History Main / HiddenInPlainSight

* Shakira once went to college, for a semester, in Canada. She registered using her middle name and wore plain clothes and little makeup. The famous pop star went quite unnoticed by all of the students at the school.

* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver'', with a Team Rocket hideout disguised as a gift shop. The sign outside says something like "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Just an ordinary gift shop. Nothing to see here]]..."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' crossover, Spider-Man invokes this trope when he doesn't bother to change out of his costume after ending his patrol, as it's Halloween and everyone simply thinks he's a fan in a costume. It isn't until he starts shooting webs that the others realize he's actually Spider-Man.

Compare WeirdnessCensor (bizarre things are not noticed because they are so outlandish that our minds block them out in the interest of sanity), MissedHimByThatMuch, RefugeInAudacity, DevilInPlainSight (when a conspicuous villain does this), InfractionDistraction (where evidence is concealed by more minor evidence), and StolenByStayingStill. For [[{{Transformers}} robots in disguise]], see TransformingMecha. For special gadgets disguised as mundane ones, see ShoePhone. If a ''person'' hides this way, that person might be taking advantage of being BeneathSuspicion. For poor hiding skills, compare NeonSignHideout. May or may not be an UnsafeHaven. Alternatively, a person may decide that the safest place to hide from a crime syndicate is somewhere with plenty of witnesses. See also SecretIdentity and ClarkKenting.

* This is a natural part of ''Film/{{Transformers}}''. But by the third film, the general public is aware of their presence so the Autobots are less careful about transforming into their robot modes to fight. Played entirely straight with [[spoiler: Carly's car which is actually Soundwave]].
** Played for laughs when Sam is trying to find the film's MacGuffin, with the Autobots pestering him to hurry up. They take Sam's orders to hide a little... [[LiteralMinded differently]].

** The trope name is quoted verbatim by Optimus Prime in [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 film]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''Series{{Jessie}}'' crossover, Spider-Man invokes this trope when he doesn't bother to change out of his costume after ending his patrol, as it's Halloween and everyone simply thinks he's a fan in a costume. It isn't until he starts shooting webs that the others realize he's actually Spider-Man.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' has Marisbury Animusphere's magnum opus and the very reason for the game's plots, [[spoiler:the globe monitor at the center of Chaldea's Antarctica facility that players have been using to interface with the Singularities and Lostbelts from the start. Specifically, it is CHALDEAS, a perfect replica of earth and the catalyst of the Grand Order. Its exact purpose is still shrouded in mystery, but it's apparently so serious that various characters were willing to go to extreme measures to stop it such as Goetia's incineration of humanity and Daybit waking up ORT in his Lostbelt.]]

* ''Fanfic/HeroAcademiaDXD'': Due to the advent of [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Quirks]], [[LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD the supernatural]] has been interacting with the mortal realm more openly as any oddities can simply be dismissed as a Quirk. The only individuals who would have to worry about [[BrokenMasquerade breaking the masquerade]] is those who have both Quirks and Sacred Gears.

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'':

There was and still is a rather chilling RealLife version [[CrapsaccharineWorld in dictatorships]]: an object of the size of a military base or town which ''is not shown at all on a map''. Something even more secret, or closed, or shameful than good old {{Area 51}}, because not just what happens ''inside'' is secret, but the mere existence of the place [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial is denied]], or ridiculed, or handwaved as some silly legend. In dictatorial political systems, it's far easier to hide something that way, because people are so accustomed to [[HeKnowsTooMuch never asking questions]] and [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade never wandering away from their path]] they would ignore the ElephantInTheLivingRoom.

Compare WeirdnessCensor (bizarre things are not noticed because they are so outlandish that our minds block them out in the interest of sanity), MissedHimByThatMuch, RefugeInAudacity, DevilInPlainSight (when a conspicuous villain does this), InfractionDistraction (where evidence is concealed by more minor evidence), and StolenByStayingStill. For [[{{Transformers}} robots in disguise]], see TransformingMecha. For special gadgets disguised as mundane ones, see ShoePhone. If a ''person'' hides this way, that person might be taking advantage of being BeneathSuspicion. For poor hiding skills, compare NeonSignHideout. May or may not be an UnsafeHaven. Alternatively, a person may decide that the safest place to hide from a crime syndicate is somewhere with plenty of witnesses. See also SecretIdentity.

* ''VideoGame/{{Taiji}}'' has some of the solutions for later puzzles hidden in the environment. Sometimes, you might even walk over a clue without even realizing it is one.

* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'': The [[spoiler:environmental puzzles]]. You spend the whole game solving puzzles involving [[spoiler:drawing lines from circular starting points to rounded ending points]], so clever players might be able to figure out that [[spoiler:any instance of a line between a circular starting point and a rounded ending point can be drawn on, even when it's part of the environment]]. Naturally there are lots of such instances around the island to search for.

* ''VideoGame/RabiRibi'' has the UPRPRC, a group of bunny-obsessed cosplayers scouring the island for any trace of bunny girls. When Erina - a normal rabbit transformed into a PlayboyBunny - makes her appearance, the group goes wild and starts hunting her down trying to capture her. [[spoiler: Ironically, the ''leader'' of the group is a bunny girl herself, Irisu, who founded the organization to find another bunny girl like herself, but apparently everyone just assumed that she's another cosplayer.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'', the FinalBoss is actually visible for most of the game and on many promotional artworks. [[spoiler: It is a post-Convergence Necromorph so large that [[ThatsNoMoon it is mistaken for Tau Volantis' moon]]. It's the first thing you see when you enter the system, and the only foreshadowing is the broken, jagged hole in its side.]]

* The short story ''Lamb to the Slaughter'' by Creator/RoaldDahl is about a pregnant woman who, in a fit of rage when her husband announces that he's leaving her, kills him by striking him in the head with a frozen leg of lamb. The police never find the murder weapon because she cooks it before they arrive, and thoughtfully offers them dinner before they leave. During that dinner, one of the policemen remarks that "[[MetaphoricallyTrue the evidence must be under our very noses]]".

* Used in the ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents'' episode "Lamb to the Slaughter", where a woman kills her husband by bashing his skull in with a frozen lamb's leg [[spoiler:which she then cooks and serves to the unwitting police officers who are looking for the murder weapon]].

** ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'': In the second book, the main characters trying to establish a stable, non-despotic government learn that it has been infiltrated by a shapeshifter. [[spoiler:TheMole finally turns out to be not the butler or TheBigGuy or anyone else the viewpoint characters considered, but the shapeshifter on ''their own'' team.]]

** This is how Johnson wins the hide-and-seek match in ''[[Film/BadTimesAtTheBattleRoyale Bad Times at the Battle Royale]]''. Having an inkling that the match was rigged against him, he successfully tricks Hatsuka into hiding under the blanket covers seconds before the ghost arrives to search all the blanket covers specifically. Johnson's hiding spot? Out in the open on a patio playing video games.

* One ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' comic book had a story about Han Solo and Chewbacca constantly being searched by a certain Imperial captain who was convinced that Solo was a smuggler instead of making honest cargo deliveries as he claimed. However, no matter how intently they searched the ship, they never uncovered any evidence of smuggling. In the end, the Imperial realizes that Han was [[spoiler:only travelling one way (away from the planet) on his deliveries. Since Han was constantly leaving the planet on ships made to look identical, he was actually smuggling the ships themselves to the Rebellion]].

** In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' one of the bigger twists is given right at the start. [[spoiler:Over loudspeaker, the kidnapper Zero begins explaining the rules. He tells the players to check their pockets for a rule-card, which explains they need to seek a door carrying a "9"... but in actuality, the font reads "Q", using the lower-case letter's similarity to 9 and an ambiguous font [[note]][[FreezeFrameBonus if you read the displayed picture of the card]], you can see the ambiguous font [[DevelopersForesight for yourself]].[[/note]] It works better in Japanese, where Zero outright tells them to find a door with a "''[[{{Pun}} kyu]]''".]]

Compare WeirdnessCensor (bizarre things are not noticed because they are so outlandish that our minds block them out in the interest of sanity), ContrivedProximity, RefugeInAudacity, DevilInPlainSight (when a conspicuous villain does this), InfractionDistraction (where evidence is concealed by more minor evidence), and StolenByStayingStill. For [[{{Transformers}} robots in disguise]], see TransformingMecha. For special gadgets disguised as mundane ones, see ShoePhone. If a ''person'' hides this way, that person might be taking advantage of being BeneathSuspicion. For poor hiding skills, compare NeonSignHideout. May or may not be an UnsafeHaven. Alternatively, a person may decide that the safest place to hide from a crime syndicate is somewhere with plenty of witnesses. See also SecretIdentity.