Stealth Hi Bye: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

** Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune are fond of suddenly standing or sitting behind the barely five-foot-tall [[Sailor Moon]] wherever she goes, and making comments, as if they had been there the whole time.

** Usagi herself does this once: Mamoru's just standing on a street corner. A passing truck blocks our view and after it passes... there's Usagi right next to him. Mamoru doesn't notice her until she greets him, startling the hell out of him.

** It's also quite common, at least in [[Fanon]], for Sailor Pluto to do this to Usagi as well. There's one particular episode of ''Stars'' where she scares the living daylights out of the girls on about three occasions by popping up out of the blue. [[Never Live It Down|This episode is famous in fandom]]. The girls are eating icecream when she appears. Pluto pops up holding a popsicle. She actually pulled that trick ''twice'', the second time was without the popsicle. And it ''really'' doesn't help that the episode is ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|freaking hilarious]]''. As well as the first time Pluto appears after the ''Nehelenia'' mini-arc.

* Hanajima Saki of ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' does this twice, once to Shigure, Kyo and Yuki, and once to Yuki himself, appearing beside him and saying, "I didn't mean to scare you", causing him to jump out of his seat in terror.

* [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]] plays this game with Commissioner Gordon (and just about anyone else he talks to) all the time. In fact, whenever he doesn't it's usually a sign to Gordon that it's an impostor, or at least that something's wrong.

** In the ''[[Knightfall]]'' novelization, Batman appears in Gordon's car, impliedly having snuck in while he was out. Gordon asks him if he's a ninja, and Batman says yes. After their conversation, Gordon brakes at a stoplight, makes a few quips, and turns around, only to find that Batman is gone. [[Rule of Cool|In defiance of]] ''[[Rule of Cool|several laws of physics]]''.

** He's even been able to pull this off on Clark Kent (also known as ''Superman'') a few times. e.g.: During ''JLA: Midsummer's Nightmare'', where Batman asks the JLA to wait a moment while he goes on ahead to quietly disable a sentry. Superman and J'onn J'onnz both try to follow his progress, but fail. To reiterate: a guy who can hear electrons bump into each other on the other side of the planet and see DNA through a mountain, and a guy who can do all this ''plus'' is a [[X Men|Xavier-class]] telepath, both utterly fail to detect Batman when they know where he left from, when he left, where he's going, and that he'll be back in a minute. It has been noted in the past, however, that Batman has mentioned that he's gone out of his way to learn how to trick Superman and others (usually more by way of mindgame stealth)--in the first issue of Grant Morrison's run, Superman doesn't hear Batman's heartbeat, his usual way of picking up on him as he approaches; Batman muses that "the device worked". Similarly, Batman has been able to block out telepathic detection on various occasions ''if he knows about it''. And on a number of occasions, other superheroes have asked Superman how Batman could disappear on him like that, and Superman only grins affectionately and says, Batman loves his little tricks, leaving the impression that Superman has no desire to make an effort to spoil Batman's fun. The few times Superman has truly had to catch Batman, he has been able to do so...usually with Batman chastising him that he took 14 seconds longer than Batman himself expected.

** In ''[[Kingdom Come]]'', [[Superman]] pulls this, albeit unintentionally, on Batman (which, to be [[Justified Trope|fair]], he ''would'' be capable of, being faster than a speeding bullet and all...). Batman proceeds to [[Lampshade Hanging|wryly comment]] to himself: "So '''that's''' what that feels like...." And toward the end of the book, when Clark and Diana (Wonder Woman) are waiting at the diner for Bruce to show up, Clark worries that someone will recognize them. Diana tells him it isn't likely, then Bruce interrupts her by saying that none of them stand out. Clark's response? "There you are. You snuck up on me. ''Me''. How do you ''do'' that?"

** Batman also finds himself on the receiving end of a [[Stealth Hi Bye]] from the Huntress in ''Justice League America'' #26 (of the Giffen-DeMatteis run), to which he remarks, "Now I know how Jim Gordon feels...."

** The first character to do this to Batman was [[The Phantom Stranger]], another DC comics nighttime hero (though a supernatural one, so it was not really that he was more skilled than Batman). When Phantom Stranger pulled this on Superman, he comments, "At least Batman has a heartbeat to listen to."

** Most members of the Bat Family (Robin, Nightwing etc.) have done this at one time or another -- obviously they learned from the best. Barbara Gordon (aka Oracle, formerly Batgirl) once pulled this on Catwoman in an art gallery. ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|In a wheelchair.]]''

** At one point, during the [[Batman: No Man's Land (Comic Book)|No Man's Land]] arc, Gordon is in the middle of a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] speech to Batman and [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] that friends do not walk out in the middle of your sentences. Batman was much more open and above-board in his dealings with Gordon for the rest of that arc.

* ''[[The Avengers 1998 (Film)|The Avengers 1998]]''. Sir August starts a fight with Steed in a hedge maze. After he knocks Steed's umbrella up in the air, he disappears while Steed is looking up at the umbrella.

* The dark-robed, whispering, creepy-looking, angelic, alien-like men in ''Knowing'' do this.

* ''Spies Like Us''. While Emmett is being held by the Tadzhik highway patrol officers, the two KGB Special Branch agents he met earlier suddenly appear ''inside a room'' and begin interrogating him.

* ''[[Alien]]''. While Ripley is inside the computer room talking to Mother, Ash suddenly appears behind her inside the room with no explanation. Note that the door makes a standard "[[Doom Doors|whooshing]]'' sound, so he couldn't have gotten in that way.

** Green Arrow also pulls this at least once in Season 9 on Cat Grant. When Green Arrow is first introduced, Clark turns from him for two seconds and turns back to find him gone. It's all the more bewildering because Clark doesn't appear to have noticed himself, despite having had super hearing for years by this point.

*** Lionel Luthor also frequently pulls this off, usually to help reinforce the point that Lionel is sneaky. For instance, Clark or Chloe goes down to the cave and the camera pans around the cave and shows that nobody is there. All of a sudden, a literal second later we hear Lionel's voice saying "Miss Sullivan" or "Clark?" and the character turns around and suddenly Lionel is just there. Lionel managed to do this so often that, given that the show takes place in the DC Universe and the fact that Lionel hangs out with other rich people, one seriously has to wonder if young [[Batman|Bruce Wayne]] learned this trick by studying Lionel.

** Christopher Eccleston pulled this off very well in "The Empty Child". When Nancy and her fellow orphans sneak into a dining room while the home's residents are in a bomb-shelter(the ep takes place during the Blitz), Nancy starts a plate around and everyone takes a slice of beef. The Doctor was already sitting at the other end of the table, accepting the plate from the child ahead of him. He later does it again when he follows Nancy to her hideout. She points out that people can't usually do that to her.

** For that matter, Nancy herself did it to the Doctor, appearing seemingly out of nowhere to tell him not to answer the phone in the TARDIS (which shouldn't have worked to begin with), and having vanished when he turned around again to question her further about the phone call.

* David Karofsky from ''[[Glee]]'' started a meme of ''Suddenly Karofsky'' due to his tendency to appear seemingly out of nowhere despite his big size and habit of wearing a distinctive red letterman's jacket. It was played for dramatic effect when he was bullying Kurt.

* Dang of Canadian ten sitcom ''[[Mr Young]]'' tends to suddenly appear at random times, mostly when people [[Speak of the Devil|say his name]]. He's so good, he can even do this ''in outer space''. In fact, he's so amazing at this that he can do this in two places at the same time.

* Both [[Abe Kroenen|Kroenen]] and Nuada do this on a regular basis, usually to Abe. [http://abe-kroenen.livejournal.com/64278.html This causes Abe much consternation.]

{{quote| "Are you people in a ''club'' or something?"}}

* ''[[Slightly Damned]]'': Death does this occasionally to Buwaro and Rhea.

* Mr. Mighty of ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'' [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=188813 does this occasionally.]

[[Category:Invisibility Index]]

[[Category:Stealth Hi Bye]]