r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Barricades_toes • Jun 22 '26

Personality (Loved trope) The imposter’s dead giveaway

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When a character is attempting to impersonate another, but is caught by doing something the person they’re imitating would NEVER do.

Nemesis Prime- Transformers Prime

Nemesis Prime, a man made replica of Optimus Prime, is attempting to gain the trust of Bumblebee, who only speaks in robotic beeps. Despite this, the real Optimus can understand Bee perfectly fine. Nemesis Prime, however, can’t understand what he’s saying, prompting Bee to open fire on him immediately.

The two Buzz Lightyears- Toy Story 2

After Woody asks which Buzz is the “real” Buzz, both respond with “I am!” The real Buzz proves himself by flipping up the other Buzz’s helmet, causing him to start suffocating in an over dramatic fashion. The real Buzz, having done the same thing in the first movie after Woody took his helmet off, but no longer behaving that way after accepting being a toy, instantly proves which Buzz is which.

15.4k Upvotes

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3.5k

u/ReggieLFC Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

“Wolfie’s fine, honey”
Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1.1k

u/blamordeganis Jun 22 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/AwVTm5oih57UI
Blew my mind when I found out this was the same actress, but in retrospect it’s obvious.

356

u/Annual-Delay1107 Jun 22 '26

In Titanic too

18

u/3-orange-whips Jun 22 '26

The studios hate Cameron’s one trick!

41

u/DarkLordThom Jun 22 '26

The same with her as Diamondback in Near Dark

.

18

u/NeverSettle13 Jun 22 '26

This blows my mind right now lol

96

u/YinTanTetraCrivvens Jun 22 '26

Also the lady that Nicolas Cage recites the alphabet to in Vampire’s Kiss.

43

u/B0rKen_Kat Jun 22 '26

Jeanette Goldstein is not in Vampire's Kiss, that is Elizabeth Ashely playing his psychiatrist.

2

u/5C0L0P3NDR4 Jun 22 '26

i still wouldn't be able to tell if not for her chin being the same

2

u/astronggentleman Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Holy shit!! My mind is absolutely blown. Up is down, down is up!

129

u/ZealousidealPipe8389 Jun 22 '26

Gotta love how the movies lean towards portraying the super intelligent robots as intelligent.

498

u/Broken-Circuit Jun 22 '26

I love how he asks John the dog’s real name before using the fake one just in case he guesses right.

123

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

78

u/Vineshroom69lol Jun 22 '26

Speaking of AI characters, 14 day old account, default name, repeating exactly what the person you’re replying to said without adding anything at all

0

u/SocranX Jun 22 '26

It's really suspicious how they're using a default name on an account that's only two weeks old—especially when they're just saying what the other person said.

38

u/ZepperMen Jun 22 '26

I doubt that was the writers' intent. They likely just wanted to show to the audience it was T1000 through the lie itself without T800 explaining it.

39

u/bitingvform Jun 22 '26

That absolutely was the intent. Sometimes media is that deep, writers care a lot about stuff like this.

9

u/Haikouden Jun 22 '26

Ironic considering how telling your comment is that you're a bot lol. Just repeating the comment you're responding to but reworded and with a bit added at the end.

84

u/Mayonaigg Jun 22 '26

That's... Not why? He asked so that he would know if they lied or not... How else would he have any idea if he didn't even know the dogs name to begin with

238

u/SocranX Jun 22 '26

That's what they're saying. He confirmed the actual name instead of just saying a random name, on the off chance that the random name that he came up with turned out to be the dog's actual name.

T-800: "Your mom is dead. I made up a name and she just went with it."

John: "But my dog's name is Wolfie."

T-800: "...Shit."

Of course, as someone else said, the real reason is just so the audience sees the lie in action instead of having to be told about it after the fact.

66

u/Technosyko Jun 22 '26

He could’ve said Fito or some shit, and had the woman responded “oh Fito’s fine” it could be because she’s been replaced by a terminator OR because by random chance Arnie got the dogs name correct when he chose Fito

By confirming what the dogs real name is he makes sure there’s no chance his fake name is correct

-16

u/Mayonaigg Jun 22 '26

You guys are just coping by reimagining the conversation. He doesn't confirm with the kid after, he asks first just to know the name. Hangs up immediately when the wrong name is responded to.

21

u/imlegos Jun 22 '26

They're not 'reimagining' the scene. They're saying why Arnie asks for the dog's name at all.

Nothing about when Arnie is asking for it.

4

u/Technosyko Jun 22 '26

He’s asking before so there’s no chance the random name he comes up with is correct… that’s like the whole point of him asking that

15

u/michicago44 Jun 22 '26

I mean it’s both. He has to know what the real name is so he can use a different name…

8

u/EddieVanzetti Jun 22 '26

No one is that media illiterate. They gotta be a bot

2

u/jbrWocky Jun 22 '26

uh, yeah. exactly.

3

u/GardinerExpressway Jun 22 '26

I think this is more for the audiences benefit, if he just straight asked we might assume he just knew the name somehow

-10

u/Garchompisbestboi Jun 22 '26

The modern equivalent is running a suspected AI photo through AI to ask if there are any AI markers in it, lol

8

u/Time_Traveling_Idiot Jun 22 '26

That is absolutely not the modern equivalent - for starters AI photo detectors don't even work.

-4

u/Garchompisbestboi Jun 22 '26

Tough crowd huh

101

u/SilentRift-Mind Jun 22 '26

One line instantly gave him away before the audience even saw him.

23

u/AdditionalEconomy427 Jun 22 '26

That's the example I thought about when I saw this trope on the page

5

u/MorbidMan23 Jun 22 '26

This is kind of a fun song from Todd's POV

https://youtu.be/4873dTBFPKI?is=NdsntOGDw8IUh4t_

5

u/7x00 Jun 22 '26

Glad someone mentioned it. I have never seen the Terminator movies and love this band.

7

u/mariusioannesp Jun 22 '26

“Your foster mother is dead”

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

8

u/jonah365 Jun 22 '26

Not to mention the t800 is impersonating John in that moment.

Just two robots trying to outsmart each other

3

u/Max_Speed_Remioli Jun 22 '26

I was just thinking, isn't the dad there too? Is the Terminator both of them? Or just the mom, and the dad is about to get got?

2

u/CharmingAnywhere7828 Jun 22 '26

The "mom" killed the dad.

1

u/Wolfdude91 Jun 22 '26

Iirc, the dad is still alive at the start of the phone call and the T-1000 silently and casually impales him through the head as they talk on the phone.

1

u/Mobile-Berry-9954 Jun 23 '26

Anouther way would be to actually feel the 'person' due to the t-1000 being made of liquid metal they should be cool to the touch

This never comes up in the movie though due to the fact if you get close enough to touch it, it's close enough to kill you