Basic Trope: A character in disguise reveals themselves by saying something only they'd say.
- Straight: Bob is wondering if a character is Alice in disguise. Once she insults his haircut, all doubt is removed.
- Exaggerated: Each member of the Five-Man Band has some insulting calling card they use to check identities.
- Downplayed: Bob is convinced Alice is real because she makes a face while looking at his hair, but gives no verbal confirmation.
- Justified: There are other people in the room who could endanger Alice and Bob if her true identity got out, so this is an effective way for only Bob to learn who she is.
- Inverted: Out-of-Character Alert
- Subverted: Bob is wondering if a character is Alice in disguise. She compliments his haircut, so he knows it's not her.
- Double Subverted: But then he realizes that the way she answered him was rude and sarcastic, as Alice often does.
- Parodied:
- Alice's callsign is something like "Bob, your haircut makes you look like an idiot. And by the way, I'm not Alice."
- It takes Bob an insanely long time to figure out that it's Alice, even after she gives it away.
- Zig Zagged: Alice says Bob's haircut looks good, which makes Bob think she's not the real Alice, until Charlie steps in and informs him that she's been trying to be nicer to him lately and an imposter wouldn't know that. However, Charlie then suspects Alice because she says his shoes look nice when she called them dumb the previous day.
- Averted: No one ever suspects someone of not being themselves, or if they do, it isn't solved by them saying something they're known for.
- Enforced: The writer wants to up the UST and play up the Slap-Slap-Kiss dynamic between Alice and Bob, so he uses this method to do so.
- Lampshaded: "Yep, that's Alice!"
- Invoked: Alice knows she might be kidnapped and someone sent in as an imposter, so she makes a habit of insulting Bob's haircut, but never in a place the villain would pick up on the pattern.
- Exploited: It's not Alice - it's really Emperor Evulz in disguise! But he's familiar enough with the team that he knows that Alice would be rude to Bob.
- Defied: Alice never says anything all that distinctive.
- Discussed: "Alice!" "How did you know it was me?" "Only you would say that."
- Conversed: "Why is it that all it takes to prove your identity is say something everyone knows you say?"
- Implied: Alice tries to talk to Bob over the radio, but he demands proof that she's who she says she is. Annoyed, Alice calls him a spiky-haired moron and orders that he shut up and listen. He complies, either out of fear or out of deciding she's real because she insulted his hair again.
- Played For Laughs: Alice gives herself away by saying her wacky catchphrase.
"Go back to Something Only They Would Say." "Oh, good, it's actually you."
