History Main / FakeTwinGambit

* MercedesLackey's ''Born to Run'' has one mechanic doing this as a practical joke to get back at a pair of elf twin brothers, who he had thought were just one person.

* In the swedish movie ''HajenSomVissteFörMycket''(''The Shark who knew to much'') Joakim plottner plays his nonexistant triplet brothers Alexander and Lukas because ''he has always done it''. He also plays that they hate each other to explain why they never were in the same room. They simply don't want to see each other. The father gives ''them'' 20% each of his companies for tax reasons as he beleaves that ''they'' really are triplets that hate each other and therefore never will cooperate to vote him out as the CEO and take over the companies.[[spoiler: In the beginning of the movie Joakim meets his long lost mother and he learns why she started this gambit when he was born.]]

* On ''Three'sCompany'', Jack told Mr. Furly that he had a twin brother who lived in Texas named Austin. This leads to a hysterical scene later in the episode where he has to pretend to be both of them at the same time around Furly.

[[AC:Film]]

* Angelica does this on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''.
* In ''Series/AlloAllo'', after Rene faked his own death, he came back pretending to be his own twin. This received frequent LampshadeHanging during the series.
* MercedesLackey's ''Born to Run'' has one mechanic doing this as a practical joke to get back at a pair of elf twin brothers, who he had thought were just one person.
* Jane from ''{{Coupling}}'':
-->'''Jane:''' I once went on holiday and pretended to be twins. It was amazing fun. I invented this mad, glamorous sister and went around really annoying everybody. And d'you know, I could get away with anything when I was my crazy twin Jane.
-->'''Sally:''' But you're Jane.
-->'''Jane:''' Kinda stuck. It's a long story.

* The Janitor tries to do this in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' as a prank on JD. JD isn't fooled for a second, causing the Janitor to ramp things up with more and more ridiculously phony "evidence" that he has an identical twin. In a last act of desperation, he claims that his brother is waiting for him at the bottom of the elevator, and when the doors open to reveal nobody he admits, "OK, I don't know what I thought was going to happen." It was perhaps the only time the Janitor failed to get the better of JD.

* Played with on iCarly: Sam spends an episode trying to convince Freddie that she has a twin sister (who Freddie ends up going on a date with), before finally admitting that it was a trick. [[spoiler: And then after Freddie leaves, Sam's sister comes up in the elevator.]]
* {{Starslip}} has Vanderbeam trying this. [[http://starslip.com/2006/07/21/starslip-number-306/ Poorly.]]
* Barney, from Series/HowIMetYourMother, has been mentioned using this trope when trying to trick women into sleeping with him again after having already seduced and abandoned them. The audience has never been shown him actually ''doing'' it, but at one point an ex' assaults him while calling him by his fake brother's name, "Blarney"

* A weird version of this happens in ''Film/ThePrestige'', where both twins pretend to be the other twin at times.

* A weird version of this happens in ThePrestige, where both twins pretend to be the other twin at times.

* The Janitor tries to do this in ''{{Scrubs}}'' as a prank on JD. JD isn't fooled for a second, causing the Janitor to ramp things up with more and more ridiculously phony "evidence" that he has an identical twin. In a last act of desperation, he claims that his brother is waiting for him at the bottom of the elevator, and when the doors open to reveal nobody he admits, "OK, I don't know what I thought was going to happen." It was perhaps the only time the Janitor failed to get the better of JD.

* Barney, from HowIMetYourMother, has been mentioned using this trope when trying to trick women into sleeping with him again after having already seduced and abandoned them. The audience has never been shown him actually ''doing'' it, but at one point an ex' assaults him while calling him by his fake brother's name, "Blarney"

This is where a character, for some reason or another, pretends to be their own (nonexistent) identical twin. It could be for disguise, or to see how their friends really think of them. Success rates vary.

* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. Keiichi thinks that Mion is using this trope, pretending to be "Shion" to be able to act [[NiceGirl differently]] than how she [[{{Bokukko}} normally acts]]... until Keiichi and Shion run into Mion.
** Of course, [[spoiler:the real Shion doesn't care for Keiichi in the least]], but the whole matter gets complicated really quickly, but that's [[TwinSwitch a different trope]]. At the very least.

-->'''Jane:''' Kinda stuck. It's a long story.

* [[VorkosiganSaga Miles Vorkosigan]] used a variation on this to cover for his "Admiral Naismith" identity, by spreading a rumor that Naismith was his clone. Between that and [[spoiler: his real clone-brother Mark]], he managed to create the impression for a while that there were ''three'' of him running around.

* In RaymondChandler's essay "The Simple Art of Murder", he gives several examples of excessively contrived puzzles from the British whodunnit tradition, including a novel in which a FakeTwinGambit is used by the murderer to effectively frame the victim for his own murder (by doing him in while he's being the twin, so that it looks like murdered his twin and then went on the run).

* One ''[[SweetValleyHigh Sweet Valley Twins]]'' book had Elizabeth and Jessica pretend to be triplets, and take turns playing third triplet "Jennifer," all to humiliate a new student they disliked.

* Maruko wants to do this by moving a mole in ''ChibiMarukoChan''.

* Subverted in ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. Keiichi thinks that Mion is using this trope, pretending to be "Shion" to be able to act [[NiceGirl differently]] than how she [[{{Bokukko}} normally acts]]... until Keiichi and Shion run into Mion.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''SuzumiyaHaruhi''. Kyon and Mikuru pretend that Mikuru is "Michiru" - because [[spoiler:the "real" Mikuru is still around [[TimeyWimeyBall (blame time travel)]] and "Michiru" needs to [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet hide from herself]].]]
* Angelica does this on an episode of ''{{Rugrats}}''.
* In ''AlloAllo'', after Rene faked his own death, he came back pretending to be his own twin. This received frequent LampshadeHanging during the series.

* Happens in the ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' story "Split Personality". A conman fools a pair of reclusive and wealthy identical twin sisters into falling for him and his invented twin brother so he can collect on their fortune. When he accidentally reveals the ruse via his own carelessness, the sisters are upset and decide to ensure that each gets her fair share for once [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe with the help of a chainsaw]].

* Subverted in ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. Keiichi thinks that Mion is using this trope, pretending to be "Shion" to be able to act [[YamatoNadeshiko differently]] than how she [[{{Bokukko}} normally acts]]... until Keiichi and Shion run into Mion.

** Of course, [[spoiler:the real Shion doesn't care for Keiichi in the least]], but the whole matter gets... [[{{Understatement}} complicated]] really quickly, but that's [[TwinSwitch a different trope]]. At the very least.

* Happens in the ''TalesFromTheCrypt'' story "Split Personality". A conman fools a pair of reclusive and wealthy identical twin sisters into falling for him and his invented twin brother so he can collect on their fortune. When he accidentally reveals the ruse via his own carelessness, the sisters are [[{{Understatement}} kind of upset]] and decide to ensure that each gets her fair share for once [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe with the help of a chainsaw]].

See also TwinSwitch, BackupTwin.

* I'm pretty sure Angelica does this on an episode of ''{{Rugrats}}''.

* In ''{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock (Daredevils secret identity) pretended to be his own non-existent twin brother Mike Murdock to trick his friends into believing that "Mike" was Daredevil, after they began suspecting his identity. This was back in the SilverAge of comics when even Daredevil wasn't a very realistic series.