History Main / PaperThinDisguise

[[caption-width-right:350:"But grandma, what a horrible disguise you have!"\\

* Once on the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'', Technoblade stands in front of a WantedPoster in L'Manburg as a disguise. It's is even thinner as the clothing skin Techno's wearing is ''distinctly different'' than the one on the poster. {{Downplayed}} in that Tubbo and Ranboo did recognize him, but are either too intimidated, confused, or amused to point him out.

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). A common subtrope is IncrediblyConspicuousDrag, in which it's very obvious that the person is disguised as the wrong gender. Supertrope to EasyImpersonation, and a subtrope of BlatantLies. May lead to a CaptainObviousReveal.

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, and a subtrope of BlatantLies. May lead to a CaptainObviousReveal.

[[folder:Manhua]]
* ''Manhua/MyBelovedMother'' has the protagonist Sinbell infiltrating a penal colony full of robots near the end while wearing a jacket and motorcycle helmet. Which none of the guards (all humans) noticed him to be human. In all fairness, there are literally ''hundreds'' of robots around the area, and Sinbell doesn't stick out the crowd as much.
[[/folder]]

* Once on the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', Technoblade stands in front of a WantedPoster in L'Manburg as a disguise. It's is even thinner as the clothing skin Techno's wearing is ''distinctly different'' than the one on the poster. {{Downplayed}} in that Tubbo and Ranboo did recognize him, but are either too intimidated, confused, or amused to point him out.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

-->-- '''Principal Skinner''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* PaperThinDisguise/{{Advertising}}

* ''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.

* 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]].
* ''Fanfic/TheBoysRealJustice'': While investigating the NYC of Earth-7, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman go undercover to learn more about this dimension. Superman goes as [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]], Wonder Woman as Diana Prince, and Batman as Matches Malone (because he doesn't want Bruce Wayne making his Earth-7 debut yet). It works because a) superheroes in Earth-7 don't have secret identities, and b) no one on that world is familiar enough with the Justice League to recognize their faces.
* Whenever the ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'' tries to use disguises.
** Mostly because when they wear civilian clothes, they just look like guardsmen wearing civilian clothes. It doesn't help that they hide their lasguns under their disguises. This produces a rather obvious rifle-shaped bulge, which gets them in trouble with security when they try to get into a bank. On top of that, they have to contend with [[StickyFingers Nubby]] trying to steal pretty much everything in sight.

** Bane Johns disguises himself as a deserting Guardsmen by throwing on a greatcloak, impressive false mustache, and impressively insulting fake accent. However he fails to hide his Inquisition-issue armor or pistols and leaves his ''Inquisitorial Rosette'' in plain view. Sarge tries to fix the disguise only for Bane to pull the rosette out again.
** After a visit to the Tau Empire border, the party acquires some xeno plasma guns which Tink tries to disguise as lasguns. Tries being the operative word as apparently the only reason they aren't killed for tech heresy is Jim and Hannah running interference with the senior Tech Priests.
** 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]]".
* Discussed in Chapter 2 of ''Fanfic/BlazBlueAlternativeRemnant''. Makoto notes that Blake's attempt at hiding her Faunus heritage is actually very flimsy and easy to see through, but she also brings up that most people won't notice something they aren't looking for anyway, so it isn't that big an issue.
* 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 the ''Fanfic/CalvinAtCamp'' episode "The New Kid," Larry Koopa infiltrates the camp while wearing nothing but a Mickey Mouse hat.
* Par for the course in ''Fanfic/CommonSense'' where [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries 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]].
* 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.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''/''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' crossover ''Fanfic/DigitalHarmony'' has the Digidestined trying to pass the Mane Five off on Earth by saying that they're Digimon. Of course, in the wake of [=MaloMyotismon's=] defeat in the ''02'' finale, the human world is becoming more and more aware of Digimon, so their families tend to buy it.
* 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.
* Used a lot in ''Fanfic/ADream''. Apparently, putting on sunglasses makes you completely invisible.

* 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/FateGenesis'', when forced to confront [[Franchise/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.
* Justified in ''Fanfic/FistOfTheMoon''. Usually the senshi have disguise fields protecting their identities that are so powerful you cannot remember their faces while staring straight at them. but people with high levels of Silver Energy are somewhat immune, so Ranma and Akane see through them without even realizing it's supposed to be a disguise.

* 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 ''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.
* 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.
* 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".
* 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.
* ''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.
* In ''Fanfic/IAgainstIMeAgainstYou'', Church and the Blues try to pass Twilight Sparkle off as a dog when passing through a military checkpoint. Surprisingly, it works, but the UNSC doesn't let front line personnel keep pets and confiscates Twilight. [[spoiler:Wyoming, however, is not fooled.]]

* 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]].
* According to ''Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'', a naked woman can pass for a man merely by having a tattoo that reads "IM A DUDE".
* 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.]]
* 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 ''Fanfic/MementoVivere'', a ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' fanfiction, Rikku's "goggles will do it" theory in Luca.

* Just like in [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim canon]], we see a lot of this in ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim''. Not only does Zim continue to get by with just a wig and contacts, but Skoodge has the same setup, while [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Norlock]] does the same but with Groucho glasses in place of the contacts. When Nyx joins in Season 2, she wears another variant on the wig/contact combo; by this point, [[SurroundedByIdiots Dib is wondering why he even bothers to expose the lousy disguises]].

* 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.
* 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.
* 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.

* 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".

* 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]].

* 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]].]]

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13886679/19/Sora-s-Adventure-in-Rogueport-Remake Sora's Adventure in Rogueport Remake]]'':

* ''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.

** 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.

* Justified in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedRookie''. While in the world of [[Franchise/{{Cars}} Cars]], the Autobots need to keep a low profile while looking out for Decepticons. Fortunately, in this world they don't need to do much to disguise themselves except transform into their vehicle modes and use holographic eyes and mouths. None of the cars realize they're robots in disguise until they transform.
* 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 ''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 the "Smart Cookies" segments introduced in the 46th season, The Crumb, a villainous chef, is always able to fool Cookie Monster with these kinds of disguises.

* 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.

* In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''' "Safe" ending, [[spoiler:Junpei pulls one on Ace, revealing the latter as the villain. Justified in that Ace suffers from prosopagnosia (better explained in the Real Life subpage) and cannot tell faces apart at all, which means Junpei only needed to get the clothes of another "player" to impersonate that person successfully.]]

Several external factors influence this trope. If the big-name SpecialGuest is going to spend most of the episode or film wearing a disguise, then you'd want it to be "thin" enough for audiences to identify the actor before TheReveal. If the character frequently wears disguises, then it may be a stylistic choice to reassure the audience as to the identity of the character. This is more common in media aimed at younger audiences, but is also common enough for MasterOfDisguise characters so that the audience isn't constantly guessing as to which character is "really" in disguise. The trope is still an important dramatic convention in live theatre 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.

* Justified in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedRookie''. While in the world of {{Franchise/{{Cars}} Cars]], the Autobots need to keep a low profile while looking out for Decepticons. Fortunately, in this world they don't need to do much to disguise themselves except transform into their vehicle modes and use holographic eyes and mouths. None of the cars realize they're robots in disguise until they transform.