History Main / SwappedRoles

* Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog:

* ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney'': One episode had Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel swapped roles and impersonated each other, though Ben did do the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge as usual.

* ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney'': One episode had Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel swapped roles and impersonated each other, though Ben did do the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge as usual.

* ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney'': One episode had Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel swapped roles and impersonated each other, though Ben did do the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge as usual.

* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' an ordinary([[CloudCuckoolander ish]]) schoolgirl reincarnates as Katarina, an [[DatingSim otome game villain]] and rapidly derails the plot by becoming the new main heroine. The old heroine, in turn, becomes a love interest. Katarina goes from refusing to let her engagement to a prince be dissolved to instead being unable to get out of it herself after the prince falls for the new her. Two fellow rival characters instead become her friends, even though they were supposed to hate her and then fall in love with her. One of those rivals, Mary, goes from an unrequited love with her fiancee into viewing him as being somewhere between a rival and a puppet. With this and a few other things, she shows a sneaky, controlling streak that turns her from being a complete ProperLady to having a bit in common with the original Katarina!

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', in the Pokestar Studios minigame where the player can film Pokemon-themed movies, one of the possible movie choices is "Timegate Traveller." The main character travels to the future to find a world where ''Pokemon catch people.'' Unlocking the movie's [[GainaxEnding strange ending]] causes a Ledian to throw a "human ball" at the player, catching them. The main character laments about their new role in society but points out that being the Ledian's pet wasn't so bad, and although their master could be cruel, she was also nice to humans who pleased her. They then [[StockholmSyndrome grow more loyal to Ledian]] and accept this new future, idly wondering if their old Pokemon became a human trainer too.

* In every Eggman fight in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, Sonic is on foot while Eggman pilots a mecha. This is flipped on its head in ''VideoGame/SonicMania'''s Hydrocity Act 1 boss, where Sonic pilots the mech and Eggman is on foot (or in this case, swimming around).

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': One episode had Pearl try to test why FailureIsTheOnlyOption by swapping places with Mike. [[AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent Pearl joined Crow and Tom in the theater,]] while Mike hung out with Bobo and Brain Guy.

'''George:''' Oh, yes! [[WhatAnIdiot "The Prince and the Porpoise and the Pauper"]].

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34941196/ The other side]]" basically looks at a world where ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' ended with the people who were snapped in canon being spared while those who were spared are snapped (Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor, and Bruce Banner die while Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, Wanda Maximoff and T'Challa survive, as an example). Although Peter's friends and immediate family are all Snapped as in canon to emphasise his own emotional issues, for the most part the fic looks at what would have happened if the other side of the universe had been the victim of Thanos's Snap.

** In the third series of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', the nincompoop Prince George swaps places with scheming butler Mr Blackadder to avoid being killed by the Duke of Wellington. The [[HilarityEnsues predictable occurs]].

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' had an episode where Sophie wanted to be the boss for once, and the entire team wound up switching jobs out of their normal specialties temporarily. After some [[HilarityEnsues events]] they eventually decided [[StatusQuoIsGod to go back to their original roles.]] Despite all this, they did learn the basics of each other's specialties (which was the goal, anyway, and proved more useful as they progressed). NothingIsTheSameAnymore, indeed.

* ''Series/SeeDadRun'': The premise of the show revolves around an actor who played a much-loved TV Dad whose show is now off the air after a long run, while his wife returns to acting on a soap opera since he is able to be a stay-at-home dad. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues. Especially since he's more like [[Series/TheCosbyShow Cliff Huxtable]] on-screen and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] off-screen (or [[Series/MarriedWithChildren Al Bundy]] at best).

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Not So Awesome Blossom" has Buttercup assuming the role as leader after Blossom--whose confidence takes a hit after not being able to do anything right--runs away from home.

* There is an episode in the ''WesternAnimation/CliffordTheBigRedDog'' series where Emily and Jetta care for each other's pets. While Emily [[ReconstructedTrope gets used to her new role as Machievelli Handover's guardian]], poor Jetta [[{{Deconstruction}} has some trouble with Clifford]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': The premise of “Once Upon a Swap” has Luz, Eda, and King insisting that they have it harder than the others; Eda believes that King never has to work for anything and can coast on his cuteness, King believes he could easily dominate Luz’s teenage peers, and Luz believes her life would be a lot easier if she could solve all her problems with magic like Eda. Eda casts a FreakyFridayFlip spell to make all three swap bodies and HilarityEnsues.

* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' an ordinary([[CloudCuckoolander ish]]) schoolgirl reincarnates as Katarina, an [[DatingSim otome game villain]] and rapidly derails the plot by becoming the new main heroine. The old heroine in turn becomes a love interest. Katarina goes from refusing to let her engagement to a prince be dissolved to instead being unable to get out of it herself after the prince falls for the new her. Two fellow rival characters instead become her friends even though they were supposed to hate her and then fall in love with her. One of those rivals, Mary, goes from an unrequited love with her fiancee into viewing him as being somewhere between a rival and a puppet. With this and a few other things, she shows a sneaky, controlling streak that turns her from being a complete ProperLady to having a bit in common with the original Katarina!

** Kermit and Fozzie swapped roles with Statler and Waldorf in with guest star Hal Linden. Kermit and Fozzie thought that Statler and Waldorf could be the hosts while they could sit in the balcony.

* On ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', when Reese is recovering after being shot, he worked the computer while Finch got to be the legman.

* In ''Comicbook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}: Deep Target'', Ollie and Arthur find themselves living each others' lives, with everyone acting like it's normal. As with the Arrowverse ''Elseworld'' crossover, it's not a FreakyFridayFlip because they still look like themselves -- although given that they're both blond guys with beards, this is not immediately obvious.

** In another episode, Timmy wishes Vicky was [[FountainOfYouth six years old]] so he could babysit her as payback. Unfortunately, this results in Cosmo and Wanda being reassigned to Vicky, who decides to torment him just as much as she tormented him when she was a teenager. Timmy wins back Cosmo and Wanda by tricking Vicky into saying she no longer needs them.

Compare/contrast RoleSwapAU, where the characters switch roles in an AlternateUniverse, and this reversal is treated as the norm of that particular universe.

* The Music/{{Lonestar}} song "Mr. Mom".

** In Chapter 77, [[spoiler:during her bonding ritual with Harry, fleur briefly muses that for once she's the one drooling over a potential sexual partner]].

Two characters swap roles in life, usually gaining greater understanding of each other's challenges. In '50's and '60's sitcoms, this often took the form of [[ADayInHerApron Dad staying home to watch Junior]] while Mom was away for the day. Later kids tend to swap roles with parents. Another common formulation, usually played for comedy over the {{a|nAesop}}esop, is masters and servants swapping roles for some deceptive reason.

Often begins with a fight, where the two characters are convinced they can do the other character's job better, and / or the other character has a much easier life. Usually ends up with a BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor {{a|nAesop}}esop, with both characters realizing that they prefer their own roles. Regardless, this may dovetail into NothingIsTheSameAnymore.

Compare with HourglassPlot, DecoyLeader and EmergencyImpersonation. More fantastical works may feature an OvernightAgeUp paired with a FountainOfYouth for characters whose different roles stem in large part from their age gap. If the characters don't just swap roles but literally swap bodies then it's a FreakyFridayFlip, which often [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]]. PrinceAndPauper explores a change in class/economic roles.

* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' an ordinary([[CloudCuckoolander ish]]) schoolgirl reincarnates as Katarina, an [[DatingSim otome game villain]] and rapidly derails the plot by becoming the new main heroine. The old heroine in turn becomes a love interest. Katarina goes from refusing to let her engagement to a prince be dissolved to instead being unable to get out of it herself after the prince falls for the new her. Two fellow rival characters instead become her friends even though they were supposed to hate her and then fall in love with her. One of those rivals, Mary, goes from an unrequited love with her fiancee into viewing him as being somewhere between a rival and a puppet. With this and a few other things she shows a sneaky, controlling streak that turns her from being a complete ProperLady to having a bit in common with the original Katarina!

* ''Naruto Reborn: Sasuke Uchiha'': Naruto and Sasuke kill each other and in the afterlife, Naruto learns there's another world where Sasuke can do everything all over again in his body because this Sasuke died in the massacre. Instead, NARUTO has to go, not as himself (because he doesn't exist in that universe), but become Sasuke himself by being in his body. So he does that and literally has to live Sasuke's life and see how he felt about things. It's permanent, so there's no going back and since Naruto doesn't exist [[SealedinaPersonShapedCan someone else has the Kyuubi]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''/[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/27874 Xenophilia]] fanfic ''FanFic/DividedRainbow'' is centered around this trope while also being a deconstruction of it. The first act of ''FanFic/DividedRainbow'' highlights how the 'Swapped Five,' (Twilight Sparkle's five Element-Bearing friends) are driving themselves into physical, mental, emotional, financial, and even familial ruination, because they are simply no good at filling each others' roles. The second act focuses on how these effects are counteracted.

* ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' ''The Pirate Fairy'' pulls this off when Zarina throws some multicoloured pixie dust at Tinkerbell, Vidia, Silvermist, Fawn, Rosetta and Iridessa, thus swapping their talents over. Fawn's a light fairy (Iridessa's talent), Iridessa's a garden fairy (Rosetta's talent), Rosetta's an animal fairy (Fawn's talent), Tinkerbell's a water fairy (Silvermist's talent), Silvermist is a fast-flying fairy (Vidia's talent), and Vidia's a tinker fairy (Tinkerbell's talent. She doesn't take this too well.)

* In the ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePoohAVeryMerryPoohYear'', Pooh and his friends make New Year resolutions in the hope of stopping Rabbit leaving the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh resolves to stop eating honey, which makes him depressed like Eeyore, to the point of speaking in DullSurprise and stealing his "Thanks for noticin," while Eeyore resolves to be more cheerful, and starts wearing a red shirt and eating honey like Pooh would. Piglet resolves to be braver and is advised by Tigger that you can avoid being afraid by bouncing, which soon leads to him acting like Tigger as well, while Tigger resolves to stop bouncing, but his advice to Piglet means he ''starts'' being afraid, exactly like Piglet would. When Rabbit sees the "new" versions of his friends, he decides he's ''definitely'' leaving, but once they're all back to normal and explain what was going on, and when Christopher Robin arrives and says he likes them the way they are, he decides he couldn't leave friends who are prepared to go through that for him.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'' has a variant in which its one person and a group of people that swap roles. For most of the series, Shidou needs to make Spirits fall in love with him in order to seal their power and stop them causing havoc. In the twelfth book, he loses control of the powers inside him and the Spirits need to make him fall in love with them to restore control.

-->'''George:''' It's just like that story, "The Prince and the Porpoise".\\

** [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness In the first series]] the title character was the nincompoop while ''Baldrick'' of all people was the HypercompetentSidekick and OnlySaneMan.

* ''Series/LabRats'': When Bree's frustration meter with Principal Perry reaches its limit, she insists she could be a better principal then Perry. Perry accepts the offer and makes Bree Principal for one day, while she takes on the role of a student hooligan.

* ''Series/SeeDadRun'': The premise of the show revolves around an actor who played a much-loved TV Dad who's show is now off the air after a long run, while his wife returns to acting on a soap opera since he is able to be a stay-at-home dad. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues. Especially since he's more like [[Series/TheCosbyShow Cliff Huxtable]] on-screen and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] off-screen (or [[Series/MarriedWithChildren Al Bundy]] at best).

** On a few occasions, Tim and Wilson would switch roles, with Wilson struggling with some problem and Tim giving him some much needed advice on how to handle it. At least once, they'd swapped what side of the fence they were standing on (with Wilson's face still being obscured).

* ''Series/That70sShow'': Red, Kitty, Bob and Midge share the kids' "pot smoking" scene after accidently eating a bunch of Hyde's pot-laced brownies. When this leads to Red selling Eric's car to a stranger, Eric and Hyde chew him out for it, acting like how Red and Kitty does when they dress Eric down for something.

* The Kate Rusby song "The Old Man" about a man and his wife swapping jobs for a day. One of the '1950s' style stories as mentioned above, albeit based on much older material.

* Among Wrestling/RingOfHonor fans, this is known as "Jimmy Loves Lacey, Lacey Loves Jimmy", in references to an angle where Wrestling/JimmyJacobs fell in love with and spent a long time courting {{the hedonist}}ic, [[ItsAllAboutMe self centered]], SpoiledBrat, AlphaBitch manager Lacey, who disgustedly wrote Jacobs off as "gay" but kept him around as a tool, a pawn in her various schemes. Eventually, after turning every other man she spent any meaningful amount of time with against her, Lacey eventually began [[SympathyForTheHero to appreciate all the pain Jacobs put himself through for her]] and tried to reward him with sex, which Jacobs denied her, [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt wanting love not pity, wanting a loving and not lustful relationship]]. Jacobs eventually caved when Lacey proposed sex for the sake of it rather than pity, and Lacey fell in love with Jacobs afterwards. But then Jacobs learned LoveRedeems is not true, that he had not actually made anything better. Then Lacey got injured during a fight between Jacobs and BJ Whitmer, which caused Jacobs to lash out at Ring of Honor, society in general, the American healthcare system, and start [[PowerStable The Age Of The Fall]] against it all, with Lacey gleefully helping Jacobs carry out any plans that would help fulfill his various agendas, [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend even fighting for him]] while he was injured and getting her TagTeam partner Rain to [[BodyguardBabes help]]. It was as if Jimmy had become Lacey and Lacey had become Jimmy.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', in the Pokestar Studios minigame where the player can film Pokemon-themed movies, one of the possible movie choices is "Timegate Traveller." The main character travels to the future to find a world where ''Pokemon catch people.'' Unlocking the movie's [[GainaxEnding strange ending]] causes a Ledian to throw a "human ball" at the player, catching them. The main character laments about their new role in society, but points out that being the Ledian's pet wasn't so bad, and although their master could be cruel, she was also nice to humans who pleased her. They then [[StockholmSyndrome grow more loyal to Ledian]] and accept this new future, idly wondering if their old Pokemon became a human trainer too.

* ''Webcomic/SwordPrincessAmaltea'' has a [[http://natalia.batista.se/spa/comic1.php?page=221 chapter]] dedicated to discuss the DoubleStandard in a matriarchy thanks to their protagonists [[GenderBender swapping sexes]], basically in a way for both of them to understand the other's point of view and how the world works for the opposite sex.
* A Boxing Day strip of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' has Arthur in Merlin's outfit announcing that he's going to use precognition to make his friends' lives miserable, and Merlin in Arthur's outfit retorting that he couldn't hear him, because he was too busy avoiding his job.

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'': In "Papa Johnny", Johnny and his dad agree to getting their brains switched by the twin’s invention so they can switch roles for a day and see who has the harder life. Johnny gets AmusingInjuries from the chores [[HenpeckedHusband his mother Lila forces on his dad]], while Hugh is harrassed and humiliated by [[TheBully Bumper]] and Johnny’s SadisticTeacher. Johnny and Hugh express a new respect and understanding for each other… [[HereWeGoAgain only for Susan and Lila to start arguing between themselves who has it harder and switch their own bodies]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'': Trying to prove which of their chosen sports requires more talent, Reggie Rocket and Cleo swap events at Winter Fest, with Reggie ice dancing and Cleo playing on her ice hockey team. Subverted in the fact that they're ''both'' good and not only win their respective events, but impressed the other.

** In the episode "Le Switcheroo," the animal school's counselor Mr. Mandrill had the grouchy gym teacher Coach Gills and the [[FishOutOfWater lone human student]] Adam Lyon trade places for a day when both began complaining to the principal about each other. {{Hilarity Ensue|s}}d when the entire school somehow fell for their {{Paper Thin Disguise}}s (Adam wore Coach Gills's bow in his hair and Coach Gills wore one of Adam's shirts below her fish bowl), but both learned the {{A|nAesop}}esop Mr. Mandrill was aiming for and gained new respect for one another.

** One episode had the Eds change roles as a game: Eddy as Double D, Ed as Eddy and Double D as Ed; each in an exaggerated fashion--Eddy's portrayal of Double D as a neurotic weakling full of useless information, Double D's portrayal of Ed as a complete idiot (although he bypasses his poor manners) and Ed's portrayal of Eddy as a greedy slacker.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': The premise of “Once Upon a Swap” has Luz, Eda, and King insisting that they have it harder than the others; Eda believes that King never has to work for anything and can coast on his cuteness, King believes he could easily dominate Luz’s teenage peers, and Luz believes her life would be a lot easier if she could solve all her problems with magic like Eda. Eda casts a FreakyFridayFlip spell to make all three swap bodies, and HilarityEnsues.

* In Victorian Britain there was a tradition of the well-to-do treating their servants to a banquet on Boxing Day, and acting as servants for the duration. This may have been based on earlier traditions such as the early medieval Feast of Fools, in which the clerical order would be reversed on 1st January, so that subdeacons took the place of high clergy (a remnant of this survived into later periods as the "boy bishops"), and the Roman Saturnalia, where some sources say householders would serve their slaves for the day.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePoohAVeryMerryPoohYear'', Pooh and his friends make New Year resolutions in the hope of stopping Rabbit leaving the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh resolves to stop eating honey, which makes him depressed, while Eeyore resolves to be more cheerful, and starts wearing a red shirt and eating honey. Piglet resolves to be braver and is advised by Tigger that you can avoid being afraid by bouncing, while Tigger resolves to stop bouncing, but his advice to Piglet means he ''starts'' being afraid. When Rabbit sees the "new" versions of his friends, he decides he's ''definitely'' leaving, but once they're all back to normal and explain what was going on, he decides he couldn't leave friends who are prepared to go through that for him.

* One episode of ''Series/TheOddCouple'' had Felix and Oscar changing roles in an attempt to alleviate their mutual hostility. However, they both exaggerate each other's personality traits (Oscar [as Felix] does housework wearing a tuxedo while Felix [as Oscar] dunks his [cheap] cigar on Oscar/Felix's glass of wine).