History Main / PretendToBeBrainwashed

* In ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', when the villain Torque takes over a prison, he uses a personality-adjusting helmet [[BrainwashedForTheGreaterGood meant for rehabilitating prisoners]] on Booster, seemingly turning him into a criminal. Later on, when it seems like he's apprehending his comrades, Booster reveals to them that helmet didn't work on him because the personality center of his brain is located near his pelvis rather than his skull, and he was actually faking going rogue so he could ambush Torque off-guard.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', when brainwashed by the villain Torque with a personality adjusting helmet, Booster pretends to be brainwashed since his personality center is located near his pelvis rather than his skull. Thus he fakes going rogue until he tries to convince his comrades Buzz, Mira, and XR that the helmet didn't work on him, and he is faking it to try to ambush Torque off-guard.

* The animated series (based on the movie) ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1992}}'' has an example in the episode "The Evil Manta" where the titular villain appears (to both Ariel and the viewer at home) to have successfully brainwashed Flounder into accepting his message of prejudice, only for Flounder to reveal [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments he wasn't really listening to him]].

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' has the Legion of Doom brainwashing women as part of their nefarious scheme. Wonder Woman rationalizes that she and Jayna, the only female members of the Superfriends, can therefore pretend to be brainwashed and infiltrate the Legion of Doom. Unfortunately, [[DidntThinkThisThrough they didn't take any precautions to stop themselves from being brainwashed]], so they promptly fall victim to the Legion and need the men to come save them.

** This is how [[Creator/KrystenRitter Jessica]] defeats [[Creator/DavidTennant Kilgrave]]. Jessica is immune to Kilgrave's mind control, and Kilgrave knows it. After he's tried to upgrade his powers she imitates being under his control long enough to walk up to him, and then break his neck.

* An episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' has Lord Zedd kidnap Kimberly and try to brainwash her to act like Rita. The brainwashing fails, but Kimberly plays along: she acts like Rita and starts bullying Zed's henchmen.

** [[spoiler: After having been busted for trying to sabotage Emperor Belos' plans from the inside, Raine Whispers is suddenly shown to be fervently pro-Belos and claims not to have seen Eda is in years despite having been with her recently. It was strongly implied to be a result of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a mind-wiping drink]] brewed by [[GreenThumb Terra Snapdragon]], as she is shown giving it to them whenever they complain of "migraines" (resurfacing memories). However, at the end of "Them's the Breaks, Kid", we find out that Raine had actually been faking their memory-wipe the whole time; they'd been using a Bard spell, under the guise of simply blowing on the hot drink, to change its chemistry before drinking it. They're still planning to put an end to Belos' ultimate plan, and it's something that [[LockedOutOfTheLoop they don't want Eda]] [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim risking her life to be a part of.]]]]
** At the very climax of the series, [[spoiler:Belos (as Philip)]] [[VillainsWantMercy makes a last ditch effort to get mercy]] by changing back into his original form and pretending some kind of curse forced everything that he did. It failed miserably because of generally shoddiness, his inability to ''keep'' that form, and because [[spoiler:he was basically moments from death and it's unlikely anyone could have helped them if they wanted to]].

* 1960's ''Series/Batman1966'': in the episode "Tut's Case is Shut", King Tut arranges to slip Batman a mind control drug. Batman appears to be under Tut's control, but later turns the tables on Tut. He reveals that the drug did not affect him because he coated his stomach by drinking buttermilk ahead of time.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has a variation in one episode. The Mayor hires a dark shaman to remove Angel's soul, reverting him to his villainous alter ego Angelus. After that happens, he and Slayer-turned-evil Faith capture Buffy and take her to their hideout. But it turns out that the shaman hired to remove Angel's soul was secretly in league with Giles (to whom he owed a favor for introducing him to his wife), and had alerted the Scoobies to the plot and only pretended to remove Angel's soul, allowing Angel and Buffy to trick Faith into going on a MotiveRant and revealing what she knows about the Mayor's EvilPlan. The ruse is revealed here:

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "Brain Scratch". Faye goes undercover to join the SCRATCH cult and pretends to have been brainwashed by acting like the other cultists.

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'', the big twist of the war between [[TheHero Rimuru Tempest]] and [[TheChessmaster Demon Lord Clayman]] is that [[spoiler:[[WorldsStrongestWoman Milim Nava]], who Clayman apparently brought under his control via a powerful MindControl device, was in fact playing this trope. Unknown to Clayman and nearly everyone else aside from her co-conspirator Frey and her old friend Guy Crimson, Milim is ImmuneToMindControl due to the fact she has an Ultimate Skill and in fact had to lower her own mental defenses just to properly fake being taken control of. She did this because she wanted to [[PrideBeforeAFall make Clayman cocky and reveal his manipulations]] so she could humiliate and get rid of him for antagonizing her "bestie" Rimuru. She also wanted a chance to fight Rimuru post his Demon Lord ascension with him being "serious". Guy in fact [[DramaticIrony reveals this fact to the audience in his private thoughts long before Rimuru and Clayman realize this themselves]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[spoiler: After having been busted for trying to sabotage Emperor Belos' plans from the inside, Raine Whispers is suddenly shown to be fervently pro-Belos and claims not to have seen Eda is in years despite having been with her recently. It was strongly implied to be a result of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a mind-wiping drink]] brewed by [[GreenThumb Terra Snapdragon]], as she is shown giving it to them whenever they complain of "migraines" (resurfacing memories). However, at the end of "Them's the Breaks, Kid", we find out that Raine had actually been faking their memory-wipe the whole time; they'd been using a Bard spell, under the guise of simply blowing on the hot drink, to change its chemistry before drinking it. They're still planning to put an end to Belos' ultimate plan, and it's something that [[LockedOutOfTheLoop they don't want Eda]] [[BreakHisHeartToSaveHim risking her life to be a part of.]]]]

* ''Manga/UzakiChanWantsToHangOut'': Hana attempts to hypnotize Shinichi, which he pretends to be just to see what demand she makes of him. Initially it was calling her by her first name, which he obliges, but then Hana moves on to making him buy items for her, which aggravates Shinichi into dropping the act and smacking her.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/Archer'', Krieger tries to convince the crew that he can brainwash them with a spray he invented. They laugh him off, only for him to lift Ray from his seat by raising one twitching arm, scaring and driving everyone else away. Then it turns out Ray was just pretending so he was not a guinea pig for Krieger's spray.

* Kit Secord does this in ''WesternAnimation/TheRocketeer'' episode "Hypnotic Hughsville" to trick Orsino into running into a jail cell.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1558344904000629800
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

* One of the puzzles in ''VideoGame/{{INSIDE}}'' requires you to blend in with an inspection line of controlled humans, and mimic their movements. Fail to do so, and you're toast.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4498 SCP-4498]] is the result of a testing accident that caused all of the staff of Site-53 to believe themselves to be Dr. Jack Bright with his BunnyEarsLawyer tendencies exaggerated. That is, all of the staff except [[TokenEvilTeammate Dr. Alto Clef]], who was late for work and simply decided to join the antics when he arrived, even when it devolved into attempted physical violence against a visiting group of doctors and a task force sent to restore order.

* In ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'', Guillermo has long since developed an immunity to vampiric hypnosis as a result of the vampires using it to give him contradictory instructions during petty arguments with each other, but finds it easier to pretend it still works so they're not concerned about having a descendant of Van Helsing living with them. He also works for them, and they never really needed hypnosis to tell him what to do anyway.

* In ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'' Guillermo has long since developed an immunity to vampiric hypnosis as a result of the vampires using it to give him contradictory instructions during petty arguments with each other, but finds it easier to pretend it still works so they're not concerned about having a descendant of Van Helsing living with them. He also works for them, and they never really needed hypnosis to tell him what to do anyway.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Anime/LuckyStar'', when the comic store owner tries to [[Anime/CodeGeass geass]] Konata into buying a rare DVD--she takes it, goes to the counter, then promptly reveals that she doesn't actually have enough money to buy it and puts it right back.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has this as a feat that {{Player Character}}s can take: if they successfully withstand a CharmPerson, MindControl, or similar spell, it registers to the spellcaster as a success rather than a failure. Further bluffing might be necessary to maintain the ruse once the spellcaster starts giving them instructions, however.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4498 SCP-4498]] is the result of a testing accident that caused all of the staff of Site-53 to believe themselves to be Dr. Jack Bright with his BunnyEarsLawyer tendencies cranked UpToEleven. That is, all of the staff except [[TokenEvilTeammate Dr. Alto Clef]], who was late for work and simply decided to join the antics when he arrived, even when it devolved into attempted physical violence against a visiting group of doctors and a task force sent to restore order.

* One of the puzzles in ''Videogame/{{INSIDE}}'' requires you to blend in with an inspection line of controlled humans, and mimic their movements. Fail to do so, and you're toast.

* [[spoiler: Prosecutor Sae Niijima]] from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' pretends to have had a [[HeelFaceBrainwashing Change of Heart]] at a critical time, buying time for the [[PhantomThief Phantom Thieves]] to pull a [[HeelFaceBrainwashing Change of Heart]] on the BigBad. [[spoiler: She]] did indeed receive a CallingCard, but never had a change of heart, instead coming to the side of the Phantom Thieves during the time [[spoiler: she spent interrogating the PlayerCharacter and learning exactly what kind of GovernmentConspiracy the Phantom Thieves have been dealing with]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' cartoon, Mega Man does this when freed from Wily's control in "Mega-Pinochio" to fool Wily's robots.

* ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'': After brainwashing Branch into a "Rock Zombie", [[EvilDiva Barb]] attempts to brainwash Poppy using her rock guitar. She seems to succeed in brainwashing her until Poppy points the guitar at Barb and reveals that she had plugged gumdrops in her ears, [[CallBack a trick she had learned from Hickory when he did the same thing to protect himself from Chaz's smooth jazz playing]], and pretended to be brainwashed into a Rock Zombie.

* [[spoiler: Prosecutor Sae Niijima]] from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' pretends to have had a [[HeelFaceBrainwashing Change of Heart]] at a critical time, buying time for the [[PhantomThief Phantom Thieves]] to pull a [[HeelFaceBrainwashing Change of Heart]] on the BigBad. [[spoiler: She]] did indeed receive a CallingCard, but never had a chance of heart, instead coming to the side of the Phantom Thieves during the time [[spoiler: she spent interrogating the PlayerCharacter and learning exactly what kind of GovernmentConspiracy the Phantom Thieves have been dealing with]].

** The spelltouched feat "False Pretenses" in the ''Unearthed Arcana'' can be taken by anyone having endured a ''charm'' or ''dominate'' spell. If a subject succeeds a SavingThrow against a charm or compulsion, he can make the caster believe he'd failed. Even if the subject resisted a domination effect involving telepathic commands, the character still receive them -- he's just not obligated to follow the instructions.