History Main / PaperThinDisguise

* In ''Fanfic/FateGenesis'', when forced to confront [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Eggman]] in public, [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Saber]] takes a ''Series/KamenRider'' mask from the high school's drama club and wears along with her normal battle dress to protect her identity. Notably, this only fools those who don't already know Saber is a Servant.

* Par for the course in ''Fanfic/CommonSense'' where [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Meowth]] can oftentimes pass for human by putting on a disguise since he can [[TalkingAnimal talk]] and walk upright, despite the fact that he's around two feet tall on his hindlegs. [[DownplayedTrope At the very least]], he makes sure to cover his feline attributes anytime he does so, though [[OpaqueNerdGlasses his]] [[FunnyAfro methods]] [[HotBloodedSideburns leave]] [[ConspicuousTrenchcoat something]] [[SunglassesAtNight to be]] [[WigDressAccent desired]].

A disguise that is so "thin" that the audience can immediately recognize who the person behind the "mask" actually is. Note that this doesn't require an actual mask; the character may have merely styled their hair differently, added glasses, or changed into a different outfit. Regardless of exactly what was used for the disguise, the identity of the character is completely clear, usually before they remove it, and sometimes other characters can see through it as well.

Compare with ClarkKenting (a subtrope where the disguise is used over a long period of time and remains effective despite that) and NewspaperThinDisguise (where a book, magazine, or similar is used to hide a character's face). Supertrope to EasyImpersonation. May lead to a CaptainObviousReveal.

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* ''Fanfic/InfinityCrisis'':
** [[RunningGag Several times]] in the various sequels, when characters from other Earths wind up on Earth-38, they're shocked that Supergirl is able to hide her SecretIdentity with just glasses and a different hairdo. When Captain Marvel ends up visiting, she's equally shocked that no one recognizes her outside her uniform, despite lacking a mask of any kind.
** When Squirrel Girl is introduced, she's surprised that the Defenders are able to track her down in her civilian identity. As an exasperated Jessica Jones points out, she makes no effort to hide her face when in costume, or the fact that she ''has a giant squirrel tail'' even when out of costume.
** In ''Women of Wonder'', the [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse Earth-1992]] Wonder Woman sees the [[Series/WonderWoman1975 Earth-76]] Diana Prince do her "spin transformation" into Wonder Woman and openly notes "I am never mocking Clark for the glasses again."
* ''WebVideo/SailorMoonAbridged'' pokes fun at the fact that the title character never wears a mask but is never recognized in her superhero form. For example, in one episode, when Tuxedo Mask (actually Nephirite) sends letters to find Sailor Moon and the title character gets one, Luna questions how he found her and offers an idea.
-->'''Luna:''' It's probably because your hair is pretty... [[AnimeHair unique]] and you don't wear a mask.
* ''Fanfic/PennySavesPaldea'': Discussed in Penny's book, which has a chapter about people who are unable to recognize that the Masked Royal from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is just Professor Kukui in a mask and without his jacket. In the games in question, it's incredibly obvious that the two are only treated as different people to preserve {{kayfabe}}, to the point that the eleven-year-old protagonist has the option to outright ask "Professor Kukui?" when they first meet the Masked Royal.
* ''Fanfic/ForTheGloryOfIrk'':
** Averted for once with Zim's disguise after Skoodge upgrades it to a hologram like his own, so they actually pass for human.
** Played straight and for laughs when Skoodge "proves" that he and Zim were simply on Earth on vacation by just having the two of them wear Hawaiian shirts when they attend the [[TheFederation Syndicate]] trial. To Dib's utter shock, this works.
** Played straight when the Tallest come to Earth and use disguises much like Zim's original one.
* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'':
** In Chapter 38, like in canon, Usopp disguises himself as Sniper King before the raid on Enies Lobby. This time however, Cross, Leo and Donny easily see through his disguise, and when Cross grabs Usopp and demands to know what he's doing, Usopp (they're both whispering) admits he was scared because they're going to be raiding Enies Lobby, one of the worst places for a pirate to be so he made up the disguise to be brave. Cross then tricks "Sniper King" into admitting why he was there (Usopp ran away and asked him to take Usopp's spot), Luffy pounds Usopp and then the Long-Nose Sniper whips off his disguise and fully reveals why he came up with his disguise. [[spoiler: This does mean that Usopp doesn't give Luffy his HeroicSecondWind against Lucci, but Cross and Soundbite use the SBS to get Luffy to hear all the pirates cheering for Luffy including Gol D. Roger.]]
** In Chapter 46, when the Straw Hats come to pick up Merry from [[VideoGame/KanColle the Shipgirl's base]], they show up in a three-masted broadside sloop-of-war that they painted deep blue-grey and painted a seagull and the word MARINE on the sails and is incredibly rough shape. Blows up in their faces when one of the girls (probably Vivi) points out how the shipgirls are never gonna buy it which is proven true when Kongo laughs her head off and says that she doesn't know who the Straw Hats think they are but they shouldn't have picked the US Marines to impersonate. Kongo says their ship doesn't look like an amphibious assault ship to her. Usopp tries to keep the disguise up by claiming that it's a top-secret ship but Cross interrupts him telling him that their cover's already blown and he doesn't know how but it's not the ''Manga/OnePiece'' marines they're dealing with.
* In [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13886679/19/Sora-s-Adventure-in-Rogueport-Remake Sora's Adventure in Rogueport Remake]]:
** Princess Peach disguises herself as Thunderbolt (a brainwashed [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]]) for the adventure in Twilight Town and despite being thinner, daintier and still wearing her perfume manages to fool everybody, though Beldum does question her appearance and Mario realizes who it was after the Shadow Sirens are beaten.
** When Lord Crump and Lightning disguise themselves as Four-Eyes and Storm Cloud, Sora, [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Bea]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]] aren't fooled and during the Ember attack in Chapter 23, when Storm Cloud tells Sora to "Keep focused", Sora responds with "Yeah, you got it...''Thunderbolt''". The latter fakes surprise.

* In ''Fanfic/TheParselmouthOfGryffindor'', [[Literature/HarryPotter Luna Lovegood]] thinks that wearing a pillowcase (and [[GoingCommando nothing else]]) and speaking in broken English is all it takes for House-Elves to confuse her for one of their own. A mortified Hermione quickly talks her out of it. Later on, Sirius, while FakingTheDead, creates the alias of "Jester White", for which he wears glasses and a false beard. AND IT WORKS. Also, [[NoodleIncident apparently]], {{Dracula}} was one of Hogwarts's many evil Defence Professors a few years before the story begins. His alias? [[{{Alucard}} Professor Vladimir Alucard]], who chalked up his sunlight-intolerance to a "rare skin condition".
* In ''Fanfic/MementoVivere'', a ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' fanfiction, Rikku's "goggles will do it" theory in Luca.

** Also from the Tau visit they pick up Spot the Wonder Drone. Tink tries to disguise it as a servitor skull by covering it with grox skins and a few spare skulls. The accompanying illustration depicts this as the obviously Tau drone with a skull duct-taped to the top, a jawbone hanging from wires on the bottom, and holding scrolls reading ""PLEASE IGNORE" and "[[BlatantLies COMPLETELY NORMAL SERVITOR SKULL]]".
* In the one-shot ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8937860 Hiding in Plain Sight]]'' Literature/HarryPotter gets Lasik eye surgery and becomes completely unrecognizable to the pureblood wizards at Hogwarts without his trademark glasses. Then the Aurors try to recreate ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet'' at Hogwarts. The Muggleborn have absolutely no trouble recognizing the incredibly out-of-place "first-year students".
* A large degree of ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' fanfiction gives Kirby the ability to become completely indistinguishable from whoever he's taken the power/costume of, despite the obvious size differences.
* Kyon manages to call Tsuruya and make her think he was his uncle Kintaro in ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', even though he sounded identical to normal. [[TimeTravel He was sleeping in the same room as her at that point, though]].
* The incredibly useless InvisibilityCloak in ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'': people can see the cloak when it is in use, so basically the users are walking around with a regular cloak over their heads.
* According to ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'', a naked woman can pass for a man merely by having a tattoo that reads "IM A DUDE".

* In ''Fanfic/NobodyDies'', in order to pacify a rampaging A.I. based on ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 3}}'', Gendo tricks it into thinking he's Abraham Lincoln simply by wearing a top hat. It probably helped that he already had the beard.
* ''Fanfic/{{Hivefled}}'': in one of the less grimdark scenes, the four trolls with the smallest and thus most easily-concealed horns dress up as humans to go food shopping. Not only are they wearing hats and gloves in June and concealing their grey skin only with face-paint, but John only just manages to stop them talking about eating babies in public.
* ''Fanfic/MegaManDefenderOfTheHumanRace'' has Wily's "Mr. X" outfit; possibly even ''worse'' is [=ProtoMan's=] alias, "Pro T. Mann."
* ''Fanfic/PalpatineIsTheWorst'': When Darth Sidious checks in on the clones after issuing Order 66, he discovers that they've used LoopholeAbuse to avoid following his orders. All of their Jedi generals are standing right next to them in plain sight, while only making minimal efforts to disguise themselves (or none at all) as the clones snarkily insist that he’s mistaking innocent bystanders for Jedi and that they did execute Order 66. Sidious isn’t fooled in the least, and the clones aren't putting much effort into fooling him, while several of the Jedi can't keep from laughing.
--> ''"Of course this isn't General Secura, my Lord,” Commander Bly said, gesturing to his side. “General Secura doesn’t have a mustache.” Sidious glanced incredulously between the clone and the twi'lek beside him, whose ridiculous set of spectacles, peach nose that stuck out from her natural blue tone, and yes, dark mustache – did nothing to hide her identity. "Twi'leks do not have mustaches!” he snarled back. "She has a condition," Bly said, unperturbed.''
* Invoked in the ''Series/Charmed1998'' fanfic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3562774/1/Once-and-Future-Witches Once and Future Witches]]", when the Charmed Ones of 2007 go back to 1999. At one point, 2007 Piper is spotted by her 1999 boyfriend Dan Gordon; stuck for any better ideas to explain how she looks older, she claims that she's just wearing her hair differently.
* The ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' Western AU fic ''Fanfic/CalamityJaneMeetsDoctorIsles'' sees Jane disguising herself as male outlaw Jake Wyatt in the latter half of the 1800s, but once characters get past the masculine clothing, ‘Jake Wyatt’ is just Jane with a fake moustache and wrappings around her chest, as well as socks down the front of her trousers.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Unity|Finmonster}}'', this is brought up when Honey Lemon learns that Susan's Ginormica, as she asks how she didn't recognise Susan when Ginormica doesn't wear a mask, Susan observing that it's surprisingly easy to blend in when people expect you to be ten times taller.
* In "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13289918/1/The-Treasure-of-Eyja-Nott The Treasure of Eyja Nott]]"- a Modern AU of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' based on ''Film/TheCountOfMonteCristo2002''- Hiccup's 'disguise' after his years in prison is primarily his dark sunglasses; while he has [[BeardnessProtectionProgram grown a beard]], it's a fairly basic one, but his eyes are too distinctive for him to be sure he wouldn't be recognised if his enemies saw them, even with the advantage that most of the people he's trying to deceive think he's been dead for over a decade.
* The ''Series/HannahMontana'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5572500/1/Higher-Power Higher Power]]" has Lilly make it clear to 'Hannah' when they meet backstage that she can see through the Hannah disguise when her best friend is right in front of her, even if it's easier to buy the deception when watching Hannah on TV or at a distance at a concert.
* In the ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' series "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/817440 Package Deal]]", at one point Ben, Mal and Evie visit a carnival in "disguises" that are basically just dyed hair and Ben wearing something other than his usual suits, but the kingdom is so used to seeing Ben in his usual attire that they genuinely don't recognise him.
* The AU ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series ''Fanfic/AdamWinters'' series features ‘Adam Winters’, a fake identity created when Pettigrew abducted Harry after Voldemort's death and placed him under various disguise charms. As a result, when 'Adam' goes to Hogwarts, he is basically Harry with a different hair and eye-colour, spared recognition for so long because nobody was actually looking for any similarity between him and the Potters as it was assumed all three died in Voldemort's attack, although [[spoiler:after the disguise charms are broken, Dumbledore also provides Adam with different glasses to wear as ‘Harry’ in order to better distinguish the two]].

* Zigzagged throughout ''Fanfic/LikeOneSunderedStar'', where superhero identities are Paper Thin Disguises when they have any efficacy at all. Karkat and John are the only ones who DON'T immediately ID each other as Heir and Hemogoblin out of costume. Dave and Bro barely even give lip service to the trope, removing their shades while "on duty" but making no other effort to conceal their faces. [[spoiler:Kanaya has to drastically redesign Rose's Seer of Light costume into a ''real'' disguise after her SuperpoweredEvilSide rampages through New York unmasked.]]
* In ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/431046/chapters/728720 Welcome To The Family]]'' [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]] determines that not even the genii of Wammy's House can withstand the mighty stealth powers of the "[[InTheHood magic hoodie]]" that somehow renders him unrecognizable whenever he goes out to do nefarious things.

* ''Fanfic/TealovesSteamyAdventure'' exaggerates it for laughs. Big Tiny Little tries to impersonate Colt Skylark in order to gain Tealove and Snowcatcher's confidence. He looks and acts nothing like Skylark, he doesn't wear any disguise, and he doesn't get that Skylark was never a friend of Tealove or Snowcatcher in the first place. He doesn't fool anyone--the others just get tired of arguing with him.
-->Snowcatcher trailed off as a short, fat unicorn waddled up to the group. "Who are you?"\\
"Who, me?" he said. "Don'tcha remembers me? [...] Don'tcha remembers yer old pal, Colt Skylark?"\\
Snowcatcher groaned and placed a hoof to her forehead. "First of all, you look and sound nothing like Mr. Skylark. Second, he's not an 'old friend' -- he's a random pony with a suspicious backstory who we've known for less than an hour."\\
"So you don't remembers yer old friend. Snowcatcher, that hurts me, right here it does." He placed a hoof over his heart.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Vapors}}'' there is an international, kunoichi-only summit to discuss dealing with the Akatsuki. TheDragon [[JustForPun Konan]] doesn't even bother with a disguise, she walks in with her real face and name as the representative from Rain, because no one except Aiko knows who the leaders of Akatsuki are, and she can't tell.

* In ''Fanfic/FateGenesis'', when forced to confront [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Eggman]] in public, [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Saber]] takes a ''Series/KamenRider'' mask from the high school's drama club and wears along with her normal battle dress to protect her identity. Notably, this only fools those who don't already know Saber is a Servant.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'':
** Despite hiding his face and body well, Bandit Keith still frequently uses his catchphrase (...in America!) while disguised, and still uses the same deck (but to be fair, seeing as how he was a regional champion, it could have easily been Netdecked to hell and back).
** Averted in the anime, as Yugi's smart enough to figure out who it is from the deck theme. However, it's played straight a few arcs later when Yugi's grandfather enters the KC Grand Prix and duels Joey... the only one who didn't see through his disguise.
** Played straight with "Malik Blishtar".

* In ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft'', Sweetie Belle is a robot who looks indistinguishable from a normal pony... but speaks [[RoboSpeak stilted words in a heavily synthesized voice]]. No one suspects her true nature, least of all Sweetie Belle herself.
* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'': in "Utter Lunacy", Spike the dragon successfully disguises himself by wearing a dragon costume (one which doesn't even cover his face) and speaking with a different accent. The only time he comes close to getting caught is when he briefly switches back to his normal accent.
* Averted in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4943245/chapters/11443420 Make a Plan]]''. Ron and Draco's attempt to obtain liquor in the Hogshead by wearing funny hats and fake beards and claiming to be dwarves fooled no one. What makes it even funnier is that their fathers tried exactly the same thing.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12025821/6/The-Unbroken-Saviour The Unbroken Saviour]]'' Dumbledore wears a fake nose, a hat with ostrich feathers and one of his usual outlandish robes in an attempt to be inconspicuous. However, the outfit ''succeeds'' due to each of the elephants on the robe having an individual Notice-Me-Not charm cast on them.
* A very minor example in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207496/chapters/58314226 The Escape]]"; after the Animorphs free Tom and fake his death on their first trip to the Yeerk pool, Tom lets his hair grow out while living in the basement. The reasoning is that, if anyone sees him through a window while he's upstairs brushing his teeth or generally anything that would require him to leave the basement, the distance and new haircut will make him look just enough like Jake that nobody will realise he's someone else.
* In ''Fanfic/DoctorInTheUnderworld'', when the Doctor infiltrates Ordghaz Manor to learn more about the vampire/lycan war, Selene gives him a coat belonging to one of her deceased Death Dealer allies so that he can accompany her to the library, but acknowledges that he will only pass for a Death Dealer under casual inspection.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/QueenOfDiamonds'', as Genie explicitly confirms that ‘Prince Ali’ includes a subtle spell to stop anyone recognising Aladdin if they already knew him, to the extent that [[spoiler:Jasmine only recognises 'Prince Ali' when he explicitly chooses to let her recognise him, although Jafar realises the truth when he sees the lamp]].
* Discussed in ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheIcePrincess'', when Harry wonders how Elsa can get around using public transport when she's royalty. As Elsa explains, few countries know the names of every member of their royal families, and in Elsa's case she's further aided by the benefit that she hasn't been officially introduced to her people yet and so few people outside of her family know who she is.
* Used a lot in ''Fanfic/ADream''. Apparently, putting on sunglasses makes you completely invisible.
--> Ponies are generally bad at seeing through disguises.
* In ''Fanfic/TheRoadToBeAPokemonMaster'', Ash, Gary and Serena steal some Team Rocket uniforms to infiltrate Silph Co. [[spoiler: And the Rockets see right through their disguises since they don't conceal the fact that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they're still children, while every other Rocket is an adult]].]]

* Zigzagged in most works by Creator/CoeurAlAran. [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Blake's]] disguise of wearing a bow over her cat ears, but otherwise keeping the exact same appearance and name never fools anyone for long.
** On the other hand, Jaune dressed as Blake in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13420487/4/A-Rabbit-among-Wolves A Rabbit among Wolves]]'' fools Ruby even though he's roughly half a foot taller than Blake.
** Similarly in ''Fanfic/RelicOfTheFuture'', Ozpin decides it's probably coincidence that Jaune Ashari is almost identical to Nicholas Arc, figuring the two are probably distantly related at best.

* ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops:'' One Loop has Starlight Glimmer travelling back in time to around "Applebuck Season" and trying to pass herself off as Applejack. Twilight sees through it in an instant, but that's not difficult when Starlight's not bothered to hide her horn, or her different eye-color, her Cutie Mark, and the paint on her coat is ''running'' (also, her attempt at imitating Applejack's accent is eye-wateringly awful). It turns out Applejack hasn't even been incapacitated, and had actually told Starlight not to even bother trying.
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' The story "An Early Reunion" has a scene with several Celestia imposters. Some of them aren't even the right tribe, the right build (admittedly, a difficult prospect for most ponies), and in one particular case is the wrong ''gender''. While some of them do have the justification of being insane or misled, there's the fact that the non-insane and stupid are trying to claim to be Luna's sister to Luna herself. And oh, boy is she pissed at this. Meanwhile, everypony Cadence meets thinks she's pulling this, since she thinks she's Celestia reborn, but isn't going around threatening to burn everything that annoys her.

* The ''FanFic/ForeverCaptain'' series: Steve wears glasses with plain lenses and parts his hair on the opposite side in his identity as Grant Carter. Peggy teases him by saying he might as well, seeing as he’s basically “pretending he’s not Superman.”

* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', when the Straw Hats come to pick up Merry from [[VideoGame/KanColle the Shipgirl's base]], they show up in a three-masted broadside sloop-of-war that they painted deep blue-grey and painted a seagull and the word MARINE on the sails and is incredibly rough shape. Blows up in their faces when one of the girls (probably Vivi) points out how the shipgirls are never gonna buy it which is proven true when Kongo laughs her head off and says that she doesn't know who the Straw Hats think they are but they shouldn't have picked the US Marines to impersonate. Kongo says their ship doesn't look like an amphibious assault ship to her. Usopp tries to keep the disguise up by claiming that it's a top-secret ship but Cross interrupts him telling him that their cover's already blown and he doesn't know how but it's not the ''Manga/OnePiece'' marines they're dealing with.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheAchilleid'': The dress Achilles wears does nothing to hide the fact that he's built like an ox and taller than any girl his age. The only excuse for why he isn't immediately found out is that [[AWizardDidIt a goddess made the disguise]], and even then, Ulysses immediately sees through the disguise anyway.

Compare with ClarkKenting (a subtrope where the disguise is used over a long period of time and remains effective despite that) and NewspaperThinDisguise (where a book, magazine, or similar is used to hide a character's face). Supertrope to EasyImpersonation.

** In the ''WebAnimation/CheatCommandos'' cartoon "Shopping for Danger!", Fightgar disguises himself as an old lady by putting on a wig and glasses and squinting his eyes. It's one thing for him to not shave his PermaStubble, it's another for him to not remove his BadassBandoleer. The Blue Lasers are completely fooled.

* A very minor example in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207496/chapters/58314226 The Escape]]"; after the Animorphs free Tom and fake his death on their first trip to the Yeerk pool, Tom lets his hair grow out while living in the basement so that, if anyone sees him brushing his teeth in the bathroom from outside or anything like that, he may look enough like Jake that people will assume it's Jake rather than Tom.

Compare with ClarkKenting (a subtrope where the disguise is used over a long period of time and remains effective despite that) and NewspaperThinDisguise (where a book, magazine, or similar is used to hide a character's face).

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': Alice is clearly not fooled by the [[PointyHairedBoss PHB's]] disguise [[http://www.dilbert.com/2014-02-22/ here]], nor is his secretary fooled in [[http://www.dilbert.com/2014-02-24/ a following strip.]]

* In [[http://garfield.com/comic/1990-06-07 this]] ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, Liz may not be fooled, but as the next day's strip showed, Jon sure is.

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16651035960.31943500 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

** Subverted when Calvin assumes (probably from seeing [[SecretIdentity too many TV shows where this trope is in effect]]) that he'll be unrecognizable in his "Stupendous Man" costume, and is thoroughly confused and frustrated when it fools nobody. Especially funny is that his mom, one of the people he expects will be fooled, ''made the costume for him in the first place''.

* Subverted in ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''; Alice is clearly not fooled by the [[PointyHairedBoss PHB's]] disguise [[http://www.dilbert.com/2014-02-22/ here]], nor is his secretary fooled in [[http://www.dilbert.com/2014-02-24/ a following strip.]]

** Subverted when Lord Crump and Lightning disguise themselves as Four-Eyes and Storm Cloud. Sora, [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Bea]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]] aren't fooled and during the Ember attack in Chapter 23, when Storm Cloud tells Sora to "Keep focused", Sora responds with "Yeah, you got it...''Thunderbolt''". The latter fakes surprise.

* Subverted in ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'' at the masked ball for Don Pedro and his men. Ursula recognizes Antonio by his wit and head-waggling. Pedro [[PlayingCyrano pretends to be his protege, Claudio]], in order to woo Hero for him. Hero was informed of Claudio's intent by her father, so she knows that the masked man is one of them and speaks accordingly. Don John's henchman recognizes Claudio by his bearing and Don John pretends to take Claudio for Benedick in order to trick him. The only man whose disguise might have worked is Benedick, and he hears an earful of insults from Beatrice for his trouble.

A character that the other characters ''should'' recognize (or at least recognize as out of place) dons a disguise and is treated as neither recognizable nor conspicuous. This disguise is often so completely transparent that the audience wants to shout "For the love of God, it's ''him!''" However, sometimes other characters can see through it as well.

The external reason for the flimsy disguise may be that the creators want to signal the presence of a disguise to the audience before the other characters catch on (a sort of ReverseWhodunnit), assuming the disguise isn't considered flimsy in-universe as well flimsy in-universe. Sometimes, the character may also be a SpecialGuest the director wants to get their money out of. If the disguise is only visible to the audience and not other characters, you often get TheReveal staged in such a way to make it clear that the director [[CaptainObviousReveal really thought you wouldn't have worked it out by now]]. For the more perceptive viewers, it's a case of TheUntwist. If other characters can see through such a disguise, the disguise's use, as well as the wearer's assumption that it would work, may be PlayedForLaughs.

While not a DeadHorseTrope, these days Paper-Thin Disguises are [[UndeadHorseTrope parodied as often as they are used seriously]]. Many StockParodyJokes involve a person appearing who coincidentally looks just like the person wearing a bad disguise, usually seen in cartoons. The trope is still an important dramatic convention in live theater and opera productions -- where a really good disguise would render the character unidentifiable from the cheap seats, and be beyond the scope of the prop budget to boot -- but is usually employed along with some kind of nod to audience acknowledging the absurdity. This can sometimes be exaggerated for comedic effect, for example wearing bunny ears and becoming indistinguishable from a real rabbit, or pretending to be an ancient statue by simply [[NobodyHereButUsStatues standing still in a specific pose]]. Children's shows still employ this trope regularly without any parody element.

This trope differs from the general case of WigDressAccent in that a WigDressAccent disguise is always plausible. Paper Thin Disguise also includes the element of being staged as if the disguise really is convincing, which is not generally present in WigDressAccent.

Common selections include [[InTheHood hooded coats or cloaks thrown on over the character's standard outfit]], which can be played seriously, or the classical Creator/GrouchoMarx glasses-and-mustache prop, which never is. A fake handlebar mustache is also a very common pick for the more comedic takes. Some consider a pair of glasses or sunglasses Paper Thin Disguise, but research showed that it is rather useful to mess with people who don't really know you well. (Research is done by showing pictures of people with and without glasses and asking others to recognize them, and people got a pretty bad score in glasses while worse with sunglasses.)

Sometimes, the trope is present when someone is mistaken for someone else, but it isn't an intentional disguise, it's just someone that appeared for no reason and is not trying a disguise, but has slight similarities that are enough to fool someone unintentionally.

It's becoming a bit common nowadays to subvert this trope by fooling the viewers instead, showing what seems to be a terrible disguise, but then it's revealed that it isn't, you thought that Bob was badly disguised as an old man, but then Bob in regular clothes appears next to that old man that looks like him.

Compare with ClarkKenting and NewspaperThinDisguise. Contrast with FullBodyDisguise, SuddenlyObviousFakery, and LatexPerfection. Also see CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown, ConspicuousTrenchcoat, HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation, HughMann, MostDefinitelyNotAVillain, MrSmith, MuggedForDisguise, EasyImpersonation and NotAZombie.

A character that the other characters ''should'' recognize (or at least recognize as out of place) dons a disguise and is treated as neither recognizable nor conspicuous. This disguise is so completely transparent that the audience wants to shout "For the love of God, it's ''him!''"

The external reason for the flimsy disguise may be that the creators want to signal the presence of a disguise to the audience before the other characters catch on (a sort of ReverseWhodunnit). Sometimes, the character may also be a SpecialGuest the director wants to get their money out of. All the same, you often get TheReveal staged in such a way to make it clear that the director [[CaptainObviousReveal really thought you wouldn't have worked it out by now]]. For the more perceptive viewers, it's a case of TheUntwist.

While not a DeadHorseTrope, these days Paper Thin Disguises are [[UndeadHorseTrope parodied as often as they are used seriously]]. Many StockParodyJokes involve a person appearing who coincidentally looks just like the person wearing a bad disguise, usually seen in cartoons. The trope is still an important dramatic convention in live theater and opera productions -- where a really good disguise would render the character unidentifiable from the cheap seats, and be beyond the scope of the prop budget to boot -- but is usually employed along with some kind of nod to audience acknowledging the absurdity. This can sometimes be exaggerated for comedic effect, for example wearing bunny ears and becoming indistinguishable from a real rabbit, or pretending to be an ancient statue by simply [[NobodyHereButUsStatues standing still in a specific pose]]. Children's shows still employ this trope regularly without any parody element.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The only reason that [[spoiler: [[TwinSwitch Mukuro is able to pass herself off as Junko]]]] is because none of the cast have met either one of them before, and even then, Makoto immediately notices that [[spoiler: she doesn't resemble her magazine covers very closely.]] The flimsiness of the disguise is even more blatant in the bonus School Mode, where it quickly becomes evident [[spoiler: Mukuro is ''really'' bad at staying in character, as she continually makes references to things like knife-throwing, running away from home, and owning a ghillie suit, even though she's supposed to be playing the role of [[TheFashionista a fashionista.]] ]]

Compare with ClarkKenting and NewspaperThinDisguise. Contrast with FullBodyDisguise, SuddenlyObviousFakery, and LatexPerfection. Also see CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown, ConspicuousTrenchcoat, HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation, HughMann, MostDefinitelyNotAVillain, MrSmith, EasyImpersonation and NotAZombie.

** ''Fanfic/RubyPair'', by the [[Tropers/ZimFan89 same author]], likewise continues Zim's canonical use of this trope. He even forces Tenn to abandon a perfect holographic human disguise in favor of a wig and contacts like his, to her anger.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The only reason that [[spoiler: [[TwinSwitch Mukuro is able to pass herself off as Junko]] ]] is because none of the cast have met either one of them before, and even then, Makoto immediately notices that [[spoiler: she doesn't resemble her magazine covers very closely.]] The flimsiness of the disguise is even more blatant in the bonus School Mode, where it quickly becomes evident [[spoiler: Mukuro is ''really'' bad at staying in character, as she continually makes references to things like knife-throwing, running away from home, and owning a ghillie suit, even though she's supposed to be playing the role of [[TheFashionista a fashionista.]] ]]

* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'': In Season 8, after VideoGame/EarthwormJim accidentally killed [[WebAnimation/MortyKombat Morty]], he takes up Morty's clothes with a wig, almost hiding nothing that shows he's a worm. Franchise/{{Sonic}} and Tails fail to notice anything off, and even when Jim tries to explain to [=EggMan=] he's not Morty, [=EggMan=] doesn't buy what "Morty" says cause he claims to know Jim before tossing him out the window.