Obfuscating Stupidity/Playing With

Basic Trope: An intelligent character pretends to be less intelligent in order to fool people about how effective he or she is.

• Straight: Bob pretends to be naive and unsuspecting so that Alice will not suspect he is investigating her.
• Exaggerated: Bob pretends to be severely mentally retarded so that Alice will not suspect him.
• Justified: Bob wants to appear less of a threat to Alice in order to lull her into a false sense of security.
  • Alice is expecting investigation and consequently wary of people who appear too smart, forcing Bob to downplay his intelligence in order to avoid suspicion.
• Inverted: Feigning Intelligence
• Subverted: Alice isn't fooled for a second by Bob's 'dumb' act.
  • Bob pretends to be naive and unsuspecting, but when he reveals his real self he turnes out to be... not so bright.
• Doubly Subverted: She's not quite prepared for just how smart Bob is, however.
  • He's Book Dumb and bad at forensics, as it turns out. When it comes to social intelligence and puzzling out motives, he's a prodigy.
• Parodied: Bob's a very poor actor, but Alice is nevertheless completely taken in by him.
  • Bob is a supergenius capable of solving derivatives in his head; however, all he has to do to get people to think he's a dunce is say something like "1 + 1 = 11."
• Deconstructed: Bob is so good at playing the part of the fool, nobody takes him seriously even after he drops the act.
• Reconstructed: ...So he continues to act dumb to his advantage. After all, since everyone still doesn't believe him, it gives him the advantage of surprise again.
• Zig Zagged: Nobody is ever sure whether Bob is a Genius Ditz, an Inspector Oblivious, or using Obfuscating Stupidity
• Averted: Bob's disguise does not include altering how intelligent he appears.
• Enforced: The actor playing Bob is normally cast as a genius and wants to play against type.
• Lampshaded: "He's not as dumb as he appears to be!"
• Invoked: "She'll never suspect anything if I act like an idiot."
• Defied: "You're not as dumb as you look. Nobody could be as dumb as you look, and still be as successful as you are. I'm on to you."
• Discussed: "How can someone this dumb be a private investigator?" "Well, he might not be as dumb as he looks.."
• Conversed: "Bob's such an idiot!" "Yeah? Well, so was Columbo."

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