Tomato in the Mirror/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character discovers they're not what they thought they were.

  • Straight: Adele has been fighting invading aliens called Kschorkians - only to discover that she is a deluded Kschorkian in disguise.
  • Exaggerated: Not only is Adele a Kschorkian in disguise, but so is every human on the Earth.
  • Up to Eleven: The Kschorkians are the universe. Let that sink into your mind for awhile...
  • Downplayed: Adele discovers that she is actually a Kschorkian - and decides it doesn't matter, she's still going to keep fighting for humanity.
    • Adele had been told that she had links to Kschorkians, but she never thought about the possibility about her actually being a member of them.
  • Justified: Adele's role as a spy required for her to under go brainwashing to make her cover as realsitic as possible.
  • Inverted: A Kschorkian turns out to be a human.
  • Subverted: It is heavily implied throughout the series that Adele is a Kschorkian - but, when put to the test, it proves that she is actually human.
    • Or Adele looks in the mirror, and sees a Kschorkian, and her friends think this is a Tomato in the Mirror - but she's actually fully aware of what she is, and has only been waiting for a chance to turn on her 'friends.'
  • Double Subverted: . . . but then it turns out later that Adele faked the test because she was afraid of what the answer might be, and she's really a Kschorkian.
    • . . . or Adele is only pretending to have been a conscious spy to cover up her horror at the revelation.
  • Parodied: Adele looks in the mirror - and it turns out she's a tomato. Literally.
  • Zig Zagged: Adele is implied to be a Kschorkian, and then it turns out she's not. But then it turns out she faked the test, and she's actually a Kschorkian. And then it turns out that that was a ruse by Bridgette to trick Adele. And then it turns out that Adele is indeed a Kschorkian, and Bridgette's ruse was unnecessary.
  • Averted: Adele is just a human, and there's never any question of her having been a Kschorkian.
    • Or, Adele is a Kschorkian, but she and everyone else knew this, so it didn't have to be revealed.
  • Enforced: "The audience believes Adele is really a Kschorkian, so let's go with that!"
  • Lampshaded: "Oh, god, I'm a Kschorkian. I don't believe this. If this was a TV show, I'd call it a cheap piece of drama!"
  • Invoked: The group fighting Kschorkians performs a test on all members to see if any are secretly Kschorkians; especially the ones with dubious memories.
  • Exploited: An enemy of Adele's reveals she is a Kschorkian so that they have a chance to kill her while she goes into Heroic BSOD.
  • Defied: Adele deliberately chooses never to test whether she's Kschorkian or human, because she doesn't want this to happen.
  • Discussed: "I think one of us is a Kschorkian and doesn't even know it!"
  • Conversed: "With all that's happened, I wouldn't be surprised if Adele was a Kschorkian."

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