Dressing as the Enemy: Difference between revisions
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May lead to [[Friend or Foe]] since you do, after all, look like the enemy.
A common tactic for a [[Master of Disguise]]. See also [[The Mole]], [[Trojan Prisoner]], [[Hey, Wait!]], and [[Mugged for Disguise]]. On a regimental scale, this is a [[False-Flag Operation]]. When used with [[Our Zombies Are Different|zombies]], it's [[Pretend We're Dead]]. When the disguised arouses suspicion by constantly insisting on his alliance to the enemy, it's [[Most Definitely Not a Villain]].
{{examples}}
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** In ''[[The Aeneid]]'', the tactic is shown from the Trojan's viewpoint; it succeeds for a while, but the Greeks figure out their ploy, and the Trojan archers have no idea that the band of soldiers is made of their allies, so Aeneas loses a few men to the Greeks and to friendly fire.
* In Victor Hugo's [[Les Misérables]] French National Guard uniforms are worn by several {{spoiler|revolutionaries and a jealous adoptive father}} to pass through National Guard lines into the barricades.
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
** Nobby was never on the losing side of a battle when he was a quartermaster, the reason being that he'd sneak off and change into a stolen enemy uniform the moment his lot started losing. Due to his habit of selling all his army's weapons and armor (often to the enemy) this happened frequently: enough that experienced generals kept an eye on what he was wearing to see how the battle was going.
* In ''[[Open Sesame]]'' by Tom Holt, two main characters prepare to jump on a pair of guards, realise the outfits wouldn't fit, so give the guards their measurements. The guards, who are bound to [[Theory of Narrative Causality|narrative rules]], walk off and send in two more guards, who are promptly knocked unconscious, letting the main characters steal their perfectly fitting costumes.
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* Kavi and Jiaan do this to infiltrate a palace under the control of the Hrum in the third book in [[Hilari Bell]]'s [[Farsala Trilogy]].
* Played with during one sequence in the [[Belisarius Series]], the title character has to escape from a city full of bad guys out for his blood. He needs a uniform to escape, but with the thousands of guards looking for him, he has difficulty finding a uniform that's both the right size, the right type, and being worn by a guard he can take out quietly. Several times he pulls a [[Bavarian Fire Drill]] on guards he runs into to get them to search someplace else. Eventually he finds the uniform, and makes it out of the city.
* Done a couple of times in ''[[Harry Potter]]'', aided by Polyjuice Potion:
** In ''[[Harry Potter and
** In ''[[Harry Potter and
** And again when Hermione and Ron pretend to be Bellatrix and some Death Eater-friendly foreigner to {{spoiler|break into Bellatrix's Gringotts vault}}. Subverted again when {{spoiler|the Goblins had been warned that someone may try to enter the vault, and Hermione having Bellatrix's wand blows her cover instead of helping it.}}
** This was the essence of {{spoiler|Fake!Moody}}'s plan in ''[[Harry Potter and
* In David Eddings' ''Tamuli'' series, some of the heroes disguise themselves as mercenaries (complete with different faces) to get into [[The Dragon|Scarpa]]'s army.
* ''[[Mad Magazine]] Super Special Fall 1980''. In ''The Moronic Woman'' (a ''[[Bionic Woman]] parody''), Jammy Summons (Jaime Sommers) and Oscular (Oscar Goldman) have infiltrated the enemy palace. In order to get a guard's uniform for Oscar to wear, Jammy walks around knocking out guards until they find one who is Oscular's size. Oscular puts on the uniform and they go to the office of the dictator.
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* [[Command & Conquer]] Red Alert 2 and [[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3|3]] have the Allied spy unit which can do this. The Imperial Sudden Transport from [[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]] can disguise itself as an enemy vehicle.
* ''[[StarCraft II]]: Wings of Liberty'' features an alien organism, called "changeling", which is capable of assuming the identity of the enemy race, clothes and all, and do some recon. Units won't be able to spot or attack the changeling without the player's direct intervention in the form of explicit order to attack what appears to be an ally.
* ''[[Space Quest]]'' has you do this in homage to the Stormtrooper disguise in ''[[Star Wars]]'', although in this case, Roger is fortunate enough to enter the Sarien base near a laundry room. Later, you lose the helmet and blow your cover.
* ''[[Covert Front]]'' has a scene where Kara has to dress in [[Imperial Germany|German]] officer's clothing so that she can drive past a German checkpoint safely. This all hinges on none of the soldiers getting a good look at her and realizing that she is not only a woman, but also the spy whose photograph is plastered over all their bases; once in Lisbon, Kara still has to avoid all the soldiers guarding the roads.
* ''[[Covert Action]]'' during break-ins enables the disguise when the player character moves over a knocked out guard, and cancels if there's an alarm. This doesn't always fool the adversaries - if they see the agent in a far corner of the room, turned away and looking at a very interesting wall, it works, but if they meet the agent face to face in the door, or catch on something suspicious (like safe-cracking or attacking another guard), they'll raise an alarm.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* Played dead straightin ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' by the original Team Venture in "Past Tense". Unfortunately this means [[Squick|a squad of elderly men]] in [[Fan Service|Fanservicey]] [[FemBot]] swimsuits.
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "Bubble Boy" has Rowdyruff Boy Boomer captured by the girls. Bubbles impersonates him and infiltrates the Rowdyruffs in a bid to capture the other two. It's a nine-day wonder that Butch and Brick didn't catch on to Bubbles' noticeably higher voice and lighter eye color.
* ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]''; in the [[Valentines Day Episode]], Harley manages to steal the Lasso of Truth by rushing into [[Wonder Woman]]'s apartment dressed as a Themysciran guard and telling her that Themyscira is being attack. Amazingly this works, Harley being able to swipe the lasso from the heroine as she leaves.
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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