Line #317 Main/ShoePhone


1	[[quoteright:186:[[Series/GetSmart https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shoephone.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:186:Hello? Dr. Scholl? Can you hear me?]]
3
4	->''"His watch is really a radio / His gun, a pen...''\
5	''He knows that it's / all gone, / no mom, / nobody wins."''
6	-->-- '''Music/WallOfVoodoo''', "Spy World"
7
8	A classic element of any SpyDrama or spoof thereof. A spy's PlotTechnology must inevitably be disguised as mundane objects. This can run the gamut from the practical to the ridiculous.
9
10	If an episode is to feature a gadget in some way, it will be introduced to the agent and the audience in a scene early on, usually by the TechnoWizard that built it. This scene has a few stock jokes of its own. They usually include the agent almost setting it off, not realizing it's really a gadget; a lecture by a Q-inspired briefing officer on the proper way to use it, and a stern warning not to play with it or break it as the agent did the last ones he was issued. In addition, nowadays the agent mistaking an actual mundane object for a gadget is practically required by all but the most serious examples.
11
12	And, in accordance with the Law of ChekhovsGun, every item introduced in the beginning ''will'' be used later in the story, even if it was just an ordinary object (except for Q's lunch, which is used off screen, by Q).
13
14	This trope owes its existence mostly to ''Film/JamesBond'', but real-life objects like this have been used by spies since the Revolutionary War or earlier.
15
16	'''Favorite objects to use as hiding places:'''
17	* [[BriefcaseBlaster Briefcases]]
18	* Canes and walking sticks [[SwordCane (great places to hide a long blade)]]
19	* Cell phones
20	* [[CombatHaircomb Combs]]
21	* [[MakeupWeapon Cosmetics]]
22	* Cigarette cases (in the '60s at least)
23	* [[CombatHandFan Hand fans]]
24	* Hairdryers
25	* Lighters
26	* Pens
27	* [[ParasolOfPain Umbrellas]]
28	* [[GadgetWatches Wristwatches]]
29	* And yes, [[TrickedOutShoes shoes]]
30
31	The more mundane the object, the better. Can be subverted when an agent assumes that a mundane object is a gadget, when it is really just what it looks like. This appears enough to make it an UndeadHorseTrope.
32
33	Can be [[InvertedTrope inverted]] if a gadget (say, a gun or a grappling hook) is modded to be mundane (say, a pen).
34
35	A collection of seemingly mundane items that can be [[IKEAWeaponry assembled into a functional weapon]] is called a ScaramangaSpecial. See also ThisBananaIsArmed, {{Prop}}, and SpyCam.
36
37	----
38	!!Examples:
39
40	[[foldercontrol]]
41
42	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
43	* ''L/R'' is notable for having just about every one of the titular spies' gadgets built into ''cigarettes''. Ah, the old communicator cigarette trick!
44	* Creator/{{Tatsunoko\|Production}} hero [[Anime/GoldenWarriorGoldLightan Gold Lightan]] is called such because it's a giant robot whose SleepModeSize is a gold cigarette lighter.
45	* Not a SpyDrama example, but Conan from ''Manga/CaseClosed'' does a lot of this. Pretty much the only part of his uniform that ''isn't'' some kind of gadget is the suit he wears. (And even that had a tracking device disguised as a button.)
46	* In ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'':
47	** G-1 had a glass cutter in the heel of his civilian shoe; the heels themselves were used as suction cups to quietly remove the panel.
48	** G-3 carried ''explosives'' in the heel of her civilian shoe. Along with a fuse that needed merely to be tweaked to be lit.
49	* In ''Literature/KinosJourney'': Kino has a knife that also has a gun built in, along with a laser sight for aiming.
50	* In ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'', as a gift, Norman is given a pen that, initially stumped as to its purpose as it's completely out of ink (the first clue that it's more than just a pen), later turns out to be a GPS device. It's disguised as a pen to get past Isabella's surveillance.
51	* The main cast of ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal'', being undercover spies in a {{Steampunk}} [[SpaceColdWar Cold War]] setting, occasionally make use of these gadgets. During her introduction to the team and its equipment, Princess Charlotte picks up a fountain pen from a WallOfWeapons and accidentally puts a bullet in a nearby stone bust.
52	--> '''Dorothy''': [[SarcasmMode Good job getting the safety off.]]
53	* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has used several of these from time to time. Examples include [[Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro a grappling hook hidden in his wristwatch]], [[Anime/LupinIIIByeByeLibertyCrisis exploding rubber ducks]], and [[Anime/FarewellToNostradamus a communicator in disguise as one of his teeth]].
54	* Parodied in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind''. [[TheDragon Doppio]]’s main form of communication with his boss is supposedly his cell phone. But when it breaks, he starts grabbing random objects and treating them like phones, going so far as to make ring tone noises himself, while being completely unaware that he's the one making those noises. Among the objects Doppio has used as phones include car charms, toy phones, and frogs. Despite this, Doppio is able to communicate with the boss by using these random objects as phones; presumably the only reason this seems to work is because [[spoiler:the boss is his split personality]].
55	* Hayasaka from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has a scrunchie with a built in smartphone and a hat with a tablet, both made by her.
56	* In ''Anime/LycorisRecoil'', the schoolgirl backpacks the Lycoris carry around actually carry pistol magazines on the bottom and the pistols themselves on their sides in quick-release compartments.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Comic Books ]]
60	* ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' (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.
61	** Hilariously played with, as sometimes the Shoephone will have something that makes it ridiculous or painful (such as having an actual phone into the shoe, or an antenna that extends without warning into the ear of the listener) or Mortadelo has done something to the shoe that usually backfires on him (for example, making it sound like a cat and, the next time he is called, a huge bulldog is passing by).
62	** Another joke is having the phone ring at the worst minute possible. Mortadelo performs a mission needing some degree of stealth, for example a burglary. He has managed to not awake their sleeping enemy or bypassed a few guards. Then the phone rings, alerting everyone to his presence.
63	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':
64	** ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'': Barbara Gordon -alias ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}- wears a miniaturized super-computer disguised as a bracelet.
65	** ''ComicBook/SupergirlWednesdayComics'': Aquaman carries a clam-shaped phone hidden in his belt.
66	* ''ComicBook/JetDream'': The heroes 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]].
67	* ''ComicBook/{{LEGION\|DC Comics}}'': In the {{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.
68	* Deuce employs a few devices like this in ''ComicBook/DangerGirl'', such as his pineapple communicator ([[AmbiguousSyntax which is a communicator built into a pineapple, not a device which allows him to communicate with pineapples]]).
69	* These, and other similar communication devices tend to show up repeatedly in ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske''. The page image for ''GarbageHideout'' shows Jerom using one.
70	* ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' gave his girlfriend Gloria Glad a commlink disguised as a pair of earrings so they could communicate with each other while she was on a camping trip with her father.
71	* ''ComicBook/HuntersHellcats'': In ''Our Fighting Forces'' #122, the Hellcats are equipped with high-powered explosives disguised as buttons on their uniforms. They use these to blow their way out of the Labyrinth.
72	* ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'': In ''Le Tombeau des Champignac'', Seccotine has a pen with a mike and recorder built in that she uses to secretly record the Count of Champignac's words.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
76	* ''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.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Fan Works]]
80	* ''Fanfic/SixesAndSevens'': For self-defense, Peggy gives Angie a tube of lipstick that can fire a .22 caliber bullet from the bottom when twisted correctly. She admits it's no pistol, but it can do some damage up close and at the very least can distract someone if she needs to make a getaway.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
84	* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'': Lucy Wilde of the Anti-Villain League manages to "convince" Gru to come with her by zapping him with a "lipstick taser".
85	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': Judy's carrot-shaped novelty pen is also a tape recorder. She uses it to [[EngineeredPublicConfession catch people admitting]] things they shouldn't. ''[[ChekhovsBoomerang Twice]]''.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
89	* In ''Film/{{Argylle}}'', the first enemy spy who comes for Elly passes as a fan of her books and has a shiv springing out of a pen. He's quickly neutralized by Aiden.
90	* Was subverted in ''Film/AustinPowers: International Man of Mystery''. 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!
91	* ''Film/SpyKids2IslandOfLostDreams'' spoofs this with a gadget watch that does just about everything ''except'' tell time. And then there's the SuperPrototype that does all that and tells time but the trade-off is that (in order to apparently get enough space) it's a gauntlet that covers most of the arm.
92	* Even though the ''Film/JamesBond'' films were famous for this trope, they weren't above sending it up from time to time.
93	** ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain''
94	*** Subverted. Bond drags a goon into a cupboard and put a device that that looks like a cigarette case in his hand. He tell him it's a gyroscopically triggered bomb that will go off if he tilts it at all. Later, he returns to the cupboard, where the goon has made agonising attempts to keep it level. Bond takes it off him, opens it and takes out a cigarette. It was just a cigarette case.
95	*** Bond picks up a device that looks like an old-fashioned nasal inhaler and asks Q how it works. Q puts it up his nose and sniffs in, and explains how good it is for his asthma.
96	** ''Film/GoldenEye'':
97	*** There's the classic moment in when Q is in the middle of the gadget briefing, and Bond picks up and begins to examine a submarine sandwich. "Don't touch that! That's my lunch!"
98	*** That film's BigBad is an ex-00 agent, so he knows those tricks. (Boris doesn't, and ends up with the [[StuffBlowingUp explosive pen]]).
99	** The rebooted films avert this for the most part (Most of the special tools Bond uses are exotic but fairly plausible cell phone apps), even after Q's reintroduction in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. In that film, he actually lampshades how old hat this trope is:
100	---> '''Q''': Were you expecting [[Film/GoldenEye an exploding pen?]] We don't go for that kind of stuff anymore.
101	** Despite the above though, Q still equipped Bond with special watches in both ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' and ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' (an [[BrickJoke explosive]] one and an {{EMP}} one, respectively).
102	* In the Bond-spoof ''Film/OurManFlint'', the hero Derek Flint turns down a briefcase full of spy weapons in favor of his cigarette lighter - which had 82 different functions. "83, if you want to light a cigarette."
103	* Subverted in ''Film/WhereTheSpiesAre'' (1965). The film opens with a KGB briefing on various gadgets used by British agents, which segues to a scene where a British agent is kidnapped by two Russians and uses one of these devices to break free, only to be gunned down as he's running away. Lampshaded in a later scene where the amateur spy played by David Niven runs into a veteran agent and is told to "throw away that rubbish and get yourself a bloody gun."
104	* Homaged in the action parody ''Film/CatsAndDogs'' with 'The Russian', a skilled cat-burglar armed with numerous gadgets including the dreaded 'stealth poo' -- a huge hairball that he coughs up which contains a container of fake doggy-doo that gets the canine guard thrown out of the house.
105	* Parodied in ''Film/ThePinkPanther2''. Creator/SteveMartin's Clouseau has a pen disguised as a tape recorder, so he can write down notes without people noticing.
106	* In ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'' James Bond is an old-school gentleman spy who, meeting with the secret service heads of the superpowers, contemptuously ridicules the gadgetry concealed on their persons.
107	* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', the Penguin has a gun in his umbrella. And a sword. And a ''helicopter'' (try and wrap your mind around ''that'' one). A later scene implies that the Penguin has an entire arsenal of different weaponized umbrellas, but he's only seen with one at a time and only exchanges umbrellas in that one scene. Either the Penguin keeps two more umbrellas hidden in his coat, or his standard umbrella functions as both a firearm, a melee weapon, and a personal aircraft.
108	* Seen in ''Film/IronMan2'' when Whiplash escapes from prison with the help of someone sending him plastic explosives that look like his normal cafeteria food, with a note to "enjoy the potatoes."
109	* ''Film/UndercoverBrother''. The title character has two pairs of TrickedOutShoes and a GadgetWatch. Of course, the purpose of the watch is to spritz hot sauce on white people's food to make it edible.
110	* Used (like just about every other spy trope) in the Leslie Nielsen film ''Film/SpyHard''.
111	* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', one of [[ColdSniper Sebastian Moran's]] weapons is a gun which fires curare darts, hidden inside a walking stick. He uses it when he needs to commit killings in public and then sneak away undetected.
112	* Spoofed in ''Film/JohnnyEnglish'': Johnny remarks that the secretary's pen looks just like a spy gadget he used in a previous mission. It looked and functioned like an ordinary pen, but click the end twice and it would turn into a gun that fired sleep darts... he does so, and knocks the secretary unconscious when the pen-gun accidentally misfires.
113	* In ''Film/JohnnyEnglishReborn'', Johnny assumes that a particular umbrella is actually a bulletproof shield when opened. His assistant keeps insisting it's a portable rocket launcher. Naturally, Johnny scoffs at this assumption. As expected, the assistant is right.
114	* In ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', Lucius Malfoy keeps his wand concealed in a walking stick with an ornate head. When he surrenders it to Voldemort in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Voldy unceremoniously breaks off the top and dumps it on the table in front of Lucius.
115	* Partly subverted in ''Film/ISpy''. When Alex receives his "spy gear" for the upcoming mission, he is incredulous that the stuff he's getting looks like they bought it at a [=RadioShack=] with no attempts to disguise it. He contrasts it with the gear intended for the bureau's super-spy Carlos, which looks like typical Bond gear, including the latest two-way contact lenses that allow one person to see the image transmitted by the second lens and vice versa. While the tech guys aren't looking, Alex pockets the lenses and uses them during the mission.
116	* In ''Film/BridgeOfSpies,'' Rudolf Abel is shown receiving messages with a fake hollowed-out nickel, while the American U2 pilots are given a silver dollar with a poison-laced pin, to be used if [[CyanidePill they were in danger of being captured.]]
117	* Played for laughs in ''Film/{{Spy}}''. To maintain her disguise as a frumpy American, Susan's gadgets include chloroform sheets disguised as haemorrhoid wipes, poison antidote disguised as stool softener, a security system neutralizer/pepper spray disguised as anti-fungal spray, and a night-vision scope disguised as a cheap ''Film/{{Beaches}}'' novelty watch. More are presented in the CreativeClosingCredits.
118	* The 2008 ''Film/GetSmart'' movie shows several of the original gadgets in a museum, including the shoe phone [[spoiler: which Max actually uses, routing a call from it through his cellphone to throw off triangulation.]] And introduces a few new ones such as a Geiger counter watch.
119	* Gadgets featured in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' include exploding silicon microchips, remote-activated poison pens, double-barrelled hand-pistols, a 50,000 volt electrified signet ring, augmented virtual reality spectacles used as a SpyCam, super-spy smart watches which can fire sleep darts and magnetized bolas, and shoes with poisoned neurotoxin pop-out blades reminiscent of those seen in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''. But the tablets are just off-the-shelf consumer electronics; the civilian computer industry had caught up to the spy world in that area. Harry also mentions that the shoes really '''did''' use to have phones in them.
120	* Parodied in one scene from ''Film/FromBeijingWithLove''. Ling Ling Chat has what appears to be a walkie-talkie... but it's actually a shaver. He also has what appears to be a shaver... but it's actually a hairdryer. His hairdryer... is actually a shaver. And his shoe? Another hairdryer.
121	* In keeping with its TuxedoAndMartini flavour, ''Film/OnceUponASpy'' uses a lot of disguised gadgets. These include the {{Gadget Watch}}es, thermite disguised as chewing gum, weighted glasses with a climbing line/garrotte concealed in the arms, etc.
122	* In ''Film/HorrorsOfTheBlackMuseum'', SerialKiller Bancroft uses several booby-trapped antiques to commit his murders. The most infamous is probably the binoculars that shoot spikes into the eyes of whoever looks into them.
123	* A non-espionage example can be found in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'', where Mr. [=McDowell=] is seen using a novelty phone shaped like a cheeseburger, flipping open the top bun to talk and closing it to hang up. (This is a real item you can buy, for the record.)
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Literature]]
127	* Parodied in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' with the devices of Qu, a History Monk who designs advanced, and often explosive, versions of Ninja weaponry, all disguised as the meagre possessions of an ordinary [[FantasyCounterpartCulture "Buddhist"]] monk (rice bowl, prayer blanket, tambourine etc.)
128	-->"No no no! It's tap-tap-throw-duck!"
129	* ''Literature/DocSavage'', the pulp hero of the 1930's and 40's, was famous for his gadgets (which he usually invented himself).
130	* Late in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series by Creator/StephenKing, a town full of people under watch develop plate weapons. They look like dinner plates, can be stored in the cabinet, but thrown just right they can take someone's head right off. Don't grab the wrong side.
131	* Used liberally throughout the ''Literature/AlexRider'' series, with Alex being given gadgets disguised as all kinds of things: Game Boys, iPods, books, and pens, to name just a few. Smithers really enjoys designing them, and notes that he has much more fun coming up with ideas for a teenager compared to the adults he normally has to equip.
132	* The key to the Solitaire encrypt in Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'': a completely ordinary deck of cards. (Although it turns out Solitaire wasn't as secure as Stephenson had originally thought, so ignore the Perl program in the back of the book.)
133	* Subverted in the ''[[Literature/BernardSamsonSeries Game, Set & Match]]'' trilogy by Len Deighton. A DoubleAgent's house is searched and found to have various spy gadgets disguised as household items. The protagonist says that the KGB gives these gadgets to their agents simply to give their treachery a glamorous ''Film/JamesBond'' aura, rather than because they're useful.
134	* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknights'': After [[KidHero the Midknights]]' first encounter with Fendra, Mumblin contacts them through a banana to let them know Sir Gadabout has reached him. After the conversation ends, the banana rots away quickly in [[TheProtagonist Max]]'s hand.
135	* ''Literature/MotherOfLearning'': When he starts learning how to make golems, Zorian makes his sister a simplistic wooden one that can't do much more than nod. However, in further repetitions of the month, he makes more and more sophisticated versions of the doll, until the final version is a bodyguard packed with concealed weapons and defensive wards.
136	* ''Literature/{{Nerds}}'', as a spy series, is rife with these gadgets:
137	** Played for BlackComedy with exploding chewing gum, which the user accidentally swallows, causing them to go "OhCrap" before the resulting explosion.
138	** Matilda/Wheezer's [[NerdyInhaler inhalers]], which can function as regular inhalers for Matilda's asthma but have a switch that turns them into blowtorches.
139	** Book 2 introduces a pair of Groucho Marx-style glasses, which despite making the wearer look silly, are actually a device called the Schnoz Projector that converts smells into images.
140	* In Creator/EdmondHamilton's ''Literature/{{Starwolf}}'' books, all mercenaries have them. Examples include a radio disguised as a button, another button that can be used as a blowtorch (enough to cut a prison bar or two), and a detachable rope running along all the seams of a shirt.
141	* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' applies this to ''magic'' with the Amakusa Christians. Their [[ReligionIsMagic magic rituals]] are constructed from objects and actions that each look completely mundane, to the point where they can cast spells in the middle of a crowded street with observers being none the wiser. This also extends to their fighting styles, where any slash, thrust or sidestep can [[FullContactMagic double as]] a MagicalGesture -- the Amakusa leader is even shown to [[ConfusionFu throw deliberately meaningless motions into his attacks just to keep enemy wizards guessing]].
142	* In ''Literature/TheSecretLifeOfKittyGranger'', the spies use tape recorders disguised as pens.
143	* ''Literature/DolphinTrilogy'': In ''Destiny and the Dolphins'', John has a set of gadgets made for Vinca and Syn: a ring that contains a transmitter and a pair of earrings that contain receivers, so he can talk to them even when they're not living together.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
147	* ''Series/{{Alias}}'' uses this, pretty traditionally, in nearly every episode. However, at least they go to the trouble of designing the gadgets specifically for the mission at hand, or the mission for the gadget, depending on your cynicism. Their "Q" Marshall managed to accidentally set off nearly every one, despite being the one to design them.
148	* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' has a phone in his wristwatch. He keeps on expecting other gadgets to have hidden uses, but they never do.
149	* Creator/StephenColbert once had a shoe phone on ''Series/TheColbertReport''. It was just a telephone receiver glued to the bottom of a shoe, complete with trailing cord. "Just looking at it, you wouldn't know it was a phone! ... And just wearing it, [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/156748/february-28-2008/cold-war-update you wouldn't know it was a shoe]]." And in another Cold War Update, his watch [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/223483/april-02-2009/cold-war-update---russia--cuba---space is also a gun]]. You can't tell!
150	* One episode of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' has an assassin who's hired to kill someone at the hospital. In order to smuggle a weapon into the hospital, one of her accomplices designs a set of crutches with a removable handle that conceals a pistol.
151	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]], being in part a ''Franchise/JamesBond'' homage, naturally does this. The most prominent are the bioscanner disguised as a digital recorder, the camera that can duplicate ID, and the [[TrickedOutShoes laser gun shoes]]. One [=MI6=] agent also has glasses with a built-in camera.
152	* ''Series/TheEqualizer''. In "Breakpoint", the [[BruceWayneHeldHostage title character has been taken hostage]] and the NYPD try to smuggle him a .22LR pen gun. Unfortunately the terrorist leader recognises it because "We use these too" and uses the pen gun to shoot the fake doctor who delivered it. However given the Stale Beer flavor of [=McCall's=] past as an espionage agent, the trope was downplayed; the few spy gadgets he used were mostly stuff you could buy commercially at the time.
153	* ''Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond'' naturally has a reference to this trope. Creator/IanFleming approaches his SassySecretary and shows her his new fountain pen, which sprays KnockoutGas in her face. He then uses a SpyCam hidden inside his cigarette lighter to photograph the documents on her table, placing the film inside a hollow golf ball. Has the creator of Literature/JamesBond turned traitor? No, it's just a demonstration on the future of espionage for OSS bigwig Bill Donovan. Except he really did knock out his secretary, who's not amused when she wakes up. Donovan likes the gadgets, but points out "you can't win an intelligence war with toys."
154	* In ''Series/FullHouse'', as illustrated in the episode "The Apartment", Kimmy's personal phone is one of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZfbN02_9Jw/ Sports Illustrated Sneaker Phone]], an actual working corded phone built into a sneaker, which was given away as a promotional item with subscriptions to their magazine for a time in the early 90s. HilarityEnsues when she fumbles her way for her phone, which is next to one of her real shoes, after Danny wakes her up with his call, with her grabbing her shoe by mistake initially.
155	-->'''Kimmy''': [[SmellyFeetGag Whoa, nasty!]]
156	* ''Series/{{Garcia}}'': Chencho, Section Nine's resident inventor, devised a number of gadgets disguised as regular items, including lollipops that are actually small hand grenades, which Chencho notes that will not explode as long as you don't remove the wrapping, and an intercom disguised as a pack of cigarettes, with the antenna itself having the appearance of a cigarette.
157	* ''Series/GetSmart'' had a number of [[RuleOfFunny ridiculous devices]]; the most famous is the pre-cellular wireless dress shoe that makes this series the TropeNamer. [[http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/gadgets.html A full list can be found here]].
158	** The shoe phone was used to [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]] as soon as it was introduced in the series pilot: in one famous sequence, the shoe phone went off in a theatre, breaking any cover Max might have had. In the first season, Max is identified at least once by his ringing shoes.
159	** A RunningGag in the show was whenever Max and Siegfried met face to face, the latter would greet him by [[WorthyOpponent clicking his heels and saluting.]] Max would then do the same, causing an unpleasant "crack" and a loud "DING!" to be heard followed by Max cringing, either from the sound or the fact that he may have broken another phone.
160	** In one episode, Max used the cigarette lighter in his car as a phone. He then had to use the car phone to light his cigarette.
161	** In one episode of the 1990s revival, Max's son is equipped with a gun that's really a flashlight and a flashlight that's really a gun.
162	** In "Pheasant Under Glass", a KidnappedScientist had his shoes removed by his captors, but fortunately they missed his ''sock phone''. Unfortunately he's been locked up in a GlassyPrison for several days, so is [[SmellyFeetGag on the verge of fainting]] when he uses it.
163	** In "Ship of Spies", Max and 99 have phones in their ''guns''. Needless to say, there were design flaws. ("99, I'm gonna have to hang up now. I may have to fire my phone.")
164	** In "Leadside", Max tries to blow up the VillainOfTheWeek with an explosive fountain pen. It just squirts ink on him, as Max has picked up the wrong pen.
165	** There was an episode where Max wakes up when his phone rings, and he picks up various items around his house, starting with his shoe, and including the log on the fireplace before actually answering the real phone which was the one ringing. One wonders why CONTROL had so many phone devices...
166	** The more one watches this show, the more one becomes convinced that about 90% of CONTROL's R&D budget was allocated to finding new weird places to hide cell phones. Max seems to have ''at least'' two dozen hidden phones in his apartment.
167	** "Satan Place" (episode 9 of season 1) features a scene in which Max talks on six hidden phones at once: watch, wallet, tie, garter, belt, and the obligatory shoe.
168	--->'''Max''': Cancel my handkerchief, hold my glasses, cut off my shoe, and see if you can get that guy off my tie.
169	** You know what's even funnier? The Russians had experimented with a shoe recorder and the show was once investigated by the CIA for their Cone of Silence. Especially funny since one of the {{Running Gag}}s was that the Cone of Silence never worked (in an amazing variety of different ways).
170	** We can't forget the ''Car'' Phone, which had Max accidentally dialing the operator every time he turned the steering wheel. %%Is that the exploding paint episode?%% Of course, that item does exist, just as a special software feature you install in your car.
171	** Even Agent 99, arguably the most level-headed member of CONTROL, was not immune:
172	--->'''Max:''' You carry soap in your purse?\
173	'''99''': Well, it looks like soap, and it feels like soap, but it's really a secret carrying case.\
174	'''Max:''' What do you carry in it?\
175	'''99''': Soap.
176	** In one of the movies, ''The Nude Bomb'', a CONTROL agent setting up Max's apartment with various gizmos picks up a stapler phone and tells the person on the other end of the line that he's leaving the stapler location and can be reached through his nose spray before exiting the apartment.
177	* ''Series/GilligansIsland'': In one DreamSequence, Gilligan imagines himself and the castaways as secret agents. Gilligan's arsenal is disguised as a grooming kit, and the girls have powder compacts and soup ladles as communication devices.
178	* In ''Series/HoneyWest'', Honey and Sam communicate with microphones hidden in a lipstick case and a pair of sunglasses.
179	* An episode of ''Series/Jake20'' has the titular character being sent to Germany to infiltrate a hacker group, who has never seen one another's face. Being a tech geek, Jake is a perfect person to send. Besides himself being the agency's secret weapon (or, rather, the nanites in his body), he is supplied with a tricked-out cell phone that instantly transmits the images taken with its camera to the NSA headquarters. When asked where he plans to keep the phone, Jake suggests the lining of his jacket, only for the incredulous Duarte to point out that it's a ''phone'', so he should treat it as such. When meeting the hacker group, Jake tries to stealthily take pictures, only for the NSA to start receiving dozens of group selfies, since the hackers assume he just wants some pics.
180	* ''[[Series/GiantRobo Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot]]''
181	** Johnny gave orders to the titular robot via a communicator hidden in his wristwatch.
182	** Most of the agents from Unicorn have 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.
183	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
184	** Almost all the weapons used by the Riders in ''Series/KamenRider555'' resemble ordinary objects like cellphones or cameras.
185	** In ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'', it's revealed that the IXA Riser used to access IXA's SuperMode was, in fact, his mouthpiece the whole time.
186	** A span of multiple series has an interesting variation, where the main character's gadgets can turn into robot animals to improve their function:
187	*** A few years ahead of the other series on this list, the Oni Riders of ''Series/KamenRiderHibiki'' carry [=CDs=] that can store audio and visual recordings, with autonomous animal modes for the purposes of ''getting'' those recordings.
188	*** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' has gadgets such as phones that turn into robot beetles, a camera that turns into a bat and can capture images[=/=]video autonomously, or a wristwatch that turns into a spider, making it a "smart" GrapplingHookPistol.
189	*** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' has "Candroid" robots that transform from soda cans. In addition, there are motorcycles that are disguised as vending machines and stationed around the city (and they dispense the aforementioned Candroids).
190	*** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze''[='s=] robots disguise themselves as fast food (though their robot forms ''are'' robots and not animals).
191	*** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' uses various technological gadgets that become robot animals like ''Double'', though most are more old-fashioned devices than ''Double''[='s=] were -- for instance, Ghost's phone robot is in the style of an old rotary phone. His other gadgets are a clock and a lantern, while the SixthRanger Specter owns a modern cell phone robot.
192	** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'' has a few gadgets that unfold from pocketwatches. The [=FaizPhone=] X[[note]]Pronounced 10, as a joking nod to [=iPhone=]'s then current model[[/note]] has a watch and gun mode in addition to becoming a cellphone. Much like ''555'', the show it's nodding to, the gun mode mostly looks like a cellphone being held like a gun. The other gadgets include the Ridestriker motorcycle, a hawk robot based on one of ''OOO''[='s=] Candroids, and a miniature humanoid robot based on a set of PoweredArmor from ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''.
193	** Many of the weapons in ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' unfold from briefcase shapes (a sword, a HandCannon, and a bow).
194	** The Riders of ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'' are given Spider Phones, smartphones that can turn into spider robots.
195	* ''Series/KCUndercover'' to the most part plays this trope straight, where a lot of the Cooper family's gadgets look like ordinary appliances and objects. Examples include KC's glasses ([[GogglesDoSomethingUnusual built in with facial recognition and x-ray features]]), KC and Kira's bracelets (acts as a communication device) and Pop's cane (sprays sleeping gas).
196	%%* ''Series/TheManFromUncle'' had some of earliest instances of this trope on television, with many (though not all) of their gadgets disguised as mundane items.
197	* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' had an inversion of the "it's exactly what it appears to be" sense, even though the case it was inverting wasn't exactly an example:
198	-->'''Major Winchester:''' ''[looking at various medicinal herbs]'' What does this cure?\
199	'''Traditional Korean doctor:''' Hunger. That's my lunch.
200	* ''Series/MIHigh'' has communicator pencils and various "gadgets of the week" that are invariably disguised as innocuous pieces of school paraphernalia.
201	%%* ''Series/MissionImpossible'' used it to a lesser degree.
202	* ''Series/MockTheWeek'':
203	** "Now watch carefully, 007, this may look like an ordinary suitcase, but if you push this button a handle comes out and you can wheel it..."
204	** "It's not just a baseball bat, Bond, it's a baseball bat with a nail through it!"
205	** "Ingenious Q, a bomb that's also a rucksack!"
206	** "This is no ordinary pen, Bond! Turn it upside down, the woman's clothes drop off and you can see her tits."
207	* In the ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch "The Bishop", the Bishop has a phone embedded in his crosier (that is, his staff of bishopishness).
208	%%* ''Series/TheMrPotatoHeadShow'': subverted in the spy episode: [[CloudCuckooLander Potato Bug]] is regularly in the habit of speaking to shoes.
209	* Darnell from ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' has been shown to have several pieces of his hair turn out to be phones - they [[ThisPageWillSelfDestruct self destruct]] after use.
210	* Such tools were a major part of Joel Hodgson's prop comedy stand-up routine, and therefore made their way into many of the Invention Exchange segments on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. The most outlandish was a submachine gun hidden inside a casserole dish, complete with casserole.
211	* The ''Series/MythBusters'' once successfully chased a myth about an umbrella that hides a gun. They made a replica that was fully functional and could have fatally wounded someone, and they actually needed special permission to make that kind of disguised weapon.
212	* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'': The episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE15TheGirlWhoWasDeath The Girl Who Was Death]]" shows Potter, one of Number 6's fellow spies, undercover as a shoe-shine man. He communicates with HQ via a phone disguised as a polishing brush. ''Almost'' a literal Shoe Phone.
213	* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', Sarah Jane Smith carried a sonic device similar to [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor's]] [[IconicItem sonic screwdriver]], concealed in a lipstick.
214	* ''Series/SpittingImage''. A spoof of the ''Spycatcher'' scandal had Peter Wright being equipped with some retirement gadgets after being booted out of [=MI5=].
215	-->'''Q:''' This little device looks like a harmless flamethrower. In fact, it's a pen.\
216	'''Peter Wright:''' Ingenious. And what other devilish ideas have you got for me, eh?\
217	'''Q:''' A book. Cunningly disguised as a sensational story, but when you open the pages, you find it's a load of whinging self-pity from a rather suspect right-wing snooper, droning on about his pension rights.
218	** 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.
219	* 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.
220	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' homage episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E10OurManBashir Our Man Bashir]]", an earring turns out to be a bomb.
221	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' tends to disguise their TransformationTrinkets as cell phones most commonly, and at times can double as other devices (mostly for controlling mecha). ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'', being espionage-themed, took it up to eleven as most if not all of the team's weapons and gear are designed after ordinary objects (their [[SwordAndGun guns and swords, for instance, are cameras and binoculars]]). The ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' adaptation, ''[[Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers Beast Morphers]]'', on the other hand, downplays the spy aspect and seems to have AdaptedOut the alternate forms of the blasters and sabers.
222	** In ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', Bulk and Skull seemed to have their jobs as cops confused with spies as they once used a shoe phone that was in the form of a shoe.
223	** Similarly in ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'' Season 2, Tsu a corporate spy took her job name too literally and had a shoe phone that also looked like a shoe.
224	* ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' has phones disguised as pens, powder compacts, teapots.
225	* ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' went one better with the Science Patrol having a standard communicator pin that was even ''smaller'' than the type in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. All the agents have to do is pull up a tiny antenna to activate it and send a message.
226	* The game song styles on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' gives us the aptly titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpVd_IRTRug&t=2m51s My Shoe Is A Phone]].
227	%%* ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' did it during the Reconstruction era.
228	[[/folder]]
229
230	[[folder:Music]]
231	* Wall of Voodoo's "Spy World", the provider of the page quote.
232	* The music video for the Music/MattBianco song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU4H87kjl90&ab_channel=Dutchmarc66 Whose Side Are You On?]]" features the use of numerous retractable gadgets, including a shoe phone.
233	[[/folder]]
234
235	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
236	* ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein:'' Spies (and quite a few other people) in this game’s part-{{Steampunk}} setting love their period-style concealed gadgets, and there are game rules to cover the topic.
237	[[/folder]]
238
239	[[folder:Theatre]]
240	* Kurt Weill's music-theatre piece ''The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken'' (''Der Zar lässt sich photographieren'') is about a group of revolutionaries' attempt to assassinate the Tsar using a gun hidden in a studio camera. Their plan falls through as the female "photographer" develops UnresolvedSexualTension with her prospective victim.
241	* In the musical Theatre/SpiesAreForever, the song "Pay Attention!" features [[MissionControl Barb]] showing [[TheHero Agent Kurt Mega]] the various devices she and her team have developed, all disguised as mundane objects (such as a laser hidden in a watch). The concept is then parodied as she and Kurt rattle off an increasingly improbable series of objects that are actually guns ("Coffee cup!" "It's a gun!" "Apple?" "Gun!" "Paper clip?" "Gun!").
242	[[/folder]]
243
244	[[folder:Toys]]
245	* Secret Sam... a briefcase with hidden camera gun and missile launcher [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l_4xMjZu5g inside]], and Six Finger, basically [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hmDs2vKASo&feature=related the old toy gun and real pen in the extra finger trick.]]
246	* {{Franchise/Transformers}}! Think back to G1: even if the robots that turn into cars and jets don't count, the ones that turn into a radio (Blaster and Soundwave), cassette tapes (dozens of little buggers), and a microscope (Perceptor and, in both the ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' film and toyline, Scalpel). The original Megatron deserves mention since he's an interstellar despot disguised as a Walther P-38 -- oddly enough, original James Bond's favorite gun.
247	** The all-time winner has to be Ejector, also from the ''Revenge of the Fallen'' toyline. He transforms into a freaking ''toaster''. (He's also an AscendedMeme, having first appeared in a really funny Mountain Dew commercial which also exemplifies this trope.)
248	** Music Label Soundwave has a fully functional [=MP3=] player integrated into his torso, and he maintains his full transforming functionality. Other such Device Label Transformers include Ravage, who becomes a flash drive, Rumble and Frenzy, who become a set of earphones, and Blaster who is also a fully functional USB hub (though the hub takes the shape of a tiny laptop computer).
249	** Movie-toyline Real Gear Transformers become surprisingly realistic devices, including a camera, an [=MP3=] player, a handheld gaming console shaped vaguely like the Wonderswan, a camcorder, a set of electronically enhanced binoculars, and a flip-phone.
250	* Mattel produced the [=ZeroM=] line of toys to cash in on the '60s superspy craze. They included a transistor radio that unfolded into a rifle, a 35mm camera that unfolded into a pistol, a Super 8 movie camera that unfolded into another gun, and even a BriefcaseBlaster... and all of which are now illustrations of [[TropeNamer Zeerust]].
251	* Another toy line from the late 80s, ''Spy Tech'', featured gizmos like a camera that could be (rather conspicuously) disguised as a box of Good'n'Plenty candy.
252	* [=McDonald's=] once had a Happy Meal set with this as the gimmick. There was a "tape recorder" that could unfold into a magnifying glass; a "phone" that could turn into a periscope; and a "calculator" that could turn into a stamp set.
253	* There was a ''Get Smart'' tie-in pen radio (the closest thing actually seen in the series was a bugging device concealed in a pen, in "Our Man in Toyland"). The actual toy was a crude crystal set, crammed into a fake fountain pen.
254	[[/folder]]
255
256	[[folder:Video Games]]
257	* ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'' gives Cate Archer a wide array of girly-themed items one could conceal in one's purse or otherwise on their person - from the relatively mundane (e.g. a barrette that flips out into a lockpick, a belt buckle that works as a GrapplingHookPistol, or a perfume bottle filled with sleeping gas) to the much more dangerous (e.g. a stun gun disguised as mascara, a cigarette lighter that functions as a welder, or grenades designed like lipstick containers.
258	* 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. One unlockable cosmetic for the Spy is the Camera Beard, [[SpyCam a regular camera]] [[IncrediblyObviousBug badly-concealed in a fake beard]].
259	* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'':
260	** You can pick up a knockout-gas cigarette case, one of the only weapons that can be used when Snake is disguised as an enemy soldier or scientist. It's also strangely effective against two immune-to-bullets bosses near the end of the game.
261	** Also lampshaded during a discussion between Snake and Major Zero about James Bond, in which Snake comments that (for example) a gun-pen would make him look stupid in the jungle, at which point Zero insists they could build him a gun shaped like a snake, so he can "make it look like [he's] grappling with a giant snake, and then get a shot in on the enemy while they're distracted", and it can "fold up into an attaché case." In which Snake then replied that it was even sillier (then Zero gets upset at Snake for "bashing" Bond).
262	* ''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, to help sneak it into sensitive areas.
263	* The various ''Franchise/JamesBond'' games naturally make use of this.
264	** ''VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'' has a cell phone that also comes with a [[EnergyWeapon laser]], a password cracker, a switch activator, and a grapple hook that can somehow extend for 10 meters or more.
265	** In ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', Bond's wristwatch serves as the game menu and health/armor indicator and contains a built-in magnet and laser that are used to get out of certain level-specific [[DeathTrap death traps]] in a ShoutOut to the movies.
266	** In ''VideoGame/{{Nightfire}}'', the password-cracking cellphone from ''Agent Under Fire'' makes a return as well as a digital camera disguised as a (working) Zippo lighter and a flashbang grenade disguised as an electric shaver.
267	* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' has Sam's wristwatch. Dear God, what '''can't''' it do? It can hack computers, disarm bombs, pick locks, scan eyeballs, get fingerprints from a surface, playback voices for getting into voice-locks, show a map with the locations of bad guys, and operate as a standalone computer for storing files and the like. ''In a goddamn watch.'' Granted, you ''are'' the [[TheAce best spy the NSA has.]]
268	* These compose [[Franchise/RatchetAndClank Clank's]] armaments in ''VideoGame/SecretAgentClank'', including shuriken bowties, an umbrella that shoots electricity, and a briefcase[=/=]flamethrower, to name a few.
269	* The ''VideoGame/SpyFox'' point-and-click games, being an AffectionateParody of spy fiction, features several as a matter of course. They run the gamut from toothbrush lasers to safe-cracking cheese-and-cracker snacks to instant ski pellets (JustAddWater) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking to]]... [[MundaneMadeAwesome Silly Putty]].
270	* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': One of her super moves reveals that Kokonoe's lollipop is capable of generating black holes. She still seems content to put it in her mouth, though, so one wonders what the activation sequence is.
271	* ''Zubo'': One of [[{{Expy}} Agent]] [[Franchise/JamesBond Tux's]] attacks utilises an exploding rose.
272	* Subverted in ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'': The Spy, despite being a walking, talking Film/JamesBond ShoutOut, doesn't use any fancy gadgets or even a gun, preferring psychology to make himself look like a fellow unitfrom that army. He does, however, keep a large amount of money on hand to bribe enemies.
273	-->'''Reporter:''' What sort of technology did you use? Any special gadgets or transportation?\
274	'''Spy:''' Most of that is just fantasy. No, no, I used my brain. The most important aspect to successful espionage is basic human psychology, how to manipulate perceptions and make people see what you want them to see. For some, the ability to read people is a natural talent--it then becomes a matter of training yourself to react appropriately, to lead the mark to whichever logical conclusion you desire. People are actually very easy to manipulate.
275	* ''VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName'': The "Spider" and "Firefly" gadgets Kiryu has access to in the Agent style fall into this. The "Spider" is a GrapplingHookPistol hidden inside of his wristwatch, while the "Firefly" (as seen in the video example) is a bomb disguised as a cigarette.
276	[[/folder]]
277
278	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
279	* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' features these. The first one to show up is Matt Engarde's watch/cell phone in the fourth case of ''Justice for All'' (unless you count the statue/clock of The Thinker from Case 1-1/1-2).
280	* A few of these show up in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies''. [[spoiler: They all belong to the BigBad of the game, the spy known as the Phantom. He has a wristwatch with a [[GrapplingHookPistol grappling hook]] and a jamming device in it, and a lighter that conceals a .10 caliber gun.]]
281	[[/folder]]
282
283	[[folder:Web Animation]]
284	* The briefing for [[https://youtu.be/qTAAkp5kMyg Agent 7]] in his ''WebAnimation/TheCyanideAndHappinessShow'' short involves his "Q" giving him items that can double as sex toys, like a pen that can function as a vibrator, a flashlight/fleshlight, and a gun that shoots lube.
285	* The ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' StylisticSuck ShowWithinAShow ''Dangeresque'' either parodies this, or makes it very clear that Strong Bad needs better props: Dangeresque's car phone is a VCR.
286	* The indie computer-animation short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjUAnPc2VA Pigeon: Impossible]]'' has a pigeon accidentally fall into a CIA agent's briefcase which contains JetPack thrusters, guns that fire [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]], and a BigRedButton.
287	* ''WebAnimation/TeamFabulous2'': The scene depicted in the video's thumbnail, no less. A BLU Soldier, pinned down by enemy Sniper fire, calls his Engineer teammate using a boot. The Engineer [[FailedASpotCheck (who is]] [[ShortDistancePhoneCall right behind him)]] answers his call using a banana. The scene is capped off with a DisconnectedByDeath moment after Engie stands up and gets sniped, leading the Soldier to slam down the boot in frustration.
288	[[/folder]]
289
290	[[folder:Web Comics]]
291	* The [[GenderBender T-Girls]] of ''Webcomic/JetDream'', the RemixComic, play this trope even harder than [[Comicbook/JetDream their original comic book counterparts]].
292	* In one arc of ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'' Jack is given a shoe phone after being temporarily recruited by SHADO, even though [[BarefootCartoonAnimal he doesn't wear shoes]].
293	[[/folder]]
294
295	[[folder:Western Animation]]
296	* ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' has a few. Trevor Goodchild owns a golden cigarette case that transforms into a pistol. Aeon herself has a self-destruct mechanism hidden in her backpack that goes off [[TheyKilledKennyAgain whenever she dies]] to prevent enemies from looting her corpse & a gimmick tooth with a small compartment in it.
297	* Both ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' and ''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.
298	* Butch has a radio concealed in his ring in ''WesternAnimation/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKids''.
299	* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'''s 2X4 technology. ''All'' the weapons, gadgets, and vehicles are made out of standard props and everyday items. It's amazing how they are able to do it.
300	* ''WesternAnimation/CoolMcCool'' has a moustache for a phone.
301	* ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'': In "Operation: Anvil," Dick Dastardly is shown to have a phone in his boot which he answers while wearing it (Muttley actually answers it but then Dick pre-emptively grabs it from him).
302	* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "In Like Ed". The Eds have somehow become convinced Kevin is spying on the other kids in the neighborhood, and Edd starts preparing spy-gear, including listening devices disguised as household objects and a smoke bomb disguised as a jawbreaker. Ed finds a coathanger, and asks:
303	-->'''Ed''': What's this do, Double-Dee?\
304	'''Edd''': That's just a coat hanger, Ed.\
305	'''Ed''': Oh... mum's the word.
306	* The short-lived Creator/ComedyCentral animated series ''WesternAnimation/FreakShow'' inverted this ''and'' played it straight in the same episode: The villain was a sinister paparazzo whose camera looks like a sniper rifle (for utility purposes rather than disguise). He doesn't understand what's wrong with this, it's not like it can hurt anybody -- the inverse, a gun that looks like a camera, would be a thousand times worse. Cut immediately to a guy in the media pool below shooting people with his camera-gun.
307	* ''WesternAnimation/GetAce'':
308	** The main character wears ordinary-looking braces that hide [[SwissArmyWeapon fifty different gadgets]].
309	** The villains have a briefcase that transforms into a helicopter.
310	* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "The Time Traveller's Pig", Blendin Blandin's time machine resembles an ordinary tape measure.
311	* ''WesternAnimation/TheImpossibles'' receive their assignments from their chief via TV screen inside a guitar neck.
312	* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' was himself the hiding object for his gadgets. Penny and Brain had communicators in their watch and collar respectively, and Penny had a "computer book" in the pre-laptop era.
313	* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'' uses these in its spy parody episode "Bravo, James Bravo". Includes a (weak) laser hidden in a mirror and a bomb-comb.
314	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' has a number of recurring devices, notably her GrapplingHookPistol/hair dryer. There are briefing scenes in many episodes, but not all. In her case, it's a stylistic thing; she isn't really trying to [[OvertOperative hide]] [[SecretPublicIdentity anything]].
315	* Smurfette from ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' has a MagicMirror that she talks to Gargamel with embedded inside a makeup compact, which was used in "The Smurfette" and "Smurfette Unmade" when she was an "un-Smurf" working for the evil wizard.
316	* Parodied on the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode "Spy Buddies": among [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's spy gear are Spongebob's 'coin operated' pants-phone and Patrick's laser shorts, which mess up and fire everywhere when [[spoiler:he has to go to the bathroom.]]
317	* ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' does this all the time. The boys all wear communicator watches, there are the portraits that they use to speak through and even light-up drink straws when they want to subtly attract someone's attention. Lady Penelope has a teapot communicator as well as a powder compact one. And probably many more examples this editor has forgotten.[[note]]Although given the fact that it is set in the 2060s, bystanders' reaction to said communicators (in one episode Brains is [[MistakenForCrazy mistaken for delusional for using what is essentially just a smartwatch]]) borders on ZeeRust[[/note]]
318	* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheTick''. When he first enters Arthur's apartment, Tick nearly tears the place apart looking for the switch that activates his secret crime lab. Of course, there isn't one. In the comic book, this leads to the rather awkward question of why Arthur would invite a large, muscular man in tight spandex up to his apartment in the first place.
319	* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' has a briefing scene in every episode, and all the gadgets look like they came out of the Barbie doll aisle at the toy store or the contents of a Teenage Girl's purse.
320	** They also tend to have cutesy names like Stuntan Lotion.
321	** Items for Male Agents seem to exist as well. Instead of a compact, Jerry (the Girls' boss) has a communicator disguised as a wallet. A humorous example was a fake mustache designed to hold items, that the girls had to test once. It didn't pass. it grew bigger with every object stored and maintained weight so it eventually became unwieldy and conspicuous.
322	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}''. Stripperella's extravagant blond hair can serve as a parachute. She also has laser lipstick, a tongue-stud camera, nipples that can cut glass and pumps that enable her to climb up walls. In a parody of Q gadgets, Stripperella is inevitably given a device that turns out to be just what she needs to get herself out of a trap, but turns out to be not quite so useful in practice. An example is when the tech group gives Stripperella a Penny Disintegrator, and she is later trapped in a large jar being filled with pennies. But it takes a full minute for the device to disintegrate a single penny, so she ends up having to just break the jar.
323	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'':
324	** Brock throws away his disguised spy-gear in disgust in "Assassinanny 911", claiming it either never works right or is outright useless. He's especially disappointed that the cigarettes he's issued aren't real ones for smoking. In flashback, he almost eats a baguette, but is stopped by his fellow agent who warns him "Do not eat that! That is C4!."
325	** 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.
326	[[/folder]]
327
328	[[folder:Real Life]]
329	* TruthInTelevision: The British and American secret services created numerous gadgets of this sort for use by UsefulNotes/WorldWarII spies, saboteurs, and [[LaResistance partisans]]. Typical ones include a camera hidden in a match box, playing cards that had hidden maps, 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.
330	** This technique was also used to smuggle supplies to [=POW=]s to aid in escapes, with things like hacksaw blades hidden in pencils, radio components in chess pieces, and [[http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/monopoly-game.htm Monopoly sets with secret maps, compasses, files, and (real) money]].
331	** At the Pencil Museum in Keswick, there are a few examples of pencils in which had been hidden a tiny compass and a rolled-up map of Germany, again for [=POW=]s.
332	** During [=WWII=], the Office of Strategic Services[[note]]ancestor of today's CIA[[/note]] issued .22-caliber one-shot pistols that were disguised as cigars, cigarettes, and pens. They were weapons of last resort, designed only to kill or injure an enemy at contact range and hopefully take his more useful gun.
333	** Also in WWII, the OSI developed plastic explosive that could be disguised as animal droppings.
334	** A more attractive variant of that one was a plastic explosive that looked just like Aunt Jemima pancake mix for use by resistance groups. It was even edible.
335	** Related: the CIA's explosive flour that, when baked into cakes and bread, could be smuggled into a guarded area, 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.
336	* One can easily find sandals that have bottle openers on the sole. Not quite as cool as a phone or bomb, but much more practical.
337	** So long as one keeps careful track of where one has stepped before popping open a cold one...
338	* Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov was killed in London by a poisoned pellet [[ParasolOfPain hidden in an umbrella]]. "Bulgarian Umbrellas" are still occasionally used as a British UnusualEuphemism to describe unorthodox means of murder.
339	* The mobile phone zip gun used to be an increasing security risk. Then came the smartphone, and a few years later carrying a brick-phone with a physical keyboard no longer makes one inconspicuous.
340	* The non-fiction {{doorstopper}} ''Spycraft'' by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton tells the history of the CIA's Office of Technical Services. It not only details the numerous gadgets, but has a large section detailing the philosophy and tactics behind their deployment. One interesting fact is how fictional spy gadgets [[LifeImitatesArt spurred the creation of real life devices]], as [[TheRedStapler agents in the field began demanding the miraculous do-anything devices they saw in the movies and TV.]]
341	* Back in the 60s, the KGB really did have a radio transmitter that fit in the heel of a shoe.
342	* Also back in the 60s, the CIA reportedly went to elaborate lengths to fit a microphone and a radio inside a... [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty cat]]. A live one. [[FinaglesLaw It got run over by a taxi]] [[EpicFail almost immediately after it was first deployed in the field.]] The program was scrapped shortly after that.
343	* Most people will assume you are insane when they see you talking to your watch, until they realize [[http://www.samsunghub.com/2009/07/22/samsung-unveils-worlds-thinnest-watchphone-s9110/ it's actually]] [[http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/16/lg-gd910-watch-phone-review/ a phone]]. This has now become something very much standardized thanks to the Apple Watch and other smartwatches that have LTE capabilities.
344	* [[https://wolfpersonalsafety.com/product/cell-phone-stun-gun-rechargeable/ A taser that looks like a cell phone]].
345	* Eff-in Science showed a hand-phone. Well, actually a glove phone. They disassembled a Bluetooth earpiece, attached the speaker portion to the tip of the thumb of a glove and the microphone to the tip of the pinky. The demonstrator could hold his hand up with his thumb near his ear and his pinky near his mouth and talk over the cell-phone. "Add voice dialing," they said, "and you'd have a fully functional hand phone."
346	** 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 [[{{Pun}} going hand-in-hand]] with each other.
347	*** Although speaking to one's hand is much more suspicious that using laryngophone/earpiece combo, not to mention you cannot use your hand while speaking. It looks cool though.
348	* The International Spy Museum in Washington DC has all sorts of obsolete spy devices such as lipstick guns. Some of these devices make one wonder what modern intelligence agencies really have.
349	* A partial subversion is the gun knife that was used by the KGB. It looks like a combat knife and it is one, but it also able to fire the knife portion using gunpowder hidden in the base. As you can imagine, it has very limited uses unless you are not able to shoot someone who might shoot a hostile or you somehow lost all your guns. That's not saying it won't [[CrazyPrepared save your life.]]
350	** Russian Special Forces also allegedly have a combat knife with a single-shot derringer built into the handle, firing a 5.45mm rifle round. It's not clear whether or not they actually ''use'' this feature, however, as the shot fires from the pommel of the gun; anyone brave or foolhardy enough to fire the thing has to point the blade directly at themselves in order to aim it, and the recoil is said to be formidable. There's a similar weapon purported to be of Chinese origin that can fire three .22 bullets, which lacks the aforementioned design flaw of its Russian counterpart. Video footage of at least one example in private hands can be seen on the Internet, so it's quite possible that it's being made and sold as a (probably highly illegal) novelty somewhere in East Asia rather than a military-issue weapon.
351	** NRS-2 (Scout Knife, Shooting, Mk.2) is an actual Spetsnaz weapon. However, it is chambered for a PSS silent pistol round, not a 5.45 rifle round.
352	* Various spring-loaded blades have been disguised as innocuous items like matchboxes or lipsticks for concealed carry.
353	* Shaquille O'Neal has a literal shoephone; there's a nineties cellphone embedded in the bottom of the left half of one of his famous Size 22 pairs of shoes.
354	* Another literal example was the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZfbN02_9Jw/ Sports Illustrated Sneaker Phone]], which was given away as a promotional item with subscriptions to their magazine for a time in the early 90s. It was an actual working corded phone built into a sneaker.
355	* It's fairly common for money boxes to be disguised as other objects known commonly as diversion safes, these are popular with parents as a child is less likely to steal from them. In Britain at least, the most common design seems to be a tin of Heinz baked beans.
356	* The ''Platform/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.
357	* A [[https://imgur.com/a/c4WNF high-heel wedge]] 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.
358	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / ShoePhone