Basic Trope: Two complete strangers happen to look exactly the same.
- Straight: Alex and Bob have never met, yet look uncannily similar in appearance.
- Exaggerated:
- Alex and Bob are from completely different countries and races (or even planets) and should by no rational means look even remotely similar, yet they somehow look completely identical right down to their fingerprints.
- Not only that, but Alex and Bob are genetically and biochemically identical despite the fact that they are of complete different species. Same emotions, same thoughts, almost as though they are clones..
- Downplayed: Alex and Bob look reasonably similar, but upon closer inspection, it's easy to tell them apart.
- Justified:
- Alex and Bob are long-lost twins who were Separated at Birth.
- Truth in Television
- Inverted: Alex and Bob are twin brothers who have spent their whole lives together but look nothing alike.
- Subverted: Bob was using glamour to look like Alex.
- Double Subverted: When Bob stops using the glamour, he looks just like Carl.
- Parodied: Alex thinks he and Bob are identical strangers when they look nothing alike.
- Zig-Zagged: Alex and Bob look very alike, but Bob was wearing a disguise and looks nothing like Alex when he takes it off. Then they see Dave, who looks a lot like Alex. But Alex was wearing a disguise, too, and when he takes it off, he looks like Bob.
- Averted: Alex and Bob do not look alike. Or they're twins.
- Enforced:
- To create a "Prince and Pauper" plot or Mistaken Identity gag.
- Acting for Two
- Lampshaded:Alex: Hm. It's like looking in the mirror.Bob: Yeah, except I don't know the other guy.
- Invoked:
- Bob enters a cloning machine, but it malfunctions slightly...
- Alex is an obscure secret admirer of Bob who makes himself look like Bob in order to freak out or impress him.
- Exploited: Alex makes a Face–Heel Turn, and takes advantage of his physical similarity to Bob.
- Defied: Alex and Bob dye their hair and gain/lose some weight/muscles to prevent people from confusing them.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alex and Bob are mistaken for each other despite having never met, and Alex and Bob are accused of doing things the other has done that they don't even know about. As such, Alex is Mistaken for Cheating and Bob loses his job due to a stunt Alex pulled that was recorded.
- Reconstructed: Upon actually meeting, Alex and Bob clear up the misunderstanding or even benefit from their physical similarities.
- Played for Laughs: Alex and Bob look so similar that characters constantly mistake one for another, to the point where even they can't keep track.
- Played for Drama: Alex looks identical to Emperor Bob Evulz, and he has to live his entire life repeatedly clearing up the confusion that he's not actually a murderous Evil Overlord.
- Played for Horror: Alex is Bob's Doppelgänger, and Alex's planning to Kill and Replace Bob.
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