History Main / DisposableDecoyDoppelganger

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[[caption-width-right:350:Legally distinct from the [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Shadow Clone Jutsu]], so it's both ninja-proof and lawsuit-proof.]]
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* ''Anime/InterspeciesReviewers'': Zel the elf mentions that many magic users can create a duplicate of themselves, but they're not very lifelike, don't travel well, and can't hold a conversation. The decoy doll will only fool really dumb adversaries and rarely lasts long since it can't fight back.
* In ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'', ninja can use the ''Clone Jutsu'' to create non-sentient afterimages for the specific purpose of distracting opponents. Its more advanced version, the ''Shadow Clone Jutsu'', can, be used in such a way as well, though since the Shadow Clones are sentient and can attack opponents, [[DoppelgangerAttack they are more commonly used to overwhelm enemies]].

* Loki in ''Film/{{Thor}}'' conjures images of himself to distract the Frost Giants that attack him and the others while on Jotunheim. He appears to be teetering on the edge of a cliff, luring a giant to hurl itself at him - it passes through the copy and plunges over the cliff. He later uses the same trick on Thor, making it look at though he's clinging to the edge of the Bifrost - when Thor goes to help him, the images dissolves as the real Loki attacks from behind.

-->'''Quaid:''' You think this is the real Quaid? ''([[ItOnlyWorksOnce the guards look around]])'' [[SubvertedTrope It is!]] ''(guns the guards down)''

* Short story "The Second Shield" by Robert Silverberg is about an artist named Beckermann, who can create fantastic artworks from his dreams while he sleeps. These artworks are temporary and dissolve into nothingness anywhere from a few hours to four years. A shield with Grecian motifs befitting Achilles was sold to a shipping magnate, which lasted less than three years. The magnate demands a replacement and has sent a thug named Alvarez to squeeze another shield out of Beckermann. Though he cannot dream up a second shield, he does dream up a duplicate of himself, instructs the duplicate to meet Alvarez while the real Beckermann makes a discrete dash for South America.

* In ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'', Goth has the power to disguise herself with sensory illusions. In the second sequel, set a few years later, she's developed the ability to the point where she can confuse adversaries with multiple images of herself.

* ''VideoGame/TheHenryStickminCollection'': Henry at one point can use a Duplicatorange to create a clone of himself, enabling him to avoid being shot by a sniper. [[spoiler:Trying to use this option triggers a fail, as the real Henry is the one who gets shot.]]

** [[ScaryScarecrow Fiddlesticks]] -- instead of being able to use traditional trinkets like [[DefogOfWar control wards]] or [[AntiTrueSight vision sweepers]] -- is able to place "Scarecrow Effigies", which behave like both trinkets and look identical to a prone Fiddlesticks. If an enemy sees/comes near one, it automatically plays a random animation (such as running away from the opponent or casting an ability, including the start-up to [[LimitBreak its ultimate ability]]), but will deal no damage and expire shortly, all for the sake of [[CatScare giving the enemy a brief scare]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfTianDing'', the titular character can utilize a shadow-clone jitsu as a DoppelgangerAttack, and the shadow clone can be "killed" in Tian-ding's place. The cutscene after the weapons plant stage notably has BigBad General Shimada announcing his presence by impaling Tian-ding InTheBack via katana, only for the skewered shadow-clone to dissolve - the ''real'' Tian-ding is already well outside the plant.

* ''VideoGame/StarcraftI'': The High Templar's Hallucination ability creates a psionic decoy of a unit with no attack.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'':
** The Blademaster's Mirror Image ability creates up to 3 copies of himself (with the same stats, but 0 damage) that can be used to scout, distract, tank, etc. Using the move also dispels all buffs and debuffs on the Blademaster.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': In the episode "The Everywhere Man", the titular villain can create and destroy temporary copies of himself, hence he can be "everywhere". Problems arise if a copy is active for too long, as they gradually become more intelligent, self-aware, and megalomaniacal, [[ClonesArePeopleToo with them eventually starting to revolt against the original for killing them off]].

[[caption-width-right:350:Legally distinct from the [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Shadow Clone Jutsu]], so it is both ninja-proof and lawsuit-proof.]]

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Rosé Mistral and Teresa Carste both have the ability to create "splinters" of themselves, illusory copies without substance used to divert attention from the real attacker. Mistral can additionally place them over top of his allies to make them look like himself, letting him mix additional real attackers into the copies.

* ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'': "Jar, Lamp, Ham" sees Navaan use a fake death pill to create a naked, non-living clone of herself to escape a pursuer, although she ruins the effect by whooping as she runs away. It's then revealed she has a room full of clones.

** '' The Blademaster's Mirror Image ability creates up to 3 copies of himself (with the same stats, but 0 damage) that can be used to scout, distract, tank, etc. Using the move also dispels all buffs and debuffs on the Blademaster.

* Loki in Marvel's ''Film/Thor'' conjures images of himself to distract the frost giants that attack him and the others while on Jotunheim. He appears to be teetering on the edge of a cliff, luring a giant to hurl itself at him - it passes through the copy and plunges over the cliff. He later uses the same trick on Thor, making it look at though he's clinging to the edge of the Bifrost - when Their goes to help him, the images dissolves as the real Loki attacks from behind.

-->'''Quaid''': You think this is the real Quaid? ''([[ItOnlyWorksOnce the guards look around]])'' [[SubvertedTrope It is!]] ''(guns the guards down)''

* ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' has the move "Substitute", in which a Pokémon sacrifices 25% of its maximum HP to replace itself with a decoy. The decoy takes damage until it's destroyed.

* Loki in Marvel's ''Film/Thor'' conjures images of himself to distract the frost giants that attack him and the others while on Jotunheim. He appears to be teetering on the edge of a cliff, luring a giant to hurl itself at him - it passes through the copy and plunges over the cliff. He latter uses the same trick on Thor.

** [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5th Edition]] has the Echo Knight subclass of the Fighter, which creates a number of OneHitPointWonder echoes. They're grey and translucent, but they can move independently within a 30' radius of the caster, and the Echo Knight can choose to have his attack originate from any of the echoes or switch position with them.

* Can be done in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' as an optional quest to [[spoiler:save [[TheHero Crono]] from being KilledOffForReal]]. You can win a life-size, posable doll of each character by winning a carnival game, which is then used in conjunction with the titular McGuffin to [[spoiler:return to the exact temporal and spatial point frozen in time where Crono is about to be vaporized by Lavos' power, and switch him out for his doll.]]

[[SelfDuplication The ability to duplicate oneself]] is often a highly versatile superpower which can be written and applied to behave in a variety of ways. Specifically in combat, options include [[DoppelgangerAttack ganging up on enemies with clones]], [[DoppelgangerSpin forcing opponents into a needle-in-a-haystack search for the "real" one]], or the case with this trope: psyching people out.

In this case, someone creates a clone of themselves not to overwhelm opponents the thick of a fight, but to bait them into thinking that the caster is there, when in reality it's just a disposable, often harmless replica. Some examples may have more capabilities than others, but the general gist is to create an expendable copy [[WeNeedADistraction to divert attention]] that can then lead to another making a surprise attack from elsewhere, or perhaps [[DecoyGetaway just to escape]].

* In ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''[='s=] Universal Century universe, Minovsky Particles have made various detection equipment useless, thus Dummies have come into play. Dummies are large scale balloons that, at a distance, resemble ships, asteroids or Mobile Suits. During ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'', Amuro uses the Re-GZ and Nu Gundam's Dummy Launchers to surround opponents with Re-GZ-styled Dummies so he can attack them.
* ''Anime/InterspeciesReviewers'': Zel the elf mentions that many magic users can create a duplicate of themselves, but they're not very lifelike, don't travel well, and can't hold a conversation. The decoy doll will only fool really dumb adversaries, and rarely lasts long since it can't fight back.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Ami eventually gets the ability to, given enough warning before hand, create inanimate matter and shape it into whatever she wants it to look like. One use of it is to make decoys of herself, as seen in "Abandon Ship, Part 2".

* In ''Literature/PeaceTalks'', [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] ends up battling Ebenezer [=McCoy=] over what can charitably be described as a big misunderstanding. Ebenezer doesn't realize that Harry was using a doppelganger until it was ''in the process of dissolving'' after a lucky shot, when the battle was basically already over. For bonus points: Harry was casting magic through the doppelganger, at a distance from it, across water, all of which reduced the effectiveness of his spells. He's effective enough -- even with Ebenezer holding back -- that Ebenezer ''still'' had no idea during the battle itself.
* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Rosé Mistral and Teresa Carste both have the ability to create "splinters" of themselves, illusory copies without substance used to divert attention from the real attacker. Mistral can additionally place them overtop of his allies to make them look like himself, letting him mix additional real attackers into the copies.
* Short story "The Second Shield" by Robert Silverberg is about an artist named Beckermann, who can create fantastic artworks from his dreams while he sleeps. These artworks are temporary, and dissolve into nothingness anywhere from a few hours to four years. A shield with Grecian motifs befitting Achilles was sold to a shipping magnate, which lasted less than three years. The magnate demands a replacement, and has sent a thug named Alvarez to squeeze another shield out of Beckermann. Though he cannot dream up a second shield, he does dream up a duplicate of himself, instructs the duplicate to meet Alvarez while the real Beckermann makes a discrete dash for South America.
* ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit'': In a sharp contrast to its more famous [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit film adaptation]], Toons in the novel lack ToonPhysics and instead have the ability to clone themselves as a Dopple to take physical punishment their original selves couldn't, with the Dopple dying a few hours later. [[spoiler:Roger uses this ability to create a Dopple with enough energy to perfectly mimic him for 48 hours, providing him a perfect alibi when he kills his boss Rocco [=DeGreasy=]. However, things go awry when the original Roger is killed, leaving the Dopple to "help" Eddie solve Rocco's murder, though Eddie does figure out the original Roger was the killer.]]

** [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5th Edition]] has the Echo Knight subclass of the Fighter, which create a number of OneHitPointWonder echoes. They're grey and translucent, but they can move independently within a 30' radius of the caster, and the Echo Knight can choose to have his attack originate from any of the echoes or switch position with them.

* ''VideoGame/MagicAndMayhem'': The ''illusion'' spell allows a wizard to create illusory copies either of summoned creatures, or of themself, to use as decoys. They can do damage in combat, though units with a high intelligence stat are more likely to see through the illusion and cause it to dissipate.

** '' The Blademaster's Mirror Image ability creates up to 3 copies of himself (with the same stats, but 0 damage) than can be used to scout, distract, tank, etc. Using the move also dispels all buffs and debuffs on the Blademaster.

* Dummies of military equipment have been used by armies throughout history to deceive their enemies, most prominently during the World Wars. Among the tactics used by both the Allied Forces and Axis Powers of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII were the construction of inflatable tanks and wooden airplanes to mislead the enemy on where their forces were located, with the Allied Forces involving the assistance of magicians and filmmakers to create the illusion and spread the word. These "spoofs" played a part during D-Day as many of the fake invasions meant to distract the Nazis were simulated by dropping off hundreds of fake landing craft, all except for the actual invasion at Normandy.