History Main / EveryoneIsATomato

* ''Webcomic/YuMeDream'' does this as part of TheReveal that the first half is AllJustADream. Nearly ''everyone'' that Fiona has been interacting with for the majority of Part One is just an actor her dreams -- including the girl she loves, Lia -- and they're going to leave when she wakes up from her coma.

The trope name references /TomatoSurprise and comes from a set of writer's guidelines distributed circa 1980 by Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, written by its then-editor, George Scithers. The guidelines named the trope and gave as one of the examples hiding the fact that the hero is, in fact, a tomato.

The trope name comes from a set of writer's guidelines distributed circa 1980 by Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, written by its then-editor, George Scithers. The guidelines named the trope and gave as one of the examples hiding the fact that the hero is, in fact, a tomato.

* Early in ''{{Manga/Ooku}}'' (an AlternateHistory where a plague leaves Japan's adult male population at about a quarter of the women), many families start sending their adult daughters in the guise of men as though nothing were wrong. One of them notes that she's far from the only one, and soon after there's no more pretense, with the RoyalHarem now consisting of the female shogun's male bodyguards.

See also FlockOfWolves, which has the similar "minority is actually majority" premise, but is about loyalty to a group rather than innate characteristics. Compare EveryoneIsRelated, where the category is a family. Contrast TheyLookLikeUsNow.

This is a SpoileredRotten trope, which means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* All the playable protagonists of ''VideoGame/ThirteenSentinelsAegisRim'', and two other supporting characters, are clones being raised in VirtualReality PeopleJars millions of years after humanity was wiped out. Every ''other'' character in the present is an AI--including several [[BrainUploading digitized copies of previous clones]].

Creating a fictional subcategory that can be applied to any character, treating it as some sort of rarity or shocking twist, and then applying it to most of the cast. Possible as a method to create a MetaOrigin; its effectiveness/appeal may vary.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is a bit guilty of this. Although most of the cast was considered normal at the start of the series (excluding Sayo the ghost and Chachamaru the robot), since then it has been revealed that Yuuna, Misora, Konoka, Hakase, Takamichi, Chao, and the Headmaster were all involved in magic from the beginning, and Evangeline, Mana, Zazie, and Setsuna are demonic. Asuna is practically her own category.

* In ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', the main character discovers that she's actually an ArtificalHuman being groomed into the perfect RoboticSpouse. Then it turns out that ''so is everyone else'' at her BoardingSchoolOfHorrors.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is about an amoral person who thinks she's been mistakenly sent to Heaven after death, but discovers she's actually in Hell. Then it turns out everyone around her is either in the same situation or a demon stringing them along.

* ''Series/TrueBlood'': The folks with powers will soon outnumber the normal people in Bon Temps.

* ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'': Spoofed into oblivion in a parody of a Murder Mystery, where everyone turns out to be someone (or some''thing'') else in disguise. The thief everyone's looking for is actually the narrator himself.

* Many ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and similar HighFantasy campaigns can fall into this if the GM puts a BanOnMagic in their setting, or just tries to make magic more rare. Due to the high percentage of magic-wielding character classes, your party will almost inevitably have a majority of its members wielding "rare" and "hidden" sorceries.

* Subtle one in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', all male models in game who aren't Eddie are James. Pyramid Head, the corpses all over the place, the prisoners, the Lying Figures, all of them. Similarly, most female models are Mary.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' quickly follows up a surprise RoboticReveal of the protagonist by revealing that ''all'' the "humans" in New LA are RidiculouslyHumanRobots, and that the protagonist, by virtue of [[AmnesiacHero having no memory,]] was literally [[LockedOutOfTheLoop the only one who didn't know this from the start.]]

This trope refers to creating a fictional subcategory that can be applied to any character and then applying it ad nauseam to most of the cast. Possibly as a method to create a MetaOrigin (it usually fails).

See also: FlockOfWolves. Compare EveryoneIsRelated, where the category is a family. Contrast TheyLookLikeUsNow.

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, which means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]]; only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is a bit guilty of this. Although most of the cast was considered normal at the start of the series (excluding Sayo the ghost and Chachamaru the robot,) since then it has been revealed that Yuuna, Misora, Konoka, Hakase, Takamichi, Chao, and the Headmaster were all involved in magic from the beginning, and Evangeline, Mana, Zazie, and Setsuna are demonic. Asuna is practically her own category.

* Lampshaded in the ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'', where the team renamed themselves The Great Lakes ComicBook/XMen after it was revealed that the entire team was made up of mutants.
** This was also a parody of the then popularity of various "X-Titles".
** It's a justified trope in the Marvelverse, mind; all the other origins are one-in-a-billion freak occurrences, or inventions by 99.999999th-percentile geniuses [[ReedRichardsIsUseless who for some reason keep their potentially world-changing inventions to themselves]]. Mutants are a ''demographic.''

* In ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', all of the students at [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Innovations Academy]] are actually {{Artificial Human}}s raised to be faithful, docile wives and servants for the school's investors.

* The second ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' made nearly half the cast Cylons. Although there was plenty of evidence to suggest that Tyrol was one, and even that Tigh OR Ellen was one -- which necessitates the other. Not to mention precedent of sleeper agents. This was not planned out in advance, however, but rather a hasty improvisation by the writers.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': At the start of the show, only Buffy was anything other than a normal human, but by the end, several supernatural beings had joined their group, and almost everyone else had learned how to practice magic.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is about what happens when someone who was a petty, selfish jerk on Earth is sent to Heaven after they die due to a mix-up. Except that she actually is in Hell. And the other three humans there who think they're in Heaven are also in Hell. And everyone else is a demon. Except for the anthropomorphic computer program.

* Right near the end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed2'', you find out that every helpful adult not your mother or named Leonardo [=DiVinci=] is an assassin that's been helping you become one of them.

* In ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', all of the students at [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Innovations Academy are actually {{Artificial Human}}s raised to be faithful, docile wives and servants for the school's investors.]]

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]]; only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' is a bit guilty of this. Although most of the cast was considered normal at the start of the series (excluding Sayo the ghost and Chachamaru the robot,) since then it has been revealed that [[spoiler:Yuuna, Misora, Konoka, Hakase, Takamichi, Chao, and the Headmaster]] were all involved in magic from the beginning, and [[spoiler:Evangeline, Mana, Zazie, and Setsuna]] are demonic. Asuna is practically her own category.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': You know those alien monsters humanity has been fighting throughout the series? [[spoiler: Humanity is one of them]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]

* By the finale of ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'', nearly every female character in the series except Francine turns out to be [[spoiler:a current or former Parker Girl]].

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[[folder:Fanfiction]]

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[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* About two thirds into ''Film/{{Identity}}'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:every single character at the motel is a personality of Malcolm Rivers, and the whole movie was a plot to kill off his alternate identities, curing his Multiple Personality Disorder.]]
* In Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheWard'', [[spoiler:the ghost, and the women she's trying to kill, turn out to be a result of one character's multiple personality disorder]].
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[[folder:Literature]]

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' is about a SweetPollyOliver going off to war. Gradually over the course of the story, [[spoiler:she discovers that more and more of her comrades are also women, some in more convincing disguises than others. All of them, in fact, including the troll. Even the bluff old SergeantRock, who also happens to be aware that a good third of the high command are women in disguise, along with Nuggan-knows how many of the troops. The country has been at war for so long that all the men have simply been killed off.]]
* In ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', [[spoiler:all of the students at [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Innovations Academy]] are actually {{Artificial Human}}s raised to be faithful, docile wives and servants for the school's investors.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The second ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' made nearly half the cast Cylons. Although there was plenty of evidence to suggest that [[spoiler:Tyrol]] was one, and even that [[spoiler:Tigh OR Ellen was one -- which necessitates the other]]. Not to mention precedent of sleeper agents. This was not planned out in advance however, but rather a hasty improvisation by the writers.

* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'': [[spoiler:Lubov]] is a doll! [[spoiler:Mellie]] is a doll! [[spoiler:Saunders]] is a doll! Season 2 brings even more.
* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is about what happens when someone who was a petty, selfish jerk on Earth is sent to Heaven after they die due to a mix-up. [[spoiler: Except that she actually is in Hell. And the other three humans there who think they're in Heaven are also in Hell. And everyone else is a demon. Except for the anthropomorphic computer program.]]

* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Shadowplay", Odo and Dax beam down to a village and investigate the disappearance of a number of villagers. It turns out the village and its inhabitants are holograms - news which they take surprisingly well - and the device that powers them is wearing down. Dax is able to fix the device, but not before discovering that the village elder is a flesh and blood life form and the creator of everyone and everything around him. He doesn't want his fellow villagers to know he's different from them and responsible for their existence; Dax and Odo agree not to tell them.

* ''Series/{{V 2009}}'': Seems like every third character is secretly a V sleeper. [[spoiler:''Two'' of Erica's FBI partners were Visitors--not to mention her obstetrician.]]
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[[folder:Radio]]

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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* All the playable protagonists of ''VideoGame/ThirteenSentinelsAegisRim'', and two other supporting characters, are [[spoiler:clones being raised in VirtualReality PeopleJars millions of years after humanity was wiped out]]. Every ''other'' character [[spoiler:in the present is an AI--including several [[BrainUploading digitized copies]] of previous clones]].
* Right near the end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed2'', you find out that every helpful adult not your mother or named Leonardo [=DiVinci=] is [[spoiler:an assassin that's been helping you become one of them.]]
* Played for laughs in the second ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'': The ending reveals that Jim, Princess What's-Her-Name and Psy-Crow were all cows in disguise.
* From ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' onwards, almost every single mysterious character manages to be [[spoiler:a form of Sora]], no matter how illogical or unlikely it seems. The only ones who aren't are the ones who actually turn out to be [[spoiler:a form of Xehanort.]]
* Subtle one in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', all male models in game who aren't Eddie are [[spoiler:James]]. Pyramid Head, the corpses all over the place, the prisoners, the Lying Figures, all of them. Similarly, most female models are [[spoiler:Mary]].

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[[folder:Webcomics]]

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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', with an episode of Calculon’s [[ShowWithinAShow soap opera]] where characters keep announcing they have LaserGuidedAmnesia to the point that [[OverlyLongGag it starts to get annoying]]. “Is there anybody here who ''doesn’t'' have amnesia?!”
* ''WesternAnimation/NeoYokio'': Near the end of Charles' story in [[Recap/NeoYokioPinkChristmas "Pink Christmas"]], Kaz reads Aunt Angelique's memoir and discovers that his demon-hunting Magistocrat family actually has demonic ancestry. Later, the Great Demon confirms this and takes it a step further: not only is the Kaan family descended from demons, every single Magistocratic family is descended from a group of demons who used their powers to hunt other demons in exchange for money and social standing, making every demon hunter a demon in disguise.
[[/folder]]

* Right near the end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed2'', you find out that every helpful adult not your mother or named Leonardo [=DiVinci=] is [[spoiler:an assassin that's been helping you become one of them.]]

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' is a bit guilty of this. Although most of the cast was considered normal at the start of the series (excluding Sayo the ghost and Chachamaru the robot,) since then it has been revealed that [[spoiler:Yuuna, Misora, Konoka, Hakase, Takamichi, Chao, and the Headmaster]] were all involved in magic from the beginning, and [[spoiler:Evangeline, Mana, Zazie, and Setsuna]] are demonic. Asuna is practically her own category.

* ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramma'': Spoofed into oblivion in a parody of a Murder Mystery, where everyone turns out to be someone (or some''thing'') else in disguise. The thief everyone's looking for is actually the narrator himself.

* OlderThanRadio: ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday'' (1908) by G.K. Chesterton: The hero, who is an undercover policeman is drawn into the murky world of anarchists. He discovers that one of their number is also an undercover policeman. As the story continues, his attempts to apprehend anarchists force all of them to reveal that [[FlockOfWolves they are policemen, too]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* By the late 1950s, the Communist Party USA was in heavy decline thanks to [[UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy McCarthyism]]. However, the FBI maintained a paranoid obsession with it, and dedicated huge resources to tracking it, to the extent that undercover FBI informants made up as much as 30% of the party, and were crucial to its continued finances. J. Edgar Hoover later admitted that ironically, the FBI's undercover membership bolstering and financing of the CPUSA probably enabled it to avoid collapse.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' is about a SweetPollyOliver going off to war. Gradually over the course of the story, [[spoiler:she discovers that more and more of her comrades are also women, some in more convincing disguises than others. All of them, in fact, including the troll. Even the bluff old SergeantRock, who also happens to be aware that a good third of the high command are women in disguise, along with Nuggan-knows how many of the troops. The country has been at war for so long that all the men have simply been killed off.]]

'''Ron Moore:''' Help? Why would I need help writing plots? I just throw a dart at the cast list, and...boom! They're a Cylon! Rinse, repeat, cash the f*cking check. Watch! Sh'boom! Sh'bong! Sh'bing! Cylon. Please help me! This is so hard!

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' quickly follows up a surprise RoboticReveal of the protagonist by revealing that ''all'' the "humans" in New LA are robots.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fan Fiction ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' is about a SweetPollyOliver going off to war. Gradually over the course of the story, [[spoiler:she discovers that more and more of her comrades are also women, some in more convincing disguises than others. All of them, in fact, including the troll. Even the bluff old SergeantRock, who also happens to be aware that a good third of the high command are women in disguise, along with Nuggan-knows how many of the troops. The country has been at war for so long that all the men have simply been killed off.]]
* In ''Literature/WitchWeek'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones, the protagonist is secretly a person with innate magical talent in a world where such "witches" are feared and hunted. He learns that one of the other students at the school he attends is also secretly a witch. Then another. And another. Also, some of the teachers. (The deputy principal isn't really a miser, he just has no money because he's a witch and the principal is blackmailing him with the threat of exposure. The principal, unbeknownst to him, is also a witch.) In the end it turns out that, as a result of a supernatural event in the 17th century, ''everybody in the world'' is a witch, but they're all hiding it from each other for fear of persecution.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' often had characters revealed to have powers.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E3FullCircle Full Circle]]", the inhabitants of the Starliner are not descendants of the original crew and passengers, but descendants of indigenous life-forms who massacred them and then took on their forms.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Shadowplay", Odo and Dax beam down to a village and investigate the disappearance of a number of villagers. It turns out the village and its inhabitants are holograms - news which they take surprisingly well - and the device that powers them is wearing down. Dax is able to fix the device, but not before discovering that the village elder is a flesh and blood life form and the creator of everyone and everything around him. He doesn't want his fellow villagers to know he's different from them and responsible for their existence; Dax and Odo agree not to tell them.
* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is about what happens when someone who was a petty, selfish jerk on Earth is sent to Heaven after they die due to a mix-up. [[spoiler: Except that she actually is in Hell. And the other three humans there who think they're in Heaven are also in Hell. And everyone else is a demon. Except for the anthropomorphic computer program.]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* Near the end of Charles' story in ''Recap/NeoYokioPinkChristmas'' Kaz reads Aunt Angelique's memoir and discovers that his demon-hunting Magistocrat family actually has demonic ancestry. Later, the Great Demon confirms this and takes it a step further: not only is the Kaan family descended from demons, every single Magistocratic family is descended from a group of demons who used their powers to hunt other demons in exchange for money and social standing, making every demon hunter a demon in disguise.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* For a day, everyone became Marco in the Animorphs discord. Ironically, the person who started this had Tomato as their username.