History Main / SpeedEchoes

* A variation is found in The Picard Maneuver of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The premise is that making a short warp jump allows a ship to overtake their own image traveling toward the observer and thus appear in two places at once. Too bad this is completely ridiculous at least for ''Star Trek''. If starships didn't have filters to prevent this, they'd be surrounded by ghost images of every ship that ever entered or left warp in that area, as proven by Lawrence Krauss.
** The HandWave is that although long-range sensors are faster than light, targeting sensors are limited to lightspeed. This fails to explain why they don't use FTL sensors for targeting, but that can probably be handwaved too.

* This happens to Mario or Luigi when you use the Rainbow Star in ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' and it's sequel.

* Likewise when the similar power-up appears in the ''MegaManX'', ''[[MegaManZero Zero]]'' and ''[[MegaManZX ZX]]'' games.

* Frequently used in comics to display either superhuman speed or acrobatics. {{Spider-Man}} and Nightwing are the undisputed masters of the latter effect.

[[caption-width:400:[[VideoGame/StarFox Fox McCloud]] shows how it's done.]]One common way of portraying a character as moving very, very quickly in fiction is to make multiple images of them viewable at once. They appear to be moving so fast that they're in several places at once. For the sake of preventing confusion, usually the "non-static" parts are shaded with less color, so we're sure that a character is moving really fast as opposed to being a monster with eight arms. Indeed, this trope is much easier to show than it is to describe -- it's one of those effects that usually has to be pointed out to a casual viewer for them to even realize it's there.

[[SuperSmashBros http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fox_Illusion_Move.jpg]]

** Memorably subverted in at least one instance. Kodachi appears to do this in the middle of her gymnastics-themed battle with Ranma, but it is quickly revealed that she's actually attacking him with 20 objects at once.

* The first time we see Ichigo from ''{{Bleach}}'' use his Bankai, the resulting speed increase is so great that Byakuya, who was previously shown as a speed demon, could only see afterimages (when his eyes didn't fail to keep track of Ichigo altogether).

* One of the {{Tournament Arc}}s of ''DragonBallZ'' had a character pull this trick with a total of ''eight'' copies.

* This is one of Shinomori Aoshi's special attack in ''{{Rurouni Kenshin}}'', ''Ryusui no Ugoki''. Its weakness is while the flow of afterimages itself is seemingly unbreakable, the transition towards an offensive move (as is the case with the ''Jissen Kenbu'' combo attack) can be anticipated by a skilled opponent (like Kenshin and Okina).
* ''Gundam'' has this for [[SuperPrototype some suits]] in various series. Often [[GundamF91 occurs]] [[MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny when]] [[MobileSuitGundam00 the Gundam]] enables a SuperMode.

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[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

** The {{hand wave}} is that although long-range sensors are faster than light, targeting sensors are limited to lightspeed. This fails to explain why they don't use FTL sensors for targeting, but that can probably be handwaved too.
* In ''{{Series/Heroes}}'', when Hiro stops time, he sees a long Daphne-colored trail leading him to the speedster.

* Suggested by Raj as a solution when all four of the main characters showed up for a costume party dressed as {{The Flash}} on ''TheBigBangTheory''.

* ''TheMatrix'' has several examples of this, beginning with the "Hit me. If you can." dojo fight, through the agent in the rooftop firefight dodging bullets, to the "fist bouquet" effect as Smith pummels Neo.

* ''{{Castlevania}}: Symphony of the Night'' used afterimages whenever...well...ANYTHING happened, really.
* This is how the Speed Booster power-up is animated in the 2D ''{{Metroid}}'' games where it appears.

* This happens to Mario or Luigi when you use the Rainbow Star in ''{{Super Mario Galaxy}}'' and it's sequel.
* ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' and friends show this in the 2D games, mainly the SonicAdvanceTrilogy and VideoGame/SonicRushSeries.

* In the ''SuperSmashBros'' games, Fox and Falco's Side B moves leave SpeedEchoes behind as they zip across the screen.

* A similar situation to the Simpsons example above occurs in an episode of {{Phineas and Ferb}}. Doofenshmirtz decides to make a quick exit, and a Doofenshmirtz-shaped dust cloud appears along with a *RUN AWAY* sound effect. However, when the smoke clears, a confused Doofenschmirtz is still there, wondering what exactly just happened.

<<|AnimatedTrope|>>

* A variation is found in The Picard Maneuver of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The premise is that making a short warp jump allows a ship to overtake their own image traveling toward the observer and thus appear in two places at once. Too bad this is completely ridiculous at least for ''Star Trek''. If starships didn't have filters to prevent this, they'd be surrounded by ghost images of every ship that ever entered or left warp in that area, as proven by Lawrence Krauss.

* Used for the BigBad in ''TheChroniclesOfRiddick'', although in his case it's more a matter of slipping through hyperspace (the "underverse") than super-speed.

* ''FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' does this with Cloud's [[FinishingMove Omnislash version 5]].
** Loz too.

* The Flash and his fellow speedsters.

* A variation is found in The Picard Maneuver of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The premise is that making a short warp jump allows a ship to overtake their own image travelling toward the observer and thus appear in two places at once. Too bad this is completely ridiculous at least for ''Star Trek''. If starships didn't have filters to prevent this they'd be surrounded by ghost images of every ship that ever entered or left warp in that area, as proven by Lawrence Krauss.
** The HandWave is that although long-range sensors are faster than light, targeting sensors are limited to lightspeed. This fails to explain why they don't use FTL sensors for targeting, but that can probably be handwaved too.

* Many, many, ''many'' 2D {{FightingGame}}s have the character summon "afterimages" during {{DesperationAttack}}s, high jumps, or even evades.

* A similar situation to the Simpsons example above occurs in an episode of Phineas and Ferb. Doofenschmirtz decides to make a quick exit, and a Doofenschmirtz-shaped dust cloud appears along with a *RUN AWAY* sound effect. However, when the smoke clears, a confused Doofenschmirtz is still there, wondering what exactly just happened.

* Suggested by Raj as a solution when all four of the main characters showed up for a costume party dressed as The Flash on TheBigBangTheory.

* ''The Matrix'' has several examples of this, beginning with the "Hit me. If you can." dojo fight, through the agent in the rooftop firefight dodging bullets, to the "fist bouquet" effect as Smith pummels Neo.

* Very obvious in ''ViewtifulJoe''. To an outside observor, this could just as easily be a magic spell Joe casts which causes a bazillion Joes to appear on the screen beating the bejeeses out of everyone.

* ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' and friends show this in the 2D games, mainly the SonicAdvanceTrilogy and SonicRushSeries.

* Used straight in ''[=~Ranma ½~=]'' to show particularly fast opponents.

[[caption-width:400:[[StarFox Fox McCloud]] shows how it's done.]]One common way of portraying a character as moving very, very quickly in fiction is to make multiple images of them viewable at once. They appear to be moving so fast that they're in several places at once. For the sake of preventing confusion, usually the "non-static" parts are shaded with less color, so we're sure that a character is moving really fast as opposed to being a monster with eight arms. Indeed, this trope is much easier to show than it is to describe -- it's one of those effects that usually has to be pointed out to a casual viewer for them to even realize it's there.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Fox_Illusion_Move.jpg
[[caption-width:400:[[SuperSmashBros Fox shows how it's done.]]]]One common way of portraying a character as moving very, very quickly in fiction is to make multiple images of them viewable at once. They appear to be moving so fast that they're in several places at once. For the sake of preventing confusion, usually the "non-static" parts are shaded with less color, so we're sure that a character is moving really fast as opposed to being a monster with eight arms. Indeed, this trope is much easier to show than it is to describe -- it's one of those effects that usually has to be pointed out to a casual viewer for them to even realize it's there.

* This is how the Speed Booster power-up is animated in the ''{{Metroid}}'' games where it appears. To date, it has not shown up in the 3-D games. It's anyone's guess how that would even ''work''.

* ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog}}'' occasionally shows this in the 2D games.