History Main / CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise

** While he and Patrick were warning the citizens of Bikini Bottom about a "flying monster coming to eat you," Spongebob flew over the city after being blown up like a balloon. In another episode, he's at a sleepover with Pearl and her friends watching a zombie movie when he gets rootbeer for everyone by absorbing it, and becomes a lookalike to the movie zombies.
** "Krab Borg": after watching a scary movie, [=SpongeBob=] becomes paranoid that Mr. Krabs is a robot. Squidward is skeptical as Krabs doesn't match [=SpongeBob=]'s description of robots as having "piercing red eyes, metal pinchers for hands, and [running] on batteries". Mr. Krabs then appears looking exactly like that, due to getting salt in his eyes, wielding a pair of tongs, and with the batteries from his radio in his backpocket (having put them there for safekeeping when they ran out of juice).
** Another example is "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost". Spongebob and Patrick accidentally melt a model of Squidward that they mistook for the real one, and while they were panicking about saving it, the REAL Squidward comes out of his bathroom, covered in white powder from fixing himself up, and naturally, Bob and Pat freak out and vow to do anything for Squid's "ghost" in apology. Eventually turns into UnwantedAssistance for him, especially by the time they try to [[BuriedAlive bury his "ghost".]]

* WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants has done this multiple times.

** There was also the episode, "Krab Borg", where Spongebob mistook Mr. Krabs for a robot. At first, Squidward didn't believe his ramblings, but after seeing Mr. Krabs with piercing red eyes (due to getting salt in his eyes), a pair of tongs in his claw (mistaken for metal pinchers) and two batteries in his back pocket (from his radio that broke and the batteries were in his pocket 'cause he planned to give them to Pearl for Christmas), he starts to believe Spongebob.

Compare EasyImpersonation, ScaryShadowFakeout.

In general, it is easy to wander into something that makes you look like a monster. Getting covered in flour or having a [[BedsheetGhost bedsheet]] fall on you makes you look like a ghost, having a stuffed head fall on your head makes you into a beast, etc.

* An episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' uses this trope for a TwistEnding. The plot deals with the shooting murder of a man in a full-body fursuit, prompting the investigative team to delve into the world of the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom at a nearby convention. After the usual plot twists and turns, including the reveal of a poisoning attempt among the Furries, the detectives eventually discover that the supposed "murder" was totally accidental--a nearby farmer saw the fursuited man hunched over from stomach pain in an open field in the middle of the night, assumed he was a ''real'' wild animal prowling, and opened fire.

-->'''Mr. Pitt:''' We WILL annex Poland by the Spring, at any cost! AND... our stock will rise '''[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler HIGH!]]''' [[MemeticHandGesture *raises hand*]]

* [=SpongeBob=] in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has done this multiple times.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'': In a Season 3 episode, [[spoiler:Doctor H.]] is on his way to rescue Sweet S. when he runs into some clotheslines. By the time he gets to her, he's wearing all black, with a black top hat and his face hidden. Sweet S. spends a couple days dreaming about her mysterious savior, and never learns his identity.
* In the ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'' episode "Dr. Lamput", Lamput gets covered in gray paint and looks like one of the many scientists chasing after him. Surely enough, Slim Doc mistakes for one of them and drags him to their lab, where Lamput runs with the costume and becomes surprisingly with the others, even becoming the #1 doc at one point.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie'', Fozzie, while carrying a bag of money to the bank, accidentally gets painted green and is mistaken for The Grinch.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Sky Pirates ... in the Sky!", just as Uncle Scrooge is about to notice Dewey has run off, Huey gets sprayed with blue fluid that knocks his hat off and stains his shirt. Scrooge sees a triplet in a blue shirt and relaxes.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'': This happens to the Professor in the episode "Shotgun Wedding". After being chased by Fuzzy Lumpkins, Professor falls into Fuzzy's home covered in mud and a vase of flowers and set of curtains fall on him leaving him looking like a female of Fuzzy's species.

* Spongebob in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' has done this multiple times.

* During the 30s and 40s Film/TheThreeStooges made several films mocking UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, during which Moe capitalized on his resemblance to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler by dressing up as the dictator and playing him as a power-hungry buffoon. One morning they shot some footage on the birthday of Moe's daughter. As soon as the shoot was over he ran out the door without taking off his costume so that he could make it to her party in time. The police received several calls from concerned citizens who claimed to have seen Adolf Hitler running several red lights.
** A similar thing happened to Creator/ArminShimerman. An earthquake struck, as they are wont to do in California, while he was filming an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Because the phone lines were knocked down he rushed home to see if his family was okay, and of course without bothering to take off his [[RubberForeheadAliens bizarre Ferengi head prosthetics]]. A lot of supermarket tabloids published wild stories blaming the quake on aliens, complete with eyewitness accounts, not long after.
* This news item:
** On Halloween day (1989), [[OnlyInFlorida Tallahassee, Fla.]], K-Mart employee Jeff Sablom was taking a break in the back of the store to try on the Batman costume he had planned to wear to a party that night when a security guard asked for his help to apprehend a shoplifter. Said the guard later, "You should have seen [[OhCrap that man's eyes]] when he looked back and saw Batman chasing him." Sablom recovered four cartons of cigarettes and two videocassettes. [Gainesville Sun, 11-2-1989]

* Literature/{{Flashman}} finds himself impoverished in the United States and, looking rather worse for wear, approaches a gentleman for help only to get mistaken for a beggar and given money to make him go away. He's surprised to find you can earn quite a bit this way, enough to solve his immediate problems.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Happens to a hapless accidental time traveler in ''WebOriginal/{{Driftless Wormhole}}''. He's wearing coveralls and work boots and has a soccer-style fade haircut and basically pops out of nowhere, which gets him mistaken for an airdropped enemy soldier in a jumpsuit and combat boots by the [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter (armed)]] locals.
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* [[http://www.xkcd.com/700/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip has a guy, who has one half of his face covered in acne as a result of an experiment, flip a coin when he promptly gets punched by Franchise/{{Batman}}, who mistook him for Two-Face.

** On Halloween day (1989), [[OnlyInFlorida Tallahassee, Fla.]], K-Mart employee Jeff Sablom was taking a break in the back of the store to try on the Batman costume he had planned to wear to a party that night when a security guard asked for his help to apprehend a shoplifter. Said the guard later, "You should have seen that man's eyes when he looked back and saw Batman chasing him." Sablom recovered four cartons of cigarettes and two videocassettes. [Gainesville Sun, 11-2-1989]

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': This happens to the Professor in the episode "Shotgun Wedding". After being chased by Fuzzy Lumpkins, Professor falls into Fuzzy's home covered in mud and a vase of flowers and set of curtains fall on him leaving him looking like a female of Fuzzy's species.

He walks back into the room and the other characters scream! He, coincidentally, looks like the monster from the film! HilarityEnsues.

** In another episode, Daphne wants to prove herself by throwing a party at Niles's apartment without any help. As is often the case in this show, HilarityEnsues, and Frasier ends up having to prepare his famous pasta sauce to assist. The partygoers hear Niles and Frasier arguing in the kitchen--and Niles stumbles out covered in red liquid, screaming "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Daphne fails to help matters by licking the "blood" and declaring it yummy.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}'', a type of this happens, where Gordon has a violent allergic reaction to broccoli (that he doesn't notice), which coincidentally makes him look exactly like the monster from a movie his brothers were watching. Later, Gordon has a different reaction to chocolate, which makes him looks like another monster from a comic book his brothers were reading.

* On ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', through a series of coincidences (illness, pranks, the job wheel), Wooldoor ends up looking like a ''very'' stereotypical Hasidic Jew. This is ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice Drawn]] [[RefugeInAudacity Together]]'', of course, so HilarityEnsues.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' has Max and PJ being reminded of a horror movie killer by Pete (intentionally) and Goofy (by accident). And in the final scene of the episode, Pete is scared to death and faints by the appearance of a masked chainsaw-weilding man... which turns out to be Goofy, cutting off a tree.
** There's also the episode where Goofy decided to become a [[StreetPerformer street mime]], although this one was less accidental. Trying to come up with a costume for his performance, Goofy finally decides to wrap himself head to toe in aluminum foil and pretend to be a "robot" mime. Unfortunately, Max and P. J. have also decided to wrap themselves in foil to pretend to be space aliens as part of a prank; they broadcast a fake alien transmission over every television set in Spoonerville, with Max announcing: "Our mission? Quite simple: ''to take over Earth''!" Cue immediate citywide paranoia, and some pedestrians in front of an electronics store (with many TV sets in the front window) happening to glance down the street and spot Goofy going into his mime act. HilarityEnsues.

* In one ''Series/ModernFamily'' episode, Jay runs into an old classmate of Mitchell's who is now a professional actor appearing in a horror film. Jay takes Manny to see the movie, but it's too frightening for the boy, and he ends up too scared to sleep. To solve the problem, Jay decides to have the actor come over in his costume and show that it's all pretend. Unfortunately, the front door is locked, so the actor ends up banging on the window (in full zombie gear) and saying "Manny! Manny! ''I'm here for YOU!''" Cue Manny running from the room screaming bloody murder.

* ''Series/SonnyWithAChance'': Ms Bitterman gets a rash from poison ivy and is mistaken for [=CandyFace=].

* Happens to Kaitou Kid in ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' OVA 10. He loses just enough pieces of his costume that the Detective Boys mistake him for Shinichi, his IdenticalStranger.

* Literature/{{Flashman}} finds himself impoverished in the United States and looking rather worse for wear, and approaches a man for help only to get mistaken for a beggar and given money to make him go away. He's surprised to find you can earn quite a bit this way, enough to solve his immediate problems.

* [[http://twentypercentcooler.net/post/show/5043 "Zecora's Gift"]], a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan-comic, has Derpy do this in the classic "horror movie startle" way.

** In another story, "The Somerton Fetch", the Third Doctor follows the trail of a crude time machine. He eventually discovers its pilot is a young girl, and after an incident with a maid in the past, he concludes the girl's primitive PerceptionFilter costume malfunctioned. The Doctor and the girl materialize several times, intangible to the world around them, until he manages to send her home. He returns to the present to find the girl's suit was working correctly - all those people running away screaming their heads off were doing so at the sight of the Doctor, who's become enshrined in local folklore as the titular ghost.

** Also, Homer ends up covered in green paint, and goes [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk wild with rage]], in front of special guest Creator/StanLee. ("I Am Furious, Yellow.")

* One comic from the anthology ''It Was a Dark and Silly Night'' (written by Creator/LemonySnicket and drawn by Richard Sala) involves a girl spotting a [[FunWithAcronyms somewhat intelligent, largely laconic]] [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti yeti]] outside her window. She goes out to investigate, and meets another girl, who gives her some marshmallows. As she searches, she becomes covered with so much snow that she begins to resemble a yeti herself, and is mistaken for one when she approaches a house, especially since the sticky marshmallows made it hard for her to talk.

* Early in the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheVow'', the noble [[SwansASwimming swan]] Lady Lianne makes it a habit to go nearly very night to the harbor of Gongmen City in order to [[MelancholyMoon sit upon the waters beneath the moon and pray to it]]. Due to concealing her white robe and white feathers with a cloak, she's mistaken by the locals for a ghost.

* A character in ''Film/RatRace'' [[DisasterDominoes accidentally]] disguises himself as Hitler (with a mustache-like smudge on his face being the least ridiculous aspect) and ends up on the stage of a UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo veterans meeting. He's also driving a VW Sedan (Hitler's real car, in fact) and due to very precise burns on his tongue and hand he was also talking German-sounding gibberish and showing his middle finger. Naturally, said character was ''actually'' Jewish (Jon Lovitz, to be precise).

* In the opening scene of ''Film/HotShots'' a pilot miraculously survives the mid-air destruction of his fighter, only to be shot by hunters as he now bears an uncanny resemblance to a moose, thanks to some sticks that have become stuck on his helmet.
* In a ''Film/ScaryMovie'' spoof-scene of ''Film/EightMile'', the Music/{{Eminem}}-type character pulls on a white hoodie which makes him look like a member of TheKlan, and then absentmindedly greets the (mostly black) crowd by [[ThoseWackyNazis thrusting out his arm at a 45-degree angle]]. A jump cut shows him getting tossed out a window.

* In ''Film/{{Schtonk}}!'', the satire about the faked Hitler diaries, the counterfeiter is sitting at his work while wearing an old Wehrmacht coat. He has a fever, and his sweaty hair sticks to his forehead. Then he spills some ink, cleans it up with his handkerchief, sneezes, cleans his nose and unwillingly leaves a spot looking like a Hitler moustache. And then, his partner in crime comes in and tells him that people want proof that the diaries were written by noone but Hitler himself. Cue the counterfeiter looking into a mirror.
* In ''Film/WaynesWorld2'', Wayne ropes in some friends to spy on his girlfriend meeting with a sleazeball suitor. From a telephone pole Wayne, dressed as a construction worker, sees them through binoculars. He radios Garth, dressed as a traffic cop, who in turn radios their accomplices, dressed as a sailor at a USO event and a leather-wearing biker working on his chopper. When Wayne's girlfriend notices, they abort and run into a random doorway, which takes them into a gay club, and onto the stage, where the DJ sees them and mistakes them for Music/VillagePeople impersonators, putting on "YMCA". Then, the Indian from Wayne's dreams shows up...
* Pretty much the plot of the Creator/LaurelAndHardy short "The Live Ghost" -- shanghaied onto a ship's crew, they think they accidentally killed a fellow crewman, who is merely drunk, and falls into a trough of whitewash. You can see where this is going.
* In ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'': The main character is in the Vatican, and he sneaks about in a private room of the Pope that leads to his balcony. There he quarrels with his friend, who puts a pope hat on his head. He slips and grabs the curtain of the balcony door, and it falls down with him. When he gets up, he accidentally opens the door and the curtain wrapped all around him looks like a pope's robe and the curtain rail in his hands like a pope's staff. With him looking like this, the huge crowd on Saint Peter's Square thinks he is the new Pope. It goes even deeper than that. Prior to this, the bell signalling the death of the Pope is rung by one of the protagonists who "wonders what this rope is for" and one of the pope hats catches on fire and is thrown into the fireplace, releasing the white smoke that signals a new Pope has been selected. The crowd is waiting for his appearance when Scotty appears on the balcony.

* PlayedForLaughs in the end of ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter]]'': when Lori sees [[spoiler: sun-sensitive neighbour Charlotte [=DuCaral=] ]] wearing a red-lined black cloak, red lipstick, and zinc oxide sunscreen, she screams and evidently faints, as she isn't too clear on how she got from answering a door to sitting in a chair in an interior room. Her sons had first noticed this person while they were riding their ponies and thought it was Rendor, a character in a vampire comic book brought to school by a classmate.

* ''Series/OneHundredThingsToDoBeforeHighSchool'': In "Stay Up All Night Thing!", Ronbie gets tangled up in a sheet, turning him into a BedsheetGhost just as the middle schoolers are freaking out about the 'ghost janitor'.

* This was a rather popular gag on ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
** In one HalloweenEpisode, Daphne tells Frasier that the children in the apartment complex think he is a murderous brain-devouring lunatic; they've even invented a song about it: "Old Man Crane, Old Man Crane, make him angry and he'll eat your brain!" Towards the end of the episode, Frasier (dressed as Sigmund Freud) is trying to help Niles remove a wig he is wearing--and naturally a bunch of kids turn the corner at that exact moment and see an aged-looking Frasier pulling at someone's head. They run and scream in terror.
** In another episode, Daphne wants to prove herself by throwing a party at Niles's apartment without any help. As is often the case in this show, HilarityEnsues, and Frasier ends up having to prepare his famous pasta sauce to assist. The partygoers hear Niles and Frasier arguing in the kitchen--and Niles stumbles out covered in red liquid, screaming "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Daphne fails to help matters by licking the "blood" and declaring it yummy.
*** In the same episode, Niles agrees to host the party to showcase a brand-new painting by a famous artist he has acquired, and manages to get said artist to attend. The silver-haired man shows up early in a plaid shirt and pants; he's also walking with a cane. This [[ContrivedCoincidence just so happens]] to be Martin Crane's trademark look, so Martin ends up pretending to be the artist when the real thing sneaks off for a tryst with Daphne's mother.
* One episode of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' sees [[CloudCuckoolander Lewis]] go to see a [[DepravedDentist crazed Russian dentist]] who is eerily reminiscent of [[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} Dr. Frankenstein]]. A series of mishaps with Novocain and a laser beam leave Lewis with a swollen jaw, heavy scarring on his brow, blindness, and the ability to only speak in grunts, which make him look identical to Frankenstein's Monster.
* An episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' uses this trope for a TwistEnding. The plot deals with the shooting murder of a man in a full-body fursuit, prompting the investigative team to delve into the world of the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom at a nearby convention. After the usual plot twists and turns, including the reveal of a poisoning attempt among the Furries, the detectives eventually discover that the supposed "murder" was totally accidental--a nearby farmer saw the fursuited man hunched over from stomach pain in an open field in the middle of the night, assumed he was a ''real'' wild animal prowling, and opened fire.

* In ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'', walking in a mud puddle during rain will result in Hat Girl tripping and getting covered in mud with conveniently {{glowing eyes}}. Doing so is part of the third chapter where you need the disguise to scare a Mafia member into surrendering a Time Piece.

* [[http://www.xkcd.com/700/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip has a guy, who has one half of his face covered in acne as a result of an experiment, flip a coin when he promptly gets punched by Franchise/{{Batman}}, who mistook him for Two-Face.
** The AltText implies that this is not the first instance of such a disguise.

* In the WesternAnimaion/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "WesternAnimation/LonesomeGhosts" (1937), Mickey, Donald, and Goofy manage to scare ''[[HorrifyingTheHorror some ghosts]]'' by getting covered in molasses and flour, giving them the appearance of much bigger, scarier ghosts (as opposed to the goofy humanoid ones that started the plot).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'': One episode has the titular character, after a series of unlikely events, being mistaken for a GenieInABottle.

* Carried over to ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' with Fifi leFume, with the accidental disguise usually befalling Furball the Cat or Calamity coyote.