Visible Invisibility: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Kevin''': It's some kind of invisible barrier.

 

{{quote|''Enter ARIEL, invisible''|Stage direction to [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[The Tempest]]''}}

 

See also [[Astral Projection]] and [[See the Invisible]]. Compare [[Fluorescent Footprints]].

{{examples}}

== Visible to the Audience ==

* ''[[Beetlejuice]]''

* Most renditions, in text and on film, of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.

* ''[[Amazon Women on the Moon]]'' has an interesting sendup: Ed Begly as the "Invisible Man", so he ''says'' he is, who is perfectly visible to everyone around him; they just play along with his antics. To make it more "authentic", the IM rips off all his clothes in order to carry out his pranks (sticking darts in the dartboard, stealing beer, etc). He's genuinely surprised when the police finally arrest him.

 

* Claude in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' is visible to the audience most of the time during his episodes, but when he's introduced at the beginning of an episode, the audience hears his voice and sees him pick up an object, rendering it invisible. Also, the audience has seen him fade in and out of visibility. This causes his fans to believe that after he ran out on Peter, he's in every scene—''we just can't see him.''

** Lampshaded by the writers: when asked if they were bringing Claude back, they replied "We already have. Didn't you see him?"

* [[Randall and Hopkirk Deceased]]: Marty is only visible (usually) to Jeff and the audience, and invisible to everyone else.

 

* Used a lot in [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays, especially when the invisible character (e.g., Banquo's ghost) is only visible to one character.

** Probably just a stage technique in general— ''Blithe Spirit'', for example.

* Comedian-magician Mac King pokes fun at this trope with the "Mac King Cloak of Invisibility," a device that supposedly renders him completely invisible to whoever's on stage with him at the time as well as the audience. {{spoiler|Said device is a bright yellow rain slicker that can practically be seen from ''orbit.''}}

 

 

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' deals with invisible characters by having them be completely visible to the audience, but wearing shirts that [http://egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-18 say "invisible."]

 

* The illusionist Derren Brown once convinced someone that he was invisible. While he was standing in front of them. The audience gets to watch that confused someone.

 

 

== Distortion ==

* ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'s'' Thermoptic camouflage.

** Averted in the movie, and occasionally in the series. In the movie you can only see the disturbances that a cloaked character causes, like footprints, falling objects, etc. In the series you can see distortion sometimes, but not always — usually when the audience shares the perspective with the invisible character. There's always distortions for a few seconds when a character turns invisible, though.

* Espio the Chameleon in ''[[Sonic X]]''.

 

* The invisible car in ''[[Die Another Day]]''. There's a (rather overlong) explanation of the spec-tech involved, and the distortion is ''very'' visible.

** At least when the car is moving, as presumably the cameras and computers have a hard time keeping up. When it's still, it's undetectable.

* ''[[Predator]]'': The cloaking device used by the predators. The distortion is also present in the [[Alien vs. Predator]] games and enemies may notice you moving in front of them.

 

* The Shadows in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' occasionally appear this way when they're not totally invisible.

* The Jem'Hadar from ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.

 

* In ''[[Champions Online]]'', if a player has sufficient Intelligence or a Utility to aid his ability to detect Stealthed characters, they show up this way.

* The stealth tanks in the first ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' game, especially in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiMR77_ARFk the associated FMV.] Years later, ''Renegade'' used a cheaper version of this effect (and added stealth troopers).

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] II'' does this for stealth mode.

* Infiltrators using their tactical cloak, and Geth Hunters in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. Unusually, the glowing "eye" on the geth is still clearly visible, which substantially undermines the effectiveness of the camouflage. Their cloaks are better in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', but still not perfect.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has the Cloaking Device, which leaves a faint distortion when the user moves around.

** However, note that the ''attacks'' of a cloaked unit remain perfectly visible, which is a bit of a giveaway to a human player. Said human player will probably drop a Psionic Storm, ComSat Sweep, or Ensnare on the offending units.

*** The Ghost's attack is ''very'' hard to spot though, as it only gives off a small muzzle flash.

* The Nanosuit cloaking device in ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' works this way. Unlike in, say, ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', this means that enemies who are at close range or have already been alerted to the player's presence will, in fact, be able to see (and shoot) you. Likewise, it is possible to see cloaked enemies as well, if you look carefully.

 

* Thrust in ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' is seen as a mirage-esque distortion of the background when he's invisible.

* ''[[Wolverine and the X-Men]]'': The Blackbird's cloaking device is, when active, a blue-white outline of the plane's entire shape that phases into visibility for a second, then vanishes, strobing like that.

 

* This is probably what a real-life [[Invisibility Cloak]] will look like in 5 or 10 years.

 

 

== Partly Transparent ==

* In ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', Keronian technology can make it so that specific people can see you while others can't. If you can see a cloaked Keronian, you see them as translucent images. The anime adds a rainbow glow to the outermost outlines, though it can get a little inconsistent with some items only having the rainbow glow.

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S]]'' uses this method to portray Garyuu's and the Type IV Gadget Drone's invisibility, though attentive viewers may notice that the latter also used the Distortion method a few seconds before it made its presence known to the audience.

 

* Rogues using stealth in most D&D-based video games, including ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' and ''Icewind Dale''.

* All stealth units in ''[[Command & Conquer]]: Tiberian Sun'' (completely invisible to the enemy, of course).

* [[Ecco the Dolphin (series)|Ecco the Dolphin]], in ''Defender of the Future,'' is see-through with stealth, but the enemies can't see him, even if he bumps into them.

* The Specters of ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]] I and II'' are just Demons with the transparency turned up. On lower-end systems (I'm looking at you, 32X), they were closer to fuzzy background distortions.

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' there are two kinds of invisibility: regular invisibility and chameleon. Regular invisibility uses the transparent effect, unless it's another character using it, in which case they go completely invisible. Chameleon also uses partial transparency, whether it's on your or another person. However, if you reach 100% chameleon, you are completely invisible, even to yourself. This is an infamous [[Game Breaker]], since regular invisibility goes away when you attack, but chameleon doesn't.

* Your [[Player Character]] looks like this when under the Invisible [[Status Buff]] in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]''.

** And an enemy's cloaked units once they're within range of a unit with the Detector property, such as the Terran Missile Turret or the Protoss Observer.

* Mario using the Vanish cap in ''[[Super Mario 64]]''.

** A few stealth powers, like Cloak of Darkness and Shadowfall, make you look more like a cloud of smoke to yourself and your allies.

* Espio the Chameleon in ''[[Sonic Heroes]]''.

* The active camo in ''[[Halo: Reach]]''. The user's transparency decreases when they move.

* ''[[Bob and George]]'' has [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/010112c Megaman's ghost]

 

* ''[[The Gary Coleman Show]]'', in which Gary is a child angel.

* Invisible spirits on ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' are a transparent blue when they're in the physical world.

 

== Outline ==

* Characters in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' who have had the Vanish spell cast on themselves are shown as a black outline; Vanished enemies fall under the "completely invisible" format.

* In the second ''[[Master of Orion]]'', ships with a Phasing Cloak device equipped show up on the tactical screen as a transparent outline. You can scan a ship using their Phasing Cloak, but are unable to target it for weapons fire.

* Used in ''[[Videogames/Temple Run|Temple Run]]''. Interestingly, the monsters can still see you while you're invisible, but it does protect you against trees and pitfalls. One can only guess that the invisibility makes you intangible, and that the monsters are quite supernatural. (Well, they ''do'' have skulls for heads.)

 

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0657.html uses this method] in a scene shown through the three fiends' HD TV screen, which has a "see invisible" setting. The rest of the time, it uses the "completely invisible" one below.

 

* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', when invisible, is still inked in blackline but is given an airbrushed glow effect and filled in with slight white. Also, his eyes are drawn normally even when he's invisible to make it easier for the viewer to spot him.

** Though averted with villains occasionally. They will be completely invisible to the audience if we aren't supposed to see them.

* ''[[Space Ghost]]'': Jan and Jayce all were drawn in white outline.

* Komodo of ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' is drawn in white outline.

 

== Completely Invisible ==

* ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]''. The footprint method is used in the third movie when Harry wears the cloak outside while it's snowing.

** However in any shot where he's putting on or taking off the cloak, it falls into the category of [[Special Effects Failure|distortion]] due to the use of the [[Chroma Key|green-screen technique]] to make the cloak appear invisible.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' trilogy, with Frodo. The only way we could tell where he was in the last part was by his footprints.

** Bilbo was invisible to the audience while wearing the ring. However, when Frodo wore the ring, we saw a distorted version of reality with him in it.

* ''[[Hollow Man]]'' — even his vomit was invisible. Plenty of tricks were used to still get a view of him though.

 

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', on two separate occasions: the season 1 episode "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", and the season 6 episode "Gone".

* Most adaptations of [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The Invisible Man (novel)|The Invisible Man]]'':

* Clara of ''[[Sanctuary]]'' used the ''footprints'' method of tracking usually, using the outline when she was 'found' by turning on the sprinklers. Later uses enabled her to partly 'uncloak' some part of her body to alert the viewers where she was.

 

** Characters with the "invisible" status buff in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' leaves only a shadow. You can still see where the unit is (though the AI might not) but that unit cannot be targeted.

* The third boss in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' - you have to shoot it in the eye to make it visible again. Conveniently, the top screen shows the boss' first-person view of the fight.

* Annoying when the CPU does it in [[Mortal Kombat]] games that let it happen. Invisible [[Perfect Play AI]], anyone?

 

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0089.html uses this method] and the "white outline" one above.

 

* In ''[[Kickassia]]'', Linkara remarks to interviewer Chris Larios that JewWario is extremely good at camouflage, and the camera pans to where the character is supposed to be standing. His disembodied voice is heard, and at one point someone bumps into him. Oddly, this ability is never used at any other point in the film.

* Kopaka in the ''[[Bionicle]]'' web-animations, when donning the Mask of Concealment. Only the footprints he leaves in the snow can be seen.

 

** Due to budget constraints, however, Invisibo appears for most of their first fight as a rod clearly dangling from a piece of rope. Yes, in a cartoon. Fortunately, due to how bad that looked, the producers let them have a higher budget about halfway through the fight.

* "The Invisible Monster" in ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' left burning... er... ''blob''-prints where it "stepped" and blew up anything it touched, so there was a clear delineation of where it had been. How Dr. Quest and Race were able to make it visible by [[Fridge Logic|dropping paint balloons]] onto it is never explained.

* Phantom Limb's arms and legs in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' are like this, which is occasionally [[Played for Laughs]] when other characters can't quite decipher his vague motions.

{{quote|'''Dr. Girlfriend:''' ...what the hell are you doing?

'''Dr. Girlfriend:''' Yeah, well nobody can see that! }}

* In the ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Pranks a lot," Patrick and Spongebob paint themselves with invisible spray, making them completely invisible to the viewer. This does not interfere with the camera panning between them and zooming in dramatically on the characters' faces.

 

 

* Ea from ''[[Toumei Shoujo Ea]]'' (English title: "Invisible Girl Ea") takes all the methods, for the most part. She shifts between visibility and invisibility to the audience, except when her powers are malfunctioning, wherein she distorts like the predator or shows up as a translucent blue ghost.

* Similarly, Shizuka in ''Translucent'' uses several of the tricks. The story focuses on how Shizuka has contracted "Translucent Syndrome", a nonfatal, noncontagious disease that turns her mostly translucent on a monthly cycle. In the manga, this is shown via either sketching in the background lines behind her, showing her without any shading at all (or as a very pale gray), or showing her without any lines at all (merely using shading). People who get more serious versions of the disease can end up with "Fully Transparent Syndrome", which is traditional [[Invisibility]] stuff — which in the manga is shown by the "completely invisible, even to the audience" subtrope, with the exception that extreme positive emotions can cause a faint screentone outline to appear. The one character who has FTS in the series wears a hat, gloves and glasses to show people where her head and arms are.

* In a {{spoiler|Post-time skip}} [[Filler]] episode of [[Fairy Tail]], Lucy turns invisible after bathing in some potion which had gone off {{spoiler|(having been unused for 7 years)}}. For the most part, she is completely invisible, with the audience only being able to see the towel wrapped around her, and is occasionally Distorted Background (with very faint glow surrounding her). She is also at one point {{spoiler|after being completely wiped from existence}} fully visible to the audience, but everything else is covered in a purple haze.

 

* Over the course of fifty years, Susan Richards from the [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]] has had her powers portrayed in every method but the first. The original [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] comics used outlines; the movies used Predator-style distortion; and later comics, cartoons, and video games have alternated between partial transparency and total invisibility, [[Depending on the Artist]].

 

* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', invisible man Rodney Skinner is completely incapable of being seen in most instances. When he wants to be seen, he dons a trenchcoat and/or slathers greasepaint on his face. Done to great effect in the Mongolian blizzard scene, where he is visible only because of the snow landing on his head and shoulders.

 

* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'', there's a red glow where Raz's eyes would be in order to show you where he is. This is supposed to represent his goggles, but in the real world, where he doesn't wear them, it looks a little strange.

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'', when Link uses the Magic Cloak to turn invisible, he's completely so, but [[Fridge Logic|somehow]] [[The Shadow Knows|still has a shadow under him]].

* In [[Quake]], the Ring of Shadows turns you invisible except for your eyes. Observant players will be able to spot this, while monsters will ignore you, presumably thinking you're a benevolent spirit... until you attack them, then they know to attack the floating eyes!

 

* In ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', when Terry is in stealth mode, we see only his shading.

* The shading method was also used once with Jade (using the Snake Talisman) in the ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Rule of Perception]]

[[Category:Spectacle]]