History Main / SwappedRoles

** This was invoked by ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' in [[LostInTranslation the Japanese version]]. Near the end of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', shortly after being shot into space and barely making it back alive, Sonic is met with a Shadow who is puzzled over his improbable survival. Sonic responds by joking that stubborness is his [[JustForPun saving grace]]. At the end of that game, Shadow falls into space too, seemingly dying. Then in ''Heroes'' he mysteriously comes back, so upon meeting him, Sonic comments that it looks like stubbornness is a saving grace for him too.

* PlayedForLaughs in the {{crossover}} between the ''WebVideo/HermitcraftServer'' and ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'', where Grian and Impluse track down Pixlriffs and proceed to narrate everything he's doing in a deliberate reversal of the CompanionShow ''Hermitcraft Recap'' (which he provides the voiceover for).

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''LetsPlay/HermitcraftServer''/''LetsPlay/EmpiresSMP'' {{Crossover}}, where Grian and Impluse track down Pixlriffs and proceed to narrate everything he's doing in a deliberate reversal of the CompanionShow ''Hermitcraft Recap'' (which he provides the voiceover for).

Compare/contrast RoleSwapAU, where the characters switch roles in an AlternateUniverse, and this reversal is treated as the norm of that particular universe. If character's roles are exchanged for prolonged periods, then it's a RoleSwapPlot.

* WesternAnimation/MaoMaoHeroesOfPureHeart: The episode "Trading Day" has Mao Mao, Badgerclops and Adorabat trade roles to see who has it easier with Mao Mao recieving a [[ArtificialLimbs spare robot arm]] from Badgerclops, Badgerclops going to Adorabat's school and Adorabat putting on Mao Mao's gear and patroling the town herself as it's shrieff.

* The Disney Channel MadeForTVMovie ''Model Behaviour''. An average teenager discovers that she's identical in appearance to a famous model. The two swap lives for a week -- the teen taking a stab at being a model, while the model gets to experience high school for the first time.

* The ''Series/{{Smallville}}''/''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious crossover'' "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9472416/1/On-the-Run On the Run]]" basically has Chloe and Letty swap roles early in the plot, with Chloe the one presumed dead during the events of Film/FastAndFurious while Letty becomes a good friend of Clark’s after he ‘saves her life’ (from the accident that would have left her presumed dead and with amnesia).

* In ''Anime/ZombielandSaga'', Sakura has her life filled with nothing but tragedy and misfortune, leaving her depressed, and it's up to Kotaro to kick her back into gear as the leading star of Franchouchou. The next season, ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'', starts the other way around: It's Kotaro's turn to be depressed, and this time, it's up to Sakura to set him right back on track.

* 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!

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]* 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!

* The 1991 film ''The Doctor'' starred Creator/WilliamHurt in the title role as an arrogant and emotionally detached medical professional, who is diagnosed with cancer and experiences the very same attitudes as a bed-ridden patient.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* 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!

** The Season 3 episode "Big Trouble" sees Tilly being [[YouAreGrounded grounded]] for the first time ever when she lets her pet goat, Melissa, leave her muddy hoofprints all over the house shortly after Bill finished cleaning it. Normally, Bill would accuse [[NotMeThisTime Cricket]] of messing up the house, but for Tilly, there's a first time for everything. Cricket becomes more well-behaved, while Tilly decides to [[WalkOnTheWildSideEpisode go bad]]. After [[FiveFingerDiscount she shoplifts a pez dispenser from a convenience store]], her guilty conscience gets the best of her, at which point she returns it, then resumes being her normal well-behaved self and Cricket is back to being a troublemaker.

** The Season 3 episode "Big Trouble" sees Tilly being [[YouAreGrounded grounded]] for the first time ever when she lets her pet goat, Melissa, leave her muddy hoofprints all over the house shortly after Bill finished cleaning it. Normally, Bill would accuse [[NotMeThisTime Cricket]] of messing up the house, but for Tilly, there's a first time for everything. Cricket becomes more well-behaved, while Tilly decides to go bad. After [[FiveFingerDiscount she shoplifts a pez dispenser from a convenience store]], her guilty conscience gets the best of her, at which point she returns it, then resumes being her normal well-behaved self and Cricket is back to being a troublemaker.

** The Season 3 episode "Big Trouble" sees Tilly being [[YouAreGrounded grounded]] for the first time ever when she lets her pet goat, Melissa, leave her muddy hoofprints all over the house shortly after Bill finished cleaning it. Dirtying up the house is one of the typical things Bill would accuse Cricket of, [[NotMeThisTime but for Tilly, there's a first time for everything]]. Cricket becomes more well-behaved, while Tilly decides to go bad. After [[FiveFingerDiscount she shoplifts a pez dispenser from a convenience store]], her guilty conscience gets the best of her, at which point she returns it, then resumes being her normal well-behaved self and Cricket is back to being a troublemaker.

** The Season 3 episode "Big Trouble" sees Tilly being [[YouAreGrounded grounded]] for the first time ever when she lets her pet goat, Melissa, leave her muddy hoofprints all over the house shortly after Bill finished cleaning it. Dirtying up the house is one of the typical things Bill would accuse Cricket of, [[NotMeThisTime but for Tilly, there's a first time for everything]]. Cricket becomes more well-behaved, while Tilly decides to go bad. She eventually decides it's not working out so well.

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.

* ''LightNovel/DateALive'' has a variant in which it's 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.

* 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 most of Peter's friends and immediate family are all Snapped as in canon to emphasise his own emotional issues and isolation (the only known close friend who survived from his civilian life is Michelle Jones), 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.