History Main / CoincidentalDisguiseComplementingTrait

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', Lila Rossi claims to be a descendant of a previous holder of the Fox Pendant. As luck would have it, the Fox champion in Master Fu's book happens to have red hair and green eyes like Lila. [[spoiler:Season 5 reveals this may have been more than luck, as it turns out that Lila is neither a natural redhead, nor does she have natural green eyes.]]

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Rubber Soul's Yellow Temperance would allow him to impersonate anyone perfectly... [[PerfectDisguiseTerribleActing if he could act at all]]. Instead, his disguise is quickly given away by his bizarre mannerisms, violent behavior [[SirSwearsALot and vocabulary]], and extreme smugness -- all of which are conveniently displayed when he loudly rolls a cherry around on his tongue before eating it seemingly just to taunt Jotaro -- except the real Kakyoin also does the cherry thing, comprising the sole detail that Rubber was close to getting right.

* ''Manga/CaseClosed'': An old man is suspected of being an impostor, stealing the identity of a wealthy family's great-uncle whomever to Brazil in order to obtain a share of the family inheritance, but the family is forced to accept his identity after he proves to have identical handwriting to the great-uncle, as well as a scar from an old sports injury. However, at the end of the case, Shinichi's dad [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter and superior detective]] Yusaku reveals their initial suspicions were correct: the old man is an impostor, who got the scar in the same tornado that [[AnArmAndALeg cost the real great uncle his dominant hand]], forcing him to dictate all his letters to his future impostor.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In episode "Dragon Quest", Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle wear a dragon costume to spy on Spike's efforts to be accepted by other dragons. The costume doesn't seem very convincing until one of the dragons mentions "he" must be the cousin of a dragon named Crackle... who looks just like the costume.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Manga/CaseClosed: An old man is suspected of being an impostor, stealing the identity of a wealthy family's great-uncle whomever to Brazil in order to obtain a share of the family inheritance, but the family is forced to accept his identity after he proves to have identical handwriting to the great-uncle, as well as a scar from an old sports injury. However, at the end of the case, Shinichi's dad [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter and superior detective]] Yusaku reveals their initial suspicions were correct: the old man is an impostor, who got the scar in the same tornado that [[AnArmAndALeg cost the real great uncle his dominant hand]], forcing him to dictate all his letters to his future impostor.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Rubber Soul's Yellow Temperance would allow him to impersonate anyone perfectly... [[PerfectDisguiseTerribleActing if he could act at all]]. Instead, his disguise is quickly given away by his bizarre mannerisms, violent behavior [[SirSwearsALot and vocabulary]], and extreme smugness- all of which are conveniently displayed when he loudly rolls a cherry around on his tongue before eating it seemingly just to taunt Jotaro- except the real Kakyoin also does the cherry thing, comprising the sole detail that Rubber was close to getting right.

* In ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'', the titular aliens' go to excuse for their oddness is "We come from France!". A disguised [[BigBad Agent Seedling]] hears this excuse and tries to trap them by switching to French. While they briefly look worried, they then continue the conversation in perfect French, clearly having [[CrazyPrepared prepared for this eventuality]].

* In ''Film/Coneheads'', the titular aliens' go to excuse for their oddness is "We come from France!". A disguised [[BigBad Agent Seedling]] hears this excuse and tries to trap them by switching to French. While they briefly look worried, they then continue the conversation in perfect French, clearly having [[CrazyPrepared prepared for this eventuality]].

* In one of the "Yes I am" commercials for Bud Light in the 1990s, our hero happens upon a family reunion being catered with Bud Light. When the catering staff incredulously ask if he's a member of the Lee family, our very American hero confidently responds, [[CharacterCatchphrase "Yes I am!"]] He then finds himself drinking Bud Light in the company of a very Chinese family. It doesn't seem to be going very well when one of the family elders asks if he's Chung's eldest son. But then the elder says, "You look just like him!" You can watch the ad [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZjWzpX1cQ here]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After Zuko and Iroh become fugitives from the Fire Nation, they go on the run in the Earth Kingdom pretending to be war refugees. Since Zuko has his distinctive scar from when his [[AbusiveParents sorry excuse for a dad]] burned him, no-one questions the story because they assume he was attacked by the Fire Nation's military.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In episode "Dragon Quest", Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle wear a dragon costume to spy on Spike's efforts to be accepted by other dragons. The costume doesn't seem very convincing, until one of the dragons mentions "he" must be the cousin of a dragon named Crackle... who looks just like the costume.
* ''WesternAnimation/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur'': In the episode "[[Recap/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur2023S1E13DevilOnHerShoulder Devil on Her Shoulder]]", Lunella manages to shrink Devil down to a human size so he can attend a movie premiere with her and Casey. However, he still looks like a dinosaur. Luckily, the movie they're going to see is a kaiju film, meaning that they can paint "Dev" green and make him look like a dedicated cosplayer. Because he can only speak in dinosaur noises, at first it looks like the PaperThinDisguise will fail... except that everyone simply praises his amazing cosplay and begs for photos.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}:'' After Tobias regains the ability to morph, he finds that his time spent [[ShapeshifterModeLock trapped in the form of a hawk]] has left him in the habit of appearing nearly emotionless when he isn't concentrating -- as hawks aren't known for expressing emotions. This works to his advantage in ''[[Recap/AnimorphsThePretender The Pretender]]'' when Visser 3 (masquerading as his cousin Aria) attempts to lure Tobias into a trap by offering to reveal the truth about his family, intending to infest him soon after. Tobias is meant to be pretending to be a self-interested delinquent throughout this scene, but he's left so shocked by the knowledge that [[spoiler:his father was Prince Elfangor]] that he loses all human expression... which ends up making him come across as bored and uninterested, exactly as an ordinary street kid would be on hearing this frankly insane-sounding news. Consequently, Visser 3 is left so unimpressed by Tobias that he dismisses him as unworthy of infestation and lets him go free.

* ''Series/InFromTheCold'': After infiltrating the Calero estate under cover of darkness, [[ShapeshiftingTrickster Jenny]] assumes the form of Diego Calero, then presents herself to Felipe and Andres so she can get some information out of them. Given that Diego was last seen in the middle of [[AddledAddict a breakdown]] over Ramon's death, both men are suspicious of his suddenly upstanding behavior, and decide to test "Diego's" composure and loyalty by having him play them something on the piano. By sheer luck, Jenny turns out to be a gifted pianist as well as a shapeshifter, and though the ex-[[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre FSB]] operative's repertoire is limited to Tchaikovsky (an odd choice for a Spanish terrorist), she's able to pass it off as a new piece she just learned, placating Felipe enough to involve "Diego" in the latest scheme.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'': At one point, Corvo has to infiltrate a party in order to find a target. He does this while wearing the mask he's donned while taking out several key political figures in Dunwall over the last several days, but because it's a MasqueradeBall for the rich and powerful, people assume that he's wearing it to make a statement of some form. As long as Corvo doesn't use any powers, draw his weapon for too long or get caught stealing, killing or trespassing, he doesn't arouse any suspicion. [[spoiler:Corvo can even take RefugeInAudacity and sign the guestbook with his actual name; this gets referenced in a later level, where a character speculates it's some kind of sick joke]].

** ''VideoGame/{{Hitman|2016}}'': In "Club 27", Agent 47 has the option of impersonating prospective drummer Abel de Silva in the hopes of getting close enough to assassinate bandleader Jordan Cross. However, once he's reached the recording studio in the Himmapan Hotel's penthouse suite, 47 will have to demonstrate his skills to lull Cross into a false sense of security... and by an unbelievable stroke of luck, 47 turns out to be an ''incredibly'' skilled drummer. Impressed by his skills, Cross takes him aside for a private chat -- leaving the rockstar-turned-murderer in the perfect position to be [[DisneyVillainDeath flung to his death from the hotel rooftop]]. This is averted slightly, in that it's established 47 always does intensive research on the job he's impersonating before he goes in, but in this case he had no ''reason'' to impersonate the drummer, unless he considered it necessary to cover every possible base imaginable.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'':

** ''VideoGame/{{Hitman|2016}}'': In "Club 27", Agent 47 has the option of impersonating prospective drummer Abel de Silva in the hopes of getting close enough to assassinate bandleader Jordan Cross. However, once he's reached the recording studio in the Himmapan Hotel's penthouse suite, 47 will have to demonstrate his skills to lull Cross into a false sense of security... and by an unbelievable stroke of luck, 47 turns out to be an ''incredibly'' skilled drummer. Impressed by his skills, Cross takes him aside for a private chat -- leaving the rockstar-turned-murderer in the perfect position to be [[DisneyVillainDeath flung to his death from the hotel rooftop]].

!!Examples
[[folder: Films - Live Action]]

* ''Film/GlassOnion'': The ultimate twist of the film is that [[spoiler: "Andi" is actually her twin sister, Helen Brand, tagging along with Benoit Blanc to help discover the truth behind Andi's murder. Though Helen has managed to replicate her sister's mannerisms quite accurately, TheReveal shows that there were a few glitches in her performance that ended up working in her favour: first, Helen suffered from a rather un-Andi-like bout of seasickness on the boat trip to Bron's island, forcing her to separate herself from the other Disruptors - accidentally making her seem aloof and cold, exactly as the real Andi would have been. Second, Helen was so nervous about playing the part that she got drunk on sambuca, but she turned out to be such a belligerent drunk that she unleashed a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on Bron and the Disruptors that perfectly captured the level of righteous anger and betrayal the real Andi would be feeling under the circumstances.]]

* ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'': While undercover at the ICBM site, James Bond impersonates a Russian nuclear physicist who was due to visit that day. The contact that the scientist was supposed to be meeting with, one Dr Christmas Jones, is a little suspicious of Bond, and at the end of their introductory chat, she remarks - [[BluffTheImpostor in Russian]] - that Bond speaks English very fluently for a Russian scientist. Bond replies, "I studied at Oxford" - [[BilingualBackfire also in Russian]], allaying her suspicions just long enough for him to get to work.

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}:'' After Tobias regains the ability to morph, he finds that his time spent [[ShapeshifterModeLock trapped in the form of a hawk]] has left him in the habit of appearing nearly emotionless when he isn't concentrating - as hawks aren't known for expressing emotions. This works to his advantage in ''[[Recap/AnimorphsThePretender The Pretender]]'' when Visser 3 (masquerading as his cousin Aria) attempts to lure Tobias into a trap by offering to reveal the truth about his family, intending to infest him soon after. Tobias is meant to be pretending to be a self-interested delinquent throughout this scene, but he's left so shocked by the knowledge that [[spoiler: his father was Prince Elfangor]] that he loses all human expression... which ends up making him come across as bored and uninterested, exactly as an ordinary street kid would be on hearing this frankly insane-sounding news. Consequently, Visser 3 is left so unimpressed by Tobias that he dismisses him as unworthy of infestation and lets him go free.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'': In "Club 27," Agent 47 has the option of impersonating prospective drummer Abel de Silva in the hopes of getting close enough to assassinate bandleader Jordan Cross. However, once he's reached the recording studio in the Himmapan Hotel's penthouse suite, 47 will have to demonstrate his skills to lull Cross into a false sense of security... and by an unbelievable stroke of luck, 47 turns out to be an ''incredibly'' skilled drummer. Impressed by his skills, Cross takes him aside for a private chat - leaving the rockstar-turned-murderer in the perfect position to be [[DisneyVillainDeath flung to his death from the hotel rooftop]].
* ''VideoGame/Hitman2'': In "Chasing A Ghost," one possible method of taking out crooked Bollywood producer [[{{Narcissist}} Darwood Rangan]] is to have Agent 47 pose as the artist that Rangan hired to create the latest portrait for his ShrineToSelf, then keep the target in position until a sniper hired by fellow target Vanya Shah can kill him. However, this requires 47 to actually paint the portrait, and in yet another unexpected twist, 47 has enough skill as a painter to successfully complete the artwork, finishing at the very moment the sniper blows Rangan's brains out.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': After Zuko and Iroh become fugitives from the Fire Nation, they go on the run in the Earth Kingdom pretending to be war refugees. Since Zuko has his distinctive scar from when his [[AbusiveParents sorry excuse for a dad]] burned him, no one questions the story because they assume he was attacked by the Fire Nation's military.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur'': In the episode "[[Recap/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur2023S1E13DevilOnHerShoulder Devil On Her Shoulder]]", Lunella manages to shrink Devil down to a human size so he can attend a movie premiere with her and Casey. However, he still looks like a dinosaur. Luckily, the movie they're going to see is a kaiju film, meaning that they can paint "Dev" green and make him look like a dedicated cosplayer. Because he can only speak in dinosaur noises, at first it looks like the PaperThinDisguise will fail... except that everyone simply praises his amazing cosplay and begs for photos.

[[/folder]]