History PaperThinDisguise / WesternAnimation

** This goes all the way back to ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'', the first animated Mario series. In "Count Koopula," Koopa's minion Mouser disguises himself in a black cloak that doesn't even cover his whole face, but no one is suspicious. It isn't until he slips up and calls Toad by name that anyone is even slightly aware of what's going on.

** 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 "Kid Shnitzel," Shnitzel and Chowder get tired of having responsibilities and dress up like babies to avoid work. Mung punishes them by sending them to a "baby pound," where an enormous woman named Frau Broten takes care of naughty children. Despite Shnitzel and Chowder's baby disguises consisting solely of diapers and bonnets, neither of which cover up the fact that they're a fully grown rock monster and preteen cat-like creature, respectively, Frau Broten is utterly convinced that they're actual infants and tries to smother them with love.

** In an attempt to get the titular villain to reveal his name, the episode "Rumpledkiltskin" has Courage at one point disguise himself with a hat and a fake mustache while using a recorded message to tell Rumpledkiltskin that he's won one million dollars on the condition that he sign his name. The plan fails because Rumpledkiltskin simpy writes down "Cash".

** In the episode "Pick An Ed", Eddy goes undercover as a new student, "Carl". Edd is the only one able to see through the disguise while Ed ([[TheDitz well being Ed]]) doesn't. The disguise immediately fools the other kids. This is played more straight when Eddy disguises himself as a female student named "Suzette." [[CompanionCube Plank]] is able to "see" through the disguise and Kevin exposes the disguise at the near end.

** In the episode “Frankie My Dear”, Mac, Bloo, an Imaginary Prince Charming, and a pizza delivery nerd attempt to use a fake disguise as a tall man to spy on Frankie on her date. Due to Bloo being the “head,” (and claiming his name is [[Creator/OrlandoBloom Orlando]] [[SueDonym Bloo]])it was very obvious that Frankie wasn’t going to buy the disguise.

** 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 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, Grandpa stops her by tripping her with the rug, forcing her to drop the locket and escape while he shouts "AND YOU FORGOT YOUR MUSTACHE!"

** In the episode "Suspended", Harold is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin suspended from school.]] When he discovers that being suspended isn't all it's cracked up to be, he repeatedly attempts to sneak back into P.S. 118. At one point, he hits upon the idea of pretending to be a pizza delivery man, and so dons what he dubs a "foolproof disguise": a fake black mustache, chef's hat, apron, and a striped shirt ''with his name on it.'' Unsurprisingly, Principal Wartz isn't fooled by the trick, even when Harold attempts a horrible Italian accent to convince him.

** 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.
** Played straight with Jack again in the episode "Jack and the Rave". Jack disguised himself as one of the hypnotized dancers. While the other brainwashed dancers didn’t recognize him right away, DJ Stylbator immediately saw through Jack’s disguise and commanded the other hypnotized dancers to attack him.

** In the episode "Burns' Heir," Burns shows Bart a "live broadcast" of Bart's family talking about how much they don't want him to come home. In reality, it is a group of actors Burns hired, including the Estonian Dwarf as Lisa. Bart is unconvinced until Fake Homer says his famous catchphrase "[[MangledCatchPhrase B'oh]]."

** In “The Cissy,” Cartman disguises himself as a trans girl in order to use the women’s restroom. Said disguise only consists of putting a pink bow on his hat. Unsurprisingly, literally nobody falls for it.

** In "F.U.N.," Plankton makes off with a Krabby Patty, then ducks into a magic shop, buys a pair of Groucho glasses and a mustache, and places them on the patty itself. Spongebob, who's been pursuing Plankton, asks the strange "man" if he's seen the villain. As is the case with the Tattletale Strangler, Plankton eventually removes the disguise himself when Spongebob's inane babbling drives him crazy.

** In the tie-in ''Unleash the Light'' game, a new character is introduced who, suspiciously, has the same voice, build, colors, and massive blonde afro as Hessonite, the villain of ''Save the Light.'' Steven immediately recognizes her, which prompts the mysterious new Gem to explain that it makes perfect sense that people would think she was Hessonite, since [[ButHeSoundsHandsome they're both immensely talented and accomplished.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour,'' the teams have to strip-search BritishRoyalGuards to find a clue for their challenge. Naturally, none of them wants to do this, but [[PerkyGoth Gwen]] tricks [[StalkerWithACrush Sierra]] into it by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11c3FXSNAVA&t=1632s putting a Cody mask]] ([[FridgeLogic that she had for some reason]]) on their team's guard. Even though the real Cody is standing right next to her, giving her an "are you serious?" look, Sierra pushes him out of the way to get to the fake Cody.

--->'''Russian commander:''' “We appear to have an American F-22 Raptor, being shot at by some kind of rally vehicle. And a police patrol car, also American... under attack from a space shuttle?”

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'' called "''Jacob of the Creek''" features the protagonist Craig being embarrassed by the bad haircut he tried to give himself, and so his friends tell him to wear a disguise to the city creek they always hang out at so no one else at the creek will recognize him. The disguise only consists of his bad haircut, some sunglasses, speaking in a slightly deeper voice, and changing his name to "Jacob". While wearing the sunglasses and changing the pitch of his voice, no one at the creek but his close friends recognize that it's actually him for several days until he finally confesses that it's him at yhe end of the episode.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'' called "''Jacob of the Creek''" features the protagonist Craig being embarrassed by the bad haircut he tried to give himself, and so his friends tell him to wear a disguise to the city creek they always hang out at so no one else at the creek will recognize him. The disguise only consists of his bad haircut, some sunglasses, speaking in a slightly deeper voice, and changing his name to "Jacob". While wearing the sunglasses and changing the pitch of his voice, no one at the creek but his close friends recognize that it's actually him for several days.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CraigOfTheCreek'' called "''Jacob of the Creek''" features the protagonist Craig being embarrassed by the bad haircut he tried to give himself, and so his friends tell him to wear a disguise to the city creek they always hang out at so no one else at the creek will recognize him. The disguise only consists of his bad haircut, some sunglasses, and speaking in a slightly deeper voice. While wearing the sunglasses and changing the pitch of his voice, no one at the creek but his close friends recognize that it's actually him for several days.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' episode "Pool Toys" has the duo wear NerdGlasses 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.
** 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 [[OohMeAccentIsSlipping terrible Russian accents]] and call themselves [[LazyAlias Crevice and Bung-Head]].

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tattletale-strangler2_4965.jpg]]]]

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'':

* On ''[[Franchise/WinnieThePooh My Friends Tigger & Pooh]]'', the Super Sleuth outfits worn by Tigger and Pooh normally wouldn't be an example, as they aren't actually trying to hide their identities. Lumpy, however, refuses to accept them as being Tigger and Pooh when they're in their outfits, even when Darby tells him that it's just them. He presumably recognizes her because her only special Super Sleuth apparel is a cap with the question mark logo of the Sleuths on it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' gives us the [[ShowWithinAShow Play Within A Show]] "The Legend of Sheriff Piglet", in which the Masked Bear is never identified as Pooh until his mask comes off.
** In the Christmas special, Pooh dresses up as Santa Claus. Despite his costume only consisting of a fake white beard over his trademark red t-shirt that still exposes his round yellow tummy, it somehow manages to convince all his friends (especially Tigger).

** 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 anything wrong with the bizarre statements they deliver in a CreepyMonotone.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'', a recurring gag is that Grimlock's altmode (a giant robotic T-rex) is completely useless for stealth, which has led to him attempting to assume a disguise ''for'' his disguise. This usually involves him "hiding" inside of a crane, with his T-rex body barely concealed.

** PlayedForLaughs in the third Halloween episode, where one of the costumes is an incredibly well-made (and apparently fully functional) mechsuit based on [[Film/{{Robocop}} ED-209]]. But everyone who sees it instantly knows it's Kenny, much to his frustration.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour,'' the teams have to strip-search BritishRoyalGuards to find a clue for their challenge. Naturally, none of them wants to do this, but [[PerkyGoth Gwen]] tricks [[StalkerWithACrush Sierra]] into it by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11c3FXSNAVA&t=1632s putting a Cody mask]] ([[FridgeLogic that she had for some reason]]) on their team's guard. Even though the real [[ExtravertedNerd Cody]] is standing right next to her, giving her an "are you serious?" look, Sierra pushes him out of the way to get to the fake Cody.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'': Yzma's disguise as [[SdrawkcabAlias Principal Amzy]] only fools Kronk, who is ironically the only ''supposed'' to know. [[RunningGag Yzma is forced to remove her disguise in front of him every time.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', Stumpy is denied access to a girls-only nightclub by a bouncer, so he returns in a wig claiming to be a girl. This fools the bouncer despite him having seen Stumpy literally a few seconds earlier.

* ''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.

** In "The Muffin King", Dad disguises 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 that Mom is looking "stubbly" today.

%%* "Dr. Aschleppwagen" from [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts ''UFM: Unidentified Flying Mater'']].
%%** Even more so with Mater's disguise as Ivan in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2''.

** 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.

** 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.

** Terry [=McGinnis=] of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' does even ''less'' to hide the fact that he's the new Batman, as he doesn't even bother to adopt a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob persona and openly uses obvious Batman-like acrobatics and skills even when out of costume. ''Nobody'' puts it together because nobody in a million years would think [[BeneathNotice a guy like Terry could ever be Batman]]: When one of his friends notices his suspicious behavior she immediately assumes he's running with The Jokerz, and in one episode he bluntly tells his family he's Batman and they both laugh their asses off and believe he's joking.

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre''
** White Pantera, Manny's father, has his civilian identity of Rodolfo Rivera. But instead of taking his mask, he simply uses glasses OVER it. Then you add the fact that everybody knows that White Pantera is El Tigre's father, and everybody knows [[SecretPublicIdentity El Tigre's identity]], and everybody could guess Rodolfo's secret.
** Subverted with Sergio's disguise as his villain alter ego Señor Siniestro. It's actually a very convincing disguise and he also does a deeper voice while using it, so he's able to fool Manny and Frida. His habit of fawning over Frida is the only thing that could give him away.
** Played straight when White Pantera infiltrates a supervillain's tournament. His 'disguise' consists of wearing a black suit instead of his usual white one and calling himself '''Black''' Pantera. Nobody is fooled, but play along with it anyway.

* When in his civilian identity, Robin in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' needs to be in disguise (apparently it's something Franchise/{{Batman}} insists on). All he does is pull on a pair of sunglasses. Then again, the team does not have any contact with Dick Grayson unless Artemis goes to Gotham Academy.

*** Its even worse than that; Connor refuses to wear anything ''but'' black super-man T-shirts, even in his civilian identity. Presumably the only reason why his classmates haven't worked it out yet is that he's part of a covert OP team that doesn't get a lot of media attention.

* In ''The Teddy Bears Picnic'', two teddy bears are trying to sneak a human girl into the picnic, since she's trying to find her particular teddy bear. The disguise they put together for her consists of a pair of earmuffs, a clown nose, and a line drawn on her face. It manages to fool everyone else at the picnic until she [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes the earmuffs and nose off]].

** 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.