History Main / ReplacedWithReplica

* ''Anime/LupinIIIOperationReturnTheTreasure'' spends most of second act [[InvertedTrope inverting]] the replacement of priceless objects with replicas. Mark Williams has asked Lupin to un-switch six treasures that he had stolen while still alive. He also gives Lupin a deadline to complete the task. If Lupin fails to restore the treasures to their rightful places, he won't reveal the location of the Trick Diamond.

* At one point in ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'', Godot has been hired by Der Rock to keep the McGuffin. The Psmiths come looking for it, and Godot hands it over. When Der Rock objects, Godot hands him one too, and says the other one was fake. The Psmiths immediately object, and Godot reassures them that he was lying, and they've actually got the real one. This goes on for some time.

* ''Comicbook/{{Hellblazer}}'': One story has a priest who let a succubus (disguised as a prostitute) loose inside the Vatican then is inspired by an angelic vision to ask John for help. John comes up with a plan requiring the use of a book from the forbidden section, putting a glamour over a Yellow Pages directory so the book isn't missed. Once the demon is defeated, the priest goes to return the book, only to find himself with two Yellow Pages in his hands. We then see the entire thing was John's plan (the prostitute, succubus and angel were all played by Ellie the demon) to get the book: the lost gospel of Constantine.

* Catwoman repeatedly uses this as a tactic for stealing things in her 2018 series. In one issue she uses this to acquire the artifact that she is trying to recover. In another issue she uses this trick to replace a police officer's radio (which he is wearing on his belt) so that he will think backup is on the way when it is actually Catwoman's accomplices disguised as police.

** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', The Sword of Gryffindor, one of the few weapons to destroy a Horcrux, was hidden by Dumbledore and replaced by a replica in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, so that it doesn't fall in the hands of the Ministry of Magic.

* In ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', after the protagonists get the key the villain is after, Door makes a copy and gives that to Richard, pretending it's the original, so that when they are captured, he can be pressured into giving it to the villain without any guile.

* In ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'', both the protagonists and their rival Father Feodor are looking for a set of chairs with a treasure hidden inside. Ostap manages to locate documents which detail where the chairs are. Father Feodor is after these documents, too, but he is late, and the archivist is angry that Ostap fooled him. So the archivist gives Feodor documents on another, identical set of chairs with no treasure inside.

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': The plot of one episode concerns an old map which will identify the original owners of certain plots of land, which is important now. The map is stolen and two copies are made: one is a fairly obvious forgery, so that when the second copy, a more meticulous forgery, is discovered it will be assumed to be the genuine article.

** At one point, in order to get into the tunnels, Victor found and stole the spare amulet hidden in Nina and Amber's room, replacing it with a carefully made replica. Patricia used this replica amulet when hers got lost, and ended up being blinded by the first trap. This replica amulet would later be used to trick the teachers during Alfie's "failed" magic trick, being smashed in place of Victor's real one, which he'd stolen back in the process.

** In the series finale, Patrick Jane is at a jewelry story and notices the jeweler performing a "French Drop" whereby he replaces a valuable ring with a worthless duplicate, in order to steal the ring from a couple who has brought it in to get it turned into a necklace. Jane stops the theft, but lets the jeweler go with a warning because [[spoiler:he's shopping for an engagement ring for Lisbon]].

* ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' episode "The Night of the Big Blackmail". The German Consul fakes a kinetescope of President Grant signing a treaty with an enemy nation, which if made public would destroy Grant's reputation. Jim West and Artemus Gordon infiltrate the German embassy and replace it with a joke version that makes the Consul look silly.

* In ''Webcomic/AvasDemon'', Odin loses a ring when his ship crashes and his sisters find it and replace the stone with a similar looking tracking device before he is able to locate it.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the immortal AntiVillain Theatre/{{Macbeth}} and an awakened Myth/KingArthur race to claim {{Excalibur}} in the modern world, and with it the title of "The Once and Future King". Macbeth actually beats Arthur to the location, but winds up claiming an ordinary copy of the sword that breaks in combat shortly afterward.

** "Never Mind a Mastermind" has the Pussycats attempt to safeguard an anti-gravity ray gun by posing as scientists at a symposium, and swapping out the device with a non-functioning replica. Alas, Mastermind deduced this plan, and used a BatmanGambit to seize the device from the Pussycats.

* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies2018'': In "Sparkly Star Switcheroo", Rowlf goes into a depression when he is unable to write a song about a shooting star he saw the night before the episode's events, so Summer Penguin makes him a painting of a sparkly star to cheer him up. When Piggy sees the painting, she thinks that Summer made it for her and takes it. Summer makes a non-sparkly replica of the painting, and tries to swap it out while Piggy isn't looking so that she can give the original to Rowlf. A [[HeistEpisode museum heist-esque]] ImagineSpot takes place.

* Placebo medicine is used this way to separate control group from the experimented group: the control group wouldn't know they're consuming a placebo, so the test results would be more natural.

* In ''The Way of the Literature/ScarletPimpernel'', Chauvelin surreptitiously makes a copy of the vital packet of letters, substitutes it for the original, and opens the original... only to find that he's got a copy Sir Percy had previously substituted, and all it contains is the Scarlet Pimpernel's signature rhyme.

* In one ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' book, Tintin is waiting at the train station when he sees someone walking away with his suitcase, starts to yell but then sees that his suitcase is still right there. It turns out that the man he saw swapped Tintin's real suitcase for a fake full of illegal drugs, and then tipped off the police.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': If you ask Kasumi about the decorations in her quarters aboard the Normandy, she'll explain that she and her lover stole them from museums. Kasumi has the priceless originals and left the museums none the wiser with cheap replicas.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': Prince Peasley gives Mario and Luigi a fake plastic Beanstar to trick the villains with[[spoiler: , but the villains catch onto that. What they ''don't'' catch on to, however, is when Luigi disguises himself as Peach and tricks them into thinking they've captured a fake Peach, [[ZigZaggingTrope when they've actually captured the real one]].]]

* [[spoiler: In TheStinger of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', Ocelot reveals that this happened to the Philosopher's Legacy that EVA, who turned out to be a spy for the Chinese, had in her possession. The genuine article is in the hands of the Americans, who will use it to form the cabal later known as the Patriots.]]

* Insectoid villain Zorak challenges ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' to battle his GiantMecha. While Space Ghost bravely battles the robot, his attacks are NoSell. Blip the monkey discovers Space Ghost's true power bands in Zorak's lair; Zorak's minions had secretly switched them with underpowered replicas before the challenge was issued.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the immortal AntiVillain Theatre/{{Macbeth}} and an awakened KingArthur race to claim Excalibur in the modern world, and with it the title of "The Once and Future King". Macbeth actually beats Arthur to the location, but winds up claiming an ordinary copy of the sword that breaks in combat shortly afterward.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', one episode has the akumatized Dark Owl catching Ladybug and Cat Noir in a DrowningPit of whipped cream (just roll with it), which he'll only let them out of if they hand over their [[TransformationTrinket Miraculous]]. When they are delivered to Hawk Moth, he is dismayed to find out that Ladybug ended up handing over a pair of false Miraculous fashioned out of salt dough (he didn't find out because Ladybug had covered up the camera in the trap before handing over the fakes).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', Twilight's crown (which was part of the Elements of Harmony, the "most powerful force in Equestria" was replaced by a cheap-looking duplicate from an alternate universe where it was a Fall Formal Crown.f

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', Twilight's crown (which was part of the Elements of Harmony, the "most powerful force in Equestria" was replaced by a cheap-looking duplicate from an alternate universe where it was a Fall Formal Crown.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', there is a golden Chao Egg at the store near the courthouse. However, if you take it off the stand, the store will lock you in until you put it back. Fortunately, there is an egg-shaped rock in the courtyard that you can put in the egg's place.

The key distinction of this trope, however, is that the the swap ''must be done intentionally to fool another character, and involve switching out a physical object''. For ''accidental'' item switches, see SatchelSwitcheroo, UnfortunateItemSwap, and/or BlindMistake. For switching items in order to fool a scale or other inanimate trap, see WeightAndSwitch.

* BECMI ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure [=IM3=] ''The Best of Intentions''. One of the tasks the PlayerCharacters must complete is to acquire all of the parts of the Cube of Six Planes. One part is held by the turtle ruler [[Literature/YertleTheTurtleAndOtherStories Yertle]]. If the {{PC}}s steal the part, they can choose to leave a non-working copy so Yertle won't worry about its absence.

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[[folder: Films-- Animated]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Tintin}} and the Lake of Sharks'', this is the idea behind Rastapopolous' EvilPlan. Using technology stolen from [[AbsentMindedProfessor Professor Calculus]], he plans to make copies of famous artworks around the world, steal the originals, and get filthy rich.

[[folder: Films-- Live-Action]]
* In the 1994 ''Film/TheFantasticFour'' movie the Jeweler swaps the real diamond our heroes plan to use in their spaceship with a fake, intending to give it to the woman he's stalking. The fake diamond creates the spaceship accident that transforms our heroes. The weird part is that the "fake" one sparkles and the "real" one doesn't.

** In ''{{Film/Octopussy}}'', James Bond manages to abscond with a genuine Faberge egg by swapping it with a fake, right in the middle of a Sotheby's auction.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

** In the series finale, Jane is at a jewelry story and notices the jeweler performing a "French Drop" whereby he replaces a valuable ring with a worthless duplicate, in order to steal the ring from a couple who has brought it in to get it turned into a necklace. Jane stops the theft, but lets the jeweler go with a warning because [[spoiler:he's shopping for an engagement ring for Lisbon]].
---> So show me your very best selection, please. And, sir, if I see any glass the cuffs will come out.

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[[folder: Theatre]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* A double swap can be performed in ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGate Baldur's Gate II]]''. The player character and company are sent to infiltrate a drow noble house that has stolen the eggs of a silver dragon. The swap occurs thusly: first, you're instructed to swap the real eggs before they can be used in a ritual- they're being given to a demon in exchange for power, and being given the fake eggs causes him to kill the house's Matron Mother in retaliation. Once you've replaced the original eggs, you're given a second option to use a second set of fake eggs that you can give to Phaere, who was going to give them to the demon in exchange for the power he was originally going to give her mother. This causes him to kill her as well. At that point, you have the option to either [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential give the eggs to the demon yourself]] or return them to the silver dragon.

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* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse:'' Some paintings weren't found to be missing for months because they were replaced with good forgeries.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Faeries 1999}}'': After Brigid trades away the Royal Orb to the Shapeshifter, causing the Faeries to start rapidly aging, she and the kids steal it back by disguising a brooch on a needle with hobgoblin magic and switching them out. When the Shapeshifter comes to claim the Faerie kingdom, not only are they fully recovered, he has a piece of junk that falls apart and the Faerie prince has the real Orb, [[OhCrap with all its power.]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* The big twist in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' is that the [[ItmakesSenseInContext Scone of Stone]] [[{{Pun}} seat]] of the Dwarf Low-King has been switched out with a fake copy and the original destroyed. The even bigger twist is that the dwarf kings have been pulling this switch themselves for centuries and the conspirators in the book only think they have a new scheme.

* After all the fuss about getting "the black bird" in ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'', the bad guys finally get their grips on the eponymous falcon statue, only to find that it is a worthless replica, not the golden statue encrusted with jewels that they've been hunting for years. Apparently [[TheGhost General Kemidov]] tricked them and made off with the bird before the events of the film.

* A double swap can be performed in ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGate Baldur's Gate II]]'', by first replacing the set of Adalon's Eggs that Matron Mother Ardulace is about to use in a ritual, to get her killed by an angry demon - and then, optionally, replacing the eggs further, to trick Phaere, too.

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. S4 Ep1: Jake and Holt have been threatened by a New York mobster and are hiding out in Florida under Witness Protection but their lives are placed in jeopardy when a woman shoots a video of them on her 'phone. They track her down and attempt to pay her off to prevent her putting the video online but she discovers that most of the 'money' Jake has given her is just expired coupons. Jake panics and attempts to run away with the 'phone but he fails to get away and she takes it back. After Holt berates him for not taking the situation seriously Jake reveals that he has switched the 'phone for an identical model and he now has the original in his possession.

** Played with in ''Film/DiamondsAreForever''. When he goes to Blofeld's oil rig base, James Bond takes along a cassette tape of martial music in the hope of switching it with the computer tape Blofeld uses to control his KillSat. He successfully switches them, but [[StopHelpingMe while trying to help Bond, Tiffany Case switches them back]]. Luckily Bond has a StormingTheCastle backup plan.