History Main / ShoePhone

* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' tends to disguise their TransformationTrinkets as cell phones most commonly, and at times can double as other devices (mostly for controlling mecha). ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters'', being espionage-themed, took it up to eleven as most if not all of the team's weapons and gear are designed after ordinary objects (their [[SwordAndGun guns and swords, for instance, are cameras and binoculars]]). The ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' adaptation, ''[[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers Beast Morphers]]'', on the other hand, downplays the spy aspect and seems to have AdaptedOut the alternate forms of the blasters and sabers.

* Lupin uses one in ''Anime/LupinIIITheItalianAdventure'' to contact Jigen and Goemon for backup after his radio is taken away and he and Nix are pinned down by [=MI6=] in "Dragons Sleep Soundly."

* {{Franchise/Transformers}}! Think back to G1: even if the robots that turn into cars and jets don't count, the ones that turn into a radio (Blaster and Soundwave), cassette tapes (dozens of little buggers), and a microscope (Perceptor and, in both the ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' film and its tie-in toy, Scalpel). The original Megatron deserves mention since he's an interstellar despot disguised as a Walther P-38 -- oddly enough, original James Bond's favorite gun.

* {{Franchise/Transformers}}! Think back to G1: even if the robots that turn into cars and jets don't count, the ones that turn into a radio (Blaster and Soundwave), cassette tapes (dozens of little buggers), and a microscope (Perceptor and in the recent movie, Scalpel). The original Megatron deserves mention since he's an interstellar despot disguised as a Walther P-38 -- oddly enough, original James Bond's favorite gun.

* Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed in London by a poisoned pellet hidden in an umbrella. "Bulgarian Umbrellas" are still occasionally used as a British UnusualEuphemism to describe unorthodox means of murder.

* [[GadgetWatch Wristwatches]]

* In ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', Kino had a knife that also had a gun built in. Along with a laser sight for aiming.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' applies this to ''magic'' with the Amakusa Christians. Their [[ReligionIsMagic magic rituals]] are constructed from objects and actions that each look completely mundane, to the point where they can cast spells in the middle of a crowded street with observers being none the wiser. This also extends to their fighting styles, where any slash, thrust or sidestep can [[FullContactMagic double as]] a MagicalGesture - the Amakusa leader is even shown to [[ConfusionFu throw deliberately meaningless motions into his attacks just to keep enemy wizards guessing]].

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' episode "The Girl Who Was Death" shows Potter, one of Number 6's fellow spies, undercover as a shoe-shine man. He communicates with HQ via a phone disguised as a polishing brush. ''Almost'' a literal ShoePhone.

* In "Our Man Bashir", the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' homage to ''Franchise/JamesBond'', an earring turns out to be a bomb.

*** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' has "Candroid" robots that transform from soda cans. In addition, there are motorcycles disguised as vending machines and stationed around the city (and they dispense the aformentioned Candroids).

* It's fairly common for money boxes to be disguised as other objects, these are popular with parents as a child is less likely to steal from them. In Britain at least, the most common design seems to be a tin of Heinz baked beans.

* [[http://www.beststungun.com/cell-phone-stun-gun.html A taser that looks like a cell phone]].

* ''Series/GetSmart'' had a number of ridiculous devices; the most famous is the pre-cellular wireless dress shoe that makes this series the TropeNamer. [[http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/gadgets.html A full list can be found here]].

** There was also the episode where Smart and 99 had to get in contact with an imprisoned man. They had taken away his shoes, but fortunately the man had a ''sock phone''.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'': The Spy, despite being a walking, talking Film/JamesBond ShoutOut, doesn't use any fancy gadgets or even a gun. He does, however, keep a large amount of money on hand to bribe enemies.

* ''Machinima/TeamFabulous2'': The scene depicted in the video's thumbnail, no less. A BLU Soldier, pinned down by enemy Sniper fire, calls his Engineer teammate using a boot. The Engineer [[FailedASpotCheck (who is]] [[ShortDistancePhoneCall right behind him)]] answers his call using a banana. The scene is capped off with a DisconnectedByDeath moment after Engie stands up and gets sniped, leading the Soldier to slam down the boot in frustration.

A collection of seemingly mundane items that can be [[IKEAWeaponry assembled into a functional weapon]] is called a ScaramangaSpecial. See also ThisBananaIsArmed and SpyCam.

** Almost all the weapons used by the Riders in ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' resemble ordinary objects like cellphones or cameras.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has an interesting variation, where the main character's gadgets can turn into robot animals to improve their function, such as a camera that turns into a bat and can capture images[=/=]video autonomously, or a wristwatch that turns into a spider, making it a "smart" GrapplingHookPistol.
** In ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'', the [=FaizPhone=] X[[note]]Pronounced 10, as a joking nod to [=iPhone=]'s then current model[[/note]] has a watch and gun mode in addition to becoming a cellphone. Much like the show it's nodding to, the gun mode mostly looks like a cellphone being held like a gun.

* ''Franchise/DocSavage'', the pulp hero of the 1930's and 40's, was famous for his gadgets (which he usually invented himself).

* ''Literature/{{Nerds}}'', As a spy series, is rife with these gadgets:

** Items for Male Agents seem to exist as well. Instead of a compact, Jerry (the Girls' boss) has a communicator disguised as a wallet. A humorous example was a fake beard designed to hold items, that the girls had to test once. (It didn't pass. Heavy objects made them fall over and it looked goofy on them)

** Also lampshaded during a discussion between Snake and Major Zero about James Bond, in which Snake comments that (for example) a gun-pen would make him look stupid in the jungle, at which point Zero insists they could build him a gun shaped like a snake, that "folds up into an attaché case." In which Snake then replied that it was even sillier (then Zero gets upset at Snake for "bashing" Bond).

* In ''Series/FullHouse'', Kimmy's personal phone is one of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZfbN02_9Jw/ Sports Illustrated Sneaker Phone]], which was given away as a promotional item with subscriptions to their magazine for a time in the early 90s. It was an actual working corded phone built into a sneaker. HilarityEnsues when she fumbles her way for her phone, which is next to one of her real shoes, after Danny wakes her up with his call, with her grabbing her shoe by mistake initially.

* In Creator/EdmondHamilton's ''Starwolf'' books, all mercenaries have them. Examples include a radio disguised as a button, another button that can be used as a blowtorch (enough to cut a prison bar or two), and a detachable rope running along all the seams of a shirt.

* ''Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond'' naturally has a reference to this trope. Ian Fleming approaches his SassySecretary and shows her his new fountain pen, which sprays KnockoutGas in her face. He then uses a SpyCam hidden inside his cigarette lighter to photograph the documents on her table, placing the film inside a hollow golf ball. Has the creator of Literature/JamesBond turned traitor? No, it's just a demonstration on the future of espionage for OSS bigwig Bill Donovan. Except he really did knock out his secretary, who's not amused when she wakes up. Donovan likes the gadgets, but points out "you can't win an intelligence war with toys."