lesson just after reading Claymore, and notice his sword and the oni's eyes.
* [[{{Thnikkafan}} I'll]] be damned if the main teacher in LuckyStar isn't either this or a CaptainErsatz of [[AzumangaDaioh Yukari]]. Hell, even her English VA sounds like LuciChristian (which led to an [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] HeyItsThatVoice moment for me.
* Gerard in ''FairyTail''. Not only does he look ''exactly'' like another mage, Sieg Hart from Mashima Hiro's previous manga ''RaveMaster'', he goes under the alias Siegrain for a long time and has some spells with the same name.
* ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'': Chie-sensei is an ''authorized'' {{Expy}} of [[{{Tsukihime}} Ciel-senpai]], down to the curry, [[FumikoOrikasa seiyuu]] and Black Keys (well, wooden T-squares, in her case).
** Arguably, Frederica Bernkastel is an {{Expy}} of Rika Furude. It doesn't help that it's hinted that [[spoiler:they're essentially the same people, but Bernkastel is said/guessed to be the totality of all of Rika's past lives]]. EpilepticTrees, anyone?
*The teacher/aide in Ken Akamatsu's ''Earth Defender Mao-chan'' looks identical to Naru from ''Love Hina'', including the use of the same seiyuu, Horie Yui. The similarity is remarked on in the animated adaptation when the gang goes to a remarkably familiar looking hot spring inn and meet the un-named but equally familiar hostess.
* With her long blonde pigtails, status as a former DarkMagicalGirl who got the DefeatMeansFriendship treatment and pulled a HeelFaceTurn to become friends with the main character, and being voiced by NanaMizuki, [[ShugoChara Hoshina Utau]] greatly resembles [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Fate Tesstarossa]].
* [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Cross-canon_counterparts Pretty much every single manga and anime]] ''{{Pokemon}}'' character, but Paul is almost defiantly an expy of Silver, who has a anime counterpart.
* Almost every character in K-ON! is an Expy from Lucky Star.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* When created for the ''{{Spider-Man}} and his Amazing Friends'' cartoon, Firestar's civilian identity bore a resemblance to Mary Jane Watson. The resemblance was actually remarked upon in the comics some time later. Likewise, her superhero powers make her a clear Expy of The Human Torch, the only difference being the gender swap to give Spidey an Amazing Female Friend.
** Additionally, the cartoon portrayed Firestar as a former member of the X-Men, and she replaced Jean Grey for TheSmurfettePrinciple in that continuity. Triple Expy Action!
* MarvelComics' Donyell Taylor, originally codenamed Bandit, is an Expy of Marvel's own Gambit, a fact exploited shamelessly by an issue of Gambit's eponymous series when Bandit turns out to be romantically involved with Gambit's ex-wife Belladonna.
** Bandit was introduced in ''TheNewWarriors''... which had the character Chord, who has a similar role and persona to Cable (though a completely different origin) and [[OlderThanTheyThink actually predates Cable's first appearance by almost a year]]. Then there's Wyre, from late AlphaFlight, who actually has wire-related powers (metallic PrehensileHair... on his chest).
* In the series ''TheInvisibles'', one of the main characters, Ragged Robin, is similar to another character created by [[GrantMorrison the same writer]] during his run on Doom Patrol, Crazy Jane (According to Morrison himself, they're the same person in a different universe). More of this on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Jane#Relation_to_Ragged_Robin The Other Wiki]]
* Lee, the main character of PeterDavid's ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'' is an Expy of Linda Danvers, protagonist of David's previous run on ''{{Supergirl}}''. In fact, David did his best to fuel speculation that the characters were one and the same until the book's second volume, in which he chronicled Lee's origins. Later on, he introduced Lin, yet another expy of Linda Danvers, who can in fact be considered Linda in everything but name. Likewise, the God figure in the series is a small girl dressed in a tennis motif and carrying a tennis racket, which makes her an expy of Wally, the god figure in David's ''{{Supergirl}}'' who was a young boy who carried a baseball bat.
* ''ConanTheBarbarian'': Janissa the Widowmaker for RedSonja in the most recent DarkHorseComics series.
* JohnByrne's college newspaper strip ''Gay Guy!'' had a villain called [[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/charisma.htm Charisma]], whom no man could resist except... well, guess. Byrne liked the character concept so much that [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/karisma.htm Karisma]] showed up on the FantasticFour's doorstep a decade and a half later.
* In recent ''XMen'' comics, Hellion has become an Expy of Quentin "Kid Omega" Quire; Both have very powerful psychic abilities and inflammatory personalities to begin with, but Hellion's adopted Quentin's signature striped sweater-vest and started hanging out with Glob Herman, one of Quentin's old flunkies (and the only member of the Omega Gang to still have his mutant powers). He's also spouting mutant supremacist rhetoric and telling baseling humans to "get back to your ''caves'', apemen!"
** There's also Onyxx and Rockslide, two X-Men who have roughly the same powers (being giant rock men) and only a few strong physical differences (different colors, Onyxx has a helmet, slightly different costumes). It's to the point that, seeing them on the same page, you could think one was an artist/colorist error meant to represent the other.
***One of the two (or both of the two) also looks like a PalletteSwap of [[FantasticFour The Thing]], though the Thing sure can't [[RocketPunch fire off body parts]].
* ''{{Planetary}}'' by WarrenEllis contains a large number of [[CaptainErsatz Captains Ersatz]], but the minor character of Jack Carter undergoes a remarkable transformation during the story in which he appears. He is initially introduced as a CaptainErsatz for [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] (who Ellis had written but did not create), but in the final panels of the story mutates into a true Expy of Spider Jerusalem from Ellis's ''{{Transmetropolitan}}''.
* A What If? story featuring Logan/Wolverine in the Roaring Twenties has him bring down Al "Scarface" Capone after his loved ones become collateral damage in a mob hit. He does so wearing a black shirt with a white skull emblem. He also promises to "punish" the rest of Chicago's mob community. [[ThePunisher Gee, I wonder who that could remind you of?]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The character of Han, played by Sung Kang, in the ''Fast and Furious'' films is the same Han (also played by Kang) in the indie film ''Better Luck Tomorrow''.
* Norman Bates of ''{{Psycho}}'' and David Callaway in ''HideAndSeek'' have similar characteristics. They are protagonists of their films, they fight antagonists not shown to us, they found out that they themselves are the antagonists, and they have a SplitPersonalityTakeover afterwards.
* Anybody else notice that Will Ferrell basically plays the same guy in most of his movies?
** Ditto for Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade, and pretty much every other ''SaturdayNightLive'' cast member from the past fifteen years. Heck, Rob Schneider literally does nothing anymore other than yell "You can do eet" in Sandler's movies.
*** Just so we don't exclude the women, TinaFey, whose character in ''BabyMama'' is basically [[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} Liz Lemon]] with a different name and job.
* Practically every character Hilary Duff plays (pre-''War Inc.'' anyway) falls into the same kind of character.
* Despite the use of many other characters from the comics, the Batman movies also have {{Expy}}s for some characters. For instance, since, for some reason, TimBurton didn't want to use Harvey Bullock (possibly because Bullock's character wasn't truly corrupt) in the 1989 ''{{Batman}}'' movie, he created the overweight, gruff, corrupt Lt. Eckhardt in the Batman movie. In the DarkKnightTrilogy, you have Officers Wuertz and Ramirez, who essentially Expy for Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya, with the exception of, again, being corrupt.
* John Cusack's HitmanWithAHeart in ''War Inc.'' is an expy of his character in the earlier film GrossePointeBlank, and almost every other character in the new film has an equivalent in the previous one.
* Alex from ''HomeAlone 3'' is the expy of Kevin from the previous two movies.
* ''StarWars'', a lot of the characters from the Prequel Trilogy are Expies of characters from the Original Trilogy (Even if both characters are actually in the original trilogy)
** Anakin Skywalker in episodes II and III is basically an Expy of his own son, even though he was also TheDragon (or debateably TheStarscream) in episodes IV, V, VI and even the end of III.
** Similarly, Padme Amedala is an Expy of Princess/Daughter Leia Organa
** Qui-Gon Jin is TheObiwan TO Obi-Wan Kenobi, and is an expy of his own apprentice basically.
** Darth Maul is obviously an Expy of Darth Vader in a TheDragon sort of way. Count Dooku is also an Expy of Darth Vader, but he's actually got more in common with The Emperor, and is more of a [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] [[TheStarscream Starscream]] than a [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] [[TheDragon Dragon]]. General Greivous is a bit closer to Vader; Darth Vader has trouble breathing, Grevious has a cough, and they're both cyborgs.
*** WordOfGod says the three were used in {{foreshadowing}}, each one being an element of Vader. Maul as TheDragon who enforces the emperor's will, Dooku as a fallen Jedi, and Grievous as a cyborg with breathing problems (though he only got them after [[SamuelLJackson Mace Windu]] used the Force to crush his chest).
*In ''[[{{Gremlins}} Gremlins 2 The New Batch]]'', one Mogwai looks and acts very similarly to Stripe from ''{{Gremlins}}''. The music sting, the way the camera zooms in and Gizmo's reaction all make it abuldantly clear to everyone including Gizmo that, for all intents and purposes, Stripe has been reborn. (Technically, both characters are brothers, as they both popped out of Gizmo's back after he got wet, and the New Stripe has black and white fur rather than blue and white, and after he becomes a gremlin, he has a reptilian frill rather than a Mohawk. But still undeniably an expy of Stripe.)
*[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_salvation Terminator Salvation]] [[spoiler: Marcus, in several ways, is an Expy of Arnold/the T800, especialy in Terminator 2, and to a lesser extent, Kyle Reece in the first Terminator movie. Marcus is basically a Prototype for the T800, as he actually has a metal endo skelton and his outsides are living tissue. Unlike the T800, however, he still has a human brain and thinks he's human. There's numerous little bits of action that remind you of Arnold, he kind of looks like a younger, skinnier Arnold, at his execution you actually EXPECT him to say "I'll Be Back" as his last words because they were just talking about bring him back to life the the VERY PREVIOUS SCENE (Instead, he just shrugs when asked for any last words) and, amuseingly, when the Humans chan him up after discovering his metal skeleton, his wrists are chained to a barbell.]] But even WITHOUT [[spoiler: Marcus]], the movie has numerous little homages to the previous movies.
* In ''{{Highlander}} 3'', there was a black guy with a deep, rough Dr. Claw voice very similar to the bad guy in ''{{Highlander}} 1''.
* The ''StrangersWithCandy'' film introduced Megawatti as an obvious expy for Orlando from the series because the actor who played him was too old to reprise the role.
* Deliberately avoided in the IndianaJones films. As one of Indy's characteristics was to be a ChickMagnet and as a result to have a new LoveInterest in each movie, Spielberg and Lucas made their best effort to make any new girl as different as possible from the previous one. Kate Capshaw even had to dye her natural brown hair blonde to play DamselScrappy Willie Scott in ''Temple of Doom'', as the also brown-haired Karen Allen had played ActionGirl Marion Ravenwood in ''Raiders''.
* In the MarxBrothers film each brother plays a character with a different name but the same personality as the character he played in the other films.
*''Transformers II Revenge of the Fallen''; [[spoiler: In ''Transformers 1'', of course, they couldn't have a giant robot turn into outdated '80s technology so they had an expy of Soundwave by taking one of Soundwave's tapes (Frenzy) and turning him into a CD player. In ''Revenge of the Fallen'', they turn Soundwave himself into a satellite, and he sends another one of his tapes, Ravage, to Earth to spy on the humans. The whole Expy thing becomes a bit Meta, because Ravage spews a bunch of little metal balls which come together and form another character who is an expy of Movie 1's Frenzy!]]
**Ravage also has a compartment in his chest open to release The Doctor, just as the old Soundwave used to release cassette-Ravage.
**There's also [[spoiler: Wheelie]], who [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap they make more interesting]] than he was in the Animated Movie by making him a bit more evil and a lot more perverted. He also has some similarities to both Frenzy and Rattrap from Beast Wars.
**Jetfire, bit of an Expy of Kup.
**Also, "The Twins" may or may not be Expies of Jazz, except while Jazz was kinda cool but happened to use slang that was 30 years out of date in the '80s, The Twins use modern slang, [[EthnicScrappy aren't nearly as cool]], and put together STILL only have half the brain of Jazz. Or, maybe they're just expies of the two EthnicScrappy charactersfrom ''Transformers 1''.
**Skids and Mudflap have NOTHING in common with Jazz. While Jazz was apparently based on hip-hop culture, the Twins are just a pair of immature idiots with pottymouths. NO real, racial, ethnic, or cultural marks.
* Joe Don Baker's character of Texan CIA agent Jack Wade in ''Goldeneye'' is arguably an Expy of Texan CIA agent Darius Jedburgh in the British miniseries ''Edge of Darkness''. Both were directed by Martin Campbell. Mercifully, neither characters have much to do with ''{{Mitchell}}''.
* Both ''{{Coraline}}'' and ''MirrorMask'' are about a dark haired, odd, creative girl, who discover a strange fantasy world that is ruled by an EvilCounterpart of the girl's mother who wants to take over the girl's mind in a manner that turns her eyes black. Although [[spoiler: ''MirrorMask'' is a bit more complicated. There are a total of THREE versions of Helena's mother, TWO of them are in a coma, while in ''{{Coraline}}'', the Antagonist is the Other Mother, the Dark Queen in ''MirrorMask'' is really just worried about where her daughter is. The REAL antagonist is the EvilCounterpart of Helena, and the two are never even in the same universe at the same time!]]
* Del Preston from ''[[WaynesWorld Waynes World 2]]'' is Danny from ''[[WithnailAndI Withnail and I]]'', and is even played by the same actor. This could be considered a ShoutOut.
* [[TheProfessional Léon]] is Victor from ''Nikita''. Same actor, and they even share an euphemism for their job, "cleaner".
* Al from [[ToyStory Toy Story 2]] and Dennis Nedry from JurassicPark are played by the same guy, and they have similar personalities. They are both fat, disgusting, immoral (Al stole a child's beloved toy, for God's sake!), nerdy slobs. Karma bites both of them in the ass eventually.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the many, ''many'' books of the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' series, any [[{{Hobbits}} kender]] characters that appear are likely to be a direct {{Expy}} of [[PluckyComicRelief Tasselhoff Burrfoot]], since most of the race's members seem to have [[PlanetOfHats the same (bizarre) personality]]. Most of them end up being the AlienScrappy of that particular book, but on some occasions, there have been some major subversions...
** And of course, the authors' next series, the ''{{Deathgate Cycle}}'', includes a pretty blatant example of this trope in the form of bumbling would-be wizard Zifnab.
** Don't forget Zanfib, from another Margaret Weis/Tracy Hickman collaboration.
* Tom and Carl, the Advisors in DianeDuane's ''YoungWizards'' series, are expies of the two main characters from her unsuccessful adult fantasy series, ''The Door Into...''.
** Um, no, they're not. Srsly. (If nothing else, the physical descriptions of the two sets of characters in the two series should make it plain these are four completely different people.) (DD)
* Half the main cast of ''These Old Shades'' by GeorgetteHeyer are {{Expy}}s of the main characters in ''The Black Moth''. They even have the events of ''TBM'' as backstory, and the Dukes of Andover and Avon share a nickname, "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Satanas]]".
* Kane in the ''EaCycle'' is an expy of Kane from Karl Edward Wagner's stories.
** Furthermore, a lot of people and things in ''EaCycle'' have direct counterparts in the same author's earlier sci-fi series. OrSoIHeard.
* Intra-series example: In the ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' ''HorusHeresy'' novels, both Saul Tarvitz and Nathaniel Garro sort of come off as expies of Garviel Loken...
* Intra-series example: In RobertJordan's ''{{Wheel of Time}}'', all the female characters are pretty much expies of each other.
** Except the one that dresses like a guy. Kinda.
* Conan the Barbarian was largely an Expy of other Robert E. Howard characters such as King Kull and Bran Mak Morn.
* In any ''DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse novel written by Lance Parkin, there'll be a character "played by" Ian Richardson. In ''[[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/dyingdays/index.shtml The Dying Days]]" the character in question is Lord Greyhaven, who's a full-blown {{Expy}} of Richardson's most famous role: [[HouseOfCards Francis Urquhart]].
** In the novel ''Vampire Science'', the Doctor is brought into the situation by Dr Carolyn [=McDonnell=], a highly-motivated San Francisco doctor whom he met on a previous visit to the city (as established in the prologue). Dr Grace Holloway from TheMovie was ExiledFromContinuity at the time.
* Almost every protagonist of [[LouisLAmour Louis L'Amour's]] hundred-or-so-books is pretty much one of two guys:
** A {{Badass}} White guy from some place east of where the book is set.
** An [[{{ProudWarriorRaceGuy}} Indian Brave]] who is just like the Badass White Guy except that a big deal is made about his race.
* The {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/EqualRites'' has an Archchancellor of Unseen University who is clearly a first draft of the later character Ridcully, particularly as both have somewhat romantic relationships with Granny Weatherwax. Also, it's possible to see Aziraphale of ''GoodOmens'' as something of an expy of Carrot from the "Watch" books- both are extremely idealistic characters who rather than being the WideEyedIdealist, are rather clever, even cunning.
** ''GoodOmens'' also introduces a Death who is similar in many ways (though far from identical) to the Discworld's Death.
** The Patrician in early appearances (''Discworld/{{The Colour of Magic}}'') doesn't look or sound like Lord Vetinari in the later books, except for his catchphrase ("Don't let me detain you") and his method of management, although WordofGod says he's been the same man the whole time. (Death's attitude also seems to change significantly from its starting point. WordOfGod is that the characters have developed as Terry himself changed and matured as a writer.)
** In ''Discworld/{{Wintersmith}}'', Anoia the Goddess of Things that Get Stuck in Drawers has exactly the same personality (and chain-smoking habit) as Adora Belle Dearheart in the books about Moist.
*** She's also heavily implied to be the deity formerly known as Lela the Volcano Goddess ("the Storm God keeps raining on her lava"), who was explicitly compared with Adora Belle in ''Discworld/GoingPostal''.
* Anthony Bourdain's ''GoneBamboo'' features, as well as {{Mary Sue}}s of himself and his then-wife, a few characters from his earlier ''A Bone in the Throat''. In at least the first British edition of the later book, their names are the same as in ''A Bone in the Throat'', in American editions, they have been changed, e.g. "Charlie Wagons" becomes "Donnie Wicks".
* Roddy Doyle's ''TheVan'' mostly features the same cast of characters as his earlier ''The Snapper''; the film versions of the two books were made by different production companies, the makers of''The Snapper'' had the rights to use them, so the names were changed in the second film.
* All of Tom Holt's male protagonists are basically the same person. The women get a little more variety, but not that much.
* Children's author Bill Peet started out as a {{Disney}} cartoonist and a degree of expyness can be seen between {{Dumbo}}, whom he created and the title character of ''{{Chester the Worldly Pig}}''. Both begin lives at the circus on a bad note, mocked by the audiences and ill-treated by [[MonsterClown clowns]], but later achieve happiness and success there through an extraordinary talent (flying with ears/body coloring which looks like a map of the world)
* HarryPotter, Ginny (tough, non-nonsense, smart, red-haired girl) is just Lily but with brown eyes. James Potter and Sirius Black's young, teenage selves as seen in the 800-word prequel JK Rowling wrote for charity are completely interchangeable with Fred and George Weasley, who also go on to use the Marauder's Map (invented by James and Sirius and their friends), as well as [[spoiler: one of them dying and leaving the other scarred for life]]. If you changed the names in the 800-word prequel, the story would fit exactly to Fred and George with the exception of physical descriptions, their dialogue has exactly the same patterns and brand of humour, making James and Sirius seem very shallow in development (at least, them in their youth. Similarly, it could be argued that the [[spoiler: death of Tonks and Remus serves to make their son Ted an expy for Harry, whose parents were killed during the First Rise of Voldemort.]]
**The similarities between Fred, George, James, and Sirius are completely intentional. [[PoisonOakEpilepticTrees The fragments of conciousness that James and Sirius sealed inside the map seeped into Fred and George over the years and corrupted whatever unique personality traits they might have had.]] [[CanonDefilement It might even have been a Horcrux.]]
** [[spoiler: The children in the epilogue all seem to be {{Expy}}s to some extent - Lily wants to go to Hogwarts now despite being too young, Rose changed into her school robes ahead of time, Albus is worried he'll be in Slytherin...]]
* DavidEddings does this repeatedly, blatantly, and unashamedly... so blatantly, in fact, that it becomes a plot point, at least in-universe.
* If you click on RobertAHeinlein you will see listed on his page his three most common character types.
* Technically, mystery writer DickFrancis didn't reuse protagonists, but in terms of personality, they're all exactly the same guy.
* Joel Rosenberg transplanted the characters of Durine, Kethol and Pirojil from his ''Guardians of the Flame'' series into the novel ''Murder In La Mut'', which he co-wrote with RaymondEFeist. The whole book is basically an excuse to put Rosenberg's characters in Feist's world for one novel and let hilarity ensue.
* Michael Grant co-wrote the ''{{Animorphs}}'' series with his wife, K. A. Applegate and transplanted the character of Marco into his new novel series ''Gone'' as Edilio. Both characters are somewhat short Hispanic youths with dry wits who are remarkably competent despite their laid back natures.
* Given what's known about Jim Butcher's love of comics, Harry Dresden of ''{{The Dresden Files}}'' can be seen as an Expy of {{Spider-Man}}, with magic instead of radioactivity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* J.T. and Toby from ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' are updated versions of Arthur and Yick from ''DegrassiJuniorHigh'', while Sean is an updated version of the earlier show's Rick. (Both Sean and Rick are TroubledButCute, but the similarities go further -- both live with their adult brother, both had an edgy relationship with a social-activist girl, etc.)
** Rick, in turn, is an expy of Griff on ''{{The Kids of Degrassi Street}}'', who lived with his adult brother after his parents died. Wheels is also a partial expy of Griff, having been orphaned as well, having a nickname based on his last name, and being played by the same actor.
** For that matter, Emma starts out as an updated Caitlin (Emma dates Sean, Caitlin dates Rick, both are social-activist types). Ashley, however, is a bit of a subversion--while both she and Steph ran for class president and were friends with socially awkward girls, Ashley, unlike Steph, based her campaign on honesty.
*** There's also a parallel between the later show's [[NamesTheSame Rick]] and the earlier show's Claude in regards to their interactions with Emma/Caitlin--both were rejected and ended up dying as a result (Claude by a deliberate suicide, Rick by his own gun after being calmed down from shooting up the school).
*Most of the original cast of ''SavedByTheBell: The New Class'' were basically the ''old'' class with different actors. Apparently it didn't go over well, because the cast was largely overhauled early on.
* ''{{Blackadder}}'' simultaneously subverts the Expy and [[BeyondTheImpossible takes it to a ridiculous extreme]], with ''four distinct series'' revolving around essentially the same characters, with the same (or very similar) names, usually played by the same actors. And, of course, it's brilliant.
* For ''StarTrekVoyager'' the creators wanted to bring back Nicholas Locarno, a character from a TNG episode. However, the character had been created by the writer of that episode and not by TNG's creators or executive producers (as was the case for recurring characters such as O'Brien or Worf, which could be reused). Because of this, the creators of ''Voyager'' thought they'd have to pay royalties to the writer of that episode every time they used the character, and that led them to create a new character similar to Locarno's named Tom Paris with a similar back story and who would be played by the same actor. To cover the transparent change, the creators said that they decided Locarno was unredeemable due to his actions in the episode, but Tom Paris's actions (which were more like Wesley's in the original episode) were less culpable. Interestingly, many years later a California court ruled that producers in a similar situation didn't have to pay royalties to a writer who created a character; had the producers of ''Voyager'' chosen to take the matter to court, they might have been cleared to use the character Locarno.
** B'Elanna was supposed to be Ro Laren. Apparently they wanted her to be on DS9 (later replaced with Kira) and then tried again with Voyager (later replaced with B'Elanna) but the actress kept saying no.
**Also, TNG's Taurik becomes Voyager's ''Vorik,'' and keeps same actor. The ExpandedUniverse says they're twins.
** Decker and Ilia from ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' were exported to ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and became Riker and Troi.
* Luka Kovacs of ''{{ER}}'': For all intents and purposes, Doug Ross with a Slavic accent. (Spawning the FanNickname, "Dr. Rossavic")
* The character of Doyle on ''{{Angel}}'' is rather similar to Whistler, a character who appeared in the season 2 finale of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Both are Irish, both are demons, both help Angel out, both serve [[spoiler: {or served, in Doyle's case)]] as intermediaries for The PowersThatBe, both are frequently sarcastic... WordOfGod in fact says Whistler was originally intended as Angel's sidekick, but schedule conflicts with the actor caused them to use Doyle instead. Which creates a certain amount of overlap with SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.
* Chloe Sullivan on ''{{Smallville}}'' originally started as an Expy for Lois Lane (the actual Lois was introduced later). As she began to grow apart from Lois, her journalism hobby was downplayed and her computer skills evolved to their current BeyondTheImpossible levels.
* Number Six on ''The Prisoner'' is arguably an Expy of John Drake from ''Danger Man''. (One could make the case that [=McGoohan=]'s spy characters in the movie ''Ice Station Zebra'' and a 1975 episode of ''Columbo'' are also the same guy.)
** This has perennially been claimed ever since 1967 UK commercial telly viewers found themselves unwilling to seperate an established performer from his most famous character, but Number Six has no more in common with John Drake than he does with Longshanks or The Phantom's dad. The ''Columbo'' episode IS basically a pendant to ''The Prisoner'', but ''Ice Station Zebra'' has absolutely no connection, unless you want to claim all the people an actor plays wearing a black jacket are the same person. That way lies madness.
* Captain John Hart, Captain Jack Harkness's EvilCounterpart on ''{{Torchwood}}'' is clearly an Expy of Spike from ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and is even played by the same actor, JamesMarsters. He acts a lot like pre-BadassDecay Spike (if not even ''more'' unhinged), and Jack even acts a lot like {{Angel}} around him.
* The angel Castiel on ''{{Supernatural}}'' is an Expy of [[{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]]. The show's creator, Eric Kripke, said that he wanted to be able to bring Constantine in for a couple of episodes and work with the Winchester brothers on a case, but it seems that idea fell through, so he created Castiel instead. Castiel's actor, Misha Collins, has even admitted that the character is based on Constantine.
* Some people think Henrietta of ''NCISLosAngeles'' is an expy of ''TheIncredibles'''s Edna Mode. However, [[OlderThanTheyThink both are Expies of]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Head Hollywood costume designer Edith Head]].
--> '''Hettie''' (to Callen): Just because you're an orphan doesn't mean you have to dress like one!
* ''{{Babylon 5}}'' has Marcus pointing out ''on-screen'' that how they are all similar to characters from Arthurian legend.
*Much of SaturdayNightLive's current cast are expies of former members:
**Will Forte==>Phil Hartman
**Bill Hader==>Dana Carvey
**Andy Samberg==>Adam Sandler
**Nasim Pedrag==>Amy Poehler
**Bobby Moynihan==>Horatio Sanz
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* The SevenYearRule means that many wrestlers today are essentially Expies of wrestlers of the past. In one particular case in the {{WWE}}, Montel Vontavious Porter somehow managed to develop into a Ric Flair expy while Ric Flair was still around!
** Triple H managed that one four years before Porter. He even managed to be Expy Ric Flair while in the same ''faction'' as Flair in Evolution. Evolution itself was an Expy of the Four Horsemen, with HHH in the Flair "jerkoff champ" role, Flair taking on the J.J. Dillon manager role, Batista in the Arn Anderson "enforcer" role, and Randy Orton in the Tully Blanchard "talented rookie" role. This is probably a mix of FollowTheLeader and InvokedTrope, as there'd be no way to avoid people comparing Evolution to the Horsemen, with the faction gimmick and Ric Flair's involvement.
*** Triple H even lampshaded it at one point, saying that everything Flair once was, Trips himself now was.
** "Nature Boy" Ric Flair was himself an expy of "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, to a greater extent than either of the above.
* Hulk Hogan is an expy of "Superstar" Billy Graham.
* Chris Benoit was an expy of Dynamite Kid.
* WWF's Kwang was an expy of the Great Muta.
** TNA's Kiyoshi is an expy of Muta as well. Of course, some might say that TNA is an expy of WCW altogether.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* The Raven Queen from ''DungeonsAndDragons'' 4e core is basically a gender-swapped Expy for Kelemvor from ''ForgottenRealms''.
* The factions in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' were originally little more than faction-level Expies for ''WarhammerFantasy'' factions. Although they've tried to tone this down a bit -- for instance, by phasing out the Squats without explanation, then finally saying they were just eaten by the Tyranids -- there's still obvious parallels. Empire --> Imperium, High Elves --> Eldar, Dark Elves --> Dark Eldar, Undead --> Necrons, Chaos --> Chaos Space Marines, Greenskins --> Orkz, Dwarves --> Tau (less extreme than the Squats were, but there's still some obvious similarities). The Tyranids are pretty much wholly original -- there's been some awkward attempts to equate them with the Lizardmen, but it doesn't really work out.
** Especially since the Slann are more or less the Warhammer 40K equalient to the lizardmen, while the 'nids are more or less expies from Starship Troopers.
** The Tyranids also draw somewhat on ''Alien'', while the Tau look an awful lot like the Trade Federation from ''ThePhantomMenace'', both in terms of character design and vehicles.
* The {{Ravenloft}} game setting is swarming with {{Expy}} versions of classic characters from Gothic literature. Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, Jekyll & Hyde, and so on: they're all there, sans serial numbers, disqualified from being CaptainErsatz only because the originals' copyrights all expired ages ago.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* An EpilepticTrees theory has argued that the Antonio of {{Shakespeare}}'s ''TwelfthNight'' is the same as the Antonio of ''The Merchant of Venice''. Both seem to be homosexual and it's argued that the character of the the former, who is a sea captain, was able to become a wealthy merchant thanks to help from Sebastian and Viola.
** Similarly, although the character in ''{{Romeo and Juliet}}'' is a ghost character (never appearing on stage), the Petruchio of that play ''could have been'' the same person as the one in ''{{Taming of the Shrew}}'', given that both are from Verona.
*** Outside of all of the women dressing as boys, Iachimo from ''Cymbeline'' has a name essentially meaning "little Iago" and is something like that character as a HarmlessVillain. There's also a degree of expytude between ''HenryIV'' and ''Julius Caesar'' which were written at about the same time. In both plays, an idealistic AntiVillain Hotspur/Brutus faces off an AntiHero MagnificentBastard Prince Hal/Marc Antony.
* {{Gilbert and Sullivan}}'s ''Utopia, Ltd.'' features a Sir Edward Corcoran, KGB, who can be identified with Captain Corcoran of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' - especially given that he sings part of the younger character's entrance song. Since [[spoiler: Corcoran and Ralph Rackstraw switch places]] at the end of the earlier musical, it is a matter of some debate which of the two (if either) the older character is supposed to be.
**Also from {{Gilbert and Sullivan}}, some believe that Dick Deadeye in ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' may be an older, more jaded version of Dick Dauntless in ''Ruddigore''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''EliteBeatAgents'' is the king of this trope. The designs of all of the agents (save for Kahn...no, not "that" Kahn) are americanized versions of their Japanese counterparts in Ouendan.
** And again in Ouendan 2 where the original ouendan have to face off against a completely different set of expies. If you were lucky enough to download the expansion you could play as the EliteBeatAgents as well. In the end Ouendan 2 wound up having SIXTEEN expies!
* Marine the Raccoon from ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] Rush Adventure'' is essentially Cream the Rabbit as an [[LandDownUnder Australian]] raccoon; her design is very clearly based on Cream's, except with more raccoon-like coloring and different ears.
* There's often an Expy-like relationship between player characters in video game sequels where you play as [[{{AFGNCAAP}} a 'blank' character that's supposed to be 'you']]. For example, in the {{Fallout}} series, the Lone Wanderer from ''Fallout 3'' and the Chosen One from ''{{Fallout}} 2'' are copies of the original Vault Dweller from ''Fallout''. In SystemShock, the Hacker from the first game is functionally identical to the Soldier from the second game. Also consider the player characters from the TheElderScrolls series. Similar characters with similar backstories with similar actions available to them are designed to produce similar games with similar interfaces and similar gameplay modes. The list goes on with many series in this vein.
** Text adventures like ''{{Zork}}'' avoid it by having more detailed descriptions available.
* ''MetalGearSolid'' has Meryl Silverburgh, an {{Expy}} of the original Meryl Silverburgh, a character in ''{{Policenauts}}''. The original Meryl, in turn, started life as an Expy-slash-DistaffCounterpart of Solid Snake from ''MetalGear''. All games were created by HideoKojima. He later lifted Benson Cunningham from ''{{Snatcher}}'', gave him a celebratory RaceLift, and put him in ''MetalGearSolid: Portable Ops''.
** After the revelation of [[spoiler:Solid Snake being am imperfect clone of his nemesis Big Boss]], the appearances were further retconned. Pretty much lampshaded by how Naked Snake (Big Boss in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' and ''Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops'') is basically Solid Snake with an eyepatch and 1960s-1970s equipment, complete with the same voice actor, and further lampshaded in ''Portable Ops Plus'' with the non-canon appearance of "Old Snake," aka Solid Snake from ''Metal Gear Solid 4''...
** Let's not forget Dr. Pettrovich Madnar, who was the Metal Gear engineer in ''MetalGear 1'' and ''2'', was also the head of the Frankenstein Project in ''Snatcher''.
** And then there's how Snake is a ''very'' obvious expy of Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell's character from ''EscapeFromNewYork''). Though background and look-wise, Naked Snake (Big Boss) is more of an expy. With the eyepatch, hairstyle, clothes, scar on their body that resembles a snake, and the fact that both were hailed war veterans that lost faith in the corrupt higher-ups. Just [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kurt_Russell.jpg look]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NakedSnake_lookalike.jpg at]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BigBoss_lookalike.jpg them]].
* Though it's a lot more subtle than most examples, Sora of the ''KingdomHearts'' series is technically an {{Expy}} of Mickey Mouse. They share a lot of similar personality traits, and his outfit in the first game was actually based on Mickey's classic look.
** Sora, in terms of design, is also the expy of Sion Barzahd from one of Tetsuya Nomura's earlier games, ''The Bouncer''.
** For a less subtle example from the same series, Axel from ''KH 2'' looks quite similar to Reno from ''FinalFantasyVII'' (skinny guy with bright red spiky hair and marks under his eyes) and acts like a (somewhat) less homicidal version of him. This isn't helped by the fact that they share the same Japanese AND English voice actors, or that ''Final Fantasy VII'' canonically crosses over into ''Kingdom Hearts'', or that the members of the Organization (including Axel) are doubles of other characters, and we've never met Axel's...
*** ''KingdomHearts''' character designer, [[WordOfGod Tetsuya Nomura]] said, "To me, Axel is an existence close to Reno, created in the same concept, but they are different people. Those two are different people but subconsciously alike. I wanted to see how it would be to have completely different characters that are really similar to each other but hold different kind of roles in different worlds."
*** But if Axel were really Reno's Nobody, he'd probably be called "Xoren" or something like that instead.
** Another example worth mentioning is Vexen and Hojo. Both of them are creepy, pale {{mad scientist}}s who possess [[EvilLaugh a hight pitched cackling laugh]] and a penchant for doing experiments involving [[WhiteHairedPrettyBoy White Haired Pretty Boys]].
*** Vexen is almost like the terrifying offspring of Hojo and Kefka.
** Larxene also somewhat resembles Elena of the Turks in appearance and, except for the R, can get Elena out of a real name variant. In personality, she has Elena's girly enthusiasm...but unlike Elena, it's enthusiasm for inflicting pain and misery. Creepy, eh?
*** Visually, Larxene is pretty clearly taken from LeBlanc of ''FinalFantasyX2''. Not so much personality-wise, though.
** Hayner is very similar to Zell from ''{{Final Fantasy VIII}}'' - not just in looks, but his HotBlooded personality and dislike of Seifer.
** And there's Roxas Mk. II, Ven.
*** Which likely has an ingame explanation.
** Also, Terra resembles Zack Fair from ''FinalFantasyVII''.
*** The other common criticism of Tetsuya Nomura's work (apart from Buckles And Zippers) is that he really only knows how to draw [[OnlySixFaces a handful of faces]], and just adds different eye colors and hair, and maybe mix-and-matches qualities from other character designs he's already done.
** Nomura designed Xion as an Expy of Kairi as a RedHerring, to throw fans off her actual origin.
* Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu, the original characters from ''[[CapcomVsWhatever Namco x Capcom]]'', are pretty close Expies of Kyosuke Nanbu and Excellen Browning from ''SuperRobotWars Compact 2/Impact'' and the ''Original Generation'' series. Not surprisingly, both games had the same director.
** Monolith Soft, the makers of ''Namco x Capcom'', then made ''EndlessFrontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga'', which features [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] Expies of Kyosuke and Excellen, a regular {{Expy}} of Lamia (crossed with ''{{Xenosaga}}'''s KOS-MOS), plus guest-stars Reiji, Xiaomu, and KOS-MOS herself (also including T-elos). The aforementioned director that made Reiji and Xiaomu is involved in this too, so it is no wonder.
*** Strictly, they're not gender-flipped, they're ''name''-flipped. Kaguya Nanbu is the {{Expy}} of Excellen Browning, and Harken Browning takes after Kyousuke Nanbu. ''Endless Frontier'' also stars Aschen Brodel, who shouldn't at all remind you of Lamia Loveless. Justified in that [[spoiler: she's W07, and is basically the combat version of Lamia Loveless]]. Oh, and the ''Endless Frontier'' crowd have Kyousuke's, Excellen's, and Lamia's {{Leitmotif}}s. Just saying.
*** I'd debate that. Kaguya has Excellen's ... questionable intelligence, but a fighting style closer to Kyosuke and his more down-to-Earth personality. Haken has Excellen's wise-cracking, flirtatious personality, gun-toting combat style, and [[spoiler: ties to the W-series.]]
** And then... when the sequel ''Endless Frontier EXCEED'' is announced, they introduce us Aledy Nassh, who's obviously Folka Albark ''on foot'', and different hairstyle. Also comes with an Ialdabaoth {{Expy}} painted black.
* Speaking of ''{{Xenosaga}}'', that series is just crawling with Expies from the earlier ''{{Xenogears}}'', not surprising, since they were mostly developed by the same people & it is hinted several times that 'Saga is actually a prequel to 'Gears. The best example is probably Jin Uzuki, who even shares his surname with his predecessor Citan Uzuki (even if the latter is only an alias). Mai Magus & her {{Robot Buddy}} Leupold are a rare example of a double-expy, as the are based on Maria Balthazar & Siebzehn from Xenogears who are in turn based on Shotaro Kaneda & [[{{Gigantor}} Tetsujin 28]]. In fact, more than half of the 'Gears expies that appear in 'Saga are not characters, but mecha.
** Of course, when you take a closer look, Jin is actually a brutal subversion. While he manages to maintain a similar air of unflappability most of the time, as we learn more of his back story it becomes painfully clear that the fact is Jin Uzuki failed spectacularily at almost every single thing that made fans accuse his predecessor of being a CanonSue.
** Nephilim is an Expy of Elly from Xenogears, which is made more obvious when [[spoiler:she grows up in the ending of episode 3]]. Elly herself may or may not be an Expy of Elle, from ''{{Terranigma}}'', who is similar to Elly both in name and appearance.
* Elzam von Branstein in ''SuperRobotWars'' is often thought as an {{Expy}} of Char Aznable, starting from his ace class piloting skills, tendencies to paint their HumongousMecha in their preferred custom color, all who are arguably ''faster than the usual non-customized mecha''. And lastly, their PaperThinDisguise alter egos, with only ''sunglasses'' (Ratsel and Quattro).
** Curiously, Elzam's Ratsel guise is far more of an expy of the Quattro Bajeena disguise than Elzam himself is to Char. In fact, beyond the blonde hair and exceptional skills, Elzam's real self has fairly little in common with Char Aznable. And yet, once the shades come on, Ratsel and Quattro might as well each be a PaperThinDisguise for the other.
** ''SuperRobotWars OG'' really run on lots of Expies. ''SuperRobotWars Z'' introduces us [[SignificantAnagram Asakim Dowin]] a darker {{Expy}} of Masaki Andoh, justified that he was one of the early original character designs in the beginning of SRW. Their expy qualities come mainly from their voice (HikaruMidorikawa), drive on revenge and the fact that Shurouga (Asakim's mecha) is pretty much a black/anti Cybuster (similar attacks, more sadism). That, and while Masaki is just a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, Asakim is a totally sadistic bastard (not nearing a PsychoForHire or an AxCrazy fella... but still...)
** Also, the Huckebein series of HumongousMecha [[SarcasmMode most certainly does not resemble]] the titular mecha of [[{{Gundam}} a certain long running mecha franchise.]] They were in fact designed by one of {{Gundam}}'s more common mechanical designers, and the similarities were intentional.
* ''FireEmblem'': Pick an archetype, any archetype: [[JeiganCharacter Jeigan]], Kain, Abel, Oguma, Nabarl, Est, Rena, and Julian seem to have counterparts appear in every game, with some (Nabarl, Jegian and even more arguably Abel) arguably having more than one (Jeigan in ''Mystery of the Emblem''/''The Sword of Seal'' with Jeigan/Alan in ''Mystery of the Emblem'' and Marcus/Zelot in ''The Sword of Seal'', Nabarl with Rutger/Fir in ''The Sword of Seal'' and Joshua/Marisa in ''The Sacred Stones'', and Abel with both Geoffrey and Oscar filling the role compared to the Kain Keiran in ''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn''.)
** It gets interesting when they have similar/the same Backstories. Kashimu from ''Mystery of the Emblem'' and Fir from ''The Sword of Seal'' were similar, while Oguma from ''Mystery of the Emblem'' and Deick from ''The Sword of Seal'' were the same. Kain and Abel in ''The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light'' became Alan and Lance from ''The Sword of Seal'' -- they're identical. That's just '''some''' between the third and sixth games. Really, they all stem from the first/third game.
* Players of ''StreetFighter III'' might notice that many of the characters have an uncanny resemblance to past characters, mostly those from ''Street Fighter II''. Let's count them down shall we?
** French Hypocrite Remy has the same moveset as Air Force Soldier with an Army Uniform Guile, except that Remy throws his Sonic Booms (which are smaller but otherwise look identical) one-handed. Incidentally, Guile's 'other' Expy from the Alpha series (Charlie) would also throw his Sonic Booms one-handed. Of course, due to the continuity, Guile is technically Charlie's Expy...
** Failed experiment Necro is a mixture between Yoga guru Dhalsim and the green-and-orange apeman Blanka.
** Urien (and, by extention, Gill) is really just a magnetism-based Sagat with a few new moves.
** Ken's apprentice Sean is a better version of joke character Dan, something that's [[LampshadeHanging noted]] in the games.
** African princess Elena is an all-kicks version of British amnesiac agent Cammy.
** Dudley, the African-British gentleman boxer, is often accused of being a pastiche of the [[EthnicScrappy ridiculously incompetent black guy Balrog]], but he's really an all-punches version of Eagle from the original ''Street Fighter'', though he does have one of Balrog's moves.
** Wrestler dude Alex is based off ProudWarriorRaceGuy Thunder Hawk (and against Hugo, a Captain Ersatz of Hulk Hogan as well). His design is also based on Biff Slamkovich (aka Aleksey Zalazof) from ''Saturday Night Slam Masters''.
** German Gigantic Wrestler Hugo is, quite obviously, based off of Russian Gigantic Wrestler Zangief, though he also has an origin as an enemy character named Andore in ''FinalFight'',[[CaptainErsatz who based off the Original Gigantic Wrestling Master, Andre the Giant]].
* In ''SamuraiWarriors'', the spinoff of the hack and slash series ''DynastyWarriors'', Sanada Yukimura has a lot of similarities with Zhao Yun, starting from being the pretty poster boy with similar faces, spear as their preferred weapon, and their personalities as a generic soldier, but powerful general. And when both series crossed over, a lot makes comments just how similar they are.
** Ditto for Cao Cao and OdaNobunaga, who encounter each other in at least two cutscenes in both games; the first game lampshaded this in dialogue as well.
* The primary (male) character of any ''{{Pokemon}}'' game is remarkably similar to the original protagonist, Red.
** Similarly, Wes from ''{{Pokemon}} Colosseum'' gets his own {{Expy}}, Michael, in the sequel ''{{Pokemon}} XD''. [[ReplacementScrappy Not all the fans were happy.]]
** Brendan isn't much of an expy of Red, he ''[[ShrugOfGod possibly]]'' has white-and-black hair. Their personalities are supposedly similar, from the small hints we've gotten on Red's personality (be it from the manuals, his Brawl counterpart, or ingame).
** Leaf and Dawn look quite similar. There's also Kotone and Kris, if you don't think Kotone is a redesign.
* Many of the [=COs=] in ''AdvanceWars: Day of Ruin'' are similar in personality and/or abilities to those from the previous games. Partially justified as there are only so many abilities that are helpful to boost.
** Will is a ground-combat expert who can grant movement boosts to his units, similar to Jake in Dual Strike.
** Lin is a serious CO who specializes in Fog of War situations, much like Sonja.
** Tasha is an aerial combat specialist who joined the war because of someone else in the family, like Eagle.
** Penny is a CreepyChild who enjoys destruction and can take advantage of natural conditions, similar to Lash.
** Nell from the original ''Advance Wars'' was already an expy of Caroline from ''Super Famicom Wars'' (both being "Lucky Girls", even Nell's Japanese name, "Catherine", sounds similar to "Caroline"), while rich-boy Colin is based on Billy Gates. Oddly enough Sensei (Yamamoto in Japan) is '''not''' an expy of Mister Yamamoto from ''Super Famicom Wars'', who is much closer to Kanbei than anyone else.
* Several characters in ''TheLegendOfZelda'' series are reprised in different eras with slightly different names, as well as, to a certain extent, Link and Zelda themselves.
** Marin and Tarin from ''Link's Awakening'' became Malon and Talon in ''Ocarina of Time'' and other games- also note that Marin was originally a semi-Expy of Zelda herself while Tarin was one of Mario.
** Prince Richard from ''Link's Awakening'', himself a cameo from a Japan-only Game Boy game, became Ralph in ''Oracle of Ages''.
** ''NintendoPower'' ran a 12-part manga based on ''{{A Link To The Past}}'' with the art drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori of ''Cyborg009'' fame. This manga added a new character named Roam who could have been Jet Link's twin.
** And let's not forget ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]''. Almost all of the significant characters are Expies of ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' characters. In some cases, the characters had names in ''Majora's Mask'' but not ''Ocarina of Time'', and the ''Majora's Mask'' names would become canon in later cameo appearances, even when the characters act more like their ''Ocarina of Time'' incarnations (Anju, Mamumu Yan, and Mr. Guru-Guru all got this treatment, for example.) In fact, Gorman got a ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaMinishCap Minish Cap]]'' cameo, even though Gorman was actually an Expy of a named character (Ingo) who was, himself, an Expy-of-sorts of a character from another franchise ([[SuperMarioBros Luigi]]).
* Lots of Expys of ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' characters are in ''MegaManStarForce'', mostly in Geo's circle of friends: Bud Bison is an Expy of Dex, and Sonia Strumm is an Expy of Mayl (Pink theme, ally and crush of Mega Man, etc.), and Luna Platz is an expy of Yai. In the second game, combine the 'rival' and [[WhiteHairedPrettyBoy white hair]] aspects of Chaud/Protoman, with the Evil Loner Badass and affinity for purple auras of Bass, and throw in a pinch of TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou, and you get Solo/Rogue.
** Another Star Force theory makes Luna the Expy of Mayl, while Strumm is the Expy of Roll.
*** Really, a lot of the Expyism in Star Force involves two Battle Network characters having some traits combined into Star Force characters.
** This is just a few of the expy examples. The amount of Mega Men in the series is absurd ([[MegaManZX ZX]] actually makes this a title), and Roll has an Expy in [[MegaManLegends Legends]].
** Based on what little we currently know of them, the sister/brother pair Quentia and Jack of ''{{Star Force}} 3'' are quite blatant expys of Pandora and Prometheus, right down to the base personalities (EmotionlessGirl and BloodKnight, respectively), and elemental affinities.
** ''MegaMan 9's'' Splash Woman is a expy of ''MegaManZero's'' Leviathan.
*** Not to mention Tornado Man being one of Harpuia.
** There's also Model A in ''MegaManZX Advent''. Both his appearance and personality are strikingly similar to that of Axl in the ''MegaManX'' series. [[spoiler:He's actually the biometal for Albert, [[BigBad a completely different character]]]].
** Concrete Man bears a striking resemblence to Guts Man.
** And let's not forget that, being the very first SequelSeries in the ''MegaMan'' mythology, ''MegaManX'' would technically be the first character to be a blatant {{expy}}. Although, in an ironic twist, [[ExecutiveMeddling he only existed]] ''[[ExecutiveMeddling because]]'' [[ExecutiveMeddling of that status]].
* ''{{Warcraft}} III'''s scenario and characters seems to be {{Expy}}ing ''{{Starcraft}}'', only with some GenderFlip touched in. In a world where HumansAreBastards, we have one 'only good human'; Raynor and Jaina; who used to be friends with another human that fell to TheDarkSide (through MindControl;) Kerrigan and Arthas. Raynor/Jaina then goes on to leave their usual human companies and team up with [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Races]] (Protoss/Orc, Tauren and Night Elf) against the army of TheDarkSide (Zerg/Undead), even though they fought against each other in the past, halting a world apocalypse, all these are chronicled in the first part. Then the Expansion comes, and then Kerrigan/Arthas takes the center stage, working their way up to become the new embodiment of evil (Queen Bitch Of The Universe/New Lich King). Not to mention that they have a lieutenant that they drafted from their former race/allegiance, but said lieutenant proved to be too maverick and left their services; Duran and Sylvanas; and goes on to discover/create a new faction (the Xel'Naga (Zerg/Protoss hybrid) and the Forsaken)
* 3/4 of the party from ''EarthboundZero'' and ''EarthBound'' (Ness, Paula, and Jeff) are extremely similar to their predecessors (Ninten, Ana, and Lyoyd). Ness and Ninten are virtually identical in appearance.
**There are also several characters in ''Mother3'' who appear to be very similar to previous characters: However, they are almost exclusively NPCs.
* Masked magician Guile from ''ChronoCross'' is an interesting case. He's based off of Magil, a similar masked magician from the ''other'' sequel to ''ChronoTrigger'', the Japan-only ''Radical Dreamers'', who turns out to be [[spoiler:Magus from the first game, keeping an eye on [[UrbanLegendOfZelda his sister]].]] Guile was meant to have a similar reveal in ''ChronoCross'', but that plot point was dropped in favor of focusing on the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters other 44 playable characters]], so the character was re-written as an enigmatic spellcaster...an act that ''infuriates'' scythe fans to this day. In Japan, he was named Alf, [[spoiler:after Magus' cat, Alfador]].
** There's also Glenn, a green-haired knight who, like Frog from ''ChronoTrigger'', rises from obscurity, claims a legendary sword, and kicks ass and takes names. The major difference is that ''this'' Glenn isn't an amphibian.
*** He even shares a dual tech called X-Strike with the silent protagonist: but another key difference is that while Frog is almost absurdly loyal to the Guardian throne, even after he stops being a knight, Glenn betrays the Dragoons to help Serge.
** Then there's Leah, an expy of Ayla. In the best ending, she even mentions that she'll be naming her daughter Ayla.
** ...And Luccia, an expy of Lucca.
** Hell, arguably Grobyc can be considered an expy of Robo.
* In ShadowHearts ''From The New World'', Anne Lafitte looks a ''lot'' like Anastasia from ''Covenant''.
** To say nothing of Lady and Killer, whose blatant similarities to the main characters from the previous games caused quite a bit of speculation among fans. Essentially: Killer looks like Yuri with a bad haircut, Lady looks like Alice ... with a bad haircut, Killer has similar dialogue, a similar fighting style, and a similar relationship to Lady, who serves a role very much like Alice's. All of this is probably more than coincidental, given the popularity of the couple from the first two games, but it may have made Lady and Killer [[UnintentionallySympathetic unintentionally sympathetic]] antagonists.
* ''HarvestMoon'' shamefully plays this to the hilt, deriving many of its [=NPCs=] from earlier versions (or even direct copies!) of the same characters. Particularly shameless in ''Magical Melody'' and ''Harvest Moon DS'', which added only a handful of new characters and pulled its entire list of normal marriage candidates (i.e. not goddesses, witches, or gender-bending rivals) from older Harvest Moon games.
** One of the weirder ones is Pierre from ''Island of Happiness''/''Sunshine Islands''/''Frantic Farming'', who is the Gourmet from ''Back To Nature'' and others as a CuteShotaroBoy instead of a grotesque {{Gonk}}.
* Sakuya could be considered an expy of Yumeko from ''MysticSquare'', the last of the first-generation ''{{Touhou}}'' games. Sure, her hair, eye, and clothing color are different and she lacks the [[TimeStandsStill timehax]], but for there to be two [[NinjaMaid knife-toting maids]] as stage 5 bosses and [[BattleButler Battle Butlers]] in two consecutive games is awfully suspicious. But then, [[IsntItSad the first-generation Touhou games seem to have been all but forgotten by the creator]].
* ''BlazBlue'', being a SpiritualSuccessor to ''GuiltyGear'', has a number of these:
** Ragna the Bloodedge, the WhiteHairedPrettyBoy version of Sol Badguy with only two belts, and uses demonic powers instead of [[PlayingWithFire fire]].
** Ky Kiske - Lighting - KnightInShiningArmor + KnightTemplar + [[AnIcePerson Ice]] + [[PsychoForHire Total Asshole]] = Jin Kisaragi.
** Iron Tager - Mecha-Potemkin.
** Arakune: Take Zato-1, replace his Shadow Powers at the cost of Eyesight with Incomprehensible Knowledge at the total loss of Sanity.
** Bang Shishigami: Chipp Zanuff, take two.
** Litchi Faye Ling: Jam Kuradoberi's [[ChineseGirl nature]] + I-No's [[{{Stripperiffic}} dressing style]] + Bridget's playing style + Millia Rage's story connections.
** [[spoiler: Nu-13: ''Guilty Gear X''-era Dizzy.]]
* ''{{Persona 4}}'''s Rise Kujikawa, on first glance, looks like [[{{Gundam 00}} Nena Trinity]] with different hair color and no freckles. While that alone doesn't instantly make her an {{Expy}}, it is later revealed that Rise also has the similar cheery, flirtuous personality which functions as a mask (though what they mask is different: Rise is a good girl deep down, and Nena is a {{Yangire}}). RieKugimiya.
** Naoto looks almost exactly like the main character from ''{{Persona 3}}'', except that he wears a hat and that the right side of his face isn't covered in bangs. Naoto even twirls the gun he uses in battle, much like how the main character from Persona 3 does during a summoning sequence.
*** The hat along with the detective aspirations are a ShoutOut to [[{{RaidouKuzunohaVSTheSoullessArmy}} Raidou Kuzunoha]]. The line of Naoto's sideburns also closely resembles Raidou's.
* Nel Zelpher from ''[=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=]'' has a very similar appearance and fighting style to [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fear/Phia]] from the first ''[[StarOcean1 Star Ocean]]''. They also tend to act in very [[{{Tomboy}} not-stereotypically-feminine]] ways, although it's different for each -- Nel tends to be cold and distant, while Fear/Phia is gruff and aggressive.
** To emphasize this, Phia's combat style in the PSP version is altered to make her even ''more'' like Nel, swapping her twin-dagger throwing basic attack for melee twin dagger attacks.
* ''DonkeyKong Jungle Beat'' did this on an epic scale to the characters from the DKC series, replacing Diddy Kong with The Helper Monkeys, Rambi with Hoofer, Enguarde with Orco, Squaks with the Helibirds and Flurl, amongst others. The fans of the Rareware games [[WallBanger were not amused]].
* Cuisses, the TeamPet who can eat skill stones to fuse them from ''JeanneDArc'' is an {{Expy}} of the TeamPet Toady, who can eat weapons to fuse them from ''RogueGalaxy''. They're basically identical little purple frogs with similar plot and gameplay roles. The difference amounts to "one talks, and the other makes cute noises", and both games are by developer Level 5.
* Is it going too far to say that the Reapers from ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' are expys of the Organization XIII members seen in [[KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories?]] Yashiro's a pink-haired Larxene, Kariya's a orange-haired Axel with a taste for lollipops, Higashizawa's a Lexaeus with dreads who loves cooking, Minamimoto's a cap-wearing, math-obsessed Zexion, Konishi's a female Vexen with glasses, and Kitaniji's a black-haired Marluxia with sunglasses.
** Not to mention that Neku and Shiki have very similar designs to Sora and Kairi.
** Well, both were developed by Jupiter for SquareEnix, so it's to be expected.
* Parker from the original ''Red Faction'' and Alec Mason from ''Red Faction: Guerrilla'' are remarkably similar. They look quite a bit alike, and are both TheQuietOne, just short of HeroicMime, who are pulled into a role as hero and figurehead leader of the titular Red Faction through circumstance rather than choice.
* Guy Cecil from ''{{Tales of the Abyss}}'' IS [[TalesOfVesperia Flynn Scifo]]'s [[CloningBlues replica]]. Their faces look almost exactly the same (eyes). Personality, not so much. But they both have a sense of justice (though one not as much as the other), and are both [[TheHero the]] [[VigilanteMan hero]]'s best friend.
** Actually, this should be reversed. Abyss came before Vesperia, so Flynn is Guy's replica. In fact, the Vesperia art book even goes so far as to point this out by showing Guy's chibi on the page with Flynn's chibi. Namco tried getting around this in the Tales of Vesperia PS3 port, by giving Flynn Luke's costume, but it doesn't really help (and they still gave Flynn a wetsuit-style swimsuit, which is the same that Guy wears).
** The ''Tales'' series overflows with Expies. Pretty much every character in a Tales game from the last decade or so is either an evolution of an earlier ''Tales'' character or a fusion of two of them.
* Albus in ''{{Castlevania}} Order of Ecclessia'' a clear Expy of Balthier from {{FinalFantasyXII}}. Not only do they [[http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/File:Albus.jpg look, and dress]] [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/File:Balthier.jpg almost exactly the same]], but they also fight with the same weapon. Unfortunately they don't ''act'' the same way, because Albus is a little too emotional to be on any caliber with the capital of cool that is the Sky Pirate.
* [[BigBad Willy's]] [[TheDragon bodyguard]] Raymond in ''[[DoubleDragon Double Dragon Advance]]'' is based on the nameless final boss from the second NES game. While the Mysterious Warrior's fighting style from ''Double Dragon II'' was called "Gen-Satsu-Ken" (Phantom Murder Fist), Raymond's style is known as "Gen-Setsu-Ken" (Phantom Interception Fist).
* The Mousemallow species from ''VivaPinata'' is probably inspired in Chu Chu from ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena''. They even share the same color, purple. [[http://pinataisland.info/viva/Image:Mousemallow.png take]] [[http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/immortal/584/chuchu.jpg a look]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* It was explained by the author that N4-T3 (Nate) of ''BobAndGeorge'', the Yellow Demon that was converted into a good guy, was an Expy of a guy named Nate with similar glass that was going to be in the [[OrphanedSeries hand-drawn comic that was originally planned]].
* Olivia, Tate, and Zoey from ''{{Weesh}}'' are rather obviously modeled on Alex, Riley, and Tristan from the author's earlier ''AngelMoxie''. (Zoey is a teenager and Tate is a [[GenderFlip boy]], but other than that...)
* Black Mage from EightBitTheatre will be in another webcomic hosted on the same site, HowIKilledYourMaster.
* Lindesfarne from ''KevinAndKell'' fulfills a very similar role to that of Samantha from ''SafeHavens'': a kind, witty and intelligent scientist. Both were created by Bill Holbrook.
* Dave's Bro from {{Homestuck}} shares a good number of similarities to [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina,]] being a CrazyAwesome [[KatanasAreJustBetter swordsman]] with CoolShades who looks after his little bro. Weirdly enough, [[WordOfGod Andrew Hussie never even watched TTGL while or before creating Bro.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebAnimation]]
* ''BrokenSaints'' has two villainous [[BlondGuysAreEvil blond]][[SociopathicSoldier lieutenants]] named Charles and Bravado. Between the names and the haircuts, there is something [[StreetFighter very, very familiar about them...]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''[[http://sosshinsei.proboards.com/index.cgi Suzumiya Haruhi no Yaku-Asobi]]'' is full of these. One [[PlotTumor particularly sprawling]] multi-[=RPer=] slider faction known as the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Multiverse Enforcement Bureau]] employs what is practically an alternate SOS-dan, consisting of a long-haired [[ButNotTooForeign half-American]] TriggerHappy Haruhi who's a stickler for keeping things orderly, [[GenderFlip Kyonko]], the person Kimidori Emiri was 'based on' by the aliens (a {{Dojikko}}), the StudentCouncilPresident from [[GenderFlip Seitenkan]], a ColdSniper Mikuru, and an {{MIB}}-ish Sasaki. No, really.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* Disney's animated female leads in recent years (Belle, Ariel, Pochahantas, Jasmine) have a distressing sameness about them, which may point to their all being Expies of each other (Pointed out by ''{{Animaniacs}}'' in this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1dbjcHBNCc song]]). All are rebellious (despite having a decent life), do not want to be with a man they are initially bethrothed to (technically Ariel does not want any mermen), all have animal sidekicks. Somewhat subverted with early heroines: SnowWhite is innocence personified, {{Cinderella}} was much more plucky, and Sleeping Beauty was much more passionate.
** Although Belle has some similarities to the other 90's Disney protagonists, I think it's fair to set her apart for at least one key reason- She wasn't a Princess, she was the daughter of a moderately poor inventor. The other girls were all Princesses who could functionally have anything they wanted because of their respective father's power; the Princesses all yearned to escape from a life of luxury and splendor where they could have anything they wanted. Belle's wish to escape is a little more understandable, being that she's quite literally stuck in a French village with nowhere to go.
* Somewhat more distressingly, ''{{Cinderella}}'' and ''SnowWhite'' appear to be married to [[IdenticalStranger the same man]], PrinceCharming, who may or may not be the same man as Prince Phillip in Disney's ''Sleeping Beauty''. [[MST3KMantra We suggest you don't think about it]].
** This fact is used directly in ''{{Fables}}'' comic, where {{Cinderella}}, SnowWhite and Sleeping Beauty all ''are'' ex-wives of Prince Charming, and the musical ''{{Into the Woods}}'', which has has Prince Charming lose interest in {{Cinderella}} after they get married and go after Sleeping Beauty.
*** Shortlived TV series ''The Charmings'' also played with it, having the Prince's ex "Cindy" show up and make Snow jealous.
** Similarly, Baloo from Disney's ''TheJungleBook'' and Little John from Disney's ''RobinHood'' look quite similar, and are [[ActorAllusion both voiced by Phil Harris]].
*** There is, in fact, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot a reason for this]]. Disney was in the financial hole at the time ''RobinHood'' was made and a number of scenes in the film (for example, the dancing in Sherwood Forest and [[strike:Kaa's]] Sir Hiss's hypnotizing of Prince John) were actually trace-overs from cels in older films such as the ''{{Aristocats}}'', ''SnowWhite'' and ''TheJungleBook''. Fortunately ''RobinHood'' did well and Disney was able to carry on.
*** And ''TaleSpin'' recycled Baloo and some other characters into a RoaringTwenties setting.
*** Aversion, ''Beauty and the Beast'': the designs for Belle and the human version of the Beast were most decidedly ''not'' Expies of any other Disney characters.
*** Check out [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOIrXGd51jE this video]] on the matter.
* Hank from ''KingOfTheHill'' is an expy of Mr. Anderson from ''BeavisAndButthead''.
** Similarly, Stuart Dooley is Butthead's expy.
* The ''{{Transformers}}'' franchise is constantly rebooted, technically making Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, etc. expies of about eight or so identically-named characters. And then, there are other examples:
** Terrorsaur from ''BeastWars'' was a [[TheStarscream Starscream expy]], right down to the screechy voice. This may or may not have been an accident, as the writers [[DidNotDoTheResearch started with little knowledge of the original and brushed up on the history as they went along]]. Interestingly, ''Waspinator'' was once possessed by the Starscream's ghost. They could well have just had Starscream possess Terrorsaur, but as Terrorsaur's voice actor also acted for Starscream, people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Besides, it's more ''fun'' to abuse [[{{TheChewToy}} Waspinator]].
**BeastWars actually has several Starscream-expies: Terrorsaur is cartoon Starscream, with the obvious, transparent, why-doesn't-Megatron-just-kill-him backstabbery. Tarantulas is the smarter Starscream of the comics, biding his time for grander schemes. And the ''next'' Starscream, from TransformersArmada, resembles BeastWars' Dinobot!
** Sixknight in ''TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'' is a clear expy of Sixshot from ''TransformersHeadmasters'' - both are ninja robots with six transformations and NobleDemon tendencies. They are later revealed to be brothers.
* One apparently short-lived cartoon that was somewhat of a ScoobyDoo ripoff was slated to be a ''WackyRaces'' spinoff starring Muttley as its main character, but he was changed at the last second to be a trenchcoat-clad Expy named "Mumbley" [[TheUnintelligible who could only speak in mumbled sentences]]. OrSoIHeard, anyway.
** Mumbley reappeared in ''Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics'', now partnered with a Dick Dastardly Expy called the Dread Baron. (At the time, Heatter-Quigley still owned the ''Wacky Races'' characters; Hanna-Barbera later bought the characters outright.)
*** In Latin America, they just said "the hell with it" and called them Pierre Nodoyuna and Patán (the Latin American names of Dick Dastardly and Muttley).
*** An issue of the ''Laff-a-Lympics'' comic book revealed that the Dread Baron is Dick Dastardly's brother.
**The characters of most {{Hanna-Barbera}} AmateurSleuth series are Expys of the ScoobyDoo gang.
* Ben's alternate forms in ''Ben10AlienForce'' seem to be Expys of his forms from the original series, albeit with different mixes of ComboPlatterPowers: Swampfire is a mix of Heatblast and Wildvine, Chromastone is the new Diamondhead, Big Chill is Ghostfreak and Stinkfly with ice powers, and so on.
* LittleAudrey is both a CaptainErsatz and an Expy of LittleLulu, since she was created by the same animators at the same studio that animated Lulu.
* ''LooneyTunes'' character Ralph Wolf (the one who keeps trying to steal sheep) is indistinguishable from Wile E. Coyote except for his red nose. (Both characters were created by ChuckJones.)
** In one LooneyTunes comic book, Wile and Ralph meet, turning out to be [[YouFailBiologyForever long-lost brothers]]. They both realize that they both failed to get their respective targets (the Road Runner and the sheep, respectively), so they team up to catch the Road Runner. And fail.
** Likewise, Alexander Graham Wolf from Chuck Jones' Raggedy Ann and Andy special ''The Great Santa Claus Caper'' is an Expy of the "genius" version of Wile E. Coyote who appeared opposite BugsBunny.
* In ''Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'', Max's girlfriend Mona is a quite obvious Expy (in character, but not in design) of Roxanne from ''A Goofy Movie''; she's even voiced by the same VA, Kellie Martin. The plot at hand is that he's bringing his girlfriend from college home for Christmas to meet his dad ...but Roxanne obviously met Goofy before, so they came up with a new girlfriend character. (And, to be realistic, how many of you were still with your high school crush/sweetheart in college?)
* In the ''DuckDodgers'' episode "Pig Planet", Porky tells a story to his nephews, Porko and Puerco, and his niece, Sow. The three piglets are obvious Expys of Yakko, Wakko and Dot from ''{{Animaniacs}}''; even [[HeyItsThatVoice the voices are the same]].
** And there's another nod to past continuity in that Porko physically resembles Porky's comic book nephew Cicero, with his sailor suit and cap.
* ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' has Galatea, who has the look, costume, and general backstory ([[spoiler:being a clone of Supergirl]]) of DC Comics' Power Girl, though the incarnation is much more villanous and lacks Power Girl's MostCommonSuperPower.
** Similarly, the Ultimen consisted entirely of Expies from the ''Super Friends'' cartoon, the most noticable probably being Zan and Jayna... That is, Downpour and Shifter
** Earlier than those two, the Justice Guild was a very thinly-veiled Expy of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica; the villains of the episode were themselves Expies of The Wizard, Icicle, Sportsmaster, and The Fiddler. Their two-part story arc was an adaptation of the first JLA/JSA team-up story [[RecycledINSPACE set in an Adam West-style]] WorldOfHam. Rather than rights reasons, this was done mostly because the writers wanted to keep the actual JSA characters out of the story in case they wanted to use them later (which they did, in the case of Wildcat and Black Canary).
** There's also Devil Ray, who is basically Black Manta with a name change. His rivalry with {{Aquaman}} is never mentioned, instead being matched up against WonderWoman for most of his appearances.
* Mac, the protagonist of ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', is [[strike:based on]] an exact clone of a one-time ''PowerpuffGirls'' character, Mike (note the names). In that episode, Mike came in as a new student with an imaginary friend (take note) and trouble started brewing afterwards. The students blamed him for causing all this, but it was really his imaginary friend doing the mischief. Mac and Mike look exactly the same except Mike has an outline.
* Mayor from ''[[PowerpuffGirls The Powerpuff Girls]]'' is the expy of a science fair judge in "Mandarker", an episode of the show's [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Successor]], ''[[DextersLaboratory Dexter's Laboratory]]''. It should be noted that Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of ''[[DextersLaboratory Dexter's Lab]]'', was also animation director for ''[[PowerpuffGirls The Powerpuff Girls]]''.
* [[ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] himself is one. He was created simply so Walt Disney could replace Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character he had just [[ExecutiveMeddling lost to his distributer]] because he [[DoingItForTheArt refused to take a cut in his budget]]. Essentially, Oswald was Mickey with longer ears.
* ''AmericanDad'' took the entire family archetype from ''FamilyGuy'' and transfered it near Washington D.C., as well as replaced the dog and baby with a goldfish and alien. Also, Stan may be an expy of Joe Swanson, which would have possibly been {{lampshaded}} in the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "Lois Kills Stewie".
** ''TheClevelandShow'' borrowed most of its characters from other Seth [=MacFarlane=] shows and then turned them Black (Rallo = Black Stewie, Cleveland Jr. = Black Chris, and Roberta = Black Hayley to name a few).
*** Cleveland Jr. was actually plumped up to make him a Chris expy.
** Peter and Brian themselves are expies from two characters from [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=021PPpmwX98 this old]] ''What-A-Cartoon Show'' short.
* At least three of the characters in ExtremeGhostbusters are expies of the original Ghostbusters; Eduardo Rivera = Peter Venkman, Garrett Miller = Egon Spengler and Roland Jackson = Winston Zeddemore. The process of elimination would sugest that Kylie Griffin = Egon Spengler, but Egon is actually IN that cartoon in the background, in the same way that the actual loony Tunes themselves were basically just teachers in the background of tiny toons. Speaking of Tiny Toons;
* ''TinyToons'' is a combination of this trope and SpinoffBabies, as all the main characters are yonger PaletteSwap versios of the original LoonyTunes, who are actually there, in the background, as teachers in Acme Loonaversity. Probably the Tiny Toon who's the furthest from her Loonytoon counterpart is Elmyra. (Escentially, she's more of an EvilCounterpart than an Expy.) Unlike Elmer, Elmyra LOVES animals, and is female. Ironically, unlike Elmer, animals find Elmyra genuinely frightening. Still, relatively speaking TinyToons was downright respectable [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoonaticsUnleashed compared to]] some ][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Looney_Tunes other shows]]
* Jet from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' bears a certain resemblence to [[SamuraiChamploo Mugen]], who is an expy of [[CowboyBebop Spike]] in the first place. Actually, Jet practically IS Mugen, from character design to personality (but with different circumstances). The key difference is that while Spike and Mugen are leading main characters, Jet is only a secondary character, and therefore is less immortal.

[[/folder]]

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