Surgical Impersonation: Difference between revisions

A subtrope of [[Magic Plastic Surgery]], this is when a person, whether by accident or on purpose, ends up with the face of another through reconstructive surgery. Usually, some kind of big accident is involved (or staged) that leads to the fateful operation, or the person might just disappear for a while and come back with the new face. However, as mentioned, this is a subtrope of [[Magic Plastic Surgery]]: it is not enough that the person has a new face, it is a ''specific'' face, the face of someone else that is known to the other characters, perhaps even a character who's a participant in the story. Also, this isn't LITERALLY''literally'' having the other person's face ([[Face Off|usually...]]), just having surgery to look like the other person. Bottom line is this: the person's new face is not a random or unknown one, it is a face well known to the other characters. Also, this is not the same as [[Latex Perfection]]: while that might be another way of impersonating someone, it is not at all permanent like Surgical Impersonation is, nor does it have as many dramatic options.

* [[Identity Amnesia]]: A very interesting combination: a character suffers amnesia and is given someone else's face. This can lead to a [[Tomato in the Mirror]] situation in which the character eventually finds, to his horror, that he's not the person everyone claims he is. A [[MiningConveniently AccidentUnverifiable OnCover TroyStory]] might also play a part here. If the author wants to hit the character with the full whammy, he might go for [[Amnesiac Dissonance]], too.

* [[Dead Person Impersonation]]: One of the more common tropes associated with this one: the person is impersonating a deceased person for some motive or another, usually revenge. If the impersonator CAUSED''caused'' the original's death, it's [[Kill and Replace]]. It can also be a case of [[My Sibling Will Live Through Me]]: the person receiving the surgery takes this trope to the extreme, becoming physically identical to the dead relative.