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Phantom Limb: Thank you. We're not so different, you and I.
Brock: Yeeeaah, I don't need another "we're not so different" speech. I get those a lot.
Phantom Limb: Yes I'm sure you do.
The Venture Brothers

We are dirt, we are alone
You know we're far from sober!
We are fake, we are afraid
You know it's far from over
We are dirt we are alone
You know we're far from sober!
Look closer, are you like me?
Are you ugly?
— "Ugly" by The Exies

Two characters who seem radically different turn out to have more in common than they would like to believe.

As a good thing, the frequent resolution of an Enemy Mine or Locked In A Freezer plot: two enemies learn that there is more that unites them than divides them. The punch line to about 50% of plots in an Odd Couple series.

As a bad thing, the realization that our hero is really just a hair's breadth away from villainy. In these cases, it's almost always the villain who is the first to notice: our hero has him cornered and even seems to relish the prospect of finally ridding himself of his nemesis, and the villain deftly points out, "We're not so different after all." The hero realizes how close he is to crossing the line, and spares the villain (though every once in a great while, he'll decide that it's worth crossing the line, off the villain anyway, and then have several episodes of moral anguish over the darkness in his soul: see Shoot The Dog). Especially common when the villain is the hero's Evil Counterpart.

Also a bad thing when the bad guy points it out after the hero has bested him through questionable tactics.

Often followed by the hero's hysterical protests along the lines of, "I'm not like you! I'll never be like you!"

Occasionally followed by the hero's observation that they are different, because of some other aspect that the opponent overlooked or intentionally ignored.

The hero should have some snappier comeback, like "You noticed?" or "That's why I can beat you," and worry about the differences later - or a comment that the dog that protects the flock is a very close relative of the wolf that ravages it. Then again, a simple "Shut up" can work wonders.

When the villain who believes this also believes that the hero denies it because he is a Slave To PR, he often sets up What You Are In The Dark to get the hero to act like it. The failure rate for this approach is — high.

Sometimes goes hand-in-hand with a Double Aesop or We Can Rule Together.

Can also be phrased, "You would have made a good thief/assassin/Klingon/Mandalorian/Dalek/Minbari/Troper/Wikipedian."

Compare Your Approval Fills Me With Shame, where the villain outright compliments the hero on his Dirty Business. Sometimes, the difference is only that the heroes are A Lighter Shade Of Grey.

This may be Truth In Television: a recent study shows that sociopaths and heroic "extreme altruists" share many of the same personality traits, differing primarily in the ability to empathize with others.

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Ass PullFanficRecs/Death NoteBishonen
Not Quite The Right ThingMorality TropesObligatory War Crime Scene