History Main / ReplicantSnatching

* The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Zeta" introduced us to an android whose purpose was to kidnap then, using a hologram emitter built into his body, impersonate targets. He kept the targets alive in case they had important info he would need. At least, until the assignment was done, when they were no longer useful. However, living with one target's family convinced him that he no longer wanted to kill, so he went rouge. When batman encounters him he's on the run from the government, who want to disassemble him. The character was popular enough that he was given his own spin-off series, ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''.

** ''[[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost Changeling: the Lost]]'' plays on this idea. The changelings of the title are actually the humans who were abducted (at any age, not just as babies) and taken away to Faerie; fetches, artificial beings crafted from random detritus and animated by TheFairFolk, take their place, and actually believe themselves to be the person they replaced. Getting your old life back may very well involve doing this, in reverse, to an innocent being who's totally unaware that it isn't really you.
* A variety of [[WitchSpecies Hag]] introduced in the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd edition "Oriental Adventures" sourcebook can't shapeshift like other hags; instead, she skins women and wears their hides to assume their forms.

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* OlderThanPrint: TheFairFolk were said to operate this way in English folklore, kidnapping babies and replacing them with lookalikes of their own kind known as "changelings".

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* In ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "Homefront", Sisko convinces the president that security measures are needed to prevent just that. [[spoiler: It all was actually orchestrated by an evil admiral, though changelings do disguise themselves as people]]

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* This is the purpose of the eponymous conspiracy in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject''. Its purpose is to allow the government to assassinate anyone it wants; they then send a holographic robot duplicate to prevent suspicion among the target's acquaintances.

* [[spoiler: Kira Yoshikage]] of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' pulls this off after [[spoiler: his]] identity is revealed, but not by [[spoiler: his ]] own power. [[spoiler: He]] runs into a beauty salon with literal MagicPlasticSurgery, forces the salon owner to change [[spoiler: his ]] face to that of someone else in the shop, and blows up the shop, killing everyone inside, so that no one knows of [[spoiler: his]] new identity.

* The Slitheen from ''Series/DoctorWho'' kill ministers, skin them and wear the 'suits' using gas compression technology.

** Which leads to FridgeHorror when one considers 'Alice', the Pretender - whose alt mode was a human woman. (She was actually an animatronic character from an amusement park.)

** Another fable has a wolf trying to infiltrate a flock of sheep (in order to eat them) by [[AWolfInSheepsClothing wearing a sheepskin]]. This plan ends up biting the wolf in the ass, though. In some versions, the wolf gets caught when he tries to bleat like a sheep but ends up howling. In other versions, the disguise [[GoneHorriblyRight works]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]], and [[IronicDeath the farmer decides to kill a sheep for food]] [[KarmicDeath and settles on the wolf]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has this as an ability of the Lunars; they can become another creature if they ritualistically stalk it for hours, kill it, then drink its heart's blood. They can do the same thing for humans, but they can only pick up the specific form of the human they killed. However, there are Knacks that allow them to shift the appearance of a form they've acquired, and, if they're feeling humane, Knacks that allow them to assume a form temporarily after partaking of a non-lethal amount of blood from their target, or take a human form permanently after knocking them out, or even ''[[FetishFuel sleeping with them.]]''

* It's implied in the ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' films that the Decepticons made a point of destroying the vehicles they mimic, partially for infiltration reasons (Blackout caused a great deal of confusion by being a helicopter that was previously destroyed) and partially because they have no regard for human life. The Autobots are, unsurprisingly, more discrete about acquiring their vehicle modes.

* ''TheToymakersWorkshop,'' being based on the ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' example, is about the construction of a fetch.

** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' has a Wolf Gift appropriately named "Skin Thief", which allows werewolves to skin an animal or person alive, then put on the skin, using their shapeshifting to fit inside and perfectly impersonate the victim.

* The roleplaying game ''[[TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost Changeling: the Lost]]'' plays on this idea. The changelings of the title are actually the humans who were abducted (at any age, not just as babies) and taken away to Faerie; fetches, artificial beings crafted from random detritus and animated by TheFairFolk, take their place, and actually believe themselves to be the person they replaced. Getting your old life back may very well involve doing this, in reverse, to an innocent being who's totally unaware that it isn't really you.

* The Soultaker from ''LimboOfTheLost'' stole [[spoiler:the Mayor of Darkmere]]'s skin to hide itself from the populace.

* This is the central concept of [[http://storiesyouplay.com/44/ 44]], in which the [=PCs=] are people who've had a close relative or friend replaced by a robot, and the GM controls the Section 44 conspiracy. Brilliantly, player characters can be replaced during the game, and join the GM on the bad guy side.

* WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck had an episode with alien cabbages. The cabbages would sprout a clone, then the cabbage would devour and capture the original.

A SubTrope of FaceStealer. See also DeadPersonImpersonation and YouAreWhoYouEat.

* ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'':

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Unfortunately, there's a problem. [[DemonicPossession Because you're a physical being,]] you can't [[BodySnatcher flat-out possess someone]]. Even if you can [[VoluntaryShapeShifting shape-shift]] into a perfect replica of a human, you can't just integrate yourself into normal human society, [[UndeadTaxExemption without any form of identity.]] Sooner or later you'll get the cops on your tail, and all ''they'' need to do is put you through a metal detector and it's Game Over. Even perfectly imitating a real individual will cause problems [[SpotTheImposter if the original]] [[BecauseImJonesy shows up]].

* In ''RomSpaceknight,'' Dire Wraiths don't ''have'' to kill the people they replace, but they prefer to for obvious reasons. Their preferred method is to [[NightmareFuel drill their tongue into the victim's brain to absorb his memories.]]

* The Archaeologists in ''RequiemChevalierVampire'' are resurrected with no skin and have to spend most of their time floating in tanks; when one of them needs to venture outside their servants promptly flay some poor schmuck alive (with lots of screaming and thankfully some discretion shots) so the master can wear their skin.

** Which leads to FridgeHorror when one considers 'Alice', the Pretender - whose alt mode was a human woman.

* If ''InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' fits anywhere, it's here.

See also DeadPersonImpersonation and YouAreWhoYouEat.

* In one of Creator/{{Aesop}}'s fables, a donkey found a lion's skin and dressed up in it to scare other animals. (This is the origin of the phrase AssInALionsSkin, and the inspiration for the scene in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' where Shift the ape dresses Puzzle the donkey in a lion's skin to [[GodGuise pass him off as Aslan]].)

** Played much more tragically in Series 6, where [[spoiler:at the end of "The Almost People", a man who died and left a child behind is replaced by his duplicate, who has all the original's memories and feelings, but knows he's a duplicate.]]