Wig, Dress, Accent: Difference between revisions

When a character uses physical props to disguise themselves. This is a staple of [[Spy Drama]], where the hero will often use a wig and dress and affect an accent, thus the name of the trope.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': When Ranma Saotome needs further disguise than what his [[Gender Bender]] [[Involuntary Shapeshifting|Jusenkyô curse]] can provide, this trope is more or less how he goes about it. Though he does on occasion go a step further by pretending to be a [[Meganekko]] (see the Japanese Nanniichuan and Ryôga & Akane's First date storylines) or applying make-up and other accessories (lipstick on date with Tatewaki, make-up powder when pretending to be Ryôga's fiancée, etc.). This trope tends to work because the people he plays it against are either desperately lonely (Ryôga), [[Loveable Sex Maniac|utter perverts]] (Happôsai) [[Blind Without'Em|have rotten vision]] (Mousse) or are just plain stupid (Tatewaki Kunô). And even he was surprised it worked the first time he tried it: he was expecting Ryôga to see through it, though since it did work, he does it again and again.

* In the ''[[Super Mario Adventures|Super Mario World]]'' comic, Luigi swaps clothes with Princess Peach (or Toadstool) and dons a wig to infiltrate the Koopa Kids' stronghold, in which Mario is kept. In his defense, he at least tried to hide his face with a mask, which also justified her deep voice as "having a nasty cold."

* The whole premise of the Wayans brothers' ''[[White Chicks]]''.

* Subverted in ''[[To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar]]''. When the three drag queens are stranded in a Midwestern hick town, it seems that the townsfolk don't know the true sex of the "career girls". However, it's revealed at the end that they knew for awhile and simply didn't care.

* [[Roseanne]] as gone in drag a few times on her sitcom, once in the [[Halloween Episode]] as her costume, and in a [[Christmas Episode]] where she acts as Santa Claus at her mall (Jackie was the Missus). In both cases, one would think her ear-piercing voice would give away her gender, but she actually got past most people. In the Halloween episode, she even almost gets into a fight with a drunk bar patron and has to be rescued by Dan, who inexplicably plays gay while defending her.

* ''[[Leverage]]'' features this often when [[Manipulative Bitch|Sophie]] is running her part. Lampshaded and almost subverted in "The Rashomon Job" when a museum head of security notes that a duchess in the main hall bears a striking resemblance to one of the lab girls (both are Sophie's acts, one in a slinky evening gown with her usual accent, and the other in a white lab coat with what sounds like a Jersey accent) and almost seems to make the connection.

** Parker often does this as well but [[No Social Skills|isn't as good with the accent bit]], though she more frequently is seen using wigs than Sophie. She generally also uses [[Beneath Notice]] as well as a part of her infiltrations, occasionally switching to [[Show Some Leg]].

* It is often said that Odysseus recruited Achilles for the Trojan War by seeing through this. Achilles's mother sent him off to Scyros and disguised him as a girl, hoping to prevent his fated death in battle. Odysseus brought a cart of stereotypically feminine items and a cart of weapons to Scyros. Guess which ones Achilles found more interesting.

** Exactly the opposite and a great example of this trope occurs in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' with {{spoiler|[http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/2196/metalgearsolid3evatatya.png EVA/Tatyana]}}. Combed back hair, glasses, and a different set of clothes shouldn't really fool anyone, but instead of relying entirely on it, {{spoiler|she}} also changes {{spoiler|her}} body posture and movement and {{spoiler|her}} entire way of acting.

* Red Mage in ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]''. He already has long hair and he needs no accent (once again, because it's a webcomic). He simply puts on a dress and is able to fool anyone not in the party. He also tends to wear it even when ''not'' trying to disguise himself, which greatly disturbs both Black Mage and Thief. ("Cross-'''CHECKING'''").

** Aang disguises himself as a old man with a mustache and hair made of fur from Appa the flying bison the first time Team Avatar goes to Omashu. He gets found out when it blows off.

*** Smarty Mart's [[For Inconvenience Press One|phone tree menu]] includes: "To demand an enormous amount of money for the safe return of our founder, press three". Maybe he didn't remember Shego [[Fridge Brilliance|because he's been kidnapped so often that the incidents all blur together]].

** This is partly because Dutch uniforms were almost identical to German uniforms, plus the Dutch language and German are similar.