Mugged for Disguise: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

# Get the attention of the enemy mooks or some innocent victims.

# Die.

# Be [[Bound and Gagged]] and left in their [[Goofy Print Underwear]].

 

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

 

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

** Diamond does this as well in his own arc.

** The original series episode "The Punchy Pokemon" has a scene where Jessie and James steal the outfit and Pokemon of a man who was entering a tournament. The real competitor is shown bound and gagged in his underwear before being locked away in a bathroom stall by the villains.

* In ''[[Bleach]]'''s Soul Society arc, Ishida and Orihime do this to two 12th Division officers.

* ''[[FLCL]]'' episode #1. When Naota goes to the hospital to have the growth on his head looked at, the nurse turns out to be Haruko. During the scene we see a nurse [[Bound and Gagged]] in her underwear. Haruko overpowered the nurse and stole her uniform. She wears it again in episode 5 "Brittle Bullet" when she's acting as a barber for Commander Amarao.

* [[Master of Disguise]] Kanako does this to Shinobu and Kaolla in chapter 92 of ''[[Love Hina]]''

* The final story arc of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' features Kilik, Kim and Ox using the robes of some defeated Arachnophobia grunts to infiltrate one of the madness relay stations.

 

* 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]]''

** In the ''[[Gotham City Sirens|Batman: Harley and Ivy]]'' collection, there is an issue where the girls try to sneak into a museum opening by posing as members of an entourage. After someone jokes about the entourage being too large for anyone to keep track of the real members, two young women (presumably the groupies Harley and Ivy replaced) are shown bound and gagged in a dark room.

** The very first issue of the 2011 ''[[Catwoman]]'' series has the title character posing as a bartender as part of a heist. The real bartender is quickly discovered taped up and gagged in a closet, blowing Catwoman's cover.

** An issue of the 90's ''[[Catwoman]]'' series had the title character tying up and gagging a maintenance worker so that she could steal the worker's uniform and infiltrate the building where they were employed.

* In ''[[Black Widow]]'' (vol. 1) #1, the title heroine's rival, Yelena Belova, tapes up and gags a young flight attendant in an airport restroom in order to steal her uniform. She then stashes the unconscious attendant in an empty stall and scrawls "Out of Order" on the door with lipstick. After wishing the woman "Sweet dreams", Yelena takes her place on a flight so she can spy on the real Widow.

* An issue of ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' features a scene where [[Black Canary]] finds a nurse tied up and stripped of her uniform. Turns out that the "nurse" that her partner passed in the hallway was an escaped lunatic wearing the stolen uniform.

* ''Femforce''

** Issue #48 features a scene where Lady Luger yanks a passing woman into an alley so she can appropriate her clothing in order to flee the city undetected.

* ''[[Danger Girl]]''

** The "Army of Darkness" series employs this twice in one issue. Sydney Savage infiltrates a psychiatric hospital by subduing a doctor and stealing her uniform. Meanwhile, the patient she is attempting to rescue knocks out a security guard and steals his uniform.

* ''[[X-Men]]'' #207: Phoenix sneaks into the Hellfire Club and uses her mind-controlling abilities to put a waitress to sleep. She then steals her uniform so as not to be recognized upon entering the main section of the Club.

* [[Asterix]] and Obélix do this twice in an album: First with Roman legionaries, then with some Goths (not [[Goth|these ones]]).

* In one ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comic, a female Cobra agent ties up and gags a restaurant hostess and steals her uniform so she can plant a microphone in the General's hat.

* An old issue of ''[[G.I. Joe]]: Yearbook'' has Scarlett defeating the Baroness and her mooks offscreen, and then leaving them all bound and gagged in a closet. She strips Baroness of her catsuit and uses it as a disguise in order to rescue her friends.

* 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 ''[[Star Wars]]'', TK-421 and TK-422 are lured onto the ''Millennium Falcon'', where Han stuns them in order to steal their uniforms. They are however, NOT the right size.

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', Bart gets two KKK hoods for this purpose. Unfortunately they don't cover his hands.

* In the ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' movie:

** Conan acquires the robes of a priest to get close to Thulsa Doom.

** Earlier in the film, Valeria is seen sneaking up on a female cultist attending a human sacrifice. The movie cuts to Conan for a bit and when it cuts back to Valeria she's standing where the unfortunate cultist was standing, dressed in her robes.

* Near the climax of ''Honeymoon in Vegas'', Sarah Jessica Parker mugs a random showgirl and appropriates her dress in order to sneak past some casino guards.

* The [[Roger Corman]] B-movie ''Big Bad Mama'' features the mostly-female gang of criminals (lead by the titular "Mama") impersonating a group of singers and musicians in order to infiltrate a fancy party. The real singers are left in the parking lot, bound and gagged in their long johns. Another scene has the women robbing a building using a stolen truck and caterer uniforms, but what they did with the real caterers isn't shown.

* Played for dark drama in the climax of ''[[Midnight Express]]''.

* Subverted in ''[[Scary Movie]] 4'': Two female characters try to do this to two "village" girls only to be beaten up by them instead.

* In ''The Lion Roars'', while at a celebration, Cecilia Cheung pulls an unsuspecting chorus dancer behind a nearby curtain and later shows up dressed in her clothes and veil. This is less a reason to sneak into any enemy bases than it is to spy on her husband, whom she suspects of cheating.

* 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.

* ''[[Super 8]]'': Joe's father does this to escape the air force base.

* Done numerous times by [[The Three Stooges]], though often with the clothes not fitting properly.

 

== Literature ==

'''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. }}

* 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 ==

* Subverted in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' when Garibaldi goes to rescue Sheridan on Mars; he brings his own disguise, but gets injured while attacking the mooks and his bleeding later shows through the uniform, tipping off the prison guards.

* ''[[Sunset Beach]]'' has an episode where Annie disguised herself as an airline stewardess so she could sneak aboard a flight. When she is asked what happened to the regular stewardess, Annie replies with a knowing smile that she "got a little tied up". We then cut to a woman, minus her uniform, bound and gagged inside a dark closet.

** 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.

* 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.

* An episode of the BBC series ''[[Luther]]'' features a serial killer who attacks a motorcycle courier and steals the man's helmet and uniform. Using the disguise, the murderer infiltrates an office building and goes on a killing spree. He then tries to escape by stealing the business suit of a man he killed, but is caught by the titular detective before he can flee the building.

* A variation occurs in an episode of ''[[VIP]]'' A male and female assassin duo waylay the Johnsons, a married couple on their way to a trendy spa, and assume their identities. They don't steal their clothing, just their wallets and spa passes. They then leave the Johnsons taped up and gagged in a car trunk.

** Playfully subverted in “The First Chang Dynasty.” Jeff and Britta need to pose as a magician and his female assistant in order to infiltrate Chang’s party, with the implication that Jeff has an elaborate plan to dispose of the real entertainers and take their place. Instead, he simply calls them up on the phone and politely tells them the gig has been cancelled.

** 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.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* In one portion of ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', Locke has to steal soldiers' and merchants' uniforms in order to get around a town once [[The Empire]] takes over. Rather than knock them out, though, he just uses the "Steal" command to snatch the clothes right off their bodies.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' has a small portion of the game where Selphie and the team she is given are required to dress up as enemy soldiers in order to sneak into a missile base. Somewhat subverted in that they first steal a car, which had the uniforms in the back, rendering the need to knock out guards moot... They do it at the base anyway.

* Played straight in the ''[[Hitman]]'' games. Oftentimes, Agent 47 will need to mug several people for their uniforms in order to get to his target. Becomes one of the biggest complaints/sources of jokes about the game. When the Chinese limo driver steps into an alley to take a leak and comes back white, bald, and half a foot taller... [[Failed a Spot Check|no-one bats an eye.]]

* The ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' series has Ezio Auditore stealing armor from guards on occasion, usually so he can carry a box of valuables around without being attacked.

** 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''.

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

** And it ''[http://intragalacticcomic.com/2010/02/08/136-arent-you-a-little-nude-for-a-stormtrooper/ works]'' (NSFW too).

 

== Western Animation ==

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

** Another when Brian, Stewie and Mort beat up the Nazi guards and steal their uniforms. The uniforms happened to fit Brian and Stewie perfectly.

* A handful of these occur on ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. One episode has Lady Jaye sneaking into a Cobra sub-base and mugging a random worker for her outfit. Cobra Commander, though, isn't fooled for an instant.

** Cheshire seemingly does this TWICE in the episode "Targets", first to a gift shop employee and then to a female server at an Asian tea ceremony. Both take place offscreen.

* False Face does this in the ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' episode "Plague", where he steals the uniform of an airline employee. The real worker is later found bound and gagged in his undies.

* A major example takes place near the end of the second season of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai ambush Suki and the Kyoshi warriors, and the next time Azula and her friends are shown, they are clad in the stolen Kyoshi outfits. The fates of Suki and her teammates wouldn't be revealed until the third season, where we find out they were taken captive and placed in a Fire Nation prison after being mugged.

* ''[[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.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Disguise Tropes]]

[[Category:Steal This Index]]

[[Category:Stripping Tropes]]