History Main / ShoePhone

* TruthInTelevision: Several gadgets used by UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spies. A camera hidden in a match box, playing cards that had hidden maps, an actual pen gun (good for one shot), and shoes that looked like feet (when landing on beaches, foot prints with toes were less conspicuous than combat boots, which would draw attention). When in the business of being a spy, you don't want to draw attention to yourself, and these toys did just that. All saw action with a moderate reported success rate.

** Also in WWII, the OSI developed a plastic explosive that looked just like Aunt Jemima pancake mix for use by resistance groups. It was even edible.
** Related: the CIA's explosive flour that, when baked into cakes and bread, could be smuggled in then kneaded into plastic explosive as required. These could be prepared with a special OSI variant of the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife, which when sheathed could be used as a fully functional spatula. Of course, the existence of such a [[{{Pun}} half-baked]] idea was on a [[{{Pun}} knead to know]] basis.

* A [high-heel wedge](https://imgur.com/a/c4WNF) has enough space for a portable router running custom firmware to sniff and attack nearby networks. As the hacker points out, secure facilities may ask her to leave her phone at the gate, but it's very unlikely for visitors to be asked to leave their shoes.

** An Australian radio skit about the same scandal had a bookseller being exposed as an MI5 assassin when his shoe started ringing, though the fact that he was selling copies of ''Spycatcher'' written in invisible ink should have given him away earlier.
* Subverted in the ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' episode "Nest of Angels". An Algerian agent listens politely as MI5 show him a number of disguised communication and bugging devices for his mission to infiltrate a radical Islamic group. The next scene shows him dumping this highly compromising equipment into a canal.

* ''Series/SpittingImage''. A spoof of the ''Spycatcher'' scandal had Peter Wright being equipped with some retirement gadgets after being booted out of {{MI5}}.

* The ''UsefulNotes/NGage'' was supposed to bridge the gap between being a cellular phone and a portable game console, but aside from design flaws in the device itself (inserting game cartridges involved removing its battery, for instance), the method of talking into it looked more like you were holding a taco to your cheek. This led to MemeticMutation about "sidetalking" -- photos of people using anything in the vicinity as a phone, regardless or ''because'' of how stupid it looked.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'':

* The Spy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has, fittingly enough, a disguise kit built into his cigarette case and a cloaking device for a wristwatch. The [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm "Dapper Rogue" catalogue]] also sells things like these. The Camera Beard eventually became an unlockable cosmetic for the Spy.

* In ''Literature/KinosJourney'', Kino has a knife that also has a gun built in, along with a laser sight for aiming.

** ''ComicBook/SupergirlWednesdayComics'': Aquaman wears a clam-shaped phone hidden in his belt.

* The series ''[[ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon Mortadelo y Filemón, agencia de información]]'' (German: Clever & Smart, French: Mortadel et Filemón or Futt et Fil, Dutch: Paling & Ko, English: Mort & Phil) by Spanish artist Francisco Ibáñez, which started in 1958 provides an early example, and heavily parodies the ''Film/JamesBond'' spy genre. The series is a bizarre slapstick comedy with even more bizarre gadgets in which the two titular agents are constantly surrounded by idiots, explosions and mad scientists and plagued by bad luck and their own semi-competence, not to mention their choleric superior. The series was never translated into English, though. Sometimes, both Mortadelo and Filemón have it, but usually it's only Mortadelo.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}''/''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Barbara Gordon -alias Batgirl- wears a miniaturized super-computer disguised as a bracelet.
* ''ComicStrip/SpyVsSpy'' has several examples of this, as the two spies use these to kill each other. Examples include special shells that disguise their firearms as certain props like hair dryers and cameras. They disguise bombs as harmless items from time to time as well, like books, teeth, and credit cards.
* [[ComicBook/JetDream Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies]] have a wide array of spy gadgets and weapons, almost invariably disguised as stereotypically "girly" items, from a compact full of "Kayo Powder" to a radio hidden in an earring to Marlene's "Tunic Chute," a skirt that billows out into [[ParachutePetticoat an emergency parachute]].
* In the ''L.E.G.I.O.N.'' {{Elseworld}} ''L.E.G.I.O.N. 007: [[Film/JamesBond James]] Lobo in: The Spy Who Fragged Me'', Garryn Bek, acting as Q, gives Lobo a golf cart that's a machine gun, a motor scooter that's a rocket launcher, and a cigarette carton that contains a dagger. Lobo's reaction is to "cut out the bull" by pulling them all out of the housings, and just carrying a load of weapons.

* Both ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' and its {{Time Skip}}ped sequel, ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' indicate that although the Omnitrix (and even moreso in the Alien Force variation, which has an onboard AI) looks like a watch, it does not tell time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

** The heroes however ''do'' have video phones in their watches. Dr. Venture's brother JJ does him one better by hiding a phone in the collar of his shirt, allowing him to use it even if he is captured and tied up.

** Related: the CIA's explosive flour that, when baked into cakes and bread, could be smuggled in then kneaded into plastic explosive as required. These could be prepared with a special OSI variant of the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife, which when sheathed could be used as a fully functional spatula. Of course, the existence of such a [[IncrediblyLamePun half-baked]] idea was on a [[IncrediblyLamePun knead to know]] basis.

** Alternatively, they could just use the pad from the watch-phone above to the same effect. A glove and a watch are very inconspicuous, while [[IncrediblyLamePun going hand-in-hand]] with each other.

* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' gives Cate Archer a wide array of girly themed destructive items (Mascara laser, hairspray flamethrower, and the like) one could conceal in one's purse.
* The Spy in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has, fittingly enough, a disguise kit built into his cigarette case and a cloaking device for a wristwatch. The [[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm "Dapper Rogue" catalogue]] also sells things like these. The Camera Beard eventually became an unlockable item for the Spy.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' has a laptop that can turn into a machine gun and a heat-seeking, wall-sticking turret gun. Apparently it has basic computer functions, too.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}''/''Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'' story ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' Barbara Gordon -alias Batgirl- wears a miniaturized super-computer disguised as a bracelet.

* [[Comicbook/JetDream Jet Dream and her Stunt-Girl Counterspies]] have a wide array of spy gadgets and weapons, almost invariably disguised as stereotypically "girly" items, from a compact full of "Kayo Powder" to a radio hidden in an earring to Marlene's "Tunic Chute," a skirt that billows out into [[ParachutePetticoat an emergency parachute]].

* ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot[=/=]Manga/GiantRobo'' had a neat little gadget with Unicorn: a little and ''very'' powerful emergency communicator hidden in the heel of their standard uniform boot. All the agents has to do is flip open the heel, pull out the device and use it.

* In the original live action version of ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot[=/=]Manga/GiantRobo'', Johnny gave orders to the titular robot via a communicator hidden in his wristwatch.

* Was subverted in ''Film/AustinPowersInternationalManOfMystery''. When the government supplies Austin with a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss, he figures the paste is a plastic explosive, the brush its detonator, and the floss is garrote wire. Actually, they just want him to do something about his [[BritishTeeth woeful teeth]]. DoubleSubversion -- Austin actually manages to use all three items in a spy-gadget-like fashion in the course of the film. ''And'' gets his teeth cleaned and fixed by the end of the film. It's a Subversion Hat Trick!