History Main / VillainsBlendInBetter

* Brutally subverted in ''{{Dune}}''. The Harkonnens spend 80 years ruling Arrakis yet act as {{Evil Overlord}}s to the native [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Fremen]]. The Atreides, however, make friendly contact with the Fremen and an effort to learn the local customs while they're still moving in, even before Jessica and Paul being cast out into the desert made assimilation a necessity. Granted, a [[TheMessiah Messianic]] [[FateAndProphecyTropes prophecy]] concerning Paul had a great deal to do with it as well.

* Inverted in CSLewis's ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia''. The children are always quickly accepted by the Narnians, but Queen Jadis was openly mocked for trying to take over England.

* In [[HPLovecraft H.P. Lovecraft's]] ''CthulhuMythos'', Nyarlathotep is able to pass off as a human surprisingly well, considering he's actually an EldritchAbomination, whose minds typically are as alien as you can get. Later novels by other authors explained that the Mi-go, an alien race that worships him as a god, have been observing Earth for quite some time, sending him information precisely so that he could pass himself off as a human.
** He never does appear in our world in the human form in Lovecraft's own stories apart from the surreal prosaic poem ''Nyarlathotep'' that has only little to do with the deity he evolved into in later stories - unless you cound the Black Man from ''The Dreams in the Witch-house'' who never interacts with normal people (or even speaks), and is only barely human in appearance. His ability to take the guise of man is only an InformedAbility outside ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'' which takes place in the Dreamlands. Only later writers have actually had him actively pretend to be human.

* In ''{{Inkheart}}'', Capricorn loves the modern world and gets along in it fairly well; Dustfinger, on the otherhand, hates it.

* {{Subverted}} in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold.'' A thrill-seeking {{Batwoman}} {{Expy}} [[FreakyFridayFlip switches bodies]] with {{Batman}} and does a ''horrible'' job trying to fit in with the Batfamily, speaking and acting in an exaggeratedly feminine manner. Batman does a much better job convincing her accomplice, [[EvilSorcerer Felix Faust]], that he's her, even though he should [[FridgeLogic logically]] suspect that she'd already gone through with the body swap. When Batman finally meets up with {{Nightwing}} and {{Batgirl}}, he doesn't have much trouble convincing them who he is.

* In the ''{{Highlander}}'' films:
** In the first film, [=MacLeod=] hangs onto the past as an antique dealer, and uses his old mentor's sword. In contrast, the Kurgan embraces the newest music and fashions, and wields a high-tech collapsible sword.
** In the third film, the villain awakens after centuries of slumber and quickly assimilates into the modern world, aided in no small measure by his magical powers.
* In ''{{Terminator}} 2'', the T-1000 can look and act like any human it encounters, while the T-800 is easily recognizable to those who have already encountered one.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', the [[PuppeteerParasites Yeerks]] can generally adapt to Earth customs much faster than [[SenseFreak Aximili,]] [[spoiler:or [[AlienAmongUs Elfangor,]] ]]thanks to their hosts' memories and Voluntary Controllers. Ax keeps getting too distracted to follow his friends' advice and blend in by [[TrademarkFavoriteFood cinnamon buns.]] [[VerbalTic Buhn-zuh.]]

* In ''{{Terminator}} 2'', the T-1000 can look and act like any human it encounters, while the T-800 is easily recognizable to those who have already encountered one.

*** Of course he didn't figure Tak out; she had a holographic disguise, while Zim just has a [[PaperThinDisguise wig and contacts]]. It just one of the ways she's more competent than him.

* Not a time travel example, but similar situation arises in the final season of ''{{Smallville}}'': [[MagnificentBastard Lionel Luthor's]] counterpart from [[AlternateUniverse Earth-2]] is transported to the main universe and easily settles in, despite the fact that he's in a completely different universe - oh, and the fact that on Earth-1, Lionel Luthor's been ''dead'' for three years. He claims his cover story is that he faked his death, and he has Earth-1 Lionel's journal to fill in the details, so it may be justified.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': After "900 years of phonebox travel", the Doctor is about the most conspicuous person in the universe, but he is faced countless times by aliens who have no trouble hiding in plain sight in positions of power on Earth, such as the Slitheen, who manage to take over parliament, and one of whom later becomes mayor of Cardiff, or [[spoiler: the Master, who manages to get himself elected Prime Minister in about two years]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': After 900 years of phonebox travel, the Doctor is about the most conspicuous person in the universe, but he is faced countless times by aliens who have no trouble hiding in plain sight in positions of power on Earth, such as the Slitheen, who manage to take over parliament, and one of whom later becomes mayor of Cardiff. Most recently, [[spoiler: The Master manages to get himself elected Prime Minister in about two years]].
** This actually makes sense (and he's lying his ass off about only being 900), though. If you've been to millions of galaxies, planets, times and just about everything else, including an alternate universe or two, you would be unlikely to fit in in any of them, as you'd be changed and inspired by each. This still doesn't excuse [[{{Torchwood}} Captain Jack Harkness]]' ex, Captain John Hart, who either doesn't know or doesn't care that you aren't supposed to [[{{Squick}} fuck poodles]].
** Inverted in the "The Time Monster" (featuring the Pertwee Doctor). The Master materialises his TARDIS in Atlantis, convinced he'll easily dupe these primitives into thinking he's a god, but the wise old king sees through his charlatan's tricks and laughs off an attempt to hypnotise him. To add insult to injury, as the Master is being led off by the guards he runs right into the Doctor and Jo Grant whom he last saw in his inescapable DeathTrap. The king gives these two a better reception.
** Similarly, in "The Mysterious Planet", Sabalom Glitz is convinced that with a few explosives and a machine gun, he'll easily impress the backwards locals on Ravalox that he's the guy who should be in charge and thus be able to dismantle a valuable technological gizmo they believe to be a sacred totem. Unfortunately, he didn't count on their queen being more savvy than her primitive lifestyles would suggest, or the fact that many other con-artists have had the same idea as he did and approached her giving multiple reasons why ''they'' should be allowed to dismantle the totem as well. He's soon captured and thrown in a dungeon, much to his bewilderment. However, ironically this still works to impede the Doctor; when he goes before the queen with the ''real'' reason that he needs to dismantle the totem (it's about to explode and rip a hole in the universe), the queen's so sick of hearing [[CryingWolf all these false stories]] that she locks the ''Doctor'' up as well.
** In the Doctor's case, his assimilation issues usually stem less from his good nature being a hindrance or from his own inability to deal with the places he lands in and more from the fact that he's an incorrigible show-off who kind of enjoys being conspicuous and rarely can actually be bothered to try and conform to his surroundings. Regardless of how incongruous he appears in his surroundings, he often ends up barging in and taking charge of things eventually anyway.
*** It also probably stems from the fact that the Doctor, at least in the new series, prefers to travel a lot and rarely plans on sticking around in one time or place for long. With no intent to hang around, he probably sees no reason to bother keeping his behavior on the down-low. Most of the monsters of the week, on the other hand, stay in one place to build up their evil plan, and thus must bother with remaining inconspicuous.
** Subverted in an episode where Lady Cassandra [[GrandTheftMe possesses Rose's body]] and promptly makes it obvious she did so via behavior that makes it painfully clear that "Rose" has never spent a day in the twentieth century.

* In ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Princess Luna is a FishOutOfTemporalWater, due to having been trapped in/on the moon for 1000 years. As such, her way of speech and knowledge of royal tradition is 1000 years behind the times, leading to, among other things, a lot of use of AntiquatedLinguistics. Oddly enough, when she ''first'' returned, it was in the form of the villain Nightmare Moon, who had a modern, if grandiose, way of speech, and didn't have Luna's problem with having NoIndoorVoice.

* In {{Animorphs}}, the [[PuppeteerParasites Yeerks]] can generally adapt to Earth customs much faster than [[SenseFreak Aximili,]] [[spoiler:or [[AlienAmongUs Elfangor,]] ]]thanks to their hosts' memories and Voluntary Controllers. Ax keeps getting too distracted to follow his friends' advice and blend in by [[TrademarkFavoriteFood cinnamon buns.]] [[VerbalTic Buhn-zuh.]]

* {{Subverted}} in ''BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold.'' A thrill-seeking {{Batwoman}} {{Expy}} [[FreakyFridayFlip switches bodies]] with {{Batman}} and does a ''horrible'' job trying to fit in with the Batfamily, speaking and acting in an exaggeratedly feminine manner. Batman does a much better job convincing her accomplice, [[EvilSorcerer Felix Faust]], that he's her, even though he should [[FridgeLogic logically]] suspect that she'd already gone through with the body swap. When Batman finally meets up with {{Nightwing}} and {{Batgirl}}, he doesn't have much trouble convincing them who he is.

* In {{Supernatural}}, most demons, even ones who had been sealed away like Lilith, seem to have a pretty good grasp on modern life. Angels, on the other hand, especially the "good" ones, ''especially'' Castiel, sticks out like a sore thumb.

* Good god, this trope is averted in the first {{Terminator}} film, Arnold as the T-800 is pretty easy to spot in a crowd and looks and acts like a giant robot even before the RoboticReveal,(being HellBentForLeather makes him even more obvious as the villain.) Played straight in the second film where Robert Patrick's T-1000 looks and acts like a normal human (and is also trying to kill John Conner), whilst the now reprogrammed and heroic T-800 still sticks out like a sore thumb.

* In {{Animorphs}}, the [[PuppeteerParasites Yeerks]] can generally adapt to Earth customs much faster than [[SenseFreak Aximili,]] [[spoiler:or [[AlienAmongUs Elfangor,]] ]]thanks to their hosts' memories and Voluntary Controllers. Ax keeps getting distracted too distracted to follow his friends' advice and blend in by [[TrademarkFavoriteFood cinnamon buns.]] [[VerbalTic Buhn-zuh.]]

* In {{Animorphs}}, the [[PuppeteerParasites Yeerks]] can generally adapt to Earth customs much faster than [[SenseFreak Aximili,]] [[spoiler:or [[AliensAmongUs Elfangor,]] ]]thanks to their hosts' memories and Voluntary Controllers. Ax keeps getting distracted too distracted to follow his friends' advice and blend in by [[TradmarkFavoriteFood cinnamon buns.]] [[VerbalTic Buhn-zuh.]]

* In HP Lovecraft's ''CthulhuMythos'', Nyarlathotep is able to pass off as a human surprisingly well, considering he's actually an EldritchAbomination, whose minds typically are as alien as you can get. Later novels by other authors explained that the Mi-go, an alien race that worships him as a god, have been observing Earth for quite some time, sending him information precisely so that he could pass himself off as a human.