rdfs:comment
| - Something hidden is looked for in lots of secret places, and in the end turns out to have been plainly visible all the time, usually disguised as an ordinary object. Can overlap with Failed a Spot Check, It Was with You All Along, Public Secret Message, Shaggy Search Technique, or Taken for Granite. Sub Tropes include Needle in a Stack of Needles, Wax Museum Morgue, Lost in a Crowd. Not to be confused with Right Under Their Noses, when people sneak past someone by doing this. Examples of Hidden in Plain Sight include:
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abstract
| - Something hidden is looked for in lots of secret places, and in the end turns out to have been plainly visible all the time, usually disguised as an ordinary object. Can overlap with Failed a Spot Check, It Was with You All Along, Public Secret Message, Shaggy Search Technique, or Taken for Granite. Sub Tropes include Needle in a Stack of Needles, Wax Museum Morgue, Lost in a Crowd. There was and still is a rather chilling Real Life version in dictatorships: an object of the size of a military base or town which is not shown at all on a map. Something even more secret, or closed, or shameful than good old Area 51, because not just what happens inside is secret, but the mere existence of the place is denied, or ridiculed, or handwaved as some silly legend. In dictatorial political systems, it's far easier to hide something that way, because people are so accustomed to never asking questions and never wandering away from their path they would ignore the Elephant in the Living Room. Compare Weirdness Censor (bizarre things are not noticed because they are so outlandish that our minds block them out in the interest of sanity), Contrived Proximity, Refuge in Audacity, Devil in Plain Sight (when a conspicuous villain does this), Infraction Distraction (where evidence is concealed by more minor evidence). For robots in disguise, see Transforming Mecha. If a person hides this way, that person might be taking advantage of being Beneath Suspicion. For poor hiding skills, compare Neon Sign Hideout. May or may not be an Unsafe Haven. Not to be confused with Right Under Their Noses, when people sneak past someone by doing this. Examples of Hidden in Plain Sight include:
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