Invisible Streaker: Difference between revisions

Not all [[Invisibility]] methods are created equal. While most works [[Hand Wave]] away the problems with invisibility -- beinginvisibility—being able to see being the main one -- oneone—one specific problem frequently comes up. Namely: You may be able to become invisible, but that doesn't mean things you interact with (such as ''clothes'') can.

Ultimately, if this trope is in play, expect the [[Mundane Solution]] to come up -- sinceup—since no one (by definition) can see the invisible person, going around naked is an acceptable solution to being unable to make other things invisible. This can make using the power downright difficult, especially in [[Exposed to the Elements|less hospitable climates]], or for more nefarious purposes -- itpurposes—it's not easy to steal things when you can't interact with them.

This can also be downright [[Rule of Funny|hilarious]], as [[Naked People Are Funny|the insinuation of nudity]] as well as the reactions to such is classic comedy. It can also be played equally [[Rule of Drama|dramatically]] -- a—a person trapped in this state would be unable to interact with the outside world directly, outside of wearing a burqa or similar clothing all the time. There's also an inherent [[Rule of Sexy|sexuality]] to the concept -- manyconcept—many aversions of this trope are specifically used due the producers wanting to avoid risque situations.

In short: The [[Mundane Solution]] applied to specific types of [[Invisible Main Character|Invisible Main Characters]]s: those who, due to [[Rule of Funny]], [[Rule of Drama|Drama]], or [[Rule of Sexy|Sexy]], don't have invisible [[Magic Pants]] and consequently have to strip to make use of their power. A specific type of [[Naked People Are Funny|nudity as humor]]. Of course, expect the whole thing to wear off just a little bit too early. Depending on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism]], expect [[Exposed to the Elements]] (and other side effects of being naked and unseen outside) to come into play, or [[Bellisario's Maxim|be outright ignored]]. This may also serve as a way of averting [[Right Through His Pants]] without showing anything the target audience may dislike.

* Infamously inverted in ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' -- her—her ''plane'' was invisible, ''she'' wasn't, so in general, it just looked like a mysterious squatting woman shooting through the air. The plane is later retconned to make its contents invisible, too.

* Inverted in ''[[The Bod]],'' a short three-part miniseries in [[Image Comics]]. The story is about a rising supermodel whose body gets turned invisible due to an industrial accident shortly after she arrives at Hollywood to have her big break as an actress. She wears lots of very form-fitting clothing to show off her beautiful body as she tries to use her new, incurable condition as a gimmick to further her career. The rest of the trope -- thattrope—that of the woman's invisibility not extending to her clothing, is played completely straight. Unfortunately, so are the [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]] and [[Small Name, Big Ego]] tropes -- thetropes—the series quickly degenerates to a series of [[Take That|Take Thats]]s about how horrible Hollywood's culture is.

* Paul in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'' etc. That's because he wears an illusion for clothing anyway, so he just switches his clothing illusion for invisibility.

* In the short story ''Hershey's Kisses'' by Ron Goulart (contained in ''The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy II'' by Michael Ashley et al.), a young man in trouble with his (young, hot, female, hates him) new boss runs into a wizard. He ends up trying to save his career by doing this, breaking & entering, and kissing the magic tattoo on her butt [[Rule of Three|three times]] as she sleeps. It wears off prematurely: It turns out she'd hired the wizard in a gambit to get him to her apartment, naked, as he failed to [[LoveOblivious Isto ObliviousLove|recognize her previous hints]]. They find out about the other gambit when the camera crew bursts out of the closet.

* [[Played With]] in one of R.L. Stine's ''[[Ghosts Of Fear Street]]'' books, (''Go to Your Tomb—Right Now!'') A pair of friends get 12 hours of invisibility from a girl who knows magic; it causes whatever clothes they put on to turn invisible with them, then suddenly turn visible when they undress. Unfortunately, the luck of this is [[Double Subverted]] when {{spoiler|the two decide to take advantage of a closed community pool by going swimming in their underwear. When two of the people who run the pool show up, the friends can't find a way to escape unnoticed—and of course, ''then'' their 12 hours expire}}.

** The series also features an inversion similar to the ''Vanishing Man'' example listed below -- Chrysalisbelow—Chrysalis, a Joker whose invisibility is always on and only applies to her skin and hair.

* In one of ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' novels, the book's protagonist finds a [[Lost Colony]] whose settlers have gained strange powers after landing. One of these groups calls themselves Shadows and has invisiblityinvisibility powers, along with empathy and healing. While averted with the inhabitants of the City, who ''don't'' walk around naked and generally avoid turning invisible if they can help it, many colonists went mad after the mutation and live in the wild. The wild Shadows almost never become visible and run around naked.

* In the 1998 ITV drama ''Vanishing Man'' played not only this trope but also [[Just Add Water]] -- the—the titular character had to be wet to be invisible. [[Hilarity Ensues|This led to some funny moments]] when he dries out. ''For example'', when he's following someone in a car by clinging to the roof rack, said car overtakes a lorry, much to the lorry driver's shock he is overtaken by a car with a naked man clinging to the roof rack, thankfully it starts to rain before the car reaches it's destination.

* Done repeatedly in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''. Of course, Calvin isn't really invisible in any of these [[Imagine Spot|Imagine Spots]]s...

* The comic strip ''[[Yenny]]'' had an arc in October and November 2005, starting [httphttps://wwwweb.gocomicsarchive.comorg/yennyweb/200520210316191510/10https:/26/www.gocomics.com/ here]{{Dead link}}, in which Yenny mistakenly drinks her friend's invisibility potion. She decides to walk around nude and spy on Kelso and Margot.

* In [http://www.microforuminternational.com/games_Adventure.html Microforum International's]{{Dead link}} [[Mobile Phone Game|mobile phone games]] ''The Invisible Man'' and ''The Invisible Lady'', the player character is nude and invisible, and must collect clothing and four antidote ingredients to become visible again.

== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' turns this trope on its head: In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0025.html this] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|strip]], the [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Elan learns that [[RPG Mechanics Verse|wearing less armor makes a person harder to notice]].

* In [[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]], while he isn't actually invisible, no one can SEE''see'' him... [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1795#comic link]

* Can be seen... er, I mean, ''[[The KAMics]]'' used it [https://web.archive.org/web/20130305063652/http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/4833549/ here] and the next page.

* Averted in ''[[Enjuhneer]]'' -- Kaji—Kaji, the invisible roommate, gets offended early in the series when someone assumes she's walking around nude (she later wears a Santa cap to show where she is). Possibly averted, however, as later she insists that she "even bothered to put on pants" when she was forced out into public.

** Actually, the only hilarity that ensues is when Dib and Zim comment on how stupid a design flaw that is--[[Too Dumb to Live|the average IZ-world civilian]] doesn't seem to think much of the strange green person floating through the air.

* ''[[Totally Spies!]]'': The villain in "Evil Boyfriend" does this after consuming the invisibility potion.