History Main / MonsterFacade

* This is the whole premise of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': the monsters pretend to be vicious and scary because [[PunchClockVillain it is their paid job]], as the screams of terrified children are their main source of energy. Ironically, the monsters themselves are [[HumansAreCthulhu far more terrified of the children]]. [[spoiler:The facade is eventually dropped once they figure out that ''laughter'' is a much larger energy source.]]

* ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo'': The [[Main/Mummy]] toy Mort is a romantic soul who yearns for the love of Princess Pitts, but the Princess cannot handle scary things and faints at the sight of him. Chibi Robo helps Mort deliver the Princess flowers, and then helps Pitts overcome her fears.

->'''Donkey:''' Hey, what’s your problem Shrek? What you got against the whole world anyway?
->'''Shrek:''' I’m not the one with the problem, okay? It’s the world that seems to have a problem with me. People take one look at me and go, “Aah! Help! Run! A big, stupid, ugly ogre!” They judge me before they even know me. That’s why I’m better off alone.

The reasons why a monster can do this can vary. Maybe it got tired of people responding with fear and TookALevelInCynic. Maybe it is [[CowardlyLion afraid of people]], so it keeps up the terrifying image to protect itself. Maybe it's putting on a show to help a friend or an accomplice (for example, to pull a MonsterProtectionRacket). Maybe someone [[PunchClockVillain pays them to put on the act]]. Maybe it simply [[IntroversionTropes prefers solitude]]. More often than not, there will be a good-hearted character who sees through the monstrous act, learn that the monster is NotEvilJustMisunderstood and befriend it, delivering AnAesop about not judging a book by its cover. You still have to BewareTheNiceOnes, of course.

Compare HiddenHeartOfGold, where a human pretends to be meaner than they really are and doesn't want anyone to know about his true, nice nature, and MeanCharacterNiceActor, when the monstrous act is the part of a show. Compare and contrast ScoobyDooHoax, where a human with malicious intentions pretends to be a monster. Also compare ThenLetMeBeEvil, when the creature goes one step beyond, and actually becomes a monster after constantly being treated like one. As TheReveal that the monstrous behavior was just an act is often near the end, beware of spoilers!

* ''Franchise/Pokemon''

** The vicious personality of Hydreigon is revealed to be this inemonScarletAndViolet Violet]]'' entry as a result of people seeing it as evil. It is shown to be a very affectionate Pokémon once you have obtained it, as shown while playing with it from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' onwards.

** The vicious personality of Hydreigon is revealed to be this in its ''[[VideoGame/PokémonScarletAndViolet Violet]]'' entry as a result of people seeing it as evil. It is shown to be a very affectionate Pokémon once you have obtained it, as shown while playing with it from ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' onwards.

* Armaldo in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' is responsible for the scary reputation of the dungeon where he lives, and acts the part of a dangerous monster, but turns out to be just pretending and is kind to Igglybuff when he's not afraid of him after all. [[spoiler:[[MultilayerFacade It turns out that he actually is a criminal, though, and his reputation also doubles as ensuring he won't get arrested]].]]

* Armaldo in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' is responsible for the scary reputation of the dungeon where he lives, and acts the part of a dangerous monster, but turns out to be just pretending and is kind to Igglybuff when he's not afraid of him after all. [[spoiler:It turns out that he actually is a criminal, though, and his reputation also doubles as ensuring he won't get arrested.]]

* {{Justified}} in ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest''. The Nightmare Knight, the BigBad of the series, was once an OmnicidalManiac who sought to destroy Dreamside. But upon his first defeat, observations with the world, and interactions with his creations, the [[SealedEvilInACan Disaster Masters]], he no longer wished to play the part of the villain. But the Nightmare Knight is powered by the fear that Dreamside holds towards him. If that were to weaken, he would weaken, and he would [[NoOntologicalInertia not have the ability to sustain the Disaster Masters]]. Alongside that, the Disaster Masters still see him as the malevolent villain he once was. Those who do find out that he no longer is, however, [[VillainousBreakdown do not take it particularly well]].

* {{Enforced}} in ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest''. The Nightmare Knight, the BigBad of the series, was once an OmnicidalManiac who sought to destroy Dreamside. But upon his first defeat, observations with the world, and interactions with his creations, the [[SealedEvilInACan Disaster Masters]], he no longer wished to play the part of the villain. But the Nightmare Knight is powered by the fear that Dreamside holds towards him. If that were to weaken, he would weaken, and he would [[NoOntologicalInertia not have the ability to sustain the Disaster Masters]]. Alongside that, the Disaster Masters still see him as the malevolent villain he once was. Those who do find out that he no longer is, however, [[VillainousBreakdown do not take it particularly well]].

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': [[WorldsStrongestMan Accelerator]] ''tries'' to do this, but is horrifically bad at it due to a combination of [[NoSocialSkills poor social intelligence]] and the automatic nature of his AttackReflector powers. Eventually he decides that [[InsaneTrollLogic the only way other people will treat him normally is if he becomes so strong that everyone will be too scared to challenge him]], and agrees to an experiment in boosting his powers by fighting [[ExpendableClone emotionless clones]] to the death... but out of uneasiness, he kills them in the most monstrous and nightmarish ways he can think of, [[SunkCostFallacy hoping that one of them will beg for mercy so that he can use it as an excuse to stop]]. Somewhere in the middle of all this he is discovered by [[TheHero Touma]], who defeats him and gets the experiment shut down... [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone at which point Accelerator discovers]] that not only were the [[RefugeInAudacity thousands]] of clones he killed [[ClonesArePeopleToo real people]], but the whole thing was [[FailureGambit an elaborate sham which the scientists had planned to abort as soon as he objected]]. This leads him to spend the rest of the series [[TheAtoner consumed with self-loathing, believing that he really was a monster all along]].

* The title character of ''{{WesternAnimation/Shrek}}'' does this in the beginning of his first movie. He's a grumpy, cynical ogre who grew tired of people screaming at his sight and attacking him with TorchesAndPitchforks, so he chases them away from his swamp. Donkey sees through his act and befriends him.