History Main / ExtraStrengthMasquerade

* This appears to be the case in "{{CodenameKidsNextDoor}}'', assuming there even is a Masquerade at all. (It's [[MindScrew complicated]].) All the adults who aren't villains seem to be completely unaware of what their children are doing or that evil adults are running around causing havoc, despite the fact that both sides' [[HumongousMecha Humongous Mecha]] fight each other in the streets. The [[MenInBlack Men In Black]] would kill to have citizens who could deny the evidence of their own eyes!

* [[AWizardDidIt Puck Did It.]]

** To be fair, it's shown that some people don't believe the government cover-up, and actively run web sites out to expose the giant robot conspiracy.

* ''[[{{TransformersFilmSeries}} Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]''. Less than two years after a bunch of transforming HumongousMecha had a giant droid deathmatch in the middle of a major city, everyone has forgotten and the bots are still hidden.

** This is subverted in ''{{Torchwood}}'' where the people of [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] are quite aware of the aliens that wander about the city, and often see them and the team as a nuisance.
** Season 4 had the Doctor notice that people don't remember the invasions, and blamed it on the crack; however it's not clear that 1) they're still erased after the season finale, or 2) the crack actually can undo the invasions completely enough that the people killed in them are alive.

*** [[WildMassGuessing Maybe any photos changed to show them as humans when the spell was done?]]

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<<|MoreThanMeetsTheEye|>>

**** What? How is that more believable than ergot poisoning? [[CompletelyMissingThePoint You]] ''[[ArbitrarySkepticism never]]'' [[CompletelyMissingThePoint see private eyes these days]].

** The sequel has a pyramid being destroyed, a college campus demolished, a museum jet coming to life and leaving, and the BigBad [[DoNotAdjustYourSet delivering an ultimatum to the world on international television.]] All signs point to a cover-up.

* ''DigimonAdventure'' had digital monsters terrorizing [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Japan]] and, later, the rest of the world, for approximately 3 days. People could look up in the sky and watch the entire Dark Masters arc taking place (albeit in extreme fast forward... well, okay, they could at least see that there was another world in the sky.) Yet not only does the world return to normalcy within the next three years; ''nobody'' remembers any details about the events. They seem to recall that the events happened, but nobody seems to know exactly what. Either that, or their [[WeirdnessCensor Weirdness Censors]] are set too high.

** Partly justified by the fact that they don't want to believe it. They have another more visible and less frightening enemy to compare it to. Their policies do affect the lives of billions of people.

* MassEffect2: Regardless of how you played the first game (and all evidence to the contrary), the Council flatly refuses to believe that the Reapers are real, let alone a credible threat.
-->'''Councillor Velarn''': ''Ah, yes. [[BelievingTheirOwnLies “Reapers.”]] [[BlatantLies The]] [[CassandraTruth immortal]] [[DethroningMomentOfSuck race]] [[ImplausibleDeniability of]] [[JerkAss sentient]] [[MemeticHandGesture starships,]] [[MemeticMutation allegedly]] [[ObstructiveBureaucrat waiting]] [[SarcasmMode in]] [[SmugSnake dark]] [[SomebodyElsesProblem space.]] [[StatusQuoIsGod We]] [[TemptingFate have]] [[TooDumbToLive dismissed]] [[UngratefulBastard that]] [[WhatAnIdiot claim.]]'
** Partly justified by the fact that they don't want to believe it. They have another more visible and less frightening enemy to compare it to. Their policies do affect the lives of billions of people.

->''We are assured as children that monsters don't exist. So even when someone sees a monster, he still doesn't ''remember'' seeing a monster. In [[WeirdnessCensor his mind's eye]] he sees a "big dog" or a "large man" or a "blur at the edge of vision" -- anything except a creature he'' knows ''doesn't exist....The easy answer completely papers over what happened, and the world continues on, blissfully ordinary.''

*** It seems however, that the {{Masquerade}} is being put back in place in the new season with the 11th Doctor. Apparently, some sinister event is taking place that hasn't been explained yet that is "unwriting" certain events in time. Like the last Dalek invasion, which the human race has forgotten, or a giant cyberman nearly destroying Victorian London centuries earlier.

** Lampshade is hung in the comic, where it's revealed the excuse was a runaway science experiment in unmanned drones. Sam can't believe people fell for it.

** Partly justified by the fact that they don't want to believe it. They have another more visible and less frightening enemy to compare it to.

* In IDW's {{Transformers}} comics, Sixshot fought the Autobots in the American southeast, and the Machination had Laserbeak, Ravage, and the Dinobots running around causing havoc and fighting their Headmaster units. Cut to ''All Hail Megatron'', and it only took a year for a crowd on the street in New York to think the Constructicons are part of a movie. This can be attributed to the change in writers from Simon Furman to Shane McCarthy.

* MassEffect2: [[XJustX Just... Mass Effect 2]].

->''Mayhem Ensues: Monsters Definitely Not Involved.''

**** What? How is that more believable than ergot poisoning? [[ArbitrarySkepticism You]] ''[[ArbitrarySkepticism never]]'' [[ArbitrarySkepticism see private eyes these days]].

*** :ring: Harry Dresden! Yes I'm really a wizard named Harry. No I don't do parties. :click:

*** They do notice Daphne, it's just she moves so fast that by the time the guy realizes he saw something move, she's long gone.

** Given the FantasyKitchenSink that is the Marvel Universe, both explanations had a good chance of being right. From the perspective of your average person, it could easily have been a supervillain experimenting with hallucination inducing gas or something.
** [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight Or that it was New York on a dull day]].