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Cylon In the Mirror
"Oh my god....I'm a tomato!"
— Mayor Adam West, Family Guy

Our protagonist is going through a perfectly normal day. Only... something's wrong. The people around him are acting just a bit off. They keep mentioning a string of words, or are trying to herd him to a certain place.

It looks like the town's been taken over by The Puppet Masters, and our hero's the only one left. He attempts to either escape and warn the outside world, or find where the invaders are coming from and shut it down.

But once he gets there, he discovers the horrifying truth: HE'S the fake! Cue screams of "What Have I Become?!" A robot, a clone, a ghost or nearly one, or some other duplicate that forgot he wasn't the real thing, or was programmed to believe that he was, complete with Fake Memories of a Mining Accident On Troy.

In an ongoing series, it'll be a duplicate of one of the main characters. In a self-contained work, it'll just be someone who thinks one's human. Either way, it's an effective inversion of The Puppet Masters. Assuming the duplicate works through the immediate suicidal tendencies (and/or murderous intent of others) who may find whomself having to ask a Trial Balloon Question to see if "whose" friends and family would still accept them.

Variation of the Tomato Surprise—hence the name. (Note the key difference is that here, the character doesn't know he's a tomato.) Compare I Am Who, which is (usually) a much more pleasant surprise. The opposite of this is And Then John Was A Zombie. See also What Measure Is A Me for the tendency of tomatos to be considered expendable.


This is a Twist Ending Trope. Expect your tomatoes to be spoiled!

Examples:

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    Anime 

    Comic Books 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live Action TV 

    Machinima 

    Music 

    Radio 

    Religion 

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 

    Western Animation 

    Web Comics 

    Web Original 


Theme InitialsOlder Than TelevisionTrainstopping
Thunder ShockSurprise TropesWaking Up In Vegas
Through The Eyes Of MadnessThe Index Is Watching YouTroubled Fetal Position
Tomato SurpriseTwist EndingTrick Twist
My Species Doth Protest Too MuchHeel Face IndexTrauma Conga Line
Through The Eyes Of MadnessExample As A ThesisToo Dumb To Fool