about Clone/expy Tropes

There is no denial that there are some clone characters in fiction nor is there a denial of Follow the Leader.

But I think I am worried in that tropers want to monopolise certain set of tropes while labeling every character that has them as "expies" and "clones" has a bit of implicit bashing

For example this two ykttw

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=5wtt76vw7cyjgmk5o0zs9gqx

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=a0rr08pcaucf5edp87blv76c

Not counting the characters that were created with the explicit prupose of being a clone. We need no to forget that there is nothing new under the sun and ultimately everything that is was inspired by something that was in the past.

If we go back in time we could eventually make every charcter a "clone" of another one not to mention the supposed "originals" are Older Than They Think

That's my criticism for this kind of tropes as it is very unfair for current and future authors to label their characters and with that downgrade their work as mere copies or clones when this isn't the case.

We have already tropes for expies and following the leader. But labeling every character that is similar to anohter one is not just monopolosing and achertype but morally ambiguous at best.

Writters will understand that when your character is labeled as a "clone" is nothing pleasent to be sure.

Thanks for making a thread on this. I was debating whether to mention those in Ask The Tropers. I don't know how to put it, but there's something about anime (fans) that encourages this kind of thing.

Both of those YKTTW entries have brought up the Char Clone, and maybe that trope "opened the door" for these, but I don't find it comparable. I'm not sure of what Western thing you could compare to Gundam, but it seems a unique situation (the closest I could think of is diagnosing similar character types in James Bond films)

I don't dispute that Follow the Leader can lead to similar characters, but I think expy/clone requires a lot more similarity. For instance, look atSuperman and Batman. They definitely influenced the traits a superhero is likely to have (e.g. practicing Clark Kenting, working at a newspaper, being a Rich Idiot With No Day Job, having a kid sidekick, etc.), but there's continuum between subsequent characters who are clear expies of them, fit a style they inspired (see The Cape and The Cowl), and just happen to have traits that through osmosis have become common.

Edit- Good point about the word Clone too. It implies derision of a character- saying they are serial numbers filed off- it should only be used for very obvious instances.

edited 21st Jan '12 5:00:56 PM by Jordan