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Basic Trope: Identical (or at least very similar-looking) twins have distinctions in order to be able to tell them apart.

  • Straight: Aaron and Bob are identical twins, and look nearly the same. However, Aaron often wears red while Bob often wears blue.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Aaron and Bob have a multitude of differences: not only does Aaron wear red while Bob wears blue, but Aaron also has brown hair while Bob has red hair, their outfit styles are completely different...
    • There are multiple identical twins that all have distinctions in order to tell them apart.
  • Downplayed:
    • Aaron has a small "A" on the corner of his shirt, while Bob has a small "B".
    • Aaron and Bob aren't actually identical twins, but are very similar-looking brothers. They wear different clothing to distinguish themselves.
  • Justified: Aaron and Bob were mistaken for each other too often, so they decided to start wearing different clothing to distinguish themselves.
  • Inverted: Aaron and Bob intentionally dress as similarly as they can in order to be mistaken for identical twins.
  • Subverted: Aaron has a scar, tattoo or other non-birth mark which should be useful to distinguish him from Bob...but it turns out Bob has received an identical mark.
  • Double Subverted: ???
  • Parodied: ???
  • Zig-Zagged: ???
  • Averted:
    • There are no identical/similar-looking twins.
    • Aaron and Bob are identical twins, and look the same.
  • Enforced: To let the audience know which character is supposed to be Aaron and which one is supposed to be Bob.
  • Lampshaded: "Aside from the different-colored clothing, they're identical in every way."
  • Invoked: "I can't tell which one's Aaron and which one's Bob! Here, one of you put this on so I can tell who's who."
  • Exploited:
    • Because of their similarities, Aaron and Bob can easily pull a Twin Switch just by wearing each others' clothing.
    • Claire can tell which one is Aaron and which is Bob by some defining detail, which is important if one of them needs to be attended to for whatever reason.
  • Defied: "We're not going to wear different clothing to distinguish ourselves! We're identical for a reason, you know."
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: "I wonder why identical twins often have some differences in fiction." "Well, you'd want to tell them apart, right?"

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