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{{trope}}
The paranormal exists; it's just very good at hiding. The [[Masquerade]] has existed for centuries now, and the [[Things That Go Bump in
Then... something happens. Something so big, something so visible, that [[Weirdness Censor|plausible deniability]] [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore|just won't cut it anymore]]. Maybe some young vampire walked into the sunlight in full view of a camera crew.<ref>One of those new types, not the ones that can't show up on film</ref>
[[The Unmasqued World/Laconic|The Unmasqued World]] is a world where the supernatural has, after years of hiding, revealed itself to the world, intentionally or otherwise. In many cases, this will lead to the integration of the supernatural into society -- [[Mundane Fantastic|vampires on the police force, wizards in the hospital, werewolves in the park service]]. Expect much [[Fantastic Racism]] as not everyone's just going to accept that the [[Monster Mash|traditional horror movie monsters]] have decided to [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires|move next door]] [[Monster Roommate|as roommates]].
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'''Spoiler warning''': while this trope is a basic premise for most of the examples, it is the dramatic ending of others, in which case the series name ''alone'' is a spoiler.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* A subplot in the [[Tournament Arc]] of the ''[[
** None of the characters seem sure which they did, either, including both Negi's team and the opposition. What is sure is that it goes bad for ''everyone the reader cares about'', with all the [[Baleful Polymorph|erminations]] and exiles to the [[Magic World]].
*** Akamatsu, it would seem, is not a Utilitarian.
** By the end of the series (five years later), {{spoiler|magic has been revealed to the general population, with the consent of Magical society. Things seem fairly peaceful, but it is implied there was some amount of conflict when the revelation was made.}}
* Most ''[[Digimon]]'' series end with a [[Mage in Manhattan]] scenario, which is a pretty good way to break the [[Masquerade]].
* In ''[[Darker
* This trope seems to be in effect at first during the final arc of the ''[[
** Averted in its manga adaptation where Himes in this case are both commonplace (there are [[The Chosen One|twelve selected]] every several hundred years in the anime, while in the manga they are born by the hundreds) and known to the public.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Shingu
* One assumes this must have happened in ''[[Hellsing]]'' since no one ever bothers trying to keep up the Masquerade but it seems that no one on the planet cares that unstoppably powerful vampires are going around fighting Nazis . . . that are also vampires . . . while facing down the Vatican's superpowered priests . . . and causing a '''''lot''''' of collateral damage in the process.
** The "Round Table" HAS someone (who is probably the head of another organisation) solely dedicated to control the media, police, and informations in general...
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*** Given the devastation of London, one does wonder if there's anyone left to explain to.
** The general population doesn't appear to know of vampires: the Wild Geese mercenaries hired by Integra take some convincing that such things as vampires exist. Only after Alucard makes an overly-dramatic entrance do they really believe. Generally, the Hellsing organization doesn't seem interact with members of the unknowing public unless things get ''really'' bad (such as the incident in the first episode), at which point it's best for everyone involved to know exactly what they're dealing with.
* This is what happens at the end of the ''[[
** Note that Togashi rode roughshod over all of established continuity to hand the recently deposed Enma Daiou the [[Villain Ball]], so he could do this without causing a prompt violent spike in the number of humans getting eaten on a daily basis, even after the King's Tournament; Enki doesn't have the resources for proper enforcement. Also that he seems to have done it mostly so Yuusuke and his demon friends could regularly commute.
** The continuity change referenced above was to claim that most of the random demon attacks on record were set-ups by Enma to justify his dictatorial power. Given this was power he never did much of anything with besides emergency debridement of situations he definitely ''hadn't'' set up, and that we're talking about a hugely powerful and constantly violent race whose entire culture rests of [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] to the extent that Yusuke could overset a huge entente getting ready to turn into a Cold War by proposing a giant martial arts tournament with world leadership as the prize...this is one of the clearer streaks of bullshit ever. It's pretty damn mysterious.
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* In ''[[Pom Poko]]'', some of Tanuki go public to try plead their case to save their habitat and it turns out that after that appeal, human public opinion comes to their side and the developers bend a bit for more park land.
* The human and "demon" worlds are merged into one at the end of ''[[Bakuen Campus Guardress]]'', revealing the secret to everyone in both worlds.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* The premise of ''[[Dance in
* For much of ''[[
** And in ''[[
*** However, the [[All There in the Manual|fluff]] that ties Cybertron to the others in narrative is a Fan Club-exclusive tie-in comic, the explanation feels weak even by this brand's standards as well as forced (Aaron Archer didn't want to accept that it wouldn't fit), so American fans can consider it standalone too [[The Walrus Was Paul|if they wish]]. And Cybertron turns things into The Unmasqued World at the end anyway.
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== Comic Books ==
* The comic series ''[[Bite Club]]'' features a world where vampires are just a variant of humanity who are exceptionally long-lived, incredibly resilient, and gain strength from blood. After centuries of hiding from stigma, they reveal themselves to the world sometime in the early 20th century, and by the time the story opens, they end up assuming positions in organized crime, business, even the priesthood.
* The Mirage-published ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage
* In ''[[ROM
* ''[[
* This is now well and truly the case for the [[Buffy Verse]] {{spoiler|what with LA being transported to hell and back and vampires having reality TV shows.}}
== Fan Works ==
* Happens in ''[[I Am What I Am (fanfic)|I Am What I Am]]'', a ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fic by M. McGregor, starting around 2012 in a future timeline, when a worldwide demonic invasion begins; in order to prove that the New Watcher's Council weren't just a bunch of crazies, Willow provides an [[Info Dump]] of the world's true history and a lot more to the minds of ''the entire world's population at once.'' The whole period is referred to afterward as "Revelation".
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* ''[[The Island]]'' does it very literally: the technology that displays an illusionary world around the inhabitants (clones bred for organs) of the shelter is broken and the masquerade is broken.
* Subverted at the end of ''[[The Howling]]'', when the werewolf-bitten news reporter {{spoiler|engineers her own transformation and silver-bullet demise}} live on national television. It's a subversion because everyone not already in on the werewolves' Masquerade dismissed it as a hoax.
* At the end of [[They Live!]], after the hero {{spoiler|sacrifices himself to unmask the alien invaders}}.
* In ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', the Fallen decides to reveal their existence to the entire human race, breaking the government cover-up. By ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'', the Autobots are subjects of news coverage, {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime}} is able to contact the UN to order them to {{spoiler|kick the Autobots off Earth}}, and Simmons debates with [[Bill O Reilly]] on whether or not the US should support the Autobots (poll results show that the US would feel safer without them).
* In ''[[Underworld Awakening]]'', [[Action Girl|Selene]] wakes up [[In a World]] where the humans have discovered the existence of immortals and are systematically hunting them down, [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] and [[Our Werewolves Are Different|lycan]] alike.
** Interestingly, this could be a case of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]], as Viktor was the one who came up with and enforced the rule of "no feeding on humans" (which he routinely violated himself) in order to maintain [[The Masquerade]]. After the fall of the vampire aristocracy thanks, in part, to Selene, there is no one to enforce these rules.
* In [[
** Said evidence was the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, which explains basically how the afterlife works. At the end of the film, this book has been mass-produced for mortal consumption, but there's no indication that anyone believes it, especially since it's so dry that it "reads like stereo instructions".
== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series, the existence of the supernatural has been known throughout all of history. Vampires and lycanthropes are commonplace (and the object of some fascination), and Anita herself is a licensed necromancer. There is still the social upheaval described by the trope but it is caused by the recent granting of legal personhood to vampires.
* ''[[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]]'' (and its HBO adaptation, ''[[True Blood]]'') take place in a world where vampires have revealed themselves to the world following the invention of synthetic blood that takes care of all their nutritional needs. Other supernaturals slowly follow in their footsteps
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'': By Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the [[Masquerade]] might not be broken, but it is starting to crack. Giants are roaming up and down the countryside, Death Eaters are terrorizing Muggles more openly, and Muggles can even sense the spike in Dementor levels. The Ministry of Magic has its hand more than full running around modifying memories.
** Then again, it's implied that this level of "exposure" has happened more than once in the past and it's always gotten covered up again.
*** Considering they'd have massive witch hunts on their hands if everybody found out, they are rightly worried.
* The ultimate goal for the protagonists in the [[Deryni]] works. People know Deryni exist, but they're [[Shrouded in Myth|so feared]] (and consequently persecuted) that they must conceal themselves. Not that everyone agrees upon methods and timing. Gradually, (OK very, very gradually) through a combination of heroic examples and royal fiat, the masks come off.
* The ''[[Kitty Norville]]'' series stars a werewolf who hosts a late-night radio show. When she's attacked by a werewolf hunter on the air, she ends up revealing that she's a
** The [[Masquerade]] in this series was never very strong to begin with; government scientists were researching ''[[Our Werewolves Are Different|homo sapiens lupus]]'' and ''[[Our Vampires Are Different|homo sapiens sanguinis]]'' for years in shady, underfunded projects before most people acknowledged that werewolves and vampires actually existed. A common topic of speculation by Kitty is on [[All Myths Are True|which legends about animal-people are based on truth]], and whether any historical figures were weres of some kind. About five years or so have passed in-universe since the start of the first book, and by now most people accept that werewolves, vampires and many other supernatural creatures are real, but a few people here and there still think it's a hoax and prejudice is still pretty common.
* ''[[The Hollows]]'' series by Kim Harrison is set years after a virus from a genetically altered tomato [[Depopulation Bomb|wiped out most of the human race]] -- 'supernatural' people, like witches, vampires and weres, were immune or less affected, so ended up revealing themselves when they realized their combined numbers nearly outnumbered humans in an event called The Turn.
** At least it wasn't from an [[The
* The ''[[Mercy Thompson]]'' series features a world where [[The Fair Folk]] came out of the closest years ago, albeit intentionally and in a far more controlled method than the typical [[Broken Masquerade]]. It didn't end well, with [[Strawman Political|religious conservatives]] and bigots railing against the fae and eventually creating voluntary reservations for them. (Which is actually [[Xanatos Gambit|exactly what the fae leaders wanted in the first place]].) After the events of the first book, the universe's werewolves decide to reveal some of their population as well, with a bit more success. Stefan the vampire anticipates the day when his people will come out of the coffin. He's working on ways for vampires to cure blood-borne diseases in order to gain some public good will and hopefully smooth over the whole "feeding on humans" bump. So far no one else has come out publicly, but with first fairies and now werewolves unmasqued, people are starting to question what else is out there.
* Not paranormal, but definitely world-breaking: [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story (later expanded into a novel with [[Robert Silverberg]] cowriting) ''Nightfall'' takes place on a world with six suns whose inhabitants, unused to lack of light, can be driven to madness with long term exposure to darkness. But a rare astronomical alignment every two thousand years is approaching which will bring true night (the eponymous "Nightfall") and the appearance of Stars. The world just happens to be inside a globular cluster (well, some kind of dense star cluster, anyway), so these are horizon-to-horizon, really bloody bright Stars. Cue [[Go Mad
* In [[Kim Newman]]'s ''[[Anno Dracula]]'' series, vampires have been hiding in the shadows for centuries. Then Dracula becomes ''Queen Victoria's consort'' and everything changes.
* [[Mike Carey]]'s ''[[Felix Castor]]'' novels depict a Britain where the existence of ghosts is becoming recognised as a fact with lobbying groups and parliamental debates weighing in on the issue.
* In Elizabeth Bear's ''Blood & Iron'', {{spoiler|a dragon reveals itself to humanity and the existence of the fey can not be denied.}}
* F. Paul Wilson's Adversary Cycle of novels ends with a ''global'' revelation of the reality of the supernatural. Having the sun nearly go dark forever, releasing godawful monsters to stalk the increasingly-long nights, while bottomless pits open up and start eating the landscape, would sure convince me.
* ''[[Sunshine (
* In Peter Watts' novel ''Blindsight'', vampires used to exist, but their vulnerability to crosses led to them being wiped out centuries ago. Modern genetic engineers have recreated them and made them useful to society, or at least to society's corporate and military overlords, who have found all sorts of applications for highly intelligent and ruthless creatures kept under control by drugs. [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|Obviously nothing could possibly go wrong]] with reconstructing a super-intelligent predator that already nearly wiped out the human race once...
* Towards the end of ''[[
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''Operation Otherworld'' series is set on an Earth where Einstein's Theory of Relativity and at least one other scientific theory from the same time period were put together and used to negate the effects of Cold Iron on supernatural beings and magic. This results in brooms and flying carpets instead of cars, photo flashes specifically designed to mimic the light of a full moon so were-creatures can transform outside of a full moon, and unicorns as cavalry mounts, among other things.
* A likely result of [[Dresden Files|Harry Dresden's]] world-changing actions in ''Changes'': {{spoiler|the Red Court of Vampires has been completely obliterated, meaning that politicians, businessmen, and other important figures around the world have spontaneously disappeared.}} Granted, Harry himself was never too big on upholding the Masquerade, but there will undoubtedly be ''huge'' ramifications for the whole supernatural world.
** Possible, but not likely. The narrative steps back and mentions the long-term implications of Harry's actions, such as changes to the balance of power in both the mundane and supernatural world, so presumably the narrative would have said if it also led to breaking the [[Masquerade]]. But it didn't. And this setting definitely has an [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]]; if a ''zombie tyrannosaur'' in a major city didn't break it, then people around the world mysteriously dying violently might not. There's no known cause of death, there's no apparent connection between most victims, most of them will be in the Third World, most corpses will be too old to be recognized as such because vampire corpses have [[No Ontological Inertia]] in this case... so the [[Dresden Verse]] [[Masquerade]] has survived worse.
* In [[Devon Monk]]'s [[
* While it doesn't happen in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Night Watch|Watch]]'' series, Geser reveals that it was the strongest possibility for a world where Communism prevailed (it was originally conceived as a perfect social system). Of course, the humans would then quickly hunt down and kill all Others. Which is why he convinced a witch to sabotage the experiment.
* While the world of ''[[The Grimnoir Chronicles]]'' has long known had magic as an open fact of life, the Grimnoir secret society is exposed at the end of the second book {{spoiler|the epilogue to the third book reveals they survive this and still exist with some publicly known leadership}}. The third book ends with the world learning the true nature of magic, which came from a symbiotic parasite (using each host as a place to grow in exchange for giving them superpowers) fleeing a predator that ''would'' have cleansed Earth of life, and that magic is actually less [[One Person, One Power]] than previously thought.
* In ''[[Monster Hunter International]]'' the government officials responsible for covering everything up (under a belief, never proven or disproven, that knowledge of the supernatural makes it stronger) are concerned this is becoming more and more likely every day. The first, second, and fourth books involve ''very'' public incidents of big supernatural events plainly visible (everyone on Earth experiencing a few minutes of time a second time, a giant monster in Australia, and a mass monster attack on Vegas during convention season respectively), and containment is slipping.
** The [[Prequel]] series ''Monster Hunter Memoirs'' reveals New Orleans was a case in the '80s. As a nexus for the supernatural {{spoiler|thanks to a [[Great Old One]] larva under the city}}, the city has a far greater than average level of supernatural events. Before the internet and cellphone cameras, it was relatively easy for the agency in charge to just allow New Orleans residents to know voodoo and zombies were real and get ''everyone else'' to dismiss these claims as the city being a high crime city full of crazies (aided by covering events in an intentionally badly formatted and unprofessional tabloid).
== Live Action TV ==
* Aliens became common knowledge on ''[[Doctor Who]]''. When the [[Broken Masquerade]] happened isn't clear, nor how much the {{spoiler|erasure of the moving of Earth to the Medusa Cascade}} has altered people's perceptions, though it seems in both cases, the world was unmasqued some time during the course of the 2005 revival and its spinoffs ''[[
* The exposition for ''[[True Blood]]'' is just this trope: Vampires exist! {{spoiler|and this girl's telepathic. and there's a werewolf/shapechanger man-thing}}.
** Also: {{spoiler|Werewolves are real, there's this demi-god chick who turns into Minotauros etc. [[All Myths Are True]], except exorcism doesn't actually work. (At least it didn't in Miss Jeannette's case.)}}
*** Except: {{spoiler|While Tara was never actually possessed by a demon, necromancy clearly works, and the vampires are losing their shit over it.}}
* ''[[
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'''s season four/series finale features {{spoiler|Claire Bennet}} revealing {{spoiler|her}} power in front of a live television audience.
** Sadly, ([[Your Mileage May Vary|sad for some fans, anyway]]) the show was cancelled right afterwards, and we never got to see [[The Unmasked World]].
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'' explores the unmasking of a technology that is originally thought to be an urban legend.
* [http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken The Road Not Taken]: In ''[[Stargate SG
* Done very, very subtly in ''[[Power Rangers]]'' ever since the finale of ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''. They never actually focus on the changes because of the lack of focus on continuity, but in ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' there was a government program that was quite open and public about being set up to combat a specific group of demons, ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'' implies the ability to buy morphers on the black market ("I know a guy who knows a guy who has an uncle"), and ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive]]'' casually refers to universities having courses on Galactic Myth And Legend. By the time of ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' in 2025, Earth is a major intergalactic transit hub.
* Ultimately used in ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]''. While at first the police are willnig to cover up [[Monster of the Week|Grongi]] incidents, when the gravity and fatality of the situation is considered they decide to tell the truth.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Seeing as it was the [[Trope Namer]], it's not unexpected that this would happen. Two of the proposed endgames for ''[[
** Similarly, ''[[
** One of the ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]'' endings had this as well.
** ''[[
** The New World of Darkness [[Sourcebook]] "Mirrors" presents options for Unmasquing the world, such as a massive [[Mage: The Awakening|Awakening]], the [[Werewolf: The Forsaken|Gauntlet]] partially dissolving and allowing spirits free reign, or a [[Vampire: The Requiem|vampire]] [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|rock star]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|becoming famous enough to the point where people notice]] [[Glamour Failure|he doesn't show up on cameras.]]
*** The PDF-only "Infinite Macabre" assumes this has happened already, since the supernaturals decided that if you can literally put a star system between you and the [[Torches and Pitchforks]], there's really no point in hiding.
* The ''[[Shadowrun]]'' tabletop RPG is set in an
** It might be justified to say that Shadow Run had two unmaskings, after all nobody thought bug spirits were real {{spoiler|till they ate Chicago.}}
** {{spoiler|And the immortal elves are still in the closet, leaving room for yet another unmasqueing in the future.}}
* ''[[Rifts]]'', in a manner similar to Shadowrun. Although it is set [[After the End]], the moment the titular rifts opened and awakened the world to magic, psionics, cosmic horrors, etc is pretty well described.
* In the ''[[
* ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'' straddles the line on this one; magic was made public quite a while back in the form of "arcanotech," and the government hands out licenses to sorcerers. On the other hand, since it's [[Cosmic Horror Story|that kind of setting]], the government's keeping mum about the really bad stuff...
== Video Games ==
* In the 2008 [[Alone in
* The first two [[Shin Megami Tensei]] happen in this kind of world, since demons are running free, a demon summoner has canonically ruled Tokyo between SMT 1 and 2, and Angels and Demons acting like heavilly militarized ''political parties''
** The world of [[
** Some of the endings for [[
*** {{spoiler|Amane's ending}} doesn't mention any kind of [[Gas Leak Coverup]], and the ''effects'' of the events in the Loop are clear for all to see, so it's safe to say that ''something'' is Unmasqued there even if the details don't become public outside the loop.
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Strange Journey]]'' eventually becomes this. The [[Government Conspiracy|Schwarzwelt Joint Project]] tries to keep the existence of the Schwarzwelt (and the demons pouring out of it) a secret, but eventually this [[Negative Space Wedgie]] expands too far, and far too many demons come out, for it to be hidden from the public eye.
* ''[[Golden Sun]]'' had a masquerade of its own in that Adepts typically do not reveal their powers in public (the villains usually kill witnesses, of course). In the thirty years since the Golden Sun rose above Mt. Aleph, the whole charade fell apart, and several budding kingdoms are seeking out any Adepts they can - whether natural (like the beastmen) or artificial (like Eoleo) - in a sort of arms race. That is, when they're not killing each other on the fields of war. {{spoiler|Having chased off the Sanans under the command of warmongering Emperor Ko only to have to fend off Bilibin not months later, is it any surprise Volechek became desperate to revive Luna Tower?}}
* The ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[Corner Alley 13]]'' has fantasy creatures suddenly appearing everywhere ''within a week'' as its basic premise.▼
▲* In ''[[Its Walky]]'', Head Alien uses a Martian warship to attack SEMME's homecity, forcing them to reveal their secret to the world.
* ''[[Last
▲* [[Corner Alley 13]] has fantasy creatures suddenly appearing everywhere ''within a week'' as its basic premise.
▲* ''[[Last Resort]]'' plays with this: the Celeste, supernatural angels/demons capable of [[Compelling Voice|talking anyone into doing anything]], are out in the open. It's the [[Things That Go Bump in The Night|vampires, djinn, zombies, and other miscellaneous monsters]] that are still forced into hiding thanks to the Celeste, even though people are aware they can and do exist.
* The world of ''[[Sorcery 101]]'' at first appears to be a straight example of this trope. Then you find out that most people think that it's a stunt and that there are groups still trying to keep the masquerade going. But more of the supernatural people are being more open and things are changing. At one point a guy comes out as gay to his best friend and his best friend accidentally revealing that he's a werewolf. They're portrayed to be about as shocking to each of the friends.
* The first book of ''[[Fans]]'' slowly breaks the [[Masquerade]], as the main cast goes from thought insane to folk heroes. Later books take place more-or-less entirely in
* ''[[
** Arguably that only served to bring weirdness hunters to Moperville but {{spoiler|1=[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-12-01 this] is broadcast on national television}} and that makes it very hard to press the [[Reset Button]] now. Besides, El Goonish Shive always averts [[Status Quo Is God]] in continuity for everything except most [[Gender Bending]].
* This occurred in the backstory of ''[[
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20190118100705/http://www.applevalleycomic.com/ Apple Valley] some 10 years before the start of the comic the normal "human" world was merged with a "fantasy" world full of elves, goblins and magical humans. In the time since, the two worlds have successfully integrated {{spoiler|mainly due to the fact that they were originally one world, split into multiple parts by an ancient spell}}, and now Kentucky Fried Unicorn is a popular, if incredibly disturbing, fast food chain.
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[Tech Infantry]]'', early in the backstory, a centuries-long Masquerade was broken by the Bug invasion of Brazil, and the existence of Mages, Vampires, and Werewolves was revealed to the masses in the ensuing War of Gehenna. For the rest of the story, magical and non-magical humans live alongside each other and jointly battle aliens, although only the magical ones are subject to compulsory military service.
* In the ''[[Paradise]]'' setting, humans are randomly, permanently Changed into [[Funny Animal
* The [[Whateley Universe]] is the post-unmasking world. Now that mutants are out in the open and their numbers are increasing, things are getting tense. The Mutant Commission Office is a Men-in-Black organization that deals with them. The Goodkinds are funding the Knights of Purity, power armor 'heroes' to take out rampaging mutants. Humanity First! is a worldwide group of mutant-haters who want to stop the mutant menace. The future is no longer clear.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** The storyline that introduces this was originally from the third season [[Retool]] ''The Goliath Chronicles''. While the rest of this series is widely considered [[Canon
* ''[[Men in Black (
** It'd be a [[Cassandra Truth]]. It doesn't matter if 1 in every 10,000 people knows that aliens are real, the key issue is that the remaining 9,999 people will think the first is crazy. It's the reason [[The Masquerade]] works so well in the first place. Someone's bound to find out the truth eventually, but if they aren't believed by the [[Muggles|general public]], it doesn't matter.
** The [[Men in Black (
** Which kinda puts them past the [[Moral Event Horizon]]. The movies went out of their way to show that most aliens are peaceful, so all the MIB is really doing with their secrecy tactics is inhibiting the progress of humanity. (Oh, is THAT all?)
*** I thought the whole point was to keep the aliens safe from other aliens who would pick up on the stuff coming out of Earth. K talks about the Earth being used as a neutral, refugee zone--"[[Casablanca]] without the Nazis." You wouldn't want to publicize where the refugees and dissidents are hiding, would you?
**** The movie also implied that the first contact aliens didn't think humanity was ready, and the show had those warehouses full of technology that was scheduled to be released every ten years or so, to let human culture get used to it, and they make it pretty clear that other than refugees, the only aliens going to earth are outlaws or extremists.
* In ''[[
** However, [[There Are No Global Consequences]] - it seems that neither scientists, religious / political leaders or crazy military groups are interested in getting the nice superpowered aliens for a talk or a test.
*** Finally averted! The newest series, ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', has Ben coming out and being hailed as a hero the world-over.
**** Although the Plumbers themselves are still secret to all but government higher-ups.
* In ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', the public eventually had to acknowledge the existence of ghosts, and various groups sprang up to deal with them.
* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'': The second season's cliffhanger is a massive brawl with a [[Killer Robot|Sentinel]] that spills out of an [[Elaborate Underground Base|underground base]] into a crowded city, and soon the fact that super-powered [[
* While the actual unmasking happened during [[Ghostbusters|the movie]], ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' took place in a world where ghosts, demons and ancient gods have all been proven real and are common knowledge. Things haven't actually changed much: when faced with a supernatural problem at the start of an episode, civilians typically throw up their hands and say "[[Somebody Else's Problem|call the ghostbusters, let them deal with it]]."
* The third season of the original ''[[The Transformers (
** The existence of the Transformers, along with which side was which, was common knowledge to the entire world after the original 3-parter intro episodes. There was ''never'' a masquerade in the G1 cartoon.
** Ditto for ''[[Transformers Energon]]'' and ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]''.
** Averted in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', where the Autobots are common knowledge to begin with, and are treated as the superheroes of [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|22nd Detroit.]]
** Played with in ''[[Transformers Prime]]''. With the exception of the lead humans, no other civilian is aware of the Cybertronians on Earth. However, the US government is aware, and regularly sends an agent to check on Prime and his crew.
* In the second ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]
[[Category:The Unmasqued World]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unmasqued World, The}}
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