Basic Trope: The characters try to determine an imposter from the person they're impersonating.
- Straight: Alice and Bob are a couple who possess something very valuable (like money or something worth a lot of money). In order to get those valuables, Carol poses as Alice. Only trouble is, both Carol and the real Alice insist they are Alice, so Bob has to figure out who is the real Alice.
- Exaggerated: Bob has to pick out the real Alice from a whole crowd of perfect imposters.
- Downplayed: Carol is a pretty bad actress, so Bob is pretty sure she's not Alice, but he feels he has to be sure.
- Justified: Carol and Alice look kinda similar already and Carol practised acting like Alice. However, there is a way to tell them apart as only Alice can truly be Alice.
- Inverted: Alice and Carol both claim to be Carol in disguise as Alice.
- Subverted:
- Turns our neither of them are imposters, but a Literal Split Personality.
- Turns out both of them are imposters.
- Double Subverted: Then a third one joins in amen bob has to tell that one from the two real ones.
- Parodied:
- Bob sets up an impromptu "game show" called "Are You Alice?" that's full of tests to spot the real Alice.
- The imposter is a perfect visual doppelganger of Alice... but speaks in a ludicrously deep, masculine voice. The plot is resolved in five seconds.
- The imposter is incredibly obvious, but Bob still can’t tell the difference.
- Zigzagged: Bob flips between guessing right, thinking Alice is Carol, thinking Carol is Alice, and not being sure.
- Averted: Carol doesn't pose as Alice.
- Enforced: To show how devoted towards Alice, cunning, imaginative, or clueless Bob is.
- Lampshaded: "You can't both be Alice!"
- Invoked: Carol runs this gambit to distract from an entirely different scheme.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob teaches Alice a secret password that only she knows.
- Discussed: "How can I tell which one of you is Alice?"
- Conversed: "Remember that episode where Bob had to tell the difference between Alice and Carol who was pretending to be Alice?"
- Played for Laughs: Carol doesn't know squat about some of the things Alice does and says, but has to try and do and say them anyway.
- Played for Drama: Bob nearly gets it wrong and risks losing the valuables and Alice's love/trust.
Back to Spot the Impostor.
No, I am Spot the Imposter! The other one is a fake!
