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Cover Identity Anomaly (view source)

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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.
 
A quick thinking character might be able to bluff their way out of the situation, either through a [[Line-of-Sight Name]], using their [[Real Name Asas an Alias]], or simply pulling the [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]. This can backfire if they [[Something They Would Never Say|say the wrong thing]], mess up the [[Trust Password]], or if the person they're trying to fool is [[Bluff the Impostor|already suspicious]]. Otherwise, [[Hilarity Ensues]] as the character either tries to play it straight (i.e. they've [[Too Dumb to Live|somehow ''forgotten'']] their first name, birthdate, hometown, etc...) or just tries to [[The Exit Is That Way|awkwardly escape]]. In drama, this might lead to a tense situation where the character is found out and has to escape without being caught.
 
Compare [[Stereo Fibbing]], for when two characters have to make up a lie on the spot to get out of this situation.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In the early 1990s ''[[Spider -Man]]'' arc where Peter Parker's parents returned from the dead, May realized they were imposters when they refer to the wrong date for their anniversary, indicating that they somehow didn't know about their secret wedding several months prior.
 
== [[Film]] ==
* 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 MichelesMichele'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.
** During a dream sequence, Michele actually supports her cover by rattling off a complex but plausible method of developing the adhesive. Interestingly enough, it wasn't scripted - the actress improvised thanks to actually having an education in science.
* In ''[[Star Wars a New Hope]]'', Han and Luke are disguised as stormtroopers aboard the Death Star, to rescue Princess Leia, when they're forced into a shootout with some real stormtroopers. After killing them, Han rushes to a com unit to try and fool the troopers on the other line that nothing's wrong, and the following conversation takes place:
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant (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.
* In ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets|Harry Potter]]'', Harry & Ron use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Crabbe & Goyle, but their infiltration of Slytherin House is stymied by the fact that they don't know how to get in to Slytherin's chambers. They ask a passing student, but she's from Ravenclaw. Fortunately, Crabbe and Goyle are so dim that they're not really acting out of character.
** 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.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* One mission in ''[[Mech Assault (Video Game)|Mech Assault]]'' has the player pilot a captured enemy Thor into a Word of Blake base to download some intel from their computers. The disguise almost works, until one of the Blake officers asks you to transmit your ID code or be fired upon. Fortunately, they wait just long enough for Foster to download the intel.
* In ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]: Trials and Tribulations'', an impersonator doesn't know that the person he's imitating recently suffered an injury that made him {{spoiler|unable to hear out of his left ear}}. When a witness who was fooled by the imitation testifies that the person was {{spoiler|wearing an earpiece in his left ear}}, Phoenix has to point out that it makes no sense.
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'': {{spoiler|Emil Castagnier}}. {{spoiler|Being the summon spirit Ratatosk in human form, Emil}} lacks a lot of information that would be expected from a resident of {{spoiler|Palmacosta - fishing, the Desian Human Ranch nearby, etc.}} Subverted in that {{spoiler|he is unaware of what he is [[Beneath the Mask]] for most of the game}}
* In a mission in ''[[Hitman]] 2: Silent Assassin'', Agent 47 can adopt a disguise of a "Lord Sinclair" to get close to his target (a female doctor). If she asks 47 for the name of "his" wife, though, he won't know what to say before eventually randomly coming up with "Elsie" (which is way off the mark), blowing his cover.
* In ''[[Saints Row: theThe Third (Video Game)|Saints Row the Third]]'', the Boss disguises himself as Cyrus Temple, the leader of S.T.A.G., to infiltrate their base and save Shaundi. While [[Magic Plastic Surgery]] means the looks and voice are perfect, the Boss makes little to no attempt to try and ''speak'' like Cyrus. Depending on your chosen voice and gender, this can result in "Cyrus" doing things like hitting on his subordinate, talking about how cute a guy is, or speaking in various accents.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'':
** The page-quote above, where Homer attempts to pretend he's Mr. Burns...except he doesn't know what Mr. Burns' first name is.
** When Homer pretended to be the pianist from the movie ''[[Shine]]''. When asked for his name, he responds "[[I Am Not Shazam|Shiny McShine]]".
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