Glamour Failure: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Anything made of silver burns vampires in ''[[Hellsing]]''.

** Seras Victoria burns herself when handling silver bullets in the second episode of the anime. Later in the same episode she jokes about burning herself with silverware. It's not clear if this is the case in the manga as well, since she always handles her silver bullets while wearing gloves.

** His classmates' apparent obliviousness is eventually explained: {{spoiler|people with some form of demonic heritage aren't uncommon at all, even in the world of exorcists. The big issue with Rin isn't that he's the son of a demon -- it's that he's the son of ''Satan''.}}

 

* In the [[Marvel Universe]], there have been various ways over the years to detect the shapeshifting Skrulls, including superhuman senses, telepathy, magic, and various devices. Also, [[This Was His True Form|death]]. However, as of the ''[[Secret Invasion]]'' storyline, the Skrulls have figured out ways to trick telepaths, magic users, and super-senses, leaving technology (e.g. 3-D Man's special goggles) and improvised tactics (e.g. [[Ms. Marvel]] shooting a whole crowd with a low-level energy blast strong enough to knock down the humans and leave the Skrulls standing).

** And then Reed figures out a way to reveal the Skrulls ''anyway''. Guess he's not so [[Reed Richards Is Useless|useless]] after all.

* In ''[[Usagi Yojimbo]]'', this is the manner in which every disguised supernatural creature is revealed. Stan Sakai grounds much of his work in the actual mythology and history of Japan (see below).

 

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', Ursula, in the guise of a beautiful woman named Vanessa, is found out when Scuttle sees her true form reflected in a mirror. Eric's dog Max also [[Evil-Detecting Dog|hates Vanessa and growls at her when she's near]].

* [[Megamind]]'s holo-watch allows him to look like anyone it scans beforehand. However, he, apparently, forgot to waterproof it. It also shuts off if he bumps it by accident.

** Also, while not noticed by any of the characters, his eye color remains the same no matter which form he takes.

* In [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[They Live!]]'' (1988), aliens use a mind-controlling satellite signal to appear human, cloaking themselves from the eyes of Mankind while they take over governments and corporations. A resistance movement forms when someone creates [[Cool Shades|special sunglasses]] that can filter out the signal before it reaches the brain and allows the wearer to see the aliens as they truly are.

* ''[[The Shadow]]'' (1994) with [[Alec Baldwin]] as Lamont Cranston a.k.a. the mysterious Shadow, the titular character of this movie screen comic book adaption. His powers of deception, mind control and telekinesis are clearly [[Psychic Powers]], the result of a [[Training from Hell]] by an ancient mysterious Asian mentor. Only two people can see through his hypnotic deception: his arch-enemy who has similar mental powers (and who can hide whole buildings from the eyes of passers-by), and the [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|professor's blonde daughter]] who is a latent psychic herself and who catches a glimpse of The Shadow when she meets Cranston.

* In ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'', {{spoiler|Loki's}} true nature as a {{spoiler|half-Frost Giant}} is revealed whenever he touches another member of his race or is exposed to their technology. Played with in that HE didn't even know his true form until the first time this happened.

 

* In the ''[[Modern Faerie Tales]]'' one of the characters in [[Valiant]], Ravus (a troll) explains that no glamor is perfect and some trait of the faerie remains e.g cloven hooves or tails or backwards feet.(in his case he still has black and gold eyes). In [[Tithe]] Kaye see's her true unglamored reflection in a mirror briefly later explained when Roiben said glamor could be seen through out of the corner of your eye

*** Death's glamour relies on a forced augmentation of the normal human [[Weirdness Censor]]: he convinces a person that they cannot possibly be seeing what they are, and so the brain makes up imagery that fits this impression. People who have a reason to see through the illusion or who already know what they're looking at aren't fooled.

*** And cats.

*** Also wizards, who are trained to see things as they really are (much harder than seeing what isn't there).

*** The Glamour of the Elves is an active power they must concentrate on to keep it working. If you knock an elf unconscious, the Glamour vanishes.

* In Nathaniel Hawthorne's story ''Feathertop'', the title character is a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head who, due to a witch's spell, is made to appear as an elegant nobleman. When he first goes into public, adults are praising him, but it's mentioned that a small child "keeps babbling about a pumpkin." Later, Feathertop sees himself in a mirror and realizes he's not human and can no longer live with himself.

* In the ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'', no shapeshifter can change [[Red Right Hand|their eyes, which may be highly unnatural in color.]] On that basis, occasional Glamour Failure is not that surprising.

* In ''[[Paranormalcy]]'', Evie's main ability is that she can see underneath paranormal creatures' glamours. She sees both their glamour and their real self.

 

* [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|The 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'']]: Humanoid Cylons are very difficult to detect in isolation, but once more than a few get together it gets much easier as there are many copies, but only twelve "models". Their very existence is sniffed out this way by Helo in Season 1, and again by Kendra Shaw in the movie. {{spoiler|Although five models exist as individuals without additional copies.}}

* Several villains on ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]?'':

* In ''[[Outer Limits]]'' "First Anniversary", two stranded female aliens who look, smell, and feel horrible to human senses and sensibilities, decided to mimic humans to cope with their loneliness. By using their [[Psychic Powers]], they could make themselves look and act like any man's ideal woman. Unfortunately, humans develop an immunity to their powers after a year of close contact, and the men inevitably go insane when they realize their wives' true nature. By the end of the episode, "Ady's" glamour no longer works on her husband who is last seen strapped to a gurney on the way to a mental hospital. In the final scene she already has her sights set on her ex's best friend and has already taken a new form to appeal to his tastes.

 

* [[Older Than Print]]: In Japanese mythology, a [[Kitsune]]'s (fox's) human-disguise is often revealed because:

** A Kitsune cannot hide its real eyes in reflections.

** A young, inexperienced, drunk, or just plain careless kitsune may accidentally reveal its fox ears or tail(s); this seems to show up especially often in anime.

* [[Norse Mythology|Odin]] gave up one of his eyes for wisdom. He usually is unable to fully conceal this.

** Loki has less luck, however, with his [[Kaleidoscope Eyes]].

* In [[Celtic Mythology]] The Morrígan tried to interfere 3 times during one of Cú Chulainn's fights in an attempt to make him lose. Each time in a different form, and each time she sustained an injury. At some point after the fight Cú Chulainn encounters an old woman with those injuries and heals her because she gave him milk. Of course Cú Chulainn didn't know it was Morrígan when he healed her.

 

* In ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', the Mask that disguises changelings as mortals always shows some small hint of their true nature and appearance. This gets worse as they become more powerful—the most powerful, although still human in appearance, look decidedly ''off'', and are unlikely to be able to go anywhere without drawing unwanted attention. Also, certain people can sometimes see through the Mask—the insane, those who are high, [[Tomato in the Mirror|fetches]], very young children, people with certain forms of brain damage... it's not a sure thing, though. Furthermore, a changeling's shadow '''always''' shows hints of their true nature—if you were turned into a mountain goat, your shadow's going to show horns, even if you strengthen the Mask to the point that even other Changelings can't see through it, or use Contracts (Fae magic) to appear as something or someone else entirely. Fortunately, the shadow only looks 'off' to other fae or creatures that can see through the Mask, not to everyone in general.

** In ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', Prometheans appear human, but other people can sense that there's something ''wrong'' about them on a deep, fundamental level. This feeling can build over time until the point where a lynch mob is forming. It gets worse when a Promethean uses their innate powers around another person, because then the glamour fails utterly and they can see the Promethean in their true form - an animated corpse.

* Many of the Glamour Failures in ''[[Deadlands]]'' are exactly what one would expect from a series were [[All Myths Are True]]: silver repels even human-form werewolves, and so on. The series' most unique form of [[Came Back Wrong|revenant]], the Harrowed, bear most extensive discussion: they carry the [[Evil Smells Bad|smell of death]] everywhere they go, have a distinctly [[Evil Albino|pale complexion]], keep a [[Red Right Hand|scar from their cause of death]], and are prone to [[Evil-Detecting Dog|setting off]] nearby wildlife. If a lot of their giveaways make them sound like evil incarnate, it's worth remembering that even the [[Anti-Hero|nice]] [[Heroic Willpower|ones]] have a [[Jekyll and Hyde]] complex.

* In the ''[[Shadowrun]]'' universe, mages have to learn and cast a more difficult (reflected in drain rating) version of illusions if they wish them to fool electronic sensors too. (Cybereyes don't count because they are bought by the owner's essence.)

 

* In the first [[Dream Sequence]] of ''[[Lady in the Dark]]'', Liza Elliott dreams of herself as a wealthy, glamorous lady in blue. As in her dream she is a renowned celebrity with legions of admirers, she can hardly refuse to allow her portrait to be painted. When the portrait is unveiled, it shows Liza as the austerely dressed, neurotic magazine editor she really is. Consternation ensues.

 

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'', you find a girl trapped in one of the dungeons who asks you to lead her out, but if you do so she tells you not to go out that way. You have to lead the "girl" into a room with bright sunlight coming in, which reveals her to be the boss Blind.

** Which makes it very odd that, when you first rescued her from the dungeon, she asked "Please, take me outside."

** Werewolf players also have minor glamour failures according to guard banter. "Is that... fur? Coming out of your ears?" or "Tending your hounds? You smell like wet dog."

 

* The protagonist of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20201130225857/http://magickitsune.com/ Fox Tails]'', Keen Kotaru, possesses a so-far unexplained ability to see through the Glamours of the various animal-spirits that are otherwise maintaining a [[Masquerade]] in our world. His ability to thus notice the remaining animal features of transformed spirits is what drives the plot, and allows him to effectively fight the evil spirits...

* In ''[[Errant Story]]'', the Elven Rangers who move around the world of men in search of 'Errants' (half-elves who frequently become psychotic) often uses glamours to disguise their elven nature. At one point, however, a young child can see through it, though her mother dismisses it...

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' any Greater [[Hybrid Monster|Chimera]] has antennae that [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-07-27 normally remain in all their forms]. Until one uses a [[Transformation Trinket|Cosmetic Morph Device]] mass-produced by their common parent species. Though in human form these look like [[Prehensile Hair|prehensile thick locks]] easily disguised [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-03 in long normal hair] - unless they happen to grow on a hairless part of the head, but that's a rare anomaly. EGS had one character with this trait who ran around for a while before any other hints at what exactly he is were dropped. More attentive readers noticed.

 

* The French supervillain Mindscape, from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', avoids cameras as often as he can, because anyone viewing him on film or in photographs can instantly tell he's a deformed hunchback and not the GQ-quality supermodel-handsome man he uses his powers of illusion to pretend to be.

 

* Hilariously done on the children's show ''[[Count Duckula]]'', where the eponymous duck decides to redecorate the castle and one decorator hired does the place up in all windows. Since the duck is a vampire, he can't see himself in any of them.

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': Whenever Derek Powers got angry, which was frequently, his powers would flare up and start to burn through his artificial skin, revealing that of the [[I Love Nuclear Power|radioactive]], [[Power Glows|glowing]] villain Blight. Actively using his powers for even a few seconds will completely shatter it, requiring him to have new skin grafted on. His inability to keep his skin on through the events of any given workday actually makes him a case of [[Blessed with Suck]].

** Kurt's image inducer. Given that it really only needs the settings "off" and "on" was there really the need to give it so many options and make the off button so incredibly easy to press by accident? As the image inducer only makes him LOOK human, anyone who touches him can still feel his fur. In the comics, he uses it at least once to trick a villain. It could've been a set-up for future writers that just never got used.

** Quicksilver has his moments too. It's implied that being super-fast is his natural state and that it takes an effort to slow down to human pace, and, as such, he speaks slightly faster than any other character and often can't restrain his powers over small distances; for example, in his first appearance, when he zooms around Evan in the locker room ''before'' revealing himself more dramatically later on.

* [[Teen Titans (animation)|Beast Boy]] retains his green color when changing into other animals. This would make infiltration difficult.

{{quote|'''Beast Boy''': Do I hear an undercover mission coming on, 'cause I'm a master of disguise!

'''[[Deadpan Snarker|Raven]]''': Yeah, a green mongoose is gonna blend right in. }}

* [[Tom and Jerry]]

** "The Invisible Mouse" has a variation; when Jerry renders himself invisible with invisible ink, Tom at one point is able to locate him when he sees his shadow. [[Fridge Logic|How an invisible body casts a shadow]] [[Rule of Funny|is never explained.]]