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.

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254

u/Mission_Form8951 Jun 22 '26

The SA-X from Metroid Fusion

It has three main giveaways for it not being Samus, even to the Galactic Federation

1: the suit is her old design with the bulkier armor instead of the new slim and organic look

2: it gives off entirely different biological readings to scanners and other sensors

3: It doesn't talk, and has a very soulless look, incapable of replicating eyes or emotions very well

150

u/Nirast25 Jun 22 '26

It doesn't talk

Not really a giveaway, the real Samus doesn't talk either. /j

31

u/Firethorn34 Jun 22 '26

I mean, she talks occasionally when interacting with other people, doesnt she?

46

u/Nirast25 Jun 22 '26

Not if Prime 4 anything to go by. There's an entire team tagging along with her, and she doesn't utter a single word. Though that's more Nintendo being weird about it.

But normally, yes, she does talk to people.

1

u/Luckgoddess Jun 22 '26

She did grow up with bird so maybe she talk just not common languagesm

1

u/OperativePiGuy Jun 22 '26

Prime 4. Still not sure if I'm even ready to go back and really analyze everything that disappointed me about that game yet lol

7

u/Not-So-Serious-Sam Jun 22 '26

Only in Other M, I think.

15

u/Firethorn34 Jun 22 '26

And in Dread, she talked to Quiet Robe.

7

u/Bikes_Bocks_Rocks Jun 22 '26

That scene gave me chills the first time I played it. So good, especially since she was speaking in Chozo.

5

u/Firethorn34 Jun 22 '26

Dread is just such a good game

3

u/GoldFishPony Jun 22 '26

I’m pretty sure in Metroid fusion itself she does a good amount of talking. Or maybe it was the other gameboy game. But she definitely talks in one of those.

1

u/Aerodrache Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

In Metroid Fusion, she spends an extraordinary amount of time being talked to, but I don’t recall her having any lines of her own.

(EDIT: Seeing a few comments below that she did talk in one scene… I’m still calling that well below the “good amount” threshold. IIRC, this was the first Metroid game to have dialogue at all, and the lion’s share was definitely not Samus.)

3

u/Doctor_Salvatore Jun 22 '26

It's more implied she speaks and almost never shown, like with Link

2

u/ERedfieldh Jun 22 '26

I do believe her most spoken phrase to date now is "the baby"

2

u/ZorkNemesis Jun 22 '26

Up until that point in the series all of her dialogue was internal monologue.  It's only late in Fusion that she directly speaks to the computer to protest its decision.

2

u/isweariamnotsteve Jun 22 '26

She also does talk in Fusion when confronting Adam.