Visible Invisibility/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: When a character is invisible, there will be some visual anomaly (that other characters ignore) to clue in the viewers as to that character's whereabouts.

  • Straight: Bob, an animated character, drinks the invisibility potion and becomes transparent, save for his outline. Alice doesn't seem to recognize Bob when he's in a room.
  • Exaggerated: Bob doesn't change at all, but is followed around by a giant arrow that says HE'S INVISIBLE NOW!
  • Justified: Due to an imperfection in the invisibility machine, Bob is fully invisible only from a certain angle.
  • Inverted: The characters can see Bob, but the viewers cannot.
  • Subverted: Bob's outline walks on screen, but it turns out that he just painted himself "invisible" for the sake of a gag.
  • Double Subverted: ... but since he painted the pattern of a brick wall onto his skin, nobody can see him when he flattens himself against the wall.
  • Parodied: Bob drinks the invisibility potion and begins to glow. Alice pays no attention to this.
    • Bob yells, "I'm invisible!" Despite the fact that nothing has changed, nobody can see him.
  • Deconstructed: ???
  • Reconstructed: ???
  • Zig Zagged: ???
  • Averted: There is no clue that Bob is invisible, except for his being ignored by other characters.
    • Alternatively, Bob is invisible to the viewers as well as the characters, and the viewers aren't in on it until something gets lifted.
  • Enforced: "Do something about Bob. He's invisible, but that doesn't mean the viewers shouldn't see him."
  • Lampshaded: "Bob, get out of the ladies' room. I can see your outline."
  • Invoked: "And this button turns my outline white and makes me transparent."
  • Defied: "I knew that invisibility devices usually have some sort of visual cue that lets you spot them, so I tested this one carefully to make sure it didn't."
  • Discussed: "If I squint, and I know where I'm looking, I can see an outline."
  • Conversed: ???