History Main / NobodyHereButUsStatues

* ''Series/GetSmart''. When in a KAOS bad guy's formal garden, his standoff with Max is broken by the reveal of a CONTROL agent posing as a statue -- unbroken when a KAOS agent is also a statue -- [[FlockOfWolves then again when another CONTROL agent]]... eventually the KAOS guy has to give up, as he's all out of statues, and Max ''still'' has one more he hasn't revealed at that point.

* The ''Literature/JudgeDee'' mystery ''The Haunted Monastery'', the eponymous monastery has a gallery of horrors depicting the torments awaiting sinners in the Taoist hell. A victim is abducted and displayed in the gallery, disguised as one of the figures.

** Kronk attempts this when he's trying to dispose of Kuzco's body. He flattens himself against a wall and tries to blend into the background (while still humming to himself). The two people he's "hiding from" see him but [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight continue on their business]], assuming Kronk's just a weirdo.

* The Beast hiding amongst a bunch of gargoyles in the climatic fight in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Though he does that at night and amidst some heavy rain, so Gaston's vision is actually somewhat limited by the surroundings.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': Gerudo tradition states that vai (girls) are forbidden from meeting voe (guys) until they come of age, so Link is forbidden from attending the “Voe and You” children’s class. However, he can sneak in by dressing up in the Desert Voe outfit and standing next to dummies wearing the same clothes, despite that the dummies just have a hastily scribbled face.

* In ''VideoGame/PajamaSam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'', a group of living furniture inside Darkness' house dance to disco music. The instant they notice Sam come in, they instantly stop moving and pose as regular furniture. One of the game paths adds a puzzle where Sam has to make himself invisible to be able to take back his mask before a couch pins it down.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode, "[[Recap/RugratsS3E9Reptar2010StuGetsAJob Reptar 2010]]", the babies imagine their own endings to the titular movie after Stu's VCR eats the tape. In Chuckie's ImagineSpot, Chuckie hides from the President and the Professor by posing as the Art/StatueOfLiberty, leading to this exchange;

* On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' Dr. Kelso pretends to be part of the painted mural outside the hospital. Dr. Cox has to physically touch his arm to convince him to give up the act.
-->'''Doctor Cox:''' Bob, I see you. ''[{{beat}}]'' Oh, for God's sake, you're three-dimensional. [..] I'm...physically touching your arm now.

pretending to fall for it, Ranma hits him and asks how stupid he thinks he is.

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Principal Kuno pretends to be a statue to cut off Ranma's pigtail from behind. After

* In an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash's Charizard does this as part of a stakeout.
* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' Principal Kuno pretends to be a statue to cut off Ranma's pigtail from behind. After

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'': In "The Amulet of Avalor", the baby griffin, who stole Sofia's amulet and the other shiny objects around the castle, poses in front of a portrait while covering himself with a curtain to hide from Amber and James.

Alice tries to hide from Bob, so she pretends to be a statue (or, in more cartoonish settings, even a painting or a relief) in a museum, art gallery etc. Sometimes she has to WalkLikeAnEgyptian to fit in, or end up holding an empty picture frame in front of herself. Bob typically doesn't catch on, though he looks at Alice suspiciously. (Bonus points if he says "[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible I'll never understand this modern art]]" or "What an ugly statue!")

* ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'': An example from one of the OVA episodes. Kei and Yuri's current quarry flees into a museum to hide; entering the museum, they are confronted by rooms full of statues. Kei promptly concludes that the target is disguised as one of the statues (which he/it is), and begins firing randomly into the air, sending shots ricocheting all over the place... and three of the ''other'' statues -- revealed as crooks who had hidden in the museum before closing time in order to rob it -- throw themselves on the ground and surrender.

* A recurring sketch on ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' featured a psychotic murderer who everyone (except the OnlySaneMan) thought was just a mannequin because he would stand really still whenever anyone was looking directly at him. Anyone else who eventually noticed the mannequin kept changing positions would come to the conclusion the OnlySaneMan must have been the one to move it in an attempt to scapegoat the mannequin.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode, "[[Recap/RugratsS3E9Reptar2010StuGetsAJob Reptar 2010]]", the babies imagine their own endings to the titular movie after Stu's VCR eats the tape. In Chuckie's ImagineSpot, Chuckie hides from the President and the Professor by posing as the Statue of Liberty, leading to this exchange;

* An early ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode had Kelly repeatedly trying to sneak out to go to a rock concert after being grounded. [[ItMakesSenseInContextUpon the family spending the night in Al's shoe store]] and he suddenly waking in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, Kelly poses as a store mannequin, which causes him to quip, "Damn mannequins look like hookers!"

Sometimes Alice will accidentally reveal herself, typically by [[SneezeOfDoom sneezing]], or in worst-case scenarios, Bob will sneeze and she will respond "gesundheit". Often Bob will pass Alice obliviously the first time, only to [[DoubleTake stop a few seconds later and run back]]; either they will have an [[{{Beat}} awkward pause]] before she runs away and he chases her, or Bob will find that Alice [[OffscreenTeleportation has vanished]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan'': In "The Greek Caper," Suzie, Alan, Anne, and Tom pretend to be Greek statues to hide themselves while being chased in a museum, but their cover is blown when Anne [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes.]]

** In "Strike Up the Band", Henry and Mr. Wilson chase a purse snatcher who tries to hide from them by posing as a mannequin in a department store display. He [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes]] twice, but Henry and Mr. Wilson assume the other sneezed instead. The purse snatcher gives himself away with a "Thank you!" instead.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'': In "The Fire of Hercufleas", Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool come to the ancient city of Mythis to seek out the titular Hercufleas so he can help them defeat King Koopa and his henchmen. When Mouser approaches the heroes, they jump onto the pedestals and pose as statues to avoid being spotted. Their ruse is nearly exposed when [[SneezeOfDoom Luigi gears up to sneeze]], but fortunately, Luigi doesn't sneeze until after Mouser leaves.

* In the ''{{Literature/Parker}}'' novel "Slayground" by Richard Stark, Parker sits in a wax museum display and his pursuers fail to notice him.

* In John Collier's "Evening Primrose" pretending to be a mannequin is one of the ways in which the people living in department stores maintain the {{masquerade}}.
* The Literature/JudgeDee mystery ''The Haunted Monastery'', the eponymous monastery has a gallery of horrors depicting the torments awaiting sinners in the Taoist hell. A victim is abducted and displayed in the gallery, disguised as one of the figures.
* Played for horror in Creator/FrankBelknapLong's Franchise/CthulhuMythos story "The Horror from the Hills". A museum displays what they think is a statue of the ancient vampiric god Chaugnar Faugn. It turns out they have the real thing, and he's just very, ''very'' good at holding still.

* Each time Series/ElChapulinColorado has to help somebody in a museum, this eventually happens, more often pulled by El Chapulín himself.

* A pretty common prank in ''Candid Camera''-style shows. Most of the time the "statue" simply [[JumpScare jumps at the victim, sometimes yelling]].
** The Ukrainian ''Naked and Funny'' ("''Голые и смешны''") series has an ''[[DeadlyPrank absolutely vicious]]'' [[DeadlyPrank prank]]. [[{{Fanservice}} A topless woman]] would stand on a pedestal, body-painted and remaining still to resemble a statue - and [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale kick passing men]] [[GroinAttack in the nuts]]. Justified (slightly) in that the nut-kicking would be largely restricted to men who [[AllMenArePerverts groped or ogled]] the "statue".

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Franchise/TheMuppets'':
** Done in ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', when Fozzie and Kermit are trying to escape from Doc Hopper in their rainbow-colored Studebaker. They pull up in front of a billboard with wild coloring that exactly matches the car.
** Also done in ''Film/KermitsSwampYears'', when Croaker hides from the pet shop owner at George Washington High School by posing as a trophy.
[[/folder]]

* The Perfect Stillness Merit in ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' allows the possessor to hold perfectly still, making this trope much easier to enact.

* One of the lazzi, or classic bits, from CommediaDellArte plays with this. Harlequin is romancing a young woman when a knock at the door signals the return of Pantalone, the girl's father. To escape, Harlequin pretends to be a chair by squatting with his arms outstretched; the young woman then throws a blanket over him to complete the illusion. Of course, when Pantalone returns, he immediately sits in the chair, only to jump up, as a "pin" has hit him in the backside...but it's no problem, as the pin was extremely small.

* [[Webcomic/CityOfReality Ian Samson's]] ''[[http://www.kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=2344 Idle Minds]]'' combines this with TakenForGranite, by having a girl petrified but conscious so she can spy on the BigBad. She finds the experience... unusual.
* There's a variation in the science fiction webcomic ''Webcomic/TheStormrunners''. Ssuara, a warrior on ancient Mars, is a member of a species that can (among other things) camouflage themselves by taking on the appearance and texture of Martian rock -- literally "going to ground". Image [[http://thestormrunners.thecomicseries.com/comics/14 here (NSFW: female humanoid nudity)]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': In "Grundy's Night", Clayface ducks into a wax museum with Batman in pursuit. He comments on the situation, "A shapeshifter in a wax museum. ''[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Great]]''."

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1473981713036249600
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

* Hotori and Tattsun pull one of these on Moriaki-sensei, the squarest man on Earth, in ''Manga/AndYetTheTownMoves''.

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' a few Golan soldiers try to hide among the statues, waiting to ambush any intruders. Pity the intruder is Kenshiro, who detects and kills them before they are able to do anything.
* In an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash's Charizard does this as part of a stakeout.

* A rather clever (though unsuccessful) one is pulled by {{Manga/Naruto}} when he's trying to avoid detection by Ebisu. Ebisu reaches the last place he saw Naruto, but only sees a ''[[ShowWithinAShow Make-Out Paradise]]'' billboard. He's about to leave when he notices the woman on the billboard wobbling a bit: Naruto used the transformation jutsu to disguise himself and then positioned himself so that he'd be virtually invisible from exactly that angle. It's pointed out to the audience by cutting to another angle and we see he's standing a few feet in front of the billboard in the exact same pose as the picture behind him.

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' Principal Kuno pretends to be a statue to cut off Ranma's pigtail from behind. After pretending to fall for it, Ranma hits him and asks how stupid he thinks he is.
* In ''VideoGame/LapisReLights'', Ashley attempts to use Metallization Magic and hides behind an actual metal statue to avoid detection. [[spoiler:It fails as the guard quickly notices how much smaller she is compared to the real thing and how off she looks.]]

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comics, when the police dress up as statues to catch "El Barto". Bart and Lisa watch them.
-->'''Bart:''' If you squint your eyes and ignore the blinking and breathing, they do sort of look like statues.\\
'''Lisa:''' I wonder if they left parts of their bodies unpainted to allow their pores to breathe? ''[sees supposed statue being taken away in ambulance]'' Guess not.

* Ash pretends to be a mannequin in ''ComicBook/DarkmanVsArmyOfDarkness'' to avoid being found by the Deadites in the local S-Mart.
* In one ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' story, [[LegionOfDoom Legion of Super-Villains]] member Ron-Karr (who has the power to turn tw0-dimensional) attempts to hide from the Legion by plastering himself against the wall and pretending to be a mural. It doesn't work.
* Mystique once hid from the North Korean police by disguising herself as a statue of the late "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung; when an officer threatened to shoot a child who he accused of being Mystique, she cried "No you won't!" and knocked him out with a hammer, saying, "Next time you'll get the scythe!"

* In Creator/BusterKeaton's short ''Film/TheScarecrow'', he disguises as a scarecrow in order to evade his pursuers.

* In ''Film/NightOfTheComet'', Reggie gets the drop on the mall-stockboy half-zombies by posing alongside a pair of store mannequins.
%%* Done in ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny''.
* ''Film/WildWildWest'': A group of armed {{Mooks}} hide as characters in paintings to guard a room from intruders. It almost works, until another character gives it away by looking at one of them. The hero kills that mook, and then shoots every other picture.

* In a classic ''Film/TheLittleRascals'' [[ShortFilm short]], Spanky and Alfalfa are being chased by Butch and the Woim and they run into a ballet theatre. In the next cut, they have put on ballerina costumes and wigs to hide as mannequins. Unfortunately, Alfalfa was dumb enough to answer Butch's question of where they are with "Nobody here but us dummies" while Spanky can only turn his head and glare at his friend, the only real dummy in that room.

%%* Mystique does this in ''Film/XMen1''. It helps that she's a {{Voluntary Shapeshift|ing}}er.
* In ''Film/{{Amusement}}'', the killer hides by pretending to be a [[spoiler:life-sized clown doll in a room full of clown dolls]].
* ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'': E.T. hides from Elliot's mother by pretending to be one of Gertie's stuffed dolls.
* ''Film/IvanVasilievichChangesProfession'':
** Ivan Bunsha pretends to be part of a sculpture when fleeing the Streltsy.
** In ''Operation "Y"'', another Leonid Gaidai film, one of the robbers pretends to be a mannequin standing between two actual mannequins. It works.
* There's a moment in ''Film/{{Zardoz}}'' where the resurrected Arthur Frayn conceals himself amongst a group of wax figures, so he can startle Zed by coming to life.
* Done in the first live-action ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie--the gang is in a haunted house attraction, and ends up standing in front of a medieval display just as {{Mook}}s are coming in from all sides. Fred announces that he has a plan; the camera pulls away for ''three seconds''; we pull back to the display, and the group has somehow managed to [[KnightsArmorHideout climb into two suits of armor]] (Fred and Shaggy), a full princess ensemble (Daphne), a bearded scholar's outfit (Velma), and a metallic gargoyle (Scooby).
* Done ''both ways'' in ''Film/ShanghaiKnights''. The scene starts with Chon Wang and Roy o'Bannon entering a waxworks museum to track down the boy who stole the Imperial Seal from them, and Wang walks right past two waxworks who turn out to be two Mooks sent by the BigBad after the same thing. Wang tries to battle them, then makes his escape, just as more Mooks head his way -- upon which he goes completely still, and they miss him entirely.

* ''Film/HomeAlone'':
** Kevin hides from the Wet Bandits by becoming part of the 1/2 scale Nativity scene outside his church. They run right past without a second glance, or even a first.
** Harry and Marv themselves do it in the sequel. They're hiding in mini-houses in Duncan's Toy Chest; when people walk by they freeze, and the customers assume they're part of the decoration.

* ''Film/TheyCallMeBruce'': Bruce is being chased by gangsters, so he hides in a dress shop disguised as a dummy. The gangsters are not idiots, though, so one of them stabs each dummy. As he's about to stab Bruce, the shop owner shrieks, distracting their attention so Bruce can change his position in the line. When Bruce is about to get stabbed again, the shop owner claims HeWentThatWay, but unfortunately a relieved Bruce makes the mistake of speaking.

* Used in ''Film/TheMasterOfDisguise'' as part of a sequence of events from Disguisey history, when one such Disguisey poses as a statue to ambush a thief.
* ''Film/TheOmegaMan'': The protagonist is apparently the last man on Earth after WorldWarIII. While exploring a department store for supplies, he sees a storefront dummy move; it turns out to be a woman trying this trope to hide from him. He pursues, but when she evades him, he just assumes that he's GoneMadFromTheIsolation and imagined her.
* ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'': When Newt tracks his niffler down at a jewelry store, it first tries to pose as a display dummy. He isn't fooled.

* ''Film/{{Gotcha}}'' is about a boy who likes to play pranks on people. His sister gets her revenge by turning off the water while he's in the shower. He goes outside to turn the water back on, but the front door slams shut behind him. While trying to get back in the house, he loses his towel and gets covered in gray paint. When a neighbor steps outside to see what the commotion is, he poses as a statue in her garden.
* In ''Film/TheFreakmaker'', Lynch stands stock still and poses as one of the dummies in the 'Haunted Goldmine' ride, and Tony runs straight past him.
* In ''Film/ScavengerHunt1979'', Dummitz attempts to steal a wedding dress by posing as a mannequin and sneaking out of the boutique.
* In ''Film/TheHazing'', Marsha poses as a mannequin in a display in order to steal a mannequin from the costume store for the ScavengerHunt.
* When Holmes and Watson infiltrate the BigBad's base in ''Film/SirArthurConanDoylesSherlockHolmes'', they find what they assume is an empty suit of armour standing in the centre of the room. Not until Watson raps on it and it attacks him do they realise that this is the BigBad's SteamPunk exoskeleton and he is inside it.
* ''Film/AManWithAMaid'': When the police search his house, Jack disguises the naked Alice as a Greek statue.
* ''Film/ThePrincess2022'': An accidental version. The Princess emerges from a secret passage, coming out directly between the legs of what she thinks is an empty suit of ceremonial armor. In fact it's an actual knight standing around in ceremonial armor for some reason, and a fight scene ensues.
* ''Film/JurassicParkIII'': A ''Velociraptor'' briefly manages to pull off this trick by pretending to be a preserved dinosaur head in a vat. Amanda goes in for a closer look and notices its eyeball twitch, at which point the raptor jumps out from behind and attacks. Fortunately, the gaps between the vats are too narrow for it to fit, so it gives her a chance to get away.
* ''Film/LadyOnATrain'': While searching the attic for the slippers, Nikki avoids being noticed by Saunders by posing as an armchair under a dust sheet.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. In "The Most Toys", Data is kidnapped by CollectorOfTheStrange Kivas Fajo. At one stage in the battle of wills between the two, Data pretends to be an immobile statue in the collection, humiliating Fajo when he brings round a rival collector to show him off as the only known positronic android.