History PaperThinDisguise / WesternAnimation

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' looks and sounds the same as Bruce Wayne, but aside from [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Wonder Woman]] and Ra's al Ghul, very few people in the Franchise/{{DCAU}} seem to notice the resemblance.
** In most of his incarnations, Batman's voice and body language are very different from Bruce Wayne's, and Wayne makes himself too big of a fop to be taken seriously. But one wonders why it isn't obvious to everyone besides Ra's Al Ghul that he funds Batman's operations, since he's the richest man in the city, and the only one with unlimited access to the kind of technology Batman routinely uses.
*** Wayne's not the only game in town when it comes to rich people with advanced toys. By that standard alone, ComicBook/LexLuthor and ComicBook/VandalSavage are also likely candidates.
*** Neither Luthor, nor Savage are lifelong Gotham natives who watched their parents be gunned down in an alley.
*** He further covers his back when explaining to his mechanic he has "backers" with dummy companies funding his crusade. Which does bring back the question if Bruce Wayne is one of those backers.

** However, in ''"Never Fear,"'' Wayne reprises his Matches Malone alias, but looks exactly like Wayne in his standard ''TNBA'' business suit, and wearing a pencil thin moustache and possibly sunglasses. None of that wardrobe and make-up artists' effects seen in ''"Shadow of the Bat."''

* In the third episode of ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', the Autobots decide to set up an ambush for the Decepticons. Hound uses his holographic projector to make a fake "rocket base" and the Autobots will be in it, under disguise, to attack the Decepticons when they show up to raid the base. What disguise do the Autobots go for? If you guessed "Disguised in their car mode in the base parking lot", congratulations, you're smarter than an Autobot. They decide to don ''labcoats'' and pass for the human scientists. Despite the fact that even the smallest of them is twice as tall as a human and about 3 times as wide.

** While the show's tagline may be "Robots in Disguise", not a whole lot of alt modes actually make for convincing disguises. Even disregarding spacecraft like Cyclonus or Cosmos or the recurring giant robot dinosaurs, plenty of characters have altmodes with the wrong colors (Scavenger, the world's only green-and-purple excavator), altmodes that don't make sense in most environments (Mirage, the F1 racer), or alt-modes that are even more conspicuous than their robot modes (Trypticon, an entire city). The live-action films, with their heavy product placement, regularly have six or seven brightly-colored and expensive concept cars driving down the road in a line without raising an eyebrow. The comic series ''Escalation'' mocked this hard.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' has Kooky von Koopa building a robot look-alike of Princess Toadstool to bring ruin to the Mushroom Kingdom and then turn it over to [[BigBad Bowser]]. Somehow, Mario and Luigi are completely fooled by the robot, despite having obvious robotic lines on its arms and [[RoboSpeak speaking in a voice so monotone that anyone with ears could tell it wasn't the real Princess]]. They do eventually begin to suspect - but only after realizing she was supposed to have been vacationing in Hawaii yet had no suntan.

** It seems that all Aang ever has to do is cover up his arrow, and he's safe. Eh? That kid with a turban has the same yellow and orange garb as the Avatar? Well phooey, we can't see his arrow! There's no way it's him! He improves by the beginning of Season Three, instead getting a disguise involving completely different clothes, actual hair, a headband, and an [[TotallyRadical attempt]] to assimilate. He can get away with light disguises because there's no photography in this world - all they have is colorless drawings, and that's only in the Fire Nation.

** Zuko and Iroh while on the run from the Fire Nation in season 2. Despite being on hundreds of wanted posters throughout the Earth Kingdom, no one ever manages to recognize the angry teenage boy with a huge scar traveling with his short, chubby uncle as the two fugitives on the poster. That or an angry teenage boy with a giant burn scar who lives homeless with an elderly uncle actually ''is'' a common sight. Song [[CommonalityConnection shows Zuko her own burned leg,]] and Jet (initially) trusts Zuko simply because Zuko "didn't get that scar from a ''water''bender."
** In season 3, "The Painted Lady" this trope is both subverted and averted. Katara dresses as a Spirit to help a town whose river was polluted by the Fire Nation's factories. It's actually quite a brilliant disguise, and with the help of her waterbending, she's very convincing (at least until Aang catches her sneaking off). On the more comedic side, we have [[CloudCuckooLander a man who seems to be completely insane.]] He switches hats and names, telling the gang he's a trio of brothers.

** Oddly, there was one person who started to make the Bruce-Batman connection--none other than [[CloudCuckoolander Harley Quinn]], who remarked "Something about that chin..." (which is, of course, the only part of Bruce's face exposed in the Batman suit) when she saw Wayne while in their civilian personas. She was [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny quickly distracted]], but given that Wayne looked genuinely nervous at her inquiry, she must have come pretty darn close.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'', the main character is competing with a guy named Germ Pondscum for the title of best prankster - and is lagging behind. When he goes to a store to buy supplies hoping to score more points, Pondscum is the clerk, disguising himself with nothing more than a set of novelty nose-and-glasses. (Naturally, what he sells BJ gets him in ''big'' trouble.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsAdventuresInCareALot'', many of the characters can only pull off this kind of disguise- resident villain Grizzle's disguises are often paper thin, and Funshine did it once to weasel out of being bedridden due to being ill. And the bears fall for it every time.

** The Crimson Chin wears a suit and glasses. Never mind that his super hero suit is worn underneath it--including his face mask (the glasses are worn at the end of his chin). In fact, his suit seems permanently attached to him, as he's never seen without in even wearing civilian clothes.

** "The Story on Page One" invokes and parodies this trope. When Peter and Brian enter Luke Perry's hotel, Peter announces that they'll need to disguise themselves so Luke doesn't recognize them. He then [[MuggedForDisguise beats up a bellhop and steals his uniform]], which is extremely ill-fitting. Brian then points out the obvious--Luke Perry has no idea who they are, so they don't ''need'' to trick him. Peter agrees...[[ContrivedCoincidence just as a man wearing a set of clothes that looks exactly like Peter's usual outfit walks by]]. Three guesses as to what happens next.

** In "Felix and the Mid-Evil Ages", when he sets up a trap to lure Felix into a Time Machine disguised as a photo booth, he doesn't even try to disguise himself aside from wearing a red cap--and Felix falls for it anyway! And once they reach the Middle Ages, Professor disguises himself as a king, but he blows his cover to Felix by chastising Rock Bottom by name.

** In "Binky Gets Cancelled Again!", Binky the Clown's show is replaced by the Buddy Bears, a TastesLikeDiabetes group that agrees about everything. Garfield decides to help Binky (largely because he finds the Buddy Bears even more annoying than the clown) and goes down to the TV station to speak with the Bears. When this fails, he decides to force them to disagree and destroy the show's credibility. Garfield does this by putting on a chef's hat and apron and speaking in an Italian accent, pretending to be a caterer. Somehow, this completely fools the Buddy Bears--even though they spoke to Garfield ''five minutes earlier.''

* On ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' in order to convince Pete that he doesn't need any more children, PJ disguises himself as a baby. PJ is a ''very overweight eleven-year-old'', and besides that is Pete's ''son'', whose apparent absence was not remotely explained until Max says he's at the store several minutes later, so Pete should have noticed [[RuleOfFunny (he didn't)]]. DramaticIrony is PlayedForLaughs here, with Pete delivering the lines, "Aww, kind of reminds me of PJ back when he was cute!" and "PJ was never ''this'' bad!" The former of the lines results in PJ ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes biting]]'' Pete, with his fully developed adolescent teeth, and Pete still doesn't notice. He does, however, comment on how absurdly big he is. At least PJ's acting was better than it [[BadBadActing usually is.]]
* The season one finale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' sees Stan, Soos, Dipper, and Mabel sneaking into the announcement press conference of Gideonland. Soos' disguise is probably the thinnest of the lot; among other things, his beard is blatantly taped on, his trenchcoat is too small to hide his iconic question-mark tee that he's still wearing underneath, and he's written the words [[BlatantLies 'NOT SOOS']] on a piece of paper taped to his usual baseball cap. The others have marginally better disguises, though.

** In "Helga's Locket", Helga accidentally loses her precious Arnold locket--which she's just had engraved with a signed message declaring her love--and Grandpa finds it, prompting her to attempt various schemes to get it back before he and Arnold and can open it. At one point, she disguises herself in a black trenchcoat, derby, glasses, and fake mustache and calls herself "Bernard Flotsam," a rich antique art collector. This somehow manages to fool Grandpa despite several near misses (such as a pigtail poking out from beneath the hat or her voice slipping back into its normal register). When she does manage to snatch the locket and make a break for it, (only to lose it again when Grandpa trips her with the rug). As Helga retreats, Grandpa screams "AND YOU FORGOT YOUR MUSTACHE!"

* Chat Noir and Ladybug in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' have disguises that constitute a superhero outfit and a small mask that covers the area surrounding their eyes. Nevertheless, it manages to fool everyone in town and hide their identities-- even from each other despite also knowing each other as Adrien and Marinette. It was finally explained in the New York special that their transformations apply some sort of {{Glamour}} to prevent people from recognizing them. However, it ''only'' works on humans. The robotic superhero Uncanny Valley was easily able to recognize them out of costume.

*** Humorously, there's one elderly stallion who ''does'' fall for Big Mac's disguise--he becomes smitten with Orchard Blossom and tries to woo her, only to become confused when "she" mysteriously vanishes.

** Played straight in "Homer vs. Patty and Selma" when Bart takes up ballet, and disguises himself by wearing a balaclava - in spite of his distinctive hairstyle remaining clearly visible. Everyone is fooled, and nothing much is made of how ridiculous it is.

*** Ruby has to infiltrate [[PlanetOfSteves a small squad of Rubies]]. She does so by walking up to them and pretending — [[BadLiar very badly]] — that she's been there the whole time. It works, primarily because the Ruby Squad are [[SuperGullible remarkably stupid]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/ToddWorld'', this played with in "Super Sophie." Todd creates a superhero outfit for Sophie that is a reasonable disguise - most notably covering up her hair-stalks that she uses to fly that are her most recognizable feature and an obvious dead giveaway. Despite this, her general appearance is still enough that everyone, especially Stella, eventually pieces it together, especially since the voice she uses really isn't all that dissimilar from her normal voice.

** In another episode, the villainous Dr. Gelee returns to kidnap his nemesis Clover--a short-haired blonde with blue eyes, pinkish skin, and a smooth voice--during a ski trip. [[ContrivedCoincidence By some amazing coincidence]], the school's AlphaBitch Mandy--a girl with long black hair, purple eyes, pale skin, and a grating voice--just so happens to have a new winter outfit that's identical to Clover's red spy jumpsuit. Naturally, Dr. Gelee grabs Mandy instead of Clover, ''just because she was wearing the red outfit.'' This might lead viewers to believe that the girls would be immune from any villain ever recognizing them if they didn't wear their spy gear.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Towelie assumes a fake moustache and a hat in order to get his "A Million Little Fibers" book published. The first person to realize this is Oprah Winfrey's sapient vagina.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/DofusTheTreasuresOfKerubim Dofus]]'', Crocosec has the ability to disguise himself as anyone using anything. In his introductory episode, he disguises himself as a human kid (he's a crocodile) just by putting on a tiny hat. The disguise is so convincing that even his own allies somehow don't recognize him.

** In the episode "Laugh Ed Laugh", due to an epidemic, there are no kids for Eddy to scam causing him to eventually go completely insane. Ed and Edd attempt to capture him for his own safety and approach him by wearing badly drawn masks of Jonny and Plank. Ironically Eddy falls for the disguises even when Ed's mask FALLS OFF! Eddy thinking "Jonny's" face has fallen of assures "Jonny" that he will get him a new one.
--->'''Eddy''': Hi Plank! [Ed is wearing a Jonny mask, and Edd is disguised as Plank.] Hi Jonny! I'd invite you in, but I just shampooed the rugs! [Ed's mask falls off which causes Edd to FacePalm]\\

'''Eddy''': Jonny. You dropped your face... I'll get you a new one!

** Subverted in "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", where Bart ditched class. When he saw Homer, he quickly pushed his hair forward hoping to fool him. However, Homer has already seen Bart and was afraid the boy would figure out ''[[NotSoDifferent he]]'' ditched work. Homer's disguise was putting a hair comb under his nose as a moustache. Homer and Bart just pretended they didn't recognize each other.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the kids' disguises include Aang wearing a wig and moustache made of Appa-fur and pretending to be an old man, and Sokka and Katara donning a moustache and fake baby-bump respectively and pretending to be Aang's parents. They are two and three years older than Aang and have much darker skin. Completely believed every time.
** It seems that all Aang ever has to do is cover up his arrow, and he's safe. Eh? That kid with a turban has the same yellow and orange garb as the Avatar? Well phooey, we can't see his arrow! There's no way it's him!
*** Though, admittedly it got a lot better in the beginning of Season Three, what with completely different clothes, actual hair, a headband, and an [[TotallyRadical attempt]] to assimilate.
*** Also, it seems like people generally don't know his appearance that well... after all, there's no photography in this world - all they have is colorless drawings, and that's only in the Fire Nation.
** One of Sokka's disguises, Wang Fire, quickly became a MemeticBadass.
*** It makes sense with Katara and Sokka most of the time because ([[FridgeLogic for whatever reason]]) the Fire Nation never made wanted posters for them. Even then, the Water Tribe ethnicity is pretty visible (darkest skin of any group in the 'verse, for a start) and the Fire Nation is at war with both tribes.
** In the episode "Sokka's Master", at the very end Piandao reveals that he ''always'' knew Sokka was a member of the Water Tribe, since the name "Sokka" is very distinctly Water Tribe in the series. He recommends, for future reference, the name Li. "There's a million Lis."
*** Even then, he never calls attention to the fact that Sokka has a considerably darker skin tone than most people in the Fire Nation, sending it straight back to this trope.
** Also Zuko and Iroh while on the run from the Fire Nation in season 2. Despite being on hundreds of wanted posters throughout the Earth Kingdom, no one ever manages to recognize the angry teenage boy with a huge scar traveling with his short, chubby uncle as the two fugitives on the poster.
*** Or, from a Fridge Horror perspective, an angry teenage boy with a giant burn scar who lives homeless with an elderly uncle actually ''is'' a common sight. After all, Song [[CommonalityConnection shows him her own burned leg,]] and Jet (initially) trusts Zuko simply because Zuko "didn't get that scar from a ''water''bender."

** Thoroughly subverted in "Jack And Swamp Monster". The hermit that guides Jack through various perils is very obviously Aku, Jack's arch-enemy. Jack is apparently oblivious to the fact that his new-found ally has the same color eyebrows (red), the same color skin (jet black), as well as the same voice and attitude as Aku. At one point, even the hermit's reflection in water reveals his true nature, leaving the viewer questioning Jack's sanity as he sinks deeper into Aku's trap. At the end of the episode, however, Jack reveals that he knew the truth all along, and that he's merely been playing along in order to trap Aku. The entire episode also serves to hang a lampshade on Jack's general genre-blindness; he's been tricked by Aku before in similarly transparent disguises (and, admittedly, one really good one). Then again, getting tricked by a full on shape-shifter who can change anything about his appearance isn't something to be terribly ashamed of.

* In the episode "Danger" of ''WesternAnimation/TheTelebugs'', the Telebugs attempt to infiltrate the Angel Palace disguised as children. Said disguises consist of wigs and hats. Naturally, RealityEnsues when Bullybyte is immediately suspicious.

** In "Marge vs. the Monorail", Mr. Burns tries to pass himself off as "[[SdrawkcabAlias Mr. Snrub]]", wearing nothing unusual besides a long moustache. [[RealityEnsues It does not work]]. It doesn't help his cause that he's accompanied by an undisguised Smithers.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019''. When the Riddler takes over Gotham University, Harley and Poison Ivy try to infiltrate the school by disguising themselves as students, with Ivy going as far as to cover her green skin with makeup. However, Riddler isn't fooled for one second since [[RealityEnsues they're 30-something women trying to pass themselves off as college girls]]...not to mention their clothes were [[TotallyRadical over a decade out of fashion]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode where Dale is a BountyHunter, when he disguises himself as a flower delivery man to attempt to gain entry into the fugitives house, he doesn't even bother taking off his "Bounty Hunter" hat. Unfortunately for Dale, this works about as well as you would expect. To be fair, he never takes hat off unless forced to, since he is self-conscious about his bald spot.

** Gantu's idea of a "disguise" is to claim he's from Samoa. Gantu is ''fifteen feet tall and an anthropomorphic shark''. It works perfectly.

* Chat Noir and Ladybug in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' have disguises that constitute a superhero outfit and a small mask that covers the area surrounding their eyes. Nevertheless, it manages to fool everyone in town and hide their identities-- even from each other despite also knowing each other as Adrien and Marinette.

** PlayedForLaughs in the third Halloween episode, where one of the costumes is an incredibly well-made (and apparently fully functional) [[HumongousMecha Mecha]]. But everyone who sees it instantly knows it's Kenny, much to his frustration.

** And there was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMJwnI4s03M this episode ...]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' while these do work, special mention goes to [[CanonForeigner Don Karnage]] who is terrible at this trope. In his first appearence, he claims to be a plant scientist and dons a caterpillar as a mustache (which keeps crawling off his upper lip). Scrooge pulls aside his entire family to confirm that nobody is believing it... even Launchpad. In another episode, he doesn't even bother with a disguise despite his entire villain team wearing them. Knowing his lack of any skill in this trope, one could even assume Don Karnage thought [InsaneTrollLogic not wearing a disguise was itself a clever disguise.]]

** It's played straight in the episode "Jack is Naked. While trying to catch a rabbit who stole his sword and gi, he dresses in a costume akin to [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Dorothy]] to keep the angry mob from catching up to him. The disguise fools ''everybody,'' until some kids rip his costume off.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':

** And ''then'' there are the seemingly dozens or hundreds of robots whose altmodes are presumably very convincing but replicate vehicles that do not exist on Earth. On the bright side, it confirms that Cybertron has a thriving vehicle design industry to provide all of the Cybertronian planes, cars, motorcycles, drill-tanks and whatnot that assorted second- and third-tier Autobots and Decepticons turn into.

** In "Let's Be Friends", Boxmore's robot minion Shannon disguises herself as a human to mess around with K.O. Said disguise consists of an off-kilter wig and horribly applied lipstick. Though to be fair, K.O. was only first meeting her, so he'd have no reason to be suspicious of her to begin with.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'' episode "The Replacement", Alfur and Agnes swap clothes as a part of a plan to keep Alfur from returning home. [[BrawnHilda Agnes]] is larger than Alfur, not to mention female. Until Agnes accidentally blows their plan, only the titular replacement sees something off about Agnes-in-Alfur's-clothing.