def METHOD_NAME(x, dtype=None, sparse=False):
    if sparse:
        raise ValueError("`sparse=True` is not supported with numpy backend")
    if dtype is not None:
        dtype = standardize_dtype(dtype)
    if isinstance(x, Variable):
        if dtype and dtype != x.dtype:
            return x.value.astype(dtype)
        return x.value
    return np.array(x, dtype=dtype)