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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.ImpersonationGambit 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.ImpersonationGambit, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{trope}}
A sting operation in which the hero tries to infiltrate the villain's organization by passing themselves off as one of the bad guys.
For example, Bob is going to meet Alice to be given an evil plan to carry out. The hero, Charlie, catches up with Bob before he can meet with Alice. Since Alice and Bob has never met face to face, Charlie goes to the meeting point, pretending to be Bob. Charlie is attempting an Impersonation Gambit. If successful, he will take down Alice's organization, [[Rule of Drama|but this gambit doesn't always go as planned]].
A subtrope of [[The Infiltration]], only in this case, they are impersonating a real person that the villains were expecting to meet. Can result in a [[You Are Already Checked In]] if the person they're impersonating shows up. Compare [[Dressing
Inexperienced in impersonation, the heroes might act according to [[Most Definitely Not a Villain]] (except that they're trying to pretend that they most definitely ''are'' a villain). They may also face the need to [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten|prove that they're as evil as the impersonatee is known to be]].
{{examples
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[
** Another James Bond example occurs during the opening of ''[[
* In ''[[Ultraviolet]]'' Violet impersonates a courier in order to get inside the Archminstry's headquarters and steal the weapon that will wipe out the hemophages.
* ''[[Princess Principal]]'' tends to [[Playing with a Trope|play with]] this trope:
** [[Operation: Blank|Project: Changeling]] would never have been approved if the spy Ange didn't [[Identical Stranger|look so much like]] Princess Charlotte to make it feasible. However, Princess joins Team Principal instead of being replaced.
** Later, Ange tries to pull one to get most of the team into a restricted area. Since one of the guards she's trying to bluff has heard that [[You Are Already Checked In|Princess is already inside the restricted area]], this quickly turns into an [[Indy Ploy]].
== [[Literature]] ==
* Done in almost all possible ways (from stolen uniforms to magical transformations) in the [[Black Company]]. [[Gambit Pileup]] is the typical result.
* ''[[The Executioner]]'' series. Mack Bolan would sometimes infiltrate Mafia organizations by masquerading as an elite hitman. He did so by displaying an ace of spades, which they used to identify themselves.
* Done in [[Harald]], when [[The Dragon|Mord]] hires [[Horse Archer|Westkin]] mercenaries as soldiers to assassinate {{spoiler|King James}}, [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|who has outlived his usefulness]], [[Badass Grandpa|Harald]] gets his own Westkin allies to impersonate them.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Mission: Impossible]]''. This was sometimes used in IMF operations.
* [[
* [[Human Target|Christopher Chance]] successfully pulls this off in "Taking Ames".
** In another episode, to protect a woman he believed was being targeted, he posed as online date. However, the real date shows up, blowing Chances cover. The "real date" is revealed to be the assassin hired to kill the woman, but luckly, Chance saves her.
* ''[[Chuck]]'' pulls this off in "Chuck vs the Fake Name" by taking an assassins indentity to find out who the ring wants to kill.
** There was a similar plot in ''[[Monk]]''. Even more coincidental since one of the mobsters was played by the same actor who played a mobster in the that episode of ''[[Chuck]]''.
* [[
* Villain example in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Sylar kills Zane Taylor, steals his power, and passes himself off as him to Mohinder.
* ''[[
* Happened in an episode of the new ''[[Knight Rider]]''.
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Cape (2010 TV series)|The Cape]]'': Vince poses as the bomber Razer as a way to spy on Scales.
* On ''[[
* In one episode of ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'', Hutch impersonates a reclusive hitman who has just been taken into custody. This goes wrong when the hitman escapes and shows up at the meeting...
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', {{spoiler|Eva isn't really your contact}}.
** Also in Snake Eater, Snake impersonates Major Raikov in order to get to the west wing of Grozni Grad.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Rather humorously averted in ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Gloriously played in the ''[[Batman:
== [[Real Life]] ==
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