Cover Identity Anomaly: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Homer''': Hello, [[Paper-Thin Disguise|my name is Mr. Burns]]. I believe you have a letter for me.

'''Postal Worker''': Okay. What's your first name, Mr. Burns?

 

This trope is when a character, in disguise or otherwise pretending to be someone else, doesn't know some basic piece of information about who they're pretending to be. This could be because they didn't research the identity enough, or maybe the disguise and cover identity were done in a rush and they didn't think all the way through.

 

Compare [[Stereo Fibbing]], for when two characters have to make up a lie on the spot to get out of this situation.

{{examples}}

 

* Averted in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3''. Barbie uses an astronaut suit to disguise herself as Ken to talk with the Bookworm. The suit covers her head and face, and almost her whole body...except her feet, and she forgot to change her high heels, which the Bookworm sees as she walks away. Fortunately, the Bookworm dismisses the high heels as one of [[The Dandy|Ken's idiosyncrasies]].

* The title character of ''[[Mulan]]'' does this when asked her name. Her family name (which she must use as part of the cover story) is Fa, but she hasn't thought of a ''personal'' name, leading to a very awkward conversation where Mushu tries to secretly help her come up with a name.

** One of his suggestions is [[Punny Name|Ah Chu]].

* Played with in the movie ''[[Superbad]]'', where one of the teenage kids gets a terrible fake ID that only has the name "McLovin".

* In ''[[Romy and Michele's High School Reunion]]'' they are pretending to be "successful businesswomen" to impress people. It is only when a waitress asks them what business they are in that they realise they may have neglected a vital element of their cover story.

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]''. Scapegrace has a problem that causes him to invent a twin brother, of course he gets every detail right and thinks of everything....except one of the names.

** They asked the Ravenclaw where the common room was, and were lead there by Draco. They had an [[Oh Crap]] moment when Draco asked them the password, but were saved when Draco remembered it before they did. Other instances of them being out of character for Crabbe and Goyle are when Harry didn't know what Azkaban was and when both of them forgot to laugh at a ''Daily Prophet'' article where Ron's dad gets in trouble with the Ministry.

** In the movie, Harry almost gives it away by still wearing his glasses. He quickly excuses them as reading glasses, causing Malfoy to remark that he didn't know "Goyle" knew how to read.

* [[Alex Rider]] very nearly gets himself killed because of these.

 

* The British comedy series ''[[Spaced]]'' features Tim and Daisy, who are pretending to be a couple in order to rent an apartment. Though they attempt to be as thorough as possible by learning a multitude of mundane details about each other ("I forgot what you got for your fifth birthday!" "Miniature drum kit"), they get caught in their lie while fumbling around regarding what day they had sex first vs. what day they kissed first.

** A much worse mistake is barely averted as, just before they go in, they realize they've never learned each other's names.