History Main / LegendaryImpostor

* ''Series/TheATeam'', episode "Showdown!"

* At the beginning of the second season of ''EarthFinalConflict'', a newly-born and rapidly maturing HalfHumanHybrid scans the information on the late William Boone and chooses to impersonate a man named Liam Kincaid who served with Boone during the Sino-Indian War. A number of episodes later, Liam and Augur are captured by a black ops group, whose commander is quite curious about Liam. Why? Because ''he''[='=]s the real Liam Kincaid. At the end of the episode, he lets Liam keep the name but warns him to keep it clean.

Related to CostumeCopycat, but not necessarily involving a costume. When the real deal meets the impostor, expect BecauseImJonesy to occur. One SubTrope is the GodGuise. See also FakeUltimateHero, FamedInStory, MistakenForSpecialGuest.

* The ''{{Trigun}}'' episodes "Peace Maker" and "Goodbye For Now"; somewhat of a variation as the villains are exploiting Vash's reputation as a ruthless homicidal maniac.
** In the first chapter of Trigun Maximum, a man who looks exactly like [[TheGunslinger Vash]] appears, terrorizing a small town. Cue OhCrap reaction when the real [[RetiredBadass Vash]], living in obscurity under an alias comes after Fake Vash. [[spoiler: The fake Vash, holding his adopted siter, demands that Real Vash drop his gun, and goes into a [[VillainousBreakdown monologue]] (that leaves Wolfwood rolling on the ground laughing.) about how he can put a hole through them before either of them can draw, and tells Vash to drop his gun. He does... [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome then picks it up before it hits the ground, a second after it leaves his hand, and empties the entire cylinder into the fake without hitting the hostage,]] [[MoreDakka over the course of a couple seconds.]]]]

* ''OnePiece'': A bunch of pirates have decided to cash in on the Straw Hats' name by impersonating them, complete with the appropriate costumes for each character, and get themselves an incredibly powerful crew ripe for entering the New World. Their only problem? [[spoiler:Their timing couldn't be worse with the Real Straw Hats arriving back on Sabaody Archipelago after a Two Year TimeSkip, and have to face the full wrath of the Marine forces.]]
* Happens at least twice, probably more than that, in ''RurouniKenshin''. Kenshin is famous ''and'' infamous, as both a ruthless manslayer from the days of the Meji Restoration, and as the unstoppable hero who brought down the government and ensured the success of the Restoration -- after the war ended, he just disappeared, and nobody knew what happened to him. Thus, he's a perfect target for anyone who wants an instant rep as either a killer or a hero.

Related to CostumeCopycat, but not necessarily involving a costume. When the real deal meets the impostor, expect BecauseImJonesy to occur. See also FakeUltimateHero, FamedInStory, MistakenForSpecialGuest.

* One of the ''{{Ninku}}'' {{OVA}}s has a band of circus performers who imitate the heroes to get a cushy job as protectors of a small village. It goes well for them until a band of thieves send word that they're planning to rob the village. The performers try to sneak away, but bump into the thieves just outside the village. They try to bluff the thieves into running away, but they turn out to be skilled martial artists who are eager to fight the real Ninku. Fortunately, the real Ninku step in to bail them out.

* The ''{{Saiyuki}}'' episodes featuring the impostor Sanzo group (whose success is largely aided by how unlike expectations the real Sanzo band is).

* ''{{Series/Angel}}'' had a tie-in novel with Angel dealing with an Angel imposter running around.

* In 2000, around ''ten thousand'' people in Hong Kong were duped by a group of musicians [[claiming to be http://www.scmp.com/article/325286/fake-philharmonic-probe]] [[the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/905828.stm ]]. The impersonators apparently performed several concerts and were well-received, while their actual MPO counterparts were performing their own tour several thousand miles away in Europe. Neither the MPO's guest conductor nor the Hong Kong officials were pleased at the discovery - which seems to have occurred after the musicians took their money and skedaddled.

* In 2000, around ''ten thousand'' people in Hong Kong were duped by a group of musicians [[claiming to be http://www.scmp.com/article/325286/fake-philharmonic-probe]] [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/905828.stm the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra]]. The impersonators apparently performed several concerts and were well-received, while their actual MPO counterparts were performing their own tour several thousand miles away in Europe. Neither the MPO's guest conductor nor the Hong Kong officials were pleased at the discovery - which seems to have occurred after the musicians took their money and skedaddled.

* In the 1971 film ''SupportYourLocalGunfighter'', a con man (James Garner) enters a frontier mining town and tries to pull a con, having a dimwitted associate (Jack Elam) pretend to be a famous and feared gunfighter, 'Swifty' Morgan. All goes well until the ''real'' 'Swifty' Morgan (Chuck Connors) shows up. HilarityEnsues.
* In ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean: On Stranger Tides'', Joshamee Gibbs arrives to London when he hears that Jack Sparrow has a ship and is putting together a crew for a trip. This comes as a surprise to the real Captain Jack Sparrow who has neither a ship nor a crew. He finds out that [[spoiler:Angelica]] has been impersonating him.

* In one chapter of FireEmblemAwakening, a thief named Ruger has impersonated Chrom and is terrorizing local villages. By "impersonate," we of course mean [[PaperThinDisguise "basically just says his name is Chrom" despite looking absolutely nothing like him]] [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair (he doesn't even have blue hair!)]]. It's effective enough that, upon the real Chrom showing up in the village, everyone runs in terror; and unbelievably, [[spoiler:Cynthia, admirer of, and potentially ''daughter of Chrom'' has fallen for it and is working for him during the chapter.]]

* "The Oracle at Delphi" by Creator/AgathaChristie: An American tourist's son is kidnapped, but fortunately the famous problem-solver Parker Pyne is holidaying at the same hotel, and offers his assistance. Even more fortunately, the ''real'' Parker Pyne is also holidaying at the same hotel (under an assumed name to avoid people unloading their problems on him), and intervenes before the fake absconds with the ransom.

* ''PhoenixWright'': In the third case of ''[[PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations]]'', Phoenix's reputation is tarnished when [[AceAttorney Furio Tigre]] impersonates him and [[spoiler: purposefully throws the case, in order to make sure the woman he framed gets convicted]]. Phoenix is understandably annoyed that no one recognizes the [[IdenticalStranger hardly-identical stranger]] as an impostor because he has spiky hair and a defense attorney's badge (made of cardboard).

** There's a showdown between one of the con artists named Mobar, who not only impersonates Tuvok but also has come to admire logic:

* The ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' episode "The Impostors".

* The ''{{Trigun}}'' episodes "The $$6,000,000,000 Man" and "Goodbye For Now"; somewhat of a variation as the villains are exploiting Vash's reputation as a ruthless homicidal maniac.

* The ''BigFinishDoctorWho'' audio drama ''The One Doctor''

** The very first episode has a villain claim to be him while killing people at random in order to ruin the reputation of a Kaoris school when her father paralyzed his right hand. Fortunately, Kenshin just wandered into town, and sets him straight.

* ''OnePiece'': A bunch of pirates have decided to cash in on the Straw Hats' name by impersonating them, complete with the appropriate costumes for each character, and get themselves an incredibly powerful crew ripe for entering the New World. Their only problem? [[spoiler:Their timing couldn't be worse with the Real Straw Hats arriving back on Sabaody Archipelago after a Two Year TimeSkip.]]

** The very first episode has a villain claim to be him while killing people at random in order to ruin the reputation of a certain school of swordsmanship (which he claims to belong to). Fortunately, Kenshin just wandered into town, and sets him straight.

* ''OnePiece'': A bunch of mooks have decided to cash in on the Straw Hats' name, complete with the appropriate costumes for each character, and get themselves an incredibly powerful crew ripe for entering the New World. Their only problem? [[spoiler:Their timing couldn't be worse with the Real Straw Hats arriving back on Sabaody Archipelago after a Two Year TimeSkip.]]

* An interesting example occurs in ''Manga/BokuraNoKiseki'' when Hiroki claims to be the reincarnation of the Princess Veronica. (The true reincarnation of Veronica is the protagonist, Harusumi.) All the characters know Veronica, but because of the reincarnations, no one knows what she looks like in the present time. [[spoiler: It turns out Hiroki is really the reincarnation of Bart, one of Veronica's squires, and that she was pretending to be Veronica in order to serve as a Body Double until the real Veronica chose to reveal herself.]]