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Basic Trope: Someone's ID photo (or in some cases, yearbook photo) is noticeably terrible.

  • Straight:
    • Bob's ID photo shows him making a weird face.
    • Alice’s yearbook photo shows her picking her nose.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Even though Bob was making a completely normal face when the picture was taken, it still turns out terrible somehow.
    • Bob's ID photo isn't even a picture of him!
    • Everyone's ID and yearbook photos are terrible.
    • Bob’s ID photo is a head-to-toe photo of him naked.
    • Alice appears naked in her yearbook photo.
    • Every photo ever taken of Alice has her naked.
  • Downplayed:
    • Bob feels his ID photo could've turned out better.
    • Alice’s makeup runs a little during her photo.
    • Alice was still in her emo phase during the picture.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: Bob's ID photo is the best photo of him.
  • Subverted: Bob is worried that his ID photo will turn out badly, but after the photo is taken, he finds that it went over well.
  • Double Subverted: ...Until he gets the photo back, and finds that it somehow turned out badly.
  • Parodied: Bob doesn't even show up on the ID; somehow, the ID is a picture of the chair he sat in while taking the photo.
  • Zig-Zagged: Multiple instances of ID/yearbook photos are seen; some of them look good, and some of them look bad.
  • Averted:
    • There is nothing noteworthy about anyone's ID/yearbook photos.
    • No ID/yearbook photos are mentioned.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded: "Bob, this may be your greatest ID photo yet!"
  • Invoked:
    • For some reason, Bob intentionally tries to take a bad photo for his ID.
    • Carol zaps Alice with The Nudifier just before the class photo is taken.
  • Exploited: Bob appears drunk in his ID, because if the police pull him over for drunk driving, he will look normal.
  • Defied: Bob realizes his photo is bad and asks for a retake.
  • Discussed: "Your ID is almost certainly gonna turn out bad."
  • Conversed: "Someone's getting an ID photo taken? I bet it's gonna turn out badly; it often does on these kinds of shows."
  • Implied:
    • Alice looks into Bob's wallet and starts laughing at something.
    • Bob mentions the time he had a bad ID photo.
    • Bob only shows his ID when absolutely necessary.
  • Played for Drama:
    • Bob’s ID photo is of him being raped.
    • Alice is hallucinating herself nude in her yearbook due to repressing memories of bullying and sexual abuse at the hands of her classmates and teacher.
  • Played for Horror:
    • Bob curses his ID photo so that anyone who looks at it is met with a Cruel and Unusual Death.
    • Bob is a slasher who targets the people responsible for taking and approving his ID.
    • Alice sees herself naked in her yearbook photo. She is later raped during her class reunion.
    • Alice realises that her yearbook photo shows her without a left arm, which she assumes is a photo error. She ends up losing her left arm in a car accident.
    • Alice notices her classmate Carol had disappeared from their class yearbook, which she again assumes is a photo error. Carol dies shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances. David then disappears from the picture and dies too. One by one, Alice's classmates disappear until she's the last one. She ultimately realises her old teacher was the Serial Killer.

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