Villain Teleportation: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Xayide and her giants drove through the earth and into the underworld of Fantasia; here they could travel with the speed of darkness, which was faster than the speed of light."''|'''Narration''', ''[[The Neverending Story (film)|The Neverending Story]] II''}}

This is why heroes tend not to have the power to teleport, or at least not with the ease and grace of their villain. Because it's such a huge advantage and potential conflict killer, [[Mobile Menace|giving a villain the power of teleportation]] will make most heroes' lives that much harder and the conflict [[Underdogs Never Lose|that much more uphill]]. After the hero clears out all the enemies in the hidden temple, the villain will [[Teleporting Keycard Squad|teleport in]] and [[MacGuffin Delivery Service|snatch that MacGuffin]] right out of the hero's hands.

Not just that, but they can combine it with [[Offscreen Teleportation]] to ''really'' get around, and even combine it with a [[Circling Monologue]] to [[Trash Talk|taunt]] the hero from ''just'' out of their reach. When combat starts, they'll use [[Teleport Spam]] to avoid being attacked and whap the hero upside the head. However, [[Bond Villain Stupidity|don't expect them to just shoot the hero]]... or [[Portal Cut|teleport half of them somewhere else]].

Compare [[Invisible Jerkass]], a [[Sister Trope]]. See also [[Mobile Menace]].

* The ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain The Spot seems to run off this.

* In ''[[The Flash]]'' comics, there's "Peek-A-Boo", whose teleportation ability is unstable and can have dangerous side-effects (such as a big implosion at the point she just teleported away from). She didn't want to be a villain, but was forced into the role by her circumstances.

* [[Ambush Bug]] would count from his villain days

* One group of antagonists in ''[[Book of Amber]]'' acquired transportation power—that is, more convenient than walking Shadows and using Trumps as all main players do. Eventually one of them deserved a [[You Fight Like a Cow|remark]] (which he jumped to <s>dis</s>prove):

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Jasra}}''': It means nothing to be able to transport yourself anywhere, if you are a fool in all places.}}

* As Valentin Ivashchenko likes [[Our Elves Are Better|his elves to be different]], elves in ''Warrior and Mage'' and ''Dancing Flame'' hold the portal spell and the "forest road" spell (dimension border walking as shortcuts) in high secrecy. Earl Valle, the protagonist, being something of a [[Marty Stu]], discovers his own improved version of the latter spell before graduation and develops his own portal spell in the second book, although the book implies that {{spoiler|the titular [[Minovsky Physics|Dancing]] [[Unobtainium|Flame's]] power used by Valle was also used by the deity creating the elves and powers their magic.}}

* Myrddraal in the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' books can teleport between shadows. It's uncertain what other limitations are at play, although it seems [[Fan Wank|logical]] that there must be a maximum effective range since only those nations closest to where Myrddraal are known to live take the precaution of extra light sources, and the lack of [[Teleport Spam]] during fight scenes that take place in shadowy areas implies some kind of cooldown timer or other limitation on how often it can be used. Even the evil super-scientist who created them doesn't seem too sure how it works, though that applies to pretty much everything about Myrddraal.

* ''Every single villain'' in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' possesses the ability to ''Teleport'' in and out of battlefields at their leisure (or [[Villain Exit Stage Left|just before you're able to deal the finishing blow]].) Marquis Elmdore and the [[Final Boss]] also possess the specific battle ability ''Master Teleport'' which allows them to appear anywhere on the battlefield without penalty or risk of failure (whereas the player's ''Teleport'' may fail at longer distances.)

* While ''[[Suikoden]]'' has [[The Ditz|Viki]] as the good guy Teleporter, she doesn't have the same level of control or Style as [[Psycho for Hire|Yuber]], [[Big Bad|Windy]], [[Face Heel Turn|Luc]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|Neclord]]. Though Yuber uses this ability the most - being somewhat of a [[Dirty Coward]]. Aside from Windy, none of them have as much ''power'' in their teleportation (Viki's can handle [[Mass Teleportation]] and even [[Time Travel]], though she's only ever done the latter by accident), but Viki's control is quite poor.

** He does vanish and reappear during one of his Distortion Drives, but that might be a [[Flash Step]].

** An odd example in the first game - in routes before the True Story, [[The Battle Didn't Count|"defeating" Hakumen means surviving against him until another character forcibly teleports him away]] (the exception is Tager, who would normally be setting up the teleporter beacons off-screen while your character fights Hakumen, and is one of the few characters [[Hollywood Cyborg|strong enough]] to actually hurt him).

== Webcomics ==

* ''[[Wayward Sons]]'': Doctor Chu's power. Normally limited by his knowledge of his surroundings, he once teleported from Egypt to East Asia instictively to survive a fatal attack. Without knowing where he was, it took him years to find his way back.

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'': Vaarsuvius, the titular Order's resident wizard, has Conjuration as one of [[Ambiguous Gender|his/her]] barred schools, thus denying the party the ability to teleport.<ref>Not entirely his/her fault, since [[Cosmic Retcon|the laws of the universe were altered]] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0340.html before he/she could learn the spell, which used to be Transmutation].</ref> The villains have no such limitation, naturally. And with Vaarsuvius made a [[Deal with the Devil]](s) to temporarily gain immense magical power, he/she was able to not only teleport, but do so on a truly [[Mass Teleportation|Epic]] [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0643.html scale].