Basic Trope: The false alias a character creates turns out to be a real person.
- Straight: Alice is going to see a movie with her friends. When Bob asks why he isn't invited, Alice replies that she supposedly gave the last ticket to her "childhood buddy" Friedrich von Poppytown. Bob replies that his friend Friedrich von Poppytown certainly would have told him if he were going to the cinema.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob asks Alice what Friedrich von Poppytown is like, and she makes up an entire profile of him on the spot. Turns out Bob knows a guy who perfectly matches Alice's description.
- In her desperation, Alice makes up a whole group of people. Every single person and detail Alice says, even the dumb-ass Line-of-Sight Name for their hometown ("Johncarpenterything, Alaska") actually exists and Bob knows them all.
- Downplayed: Alice says she gave her last ticket to Friedrich von Poppytown, to which Bob replies "actually, it's just Friedrich Poppytown, no 'von'."
- Justified: Bob has told Alice about Friedrich before, but she wasn't really listening and just had his name in the back of her mind when she needed to make up a fake person.
- Inverted: Bob calls out Alice for creating an Invented Individual just for the purpose of ditching him. But Alice knows that Friedrich really was real... was.
- Subverted: "...Oh, you're familiar with him as well?" "Nah. Next time, if you don't want to hang out, just tell me."
- Double Subverted: Just afterwards, someone says hi to a man named Friedrich von Poppytown who just so happens to have a ticket.
- Parodied: Alice tells Bob in public that she gave her last ticket to Friedrich von Poppytown. Turns out everyone in earshot is named Friedrich von Poppytown - including the women - and they ask why they never received a ticket from her.
- Zig Zagged: Friedrich von Poppytown eventually turns out to be a time-traveling Alice in disguise.
- Averted:
- Alice tells Bob he's not invited because he's a complete drag and he always eats all of the popcorn.
- Alice's Invented Individual does not have anybody who resembles them, either in name or description.
- Enforced: Alice is The Barnum and the writers want to make sure that her lies will go awry for once.
- Lampshaded: "Wait, you actually know a guy named 'Friedrich von-' whatever? That was just a name I made up on the spot so I wouldn't have to admit that none of us want to hang around with you! ...Disregard that!"
- Invoked: Bob psychologically plants his friend's name into Alice's head, so that if she has to make up a name for whatever reason, he'll know that she's lying.
- Exploited: Alice's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Jim, a Master of Disguise, quickly creates a facsimile that fits Alice's description of "Friedrich von Poppytown" to make her look bad.
- Defied:
- Alice tells the truth.
- Alice takes steps to make sure that her Invented Individual is too outrageous to actually exist.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: Alice's Snowball Lie about Friedrich von Poppytown becomes a full-blown "Fawlty Towers" Plot when she discovers that Friedrich actually exists and she is about to meet him personally.
- Played For Drama: Alice tells Bob that she gave her last ticket to her brother Friedrich von Poppytown. She wakes up the next morning and finds out that she now always had an older brother by that exact name. They don't get along.
- Played For Horror:
- "Friedrich von Poppytown" turns out to be a tulpa that was created because the power of Alice's lie was that strong, and Friedrich will do whatever it takes to continue to exist.
- When it's revealed that "Friedrich von Poppytown" actually exists, it's also revealed that he's a million times more horrible as a person that Alice could ever think of (the best Alice can think of it make him unpleasant is making him a Jerk Jock, while the real Friedrich is a Manson-esque cult leader).
Here's what a red link looks like: The Real Remington Steele. Wait...
