Standard Idiom: A poor-quality, cheaply made object made to resemble another, more expensive thing in an attempt to fool potential consumers.
- Unchanged Idiom: Bob is trying to buy an iPhone but buys a yPhone by mistake. He discovers that the yPhone can only make normal telephone calls, having none of the iPhone's additional capabilities.
- Overchanged Idiom: Bob buys a jPhone, which looks exactly like an iPhone but is hollow inside and doesn't work at all.
- Underchanged Idiom: Bob buys an lPhone, a iPhone clone which lacks the iPhone's "smart" capabilities but is a decent device in its own right.
- Rationalized Idiom:
- Bob is a cheapskate, so instead of looking in official outlets for an iPhone, he looks at flea markets and shady retailers.
- Copyright laws are not well-enforced in the area.
- Bob doesn't know much about iPhones and couldn't tell the difference when he purchased a yPhone.
- The yPhone vendor was a very smooth talker and persuaded Bob to buy one over a legit iPhone.
- Reversed Idiom:
- A real product designed based on a simpler, cheaper alternative.
- The yPhone is more expensive than an iPhone and can do everything an iPhone can, but it can also function as a universal remote control, has a Swiss Army Knife's worth of tools built into it, can do Bob's driving for him, can read the minds of people around him, can call the deceased, can accurately predict the future, and can instantly dispense hot coffee of any kind he wants.
- Bluffed Idiom:
- The product is, in fact, a legitimate Follow the Leader attempt to compete with the iPhone, including its own library of apps and its own interface, similar to but distinguishable from the iPhone's.
- The yPhone is sold as a semi-functional cinematic prop.
- Doubly Bluffed Idiom:
- Of course, it kicks off its own wave of crummy imitators.
- Legitimate doesn't mean good. note
- When sold through legitimate stores like www.Cinewares.Com, which John's phone shop is not.
- Joke Idiom:
- We get a glimpse of Bob's house, and it's filled with similar products: Somy television, Macrosoft Windews operating system on a Dull computer, Codak camera. Clearly, Bob can't tell the difference between the real thing and a shoddy fake.
- Bob tests Alice's iPhone and decides that he wants one. He accidentally buys a jPhone, only to discover that it's hollow inside and doesn't work at all. Despite this, he's convinced that the jPhone is the real deal and the iPhone is a shoddy knockoff.
- Bob pays more money for the fake than he'd have paid for the real product.
- Back-and-Forth Idiom: Bob buys a yPhone, but it turns out to be a legitimate attempt at competition with the iPhone. His grandmother, however, doesn't know he bought one and buys him a jPhone, which hardly works. Bob then gets rid of both and learns to spot fakes, but the counterfeiters learn to produce better fakes and Bob ends up buying a Somy television...
- Avoided Idiom: There are no fakes or knockoffs.
- Required Idiom:
- The director wants to deliver a stealth PSA about these kinds of devices.
- The show still had Sorny products laying around when Panasonic started sponsoring the show, this trope was one way to justify the cost savings of still using them instead of over-asking Panasonic for products to use.
- Acknowledged Idiom: "Oh, Bob, you didn't buy another fake again, did you?"
- Deliberate Idiom: "I need to make money, but how ... Oooh, I know! I'll make counterfeit versions of real electronic devices and fool people with them!"
- Hijacked Idiom: After accidentally buying a yPhone, Bob replaces Alice's iPhone with it because she'd notice immediately if he stole her iPhone, but replacing it with a fake gives him time to get away. Alice, being The Ditz, might never notice the difference at all anyway.
- Prevented Idiom: "Oh, hell no. I won't be fooled by this crap. I know a fake when I see it."
- Talked-about Idiom: "Bob's always buying fake devices like that yPhone. Should I talk to him about it?"
- Out-of-Universe Idiom: "Ugh, in this episode Bob buys a yPhone. More like yPhony, am I right?" "Lame pun, and they do this plot way too often. It's like the director has a fetish for crappy fakes."
- Suggested Idiom: Bob comments on how his new iPhone was so light and inexpensive.
- Analysed Idiom: Bob never actually gets what he needs out of things: his computer hardly works, and what it does it doesn't do well. His TV has bad picture quality and only gets three channels. His yPhone doesn't do the things he wanted an iPhone to do, or even send text messages (which causes problems, because his friends do a lot of texting). The counterfeit producers are taking his money and hiding behind Chinese sovereignty to keep away from the wrath of Sony, Microsoft, Apple, and the like.
- Tempered Idiom: Of course, Bob doesn't really need these electronic devices much anyway. They're entertainment. Plus, he eventually learns to recognize the real deal and doesn't get fooled anymore.
- Done for Fun: Bob tries to 'fix' his yPhone to make it work like an iPhone.
- Done for Crisis: Bob tries to buy an iPhone for his girlfriend Alice, but accidentally buys her a yPhone. Alice is offended and believes Bob did it on purpose because he doesn't love her.
- Done for Scares: The story follows Corrupt Corporate Executives who produce pale imitations of technological devices and fund life-threatening endeavours with the profits therefrom.
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