History Main / TheyLookLikeUsNow

* ''VideoGame/TheThing 2002'' has this as a gameplay mechanic, using a syringe and a chemical that reacts to blood by releasing heat, you can test your party members for infestation. If the syringe changes from red to brown, they're A-O-K, but if the syringe breaks, fry him, he's an alien, and mutating into a beastie as we speak.

* The entire premise of ''Film/TheThing1982'' and ''Film/ThThing2011'', played for all the ParanoiaFuel it's worth.

* The entire premise of ''Film/TheThing1982'', played for all the ParanoiaFuel it's worth.

* The Waster necromorphs from [[Dead Space 3]] looks like a human DualWielding icepicks, but when you shoot it centre-of-mass, it's upper body drops off and it unfurls three melee tentacles. Chop off its legs? unfurls two tentacles that shoot spikes.

* The Waster necromorphs from Dead Space 3 looks like a human DualWielding icepicks, but when you shoot it centre-of-mass, it's upper body drops off and it unfurls three melee tentacles. Chop off its legs? unfurls two tentacles that shoot spikes.

* The human-form Replicators in ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}''. A different group of bad guys try to invoke this with a friendly species that create illusions and fake memories in the minds of potential hostiles as a self defense mechanism.

* In ''X-COM: Enemy Unknown (2012)'' the Tall Man alien units would count as this. Their disguise is pulled off pretty well as well... tall men! Until they pull out their alien weapondry and start doing backflips in business suits that is. Also their eyes if studied are reptillian in nature. Which would explain why they wear dark glasses.

* ''{{Mimic}}'' was basically about this -- the giant roaches may not have a perfect disguise, but if you're in poor lighting and not paying attention, they look a ''lot'' like a tall man in a trenchcoat.

* The entire premise of ''Film/TheThing'', played for all the ParanoiaFuel it's worth.

* ''CallOfCthulhu''.

* Referenced in ''BackToTheFuture'', though of course Marty [=McFly=] is perfectly human.

[[{{Robotech}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ZentradiSpies.jpg]]
[[caption-width:319:Zentraedi spies [[RealMenWearPink blending]] in [[HumansThroughAlienEyes seamlessly]] and [[CrossDresser without]] [[CrossCulturalKerfluffle drawing attention.]]]]

* Inverted in ''Film/{{District 9}}'', when the young alien remarks that [[spoiler:Wikus, in the process of transforming into an alien, "looks the same" as him]]. Also a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

* The human-form Replicators in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}''. A different group of bad guys try to invoke this with a friendly species that create illusions and fake memories in the minds of potential hostiles as a self defense mechanism.

* The nine foot tall, eight hundred pound Reptilian monsters with whom Humanity fights a losing war in a couple of epsiodes of the revival of ''TheOuterLimits'' manages to pull this off by surgically-altering their (much smaller) females.

* In ''GirlGenius'', [[BrainwashedAndCrazy "revenants"]] were initially known to the ''characters'' by obvious mindlessness and a ZombieGait. The ''readers'' have known almost since meeting the first one that some act perfectly normal until they receive an order, which came as a nasty shock when they were found out.

[[AC:Literature]]

* TerryPratchett has the Auditors do this in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'': one takes the form of a woman much of the time in order to ensure the building of a glass clock that will stop time (and thereby make their job much tidier). When she starts acting too human, others join her to ensure that it gets completed and started.

* ''StarCraft II'' will feature a Zerg unit called the Changeling, which possess the ability to take on the shape of a human marine or a Protoss zealot.

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* This is used from time to time on ''Franchise/StarTrek'', usually as a result of MagicPlasticSurgery, but other examples include the appropriately named shape-shifters from ''DeepSpaceNine'', and Species 8472 in its final appearance on ''Voyager''. Inverted on an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' where the Romulan proconsul correctly surmises that TheFederation is using Romulan-looking spies.

** This trope is outright exploited by the Founders in ''DeepSpaceNine'': One reveals himself to [[TheCaptain Sisko]] to gleefuly reveal that there are only three Founder infiltrators on the ''entire'' planet Earth, center of TheFederation, and look what they've accomplished! [[spoiler: In fear of the possibility of Founder infiltrators amongst them, Earth declares martial law, and a series of events nearly leads to an outright military coup of the civilian government.]]

[[RoboticReveal The revelation]] will put the entire cast on edge, because they have just discovered the aliens/robots/monsters have developed a [[GlamourFailure (near)]] perfect {{Masquerade}} or disguise. They aren't PuppeteerParasite, able to take control of specific people or pose as them, just able to pose as a human. They are nonetheless much more dangerous because with enough patience they can now infiltrate ''any'' group.

Contrast AFormYouAreComfortableWith, which doesn't involve the aliens deceiving us into mistaking them for humans; and HumanAliens in which the aliens just happened to look like us to begin with. Compare TheVirus. SisterTrope to PuppeteerParasite. A rich source of ParanoiaFuel.

* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', the alien {{villain}}s do this, but so do many (relatively) friendly aliens, as it is the only way they can live safely on Earth.
* Ditto ''{{Film/Halloweentown}}''.

* In ''TerminatorSalvation'', this is the first time they go ''from'' "noisy clanking machines" to "RidiculouslyHumanRobots" in a Terminator film. Skynet explicitly went through several Terminator design evolutions to do this, reaching the fleshy T-800 and ShapeShifter T-1000 and T-X.

* Inverted in ''{{District 9}}'', when the young alien remarks that [[spoiler:Wikus, in the process of transforming into an alien, "looks the same" as him]]. Also a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
* ''{{Mimic}}'' was basically about this -- the giant roaches may not have a perfect disguise, but if you're in poor lighting and not paying attention, they look a ''lot'' like a tall man in a trenchcoat.

* Pops up several times in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', where the controllers suspect a human of being an Andalite in morph.

** Also used in an episode of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], combined with HumanityIsInfectious.

** The Mi-Go can surgically modify themselves to fit inside a "human suit" and masquerade as people.
** The said 'suits' are made by hollowing out a human body, by the way.
** Serpent People can use spells (such as Body Warping of Gorgoroth) to take human shape.

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* This is used from time to time on ''StarTrek'', usually as a result of MagicPlasticSurgery, but other examples include the appropriately named shape-shifters from ''DeepSpaceNine'', and Species 8472 in its final appearance on ''Voyager''. Inverted on an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' where the Romulan proconsul correctly surmises that TheFederation is using Romulan-looking spies.
** Also used in an episode of [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]], combined with HumanityIsInfectious.

* TomTerrific: The story arc "Million Manfred Mystery" dealt with some impressionable aliens who mistake Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog to be Tom (he's wearing Tom's funnel cap while he's off at the store), so they make a plan sheet of Manfred and the etire alien race duplicate themselves as Manfred. The base reason is that Tom is so likeable that the aliens want to be just like him so Earth people will like them as well.

* TheFlintstones: "Ten Little Flintstones" has an alien ship landing in Bedrock and creating a series of Fred clones to learn about Earth prior to a pending invasion. The clones simply smile vacantly and say [[CatchPhrase "Yabba-Dabba-Doo"]] ad infinitum, and everyone thinks each if actually Fred.

* TheFlintstones: "Ten Little Flintstones" has an alien ship landing in Bedrock and creating a series of Fred clones to learn about Earth prior to a pending invasion. The clones simply smile vacatly and say [[CatchPhrase "Yabba-Dabba-Doo"]] ad infinitum, and everyone thinks each if actually Fred.

* ThePowerpuffGirls episode "Powrrpuff Bluff" has three thugs who take on horrible disguises of the girls, and everyone (except Miss Bellum, of course) thinks it's the real Powerpuffs.