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Mirror Routine: Difference between revisions

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== Anime & Manga ==
* A variation of this is done in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Cardcaptor Sakura]]''. The Mirror card [[Invoked Trope|deliberately]] [[Captain Obvious|mirrors]] Sakura's actions in order to reveal its identity.
* ''[[Naruto]]'': [[Brilliant but Lazy|Shikamaru and the rest of the Nara family]] pull this off by way of their [[Shadow Pin]] ninjutsu. To paraphrase an enemy, "You got ahold of my shadow, so now we marry each other's movements."
 
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* The [[Marx Brothers]] do this in ''[[Duck Soup]]''. The definitive version that everyone copies. The gag was old when the Marxes did it, dating from vaudeville and being used in several silent comedies in the '20s, though they subvert it niftily at one point when Groucho and Harpo ''walk around each other'' but continue imitating each other afterward.
* A variation shows up in the [[Buster Keaton]] film ''[[Sherlock, Jr.]]'' -- Buster stands in front of what appears to be a full-length mirror, then steps through, revealing that it's a door connecting two identical rooms.
* Max Linder, in the 1921 silent comedy ''Seven Years Bad Luck'', in which Max's servant is trying to hide the fact that he's broken his master's mirror.
* Another silent-era example: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4VdIZLiRec Charley Chase], in his 1924 short ''Sittin' Pretty''.
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* Sarah Jessica Parker made a dance movie in the 1980s called ''Girls Just Want to Have Fun''. During the final round of competition, twin dancers successfully pull off a quick intro that way and are called Mirror Image.
* This happens in the TV movie ''Model Behavior'', except the lookalikes are ''unintentionally'' copying each other's movements.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [[The Monkees]]' film ''[[Head (Film)|Head]]''. Peter thinks Davy's trying to do [[Mirror Routine|"the old mirror routine"]] in the studio restroom, but Davy's actually trying to warn Peter about a huge [[Evil Eye]] in the mirror.
* Done in the [[Vincent Price]] vehicle ''Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs'', between Price's titular villain and Ciccio Ingrassia's hero/comedy relief.
* There is a deleted scene in ''[[Terminator]] 2'' where Sarah Connor installs new hardware into the head of the Terminator while he sits in front of a mirror. In the movie, the mirror and its reflections are genuine. In real life, Linda Hamilton's identical twin stood on the other side of the mirror and copied her sister's movements. This was done so that the camera could make a continuous shot from the back of the Terminator's head (actually a dummy) to looking down inside it; Arnold sat on the other side of the fake mirror while Leslie Hamilton pretended to fiddle with his head.
** Also, it's done to fool ''us'' the audience, and you know what? [[Visual Effects of Awesome|it works]].
* In the second ''[[Garfield (Filmfilm)|Garfield]]'' movie, ''A Tale of Two Kitties'', Garfield and [[Identical Stranger]] Prince do this when they finally meet, over a hedge arch. They desynchronize once Garfield tries some wicked dance moves.
* Done in ''[[The Nutt House]]'', when two identical twins finally meet.
* Also used in ''Repli-Kate'': Kate and her clone both mistake each other for a reflection, unintentionally mirror each other's movements, and walk away without a clue what just happened.
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* Inversion: In ''Ares Express'' by [[Ian McDonald]], Sweetness searches through a mirror maze for one image that doesn't match her every move, because it's an independent virtual-reality copy of her.
* In ''[[Disney Fairies|Fawn and the Mysterious Trickster]]'', Fawn pranks Beck by dressing up as her and pretending to be her reflection.
* Partially applies to a scene in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'', where Lily rushes into her mirror-filled room and mistakes Granny for one of her own reflections, as she's standing in the frame of a broken one. Justified in that Granny was dressed similarly to Lily, they're sisters who look a lot alike, and Lily's ''ordinary'' reflections don't move perfectly in synch with her, due to her excessive use of mirror-magic.
*
 
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== Live-Action TV ==
* This sketch was done as a performance in ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'': Rather slim prima ballerina Darcy Bussel in a famous cameo is reflected by not-at-all slim Geraldine.
* This is a plot point in the episode "The Tailor's Dummy" of ''[[Jonathan Creek (TV)|Jonathan Creek]]'', inspired by ''[[Duck Soup]]'', to bluff that one man was the murderer.
* Lucy and Harpo Marx, in an episode of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', echoing the famous scene from ''[[Duck Soup]]''.
* One episode of ''[[GilligansGilligan's Island]]'' involves a Soviet spy who has undergone plastic surgery to resemble Gilligan landing on the island. When the two Gilligans come face to face, the spy tries to convince the real Gilligan that he is looking into a mirror. Gilligan manages to trip the spy up by acting like he is going to sneeze and then stopping halfway through.
* Happens a few times in ''[[The Benny Hill Show]]'', usually with Benny in drag mirroring a woman. The "disguise" fails when they start to strip....
* Done in an episode of ''[[The X-Files]]''. In the Season 6 two-part episode "Dreamland", Mulder switches bodies with another agent. When he later looks in the mirror, the two actors (David Duchovny and Micheal McKean) perform this trope.
* Scott Bakula did the same performance with dozens of other actors on ''[[Quantum Leap]]'', for pretty much the same reason.
* Done in an episode of ''[[Mad TV]]'' spoofing ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', where Nikki (the one with the split personality) believes the "her" in the mirror is someone different, and performs a series of elaborate stunts in front of the mirror to prove it.
* A contender group in the Japanese talent show ''Kasou Taishou'' had done a mirror room dance involving one girl dancing with five other girls as mirror images mimicking the dancer. This got them first place.
* Parodied in a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch parodying ''[[The Swan]]'' in the episode hosted by the Olsen twins. One twin played the contestant looking at herself in the mirror; the other played the mirror image, deliberately off-sync with the other. The "image" even hands the other a tissue when she starts crying!
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== Video Games ==
* In the first ''[[Paper Mario (Video Gamefranchise)|Paper Mario]]'', some shape-changing enemies try to pull this in the seventh dungeon, an ice palace, where every room ''looks'' like it has a mirror covering its wall, but is actually divided by a giant wall of glass. Eventually you find a hole in the "mirror", and bump into your "reflection".
* ''[[Super Mario 64 (Video Game)|Super Mario 64]]'' did it to simplify the graphics processing. In story, a room had a large mirror on the wall. The game actually used a mirrored room, a duplicate of Mario, and an invisible force field. Not a ''perfectly'' mirrored room, of course. The trick in that room is to find something that isn't a perfect mirror and use that as a level entrance. In the remake, Luigi can phase through the mirror into the copied room, where things get [[White Void Room|weird]].
* In the first ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' game and its remake, there is an Atlantean creature who looks like a muscular structure of a human who copies Lara's movements exactly.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'': The battle against Shadow Link starts off like this and goes on for about a minute or so before he starts attacking on his own.
* ''[[Sonic Generations (Video Game)|Sonic Generations]]'': Before fighting the Death Egg Robot, Classic and Modern Sonic both walk up to a glass window in the wall separating them and perform this gag. The perspective the player sees it from depends on which Sonic they used to enter the boss portal from the hub world. In Classic Sonic's perspective, he realizes the trick after Eggman speaks. In Modern Sonic's, he doesn't notice until Classic Sonic runs off.
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* Stick figures can do it, too: see [http://antiheroescomic.com/comic/66 this strip] of ''[[Anti-HEROES (Webcomic)|Anti-HEROES]]''.
{{quote| '''Kaalinor:''' Wow! That was totally awesome! I can't believe I stayed in sync with you for so long!}}
* The protagonist of ''[[Chopping Block]]'' [http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20001003.html once did this] with [[Friday the Thirteenth13th|Jason]] (both wear hockey masks.)
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* When the title character of ''[[Ruby Quest (Roleplay)|Ruby Quest]]'' leaves a room and returns, what was a window into another room seems to have changed into a mirror--at least, the figure on the other side perfectly mimicks Ruby. When she's forced to smash the glass, however, the figure remains, and its face [[Body Horror|distorts]] as it squeezes into the room.
 
 
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* [[Bugs Bunny]] does this to Elmer in the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon "Hare Tonic" to convince Elmer that he is turning into a rabbit.
* [[Daffy Duck]] does this in ''The Impatient Patient'' and ''Draftee Daffy''.
* Tom and another cat did this while fighting over Jerry in the Chuck Jones [[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]] short ''Cat and Dupli-Cat''.
* An episode of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'' has an evil mime do this to Clay. It ends when he tries to mirror-punch himself in the head.
* Fred Flintstone does this on Billy's dad in ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]'' once. Apparently, Billy's dad catches on eventually, and keeps going after Fred has left.
* ''[[Count Duckula (Animation)|Count Duckula]]'', in the episode "One Stormy Night".
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' does this with Hitler vs. Stewie disguised as Hitler, a shot-by-shot remake of the infamous [[Marx Brothers]] skit in the episode "Road to Germany".
* ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' has a shapeshifter escaping from the heroes this way. He has the advantage of being on the other side of glass.
* A common gag on ''[[Scooby Doo]]'', usually with Shaggy as a participant. Sometimes it is the Fake [[Monster of the Week]] doing the copying, other times it's Shaggy trying to fake out his pursuers. Sometimes this happens with Scooby, often with the villain [[Latex Perfection|wearing a very realistic latex Scooby-Doo mask]] (but with either his true hands exposed or no spots on his body).
** A serious variant was used in an episode of ''[[What's New Scooby Doo]]'', in which a photograph thought to show a boy looking into a mirror turned out to be an image of identical twins, posed as if doing a [[Mirror Routine]].
* [[Rugrats|Chuckie]] and [[The Wild Thornberrys|Donnie]] in the [[Crossover Special]] ''Rugrats Go Wild''.
* An [[Easy Amnesia]] episode of ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Animationanimation)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' includes this... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er4zU20y8kg&feature=PlayList&p=2FABC4C1D36B5F36&playnext_from=PL&index=7 in song].
* The ''[[Tale Spin (Animation)|Tale Spin]]'' episode "A Bad Reflection on You" features a scene like this.
* Jackie Chan from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' and an evil clone.
* Dinobot from ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' and... likewise.
* On the ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' short "Bell Hoppy", Sylvester has to put a bell on Hippety Hopper, and after various failed attempts, he tricks Hopper into putting the bell on himself with a mirror routine.
* Parodied on an episode of ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]''.
{{quote| '''Finn:''' Come on, Jake, I ''know'' this isn't a mirror! What the-- You're [[Lampshade Hanging|doing it WRONG, even!]]}}
* Rainbow Dash from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' does this in "[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E26 A Canterlot Wedding Part 2|A Canterlot Wedding Part 2]]" with {{spoiler|the first Changeling to take her appearance}}, complete with a subtle lag in the latter's movements.
 
 
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