History Main / ReplacedWithReplica

* Attempted in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' where the heroes create a fake [[{{Macguffin Chaos Emerald]] and plan to give Eggman the fake one to blow up the Arc's [[WaveMotionGun cannon]]. Eggman easily spots the trick using camera sensors, but also [[YouJustToldMe tricks]] Tails into revealing the trick.

* In ''Franchise/{{Tintin}} and the Lake of Sharks'', this is the idea behind Rastapopolous's EvilPlan. Using technology stolen from [[AbsentMindedProfessor Professor Calculus]], he plans to make copies of famous artworks around the world, steal the originals, and get filthy rich.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', Twilight's crown (which was part of the Elements of Harmony, the "most powerful force in Equestria") is stolen by Sunset Shimmer and replaced with a cheap-looking duplicate from an alternate universe where it was a Fall Formal Crown. She would have gotten off scot-free if it weren't for tripping on Spike's tail which wakes up both Twilight and Spike, and they realize the theft.

** In the climax it turns out that [[spoiler:the [[GreenRocks meteorite]] the gang stole was actually a lamp and Mr. Snake set the real one to overload]].

** The big twist in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' is that the [[ItmakesSenseInContext Scone of Stone]] [[{{Pun}} seat]] of the Dwarf Low-King has been switched out with a fake copy and the original destroyed. The even bigger twist is that the dwarf kings have been pulling this switch themselves for centuries and the conspirators in the book only think they have a new scheme.

** In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', Cosmo pays a lot of money to get his hands on Vetinari's stuff, including clothing. When he wants Vetinari's SwordCane (supposedly made from the iron contained in the blood of a thousand men), his assistant makes one instead, as Vetinari's cane would not only be difficult to get, but also probably isn't a sword cane at all.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} 3'', Nate and Sully were going to sell a counterfeit of his prized ring to Marlowe, which turned out to be plot-important. When she stole it and tried to use it with the Ciper disc, it didn't work.

* In one episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', a minor villain steals Misty's Pokémon by stealing her backpack and replacing it with an identical one filled with rocks. It then turns out that he's done this to several others.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BendersBigScore'', Bender demonstrates a fondness for "the old switcheroo." At one point, this backfires on him, as it was a plan specifically to steal a wedding ring to ruin a wedding--replacing it with a copy voids the entire point--and he also angrily notes that [[EffectiveKnockoff the copy he made was actually more expensive than the original ring]].

* The subplot of ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'' Season 8's "[[https://familyguyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Gets_Served Peter Gets Served]]" has Chris be commissioned to paint a mural for the Quahog Art Museum, but when he goes to see the finished product with Brian and Stewie, they find that someone has stolen Chris's artwork and replaced it with a near identical version, signed by another artist called: "Ant Mont". This leads to a {{Whodunnit}} mystery to find out who's copying Chris. It actually turns out to be [[spoiler: [[TheBusCameBack Antonio Monatti]], the twist villain from Season 1's "A Picture's Worth $1000". Who has become a low life artist after failing the deal with Chris and has been copying others work and passing it off as their own to make a living. Needless to say, [[LaserGuidedKarma Antonio gets arrested for his crimes]]]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'': "Cedric Be Good" kicks off with Cedric using a spell to magically switch the jewel in Sofia's amulet with a non-magical replica. This causes Sofia to be BroughtDownToNormal meaning she can't use her powers anymore, and Cedric soon faces [[DoNotTauntCthulhu dire consequences]] [[OnlyTheChosenMayWeild for stealing the amulet from its chosen bearer]] without warning.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', Twilight's crown (which was part of the Elements of Harmony, the "most powerful force in Equestria") is stolen by Sunset Shimmer and replaced with a cheap-looking duplicate from an alternate universe where it was a Fall Formal Crown.

* In the 1993 movie ''The Bullion Boys'', a fake bar of gold is shown to the dockers being brought into the plot to steal the real gold bullion. Inevitably this is a ChekhovGun when it gets swopped for the one real bar of gold they end up with (why the conspirators would bother making a fake gold bar in the first place is a mystery).

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/replacedwithreplica_1.png]]]]->''"If I open this thing up and it has nothing but a note tied to a brick saying something like 'HAHAHA GOT YOU,' I am going to be so very pissed."''

->''"If I open this thing up and it has nothing but a note tied to a brick saying something like 'HAHAHA GOT YOU,' I am going to be so very pissed."''