| 1 | %% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1382117795080329100 |
| 2 | %% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest a new image. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | ->'''Annie:''' I know it doesn't make up for what happened, but would it help if I said '''I farted'''?\ |
| 5 | '''Jeff:''' Annie, no. I can't let you fall on that sword because... I farted.\ |
| 6 | '''Pierce:''' No, I farted.\ |
| 7 | '''Shirley:''' I farted.\ |
| 8 | '''Jeff:''' Guys, I wasn't doing the ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' thing.\ |
| 9 | '''Troy:''' We ''all'' farted. |
| 10 | -->-- ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS3E02GeographyOfGlobalConflict Geography of Global Conflict]]" |
| 11 | |
| 12 | The MessianicArchetype, his TrueCompanions, and even several members of the RedshirtArmy have been defeated and captured by TheEmpire. The BigBad or TheDragon shows up, demanding to know who led this rebellion, presumably to drag them away for some [[AFateWorseThanDeath horrific punishment]]. If he is given up, the rest are free to continue living. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | [[MoreHeroThanThou But then brotherhood and camaraderie prevails]]. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Before the AllLovingHero can give himself up to save his comrades, TheLancer suddenly stands up, claiming to be him. Then TheBigGuy. Then TheMentor, TheSmartGuy, even the CuteBruiser. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | One by one, the entire RedshirtArmy stands up. They would ''all'' rather suffer his fate than turn him over to the enemy. At this point, events usually play out in one of two ways: |
| 19 | |
| 20 | '''Scenario 1''' |
| 21 | |
| 22 | The villain simply decides to kill ''everyone'', including the hero. Sure, it's more bloodshed than planned, but at least the villain's point is made. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | '''Scenario 2''' |
| 25 | |
| 26 | The ploy ends up [[ConfusionFu distracting]] the villain, allowing the hero to get the upper hand or escape. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Variations on (and parodies of) this theme have led to it becoming a trope of its own: someone else claims to be The Hero to protect the real one. There's also sometimes the inspiring subtext that "we are ''all'' The Hero; kill one and [[AsLongAsThereIsOneMan the rest still stand]]." Because of this wide spread, villians and their minions have learned to [[InvokedTrope invoke this trope]] as well. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | The TropeNamer is a famous scene in ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' which involves several Roman soldiers asking the slaves to identify Spartacus so they can crucify him. Spartacus stands to speak, but the men sitting beside him both claim to be Spartacus, with eventually the ''[[TrueCompanions entire army]]'' shouting this trope. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Compare with LostInACrowd and RingerPloy. See also/compare DecoyLeader. Also UndyingLoyalty. When all of them ''routinely'' take on the identity of Spartacus, see CollectiveIdentity. When all of them really ''are'' Spartacus, see MesACrowd, DoppelgangerSpin, PlanetOfSteves, and/or {{Hivemind}}. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | ---- |
| 35 | !!Examples: |
| 36 | %%%%%%This page has been alphabetized. Please add new entries in the correct alphabetical order.%%%%%% |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 41 | * Parodied in a Coca-Cola ad. A teacher asks his class who emptied a Coke dispenser. One student slowly stands up and says: "I did it." After that, another student also stands up and says: ''He'' did it. Guess what the others do next. |
| 42 | * Not to be outdone, a Pepsi commercial took the "I'm Spartacus" scene from ''Spartacus'', but replaced the beginning with a bit where a Roman soldier finds Spartacus's bag lunch and asks who it belongs to. Because it includes a Pepsi, everyone starts claiming it's theirs. The soldier then decides that ''he'' is Spartacus and drinks the Pepsi. |
| 43 | * A Southwest Airlines advertisement also had a humorous take on the trope. In Medieval Europe, a defeated army lays down its arms. Then the general of the victorious army says "Who amongst you goes by the name "Fenwick?" Tell me, and the rest of you will be spared." Before Fenwick surrenders himself, a warrior claims to be him. And then, much like the famous scene in ''Spartacus'', the entire army one by one says "I am Fenwick!" But unlike ''Spartacus'', one soldier screws it up by approaching the real Fenwick and asking him a stupid question, revealing him to the other army. He thinks he misplaced his shield because the one he is carrying has vertical stripes and the one he owns has horizontal stripes (most likely, it was his shield the whole time, rotated 90 degrees). The commercial's narrator then says "Wanna get away?", revealing that it's part of Southwest Airline's "Wanna get away?" advertising campaign, which is known for characters making embarrassing mistakes and needing to "get away". |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 47 | * In ''Anime/CodeGeass'' the Brittanians announce that they intend to exile Zero, who wants to create a new area for the Japanese to live in. So he says he'll go along with it, but during the meeting he gets them to say that Zero's real identity isn't important and that [[LegacyCharacter anyone who shares his ideals]] is "Zero". Then, during the ceremony, after the announcement a cloud of smoke is released and when it clears, ''everyone''--including a DOG--is wearing a Zero costume! And then a ship made out of an iceberg comes in to escort them! Reluctantly, the Brittanians allow them all to leave (primarily because the alternative would have been starting a massacre). |
| 48 | * In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' manga, Mello demands to know the identity of [[spoiler: the one acting as L]] so that he can kill him if the trade for the notebook goes south, threatening to kill the hostage if they don't comply. Matsuda saves Light and his dad from [[SadisticChoice that dilemma]] by hijacking the keyboard and telling Mello that he's [[spoiler: the one acting as L]]. |
| 49 | * At the climax of season one of ''{{Literature/Durarara}}'' [[spoiler: Ryugamine]] outplays the people who come after [[spoiler: fake Celty]] by using his position as [[spoiler: leader of the Dollars to gather a massive crowd of Dollars at that spot and stop his pursuers in their tracks.]] Up until this point in the anime, people that weren't important to the plot were literally faceless and gray. When [[spoiler: Ryugamine]] sent the message to everyone, the sea of gray suddenly became colored. |
| 50 | * In ''Anime/FafnerInTheAzureDeadAggressor'', when Yumiko is put on trial for tampering with Maya's pilot data, most of the main cast confess to the crime... with the final confessor being the human computer that controls the entire island - and has data to prove that '''all''' the confessions are true. Everyone has a reasonable explaination for why they supposedly did it. Soushi wanted her off the roster because he was afraid her pluckiness would cause problems, Sakura wanted to remove a rival for top pilot, Mamoru was just screwing around in the lab and accidentally changed the data, Kenji changed the data because he made a mistake trying to change his own data to get out of piloting, Kazuki didn't want her to fight, Mizoguchi was trying to look up her measurements on the computer and accidentally messed with the data etc. |
| 51 | * In a {{Filler}} arc of ''Manga/FairyTail'', a group of villains comes to Fairy Tail's doorstep demanding Lucy. She's willing to turn herself over since she can [[ActionGirl just as easily fight back]], but her cousin Michelle offers herself as Lucy instead. Soon all the girls in Fairy Tail start calling themselves Lucy to disorient the villains; even [[TheBigGuy Elfman]] joins in. It's all for naught in the end, though, since the villains are not there for Lucy herself, but rather the part to a DoomsdayDevice in her possession. |
| 52 | * A villainous example in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. Over a dozen people attempted in some way to try and assassinate the Chairman, all of them claiming (and legitimately believing) to be The Laughing Man. [[spoiler:It's later explained that they were all copycats inspired by a threat from the ''real'' Laughing Man.]] |
| 53 | * Another villainous example comes in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders''. [[FantasticVoyagePlot When Kakyoin and Polnareff shrink their Stands down to enter Joseph's brain to battle the microscopic Stand, Lovers, that had invaded Joseph's brain]], they find out that it had created dozens of dummy copies of itself with Joseph's own brain cells, with each one claiming to be the real Stand. |
| 54 | * Happens in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'': The Yomi assassin "Spark" tries to destroy the Shinpaku HQ and demands to fight Kenichi. Since he's not there, several other members claim to be Kenichi, presumably to buy him time. Spark is not fooled. |
| 55 | * A variant shows up in the finale of ''Literature/KyouranKazokuNikki'', when Kyouka is threatening Ouka to kill her since she's the true child of Enka, the rest of the family stands up and declares that they are, establishing their family bonds. Even Chika tries to get in on it, even though it was known from the start that she really isn't. |
| 56 | * Zig-zagged in an early chapter of ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers''. Shogun Yoshimune stumbles over her new robes during her first formal inspection of her new harem and hears laughter from the lines of men kneeling with their faces on the floor. When she demands to know who found her clumsiness so funny a young man in a comparatively simple outfit (falsely) confesses, which so [[SecretTestOfCharacter impresses]] Yoshimune that she selects him to be her first bedmate from the harem... [[spoiler: thus unknowingly sentencing him to be executed]]. |
| 57 | * {{Implied|Trope}} to have occurred in Episode 35 of ''[[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Pokémon Journeys]]''. Team Rocket captures a herd of Pikachu including Ash's Pikachu, but they can't tell them apart. |
| 58 | --> '''Meowth:''' If you're the brat's Pikachu, please respond! \ |
| 59 | '''All the Pikachus''': [[PokemonSpeak Pi-Pikachu]]! \ |
| 60 | '''Meowth:''' DON'T LIE TO ME! |
| 61 | * Awesomely subverted in ''Manga/{{Ressentiment}}''. Halfway through the series we're introduced to the ''Big Bad'' Ehara -- an MMO player who has assembled a huge military guild and is using it to threaten both the game and the real world. All members of the guild are required to have avatars identical to his. In the final chapter it's revealed that Ehara is a monkey in a zoo who inexplicably has internet access in his cage and who has copied the face and name of the guy who usually brings him food. |
| 62 | * ''Anime/SpacePirateMito'' combines this with : when the Galactic Patrol demands that Aoi, currently at school, give himself up. His classmates [[LostInACrowd don Aoi masks and rush out of the building]]. Most of them end up captured, but they were able to buy Aoi the time he needed to get away. |
| 63 | * ''Anime/WaveLetsGoSurfing'' has a recurring gag in an onsen, in which Masaki will jump excitedly out of the water, only to remember he is naked and sink awkwardly back down. The third time this happens, he is jumping at the opportunity to make a victory pact. Rather than act embarrassed, his other friends all rise from the water - equally naked - to join hands in making the same pact. |
| 64 | * A variation occurs in the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga. Honda/Tristan wants to tell a girl in his class that he loves her, but he's too shy to do it himself. So he gets a blank jigsaw puzzle and gets Yugi to write the message for him. Then, Jonouchi/Joey leaves the message in the girl's desk. Unfortunately, it's against the school rules, and when the teacher (who's incredibly strict, not to mention in a bad mood and looking for a student to punish) finds out, she wants to know whose puzzle it is. Yugi, Jonouchi/Joey, and Honda/Tristan all stand up and admit it, and of course, in this case, [[ExactWords all of their statements are true]]. |
| 65 | -->'''Yugi:''' I wrote the message!\ |
| 66 | '''Jonouchi/Joey:''' No teach, I'm the one who put the puzzle in her desk.\ |
| 67 | '''Honda/Tristan:''' Thanks guys, but no. The message was from me. [[note]] [[DontExplainTheJoke Honda had Yugi write the message because he was too nervous to think of what to write, and Jonouchi was the one who slipped it into Ribbon's desk.]][[/note]] |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 71 | * In the opening of the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardsCeremonies 2000 Academy Awards]], Creator/BillyCrystal inserts himself into the original ''Spartacus'' scene, with the rather pragmatic "I am totally ''not'' Spartacus!" |
| 72 | * Parodied twice in the first MTV episode of ''The College Humor Show''. First a rival company, having won Patrick in a bet, come to take him away. When asked which is Patrick, Dan steps up, claiming to be him. He then nudges Sam to do the same, who refuses. Later, Rick asks who urinated in the ball pit (it was Amir), claiming that if no one comes forward, everyone is fired. Dan claims it was him and once again no one else steps up, resulting in Dan getting fired. |
| 73 | * Creator/BillHicks used it to explain how Australia was colonized by British convicts. |
| 74 | -->(English accent) "Let me get this straight: You keep the shitty food and the shitty weather, and we get the Great Barrier Reef and lobsters the size of canoes? ...I'm Jack the Ripper." "No, I'm Jack the Ripper!" "I'm Jack the Ripper!" |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 78 | * A variation appears in ''[[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Batman: Gotham Adventures]]'' #35. After a jury that includes Bruce Wayne finds a man guilty of kidnapping, he grabs a gun and holds it on his defense attorney, blaming her for the verdict. Bruce intercedes, saying that he should take the blame since he persuaded the rest of the jury of the man's guilt. Then the elderly witness says that no, ''she'' should take the blame, since she was the only one to come forward and testify against him. Then the forewoman says it's ''her'' fault, since she didn't tell the judge they had a hung jury. Then other members of the jury start coming forward and claiming responsibility. The man, confounded, decides to start off by shooting Bruce. [[BigDamnHeroes Enter Robin]]. |
| 79 | * Bio a.k.a. Orlando of ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' was one of the slaves present at the trope namer. S/he recalls with bemusement how the Romans let him/her go just for standing up and saying his/her name, "everybody else apparently being named Spartacus". |
| 80 | * ''ComicBook/SilverSurfer'': Galactus arrives at Newhaven, a planet comprised entirely of refugees from worlds he devoured. An entire page shows every single Galactus refugee ''in the whole planet'' saying "Spare my world and I shall be your herald!", with every word of the sentence spoken by a different person. Finally, Galactus chooses the last person to utter the phrase: [[spoiler:Dawn Greenwood]]. |
| 81 | * In one issue of ''[[ComicBook/TheSimpsons Simpsons Comics]]'', Grampa becomes a vigilante (El Grampo) and when Chief Wiggum tries to arrest him, the other members of the Springfield Retirement Castle claim to be the real El Grampo. They don’t do this because they care about Grampa but because they think that pretending to be El Grampo will result in their families paying attention to them. Wiggum’s response is to shoot them all, but when he is told the amount of paperwork that would entail, makes them fight each other like gladiators. The whole thing turns out to be [[spoiler: one of Grampa’s nonsensical stories]]. |
| 82 | * ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'': |
| 83 | ** Played straight in an issue that took place just before ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', wherein Spider-Man agrees to reveal his identity in front of the Daily Bugle so long as Jonah gives him the opportunity to address New York in his paper. He wrote a long article about what he does and why he does it and shows up the next day to unmask. Gathered in front of the Bugle are hundreds of people, ostensibly there to see Spider-Man unmask, and then -- someone yells "I'm Spider-Man!" Dozens of people in costumes of varying quality (including Aunt May!) take off claim to be Spider-Man, so that when Peter does do it, Jonah just yells at him to stop making jokes and take some pictures. |
| 84 | ** Following the ''Civil War'' storyline, Parker is a fugitive who gains some help from a group called ''Scarlet Spiders'', who cast doubt on Parker's claim of being Spidey by claiming that he was a fired member of their organization, all of which claimed to work as Spider-Man. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 88 | * ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'': In "Hooded Justice", the fifth Phantom is transported back in time to 12th century Nottingham where he takes on the role of Myth/RobinHood. The Sheriff captures Maraian and declares she will be executed if Robin Hood does not present himself. The Phantom steps forward and declares he is Robin Hood. Then each of the Merry Men planted throughout the crowd claims that he is Robin Hood. The Sheriff's men attempt to arrest everyone and the confusion allows the Phantom to rescue Marian. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 92 | * ''FanFic/CodeGeassAwesomeOfTheRebellion'' inverts the usual setup. The Britannian army start a blockade, and state that only Awesome can leave Japan, and “everyone else must be made dying”. Awesome uses smoke bombs and when the Britannians can’t see, everyone puts on an Awesome Suit, which makes them look [[LatexPerfection completely identical]] to him. Upon this, the Britannian army has to let them all pass. |
| 93 | * Played with in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8017472/1/Emrys-Revealed Emrys Revealed]]''. Morgana threatens to kill Arthur unless Emrys shows himself, which Merlin quickly does. [[spoiler: Then everyone else also claims to be Emrys, while almost all of them believe Merlin is lying]]. |
| 94 | * The ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'' provides an example early on in the [[BadFuture Dark World]] arc -- [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Traitor Dash]] is dispatched by [[EvilOverlord Discord]] to Cloudsdale to locate and kill a RebelLeader, or else Discord will [[SadisticChoice destroy the whole city]] [[spoiler:(he was bluffing, but she didn't know that)]]. The entire crowd present when she shows up claim to be the target, but TD is able to SherlockScan the leader out of the crowd, and after a brief fight kills her. However, [[spoiler:it's one of the things Twilight's Memory Spell reminds Dash of that shows her the Dark World is worth saving, allowing her HeelFaceTurn]]. |
| 95 | * Averted in ''LetsPlay/AScotsmanInEgypt'': An Inquisitor is asking for a man named Spartacus, and they all claim to be him. When the Inquisitor [[CruelAndUnusualDeath reveals what he has in store]], however, they all point to the real one. |
| 96 | * [[PlayingWithAtrope Played with]] in ''LetsPlay/TheTerribleSecretOfAnimalCrossing''. [[spoiler:Penny demands Billy to tell her who took her papers, or else someone from a crowd of kids gets it each time he lies. A boy in the crowd named Phillip claims it was himself. Penny takes him to the back of the house, and he gives her a gut wound with his sharpened crutch before she kills him.]] |
| 97 | * ''[[Fanfic/OrDidItEatTheLittleGirl let's go out with a bang!]]'' [[PlayedWith plays with this]]: while Maki stands up and attempts to pass herself off as [[spoiler:Kaede]] after the latter's name is called, ripping off both of their name tags, the gesture seems largely symbolic -- it's clear nobody believes her claims. However, this leads into [[spoiler:Maki and the bulk of their classmates rallying around Kaede in order to protect her from the enforcement team]], as well as [[spoiler:Junko ''inverting'' this by revealing herself to DrawAggro]]. |
| 98 | [[/folder]] |
| 99 | |
| 100 | [[folder:Films — Animation]] |
| 101 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MrPeabodyAndSherman'', Peabody is about to be taken away by animal control when Sherman asks to be taken in his place because "I'm a dog!" Soon, everyone in the crowd (including some historical characters brought over from the past) stand up and declare that they too are dogs. Except for Spartacus, who says... well, you know. |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 105 | * Hilariously subverted in the opening scene of the Quebecois film ''1981''. The scene is the father's recollection of a WWII incident in which a radio was stolen from the Nazis occupying his Italian town. The guard threatens to shoot an old woman unless the thief, named Benito, reveals himself. One by one, every young boy in the line steps forward. Turns out that the Italian government had given a $1 check to every family who named their son after their leader, and the community was poor enough that every boy born in the last 10 years or so was named Benito. |
| 106 | * The Creator/MarxBrothers movie ''Theatre/AnimalCrackers'' does this, in a very confusing way. ''Some''one at the party stole the painting, and everybody has a different idea who did it. People who know they didn't start taking credit to [[TakingTheHeat save their loved ones]], or, in Groucho's case, [[{{Troll}} just to be confusing]], while the real culprits remain inconspicuously silent. Harpo ends up taking the rap, and then uses sleeping gas on everyone, including, for some reason, himself. |
| 107 | * Subverted in ''Film/BatmanForever'': Two-Face holds a circus hostage with a giant bomb, saying that he'll kill everyone unless Batman reveals his secret identity. Bruce Wayne immediately stands up and ''tries'' to reveal his identity, but his confession is completely lost in the noise and screams of the crowd. |
| 108 | * ''Film/{{Bruiser}}'': During the masquerade, Rosie announces to Det. [=McCleary=] that she is the killer Faceless. Henry, who really is Faceless, instead calls out that he is Faceless. At this point, various party guests, most of whom have no idea what is going on, start yelling that they are Faceless. |
| 109 | * In Creator/AbbottAndCostello's service comedy ''Buck Privates Come Home'', a six-year-old orphan named Evey is discovered hiding out in an Army troop ship. She's discovered by the hated Sgt. Collins who intends to turn her over to the authorities. |
| 110 | --> '''A soldier:''' How about pretending you didn't see her?\ |
| 111 | '''Sgt. Collins:''' Oh sure, sure. And lose my stripes for it. Then what?\ |
| 112 | '''Another soldier:''' You might become a regular guy\ |
| 113 | '''Sgt. Collins:''' ''[angrily]'' Who said that?\ |
| 114 | '''All the Soldiers:''' I did.\ |
| 115 | '''Evey:''' I did. |
| 116 | * It happens in ''Film/TheCommuter''. The film revolves around a search for a mysterious train passenger known as Prynne. Near the end, when someone demands to know once and for all who Prynne is, the real Prynne, [[spoiler: a young girl who was being targeted for assassination for witnessing the murder of her cousin by corrupt cops]], stands up and confesses, but then the other passengers do the same thing. Subverted when a conductor declares, "I, for one, am not Prynne, so...". |
| 117 | * Used in ''Film/CopAndAHalf'' when the gangsters round up all the kids at recess searching for Devon. |
| 118 | * In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', when Bruce Wayne is about to turn himself over as Batman to appease the Joker, Harvey Dent announces that he is the Batman, and that he wishes to be taken into custody. |
| 119 | * ''Film/InAndOut'': "I'm (x) and I'm gay!" (one gets the reply: "You can't be gay! You're a tramp!") |
| 120 | * In the Turkish cult ''Kara Murat'' Film Series, the enemy soldiers ask which one of the prisoners is Kara Murat [[OnceAnEpisode at least once per movie]]. Every time, everyone claims to be him. |
| 121 | * ''Film/{{Immortals}}'' features the mythical oracles. In this film version loosely based on classical mythology, there are four orcales, but only one of them is the true oracle. The other three are there to protect her identity, and they all will identify themselves as the oracle. [[spoiler:When three of the four are brought before Hyperion, he quickly discerns (once he learns there were four of them) that the escapee is the true oracle and disposes of them...in an extremely disturbing manner.]] |
| 122 | * The Creator/EddieMurphy / Creator/MartinLawrence prison film ''Film/{{Life|1999}}''. The Warden's daughter, Mae Rose, gives birth to a ChocolateBaby, so he lines up all of his inmates and demands to know who the father is. In order to protect the actual father, they all step forward to claim paternity and the Warden is implied to resign in shame. |
| 123 | * ''Film/LittleAnnieRooney'': When Annie finally confesses to flinging the brick that spooked the horse, all her friends each say that no, they did it. |
| 124 | * Parodied in ''Film/{{Lolita}}'', when Humbert Humbert asks Clare Quilty, "Are you Quilty?" |
| 125 | -->'''Clare:''' [[SarcasticConfession No, I'm Spartacus. Have you come to free the slaves or something?]] |
| 126 | * ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'', played for laughs. When a guard searches for Zorro in a crowded dungeon, a clearly unhinged old man steps forward and [[NapoleonDelusion insists that he's Zorro.]] Half of the prisoners then rush forward to make the same claim. Whether this is out of delusion, defiance, a desperate hope to get out of their cell, or an actual desire to protect the real Zorro, it's never made entirely clear. Given the conditions in the prison, some combination of all of those would be plausible. The ''real'' Zorro meanwhile, seems to be the only man who ''doesn't'' come forward. |
| 127 | * From ''Film/MeetDave'': After the Captain regains control of Dave from the [[AntiMutiny mutinous Number Two]], he asks the crew for their input regarding the decision of whether or not they should save Earth. |
| 128 | --> '''Number Three:''' I say we save Earth. I no longer feel like Number Three. My life ''began'' on this planet. I am Dave Ming Cheng!\ |
| 129 | '''Chief Engineer:''' I have 443 new friends on Website/MySpace, and a J-date next week with Sheila Moscowicz. I am Dave Ming Cheng!\ |
| 130 | ''[one by one, other crew members from all over the ship declare proudly, "I am Dave Ming Cheng!"... except for Number Four, the security officer]''\ |
| 131 | '''Number Four:''' I am Johnny Dazzles, and I am ''[[CampGay fabulous!]]'' ''[beat]'' What? Not ''everybody'' has to be Dave Ming Cheng. |
| 132 | * ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', intentionally parodies this trope by inverting it, as the "Spartacus" that they're looking for is the person whom they're going to ''set free''. ("I'm Brian, and so's my wife!") |
| 133 | * In ''Mrs. Winterbourne'', upon a police detective informing them about a recent murder, all three main characters as well as the butler each insist that they committed the murder, giving incorrect details in the process. The bewildered detective tells them that they already have the (real) confessed murderer in back of the police car parked at the curb; she just wondered about a check with the Winterbourne name on it found at the murder scene. |
| 134 | * ''Film/TheNinthCircle'': The setting is Nazi-occupied Europe. The fascist militia, who have taken over the art college, assemble all the students in the quad. They order any students who have relationships with Jews to walk over to the left. Nearly the entire student body walks over to the left. |
| 135 | * In the french film ''La nouvelle guerre des boutons'', [[SettingUpdate an adaptation set during WWII,]] [[CanonForeigner a little Jewish girl named Myriam]] hide, under the CodeName of Violette, in the village of Longeverne while posing as the notions dealer 's goddaughter. She's denounced near the end, and [[LesCollaborateurs militiamen]] come to arrest her. One militiaman stops in the girls playground and ask is one of them is named Violette. One of the girls yell "I am!", followed by all the others, assuring they're all named Violette. |
| 136 | * Used in one of the final scenes of ''Film/RadioRebel'': The principal announces that she'll expel Tara for her antics as Radio Rebel and the whole student body stands up and claims to be Radio Rebel, including, eventually, the AlphaBitch who had mistreated Tara for most of the movie. |
| 137 | * In the British MadeForTVMovie ''Self-Catering'' John Gordon-Sinclair recounts a dream he had in which he was Spartacus, and decided to keep quiet. And suddenly everyone was pointing at him and saying "''He's'' Spartacus!" |
| 138 | * ''Film/SevenBridesForSevenBrothers'' twists the trope. When the townsfolk arrive to rescue the kidnapped girls and hear a baby crying, the six unwed girls claim in unison to be the baby's mother, leading to a sixfold ShotgunWedding (exactly what the girls and their kidnappers/suitors wanted). The baby ''actually'' belonged to the one ''wed'' couple. |
| 139 | * The trope name comes from the famous (and genuinely moving) scene in ''Film/{{Spartacus}}''. The scene involves several Roman soldiers asking the slaves to identify Spartacus so they can crucify him, promising amnesty so long as they identify the rebel leader. Spartacus is about to speak, when suddenly slaves left and right begin claiming to be Spartacus. Eventually, they ''all'' say they're Spartacus, [[spoiler: [[DownerEnding so the Romans just crucify all of them except Spartacus and Antoninus, who they force to fight to the death (]]''[[DownerEnding then]]'' [[DownerEnding they crucify Spartacus after he wins).]]]] |
| 140 | * Played straight in ''Film/{{Stalag 17}}'', when one of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POW POW]]s throws an ocarina and it splashes mud on the Commandant of the camp. |
| 141 | * ''Film/SupermanII'': The Vice President attempts to fool General Zod by [[KneelBeforeZod standing (er, ''kneeling'') in]] for the actual President. Naturally, Zod sees right through it: "No one who leads so many could possibly kneel so quickly..." |
| 142 | * ''Film/ThatThingYouDo''. A repeated theme in the film, shouted by Guy. At first, it's him as a leader. Finally, when he's the last member of the band not to quit, it's a quiet irony - and the name of his drum solo with Del Paxton. |
| 143 | * ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'' with the people of the small town all claiming to be drag queens. |
| 144 | * In ''Utilities'', during the climactic courtroom hearing about a gas and electricity price hike the hero needs to stall for time and confesses that he is the wanted criminal known as "The Finger".[[note]]He broke into offices of several companies (electricity and gas, phone...) and messed with their billing, thus helping the poor people with large debts. The nickname was coined by the press after he accidentally left a handprint similar to a [[FlippingTheBird certain rude gesture]] and someone dubbed it "The Finger of God". Later a CorruptCorporateExecutive hired a criminal to destroy his company's property and leave "The Finger" graffiti in an effort to achieve public sympathy. The hero knows full well he'll be held responsible for those explosions too.[[/note]] Then a lot of people both in the courtroom and on the streets start saying "No! I am the Finger!" |
| 145 | * At the end of ''Film/VForVendetta'', everyone in London dons the Guy Fawkes mask and becomes "the terrorist". |
| 146 | * In ''Film/WildRose1932'', when Xiao is confessing to having picked up the drunk guy's wallet, all three of her male companions say that no, they did it. Eventually Jiang and Li are arrested. |
| 147 | * Subverted in ''A World Gone Mad'', where the heroes offer up TheMole, claiming (falsely) that he's their real leader. The bad guys buy it, because only the BigBad even knows there ''is'' a Mole. The grunts just think the Mole's protests that he's on their side are just cowardly last words. Further subverted later on; the grunts let the heroes go, but they realize the Mole was carrying all their food (and they're stuck in the middle of the desert). |
| 148 | * Inverted in ''Film/{{Zodiac|2007}}'', where reporters afraid of being targeted by Zodiac, who has threatened reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), begin to wear buttons that say "I'm Not Paul Avery." The only one showed prominently ''is on Paul Avery.'' |
| 149 | [[/folder]] |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 152 | * The Chinese folktale ''The Five Brothers'' features identical quintuplets who each have some kind of superpower. After one of them accidentally kills a boy (in a situation that's [[DeathByMaterialism completely the dead boy's fault]]) another of the brothers is immune to the execution method he is sentenced to and stands in for him. The executioners try again the next day with a different method that another of the brothers is immune to, and so on (the one with a hard neck is immune to execution but not drowning, the one with stretching legs is immune to drowning but not being burned alive, etc.). After they all take their turn and the trick is revealed, the judge declares that [[FailedExecutionNoSentence this prolonged failure of executions must indicate that the first brother is innocent, freeing them]]. |
| 153 | * There was a Caribbean folk tale about a little girl named Anna who found out her stepmother was going to sell her to a man. When Anna told her friends what was going on, they all agreed to dress like her and claim to be named Anna. |
| 154 | * In a Haitian variant of the story recorded in Kathleen Ragan's anthology ''Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters'' the girl's name who was supposed to be sold was Tipingee, and all claimed to be her. |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 158 | * A joke that's usually told like an urban legend: An airplane employee named John Gay is taking a flight using one of the free tickets he gets from his job. Not liking his assigned seat, he switches with someone else. Unfortunately, the plane is overbooked, so the flight attendant has to go and ask people to give up their seats, starting with holders of free tickets. She asks the man who took Mr. Gay's seat "Are you Gay?" He says "[[WhosOnFirst Well, yes, miss, I am.]]" She says, "You'll have to give up your seat." Realizing what happened, the actual John Gay stands up and says "no, no, I'm Gay." A third man stands up and says "Hell, I'm gay too. They can't throw all of us off the plane." |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 162 | * ''Literature/MythAdventures'': In ''Class Dis-Mythed'', when Skeeve sneaks back to Perv, a dimension from which he's been banished, to support his students' efforts to win a reality-show contest. When he's spotted by police and about to be arrested, his students first claim he's a Skeeve impersonator from the program cast; when that fails to convince the cops, they use illusions to assume their teacher's likeness and distract them as he escapes. |
| 163 | * In one of the ''Literature/PhulesCompany'' books, the new CO sent to [[TyrantTakesTheHelm replace Phule]] demands to know who made a wisecrack about him while hidden in the crowd of Legionnaires. Several of them step up and take the blame, including one of the two Sinthians (sluglike aliens)--[[StealthPun whose name really is Spatacus]]. |
| 164 | * Shannon Hale's ''Literature/PrincessAcademy''. The girls who were candidates to marry the prince are captured by bandits, who demand to know which is the future princess so they can hold her for ransom. (The prince actually left without making a decision, but the bandits don't believe it.) One girl speaks up and claims the prince secretly proposed to her. When another girl who hadn't even met the prince makes the same claim, the rest catch on and claim he proposed to all of them. This confuses the bandits enough that they don't dare kill anyone until they know which girl is the princess. Indeed, the chief bandit even wonders if the prince is such a cad that he falsely offered his hand to all of them! |
| 165 | * Pulled off by an entire colonial New England town in the novel ''The Raider'' by Jude Deveraux. Masked vigilante and local hero Raider gets caught by the British authorities and is on trial when an impostor dressed as the Raider bursts into the room. And another. And yet another one still. Eventually, it is revealed that the entire town had come together and all dressed up as the Raider (even the cow was painted black) in order to stand by their hero and acquit the actual Raider - and it works. |
| 166 | * Featured twice and played with in the ''Franchise/{{Star Trek|ExpandedUniverse}}'' novel ''Crossover''. Spock is on Romulus, secretly and illegally teaching Vulcan philosophy and mental discipline to Romulans (who are descended from Vulcans who rejected Surak's teachings and don't control their emotions the way Vulcans do). Spock and his students are once again rounded up. One of the group claims to be the leader and is promptly shot. Later, the Romulans work out one of the people they're holding is Spock and demand he step forward, and everyone claims to be Spock. They ask a spy who had infiltrated the prisoners which one is Spock but he refuses to say, having been won over by Spock's teachings, and is slated to die with the others. Spock knew he was the traitor all along and was trying hard to teach him in order for at least one student to survive. (In the end, most of them escape, including the traitor.) |
| 167 | * This trope is perhaps the reason why all of the LaResistance members are code-named "Jacques" in ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' (an early version of [[Website/FourChan Anonymous]], perhaps, as "Jacques" was the most common male name at the time); in private meetings, they refer to each other as "Jacques [Number Whatever]" to tell each other apart. |
| 168 | * The short story "The Three Lime Trees", by Creator/HermannHesse. When a young man is wrongfully accused of murder, his older brother claims to be the murderer to save him and he's released. Soon, their eldest brother comes to town to do exactly the same... and the younger brother (who didn't know his siblings were taking up the blame for the "crime") returns to the courtroom and says that ''he'' was the killer, so his siblings must be released. The judge decides to leave it to God's judgement and makes the siblings plant three lime trees by their crowns, thinking that the one that withers sooner will signal who is the true culprit... so when ''none'' of the trees wither and dry, but start growing healthy and normal, the three brothers are released. |
| 169 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 170 | ** In William King's novel ''Literature/SpaceWolf'', when a brawl breaks out among the aspirants, their teacher demands to know who is responsible. The ones who started the fight admit it, and the rest pile in, to admit to joining. When asked if they all deserve punishment, they agree. |
| 171 | ** In ''[[Literature/HorusHeresy Legion]]'', all the Alpha Legion are Alpharius, at least to outsiders. Magnificent Bastardry is their [[PlanetOfHats hat]], and having the entire legion appear virtually alike is important to much of their scheming. |
| 172 | * A story in 1992 ''Film/WaynesWorld'' tie-in book ''Extreme Close-Up'' by Mike Myers and Robin Ruzan. Wayne, Garth, and friends are throwing snowballs at cars; a police car pulls up and they all run away, but Garth drops his notebook with his name in it. The next day, a police officer comes to school and asks, "Which one of you is Garth Algar?" Everyone in the classroom, in turn, stands up and says "I am Garth Algar!" — all except Garth, who stands up and says "I am Spartacus!" |
| 173 | * In ''Literature/WaysideSchool is Falling Down'', the students are pulling various pranks on the substitute teacher, Ms. Franklin. One of the boys in the class was hoping to use that day to reveal that his name is Benjamin, not Mark like everyone thinks. When Ms. Franklin asks him his name, he tells her it's Benjamin. The other kids think he's in on their pranks and when she asks the other students' names, they each say "Benjamin" which she either believes or goes along with. [[spoiler:At the end, she claims her name is also "Benjamin."]] |
| 174 | * In Herman Wouk's ''[[Literature/TheWindsOfWarAndWarAndRemembrance The Winds of War]]'', Leslie Slote, a diplomatic secretary from the American embassy in Warsaw during the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII German invasion]] who is timid and [[TheSoCalledCoward considers himself a coward]]. While traveling through German territory with other neutral diplomats an SS officer tries to separate the Jews. Slote berates the officer with an imperious lecture on national sovereignity rights and announces that either all of the party or none are to be treated as Jews. |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | |
| 177 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 178 | * This happens in ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': when NTAC agents try to arrest teenaged {{Cult}} leader Graham[[note]]whose power is to unconsciously make everyone with whom he comes into contact worship him[[/note]] in "The Wrath of Graham". As his followers, [[LostInACrowd who are all wearing identical]] [[InTheHood hoodies]], each step forward claiming to be him, the agents are so overwhelmed sorting through them that Graham manages to sneak up and use his power on them. |
| 179 | * When Gibson gets fired in an episode of ''Series/ANTFarm'', the A.N.Ts stand up to [[SadistTeacher Principal Skidmore]] by dressing up like Gibson and one by one threaten to drop out of the A.N.T program ("If that Gibson is leaving, then this Gibson is leaving too", "So does this Gibson", "So does this Gibson", etc.), which convinces Skidmore to rehire Gibson. |
| 180 | * ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' featured patients of a doctor/war criminal who were all brainwashed into claiming they were the doctor so the real one couldn't be identified. |
| 181 | * ''Series/AlteredCarbon'' takes place in a future where people can BodySurf into different sleeves. At the start of Season 2, a man walks into a BadGuyBar with a BriefcaseFullOfMoney to pay his debt to Takeshi Kovacs. Naturally several badasses claim to be him and start fighting for possession of the case. The man departs during the confusion and a bomb hidden in the briefcase blows up the bar. Unfortunately he missed killing the real Kovacs, who was [[GenderBender disguised as the female lounge singer.]] |
| 182 | * A variation appears in ''Series/BadGirls''. Larkhall is in the midst of a police investigation after the murder of Fenner, the sadistic wing governor. His killer, Julie J, can't cope with the guilt any longer and confesses to the crime. Her friend, wanting to protect her, claims that Julie J is lying, and that she is the real killer. Seeing this, another prisoner stands up and claims to be the real killer, followed by another, then another, until almost the entire wing is claiming to be the killer, due to their shared hatred of the tyrannical governor. |
| 183 | * In the Swiss series ''Series/BestFriends'', the school administration demands to know who was behind the vandalism campaign at school. Similar to Spartacus, two students stand up simultaneously, followed by the rest of the class standing up one by one. |
| 184 | * Subverted in the memorable episode of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' in which Peter breaks a vase. The gambit fails when all the kids except Peter confess. |
| 185 | * One storyline of ''Series/{{Casualty}}'' had ObstructiveBureaucrat Nathan Spence pricking himself on a syringe left in a normal waste bin. It had actually been put there by a visitor to the hospital but he is determined to find a staffmember to blame and tries to get a health care assistant with mental health issues to admit he might have done it and forgotten. TeamDad Charlie, determined to put an end to the witch hunt, announces he did it. Nathan looks smug...but then a doctor says she did it. And then a nurse does the same. And the consultant. |
| 186 | * In the Mexican sitcom ''Series/{{Chespirito}}'', it comes up in a sketch taking place in the headquarters of the army, where a colonel is trying to find out who his daughter, an army nurse, is dating. The likely suspects are a captain, a sergeant, and a private. When the colonel says that whoever tells him the truth will not be recommended to test an experimental parachute that has had a high failure rate, the private is about to rat out the sergeant, but decides to take pity on him and the nurse, and says he's the boyfriend. However, the sergeant admits that he's the boyfriend, and then the captain says he's the boyfriend. When the colonel demands to know who's the real boyfriend, the private says, "it's the three of us." The nurse then nervously admits the sergeant is real boyfriend. |
| 187 | * Used in ''Series/TheCityHunter'': the hero arranges for fans of the [[VigilanteMan City Hunter]] to gather outside the prosecutor's office at a certain time, [[LostInACrowd all wearing black masks]]. The deception doesn't last long, but does provide him cover to sneak in and out (almost) unnoticed. |
| 188 | * In the ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' episode "And God Created Woodman", Woody and Sam each take a turn confessing to breaking a vase that was actually broken by Rebecca. |
| 189 | * Spoofed in the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS3E02GeographyOfGlobalConflict Geography of Global Conflict]]", in which the study group is doing well in the Model UN competition Annie's roped them into until they fall apart due to a smelly fart that no one will admit to. After melting down a bit, Annie tries to fix things by saying she did it, but then Jeff admits it. He's telling the truth, but the others assume he's trying to invoke the trope and all proudly say that they farted too. Annoyed, Jeff comments that he [[LampshadeHanging "wasn't doing the Spartacus thing"]]. |
| 190 | * ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In S12, [=Ep2=], "Tell Tale Hearts" The team run afoul of this trope when 3 different individuals confess to a multiple homicide. |
| 191 | * In "The New Principal" Season 4 episode of ''Series/DennisTheMenace'', Johnny Brady draws a picture of the principal and forges Dennis's name, which frames Dennis for detention, with John Wilson, Mr. Finch the pharmacist, and Mr. Quigley the grocer claiming to be Henry Mitchell in order to convince the principal of Dennis's innocence; when Henry Mitchell actually shows up, the principal dismisses Dennis and his neighbors in time for the baseball game. |
| 192 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii The Fires of Pompeii]]", when Donna and the Doctor visit Pompeii, the Doctor claims that he is Spartacus when a local asks him who he is. Donna follows suit. As this is Ancient [[strike:Rome]] Pompeii, where no-one would get the reference, they're taken completely seriously. |
| 193 | * Lampshaded in ''Series/DogWithABlog'', they had Avery explain the "truth" about what happened to their mother's car. It doesn't help that their talking dog did it, but they try to claim this trope (to protect said dog) until Chloe says, "I... am Asparagus," and the parents figure it out. |
| 194 | * ''Series/TheFugitive'': "Nightmare at Northoak" ends with a variation of this: InspectorJavert Gerard accuses a small-town sheriff of having helped Kimble (who'd rescued several of the town's children from a burning school bus) to escape from the local jail while awaiting extradition, and threatens to bring him before a grand jury for aiding and abetting a fugitive. The sheriff's wife then steps forward to confess to it, and Gerard tells her she'll have to be arrested...leading to a whole roomful of townspeople standing up one by one and "confessing" to him. Gerard, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knowing when to fold them]], only leaves silently with all the dignity he has left. |
| 195 | * PlayedWith in an episode of ''Series/GetSmart''. Kaos agents stop a bus and make everyone get off and line up in the road. Then they ask if the Control agent traveling undercover will please step forward. He will be set free, and the others will be killed horribly. Naturally, everyone steps forward to save their own skin... except the Control agent, since no undercover agent will willingly reveal his identity. The Kaos agents let everyone who stepped forward leave and capture the Control agent. |
| 196 | * ''Series/GilligansIsland''. In the episode "Slave Girl", Gilligan saves a native girl from drowning and she becomes his slave due to IOweYouMyLife. Later on a male native threatens to kill the girl's master so he can take control of her. In order to protect Gilligan, first The Professor and then the Skipper say that they are actually her master. |
| 197 | * Done on ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' when the interns are questioned over the situation that forced Denny Duquette's heart transplant. Izzie, Cristina, Meredith and George all confess to cutting his wire, one at a time. Alex says. "I'm totally innocent." The others turn on him but he points out that he wasn't even in the building at the time. |
| 198 | ** It happens again in Season 15, when Meredith, Richard and Alex all admit that they've committed insurance fraud. The similarities to the LVAD wire scene are even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Bailey. Eventually they admit that, while Meredith was the one who actually did it, they are all guilty of covering it up. |
| 199 | * ''Series/HappyDays'' had a variant where a local law enforcement official (reflecting ExecutiveMeddling concerns) goes after Fonzie because of his black leather jacket, which makes him look like a thug. By the end of the episode, ''everyone'' is wearing one in solidarity. |
| 200 | * ''Series/{{Heartbeat}}'' did an episode involving some Chinese travellers poaching Lord Ashfordley's trout stream, and also teaching Peggy and David how to go about it. When the bobbies demanded to know who was responsible, everybody confessed. |
| 201 | * The fourth season of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' had a slight variation. In the episode "Hercules on Trial" a prosecutor declares that Hercules is a criminal, whereupon numerous people claim "I am Hercules — punish me." In this case the judge knows perfectly well who the real Hercules is, but is so impressed by the show of support that he says "Case dismissed — I am Hercules too". |
| 202 | * An early ''Series/HomeAndAway'' storyline saw the church hall committee cancel a dance out of safety concerns. Pippa felt they were overreacting so arranged to have the committee out of the way so they could hold the dance without their permission. The committee were not impressed and wanted her charged with breaking and entering. At that point, Floss and Neville told the police it was actually them that did it, as did Frank, as did Lance and Martin. The police quickly concluded there was no way of telling which confession was real so dropped the charges. |
| 203 | * Happens in ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' where everyone decided to claim they were the ones who took the key to the attic in order to protect Nina (Who did actually confess after everyone else honestly said it wasn't them, leading for Fabian to jump up and claim he had lied and she was actually just covering for ''him.'') In the end Victor simply punished everyone, including someone who wasn't even involved in the scene to pretend they took the key in the first place. |
| 204 | * In the first part of the ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' season 7 finale "Magician's Code: Part 1", Marshall and Barney are riding a bus full of elderly citizens trying to reach the hospital where Lily is in labor. The bus drives by the hospital, but the driver says he can only stop the bus in case of medical emergency. Fortunately, all the seniors on the bus start proclaiming that they have a heart attack forcing the driver to pull over so that Marshall can see the birth of his child. |
| 205 | * Played straight in ''Series/TheInvaders1967'', when aliens disguised as military demand to know which of the intruders on their base is David Vincent. Fortunately, Vincent has at least managed to convince the others that the soldiers are fakes. |
| 206 | * ''Series/{{JAG}}'': {{Lampshaded}} in "Desert Son". Harm and Reed get into a fist fight. Later, General Butler demands to know who started it. In unison, both men declare "I did!" General Butler is not impressed, and demands that someone explain to him what happened. |
| 207 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'', at the end of the first season: |
| 208 | -->'''Gunman:''' We just want Raylan Givens!\ |
| 209 | '''Raylan:''' I'm Raylan Givens!\ |
| 210 | '''Boyd:''' No, ''I'm'' Raylan Givens!\ |
| 211 | '''Raylan:''' Are you tryin' to be funny?\ |
| 212 | '''Boyd:''' Little bit. |
| 213 | * ''Series/KungFu2021'': In "Sanctuary" there's a variation when Joe is about to get arrested for allegedly inciting a riot. Everyone else there claims they've incited a riot too. This confuses and delays the cops long enough to uncover a video showing he did no such thing, so they leave. |
| 214 | * In the ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' episode "Pop", the detectives know that the titular (and AssholeVictim) dad was killed by either his stepson or his wife. The evidence points to both equally. Both of them confess to it, ensuring the detectives can't charge either one. |
| 215 | * In the third episode of the ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'', the mother of the Seeker speaks up during an inquiry and rouses her village to defy the D'Hara. Afterward, she reveals her identity to them, thus condemning herself to punishment, which inspires the rest of the women of the village also speak up and claim to be the Seeker's mother as well. [[spoiler: Though, it turns out she's not either]]. |
| 216 | * Spoofed in the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' parody of ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''. To get Stanley out of marrying Oberon, Puck transforms himself, Xev, and Kai into identical Stanley clones. At Oberon's demands, all of them claim to be the real Puck ''and'' to be the real Stan. (Their wording and delivery makes it clear who's whom, but Oberon reasons that Stan is disguised as the ''least'' desirable prospect and winds up sealing a 1500-year vow with Titania the bearded dwarf wench.) |
| 217 | * In the first episode of ''Life on a Stick'', Mr. Hut demands to know who was misusing the deep fryer. Laz confesses, but then so does everyone else in the stall. |
| 218 | * ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Luke, on the run due to being framed as a cop killer, ends up saving [[Music/WuTangClan Method Man]] from a convenience store robbery by two inept crooks. Out of gratitude, Method Man trades his hoodie with Luke to help him hide from the cops. After that, he freestyles on the radio about his encounter, during which we see a montage of black men around Harlem donning bullet-ridden hoodies to confuse the police and show solidarity with Luke. |
| 219 | * Done in ''Series/MadanSenkiRyukendo''. The people of Akebono pretend to be Ryukendo while Kenji, the actual Ryukendo, is figuring out how to break down the dome covering the city. Dr. Worm and the {{Mooks}} are confused by the Spartacus act, as evidenced by the number of question marks that appear above their heads. |
| 220 | * ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': In season 3, a bounty hunter tracks down a small community of Jewish refugees posing as Catholics somewhere in the Neutral territories. After he holds one of them at gunpoint, [[spoiler:Frank Fink]], who is still alive, stands up and tells him to take him instead, since he's also a Jew. One by one, everyone else also stands up and tells him to take them too, before he's shot from a distance by a gun-toting resident. |
| 221 | * ''Series/{{MASH}}'': |
| 222 | ** A variation appeared in the episode "Operation Noselift". A plastic surgeon visits the 4077th to perform a nose job on a soldier. When [[ButtMonkey Major Burns]] gets wind of this unauthorized 'elective surgery', he tries to find out who's had a nose job. Unfortunately for Frank, everyone in the camp chooses to wear bandages on their noses, even the camp mascot, thus foiling Frank yet again. |
| 223 | ** Another variation occurred in "Officers Only" when the camp got a new Officer's Club as a thank you for saving a general's son. The club was creating tension between the officers and enlisted men, who were not allowed in the club. When said son, a sergeant, came into the club, Hawkeye pointed out it was officers only, but suggested an exception for relatives. When the general agreed, Hawkeye proceeded to bring in everyone in camp, claiming a convoluted family tree that made everyone related to him. (From that point on, it's an Officer's Club in name only.) |
| 224 | * Alex in ''Series/ModernFamily'' proposes this as a way for she and her siblings to get out of being collectively punished for burning the couch[[note]]which none of them actually did[[/note]], but it's actually a trick to get Luke, the dumbest of the three, to take the blame. |
| 225 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger", [[AsHimself Willie Nelson]] is the prime suspect of a murder. Captain Stottlemeyer arrives at the radio station to arrest him after a performance of his song "Georgia on My Mind". His three bandmates all step forth and say, in sequence, "I'm Willie Nelson." Given who Willie Nelson is, it doesn't work so well. |
| 226 | -->'''Willie Nelson:''' [[LampshadeHanging Don't think they're going for it, boys]]. |
| 227 | * ''Series/NaturallySadie'': In "Unusual Suspects", Sadie and Dr. Finch both confess to being the one who broke into Finch's store, each trying to protect the other. Ultimately the police decide no crime has been committed and let them go. |
| 228 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': In Season Ten's "[[Recap/NCISS10E11 Shabbat Shalom]]", a reporter, whose story might have falsely implicated some sailors in a crime, is found dead which results in them being called in. They all confess to killing the reporter. Tony later [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the four sailors. |
| 229 | * Used in an episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' about embarrassment. Suzie "blasted the pants cannon" and Ned claims that he was the one responsible but that he is not embarrassed. He then says, "I am [[{{Pun}} Fartacus]]!", causing the rest of the class to stand up one by one and make this claim. The AlphaBitch declares that she is totally not Fartacus... only for her to pass gas a few seconds after saying so. She reluctantly stands with the rest of the students. |
| 230 | * A variant occurs in "The Quad-Plex" episode of ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn''. The quads spend most of the episode trying to hide the fact that they are at the movies with their parents from the popular guy in their class, Moses. After finally being found out, other friends of theirs stand up in the theater to announce they are also with their parents. |
| 231 | * Parodied in ''Series/{{Outnumbered}}'', when Ben gets the role of Spartacus in a school musical: |
| 232 | -->'''Sue:''' So, you got a part?\ |
| 233 | '''Ben:''' Yeah.\ |
| 234 | '''Sue:''' Right, which one?\ |
| 235 | '''Ben:''' I'm Spartacus.\ |
| 236 | '''Pete:''' No, I'm Spartacus!\ |
| 237 | '''Jake:''' I'm Spartacus!\ |
| 238 | '''Ben:''' I'm going to hear that joke a lot, aren't I? |
| 239 | * ''{{Series/Pandora}}'': All of the Atria clones (along with those from other lines) proclaim "I am Atria 6" when the Seeker demands that she be turned over. [[spoiler:They are all killed for this.]] |
| 240 | * On the SoapOpera ''Series/PortCharles'', a sleazy reporter has come to the hospital having somehow found out that one of the staff members is HIV-positive. As he begins harassing the employees, including, unbeknown to him, the very nurse in question, one staff member after another begins to identify themself as the one with HIV. |
| 241 | * Final episode of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' "Countdown to Destruction" played straight, which had the entire city of Angel Grove, starting with [[ThoseTwoGuys Bulk and Skull]], telling the villains that they were Power Rangers. Made all the more epic, in that many of them were shown doubting the Power Rangers the night before. It's also played parallel to the UrExample when Astronema, who was the recipient, orders her foot soldiers to just kill everyone in Angel Grove. (Fortunately, the ''actual'' Power Rangers showed up in [[BigDamnHeroes the nick of time]].) |
| 242 | * A rather heartwarming example of this occurs in the second series of ''Series/PrincessReturningPearl''. When asked by the empress dowager who made the voodoo doll cursing the emperor that was found in the princess' residence and knowing that admitting to doing so basically leads to a death sentence, all of its residents (the princesses and their servants) ultimately admit to the deed and that only they and they alone had anything to do with it. Ironically, it was this very act that helped convince the empress dowager that they were ultimately innocent of the crime. |
| 243 | * Subverted in Canadian show ''Series/RadioActive'', when Ms. Atoll demands to know the identity of the mysterious "DJ X". The plan backfires when DJ X himself fails to claim that he is DJ X, thus singling him out as DJ X. |
| 244 | * Played straight in an episode of ''Series/RadioFreeRoscoe'' when Principal Waller insists that Question Mark identify himself. Robbie stands up, but before he speaks another character jumps up and says 'I am Question Mark'. Cue the entire assembly standing up and identifying itself as Question Mark. |
| 245 | * ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': A variation occurs in "Let's Call It Quits." Roseanne and her fellow workers at the Wellman Plastic Factory get a new boss, Mr. Faber, who treats the women like slaves. Roseanne tries to get him to ease off, but he only agrees if she promises to treat him with respect (which he has done ''nothing'' to earn). She reluctantly concedes...only for Mr. Faber to keep on abusing the staff, bragging that since he "broke" the strong-willed Roseanne, he knows that no one else will dare to oppose him. A furious Roseanne [[ResignInProtest grabs her time card and punches out to quit]], prompting Faber to sarcastically applaud her and remind the other women "there are two doors to this room--one that pays, and one that doesn't." But one by one, each of the women stands up, takes her own punch card, and quits as well. |
| 246 | * ''Series/SaluteYourShorts'': In one episode, after Michael and Sponge sneak out of the bunk to make an illicit phone call, hanging up on Ug's girlfriend in the process, Ug storms into the mess hall the next morning and demands to know who was sneaking out. Everyone stands up, except Sponge, who is nearly asleep. Ug sarcastically notes that Sponge was the only one who ''wasn't'' sneaking around. |
| 247 | * In the episode "Vow of Silence" of ''Series/TheSentinel'', one of the monks had before he joined the community been a labor organizer who had turned State's Evidence on the mob. A group of hit men had tracked him down and had the monks corralled. When they asked who was "Jackie Kozinski", all of the monks claimed to be him. |
| 248 | * In Episode 5 of the Netflix series ''Series/SexEducation'', a closeup of a girl's privates is texted around the student body in a slut-shaming attempt. At the end of the show the headmaster announces that the investigation into the identities of all involved is still ongoing (even though the plot has already been resolved by the students themselves). This results in one female student after another, and one male, standing up and proudly announcing, "It's ''my'' vagina!" |
| 249 | * In opening the GrandFinale of ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus: War of the Damned]]'', Spartacus has his men attack multiple Roman cities. At each one, soldiers declare "I am Spartacus" in the hope of confusing Marcus Crassus. It doesn't work. And then at the very end, the last scene in the credits is the late Andy Whitfield reminding us all that ''he'' is Spartacus. |
| 250 | * LampshadeHanging in ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Insiders" where all the Ba'als claim to be the real Ba'al, and Mitchell refers to them as "Spartacus" (somewhere in the midst of the [[HurricaneOfPuns hurricane of baseball puns]] prompted by the name "Ba'al" and the word "ball"). |
| 251 | * The basic premise of ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'', where contestants 1, 2, and 3 start off by claiming "My name is John Doe, and I (do unusual activity)." The real claimant to the unusual activity stands up at the end, and the impostors reveal their real names and occupations. |
| 252 | * A villainous variation occurs in ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010''. After interrogating a Saviour about the whereabouts of his boss, Negan, the man replies, "''I'm'' Negan." Later, when the real Negan is trying to break [[spoiler:Daryl]], he points to each of his men and asks them who they are. Every one of them replies with "Negan". |
| 253 | -->'''Negan:''' I am everywhere. |
| 254 | * Done in Season Eight of ''Series/WaterlooRoad''. Barry Barry begins to sexually harass Miss Diamond, even breaking into her house ''and stealing her underwear.'' When he reveals this during a sexual health class, she slaps him without thinking. Barry, in an effort to get her fired, tries to make everyone in the class publicly admit they saw it happen. They respond by each coming forward and saying ''they'' were the one who slapped Barry. Miss Diamond still ends up resigning though. |
| 255 | * ''Series/{{Willow}}'': Jade says she's Elora along with the real Elora when the trolls come to get her. Sarris, their leader, is more practical than most and says they'll take both of them. |
| 256 | * ''Series/TheWonderYears'' episode "Day One" has Kevin being picked on by a tyrannical political science teacher. At one point he absentmindedly tears a sheet of paper from his notebook, violating one of the teacher's study-hall rules; the teacher whips around, demanding, "Who did that?", sees Kevin with the sheet in his hand, and begins to assign him a week's detention...when the rest of the class begin tearing sheets out of ''their'' notebooks, one by one. |
| 257 | * ''Series/TheWorstWitch'': In the 2017 series to save Miss Hubble from punishment for supposedly getting Mildred to cast an unauthorized spell (she actually did it herself) most of the girls in her art class claim they were the ones who did this instead. |
| 258 | * The first season of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' did this, in the episode "The Black Wolf". An entire village stands up claiming to be the vigilante ninja who protects them from the local warlord, and the warlord takes them all hostage against the reveal of the real thing. |
| 259 | * The boys intentionally set this up during "Prank Week" in ''Series/Zoey101'' to save Zoey from getting expelled. |
| 260 | [[/folder]] |
| 261 | |
| 262 | [[folder: Mythology and Religion]] |
| 263 | * ''Literature/TheTalmud'' in tractate Sanhedrin brings a couple of I Am Spartacus stories. |
| 264 | ** It's kicked off by a story in which Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel brought together seven judges to declare a leap year but eight showed up and he demanded to know which one wasn't invited. This one isn't an example because one person simply took the fall for the real culprit, but it's followed by two examples. |
| 265 | ** Rebbe was teaching and smelled garlic. He hated the smell of garlic (and everybody knew it, so there were no excuses), so he announced "Whoever ate garlic, leave." Rabbi Chiyya got up and left, but he was Rebbe's prized student and was obviously not the culprit - so one by one everyone else got up and left too, to save the real one from embarrassment. |
| 266 | ** A woman came to the school run by Rabbi Meir, and stated that she had had relations (of a type equivalent to a binding marriage contract) with one of the students but didn't know which one. Rabbi Meir himself wrote her a bill of divorce, followed by every single one of his students, thus ensuring the divorce took place without embarrassing the student in question. |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 270 | * The ''Series/SesameStreet'' "Monsterpiece Theater" sketch "[[Series/IClaudius Me, Claudius]]" is a parody of this: it consists entirely of a bunch of Muppets arguing over which one of them is Claudius. |
| 271 | [[/folder]] |
| 272 | |
| 273 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 274 | * In the ''Jack and Millie'' episode "Hot Yoga", Millie repeatedly references ''Sparticus'' in telling her friend Shirley she'll always be there for her. When Shirley faces the consequences of ignoring her gluten intolerence in front of her hot yoga guru, Millie leads the rest of the group in declaring "''I'm'' Farticus!" |
| 275 | [[/folder]] |
| 276 | |
| 277 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 278 | * ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' lore has one of these, too. [[http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/es/20030108es Such is]] the mystery of [[TheCasanova Phlambror's]] death. "He was murdered by an enraged husband, and no one was ever punished for the crime despite the garthraun arresting a man red-handed (literally bloody-handed, over the body). As it turns out, no less than four hundred men came forward to claim that they'd slain Phlambror." |
| 279 | * The ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' army book for the Skaven relates a tale that's a direct parody of the TropeNamer. In it, a Skavenslave named Scabbicus launches a slave revolt against his Skaven rulers. When the rebellion is put down, the slaves are promised amnesty if they give up Scabbicus. [[DirtyCoward Ten thousand slaves immediately point Scabbicus out]] - after which they're all executed anyway, of course. |
| 280 | * The Alpha Legion of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' do this all the time. Even to their allies. Perhaps especially to their allies, since no one even knows who their allies are. "I am Alpharius." "I am Alpharius." "I am Alpharius." "We are legion, and we are one." In the Horus Heresy novel "Deliverance Lost" it is revealed that they use this trope on themselves. No one, not even in the Legion itself knows who the real Alpharius is, especially since the real Alpharius is the same size as the rest of his normal Legion Astartes, and [[spoiler:the actual Alpharius was killed fighting Rogal Dorn during the Horus Heresy, and his twin brother Omegon is still alive somewhere]]. |
| 281 | ** Given the fact that at least some of the Alpha Legion does serve Chaos, and many rumors point to it being Alpharius's half (the same rumors claim his twin Omegon is disguising his half as a group of loyalist chapters), it's possible that they all actually BELIEVE they're Alpharius. |
| 282 | ** In the 7E Chaos Space Marines codex supplement which adds rules for playing as the original traitor legions, the Alpha Legion's unique rule lets them pick another character in their army and designate them as a Warlord whenever the current Warlord dies, making it almost impossible for your opponent to score Slay the Warlord unless they kill ''every'' character in your force. |
| 283 | [[/folder]] |
| 284 | |
| 285 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 286 | * ''Theatre/{{Aida|JohnRice}}'' has one of the other Nubian slaves claim to be Aida to prevent the real Aida's capture. |
| 287 | * This trope is known in Spanish as "Fuente Ovejuna", after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuenteovejuna a famous play of that name]] and [[BasedOnATrueStory the real history behind it]] by Baroque Spanish play-writer Lope de Vega. After the mob murder of a [[AristocratsAreEvil villainous aristocrat]] who [[TheDogBitesBack oppressed the town of Fuente Ovejuna way too much]] (with his last act being [[DroitDuSeigneur the sexual harassment of a bunch of local girls]], including the female lead), ''all the inhabitants'' of the titular town (men, women, kids, old people, etc.) stand up to King Ferdinand of Aragón and Queen Isabella of Castilla in that way [[note]]"Who killed the Commander?" "Fuente Ovejuna did it, Milord!"[[/note]] Not even being subjected to ColdBloodedTorture dissuades them from keeping their secret, so the RulingCouple ultimately decides to pardon them all while praising their UndyingLoyalty to each other. |
| 288 | * In Roger Waters' ''Music/TheWall'' concert tour, which blurs the lines between musical performance and theatrical production, the show opens with an audio recording of the actual scene from ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' playing over the loudspeakers. When it asks for the people to identify Spartacus and the crowd of slaves begin claiming the name, the audience at the show stands up and remains standing. |
| 289 | [[/folder]] |
| 290 | |
| 291 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 292 | * This is attempted by both Erusea and ISAF in the last mission of ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies''. While you as Mobius 1 have already defeated [[DemonicSpiders the best of Yellow Squadron]], the remaining pilots and others slap their emblem on their planes. Not to be outdone, ISAF assigns a new Mobius Squadron to support you, all of their planes bearing blue ribbons and [[OhCrap making the enemy collectively shit their pants.]] |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'': At one point the party is tasked to investigate the village of Azha and deduce which of the locals is the terrorist known as "Mourning Mistral". Then, two of the villagers, sympathetic to Mourning Mistral's cause, declare themselves to be the terrorist, forcing you to prove that one of them is lying. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that both are lying to draw attention from the real culprit, even if they had no idea who it really was]]. |
| 294 | * In Homare Midorikawa's route of ''VisualNovel/ClassTripCrush'', several of the students get caught sneaking out at night thanks to a sudden rainstorm that stranded Homare and the protagonist in a mountain cabin for several hours, prompting the other guys to go looking for them. Homare claims responsibility when they're caught by their teacher, but when the teacher says that he'll have to punish Homare by sending him home, the protagonist and each of the other guys pipes in to explain how ''they,'' not Homare, really started the trouble. [[spoiler:Homare promptly deflates the effort by pointing out the holes in the others' stories, but their teacher is impressed enough by the unanimous gesture of solidarity that he lets Homare off with a slap on the wrist.]] |
| 295 | * In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', this happens twice between a member of S.E.E.S. and one from Strega. |
| 296 | ** Junpei claims to be [[TheAce the leader]] of his group, which causes Chidori to kidnap him during the September Full Moon operation. He confesses that he lied, and it's most likely that he did so to impress her. |
| 297 | ** Then on October 4, [[spoiler:Takaya demands to know who the MissionControl of S.E.E.S. is, since he realizes that person is helping S.E.E.S. find and eliminate the Full Moon Shadows (something Takaya doesn't want). Ken, who has become suicidal after knowing that Shinjiro (the target of his revenge) is doomed to die anyway, claims to be the person in question, and Takaya would have killed him if not for Shinjiro's HeroicSacrifice.]] |
| 298 | * Toward the end of the first trial day in case 3 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', [[spoiler:Robin Newman]] confesses to being the murderer in order to protect Juniper, the defendant who otherwise would have been convicted. Then, to protect [[spoiler:Robin]], Juniper admits to the murder as well. Shortly after, [[spoiler:Hugh O'Connor]] also confesses, and the trial has to be suspended for the day. Interestingly enough, the main characters later become suspicious of [[spoiler:Hugh]], and when [[spoiler:his]] taking part in this is brought up, they also remember that [[spoiler:Hugh]] only did so ''after the other two had'', possibly to deflect suspicion from [[spoiler:himself]]. [[spoiler:It turns out that Hugh is, in fact, innocent, but due to his circumstances, would have been willing to take the fall for Juniper]]. |
| 299 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2''. The pirates call for the woman on board to come forth. [[WholesomeCrossdresser Daphnis]] offers himself up, only to have Elissa interrupt, and one by one the actual females on board stand up. And they straight up beat the pirates and take over the ship, no distraction needed. |
| 300 | * In ''[[VideoGame/WayOfTheSamurai Way of the Samurai 3]]'', this occurs near the end of one of the endings, after [[spoiler:you take Osei Suzuku's place]] to save Takatane Village. Before being executed at [[BigBad Lord Shuzen's]] hand, though, [[spoiler:Osei shows up, claiming her (correct) place as an heir to the Sakurai clan.]] Then Munechika Umemiya shows up, claiming to be another heir (he's the former chief vassal). Then, one by one, each of the other villagers and Ouka clan members there claims to be an heir to the Sakurai clan. At the end of the whole thing, Shinnosuke Umemiya, a Sakurai loyalist biding his time in Shuzen's service, laughs and claims he is one more heir. The expression on Kirie Masatsugu's face when hearing this is priceless. True to the original, Shuzen orders everyone killed, even after it is pointed out he will have no one left to rule over if he did. |
| 301 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' expansion ''Hearts of Stone'', when Geralt tries to find who posted the notice that he was there to be hired for, the cutthroats and bandits of the Wild Bunch all collectively claim to be Olgierd just to {{Troll}} Geralt. |
| 302 | [[/folder]] |
| 303 | |
| 304 | |
| 305 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 306 | * In ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', Boba Fett is desperate to find Obi-Wan and kill him in revenge. When he [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1105.html asks Han where Obi-Wan is]], Han claims to ''be'' Obi-Wan, followed quickly by Chewbacca, and then Leia also claiming to be Obi-Wan. |
| 307 | -->'''C-3PO:''' [[SubvertedTrope I'm not!]] [[note]]C-3PO's botched repair means [[DoubleSubversion she has to say the opposite of what she wants to]], so...[[/note]] |
| 308 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': |
| 309 | ** Parodied when Elliot is dreaming about [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1766 all the uncomfortable sexual tension he has with his female friends]]. |
| 310 | ** A non-parody variation is when Edward Verres sees two transformed versions of Elliot (one in semi-cat form and one female), knowing that one was created by the Dewitchery Diamond (while the other was just transformed with his own son's shapeshifting technology), and asks which is the original and which is the clone. Cat Elliot (who is actually the original), fearing that the innocent Ellen [[TheyWouldCutYouUp is about to become a lab experiment]], says that they doesn't know which is the original at all, and tries to pretend that Ellen's confession is ''her'' trying to protect ''him''. (However, Edward had no intention of imprisoning ''either'' of them. He just needed to know which of the two needed a cover story fabricated.) |
| 311 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Parodied in the strip "[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0777.html Under the Arena]]". |
| 312 | -->'''Slavemaster:''' OK, you existentially adrift sons of werebitches, listen up! When he calls your name, say "Here," and come forward.\ |
| 313 | '''Soldier:''' Spartacus.\ |
| 314 | '''Gladiator:''' Here.\ |
| 315 | '''Soldier:''' Spartacus.\ |
| 316 | '''Gladiator:''' Here.\ |
| 317 | '''Soldier:''' Spartacus.\ |
| 318 | '''Gladiator:''' Here.\ |
| 319 | '''Soldier:''' Spartacus.\ |
| 320 | '''Gladiator:''' He's in the loo. |
| 321 | * Robin goes looking for Greg Killmaster at ILM in ''WebComic/{{Shortpacked}}'', and a bunch of guys claim to be him when she yells that she wants to have "five million of his babies." The real one, of course, is nowhere to be found. |
| 322 | [[/folder]] |
| 323 | |
| 324 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 325 | * [[http://bash.org/?328464 This bash.org quote]] |
| 326 | * ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'': |
| 327 | ** [[https://notalwaysright.com/trying-to-reverse-engineer-bigotry/34409/ Here]], a substitute teacher for a college-level engineering class assumes the sole female student is [[MrsDegree only here to attract a boy]], and kicks her out. The second time this happens, all the remaining (male) students walk out with her. They spend that class period in the school office for the next two weeks until the regular teacher returns, after which the substitute is forced into early retirement by the school board. |
| 328 | ** Spinoff site ''Not Always Learning'' has [[https://notalwaysright.com/methodist-and-the-madness/33530/ this moment of solidarity]] against a bigoted Bible class teacher who hates Methodists. After one student reveals that they actually ''are'' Methodist and gets kicked out of the class, all the other students start claiming to be Methodists, too. |
| 329 | --->Soon, the entire class is in the hall, and only the teacher is left in the room. |
| 330 | [[/folder]] |
| 331 | |
| 332 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 333 | * WebVideo/HowToBasic's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSXGagNzNLw face reveal.]] [[spoiler:It starts simple enough, with Mr. Basic revealing himself to be... Michael Stevens from ''WebVideo/{{Vsauce}}''. But then later it is revealed that he is actually hired by WebVideo/MaxMoeFoe to pose as [=HowToBasic=], which is actually Max himself... except that's not right either, as another [=YouTuber=] immediately claims that he's the real [=HowToBasic=]. And then another [=YouTuber=] claims to be [=HowToBasic=], and then another one, and then another one... until the video devolves into pretty much every single [=YouTuber=] under the sun claiming to be [=HowToBasic=].]] |
| 334 | [[/folder]] |
| 335 | |
| 336 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 337 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 338 | ** In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheHeadband The Headband]]", the students from a Fire Nation school all wore their headbands in order to hide "Kuzon" so that he and his friends can escape and distract the headmaster and his goons. |
| 339 | ** In a flashback in "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSouthernRaiders The Southern Raiders]]", it's revealed that Katara's mother, Kya, claimed to be the waterbender the Fire Nation was looking for in order to protect Katara. She ends up dying for it. |
| 340 | * Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'' when a futuristic villain, Craniac 3, discovers the magic chalk and wants it for himself. He takes it from Rudy, but upon learning he can't use it, he demands which of the trio is "The Great Artist". When Rudy is incapacitated at the moment, Penny claims she is the Great Artist, only for Snap to claim afterwards that he is the Great Artist. Craniac 3 just decides to take all three of them. |
| 341 | * In the "Officer Moody" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'', Belson has just pulled the fire alarm and is about to be arrested by Mr. Reese's CowboyCop ex-partner Moody, when Reese stands up and claimed that he pulled the fire alarm, followed by Clarence, Camden, Chelsea, and Percy claiming that they did it, with Jeff mentioning that he saw Mavis pull the alarm. Just as Moody is about to arrest the class, she is called away to another emergency, and all of the students, including Belson, have more respect for Mr. Reese. |
| 342 | * At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'' episode "The Principal Principle: Sub Zero to Sub Hero", after Joan begrudgingly takes full responsibility for wrecking the school with the party she threw and the presence of the bear (Confucius' pet bear Kevin), the other students (with the exception of Cleo) all claim that they threw the party and brought the bear. |
| 343 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince,'' [[ClassicalAntiHero Callum]] is attacked by [[HitmanWithAHeart Rayla]], a Moonshadow Elf assassin. Upon learning that she's after not only his [[HappilyAdopted step-father]], [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure King Harrow]], but also his half-brother, [[CheerfulChild Prince Ezran]], Callum claims to be the latter. Fortunately a combination of Rayla's own nerves and Ezran's actual arrival saves him before she goes for the kill.[[note]]Incidentally, Ezran is five years younger than Callum, and their birth fathers are different races, [[FridgeLogic so Rayla was clearly not given a very good description of her targets]].[[/note]] |
| 344 | * From an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy starts a radio show under the name "Double T". Vicky then steals his identity to badmouth the parents of Dimmsdale. When an angry mob of parents show up at the radio studio, a bunch of other kids all claim to be Double T, and the parents reason that they cannot ground them all. |
| 345 | * Spoofed in a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' cutaway. During the climactic scene, after two people claim to be Spartacus, Peter ruins it by casually ratting out the real Spartacus. |
| 346 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "A Tale of Two Santas", Bender attempts SubbingForSanta (who is [[BadSanta a psychotic robot]]) and is going to be executed for all of the real Robot Santa's crimes. During the execution, Fry, Leela, Amy and Hermes all come in claiming to be the real Santa. Zoidberg goes even further (and completely misses the point) by claiming to be UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.[[note]]GeniusBonus: The title of this episode refers to Creator/CharlesDickens's ''A Tale of Two Cities'', where a character actually ''does'' manage to pull this trope for his lookalike's execution.[[/note]] |
| 347 | -->'''Mayor Poopenmeyer:''' None of you are Santa! You're not even robots! How dare you lie in front of Jesus?! |
| 348 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'': In "Ahead of Their Tone", all of the members of Grojband claim to be Nick Mallory in order to distract Cyborg Trina. |
| 349 | * Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' when the titular character was hurled back to Ancient Rome he questioned a guy and that guys says "I'm Spartacus" prompting people who are behind him to shout the same thing, just for publicity. |
| 350 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey'', there is a character named Spartacus where if a group of people start doing this ("I'm Mikey!"), he pops out of nowhere to exclaim " ''IAmSpartacus''!!" |
| 351 | * In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', Po and Monkey enter a village where they meet Cheng, a goat teaching the village children that he is the Dragon Warrior. He reveals that since he was the youngest of many siblings and wanted to be successful, he became an AccidentalHero when he accidentally stopped a bandit, who was part of an acting troupe. When the bandits are dismissed and vow revenge, Po swallows his pride and reminds them that in spite of Cheng's past, anyone can be a Dragon Warrior. His students passionately stand up for him, each one claiming "I am the Dragon Warrior!" to defend the honor of their mentor. |
| 352 | * {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/TheLongLongHoliday.'' When the German soldiers force the town's Jews to wear yellow stars, Colette makes some for the entire class to wear in solidarity. Their more practical-minded teacher, Mr. Herbin,[[note]]who, incidentally, [[spoiler:is the town's RebelLeader]][[/note]] says that he understands what they're doing, but it will ultimately make things worse. Sure enough [[TheQuisling Durant]], who had heard about their plan, brings the Germans in moments later, fortunately after the non-Jewish students had taken the stars off. |
| 353 | * In the ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' short "Tortoise Beats Hare", Bugs Bunny challenges Cecil Turtle to a race with a $10 wager at stake. As Bugs reaches each of the checkpoints, it appears that Cecil has managed to make it ahead of him, when in reality he has called up his identical-looking relatives to arrive just ahead of Bugs at each of the checkpoints. After winning the race, they each come up and kiss Bugs with a dollar in their hands. |
| 354 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': In the episode "Balloonatics", Pooh and his friends each tell Christopher Robin that they were the one who popped his balloon. [[spoiler:But it turns out that they were worried over nothing. The balloon is only untied and just needs to be reinflated.]] |
| 355 | * "The Pink Candidate", an episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''. President Pinky had volunteered to come before Congress to testify during the impeachment of his chief of staff, the Brain. Rather than leave his friend to a horrible fate (and over Brain's objection), Pinky breaks down and admits that ''he'' was the world conquest mastermind, not Brain. Including wailing 'I'm Spartacus!'. (One Congressman is heard after asking 'Who's Spartacus?'.) |
| 356 | * The ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'' episode "A is for Average". |
| 357 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': |
| 358 | ** When Spinelli's first name is revealed to be Ashley, the other Ashleys force her to join them. To save Spinelli, the others all claim their names are Ashley too, and demand membership. |
| 359 | ** When Spinelli accidentally calls the Miss Grotke "mama", her friends all do the same thing in order to alleviate the humiliation, eventually leading to the whole class calling her mama. |
| 360 | ** In one episode Mikey rips his pants and his friends do too in order to save him from being the only one embarrassed. |
| 361 | * ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'': In "Book Burning", the Horde set Tung Lasher teach lies to kids at school. When one of the kids denounced his speech as lies and Lasher demanded to know who did it, all kids (minus the one spying for the Horde) claimed to be the one. |
| 362 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 363 | ** Bart hears the tale of an old west fort ([[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield In Springfield?]]) where the soldiers, surrounded by hostile natives, are told they'll be left alone if they hand over the base's commander. This being ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' of course, [[SubvertedTrope they give him up to a horrible death]], and the base is renamed "Fort Sensible". |
| 364 | ** In "I, Carumbus", when Marge's Roman counterpart gets pregnant by Homer's Roman counterpart, her father demands to know which of the slaves did it. One by one, the other slaves declare "I had sexicus" to spare Homer, only for Homer to [[ComicallyMissingThePoint accuse them all of having sex with the woman he loved]], inadvertently outing himself. |
| 365 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 366 | ** The episode "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", Stan's attempts to confess "I broke the dam" cause the other townspeople to falsely confess the same; misinterpreting this as symbolic (as in they are all responsible) instead of literal (he took a joyride in a boat and crashed into it). Cartman, who was his partner in crime, takes advantage of it to make his own SarcasticConfession. They continue this into the credits as Stan is getting increasingly specific (and profane) about what he meant and still be ignored until he closes the episode with "Aw, fuck it!" |
| 367 | ** Played with in "Lice Capades"; after Kenny is subjected to a "sock bath" after being found to have had lice, Kyle admits that ''he'' was the one with lice, then Stan and Cartman do the same -- then Mr(s). Garrison shows up and tells them they ''all'' had lice, and everyone gives Kenny a sock bath anyway. (After all, he really ''did'' lie about having lice.) |
| 368 | ** {{Invoked}} in "Bass to Mouth". One kid craps his pants in school, and is so humiliated he tries to kill himself. Since Cartman is usually the one who leads the bullying, the teachers instead hire him to prevent it. His initial response is to slip a different girl laxatives so that she craps herself and takes the humiliation off the first kid. When he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood finally understands]] that ''no'' kid is supposed to be so embarrassed that they attempt suicide, his plan is to get everyone in school to crap their pants, because then nobody will be able to make fun of anybody else. |
| 369 | * Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' "Opposite Day", when Squidward makes up the "opposite day" holiday, with [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick pretending to be Squidward, who is trying to sell his house so he can move out of the neighborhood. When the realtor gets to Squidward's house, [=SpongeBob=] jokes about what a dump Squidward's house is and shows her Squidward's gallery room, when Patrick pops out from behind one of Squidward's paintings: |
| 370 | -->'''Realtor''': Oh, my, this painting is very nice.\ |
| 371 | '''Patrick''': Thank you!\ |
| 372 | '''Realtor''': Who is that? \ |
| 373 | '''[=SpongeBob=]''' [''impersonating Squidward'']: I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Squidward. \ |
| 374 | '''Realtor''' [''skeptically surprised'']: You're ''both'' Squidward?\ |
| 375 | '''[=SpongeBob=]''': I'm Squidward, he's Squidward...\ |
| 376 | '''[=SpongeBob=]''', '''Patrick''': We're both Squidward! |
| 377 | ** Later on, after the real Squidward has finished fixing up [=SpongeBob's=] house and meets the realtor: |
| 378 | --->'''Squidward''': Stop! Get away from her! Ooh, ooh, I'm so sorry, ma'am, I hope these two [[SuddenlyShouting BARNACLE HEADS]] haven't harmed you in any way.\ |
| 379 | '''Realtor''' [''confused'']: Who are you?\ |
| 380 | '''Squidward''': Why, I'm Squidward.\ |
| 381 | '''Realtor''': What kind of fool do you take me for? [''pointing at Patrick, [=SpongeBob=], and Squidward in turn''] He's Squidward, ''he's'' Squidward, ''you're'' Squidward? ''[[SuddenlyShouting I'M]]'' [[AndImTheQueenOfSheba SQUIDWARD!]] Are there any other Squidwards I should know about?\ |
| 382 | '''Gary''' [''with a pickle for a nose enters the room'']: [[IAmSpartacus Meow.]] |
| 383 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Toonsylvania}}'': In one episode of the "Night of the Living Fred" segment, the principal of the school Fred and his sister attend found out Fred is dead and expelled him for that. Later, during a debate championship Fred's sister was a part of, she admits to also being dead and several other people did the same. Some guy claimed to be Spartacus and got stared for that. |
| 384 | * Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/{{Undergrads}}'': Gimpy sets up a string of pranks against his tyrannical RA, under the guise of G-Prime. When his RA threatens punishment on the entire dorm unless the real G-Prime confesses, the trope is played out. The subversion comes when Gimpy doesn't understand that they were doing it as an act of solidarity, and assumes they are trying to steal the credit and glory. [[LampshadeHanging One student even claims to be Spartacus.]] |
| 385 | [[/folder]] |
| 386 | |
| 387 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 388 | * A variation of this happened on a flight when the crew ejected a blind passenger because his guide-dog wouldn't fit under the seat ahead of him. All the passengers walked off the plane in solidarity with the blind passenger. [[http://gawker.com/flight-canceled-after-passengers-protest-ejection-of-bl-1464504554 The airline cancelled the flight and chartered buses to drive all the passengers to the destination]]. |
| 389 | * Occurred in Vietnam in the case of a legendary US Marine sniper named Carlos Hathcock, who had a trademark in the form of a white feather he wore in his bush cap. The Vietcong hated him so much, they eventually started sending entire squads just to hunt him down. Knowing the devastating effect losing Hathcock would have on morale, marines in the area took to wearing white feathers of their own to deceive the enemy soldiers. |
| 390 | * In the (possibly apocryphal, but usually treated as fact) story of Jackie Robinson, the first black player in the Major League, his Dodgers teammates responded to threats on Robinson's life during a game by all wearing his jersey -- number 42, which has since been retired out of respect. Whether this story is true or not, one day out of the year, every player on every team wears 42 in tribute to Robinson. |
| 391 | * There's an apocryphal, but widely believed I Am Spartacus from World War II. In Nazi Germany and its occupied areas, Jews were forced to wear gold stars for identification. The story has it that when the Nazis attempted to impose this measure on occupied Denmark, King Christian X began to wear a gold star in solidarity with his nation's Jews, and so many Danes began following his example that it became impossible to tell the Jews apart. While this isn't true in fact, it's true in spirit--he wrote in his diary that, should the Nazis demand that Danish Jews wear the Star, the Danes ought best respond by everyone wearing it. There was, in fact, a widespread movement among ordinary Danes to defend the Jews, and for the first few years of occupation, the Danish government refused to impose or enforce any discriminatory measure against the Jews. When the Nazis decided to get tougher, the Danes were so successful at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews hiding and evacuating]] them that of around 8,000 Danish Jews, the Nazis only managed to capture about 450, of whom 400 were eventually rescued. |
| 392 | ** It's said that when some Nazis asked a mayor and a priest on the Greek island Zakynthos to turn over a list of all the Jews there, they turned in a list bearing only their own names. |
| 393 | ** When Allied soldiers were captured by Nazis, Jewish servicemen would be taken from the group and sent to death or slave labor camps. However, when a commandant ordered Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds to gather the Jews from his group of [=POWs=], Edmonds ordered all his men to come out. He refused to back down even when the commandant threatened to shoot him, and eventually became the first U.S. serviceman awarded Righteous Among the Nations status. |
| 394 | * When Prince Harry announced his intention to serve in Iraq, there was understandable concern about him making his unit a prime target. In response to this, many soldiers started wearing T shirts that said 'I'm Harry". |
| 395 | * The Trope Namer is very often parodied at motorbike rallies, generally after dark. Depending on the general mood at the time (and exactly ''how'' late it is), the initial "I'm Spartacus!" can be met with various obscenities, or enthusiastically taken up, generally morphing into "I'm Spartacus, [[Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian and so is my wife!"]], and even "I'm Spartacus' wife!" |
| 396 | * In the military, it's not unusual for everyone in a unit to do this if someone is going to get in trouble for a minor infraction, in order to protect their buddy. Conversely, everyone knows who did it, but no one says anything when the Captain Rough or Sergeant Smooth demands to know that person's name. It's for this reason that the US Armed Forces, as well as most others, have outlawed mass punishment (you can't punish the whole unit for one person's mistake). Please note that this does ''not'' hold true in all militaries, particularly those in non-democratic countries. |
| 397 | * There is a Medieval subversion. When King Louis XII of France invaded Italy he besieged the city of Novara, trapping Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Both the King and the Duke had hired [[HiredGuns Swiss Mercenaries]] in their armies, but as the Swiss didn't want to fight their own countrymen, the Swiss Government brokered an agreement. Louis would allow the Swiss under Sforza's command to leave, if they handed over Sforza, but instead they disguised Sforza as a Swiss soldier and he left with them. The French general found what they were up to and paraded them offering gold to whoever would reveal "who was Spartacus". At first none of them revealed who it was, but finally one tattle-tale stepped forward and revealed the prince. This man, whose greed apparently was greater then his wits, later returned home to Switzerland where he was immediately arrested by the government for bringing disgrace on his comrades, and beheaded the following day. You can read more about it [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_of_Novara here]] |
| 398 | * Eric Douglas, son of Kirk (star of "Spartacus") Douglas, tried his hand at stand up. It did not go particularly well, and he was being heckled rather nastily. Finally he snapped and shouted at the heckler "You can't heckle me! I am Kirk Douglas' son!". The heckler got to his feet, and shouted back "No! I am Kirk Douglas' son!" Pretty soon the whole audience is on its feet joining in. |
| 399 | * Escort ships (the naval kind, not the BodyguardCrush kind) often carry blip enhancers so that on radar they appear to be the ship they're escorting. In practical terms, that means that enemy ships that are aiming by radar will shoot at them instead of the ship they're protecting. |
| 400 | * On a flight to Canada, two members of Creator/MontyPython almost simultaneously stood up and shouted "I'm passenger Johnson" in response to a request to see said passenger. This started a chain reaction. Then they arrived and rode the luggage carousel. The flight crew was glad to see them leave. |
| 401 | * During an incident in the UsefulNotes/PolishSovietWar some Polish prisoners all stripped to their undershorts so that the Russians couldn't tell officers from enlisted. |
| 402 | * In one subversion, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan had just won a clan war in which a horse had been shot out from under him. Ghenghis lined up the captives and asked "Which one of you shot my horse?" One man boldly said "I did." Then Genghis ''[[WorthyOpponent rewarded]]'' him. To elaborate, Khan was raised in a world of unending cycles of revenge. His revolution in part consisted of uniting the Mongol people by having a genius for finding people of talent, putting them in high position, and making them loyal to the Khan and law rather than their clan. Conquered clans were embraced into the fold, the men divided and dispersed into multi-clan bands, and the whole lot loyal to the Khan and the idea of a unified people. Soon afterwards, the world learned to be ''terrified'' of a people who, one generation earlier, had considered a coat of animal furs to be a sign of great wealth. |
| 403 | * The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Joke_Trial Twitter joke trial]]. After a guy was arrested for [[DudeNotFunny posting a joke about blowing up an airport]] on Twitter, thousands of people reposted the joke verbatim with the hashtag #iamspartacus. |
| 404 | * Comedian Lee Evans once did a brilliant joke about just saying "I am Spartacus" in response to every question asked by the people on those annoying phone calls you get when people try to sell you shit you don't want or need. |
| 405 | * This is why privacy advocates encourage everyone to use encryption whenever possible. If only a few people use it, crypto [[StreisandEffect draws unwanted attention]] from the authorities. |
| 406 | * British author Creator/TerryPratchett recounted being at a convention after having read a newspaper article that claimed his entire readership was pimply, fourteen-year-old boys named Kevin. When he told his audience, several members re-enacted the ''Life of Brian'' scene all the way to "I'm Kevin, and so's my wife!" |
| 407 | * A bit of a variation in the sense that the "Spartacus" was never even there: At the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' convention Canterlot Gardens, one panel was for brony musicians. Before the con started, every musician apparently agreed to introduce themselves as Alex S (a brony musician who couldn't make it to the con). Cue the first words spoken to be "Welcome to the brony musician panel; we are all Alex S" and everyone jumping in to agree, saying things like "And I'm Alex S" or "Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure ''I'm'' Alex S". |
| 408 | --> [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants I'm Alex S, he's Alex S... we're all Alex S.]] |
| 409 | * Following the controversial shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, some protesters took to the streets to defend Officer Wilson. Many of Wilson's fellow officers also did this, but also covered their badges, resulting in even more controversy. When asked for their identities, the officers would only say, "I am Darren Wilson." |
| 410 | * TrollingCreator Creator/HidekazHimaruya used this trope to show his face and still keep it secret on Comiket 2014, by having several staff members claim that they too were Himaruya. |
| 411 | * The ''[[Literature/TheSatanicVerses Satanic Verses]]'' fatwa called for the death of all publishers along with the author. The German translations has two pages of “publishers”, more than two hundred individuals and some eighty publishing houses. |
| 412 | * During the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, there were reports that police were using social media to find out who was going to show up. Over one million people responded by doing a [[http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/01/500268879/more-than-a-million-check-in-on-facebook-to-support-the-standing-rock-sioux virtual check-in]] in Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Even though police said they were not looking at who "checks in," it is nevertheless a show of solidarity. |
| 413 | * When police in Durham, North Carolina attempted to arrest protestors who [[ToppledStatue tore down a Confederate memorial]], over [[http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article167689007.html 100 people showed up at the station]] to turn themselves in. |
| 414 | * When trolls threatened to out the creator of the "S**tty Men in Media" List, an anonymous, private list of men in Hollywood who women might need to watch out for (whether it's stealing work, just being unpleasant, or sexual misconduct), several women [[http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/twitter-protects-media-men-harpers_us_5a56a2f5e4b08a1f624b382b immediately took to Twitter]] to confess that they created it so that if the original creator did get outed, you'd never know who it was. |
| 415 | * The 2008 Drum Corps International Champions -- Phantom Regiment -- did a "Spartacus" show. Close to the end, one of the drum majors shouted "I am Spartacus," and was followed by the color guard... and then by the entire stadium crowd, as seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDd5Pu_TVNk . Possibly the greatest audience participation in drum corps history. |
| 416 | * Not long after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, General Dwight Eisenhower issued an order to dismiss any women serving in the WAC who were found to be lesbian. That is, until Sergeant Johnnie Phelps begged to differ[[note]]In an interview later in life, Phelps said that, "There were almost nine hundred women in the battalion. I could honestly say that 95 percent of them were lesbians".[[/note]]: |
| 417 | -->'''General Dwight Eisenhower:''' "It's come to my attention that there are lesbians in the [=WACs=], we need to ferret them out...." |
| 418 | -->'''Sergeant Johnnie Phelps:''' "If the General pleases, sir, I'll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine." |
| 419 | -->'''Eisenhower's secretary:''' "If the General pleases, sir, my name will be first and hers will be second." |
| 420 | -->'''Phelps:''' "Sir, you're right, there are lesbians in the [=WACs=] – and if you want to replace all the file clerks, section commanders, drivers, every woman in the WAC detachment, I will be happy to make that list. But you must know, sir, that they are the most decorated group – there have been no illegal pregnancies, no [=AWOLs=], no charges of misconduct." |
| 421 | --> '''Eisenhower:''' "Forget the order". |
| 422 | * {{Invoked}} in the early days of [[MultiUserDungeon TinyMUD]], there were no female characters, then in a single week about 60 of them showed up, about half played by Claire Benedikt, clearly suffering from {{Altitis}}. An in-joke soon began that ''everyone'' was just one of Claire's alts. |
| 423 | * When UsefulNotes/BarackObama was running for president for the first time, some Republicans pointed to his middle name being Hussein to insinuate he had secret Muslim roots. Some Obama supporters changed their middle names on Facebook to Hussein themselves to protest this. |
| 424 | * Some time after the infamous Southwest Airlines incident where one of their pilots allegedly said "Let's go Brandon" (but may have actually been saying "Let's go [Atlanta] Braves"), another pilot elsewhere was heard on radio saying "Let's go Brandon" for sure. Air traffic control immediately called out the "hot mic", but then other pilots in the area chimed in with their own replies of "Let's go Brandon" as well, seemingly in solidarity with the first pilot. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVMmgdWdWJs |
| 425 | * Inverted by UsefulNotes/GamalAbdelNasser. When he was Prime Minister of Egypt, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to assassinate him while he was making a speech in Alexandria. Rather than escape, Nasser watched as all eight shots missed, then passionately appealed to the crowd for calm, declaring the following: |
| 426 | --> '''Nasser:''' "My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honor. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honor, and freedom in you. If Gamal Abdel Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel Nasser ... Gamal Abdel Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation."[[note]]Two years later, he would assume the presidency, where he would remain for fourteen years until his death in 1970.[[/note]] |
| 427 | * The New Zealand town of Ōtorohanga [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtorohanga#Harrodsville pulled this trope off]] in 1986. Local man Henry Harrod owned a restaurant that he naturally called "Harrod's," which somehow caught the ire of Mohamed Al-Fayed, the billionaire owner of the famous Harrod's Department Store in London. Al-Fayed filed a lawsuit demanding that Harrod change the name (despite the restaurant being entirely local with no connection to the department store, or even London, at all), and in retaliation, every entrepreneur in Ōtorohanga changed their own business's name to "Harrod's." The local government even got in on the act by voting to rename the ''entire town'' "Harrodsville." The resulting publicity made Al-Fayed a laughingstock around the world, and he withdrew his suit, after which the town and its businesses went back to their old names. [[/folder]] |
| 428 |
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