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Basic Trope: The Leader of The Team is not the The Hero, but a secondary character.

  • Straight: In the series Next Passage Captain Alexei Bristols is the head of the central unit, but not The Hero, that role goes to Mika. He's known to be a competent leader who knows his team's assets and is often featured in promotional material.
  • Exaggerated: Alexei is the only one with even a close amount of screen time as Mika.
  • Downplayed: Alexei gets a lot of episodes dedicated to himself, making some new fans think he's the central character (He's more of a Tritagonist or even a Deuteragonist).
  • Justified:
    • Mika is revealed to be Not So Above It All with his teams antics at times, so Alexei acts as a true Only Sane Man to compensate.
    • Alexei is the most complex character, but he wasn't considered to be the hero when writing the story.
    • Mika fit the bill of Audience Surrogate more than Alexei.
    • Alexei isn't the right kind of character to be the protagonist for their Target Demographic, but can attract fans from a Periphery Demographic.
    • The dynamic between Mika and Alexei is one of the most prominent, and since Mika is the central character Alexei gets his time to shine too.
  • Inverted: ???
  • Subverted:
    • Alexei ends up dead before the season finale due to Mentor Occupational Hazard, and Mika takes his place
    • After Mika is murdered by The Mole in the team Alexei is forced to step up as he is the only one who can fill his role.
    • Alexei is moved to a Spin-Off due to his popularity.
  • Double-Subverted:
    • Of course, it's all part of a plan to get him close to their leader for a final attack, and we see some of that pan out.
    • Luckily the team soon meets Naomi, who is also capable of what he could do. Alexei quickly hands his position, as respectively the central focus, to her.
    • It ends up bombing, ending with only six episodes aired, and he returns back to the original due to it.
  • Parioded: In the Cold Open voiced by Mika he goes through each member, and when it gets to Captain Bristols he consistently says "Oh, and that's my boss."
  • Averted: Alexei is the main character.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded:
    Tonia: "You know, I heard that some civilians believe that you are the one that leads us Mika."
    Mika: "What? Oh no no no, I wouldn't want to take up Captain Bristols' position. That's too much for me."
  • Invoked: The government believes having the strongest person take up command would be too risky, so they actively prevent them from potentially gaining control.
  • Exploited: Thinking Mika would be a better leader some of the team try to coup Alexei so he can take it.
  • Defied: After seeing how strong Mika is Alexei immediately transfers to a new unit and names him his replacement.
  • Discussed:
    George: "Why do we have him again? Mika is the strongest."
    Kass: "Captain Bristols is a great commander. Mika would be too impulsive to act seriously."
  • Conversed: The show is given much admiration and even an award for its portrayal of the dynamic between hero Mika and Captain Bristols.

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