Instant Cosplay Surprise



""Holy crudscones! Why am I in women's clothing?!""

- Sokka, Avatar the Abridged Series

Some hapless character is swept off his/her feet by a Cosplay enthusiast (or a whole bunch of them) and ends up wearing a new costume or disguise. Even if the outfit is extremely elaborate, the change looks almost instantaneous to the audience, sometimes shortly hidden by a Smoke Shield with the occasional Flung Clothing.

In every case, the "victim" doesn't react at all to the new attire until after being fully clothed—even if it includes lots of complex knots, several layers and/or a change of underwear, and thus should have taken hours and lots of sweat and tears to get on. Hence, protesting the ludicrousness (or skimpiness) of the costume only happens once the character is entirely dolled up, while in real life an unwilling person would have been kicking and screaming all along.

It is based on real-life situations where someone is usually shocked by how they look in a changing-room mirror. However, this trope does away with changing rooms and mirrors altogether.

Sometimes (badly) justified by the cosplay enthusiast using a weird martial art allowing him or her to undress and then dress the victim at high speed. Not that it makes it any more really believable.

Less ludicrous if it is some magic-user using a spell to induce the sudden clothes change, as with the page picture, but then it's just cheating.

This is frequently the deed of a Lovable Sex Maniac, but even when not the case, the clothes will commonly be some kind of Fetish wear, like Catgirl, French Maid, Naughty Nurse Outfit, Panty Fighter, Playboy Bunny, Slave Girl, etc. -- even if the subject is male! Often an excuse for the artists to put the characters into some unusual costumes that they usually wouldn't be caught dead wearing.

Being knocked out and waking up in a weird outfit usually also counts. After all, dressing up someone unconscious isn't that easy either. Not to mention the Unfortunate Implications.

A variant exists when a person is expected to change clothes by him- or herself and is handled the outfit, absentmindedly dressing up. Again, just as implausibly, the reaction shot comes only after having finished putting everything on, up to the last button, as if the character just couldn't see what the costume looked like beforehand.

This trope is particularly common in Anime and Manga, where it is used for comedy and Fan Service.

A subtrope of Changing Clothes Is a Free Action. Compare Instant Costume Change and Flung Clothing.

Anime and Manga

 * This happens a few times in Ranma ½, both the anime and manga:
 * During the martial art skating match against the Golden Pair, Ranma-chan and Ryōga are swept away by the "Kolkhoz High Fashion Club" when the audience complains that Ranma's costume isn't sexy enough. They bring in portable booths as dressing rooms, but are quite fast to put Ryōga and Ranma into proper skating outfits.
 * When Principal Kunō is teaching Akane how to swim, he promises a swimsuit which would allow her to "swim with the grace of a swan". She imagines a beautiful ballerina outfit and goes to put it on. Next panel, it's actually a full-body suit making her look like an ugly duck, and she Megaton Punches the Principal.
 * A similar "dressing themselves without realizing what they're wearing" variant occurs to female Ranma. When trying to help a sickly young boy who won't take his medicine unless she takes him on a date, she accepts the clothes he hands to her just to play along. It's only after she's dressed that she realizes she's wearing a Sailor Fuku blouse and gym bloomers (no skirt). She kicks him out the window and calls him a Lolicon.
 * The "martial art" variant happens later in the manga (Book #34). Happōsai is trying to force Ranma to wear a Playboy Bunny outfit, and after a Single-Stroke Battle, he manages to put a Sailor Fuku... on the male Ranma. Just as he's about to meet his mother to prove he was manly.
 * The trope could be said to be half-used during the fight against Ryū Kumon, where Ranma performs the Umi-Senken to remove Ryū's (and Sōun's) clothes in a blink. This one doesn't even need Power Perversion Potential to be misapplied.
 * A Filler scene in the very early anime implies that Nabiki keeps doing this to female Ranma when the latter's clothes are all in the laundry. Although the changes happen off-screen, Ranma keeps running in and out of frame wearing a kimono, a dominatrix outfit, and even a Las Vegas-style showgirl outfit, complete with tiara and feathers, all while screaming at Nabiki to stop it.
 * Being knocked out and waking up in a wedding dress/wedding kimono/wedding tux happens to Akane and Ranma twice each (and in Ranma's case, the tux and the kimono).
 * Mahou Sensei Negima
 * The girls do this to Negi on several occasions. Most notably, at the Mahora Festival haunted house, they dress him as a cute female kitsune.
 * There's also the distracted variant where Asuna and Setsuna get tricked into dressing themselves up in Panty Fighter garb right before a tournament, and not noticing what they were putting on until it was too late.
 * This gets used a lot. Another example is in volume 4, when the cheerleaders don disguises in order to interfere with what they think is a date between Negi and Konoka. Misa and Sakurako end up in Sailor Fuku; Madoka is annoyed to find herself the "odd one out" in a Chairman Mao suit. Lampshaded by the word "Transformation!" at the top of the panel, and by the price tags still dangling from the outfits. Extra points for Misa and Sakurako acquiring instant suntans into the bargain....
 * Konoka drags Setsuna into a costume shop. She winds up in Samurai garb to complement Konoka's princess outfit. It's really very fetching. Random people passing by thought they were a couple, leading to a rather "nice" photo shoot.
 * There's also the Maid Cafe bit at the beginning of the festival arc. Granted, most of the girls dressed themselves, but you can see Akira is completely baffled as to why she's suddenly a bunnygirl. Mana is also surprised to suddenly be a miko (although Mana is a miko—she's surprised to suddenly be dressed in the "porn" version of the uniform, especially as the clothes really don't look right with her height).
 * Poor Ako gets knocked out and stuffed into a Playboy Bunny outfit and arranged into an interesting pose. Her friends snap the photo just as she regains consciousness, and "accidentally" email it off to Ako's crush, "Nagi",
 * Girls Bravo
 * In the manga, Lovable Sex Maniac Fukuyama pretends to be ill to trick Tsundere Kirie into various fetish wears, starting with a Naughty Nurse Outfit, then a Miko hakama, and finally a Meido garb. Every time, she complains about the costume only after being fully clothed. Though when Fukuyama shows he had plenty other cosplay outfits for her to try, she gets fed up and kicks him in the face.
 * Which is only the first occurrence. Fukuyama is a real master at this, and keeps doing it to most off the female cast (though Kirie stays his favorite victim) again and again, going through about every Fetish clothes imaginable.
 * Hayate the Combat Butler
 * Happens to Hayate a lot. Usually he ends up dressed as a Catgirl, or something likewise highly embarrassing. This gets so bad that when Hayate admonishes Nagi for asking him to take off a costume he put on for her gets a negative response, she thinks she may have broken him. The reality is that he just doesn't want to reveal that he's actually a guy to another girl.
 * Hinagiku also gets a taste of Instant Cosplay Surprise on her birthday thanks to the student council trio. She then has to unexpectedly perform karaoke.
 * Averted (and maybe even subverted) by Haruhi Suzumiya, in that getting Mikuru into a costume usually involves an extended sequence of Haruhi wrestling her down and stripping her (more or less offscreen).
 * Excel Saga manga volume 16 has Excel ambushed in a flagrantly yuri-tastic manner and stuffed into a Pretty Cure outfit. Though it's mildly averted—while Excel isn't particularly enthusiastic, she's more bothered by the fact that the costume isn't her ACROSS uniform. Also, the change in outfits is not an instant switcheroo; it's a multi-panel affair, complete with lines like "You must take off everything <3" and "Oh my, this is your real hair... it's so soft... to the touch..."
 * In the Lucky Star OVA, Konata (already cosplaying as Nagato's wizard costume from the Non-Indicative First Episode) changes Kagami into a Meido, Miko, Rin Tohsaka, and Hatsune Miku. Can you resist the Grade S Zettai Ryouiki?!
 * In Slayers, at a point midway through the third season, immediately following a Wham! Episode where the party was scattered and unknown whether to be alive or dead. Lina wakes up wearing an Elegant Gothic Lolita costume. After several moments of gathering her thoughts and trying to figure out where she is, she finally notices, leading to an even split of mortification and all-consuming rage. The remainder of the episode plays out as an homage to Alice in Wonderland (with penguins!), and at the end, she discovers that her outfit is an amusement park costume, receiving her regular clothes back in a dry-clean bag. However, the last line of the episode is her saying, "There's just one thing I haven't figured out. Who took off my clothes?"
 * Iron Wok Jan: Jan, Kiriko, and Celine find themselves stuffed into pig costumes after accepting an invitation to a television cooking show (part of an attempt by Straw Critic Ohtani to humiliate the three chefs on multiple levels).
 * Happens a few times in Ai Kora.
 * In chapter 15, Maeda convinces Sakurako to win money for a new air conditioner (and snap his buddy Shibusawa out of an obsession with moe) by entering a Maid Cafe's costume contest.
 * In chapter 77, Maeda convinces Yukari to dress up in a cross between a School Swimsuit and a Playboy Bunny outfit as part of a ploy to keep people from finding out she's into video games.
 * In Rosario + Vampire, after Kokoa is turned into a little girl, the other girls take her shopping for clothes that fit. She is shocked to find herself cosplaying Arale from Dr. Slump.
 * Oreimo's tenth episode features Ayase tricking her friend Kanako into cosplaying from a popular Magical Girl show. Despite the costume design being a treasure trove of Magical Girl tropes, Kanako only notices that it's "bratty anime crap" when she catches sight of herself in a car side-mirror.
 * One chapter of Ai Yori Aoshi involves Tina and Taeko wanting to photograph Aoi in various costumes. They start with a Sailor Fuku, then a nurse's uniform, Qipao, Meido uniform, exercise clothes... "And to finish it off, of course -- a Bunny Girl!!" Aoi, realizing they've managed to get her into the costume before she knew it, panics and hides behind Kaoru.

Comic Books
"Deadpool: (slight smile) I hurled."
 * A certain, legendarily strange Superman/Batman team-up comic has Superman pulling this on Batman and himself at the same time in reverse—out of their costumes and back to normal clothing... in the time it takes Lois Lane to look to one side. Away from them, towards them. Surprisigly played with just a hint of realism—the speed is more than Bruce Wayne can take, resulting in him feeling highly nauseous and throwing up mere seconds later.
 * In Cable and Deadpool, there's a great scene where Deadpool wakes up very surprised to be dressed in an X-Men costume. Wolverine and Beast are standing nearby and note that they were betting as to whether Deadpool would hurl or think he was really on the team when he saw the costume.

Fan Works

 * In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, Kyon gains a sentient PDA he names Skynet. One of its abilities is that it lets any authorized user change Kyon's clothing. Haruhi uses this to scan pictures from the Internet, and makes Kyon cosplay in Victorian suits, along with Yuki in her Elegant Gothic Lolita dress.
 * One of Jareth's signature moves in Roommates 2007, for the geat annoyance of everyone else.

Live-Action TV

 * Happens to the title character in The John Larroquette Show, who refuses to dress up for a charity collection... until Ms. Fanservice purrs like a kitten. Cue next scene and audience laughter as John Larroquette is standing there dressed like a duck.
 * In the Batman TV series, To the Batpole scenes have the dynamic duo in costume once they reach the batcave, no matter how they were dressed before (eventually revealed to be the result of the "Instant Costume Change Lever" on the wall.) In one episode, The Joker discovers the Batpoles and slides down one. He is shocked, at the bottom, to find himself dressed as Batman.
 * In one episode of Family Ties, Mallory gets a job as a model. During a show, her father meets her backstage. He gets mistaken for a male model, forcibly re-dressed, and pushed out onto the stage.

Video Games

 * BlazBlue
 * Litchi repeatedly inflicts this on Noel in Noel's joke ending to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger's story mode.
 * In Continuum Shift, Tsubaki ends up as the victim of these antics instead.
 * Near the end of Space Quest, you must obtain an enemy uniform. To do this, you hide in the washing machine, and a Sarien comes in and turns it on, automatically changing you into the outfit.
 * In the My-HiME doujinsoft game Fuuka Taisen, one of Haruka's specials is a box where, if she grabs her opponent, will almost instantly change her (all the playable characters are female) into an anime character from another series. It doubles as a Voice Actor Gag because the character she changes them into are voiced by the same seiyuu (i.e., Mai, who is voiced by Mai Nakahara, gets changed into Rena from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni).
 * In Quake II's expansion pack Ground Zero, towards the end of the game where you need to make the A-M Bomb, there's an area with a cylinder that, when activated and you step in, "dresses" you with a "Strogg Uniform" (the actual process seems to involve immersing you in some kind of liquid), allowing you to wander around the facility while the Strogg forces leave you alone (as long as you don't shoot).

Web Animation

 * It happens in this World of Warcraft animated music video (at 2:30), where a pervert dwarf put a mage into woman's clothing during his sleep. Based on a French song by Richard Gotainer, "La Ballade de l'obsédé".

Web Comics
"Chiaki: Why am I dressed like this? Loki: Gives the folks at home a little somethin'. Chiaki: Oh! OK!"
 * In Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki, Loki goes the magic route to put Chiaki into a skimpy red bikini before commenting a Valkyrie battle sport-broadcast style.


 * In El Goonish Shive, Ellen immediately notices the Power Perversion Potential of Nanase's clothing exchange spell.
 * Netta does this to Zip constantly in DDG. It is probably easier if your victim is a disembodied soul contained in a magic cloak.
 * In Megatokyo, Yuki's Imagine Spot about her friends learning that she's a Magical Girl mimics this effect.
 * This strip of Ménage à 3. Although Zii and DiDi agreed to tries the costumes, note that DiDi only reacts after being dolled up.
 * Invoked by Mary in Dubious Company. The cast is stranded in an alternate dimension. The team brains cook up a spell to hop from dimension-to-dimension, Quantum Leap style, in order to get back home. Mary modified it so they end up in the most fashionable attire for that dimension. Tiren hates this.

Web Original

 * This happens to Phase in the Whateley Universe at Halloween, just without the instant transformation. Phase is a teenaged boy who unfortunately looks like a really pretty girl. His team decides to go as the Tenchi Muyo characters, since his teammate Tennyo looks so much like Ryoko to start with. At the last minute, he finds out his costume is... Tsunami. He's not a happy boy.

Western Animation
"Odd: Hey, That's not fair! How come he gets to be a samurai? That's so much cooler! Jérémie: I have no idea why. Maybe the computer just reads into your own subconscious desires, and projects them onto your digital incarnation. Odd: I don't dream about giant purple cats!"
 * In classic cartoons, this tends to happen as a "whirlwind" or as a "tear-away", and can even happen with one's own skin and fur.
 * A similar situation happens in the Code Lyoko prequel, "XANA Awakens", when Odd, Ulrich and Yumi are virtualized for the first time and discover their Lyoko avatars. Odd, especially, is puzzled by his weird look:


 * The Genie from Disney's adaption of Aladdin sometimes does this to his friends. In the television series he turned them into the cast of Tale Spin. Seriously.