Archived Discussion Main / WigDressAccent

This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.

Ununnilium: Took out:

• On Animaniacs, every Chicken Boo cartoon features the giant chicken masquerading as a human with wig and/or clothes, yet moving and sounding like a chicken. The effective ineffective disguise fools all but one person, who then gets exasperated that no one believes when they say that Boo is a chicken.

It's not quite the same thing.

Licky Lindsay: it may not belong on this trope, but it belongs somewhere.

—-

Uncola Man: I can't believe nobody's mentioned Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale from Rocky and Bullwinkle. The two of them never bother to change their hair or accents, ever, yet they manage to fool the protagonists EVERY SINGLE TIME. Rocky: "That voice. Where have I heard that voice before?" Bullwinkle: "In about (Uncola Man doesn't remember the number) other episodes, Rock. But I don't know who it is either." I don't know if this qualifies since it's an incomplete makeover.

Silent Hunter: Add it, then.

ccoa: Rewritten as per consensus on YKTTW. The following examples were removed as not fitting this trope:

• Zeta Gundam does this with the character of Quattro Bajina, whose entire disguise is a pair of sunglasses. To be fair, all the people he was joining up with had never met him in person, nor seen him without his old mask and helmet on. But his disguise is seen through very quickly. He had a lot of other disguises, though.
• Gundam SEED Destiny subverts this trope (and the Zeta example) as The Rival of the previous series, Athrun Zala, shows up on board a vessel from the nation he used to work for, having a disguise entirely consisting of sunglasses and a changed name. It took the Chairman about five seconds to see through it.
  • And then, of course, there's Team Rocket, whose disguises (which often involve cross-dressing), though elaborate, only hide the fact that it's them from "the twerps". (So you could say that they're rather effective ineffective disguises.)
    • It helps that one of James' costumes consisted of a bikini and large inflatable breasts... which, of course, didn't make it to America.

A Running Gag in Ranma 1/2 is that Ryoga always falls for disguises by girl-Ranma (and one time Shampoo) that generally consist of some combination of a different hair style, a dress, glasses and slightly different voice patterns. These never fool anyone else.

• Subverted rather humorously in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure when Joseph Joestar attempts to infiltrate a Nazi base while dressed as a tequila lady in need of a body check, and is astounded that the Nazis were able to see through his foolproof disguise. What he fails to realize is that no dress can disguise his extremely well-built physique, and even does a little Lampshade Hanging on how this trope usually succeeds.

• Naruto, Might Guy, despite being able to use transformation jutsus to alter his appearance, went out of his way to don a gray afro wig and a accompanying mustache in a filler episode in order to fool Rock Lee. Naturally, no one is fooled except for Lee.

• Subverted in the out-of-continuity series All-Star Superman, in which Clark Kent's glasses are only the last step in a disguise process that already has encompassed multiple layers of clothing, a change in body stance, and a different hairstyle.
  • This has also shown up in continuity in the latest Superman reboot when Martha Kent goes through the same process in figuring out how he can be disguised, ranging from instructions in clothing ("No t-shirts, ever!") to instructions on studying acting to portray a different person.
  • This exactly how the disguise works in the movie series. Unless you knew better, there's no way you'd think that the incredibly dorky Clark Kent is really Superman.
    • Which is why Chris Reeve is consider to be the best Superman actor ever. He makes the change so believable, it's very much ignored in real life. Co-Actress Anne O'Toole once commented on how most of her scenes in Superman III were with "Clark Kent". When she had to do a scene with "Superman", she claimed she didn't initially recognize Reeve in the suit.
  • This has been used since at least the early sixties. This troper remembers one early Superboy comic in particular where Superboy explains to Martha Kent all the various mannerism tricks he uses to make himself appear different as Clark.
  • The "hypno-glasses" excuse that made a brief appearance in the 80's is better forgotten.

• The World's Cheapest Disguise is spoofed in Mystery Men, which is itself based on Flaming Carrot Comics, written by Bob Burden:
  "Lance Hunt wears glasses. Captain Amazing doesn't wear glasses."
  "He takes them off when he transforms."
  "That doesn't make any sense, he wouldn't be able to see."
  "[Visible Silence]"

• It's also referenced in an episode of Lois And Clark which featured an antagonist donning and doffing glasses while mockingly intoning, "Me... Not me! Me... Not me!

• The Spy in Team Fortress 2 dons a flimsy-looking mask, with a drawing of the class he wants to imitate, as the only difference to his wardrobe. And the other team is completely fooled.

• There's an odd variation in Okami, where Amaterasu infiltrates the Moon Cave by literally just putting a piece of paper on her face and drawing on it. Partially justified in the fact that Orochi's minions, the imps, all wear similar masks, but this still doesn't excuse the fact that Amaterasu is a wolf and imps are bipedal humanoids.

• Early in Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake has to infiltrate a secluded enemy base and determines that disguising himself as one of the base's scientists might be the most expedient option. Okay—but his brilliant disguise is little more than a lab coat and a pair of glasses, not even bothering to take off his bandanna or stand up straight, sticking with his ridiculously conspicuous sneaking posture when walking. Those highly trained armed guards won't give this facade a second look, but in a slight subversion, the scientists who presumably are familiar with the people they work with will raise the alarm if they get too close of a look at Snake, probably because he didn't bother to get phony identification or anything to go with his lab coat.
  • Also, if you pull a weapon, run, or perform any acrobatics (rolling, leaping over railings), the guards immediately sound the alarm.
  • His son "Iroquois Plisskin" comes by it naturally, though it is subverted as Peter Stillman saw through the disguise quickly, even before "Iroquois" started spouting the SAS and USMC mottos while disguised as a Navy SEAL.

• In Sam And Max Hit The Road, the duo has to crash a bigfoot party at one point. The disguise is as elaborate as it is fake-looking: a suit covered in glued-on fake fur, a wig (which doesn't match color) on top, and the titular duo inside, Max sitting on Sam's shoulders. And they change into the outfit in a phone booth a few feet away from the guard. On the other hand, if you give the guard something for his feet, he'll graciously let you in with the disguise anyway.

• The specific Clark Kent scenario is spoofed in an episode of Drawn Together, in which Xandir has a gay love affair with Captain Hero's "mild-mannered friend", who "just happens" to look identical to Hero except for glasses.

• Spoofed in the second issue of The Tick, when the titular hero breaks Clark Oppenheimer (aka The Caped Wonder, an obvious parody of Superman)'s glasses. When (the local versions of) Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen enter the room, Clark fakes them out by making two circles with his fingers and holding them in front of his face until they leave.
  • Spoofed again in The Tick live action series. As The Tick talks with a Superman-knock-off in the superhero lockerroom, the character puts on his glasses in front of the Tick, whereupon the Tick immediately assumes he is some Civilian and needs to be removed from the premises, forcing the not-Superman to remove his glasses. He does this several times.

• Inspector Gadget's Brain does this often. Very often. And is amazingly successful, for a non-verbal yellow-furred dog in an entirely human world.

• Parodied in Tiny Toon Adventures, where it is stated as a physics-like law of cartoon universes that villains will always fall for cheesy disguises.

• Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale from Rocky and Bullwinkle. The two of them never bother to change their hair or accents, ever, yet they manage to fool the protagonists EVERY SINGLE TIME. Rocky: "That voice. Where have I heard that voice before?" Bullwinkle: "In about (some number that was over 100) other episodes, Rock. But I don't know who it is either." I don't know if this qualifies since it's an incomplete makeover.

• In Disney's Aladdin, no one can tell this "Prince Ali" guy is really Aladdin. Jasmine does eventually recognize him, but notice she only starts to suspect he's that boy she met in the streets when he removes his turban - as though wearing his complete prince outfit makes him totally unrecognizable.
  • Somewhat justified in that Aladdin was a street beggar, and the only people who would recognize him would be Jasmine, who had only known him for a day, Jafar, who thought he was dead, and possibly the palace guards, who were probably too impressed/confused by his newfound authority to contradict him even if they did make the connection.
    • Also is a truism in that social castes separate people by their wealth. It was always assumed that someone of greater money was not the same person they were when they were poorer than rocks.
  • Not to mention the reasonable assumption that wishing to be a prince comes with complimentary shave, haircut, and flea bath, along with the 75 golden camels.

• Animaniacs had a character named Chicken Boo. In his cartoons, he wore disguises of varying quality, from a full Santa Claus costume to a cowboy hat and vest. Yet, regardless of how incomplete they are no one else even suspects that he's really a giant chicken, despite the fact that he "talks" solely in chicken-clucks and doesn't possess even the remotest of humanoid features. No matter how much respect he earns in his human guise, when he costume is invariably torn off at the end of the cartoon, everyone realizes that he's just a chicken and either laugh him away or run him out of town. Of course, this is neatly summed up by his theme song: "You wear a disguise to look like human guys, but you're not a man, you're a Chicken Boo."
  • No one except one guy shouting You Have to Believe Me!.

• In the third episode of Transformers Generation 1, 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.
  • Almost used in Transformers: Cybertron, after Bud describes conventions and cosplay to the Autobots. Jetfire jokingly suggests that they pretend they're fanboys in public, to the amusement of all. However, Optimus Prime takes him seriously and thinks this is a wonderful idea.

  • More successfully, Shego does the same to distract a man in another episode. Despite being kidnapped by her before and Shego having green skin, he doesn't recognize her until the wig comes off.

Some will be placed on Paper-Thin Disguise, where they belong.