History PaperThinDisguise / WesternAnimation

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", Eda tries to disguise herself as her sister by wearing her old season 1 outfit, using a mop as a wig (with her own hair still visible underneath), and saying "dearest" a lot to mimic her formal speech pattern. Both her mother and King see through it instantly, but they find the attempt so pathetic that they can't bring themselves to call her out on it.

** In "Spanish Fry," Fry's nose is stolen to be used as "human horn," a powerful aphrodisiac for many alien species. He, Leela, and Bender go to the black market to track down who sold his nose, eventually finding an alien sex shop. The owner of the store plays a video of the previous day's customers, and O=one of the clients (who is obviously Lrr in a ball cap and sunglasses) tells the clerk he's "just some guy...'''''[[CatchPhrase RULER OF THE PLANET]] [[LargeHam OMICRON PERSEI 8!!]]'''''"

* 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.
** In an episode, Marinette disguises herself as "Mario" by wearing a poncho, a motorcycle helmet and a fake nose and glasses. Absolutely nobody, including her closest friends, is able to recognise her until she accidentally loses her disguise.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", Eda tries to disguise herself as her sister by wearing her old season 1 oufit, using a mop as a wig (with her own hair still visible underneath), and saying "dearest" a lot to mimic her formal speech pattern. Both her mother and King see through it instantly, but they find the attempt so pathetic that they can't bring themselves to call her out on it.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/PetAlien'': What's the most paper thin disguise ever? No disguise at all!

** The best example has to be when he disguised himself as a plumber with a hat and a tool-belt. When he confronted Doof, this conversation followed.

** Possibly the most absurd example of all: in a parody of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' in "Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Three Times", the Count (Homer) removes his mask, and nobody recognizes him. Then he removes his fake mole, and everyone in the room gasps in shock.
** Another example of it not working is in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part I", when Mr. Burns dresses up in Jimbo's clothes to inform Principal Skinner his [[AntiquatedLinguistics fourth-form chums]] and he think it would be quite [[TotallyRadical corking]] if he were to give the school's new riches to the local energy concern. Naturally, [[GenreSavvy Skinner isn't fooled]]: "It was naive of you to assume I'd mistake this town's most prominent 104 year old man for one of my elementary school students."

** 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.

** In the [[HalloweenEpisode "Treehouse of Horror"]] episode "Citizen Kang", Kang and Kodos disguise themselves to ''look'' just like Bob Dole and Bill Clinton, but nobody seems to notice anythring wrong with the bizarre statements they deliver in a CreepyMonotone.

** Played with when Cartman disguises himself as AWESOM-O the robot. The other boys and Butters's relatives are all well-aware that he's just a kid in a cardboard costume, but everyone else is convinced that he's a genuine robot, up to and including the ''military''.

** A subversion occurs in the episode "No Weenies Allowed": trying to get into a tough bar, [=SpongeBob=] hits upon the idea of wearing a tough hairdo. Cut to what appears to be [=SpongeBob=] with a black pompadour out of TheFifties approaching the bar. The bouncer is unimpressed and tries to unmask him... until the ''real'' [=SpongeBob=] appears wearing a rainbow wig.

** In one episode, Amethyst says she's getting free donuts for her, Steven and Connie by shapeshifting into Lars and entering the donut shop. Not only is she still purple, she refers to herself as "Donut Boy" and calls Sadie "Donut Girl" as she grabs a bunch of donuts and leaves. Obviously, nobody is fooled, but as soon as she leaves, Steven apologizes and pays for the donuts, while Sadie is still mildly surprised, but used to that kind of insanity at this point.

** Played with in "Down on the Farm." Strawberry Shortcake, Pupcake and Custard disguise themselves as sheep and hide themselves among the sheep of Caramel Corn's farm in order to discover who's been stealing her animals. Caramel Corn finds their disguises less than convincing, but Strawberry says that by the time it's dark they won't notice anything. When the Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes come to take the sheep, Sour Grapes asks if they should take the "funny looking" ones as well. Pie Man, being a jerk, says that he doesn't care what they look like.

*** The episode "Persona Assistant" suggests that Roger's skin contains properties that make his disguises foolproof to anyone who doesn't know who he is. When Stan was forced to fill in for Roger, he had to wear a jumpsuit made of alien flesh underneath the disguises in order for them to work.

** Subverted in "Reptiles in the Rose Garden" when the brothers try to sneak onto Bowser's ship wearing Hammer Suits. The first Sledge Brother they approach takes one look at them, and without missing a beat asks, "Putting on a little weight, aren't you, Mario?"

** Subverted pretty regularly in Slappy Squirrel's segments. Her opponents often resort to this (Among other stock cartoon tactics) to try to get the better of her, but she's so GenreSavvy she sees through them right away.

** 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.

** Another ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' example, though this counts as a {{subver|ted trope}}sion: In "Dog Pounded", [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Sylvester]] puts on a dog suit to infiltrate a dog pound where Tweety is hiding. So unconvincing is this disguise, that the dogs inside see through it immediately and attack, forcing Sylvester to make a quick escape. Later, a DoubleSubversion occurs when a dogcatcher notices the still-disguised Sylvester and inattentively throws him back into the pound, where another mauling awaits.

** Subverted in the cartoon, “A Fox in a Fix”, when a watchdog is trying to protect chickens from a nearby fox. The fox trims the hair on his face and tail to masquerade as another dog wanting a job. The watchdog sees through it right away, but he decides to play dumb and proceeds to put the fox through TrainingFromHell.

** Subverted in ''Hollywood Daffy'', when Daffy tries several disguises to get past the guard, but none of them work.

** Also subverted in Backwoods Bunny, when Bugs is pitted against a dimwitted hillbilly buzzard. At one point, Bugs pulls his old dress-in-drag routine, and initially, it appears to work until the buzzard reveals that he wasn't fooled in the slightest.

* Amusingly subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''; in an escalating effort to convince Panini that [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He's Not Her Boyfriend]], Chowder turns up on her doorstep wearing a large black moustache and fabricates a story about the "real" Chowder moving far away. Panini doesn't even pretend to be convinced and refers to him as Chowder throughout the entire conversation, causing him to switch gears to say that "Chowder's [[NeverSayDie dead]]". In the end, he foils himself after he gleefully accepts the cookie she offers him.

* Subverted at the end of ''Don't Give Up the Sheep'', when Sam clocks out, [[spoiler: he instantly notices that the sheepdog who clocks in to replace him is Ralph in a very convincing sheepdog disguise and beats him. Though it could be he regognized the voice when he greeted Sam.]]

** Subverted in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party Of One]]". Pinkie Pie compounds disguises to include Groucho glasses, a square hay bale, and a coat and hat. While this is not a strict {{paper thin disguise}} as you can not see any of Pinkie Pie, it is obviously her to the audience as she would be the only character to wear stuff like that. The disguise seems to work initially when Fluttershy sees her and runs away scared, but the trope becomes subverted when Rainbow Dash doesn't notice the disguise (or recognizing it immediately as something only Pinkie would use) as she says "Hi, Pinkie Pie" in passing.

** Subverted in one of the rebooted episodes. Mojo's plan to defeat the Girls via DeliveryGuyInfiltration of their slumber party using a rather ridiculous pizza guy disguise not only fails (they recognize him right away) it gets him nabbed by the sugar-rush crazed children, [[HumiliationConga held hostage, and dressed in makeup and a fancy gown.]]

** Subverted in one episode. Bullwinkle is a star witness in the trial of a mobster, so he has to hide from the villains who want to silence him, so he and Rocky decide to get jobs at a mink farm, which they assume is the last place anyone would look for them. Unfortunately, Boris and Natasha ''do'' look there, so Rocky sticks Bullwinkle in a cage and tells him to "act like a mink". (It was all he could think of.) Well, Boris may not have been the cleverest of villains, but he wasn't ''that'' dumb; to make a long story short, the next episode started with Bullwinkle having been kidnapped.

** Thoroughly subverted in "Jack And Swamp Wizard". 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.

** 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 ''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 a ''WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird'' cartoon, "Canary Row", Sylvester attempts to disguise himself as an organ-grinder's monkey in order to infiltrate Tweety's apartment. Initially it seems as though his disguise was actually working, but then he lifts his hat up and Granny whacks him in the head, with her also saying "Did you really think I would be fooled by that disguise?", making this a subversion similar to the Mr. Burns example.

* This was subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/{{VeggieTales}}'' episode "King George and the Ducky", where Jimmy and Jerry are disguised as Bob and Larry in an attempt to host the show themselves. Of course, the viewers all know that they aren't the real Bob and Larry. Then, Bob and Larry show up and are able to recognize Jimmy and Jerry in their costumes.

** Parodied in one of the episodes, when three adult-sized (male) crooks put on Powerpuff Girl costumes (consisting merely of correctly-colored clothing and cardboard cutout masks) and somehow manage to deceive the entire town. Not to mention, once they meet up, even the girls themselves have trouble recognizing them. The only one not fooled by the disguises was [[OnlySaneMan Ms. Bellum]]; she saw their body hair and bad manly body odor, and the fact that they kept hitting on her.

** [[TheBigGuy Numbuh 4]] manages to get into a girl's slumber party in "Operation: S.L.U.M.B.E.R." simply by wearing a wig and speaking in a falsetto voice.

** An InUniverse shows up in "The Bart Wants What It Wants", when Rainer Wolfcastle is starring in a movie called "Undercover Nerd". His character is shown wearing {{Nerd}} clothing and gives his name as "Melvin Eugene Punymeyer"... but none of this changes the fact that he's a tall, muscular adult man. [[BullyingADragon Two bullies harass him anyway]], and end up [[MadeOfPlasticine with one shoved through the other's torso]] after "Melvin" gives the memorable [[PreAssKickingOneLiner one-liner]] "The geek shall inherit the Earth!"

** In "The Muffin King", Dad disguised himself as Mom to fool Dexter and Dee Dee into leaving the house unguarded so he can sample some of Mom's dinner muffins. It works at first, but then the kids see right through the disguise once Dexter points out "Mom doesn't have stubble."

** In "Mock Five", Dee Dee disguises herself as the "mysterious Racer D" to secretly race with and protect Dexter during a big soapbox derby. The black jumpsuit and visor she wears do cover her eyes...but she uses the exact same voice, calls Dexter by name, and has her famous blonde pigtails sticking out from her helmet. Since the whole thing is an AffectionateParody of ''Anime/SpeedRacer'', it's definitely played for laughs.

'''Crocker:''' Ok... [[Film/TheThreeStooges Shemp.]]

** In another episode, James Woods returns to take revenge on Peter for breaking off their friendship. He does this by stealing Peter's wallet and dressing like him, then claiming that because he has his driver's license and credit cards, he must ''be'' Peter, forcing Joe to arrest the real hero and kick him out of his own house. Peter turns the tables by getting a few fake I.D.s of his own and going on a talk show as "James Woods." Despite clearly being an obese Rhode Island man and not the lean, suave James Woods, everyone is somehow fooled into thinking Peter is the actor.

** Somewhat justified by the poor eyesight and unfamiliarity with humans of the Omicronians, Zapp Brannigan is able to fool them with "a giant hideous ape that looks exactly like Leela" - an orangutan with an eyepatch.
** We see a video recording of customers in an alien sex shop. One of the clients (who is obviously Lrr in a ball cap and sunglasses) tells the clerk he's "just some guy...'''''[[CatchPhrase RULER OF THE PLANET]] [[LargeHam OMICRON PERSEI 8!!]]'''''"

** 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!"

** "Arnold's Valentine" has Helga pose as Arnold's French pen-pal Cecile for a Valentine's Day date. To do this, she gets a new hairdo, puts on a dress and heels and dons makeup. Seems like a reasonable disguise, but there are several flaws. One, [[ChromaticArrangement the dress is still pink]]. Two, she's still wearing her [[SignatureHeadgear trademark pink hairbow]]. Three, no amount of makeup short of full-on Wrestling/{{Sting}} facepaint could disguise someone as instantly recognizable as Helga. And finally, [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent she makes no attempt to disguise her voice or accent despite portraying a French girl.]] What's worse is that Arnold actually buys it.

* Amusingly subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}''; in an escalating effort to convince Panini that [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He's Not Her Boyfriend]], Chowder turns up on her doorstep wearing a large black moustache and fabricates a story about the "real" Chowder moving far away and then switches gears to say that "Chowder's [[NeverSayDie dead]]". Panini still knows it's Chowder, though. In the end, he foils himself after he gleefully accepts the cookie she offers him.

** 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.''

* The ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' episode "Pool Toys" has the duo wear nerd glasses to try to fool Tom Anderson into getting them to build his swimming pool. Were it not for Anderson's poor eye sight, this plan probably wouldn't have worked.

** An InUniverse shows up in "The Bart Wants What It Wants", when Rainer Wolfcastle is starring in a movie called "Undercover Nerd". His character is shown wearing HollywoodNerd clothing and gives his name as "Melvin Eugene Punymeyer"... but none of this changes the fact that he's a tall, muscular adult man. [[BullyingADragon Two bullies harass him anyway]], and end up [[MadeOfPlasticine with one shoved through the other's torso]] after "Melvin" gives the memorable [[PreAssKickingOneLiner one-liner]] "The geek shall inherit the Earth!"

** And there was the episode, “Incognito”. In order to avoid being recognized by a bully, the duo simply wear strange hats and sunglasses while sitting in their usual seats. Also, they speak in [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent terrible Russian accents]] and call themselves [[LazyAlias Crevice and Bung-Head]].

** Even her ''own parents'' are fooled. When they put the same PaperThinDisguise on a ''cactus'', everyone thinks it's Morty Williams. When the drill sergeant shows the guards that it's just a disguise by putting it on ''in front of them'', [[TooDumbToLive they think he's Morty Williams]].

** In "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted", Candace disguises herself as TV personality Morty Williams.
--->'''{{Drill Sergeant|Nasty}}''': Aren't you a little ''female'' to be Morty Williams?\\
'''Candace''': Well, YouKnowWhatTheySay. The camera adds ''masculinity.''

--->'''Bacon''' ''[crying]'' I don't remember doing it... but it's clearly ME on the tape!

-->'''FBIAgent:''' No mustache? Sorry to waste your time, ma'am.

* ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars''

* "Vincent Adultman" in ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', who is very obviously [[TotemPoleTrench a group of children stacked together under a trench coat]]. In spite of this, [=BoJack=] is the only person who sees through the disguise ([[AlternateCharacterInterpretation or is willing to]]); Princess Carolyn even enters into a relationship with Vincent, believing him the successful manager of [[BlatantLies a business factory]].

** Even her ''own parents'' are fooled. When they put the same PaperThinDisguise on a ''cactus'', everyone thinks it's Morty Williams. When the drill sergeant shows the guards that it's just a disguise by putting it on ''in front of them'', [[TooDumbToLive they think he's Morty Williams.]]

*** Amusingly enough, the actors playing the family are all wearing LatexPerfection masks; after the "B'oh" blunder, Burns excuses himself and goes to the soundstage, chewing out the actor and telling him to get it right. He shows Bart the "Simpson house" again, and Homer abruptly drops his sandwich and lets out [[BadBadActing the least convincing "D'oh!" ever]]...and Bart ''immediately'' buys it, sadly saying "That's them, alright..."

** An InUniverse shows up in "The Bart Wants What It Wants", when Rainer Wolfcastle is starring in a movie called "Undercover Nerd". His character is shown wearing HollywoodNerd clothing and gives his name as "Melvin Eugene Punymeyer"...but none of this changes the fact that he's a tall, muscular adult man. [[BullyingADragon Two bullies harass him anyway]], and end up [[MadeOfPlasticine with one shoved through the other's torso]] after "Melvin" gives the memorable [[PreAssKickingOneLiner one-liner]] "The geek shall inherit the Earth!"

* Happens a lot in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', mostly due to how [[TooDumbToLive exceedingly absent-minded]] the adults are:

** Played for very dark laughs in "Good Times With Weapons." When the boys accidentally [[EyeScream throw a ninja star into Butter's left eye,]] they put him in a crummy dog disguise meant to fool an old, half-blind veterinarian. However, when Butters wanders to a hospital, the doctor and nurse who find him are convinced that he's a real dog and send him to an animal shelter. The workers there are fooled too, to the point that they ''try to put him down''.
** In Volcano, Cartman disguises himself as Scuzzlebutt using a brown sheet, a stick, and a celery to scare his friends after they fail to find his campfire tale terrifying. He is nearly shot to death for his trouble.

* A subversion similar to the "Guy Incognito" example above occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "No Weenies Allowed": trying to get into a tough bar, [=SpongeBob=] hits upon the idea of wearing a tough hairdo. Cut to what appears to be [=SpongeBob=] with a black pompadour out of TheFifties approaching the bar. The bouncer is unimpressed and tries to unmask him... until the ''real'' [=SpongeBob=] appears wearing a rainbow wig.

--->'''Toilenator:''' [[TooDumbToLive I didn't expect an article of clothing to lie!]]

** Although this was completely averted in ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'', where the 80's Turtles never make ''any'' attempt to disguise themselves whatsoever; much to the chagrin of their 2k3 counterparts. This leads to a scene where the '80s Turtles (while in the 2k3 world) proceed to casually walk the streets in broad daylight, go to a pizzeria and order pizza. Predictably every person who sees them runs away in terror and yet the '80s Turtles [[WhatAnIdiot have no idea why]]. This scene and most of the 80's Turtles' depiction in the film can be chalked up to {{Flanderization}}.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Centaurworld}}'': Glendale is a wanted criminal in the underground land of the Moletaurs. Her paper-thin disguise of wearing glasses and a moustache, speaking in Spanish, and claiming to be someone else [[spoiler: actually turns out not to be a spoiler at all! The "disguise" is a Spanish-speaking centaur who merely happens to resemble Glendale.]]

*** In the episode, "[[Recap/SonicBoomS1E4Buster Buster]]", [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Orbot and Cubot]] rob a deadly equipment warehouse wearing only poorly-drawn masks of Sonic and Tails, respectively.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', people seem to recognize Roger as an alien only when he's stark naked. If he has so much as a ''wig'' on, he's completely inconspicuous despite his obviously non-human body.
** In one episode, Roger gets in a hit-and-run accident wearing nothing but a wig, a wifebeater and Kevin Bacon's nose from a disguise kit, and Kevin Bacon gets blamed for it. Even ''Bacon himself'' is convinced:

** Also played with in the episode "Con Heir", when two {{FBI agent}}s come to the Smiths' home looking for a man who is 6'2", 65 years old, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking sometimes leaps from a helicopter]], has a salty demeanor and wears a turtleneck. Francine thinks they mean Stan's father until she sees the mugshot. In which he has a mustache.

** In "Stanny Tendergrass", Roger reveals that he has at least one disguise that each member of the Smith family is unable to see through. Stan doesn't realize he's one of the wealthy members of a country club he works at during the summer, Francine's is a Korean boy who plays with a giant chopstick, Haley's is her sandal repairman, and Steve's is Alicia Wilkner, a girl he went on seven (nine when including times Roger drugged him) dates with.

** Subverted in one cartoon when a watchdog is trying to protect chickens from a nearby fox. The fox trims the hair on his face and tail to masquerade as another dog wanting a job. The watchdog sees through it right away, but he decides to play dumb and puts the fox through hell.