I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A time traveller visiting the past introduces himself with an alias taken from pop culture.

  • Straight: Bob is stuck in the 1800's. He introduces himself to a passerby as "Tom Sawyer".
  • Exaggerated: Bob introduces himself as "President Abraham Lincoln, freer of the slaves".
  • Downplayed: The name is generic enough that it really isn't that noticeable- Bob introduces himself as "Tom Jones".
  • Justified: Bob needs to rendezvous with another time traveller, so he chooses an alias that'll tip off him but nobody else.
    • Bob needed to give a false name, and that was the first name that came to mind.
    • Bob gives a pop culture name reasoning that if he becomes famous in the past the worst that will happen is a character will have a different name when he gets back. If he gave his real name it could radically change his ancestor's lives and make him a different person if he would even still exist... or at least give him an Embarrassing First Name when he gets back.
  • Inverted: A famous historical figure is trapped in the future, and introduces himself with a generic name.
  • Subverted: Bob introduces himself as Tom Sawyer, and the person he's talking to snarks at how ridiculous that name is. Bob blusters and admits it was a fake name.
  • Double Subverted: ...and gives his "real" name as Rhett Butler.
  • Parodied: Bob panics and identifies himself as Luke Skywalker, the local looks confused and mentions that the last 10 men he talked to said that was their name. Turns out Bob is one of many people stuck in the past.
  • Deconstructed: Bob unknowingly introduces himself as Tom Sawyer to Mark Twain's future great-aunt. Mark Twain himself goes through his family photo album ages later and finds out about the man who for some mysterious reason has the exact same name as his recently published book's protagonist. Twain goes insane, gives up writing, and becomes an antisocial recluse.
  • Reconstructed: Bob unknowingly introduces himself to Mark Twain as Tom Sawyer. Twain likes the name and asks to use it in a book he's writing. And The Rest Is History.
  • Zig Zagged: Bob gives the name of a contemporary historical icon his friends always say he looks like. However the local says that he's never heard the name before. Turns out the icon is famous, just not in this part of the world.
  • Averted: Bob gives a generic alias, or doesn't bother with aliases at all.
  • Enforced: "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if when people time-travelled they used names like "Steve Irwin"?
  • Lampshaded: "Yeah, I read that book just yesterday. Anyway, what's your REAL name?"
  • Invoked: ???
  • Exploited: Bob identifies himself as a famous person who the local has heard of and becomes mistaken for that figure. This leads into a new plotline.
  • Defied:
  • Discussed: "Yeah, you know, a lot of people seem to have that name. Is "Sawyer" a middle name?"
  • Conversed: ???

Back to I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference , Mr Jean-Luc?

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