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alt title(s): Legal Character Copy; Expies
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?
They Might Be Giants, "Certain People I Could Name"

I found him more believable when he was named Jerid Mesa.
But I like him better when he was named Patrick.
Anonymous poster on /m/.

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 knowing which ones are most marketable/popular), or the influence of the design process. Or on the other hand, it may just be a bad attempt to try to revive a character that the writer liked, but nobody else did and had to get rid of it. 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 Characters As Device trope, if taken to the extreme, can result in the character appearing to be a mere expy of the Ur Examples 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 Overused Copycat Character.

Most often seen in animation and anime, 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 jokes based on the voice actor's former role.

When a character strongly resembles a real person, rather than a fictional character, that's No Celebrities Were Harmed. When the character appears in the same show as the previous character, he's often a Jonas Quinn.

The key difference between this and Captain Ersatz is that an Expy is based on a character by the same creator, while Captain Ersatz is based on a character by a different creator. Please keep this distinction in mind before adding an example here. Also note that unless the author is also personally related to the person in question, a fictional counterpart to a real-life person would not be an Expy. A quick glance around TV Tropes will reveal just how often these mistakes are made on this very wiki.

Compare to Bleached Underpants, Alternate Company Equivalent, Names The Same, Roman A Clef. Not to be confused with XP.

Please read the article before posting.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live Action TV 

     Tabletop Games 

    Theater 

    Web Comics 

    Video Games 

    Web Comics 

    Western Animation 

    Professional Wrestling 

    Web Original