History PlayingWith / ButHeSoundsHandsome

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as 'Charlie' and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured that if you ever break character, we will consider you unfit to be a member of this organization."
*** "Oh, and by the way, if you think about insulting yourself to get around this loophole, ''think again''. That ''still'' counts as talking about yourself, so if you try and follow ''us'' in demeaning yourself, then you're still going to be considered unfit to be a member of this organization. Do you understand us, or do we have to repeat ''everything'' that we've said so far a million times over so that it will ''stick'' into your head?"

** "Charlie" goes on at length about how Bob must be so brave, strong, good-looking, brilliant, talented, kind to animals, good at darts, [[HypocriticalHumor modest]]...
** There are several characters disguised as others, and whenever somebody mentions their real identities, they all say those people must be awesome.

** "Charlie" agrees with nice things other people say about Bob, but doesn't volunteer any himself.
** "Charlie" says nice things about Bob, but things that are true, and never more than that.

** Bob tries to impersonate his enemy Charlie, but can't help resist taking shots at Charlie even when pretending to be him.
** Alice insults Charlie in front of Bob, not knowing, and refusing to believe, that Charlie ''is'' Bob.

** Charlie walks in and immediately starts praising Bob, causing everyone else to roll their eyes at the obvious trickery... Then Bob walks in a few minutes later and says "Hey, [[IdenticalStranger Charlie!]]" while Alice complains to Bob how Charlie wouldn't shut up about him, under the assumption that EverybodyKnewAlready like she did.

** "Charlie" is Bob's attempt to make himself sound good, but he starts to get the impression that Alice [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys likes Bad Boys]], and starts trying to describe Bob as such. He gets carried away and quickly becomes a mouthpiece for Bob's insecurities -- when Alice berates "Charlie" for being cruel, he goes too far the other way and gives her the impression that the two of them are ''really good'' friends...

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as 'Charlie' and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured, if you ever break character, we will consider you unfit to be a member of this organization."

** Bob's BerserkButton is people insulting him. So "Charlie's" friends all [[WhatTheHellHero can only stare and ask him if he's high]] as they see him apparently overreacting about someone he never met.

** Through his actions, Bob has turned his Charlie identity into TheAce. Bob is seen by everybody as one of the most incompetent men alive (whether or not it's collateral damage of his efforts to build up Charlie is up to the writer and their sense of irony). Charlie continuously singing praises of Bob makes [[LoserFriendPuzzlesOutsiders everybody wonder what are those two smoking]].

* '''Played for Horror''': Bob doesn't just gets hurt feelings when someone disses him whenever he's around in costume; it's his BerserkButton. Many undercover assignments have gone to hell because "Charlie" went into a BlastOut spree murder or [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown pummeled men to death]] for [[DisproportionateRetribution apparently dissing someone he never met]].
* '''Implied''': The event isn't shown, but Alice and Carol talk about it afterwards and say, "Oh, do you remember that guy Charlie? He was sure enthusiastic about Bob for someone who didn't know him. Isn't that strange?"

No, I've never been to ButHeSoundsHandsome ... but it sounds like that's a great trope page.

** Bob has a well-known reputation; the things his "Charlie" persona says about him only match popular opinion.

** Bob's fame and the fact that everyone has a strong opinion about him makes "Charlie" never having heard of him rather suspicious.

** People talk about Bob, but "Charlie" doesn't even hear them, or at least he doesn't react to them.

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as 'Charlie' and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured, if you ever break character, you will not be considered fit to be a member of this organization."

** ...Which is part of his KansasCityShuffle -- he's mainly a decoy for the ''real'' spies, and he's an ''excellent'' operative otherwise.

* '''Played for Horror''': Bob doesn't just gets hurt feelings when someone disses him whenever he's around wearing a costume, it's his BerserkButton. Many undercover assignments have gone to hell because "Charlie" went into a BlastOut spree murder or [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown pummeled men to death]] for [[DisproportionateRetribution apparently dissing someone he never met]].

* '''Exaggerated''': "Charlie" goes on at length about how Bob must be so brave, strong, good-looking, brilliant, talented, kind to animals, good at darts, [[HypocriticalHumor modest]]...

** Bob is in disguise so he can find out what his friends really think of him. He says nice things about himself to see if they'll disagree.

** Bob has numerous false identities, and he expresses various opinions of himself with them.

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as "Charlie" and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured, if you ever break character, you will not be considered fit to be a member of this organization."

** Bob's BerserkButton is people insulting him. So "Charlie's" friends all [[WhatTheHellHero can only stare and ask him if he's high on something]] as they see him apparently overreacting about someone he never met.

* '''Implied''': The event isn't shown, but Alice and Carol talk about it afterwards and say, "Oh, do you remember that guy Charlie? He was sure enthusiastic about Bob for someone who didn't know him. Weird guy."

** "Charlie" insults Bob to the point that "Charlie" is clearly an outlet for Bob's self loathing.

** Bob's fame makes "Charlie" never having heard of him rather suspicious.
* '''Subverted''':
** Alice insults Bob in the presence of Charlie, who looks like Bob in disguise. Charlie defends Bob. And then Bob walks into the room, and Charlie says "Can you believe what she was saying about you?"

** "Charlie" only refers to Bob with objectivity, and stays far away from opinionated descriptions.

** Bob is charismatic and convincing. He is able to talk up himself even when pretending to be a stranger.

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as "Charlie" and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured, if you ever break character, you will not be considered fit to be a member of this organization.

* '''Averted''': Nobody talks about Bob while "Charlie" is around.

** "The first step to being an undercover operative is having complete and utter dissociation of who you are and who you're supposed to be, and that includes not using your disguises to sing praises to your sorry ass. So we will spend the rest of the day insulting you, Bob, while you are to remain as "Charlie" and pretend you don't know yourself. And rest assured, if you ever break character, you '''[[ToThePain will]]''' suffer the appropriate punishments that you would have endured in an actual encounter."

** Bob's fame makes "Charlie" never having heard of him rather suspicous.

* '''Reconstructed''': ...Which is part of his KansasCityShuffle -- he's mainly a decoy for the ''real'' spies, and he's an ''excellent'' operative otherwise.