Sometimes, things are not what they appear to be.
Index for pages about things that look like something else at first, or that are supposed to look like something else to the other characters in-universe. May be integral to maintaining The Masquerade.
Contrast with the Information Desk. See also Espionage Tropes, The Secret Index, & Truth and Lies.
Tropes:
Subcategories
- Animated Armor: Looks like an armored warrior, is actually a suit of armor moving on its own.
- Animesque: Looks like anime, is actually non-Japanese animation.
- Artistic Age
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot
- Becoming the Boast
- Bifauxnen: Looks like a pretty boy, is actually a girl.
- Boyfriend Bluff
- Brandishment Bluff
- Bullet Holes and Revelations
- Camera Spoofing
- Cardboard Pal
- Crocodile Tears: Seems like real crying out of sadness, actually manipulation.
- Deceptively Human Robots: Looks very humanlike, actually robotic.
- Decoy Protagonist: That guy looks like he's going to be the main character, but he dies or otherwise gets removed from the plot before the real protagonist shows up.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Looks like a woman, is actually a man.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Looks like a man, is actually a woman.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Looks like the final boss, is actually only the final boss of one part of the story.
- Disneyesque: Looks like Disney animation, is actually non-Disney.
- Expensive Glass of Crap: Looks like a fancy expensive drink, actually terrible and overpriced.
- Fabricated Evidence
- Fake Action Prologue
- Fake American: Sounds American, actually not.
- Fake Australian: Sounds Australian, actually not.
- Fake Boobs
- Fake Brit: Sounds British, actually not.
- Fake Charity
- Fake Defector: A character defects to the enemy organization, but this is merely an act and they're still loyal to their original affiliation.
- Fake Faint
- Faked Rip Van Winkle: Someone thinks they’ve been asleep for an extremely long time, but it’s actually a prank.
- Fake Faith Healer: Presented as a healer who channels the power of a deity, actually a scammer.
- Fake High: A character consumes what they think is an intoxicating substance and act like they're inebriated due to not being aware that the substance is non-psychoactive.
- Fake in the Hole
- Fake Kill Scare
- Fake King
- Fake Loud: Sounds loud, actually a normal volume with effects to make it seem loud.
- Fake Muscles: Looks like strong muscles, actually fake muscles to hide a weaker body.
- Fake-Out Fade-Out: Looks like an ending transition, actually not the end.
- Fake-Out Make-Out
- Fake-Out Opening
- Fake Pregnancy
- Pillow Pregnancy: Looks like a pregnant belly, actually a pillow under the shirt.
- Fake Rabies: Looks rabid, actually faking it.
- Fake Special Attack: Looks to be a menacing attack, only for it to not go through.
- Fake Town
- Fake Ultimate Hero: A character has a reputation of being a brave and unstoppable hero, but it's all hot air and they're not even half the courageous badass they're believed to be.
- Fake Ultimate Mook
- Fake Weakness
- Faking Amnesia: Seems like serious memory loss, actually faked.
- False Crucible
- False False Alarm
- False Flag Operation
- False Reassurance
- False Roulette
- Faster Than They Look
- Faux Action Girl: Presented as an action girl, actually rarely involved in action.
- Faux Computer Code
- Faux Death
- Faking the Dead: Seems dead, actually faking death.
- Fauxdian Slip: Sounds like a Freudian Slip, actually done on purpose as an insult.
- Faux Documentary
- Mockumentary: Seems like a documentary, actually fiction in the style of a documentary.
- Faux Fluency
- Fauxlosophic Narration
- Faux Paw: Looks like a paw, actually a hand curled cutely to resemble one.
- Fauxreigner: A character pretends to be a nationality that they are not.
- Fauxshadow
- Fauxtastic Voyage
- Fauxtivational Poster
- Faux-To Guide
- Faux Yay
- Feet of Clay
- Fight Scene Failure
- Floor Fakeout: Looks like they're walking on the ground. They're on the ceiling or a wall.
- Friend or Foe?
- Gideon Ploy
- Holding Both Sides of the Conversation
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Seems inept, actually holding back.
- I Never Got Any Letters
- I Surrender, Suckers!: Pretending to surrender to lower the enemy's guard.
- Knockout Fakeout
- Lying by Omission: There's more to the truth than what's given.
- Makeup Is Evil: Looks different because of makeup, and is therefore evil due to this “deception”.
- Metaphorically True: Presented as true, and actually is true… in a way that’s clearly not what was implied.
- Miles Gloriosus: A braggart gloats that they're fearless and undefeatable, but turns out to be a coward when they face actual danger.
- Minor with Fake I.D.: A falsified ID presents someone as older than they are.
- Mistaken Death Confirmation: A person is confirmed as deceased, but it turns out they're somehow still alive.
- Mock Cousteau: Sounds like Jacques Cousteau, actually just mimicking his voice as a reference/parody.
- Never Sent Any Letters
- No Hero to His Valet
- Not Brainwashed
- Not Dead, Just Asleep: Looks dead, actually asleep.
- Not so Dire
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: Believed to be a prop weapon, actually a real weapon.
- Not This One, That One
- Obfuscating Disability: Seems disabled, actually able-bodied and faking it.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Seems crazy, actually sane and faking it.
- Obfuscating Postmortem Wounds
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Seems stupid, actually smarter and hiding it.
- Obvious Stunt Double: During the dangerous scenes, they've obviously substituted the actor with a body double so they don't risk the real actor getting seriously injured or worse.
- "Oh, Crap!" Fakeout: Character acts like they're freaking out over being in serious trouble, but they actually aren't.
- Older Than They Look: Looks younger, actually older.
- Really 700 Years Old: Looks younger, actually inhumanly old.
- Only a Lighter
- Orgy of Evidence: So much evidence is planted that it becomes clear the person the evidence incriminates is being framed.
- Partially-Concealed-Label Gag
- Placebo Effect: Seems to have real effects, actually just psychosomatic.
- Playing Drunk: Seems drunk, actually faking it.
- Playing Possum: Looks dead, actually feigning death to avoid danger.
- The Presents Were Never from Santa
- Pretend to Be Brainwashed: Seems brainwashed, actually faking it.
- Pretend We're Dead
- Proscenium Reveal: Looks like real events, actually a staged activity.
- Real Fake Wedding
- Really 17 Years Old
- Real Vehicle Reveal
- Recorded Audio Alibi
- Red Herring: Seems like an important clue, actually unimportant and unrelated to the mystery or driving question.
- Red Herring Mole
- Red Herring Shirt
- Red Herring Twist
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated
- Retraux: Looks like an older style of media, actually newer and mimicking old media.
- Revealing Hug
- Reveal Shot
- Reviving Enemy
- Scary Shadow Fakeout: Looks like a big and scary being, actually a smaller being casting a large shadow.
- Secret Stab Wound
- Self-Defense Ruse
- Self-Offense
- Serial Killings, Specific Target
- Series Fauxnale: Seems like the series finale, actually not the finale because the series doesn't end there.
- Shrouded in Myth
- Sophisticated as Hell
- Soundtrack Dissonance
- A Spy at the Spa
- Staged Shooting: Seems like a real shooting, actually staged.
- Stealth Parody
- Stop Faux-tion: Looks like stop motion, actually CGI.
- Suddenly Obvious Fakery: Disguises seem flawless at first, but become blatantly fake when they're revealed to be disguises.
- Thoroughly Mistaken Identity
- Too Dumb to Fool: A character is so stupid that they don't fall for attempts at deceiving them by virtue of being too dense to understand what the liar or manipulator is trying to convince them is the truth.
- Trick Dialogue
- Trojan Ambulance
- Trojan Horse
- Trojan Prisoner
- Two-Faced Aside: Lying to someone and turning to another person to admit that you were lying to the other person.
- Two-Headed Coin: Looks like a lucky coin flip, actually rigged via a special coin.
- Very False Advertising: An advertisement turns out to be very misleading about the actual product or service's quality.
- Virtual-Reality Interrogation
- Warts and All
- Weasel Co-Worker
- What a Piece of Junk
- Wildlife Commentary Spoof
- Younger Than They Look: Looks like an adult or senior citizen, but is actually younger than they appear.