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{{trope}}
[[File:WizOz.jpg|link=The Wizard of Oz (
'''Luke:''' What? Oh, the uniform. <pulls off helmet> I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you.
▲{{quote|'''Princess Leia:''' Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?<br />
▲'''Luke:''' What? Oh, the uniform. <pulls off helmet> I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you.<br />
'''Princess Leia:''' You're who?|'''''[[Star Wars]]: [[A New Hope]]'''''}}
Most of the heroes are trapped in a cell, when the door opens and a guard wearing a [[Faceless Goons|face-concealing]] helmet enters.
They prepare for a fight. The guard takes off his/her
In the real world, this is illegal for a military operation (under Article 39 of the [http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/f6c8b9fee14a77fdc125641e0052b079 1977 First Geneva Protocol]), but not when it comes to espionage (which makes it fair game to kill you anyway). Well, that is, unless you take off the uniform before you start firing, and a lot of other small things that our heroes nonetheless forget and our villains disregard anyway.
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This occurs so often that Rule Number 1 on the [[Evil Overlord List]] is that the Legions of Doom should wear clear helmets. Another rule from that list calls for guards to wear tailored uniforms which will not fit any hero who attempts this trick.
Actually a very common mythic trope called 'Wearing Enemy's Skin' identified by Joseph Campbell. Known examples go back to ''[[
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}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* A very odd example comes from ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' and its ''[[Robotech]]'' adaptaion: Max is trapped onboard a Zentraedi warship and hides in a bathroom. An enemy soldier comes in and Max knocks him out and steals his uniform. The pockets come in handy for rescuing the three human prisoners. The oddity is that Max didn't disguise himself, but rather his [[Humongous Mecha]] in the uniform of the equally giant alien.
* Not quite enemies, but the Roberia Zuka Club makes their first appearance in [[Ouran High School Host Club|Ouran Academy]] uniforms, one as a [[Bifauxnen|male]].
* Jugo and Suigetsu try this in ''[[Naruto]]'' using samurai uniforms. They are caught almost immediately.
{{quote|
Jugo: [[Lampshade Hanging|This wasn't a very good plan.]] }}
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Uryuu and Orihime steal and wear some shihakusho to blend in during the Soul Society arc. Because it's [[Gag Boobs|Orihime]] and Uryuu, an [[Please Put Some Clothes On|awkward]] [[Lingerie Scene]] is mandatory.
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* The group infiltrating Baba Yaga castle in ''[[Soul Eater]]'' dress in the same way as the Artifact Soldiers with long black robes and white masks. Causes a Crowning Moment of Awesome/Funny when Kirikou decides to reveal himself after wandering around for a while: "Surprise."
* During the One Piece G8 Filler Arc, the Strawhats are forced to do this. They are quickly picked out as fakes when the commander gets reports of suspicious unknown Marines wandering around the base.
* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in
** Bernie says that he is from Australia and says at Christmas time the city was covered in snow-this is possibly understandable as he is a Zeon and may not know much about Earth since he living in a colony.
** Heero Yuy in [[
** But they are trained operatives and probably were trained to do this sort of thing for their missions.
** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
* Done in ''[[Heartcatch Pretty Cure]]'' with Erika, Itsuki, Coffret and Potpourri dressing up as [[Mook|Snackies]] to sneak into the Desert Apostles' base.
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* Ends disastrously in ''[[Cross Of Iron]]''. German soldiers are isolated from their unit and must wear Soviet uniforms to sneak back to their base. The German guard commander knows about the deception, but has a personal grudge against the returning sergeant, and orders his men to shoot the approaching "Russians".
* Parodied in ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery''. Miss Kensington and Austin follow a pair of Virtucom employees into the restrooms, one a very tall and lanky man, the other an obese woman, and emerge seconds later in perfectly fitted uniforms.
* ''[[
** Justified in ''[[
** ''[[Indiana Jones and
*** Indiana knocked out a Nazi officer at a book burning rally, leading to a too-close encounter with Der Führer himself.
*** Indiana knocked out a waiter on a zeppelin and took his place.
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* ''The Eagle Has Landed'' points out the illegality of this several times. There is a flimsy rationalisation where they wear their German paratrooper uniforms '''underneath''' Polish uniforms, and only engage in actual combat as Germans.
** It wasn't an attempt at an excuse, it was because the German CO regarded the deception as [[Dirty Business]] and was adamant that if their cover was blown "We [[Last Stand|will die]] as what we are; German paratroopers."
* In ''[[Where Eagles Dare]]'', [[Richard Burton (actor)|Richard Burton]]'s team of commandos don Nazi uniforms to infiltrate an enemy castle, purely to get [[Clint Eastwood]] running around shooting people [[media:Whereeagelesdare.jpg|in German stormtrooper garb]]. In a twist, some of the commandos are undercover Nazis, their true allegiances reflected in what they're wearing.
* ''[[The Guns of Navarone]]''. After turning the tables on and capturing their German Army interrogators, our heroes don their uniforms and escape.
* Inverted in two different way in ''[[The Dark Knight]]''. First when {{spoiler|the Joker's gang try to kill the mayor by taking the place of Police Officers in a parade}}, and then when {{spoiler|they put ''their'' masks on ''civilians'' who have their mouths taped shut and their hands taped to the fake/unloaded guns}}. The Joker acquires a {{spoiler|nurse's uniform when he goes to pay a visit to Harvey Dent.}}
** A similar inversion occurs in [[V for Vendetta]], when V {{spoiler|dresses up bound and gagged employees of the station he's attacking in replicas of his own costume, leading the guards to unwittingly open fire on them}}.
* At one point in ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'', a column of US Army troops is dispatched to storm the Air Force base which has been commandeered by renegade general Ripper. The base troops think they are battling invading Russians:
{{quote|
"Probably bought them from the Army as war surplus. OK. Open up at 200 yards.." }}
* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''. Two Ku Klux Klan members are part of the line of applicants to join Hedley Lamaar's army of [[Mooks]]. Sheriff Bart and the Waco Kid lure them away, knock them out and steal their robes. Unfortunately, they forget that Sheriff Bart is black...
* Also parodied in ''[[
** And then when they make their escape, the same two guys are in their underwear...and have Spaceball helmets on, even though [[MST3K Mantra|Lone Starr and Barf also stole their]] ''[[MST3K Mantra|helmets]]''.
* ''[[Mom and Dad Save The World]]'': A sympathetic mook actually gives the hero his uniform to aid his escape. As the uniform ''doesn't'' conceal his face, this doesn't work.
* ''[[Bill and Teds Bogus Journey]]'' has the title pair do this to get into [[Fluffy Cloud Heaven]]. Once they do this, [[Fridge Logic]] rears its head to them: they mugged two guys in ''Heaven''.
* Subverted in the Swedish film ''The Third Wave''. A hitman who's stalking his target through an anti-globilisation riot kills a riot policeman and steals his gun, uniform and face-concealing helmet. This enables the hitman to get close to the protagonist and execute him with a shot to the
* Spoofed in ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]''. Link, BOB, and Dr. Cockroach are all mistaken for cloned mooks [[Paper-Thin Disguise|just by wearing the same shirt they do]]. At one point a cloned mook sees through one of their disguises...only to order the other two to incinerate him.
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* ''The Simpsons Movie''. Homer dresses as a hotel doorman to fool a soldier that he is a superior officer. He's only given away when the soldier queries why an order from the President is written on a leaf.
* ''[[Judge Dredd (
* ''[[The Avengers (1998
* ''[[James Bond (
** ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** In ''[[
** ''[[
* Used in ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' to rescue Tommy from the KKK, but it doesn't work super well...
* ''[[Our Man Flint]]''. While infiltrating Galaxy Island Flint takes out two Galaxy personnel and dons their clothes: one an ordinary worker and the other a security guard.
* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'': Hannibal Lecter employs this trope in the most gruesome manner possible.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Brain Donors]]'', [[Ambulance Chaser]] Roland T. Flakfizer and his cohorts dress up as doctors to infiltrate a hospital and recover an incriminating letter.
{{quote|
'''Roland:''' "Fondue, an epidemic! drop those pants... Not you, the patient."
'''Doctor:''' "I thought you were cardiologists..."
'''Rocco:''' "Uh, well, they're all connected, we enter the rectum and head north."
'''Roland:''' "Why do you think we have such long instruments?" }}
* Done by Murray and Ramis in ''[[Stripes]]''.
* In ''[[Battle of the Bulge]]'', German soldiers dress as Americans to infiltrate and confuse American attacks.
* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'': "Here's my mothafuckin' farm!"
* The third ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (
* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (
* In ''[[
* Inverted and played straight in the [[Lone Wolf]] book ''Wolf's Bane'', when you must fight your evil twin who, naturally, looks just like Lone Wolf. Later in the book, though, after defeating Wolf's Bane, you get to talk to his Bossman, who thinks you're the evil one.▼
== [[Literature]] ==
* Even [[King Arthur]] makes use of this trope, with tragic results: The brothers Balin and Balan go their separate ways, have adventures, defeat their enemies, [[Randomly Drops|plunder the bodies,]] and put on the better armor. By the time they meet again, their armor and shields make them unrecognizable to each other. [[Cain and Abel|Tragedy ensues.]]
* Similarly, in [[Homer]]'s ''[[
** In ''[[
* 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.
* Used in the [[Robin Hood]] ballad where he faces Guy of Gisbourne, wherein after killing Gisbourne, Robin fakes his death by switching clothes with Gisbourne's corpse and mutilating the corpse's face so it's unrecognizable. There are also occasions on which Robin or his men dressed as the enemy without needing to employ fatal measures.
** Done twice in the 1973 Disney ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'' cartoon. Robin disguises himself as one of the sheriff's vulture guards, and Little John as the sheriff himself.
*** There's some erotic fanart from ''[[Robin Hood]]'' that involves this, and which really shouldn't be described here.
* Done in [[
** There is a very clear difference between blackface and using makeup and other chemicals to darken ones skin for espionage purposes.
* [[Horatio Hornblower]] uses this once or twice - not enemy uniforms specifically, but flying the enemy flag on approach, before whipping it down and running up the Union Jack before opening fire.
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* [[Judge Dee]] and his lieutenants are constantly disguising themselves as assorted members of the underworld. Tao Gan actually IS a member of the underworld, retired.
* Done at least three times in the ''[[Redwall]]'' series: Brome of Noonvale dresses up as a searat, Jukka Sling (a squirrel) shaves her tail and dyes her fur to pass as a Blue Horde rat, and Midge Manycoats designs elaborate vermin costumes for himself and Tammo. On one other occasion, Mariel and friends are wearing stolen searat clothes while on board a ship, are seen by a helmsrat on another ship, and he mistakes them for other searats even though they weren't expecting other rats to be around and aren't actively pretending to be such.
* In [[
** Used in ''[[
*** And later in the same story when Luthien disguises herself as a bat and Beren as a werewolf to infiltrate Morgoth's citadel
* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''Death Or Glory'', Cain and his group travel in stolen ork vehicles. This does distract the orks, but when they come into firing range of an Imperial force, they nearly get fired on before they manage vox communication, and even then the force demands proof.
** In [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer
** In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer
* Subverted in "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" by Roald Dahl. The titular main character has found a way to beat the casinos, but he gets cocky one night and the owners send goons to his hotel. The bellboy comes to warn him (not out of altruism, but in the belief that it doesn't hurt to have the gratitude of a man who just won a stack of money) and offers to pretend that Henry overwhelmed him and stole his uniform to sneak out of the hotel.
* The Wraiths of the ''[[Star Wars]]: [[X Wing Series]]'' have reason to do this a few times - dressing as [[Space Pirates]] in some situations, stormtroopers in others. As pirates they need no ID, but they run into some trouble as stormtroopers without the proper passwords.
* ''[[Conqueror|Bones of the Hills]]'' opens with a group of Mongols under Tsubodai engaging a regiment of Russian knights. Jochi's argan manages to kill a detachment of them, then steal their armour in order to attack the main force.
* When the ''[[
* In ''Pendragon: The Merchant of Death'', Loor and Press dress as Bedoowan knights.
* ''The [[Belgariad]]'' has a city filled with [[Religion of Evil|Grolim priests]], conveniently wearing identical [[Black Cloak|black cloaks]] and [[Malevolent Masked Men|steel masks]] to hide their appearances. The good guys... obtain... a few, helping them get around the city despite the bloody stab holes in their new clothes.
* 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.
* ''The Black Cockade'' by Victor Suthren is a [[Wooden Ships and Iron Men]] story with the twist that the heroes are French, fighting the British. Toward the end, they've reclaimed their ship and are escaping from a British port in the dark of night, when a British ship hails them, demanding identification. Instead, the French captain shouts a (basically meaningless) congratulatory message to the Brits, followed by the French crew cheering in British style. [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|This is accepted as good enough proof of their Britishness]]....
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' used it a lot, to the point where they have an entire wardrobe full of various German uniforms of differing ranks and positions tailored to fit each of the Heroes. In one notable case, a pair of British spies impersonated an SS film crew to film the camp unnoticed.
* Subverted in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Runaway Bride"; The Doctor steals a guard's uniform and uses it to infiltrate a secret
** In at least three stories, the Doctor and his allies manage to disable a Dalek, remove the mutant inside, and substitute one of their number. How a whole person fits in there, when the mutant that came out is not much bigger than a human head, [[Fridge Logic|is never made clear]].
** At other times, people have fooled Daleks by dressing up as Robomen or Dalek troopers. In the former case, the deception was falling apart, but was saved when the Dalek were distracted by an attack by people without disguises. In the latter, the deception worked until they were seen in the self destruct chamber.
** The End of Time-how [[Fridge Logic|*did* the Vinvocci get that guard's helmet over his head, anyway?]] Ow.
* The chunkheaded hero from the ''[[
{{quote|
*** And within minutes, the disguise is blown at the ''first'' checkpoint he comes to. A [[Stealth Parody|subversion]], perhaps?
** Another example from ''MST3K'': The episode ''[[Samson vs. the Vampire Women]]'' features a mook trying to disguise himself as a wrestler that the titular hero is about to
* In ''[[
* The rebels often borrow the Visitors' uniforms in the miniseries and series ''[[V (TV series)|V]]''. In the original miniseries, Donovan takes the uniform of a much smaller, female Visitor, who explains that it will stretch to fit him. Apparently they're one-size-fits-all.
* ''[[
** John keeps wearing the Peacekeeper uniform throughout the season, though, partially because he doesn't exactly have a whole lot of changes of clothes with him and partially because it makes him look badass.
** How often it actually works depends on how merciful the writers are at the time. In "Liars, Guns and Money Part 1," Crichton and Aeryn knock out a couple of guards in the middle of their bank heist, but are ambushed by more guards before they've even finished pulling the clothes off. Crichton flees with a half-hearted "Uh... they went that way!" to the new arrivals.
* In Volume 4 of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Peter is all set to try this after knocking out one of the black ops agents, until Tracy points out to him what a stupid idea it is (he still puts on the guy's uniform, though, because why say no to free Kevlar?). In a later episode, Sylar does the exact same thing, with much more success, although he has [[Paper-Thin Disguise|much more experience in performing that particular trick]].
** Also used by Hiro and Ando, but Hiros glasses and lack of English give him away, forcing Ando to stun the other soldiers with his power.
* Used on a number of occasions in ''[[
* ''[[Star Trek:
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and subverted in the episode "Patterns of Force". Kirk and Spock attempt to do this on a Nazi planet to try and get close to the Fuhrer, who happens to be a Federation citizen. Not only does Spock question the logic of doing so (only to concede that it is in that circumstance), but they end up getting caught shortly afterward because of a lapse of protocol they didn't know about. Double-subverted when they try it later and manage to succeed.
** In "The Enterprise Incident" Kirk dresses as a Romulan (including getting an "ear job") to infiltrate a Romulan ship and steal its cloaking device.
** Kirk and Spock also disguise themselves as gangsters in ''A Piece of the Actions''.
* Played completely straight the first time we actually meet the Breen on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.
* In an involuntary example of this trope, [[Star Trek:
* Appropriately this comes up in the second [[Paintball Episode]] in ''[[
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* ''[[Earthdawn]]'' supplement ''Prelude to War'', adventure "The Dragon's Daughter". The [[PC]]'s must dress up as members of a mercenary band to infiltrate the Theran Behemoth ''Triumph''.
* In ''[[Exalted]]'' you have charms that make any disguise you want to wear, perfect and infallible to non-magical means of perception. A Night caste Solar can infiltrate anything he wants.
▲* Inverted and played straight in the [[Lone Wolf]] book ''Wolf's Bane'', when you must fight your evil twin who, naturally, looks just like Lone Wolf. Later in the book, though, after defeating Wolf's Bane, you get to talk to his Bossman, who thinks you're the evil one.
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** Also Meryl dressed as one of the guards in the first MGS.
* Several missions in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' and ''City of Villains'' give you an enemy disguise as a temporary power, allowing you to move freely among enemies while it's active. Of course, you don't ''have'' to use it...
** ...and some of us preferred not to. Especially when you disguise yourself as a [http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/output/motivator4128550.jpg cybernetic freakshow]{{Dead link}}.
* Partially subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. The heroes sneak aboard an enemy ship wearing the enemy army's uniforms. However, one of the teammates, a lion-like quadruped, stands out quite a bit as he staggers about trying to walk on two legs. Also, his tail is showing.
** Which, come to think of it, could easily be a shout-out to ''The Wizard of Oz'', only explaining why that makes sense would involve ''a lot'' of Fridge Logic.
* [[Genki Girl|Selphie]] and her squad in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' do this to infiltrate the Galbadian missile base; hijinks ensue.
* Spoofed in [[Final Fantasy IX]]. Zidane and Blank steal Pluto Knight armor, and comment about the armor being sweaty, stinky, and breadcrumbs being in the pockets.
* ''[[
* The cartoonish class-based [[First-Person Shooter]] ''[[
* ''[[Red Faction]]'' features a slightly more realistic version in which your disguise will only stand up if you avoid getting closer than about ten feet to an enemy guard/camera for longer than around a second (you're basically public enemy #1 at this point).
** Even though it may be faster to run through guns blazing, you [[But Thou Must!|still]] need to switch clothing. The second time around, feel free to skip the disguise.
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** Subverted on both occasions. On Taris, the uniform only works with the upper lever guard. The lower guard demands that you show him the proper papers before you pass. On Tatooine, the Tusken Raiders realise you're an imposter on closer inspection...[[Fridge Logic|somehow...]]
*** The EU states the since Tuskens ''always'' wear robes all the time they tell each other apart with their gaderffiis (and banthas) since no two are alike, so to them you're basicly wearing a name tag.
* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' allows the main character several methods of escape from the beginning "dungeon"
* Used twice in ''[[Metroid]] Prime 3: Corruption''. Early in the game, shapeshifter Gandrayda gets the drop on a squadron of pirates by disguising herself as one. {{spoiler|Later in the game, after her [[Face Heel Turn]], she lures Samus into a trap by pretending to be a Galactic Federation Marine.}}
* A major part of the Chapter 2 story mission in ''[[Final Fantasy X
** To be fair, the uniforms are fully covering and Yuna says only a few lines while in disguise. Also the Syndicate leaders aren't the smartest people in the game anyway.
* This is one of the most common gameplay mechanics in the ''[[Hitman]]'' series. No matter who you knock out, their clothes will always fit, and the others will never notice that their friend is now a bald white guy with a barcode tattooed on his head.
* As much as the series loves prison break chapters, only ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' has a character pull this off: {{spoiler|Naesala, to rescue the captured heron princess Leanne. But how did he hide his wings? I know he had a cape, but still!}}
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]: Vice City'', one mission includes you and Lance Vance beating up two cops and taking their uniforms. They fit perfectly, although Tommy Vercetti complains that it's "a bit tight around the crotch".
* One of the missions in ''[[Bully (
** Funny that he can change his length of hairstyle at will, despite having a buzz cut. The magic of video games!
* And don't even ''ask'' about some of the disguises that ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'' fits in. Granted, it's all parody, but still, the Vegas-style showgirl outfit????
* Happens multiple times in ''[[
* Some missions in ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' games require dressing up as a German officer and displaying credentials to gain access to valuable targets like a submarine or rail gun. Someone always eventually sees through your disguise.
** Kinda parodied in ''Rising Sun'' where you have to steal one officer's uniform, and upon showing the pass for the officer on railroad station's door, looks at you for a moment and says: "Damn, that just must be other photo of you!" and opens door for you.
* In ''[[Light Crusader]]'', you get a goblin costume that you use to sneak past guards.
* In ''[[Paper Mario:
* In [[
* Used in the third [[Sly Cooper]] game to sneak past mooks. They still grill you for a 'password', but won't attack.
* In ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' Joanna was able to dress up like a Scientist, and a Flight Attendant in order to sneak into a Lab where an Alien was about to be dissected, and Air Force One.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' features a few opportunities to disguise yourself as an enemy, usually only for the duration of a quest. There's also a very rare item that allows the player to disguise themselves as the enemy player faction (A Horde Player becomes disguised as the Alliance and an Alliance player becomes disguised as the Horde, respectively). Creative-minded players have even gone to the trouble of purposefully not completing those quests where a Disguise item is provided, and have used it in various ways, such as pranks, getting the drop on an enemy player (which is playing this trope straight), or [[Rule of Fun|just for fun]].
* This occurs in the beginning of ''[[
* In ''[[Modern Warfare|Call Of Duty 4]]'', your squad briefly takes the uniforms of enemy soldiers to ambush a convoy. Griggs comments that "you look like a clown in that outfit."
* One level of ''[[Call of Duty|Call Of Duty: Black Ops]]'' has you and some teammates steal uniforms from enemy soldiers that you kill.
** A major controversy erupted over a level in 4's sequel, in which the player goes undercover as a terrorist, infiltrates the villain's group, and then helps (optionally, the player can choose not to) open fire on dozens of innocent civilians at a Russian airport. However, the villain appears to be too [[Genre Savvy]], {{spoiler|abruptly killing the undercover player at the end of the mission, framing the US for the attack and prompting a Russian invasion of Washington DC. However, the villain was actually told of the undercover player by US General Shepherd himself, who wanted to start a war in which he could use the full power of the US military}}.
* In ''[[Star Fox (
*
* ''[[Prototype (
* In ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver
** In the ''[[
** Looker, being a spy and all, does this a few times.
** One part of the 2007 fangame Pokémon Illusion requires the player to put on a Team Rocket outfit for infiltration purposes. {{spoiler|Then Giovanni recognizes them when he addresses the grunts.}} Whoops!
* Way back in ''[[Ecco the Dolphin (
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* Formerly shown in the trope's image example, we have Milanor of ''[[Yggdra Union]]''. During the [[Save the Princess]] chapter of the story, there are two battlefields where he dons Imperial armor in order to infiltrate the fortress of Karona and look for Yggdra (the armor is given to him by [[Xanatos Gambit|a would-be traitor who's trying to get a specific prisoner freed]]). During the former battlefield, Milanor cannot do battle when disguised because the stationed soldiers all recognize him right away; your other forces have to sneak in after him and cause a distraction to let him slip through. His disguise is also seen through immediately by the sole guard of the prison, but because there's only one of her and you're between her and backup, you're able to fight and defeat her instead of getting a game over.
* The original ''[[Castle Wolfenstein]]'' allowed you to dress as a German soldier to sneak by the Nazi guards. Unfortunately, the [[Elite Mooks|SS Soldiers]] will immediately recognize you anyway.
* ''[[
** This was after the aversion in ''Fallout 3''; on the way to see the President in Raven Rock, it's very possible to mug an isolated Enclave soldier for issue weapon and armor. They don't react any differently, and your impersonation isn't lampshaded or handwaved.
* ''[[
* Early FPS/RPG ''[[Strife]]'' has a mission were you need to locate an officer's uniform before you can infiltrate an Order base without setting off all the alarms.
* [[Command
* ''[[
* ''[[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]] ==
* Subverted in ''[[Antihero for Hire]]''. While the protagonist wears a Mantis Agent's outfit, which conceals the individual from head to toe, the Mantis use electronic and DNA based identification systems, and is immediately recognized as an intruder.
** Played straight [
* Played with in [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20091016 this] ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' strip.
** [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/091110 Done again] later in the same [[Story Arc]].
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* Liquid of ''[[Last Days Of Foxhound]]'' had to dress up as a mook to break into the fortress. [http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=164 He didn't really fool anyone.]
* [[Bob and George]] [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041003c Bass needs a disguise]
* ''[[
* In ''[[Tales Of Gnosis College]]'', Professor Corwin and Li Anwei escape from Federal custody by expropriating the gear of the [[Gas Mask Mooks]] in Senator Madder's "security detail."
* Inverted and played with in ''[[
* ''[[Devil Bear]]'' had [http://www.thedevilbear.com/comics.php?p=73 the Daivas] disguised as Virtue Bear [[Gas Mask Mooks]]. This was… less than convincing. But at least got them close enough.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[
* Borman's idea for getting Yaeger near [[The Mercury Men]]'s Gravity Engine.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[
** In "Road to Germany", Stewie, Brian, and Mort stole Nazi uniforms (with Mc Cain Palin button on Stewie's uniform) to infiltrate a nuclear facility.
* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
** Similarly, in "Burns Baby Burns" Homer and Larry Burns are fleeing from the suddenly half-competent Police (who believe Homer to have kidnapped Larry), and duck into a costume store. The viewer is then shown a man who looks quite a bit like Homer, dressed as an organ-gridner leaving the store with a vaguely Larry-shaped man dressed as his monkey. The subversion comes when we see the clerk look into the store's bathroom, where Homer and Larry are actually hiding: "Either buy a costume or get out, fellas!"
** A similar thing happens in ''[[Scary Movie]] 4'', where the would-be clothes stealers are themselves beaten up and have to settle for garments on a clothesline instead.
* In the two-part pilot of ''[[Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'', it is revealed in Carmen's origin that her trademark red overcoat and fedora come from when she first escaped V.I.L.E., stealing them from the Bookkeeper in order to leave the facility during a lockdown.
* [[Inverted Trope|Turning the trick around]], in ''[[
** Played straight in the first half of season 3 when the Gaang travels though the Fire Nation in local outfits, change their hair styles and Aang even uses a fake name (Kuzon; and when Sokka doesn't he's given away instantly).
** Also in "The Boiling Rock", Sokka and {{spoiler|Zuko}} disguise themselves as prison guards. Cue icons of Suki delivering Princess Leia's line.
*** Dressing as the enemy gets Sokka into to trouble twice with the very people he was trying to rescue, by not identifying himself to them. Suki punches him into the door, Hakoda ''almost'' does.
** Aang adds a hat to hide his arrow tattoo when the Gaang dons the Fire Nation garb again in "[[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book
** Subverted in the season 1 finale, when a Water Tribe warrior uses antique Fire Nation armor to infiltrate the flagship, and when he tries to kill the admiral, he gets [[Offhand Backhand|offhand backhanded]]. Although that was probably less because of a failure of his disguise than because he pulled off his helmet and [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya|declared himself]] [[Too Stupid to Live|before attacking.]]
* Danny and Tucker briefly disguises themselves as two ghost henchmen in ''[[
* Done in the "Baloo Thunder" episode of ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[
* A common occurrence in the various ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' series.
** It's particulary common in ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'', as the Joes (who are a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|small group]] of [[Clear My Name|outlaws]] in this incarnation]]) frequently inflitrate COBRA Industries to try and find evidence of the company's crimes, and their [[Cool Car]] is a stolen advanced COBRA truck, that can change colour and marking to blend in as any truck.
* Played so painfully straight in one episode of ''[[Mighty Max]]''. Needing to dress as members of a cult, Max, Norman, and Virgil mug some average-size cultists and steal their robes. It's worth noting that Norman is over 7 feet tall and heavily muscled, Max is a skinny kid, and Virgil is a four foot tall chicke...er...[[Insistent Terminology|fowl]]. The robes, of course, fit perfectly.
* A frequent issue for ''[[Darkwing Duck (
* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' TOS episode "The Fraudulent Volcano". Dr. Quest and Race do this while ''escaping'' the enemy base.
* ''[[The Herculoids]]''
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** "Ruler of the Reptons". After knocking out several reptanks, several Herculoids use the tanks' shells as disguises to approach the enemy base.
* 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.
* ''[[
* ''[[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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** It is however illegal to engage in perfidy (opening you to war crimes charges), which is using a hospital or truce sign to wage war.
* In nature, [[wikipedia:Batesian mimicry|Batesian Mimicry]] is when a harmless species mimics a harmful one, for example, a moth larva looking like a snake head.
* This was the main modus operandi of the [[wikipedia:Selous Scouts|Selous Scouts]], a [[
* Navies love this trope. During the Age of Sail, a popular tactic was to raise enemy colours (or, if you were really sneaky, a plague flag) and only lower them at the moment of firing. Died out after advanced naval gunnery and explosive shells meant that it was common practice to sink enemy vessels rather than capture them (the deception only worked if the disguised ship pretended to be a captured enemy one). Still the British raid on St Nazaire used this, flying a German ensign from the HMS Campbeltown. It worked.
** A particularily funny example from [[World War
* The Union soldier who, when taken to the Andersonville prison camp, traded his shirt for a guard's. The guard was happy to have a shirt that was in one piece. A few days later the same soldier traded his pants to another guard, and, as he was now in a Confederate uniform, just walked out.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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