Mugged for Disguise: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Guard 1:''' HEY! Those are the guys that stole our uniforms!

 

The heroes or villains need to get access to the enemy stronghold. But how? By [[Dressing as the Enemy]], of course. That still leaves the question of how to get enemy (or otherwise deceptive) uniforms. The solution to this is a time-honored technique:

 

Sometimes leads to [[Not My Driver]], [[Janitor Impersonation Infiltration]], [[Delivery Guy Infiltration]].

 

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]''

** In the RGB arc of ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Red knocks out a Team Rocket Grunt and steals his uniform to get into their base.

* In the anime ''[[Agent Aika]]'' (or Aika), episode #4, her partner Rion Aida, was trapped in the ship of Hagen, when she was taken to her room (like a prison) by a blue delmo. Rion is very clever and daring - she leverages that when she is alone with the blonde delmo. When the two come into the room, Rion knocks her with some punches (off-camera; only the knocks are heard and the cry of the blue delmo). Moments after, Rion appears at the door wearing blue uniform of the blonde delmo, Rion runs in one direction. The anime then shows the scene of the blond henchwoman on the floor, tied hands and feet, unconscious and only in underwear, the room door closes; Rion escapes from her cleanly and very easily.

 

* One ''[[Mickey Mouse]]'' comic has Mickey get knocked out for his costume by a crook looking to get away. Unfortunately for Mickey, he got [[Easy Amnesia]] from the blow and is wearing the crook's old outfit, so the other criminals mistake Mickey for him.

* When the Thuggee cultist Ravan joins the [[Suicide Squad]], he practically brags that he didn't get any blood on the uniforms he had just acquired for the team, leaving Bronze Tiger to remember just what kind of person Ravan was.

* In ''[[Thunderbolts]] 25'', Crimson Cowl decided to take revenge against the Thunderbolts by creating her own Masters of Evil (the group that the bolts were originally part of) with 25 super-villains. After she captured Moonstone, five bolts decided to infiltrate the group by knocking out five members and stealing their costumes. Charcoal puts on M'Baku the Man-Ape's suit. Songbird is dressed as Lodestone. Jolt is dressed as Joystick. Atlas is Shatterfist, and Hawkeye pulls up the Constrictor's mask. You can see a picture of the fallen masters of evil at the top of the page, revealing that Man-Ape wears [[Goofy Print Underwear]] and that Joystick was [[Going Commando]].

* During an issue of ''[[Deadpool]]'', Wade and his team of mercenaries are hired to sabotage a satellite by hijacking a space shuttle. At one point, one of Wade's teammates complains about her suit being too bulky. The scene shifts to the cargo hold, where the real astronauts are shown tied up with their mouths taped shut.

* ''[[Batman]]''

** ''[[Gotham City Sirens]]'' features a scene where the gals [http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt74/Larrson777/Gotham%20City%20Sirens%20-%2010/GothamCitySirens10011.jpg take out some henchwomen] and [http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt74/Larrson777/Gotham%20City%20Sirens%20-%2010/GothamCitySirens10014.jpg jack their gear].

* A hallmark of the ''[[Diabolik]]'' series. One story published in an Italian fashion magazine even has Eva knocking out and stealing the clothes of several models. The real models are found bound and gagged in a closet at the end of the story.

* A ''[[Wolverine]]'' one-shot has a scene where [[X-23]] steals the uniform of a waitress as part of an undercover operation. She tapes the real server's mouth shut and locks her in a closet.

 

== Fan Works ==

* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', George has to become Bayanis so he and Paul can infiltrate the warehouse. Except that Paul had already wrapped her up in her own robes (well, she tried to order him to kill the others), so all they have to do is strip her, and John immobilizes her in warm ice.

 

* ''[[Braveheart]]'': Near the beginning of the film, Wallace steals the uniform off an English soldier in order to escape the village.

* Occurs in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. The witch's guards tackle the heroes and they fall behind some rocks. After some scuffling, the heroes pop up wearing the uniforms. The uniforms do indeed fit perfectly, but the lion has a hard time hiding his tail.

** ''[[You Only Live Twice]]''. [[James Bond]] and some imprisoned astronauts take out several SPECTRE guards and steal their uniforms.

** In ''[[The Living Daylights]]'', the Russian assassin strangles (with his earphones' cable) a milkman to steal his uniform and get into the MI-5 safehouse. The milkman isn't the enemy; he just had the right outfit.

* Geena Davis did this to a nurse in ''[[Earth Girls Are Easy]]'', because she needed the nurse's uniform.

* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', the Joker and his goons do it to an entire police honor guard, then do a spot-on impression of the honor guard-thus smuggling seven loaded rifles right past every cop in the city and directly up to the Mayor's stage.

* In ''[[Night Train to Munich]],'' they steal uniforms from some [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]] to get away

* In ''[[Get the Gringo]]'', the heroes escape from a Mexican prison at the end by posing as a group of surgeons. The real surgeons are left bound and gagged in the operating room, some stripped of their scrubs.

 

== Literature ==

{{quote|'''Nobby:''' Well, we could always lure some more people into this alley and try it again.

'''Colon:''' Nobby, we're alone in a foreign port, and you're dressed only in your, and I use this word with feeling, unmentionables. This is not the time to start talking about luring people into alleys. There could be talk. }}

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''

* In the fifth book of David Edding's ''[[Belgariad]]'', Silk knifes some mooks for their robes. One drawback of the technique is highlighted when they then have to find a way to arrange the robes so that the tears and bloodstains aren't evident.

* ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat|The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge]]''. Jim diGriz and his [[Dark Action Girl|wife Angelina]] mug two police officers for their uniforms in order to escape a dragnet, only to find that they're wearing ladies' underwear. After knocking out two more policeman Angelina suggests taking a peek at their underwear too, but Jim prefers that some illusions should remain untarnished.

* In the ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' novel ''Shards of Honor'', some members of Cordelia's crew ambush a Barrayaran patrol and steal their uniforms, as part of their plan to rescue her.

* ''[[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.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Sydney employs this tactic when the need for a waitress uniform arises in the penultimate episode. Unfortunately, her cover is blown rather quickly when the real waitress' unconscious body is found.

** As well as an earlier episode, where Sydney is on the run from some enemies and mugs a Goth girl for her clothes and wig.

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Farscape]]''. John tries to do this, but the uniforms are too small and they have to come up with a different plan.

* The ''[[Dark Angel]]'' episode "Freak Nation" has the heroes defeating a group of agents in a big struggle, and then escaping in their uniforms. When the cops show up on the scene, they find the replaced men and women tied to a pillar with their mouths duct-taped shut.

** A third case, "Mr. Monk and the Very, Very Old Man," has a mayor who poses as a guard to kill the oldest man in the world without being noticed. Of course, to gain access to the man, he had to kill one of the nursing center's real guards and steal his security pass, and possibly his uniform.

* ''[[Alcatraz (TV series)|Alcatraz]]'': In "Garrett Stillman", Stillman hijacks an armoured car and steals the guards' uniforms, leaving them in an alleyway in their underwear.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** The Spy can [[Dressing as the Enemy|evade German patrols by dressing as a German soldier]], and one of his options for procuring a uniform is to KO a soldier with ether and steal his uniform, leaving him [[Bound and Gagged]]; he can't mug the dead for [[Bring My Red Jacket|obvious reasons]]. On the other hand, the disguise only works on enemies who are of lower or equal rank to the uniform's original wielder, ie. a random private's uniform will hide you from other privates but not from a lieutenant.

** In ''Commandos 3'', anyone can mug enemy soldiers for uniforms. However, it only works for a limited time except for the Spy who can stay disguised indefinitely. Oh, and only the Spy can use officer uniforms but if he happens to wear one, he can ''order lower-ranked enemies around''.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Misfile]]'' this is how non-fallen angel [[Jerkass|Cassiel]] gets into a party. Though she has to actually do the job of the person she beat up because her disguise ''worked''.

{{quote|'''Ian:''' ... and I'm mugging another old man... I really need to stop making a habit of this. At least it's not a priest this time.}}

* ''[[Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041003c Bass needs a disguise.]

* Played with in ''[[PvP (webcomic)|Pv P]]''. Brent, wearing a suit, sneaks up on a janitor, intending to take his work clothes. An offscreen fight later... the janitor walks back out as if nothing happened, wearing Brent's clothes.

* [[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja|Doctor McNinja]] knocks out a regular doctor at the hospital and steals his coat and nametag in order to get in, even though he still wears his regular outfit, including his prominent mask. The receptionist is obviously not fooled but can't convince him to stop the charade. Apparently he's done this several times before.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Shego of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' once yanked a male waiter off-screen and came back with the uniform somehow fitting perfectly.

* In an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', Peter does this, and is then told they don't need disguises. So he does it ''again'' to a random passerby who was wearing the same clothing he normally wears.

* ''[[The Herculoids]]'' episode "The Crystalites". Several Crystalite guards are knocked out and their uniforms stolen so Gloop, Gleep and Zandor can infiltrate the enemy compound to rescue Tarra and Dorno.

* Robin from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' does a variation of this in ''[[The Movie|Trouble in Tokyo]]''. After being falsely accused of a crime, he's being hunted by the police, and he needs a disguise. He ducks into an alleyway... and comes across [[Mugging the Monster|a guy with a gun who demands that Robin hand over his money]]. Cue [[Laser-Guided Karma]].

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]

[[Category:Steal This Index]]

[[Category:Stripping Tropes]]