Dressing as the Enemy: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:WizOz.jpg|link=The Wizard of Oz (film)|frame|[[Paper-Thin Disguise|A most cunning disguise.]]]]
{{quote|'''Princess Leia:''' Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?
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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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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.
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** Heero Yuy in [[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing]] is seen infiltrating enemy facilities almost every other episode. He's incredibly brazen about simply knocking out guards and taking their uniforms (which somehow always fit him) and then waltzes right into the enemy base without a second thought. Trowa also does this once.
** 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|Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory]]'', Anavel Gato accomplishes the [[Gundamjack
* 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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* ''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.}}
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* ''[[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 (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion are ambushed by three of the Wicked Witch of the West's castle guards. In the next scene, the heroes sneak into the witch's castle dressed in the guards' uniforms.
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* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. Secret Service agent Sawyer performs a [[Mugged for Disguise]] on one of the Fantom's [[Mooks]] and then joins them. He later saves the League from being slaughtered by the [[Mook]]'s gunfire by shooting most of them.
* In ''[[The Gumball Rally]]'', one of the entries into the race is a Dodge police cruiser with black and white paint job, and magnetic door decals for police and highway patrol logos of every state they would be crossing through.
* 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]] ==
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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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*** 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.
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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.
* ''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 ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''-lampooned ''[[Space Mutiny]]'' beats up a guard who's easily thirty kilograms and 25
{{quote|'''Crow''': "So he fits into a suit that was restrictive on a really small man?"}}
*** 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 ''[[Babylon 5]]'' the attempt to free Sheridan on Mars is blown when one of the infiltrators is seen to have fresh blood on his uniform (leaking from a bandaged stab wound obtained previously).
* 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.
* ''[[Farscape]]''. John Crichton infiltrates a Peacekeeper base disguised as an officer (a ploy that had worked successfully before) but encounters [[Big Bad]] Scorpius for the first time who casually says "Guards, that man is an imposter. [[Seize Them|Seize him]]." It turns out that Scorpius has the ability to see the heat signature of others, so he could tell Critchton wasn't Sebacean.
** 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.
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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.
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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-2]]'' revolves finding and stealing the appropriate mook-gear to infiltrate the enemies hideout in Guadosalam. Despite the fact that this is mentioned during several of the battles with the mook's bosses, they never realize that those stolen uniforms are being used for infiltration even when you're talking to the mook's bosses in the base.
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** 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 (series)|StarFox: Adventures]]'', after a certain point in the game, Fox gets a Sharptooth disguise, which although it allows him to open certain doors and not get attacked by the enemy, leaves him unable to use Krystal's staff.
*
* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' takes this one step further: not only can you dress up as the enemy, you can ''become'' the enemy by consuming them whole.
* In ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'', in which the main character has to dress as a member of Team Rocket to infiltrate the building they just took over. It actually makes sense that it works. Too bad your rival shows up and blows your cover.
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* 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 & 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.
* ''[[
* ''[[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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* 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 ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''. While [[Big Bad|Brian Souballo]] doesn't impersonate any of the heroes of the story, he magically impersonates a neutral wizard he tried and failed to recruit to his side. The Emperor goes to the very elven metropolis he's planning on invading and commits a mass murder while disguised as the neutral wizard. This way if the wizard goes to the city to warn the elves, he will instead be arrested.
* ''[[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]] ==
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** 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 ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' "[[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 2/18 The Earth King|The Earth King]]", the Fire Nation ''antagonists'' dressed up as ''allies'' of the protagonists.
** 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).
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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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* This was the main modus operandi of the [[wikipedia:Selous Scouts|Selous Scouts]], a [[Zimbabwe|Rhodesian]] special operations unit that would capture terrorists, turn them against their comrades (usually by giving them the choice between that and death) and then send them back to become [[The Mole]]. With them, of course, would be white Rhodesian officers or NCOs disguised as [[Blackface|black terrorists]].
* 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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