Invisibility Flicker: Difference between revisions

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== Film ==

* The eponymous monster from the ''[[Predator]]'' series.

* The Id Monster from ''Forbidden Planet'' gets an early - and truly badass - blink [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k97JZHTCVbM during its climatic attack.]

* ''[[The Shadow]]'' in the film of the same name.

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* The human eye is always moving, but the brain clips out parts of the movement to present a picture without motion blur. This is called saccadic masking. In Peter Watts's first contact novel ''[[Blindsight]]'', aliens develop the disturbing ability to time their movements to human saccades, rendering themselves invisible. It takes the heroes a lot of careful video analysis to even [[Paranoia Fuel|realise they've]] ''[[Paranoia Fuel|made]]'' [[Paranoia Fuel|first contact]]. [[Cosmic Horror|And these are really not the kind of aliens]] you want to discover dancing all around you...

* [[Cthulhu Mythos|Star Vampires.]] Invisible, chittering creatures, full of bloodsucking tentacles. Once they've drained a victim dry, they will momentarily become visible - and catching a glimpse of one during that moment is enough to drive most people mad.

* The Cardati Assassins from [[Eluki Bes Shahar]]'s Hellflower Trilogy use cham-suits to sneak up on their prey and kill them with a quick, precise knife stoke.

* One of Molly Carpenter's favoured battle tactics in ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. That and her patented 'One Woman Rave' spell.

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** This becomes the plot point of an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', where Worf is on trial for destroying a Klingon transport ship. Worf was waiting for a Klingon Bird-of-Prey to do an [[Invisibility Flicker]] before raiding the convoy and fired at it as soon as he saw the blink, which turned out to be the transport decloaking. Of course, {{spoiler|the Klingons set up an empty transport ship in order to set up Worf for murder, expecting his kneejerk reaction}}.

* The {{spoiler|Nox}} in the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "The Nox" turned invisible, but then would reappear when {{spoiler|healing or resurrecting someone.}}

* Shadow battleships from ''[[Babylon 5]]'' were not invisible but they phased in from hyperspace in a very blink-like manner (every other type of ship needs to open a GIANT glowing wormhole). Sometimes they did it right before obliterating enemy ships thus earning their place on this page.

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** This is like light or sound meters in stealth games: the character usually doesn't have such a device on his person; it's shown as part of the user interface to tell the user something that their character just knows. Such as "Cloak or no, I'm not too stealthy when I'm firing a weapon that can wake the dead".

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has these for a couple of the main characters. Cyborg Ninja, being a [[Conservation of Ninjitsu|lone ninja out for blood]], seems to blink back into view whenever he does anything more exciting than strolling down a hallway. And sometimes even then.

** Solid Snake not only disrupts his cloaking device, but outright wrecks it during the opening sequence of the second game. He casually tossed his rain jacket aside, lept off a bridge, and made a 10 point landing on the boat below; the cloak completely dies in flurry of discharged electricity. This entrance also made it into ''[[Super Smash Bros]]. Brawl''.

** Solid Snake not only disrupts his cloaking device, but outright wrecks it during the opening sequence of the second game. He casually tossed his rain jacket aside, lept off a bridge, and made a 10 point landing on the boat below; the cloak completely dies in flurry of discharged electricity. This entrance also made it into ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl''.

* In ''[[Civilization]] III'', certain units are invisible--primarily submarines. On the relatively barren ocean-type tiles, the shortest path usually goes around them, and it's not a problem. But when the game inserted invisible land-based units, such as assassins, it quickly became clear that trying to move onto a space with an assassin would automatically start a fight, even declaring a war when there was none! (Normally in such cases you're given the option not to attack.)

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** Quickly flipping your suit mode to maximum armour, firing, and cloaking is a good way around this. It takes practice to pull off, though.

** The above was a pretty common tactic for hunting snipers in the online multi-player part of the game. The counter-sniper could sit prone in stealth for minutes at a time. And this is pretty much true invisibility. So you go stealth, move onto a ridge or building where you can see where the sniper is shooting from, and wait until you find him. Once he fires, you zoom in on him, switch to armour mode, shoot, then back to stealth. You don't waste energy, it only takes 2 shots to kill the enemy sniper, and you are invisible again seconds later.

* In ''[[Halo]]'', attacking while cloaked would cause your cloak to disappear, although ceasing your attack makes it reappear. This has obvious gameplay balance advantages, of course.

** The cloaking Elites were often terrifyingly effective. They did leave a ripple in the air behind them, and flashy weapons like the energy sword were still clearly visible, resulting in strange fights where a seemingly magical sword would swish its way through the air and slaughter a bunch of the squishy humans you were fighting alongside.

* The Spy in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' cannot do anything while cloaked. As above, this is an obvious gameplay balance issue, as a fully cloaked spy is absolutely invisible (his model isn't rendered at all) so long as he does not bump into anybody, and being able to decloak and backstab behind an unaware foe is already a powerful ability.

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* Likewise, in ''[[Romancing SaGa]]: Minstrel Song'', the "Lurk" and "Move Silently" abilities prevent enemies from seeing or hearing you, respectively...unless you run into one on your own, in which case a battle begins (Either in Melee; closer range and more BP) or you get the initiative (Attack First) and after you win the stealth abilities are no more.

* The Stealth ability in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' makes you invisible until you interact with something (unless the interaction is Pick-Pocketing), or until you get too close to something that's looking right at you.

** It is possible to still be stealthed while someone is looking at you, usually an enemy mob will attack you right away but other players can be less quick. If you manage to run away before they can lock on to you, it can be funny to watch other players scurry about, shouting about a Rogue in stealth mode while you stand a safe distance away.

** One up on this is the mage's "Invisibility" spell, which makes you ''so'' invisible that you can't even see anyone ''else.'' Although once again the spell is canceled if the mage tries to do anything useful, like casting other spells. Not to mention that the mages actually have a spell called [[Teleportation Tropes|Blink.]]

*** The Invisibility spell actually operates as more of a [[Phantom Zone]] situation than anything else; you can see other people who are themselves in your temporary "dimension". Invisibility seems to shift you to somewhere between the normal world and the ghost plane.

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* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' follows this trope. Cloaking will temporarily deactivate when you attack (which includes firing guns, pistol whipping, punching, and throwing things) under the [[Justified Trope|justification]] that sudden movement disrupts the cloaking field. Shields will also blink occasionally; useful for spotting shielded enemies and seeing the shield strength of allies, on account of shields [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|being color-coded by how much power is left]] (bright-red for full and dark green for almost gone).

* For some reason, the Replica Assassins in ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' can't seem to stay invisible and punch you at the same time. Although it's less of a badass blink and more of a "pop into existence about 3 inches from your face before smacking you one".

** Still utterly terrifying, especially when engaging in ranged combat against them as it takes barely a moment after being shot for their cloaking to be restored, making it almost impossible to tell how many you're fighting sometimes as they quite literally seem to be everywhere.

*** Interestingly enough, [[Bullet Time]] is capable of rendering them visible.

* In ''[[Deus Ex]]'' you can have two different kinds of cloaking, anti-device and anti-human. You couldn't have both as cybernetic implants at the same time, though you could pick up anti-human cloaking devices which worked for a little while. You were free to attack as much as you liked, but the duration of the cloak was very limited.

** It is perfectly possible to get both, you just have to leave second subdermal slot open and wait for second invisibility can which can be found later in the game.

** The sequel allows you to have both right off the bat by having the anti-device and anti-human cloaks in different slots.

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]: Oblivion'' there were two types of invisibility spells. One was called "invisibility" and made you invisible until you interacted with an object (Like a door), got in a fight, or the spell wore off. The other, called chameleon, made you translucent and refractive in what was probably the most badass effect in the game. However, chameleon worked as a percentage, so it was still possible for enemies to see you even at 99% chameleon. [[Game Breaker|If you got 100% chameleon, however...]]

** 100% chameleon also had the effect of making you completely transparent. Much fun is to be had in cloaking to 100%, riding a horse around, and convincing friends that you had turned yourself into a horse.

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*** Mordred the phantom assassin has the skill blur which renders her model transparent (but not technically invisible), making her look invisible. The only way to see her is to notice the faint blur or her shadow. Interestingly, actual invisibility and frost-based slow effects will reveal her full model (until the transparency is refreshed).

*** Rikimaru, the aptly named stealth assassin has a literal version of this trope; he is permanently invisible, but whenever he attacks or uses a spell he is revealed for a period of time (that gets shorter as the ability is leveled up)

* All stealth units in the ''[[Command ~~and~~ Conquer]]'' series had to uncloak to fire (except Pathfinders from Generals, who had to WALK for that instead). In the first ''Red Alert'', submarines were handled as stealth units... Never mind that in [[Real Life]], the first submarines did the perfect opposite: As they weren't equipped for prolonged periods underwater, they usually stayed afloat out of battle.

* All stealth units in the ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' series had to uncloak to fire (except Pathfinders from Generals, who had to WALK for that instead). In the first ''Red Alert'', submarines were handled as stealth units... Never mind that in [[Real Life]], the first submarines did the perfect opposite: As they weren't equipped for prolonged periods underwater, they usually stayed afloat out of battle.

** In the FPS Renegade, this happens to stealth Black Hand units. Also, falling damage made them blink, too. Usually the people who use them bunny hop away. Note that they're still revealed even when the "falling damage" is zero (i.e. falling from a jump). Also note that bunny hopping in that game [[Too Dumb to Live|isn't actually faster than running.]]

** That and stealthed units/buildings in Dawn and Sun can be revealed by getting a unit close enough that they would essentially be touching it. And the force attack (ctrl) command is your best friend for targeting cloaked buildings.

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* In ''[[Global Agenda]]'', the Recon class pops out their stealth all the time when using their abilities or getting shot at.

* Reptile from ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' uses a cloak ability in later games.

* Happens all the time in the ''Spiral Knights' '' pvp mini-game, Lockdown. In the game the player can become a recon. You cannot see a stealthed enemy recon, but you will be alerted to their presence. Remaining near a stealthed opponent will lower your defense. Further, due to the game's mechanics, activating stealth immediately after attacking will cancel part of your attack animation and speed up your attack. So, a common tactic is to stealth near your enemy, lower their defenses, attack, and immediately restealth.

* This happens in ''[[Gauntlet (1985 video game)]]'' when a player picks up the invisibility amulet.

* [[Escape Velocity]]: Nova has this for the Wraith, everytime they get close, they flicker a bit, same when they're angered and they attack you. The Polaris gets a cloaking [[Organic Technology|organ]] but requires you to decloak in order to fire weapons, later in the specific storyline, the Scarab and Raven are upgraded to have a specially modified Polaron ([[Macross Missile Massacre|multi-]])torpedo tubes that allow you to fire while cloaked.