Basic Trope: An expy of a character who is Lighter and Softer, unambiguously good, or otherwise a nicer, positive contrast to the character they're based on.
- Straight:
- Aerith is an obvious expy of Alice, a popular high school girl in the series Alice and Bob. But while Alice is mean to everyone who isn't in her popular clique, Aerith is nice to less fortunate kids.
- Sophia, an AI computer that is really, really smart, is an obvious expy of HAL 9000 and has a similar design and voice. But Sophia actually likes humans, unlike HAL, and while she thinks she's right all the time, she doesn't go crazy.
- Exaggerated: Overlord Alice is the Big Bad of her story and a Complete Monster who commits every crime imaginable, while Princess Aerith is the Big Good who doesn't have a mean bone in her body.
- Downplayed:
- Aerith does have a mean streak like Alice, but only saves it for those who deserve it.
- Alice is definitely a hero, but has her occasional flaws. Aerith doesn't have these flaws.
- Overlord Alice is a standard Evil Overlord and Big Bad with no sympathetic qualities, while Aerith is still the Big Bad but does display clear sympathetic qualities and is more of an Anti-Villain of some sort.
- Justified:
- Inverted: Corrupted Character Copy
- Subverted: Aerith looks like a more nicer version of Alice, but she's actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who is no better than her inspiration.
- Double Subverted: As it turns out, her supposed "darker side" was actually a rumor - she's really a Nice Guy.
- Parodied: Aerith is an Incorruptible Pure Pureness with zero negative qualities who is a friend to practically everyone, even the ones who get on her nerves.
- Zig-Zagged: Some expies in their series are nicer than their counterparts while others are meaner.
- Averted:
- All expies in the series have the same personalities and flaws as their original counterparts.
- There are no expies in the series.
- Enforced:
- The writers of Troperz liked Alice in Alice and Bob and wanted to base a character off her, but didn't want to carry over her negative traits into Troperz.
- "You know Alice from Alice and Bob, right? What if she was a Nice Girl instead?"
- "What if HAL 9000 was not a killer and actually was good?
- Lampshaded:
- "That's Aerith, she kinda runs this school like Alice from Alice and Bob but not a jerk."
- "Sophia seems a lot like a nicer HAL 9000 who likes humans*
- Invoked: Aerith is a big fan of Alice and Bob who intentionally styled herself after Alice. However, she's Genre Savvy enough to notice that Alice gets punished for her meanness and decides to act nicer than the character.
- Exploited:
- In a crossover between the two franchises, Aerith is chosen to be the one who takes down Alice because they have a similar skillset and way of thinking.
- Aerith's rival wants to endear themselves to the Naïve Newcomer while keeping them away from her, so they use common negative depictions of popular girls in media such as Alice from "Alice and Bob" to convince them Aerith is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- Defied: Aerith is a Card-Carrying Jerkass who idolizes Alice, and get's really mad when people tell her she's to nice to be like her.
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "Sophia seems so similar to HAL, but is so much nicer"
- Deconstructed: Aerith moves to a new school where everyone's spent their whole lives watching movies or TV Shows that depict teenage girls who are tall, blond, athletic, conventionally attractive or extroverted as spoiled, narcissistic bullies and expect her to conform to stereotypes. As a result she is excluded by her new peers and constantly made out to be a Jerkass over honest mistakes or simple misunderstandings.
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