History Main / RuleOfPerception

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Light Yagami's eyes turn [[RedEyesTakeWarning red]] and [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow]] during his most psychotic moments. Unlike other fictional characters with glowing red eyes, Light isn't magical (not that [[DealWithTheDevil the option wasn't offered multiple times]]) so his eyes aren't actually glowing in-universe; it's just visual shorthand to show us [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope how far he's gone]].

* FluorescentFootprints:
When you're tracking someone, their trail will glow brightly so the audience can see it too.
* GaspOfLife:
If a character previously shown as dead has been brought back to life, they need to prove it by breathing loudly enough for the audience to hear.

* SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil: If it isn't visible on-screen, it isn't audible either.

* SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil: If it isn't visible, it isn't audible either.

* OneDimensionalThinking\\
Fleeing characters could avoid mishap by stepping aside rather than continue rushing forward.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality\\
Realism and accuracy are pointless if the audience can't understand the story.
* AcousticLicense\\
If the audience can hear (or see speech bubbles for) a sound, then the characters are also aware of it, physics be damned. (It can also work the other way around.)
* AllNaturalGemPolish\\
Gems are naturally shiny and pre-cut so that the audience can recognize them.
* AgeIsRelative\\
Characters who are more competent will also look older/more mature.
* TheAirNotThere\\
You can't see air; therefore, it does not exist.
* AsYouKnow\\
The characters already know this exposition, but the viewers don't, so it has to be stated onscreen.
* AudibleGleam\\
If it just looks shiny then it could be mistaken, but if it makes the noise too then you know it's meant to be taken as shiny.
* AudibleSharpness\\
It's easy to tell when a blade is sharp because it makes a "sharp noise."
* BeepingComputers\\
Computers beep so that you can tell they're doing something.
* BehindTheBlack\\
Anything that's offscreen is invisible.
* BigHonkingTrafficJam\\
Car horns are ''always'' heard in traffic which is completely stationary.
* BlahBlahBlah\\
You can tell a character does not understand/is not paying attention to what is being said because it is also made incomprehensible to the audience.
* BriffitsAndSqueans\\
Stationary images have to do ''something'' to represent motion.
* BulletSparks\\
Bullets spark when they ricochet to make it obvious where they hit.
* CartoonCheese\\
Cheese is always immediately recognizable by a distinctive shape and color.
* ChainsawGood\\
Chainsaws are flashy and make a lot of noise, so they must be really powerful.
* CharacterizingSittingPose\\
One can tell something about a character's personality from the way they sit.
* CharacterTics\\
You can tell he's feeling a certain way because he's doing that thing he does when he's feeling that way.
* ChristianityIsCatholic\\
Given that Catholic churches tend to be more ornate in design and features of Catholic services are more identifiable (eg. mass, confession), if you want to make it clear it's a church service then this is the easier kind to spot.
* ColourCodedTimestop\\
When time stops, everything goes gray (except characters who aren't affected).
* ConcealmentEqualsCover\\
If you can't be seen, you can't be hit.
* CongestionSpeak\\
If a character in a written work has a stuffy nose, certain words will be misspelled (like "nose" to "bose" or "dose").
* ConvectionSchmonvection\\
Fire and lava are only dangerous if you touch them directly.
* ConvulsiveSeizures\\
If a character has a seizure, the writers will make it the most visible kind of seizure.
* CowerPower\\
You can tell a character is terrified by their exaggerated cowering.
* CultureBlind\\
The audience probably doesn't know about foreign cultural norms, so the characters will be clueless as well.
* DevilInPlainSight\\
Not every work benefits from a HiddenVillain; sometimes, the audience needs to know who the villain is [[DramaticIrony even when the other characters don't]].
* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud\\
If you don't touch the ''visible'' part of a tornado, the most it can do is whip your hair around a little.
* DramaticStutter\\
A clear, auditory representation of a character's shock.
* EditorialSynaesthesia\\
Non-visual senses like smell and pain have to have some form of visual representation.
* EmotionalMaturityIsPhysicalMaturity\\
If the character looks physically young, they will be emotionally young as well, even if they're OlderThanTheyLook.
* ErmineCapeEffect\\
Fancy clothing is an easy way for us to tell which characters are royalty.
* EveryBulletIsATracer\\
Bullets leave visible trails in the air to make it easy to tell which way they went.
* EveryPizzaIsPepperoni\\
Pizza in animation is always immediately recognizable with red spots.
* ExactEavesdropping\\
The person who gets to eavesdrop will almost certainly come in when something important is being talked about.
* ExactProgressBar\\
Everything has a progress bar, even if it logically shouldn't, so the viewers know how close it is to being done.
* ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation\\
Computers use flashy, unnecessary graphics.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis\\
Namely, when the "drug" turns out to just be sugar, salt, flour or the like, the cop will say so, as obviously the audience can't taste what they're tasting.
* FlashOfPain\\
You can tell a video game character just got damaged because they briefly flashed a different color.
* {{Flatline}}\\
If a hospitalized character's cardiac monitor starts sounding a long beep, the audience knows that they have died or are on the verge of death.
* FluorescentFootprints\\

* GaspOfLife\\

* {{Gonk}}\\
Particularly in animated medium, if a character is supposed to be considered ugly, then the best way to do so is to lay it on thick.
* GreenAroundTheGills\\
Need to show someone is nauseated without having them gag, throw up, or say so? Have their face green!
* HalfIdenticalTwins\\
Fraternal twins need to be (nearly) identical too, or the audience won't recognize them as twins.
* HeadTurningBeauty\\
If a character can literally turn heads as they pass, they're clearly supposed to be seen (at least in-universe) as attractive.
* HesDeadJim\\
There will always be an obvious cue so we know the exact moment when a character dies.
* HesitationEqualsDishonesty\\
When a character pauses their speech for any reason, it's an audio cue that he's second-guessing what he wants (and ''doesn't'' want) to tell the others.
* HighlyVisibleNinja\\
Ninjas are stealthy, but they can't be so stealthy that the audience doesn't know they're there.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge\\
As long as you don't touch the rocket, you'll be okay.
* HitSpark\\
Every kinetic impact makes a bright, fireworks-like effect.
* HollywoodDarkness\\
It's dark, but not so dark that we can't see what's happening.
* HologramProjectionImperfection\\
Holograms have little flickers and static effects and such so that it's obvious they're not real.
* HonkingArrivingCar\\
When the audience hears a honking sound from outside a scene or off-screen, they immediately know that a car is present and relevant.
* IceCrystals\\
Ice with a crystalline shape or structure.

* IncrediblyObviousBug\\
Bugs, tracers, hidden cameras, listening devices, and their ilk will be very conspicuous--if they were as inconspicuous as real ones, the audience wouldn't know they were bugs.
* InverseLawOfSharpnessAndAccuracy\\
Attacks that don't cause massive open wounds are treated as much safer and less damaging than ones that do.
* JingleTheCoins\\
The presence of money is confirmed by the rattling of coins.
* KungFoley\\
Physical blows make loud noises so the audience knows when someone gets hit.
* LawOfCartographicalElegance\\
Maps only need to show what's important to the story, so in order to prevent the audience from wondering what places might lay beyond it, no landmasses extend off the boundaries of the map.
* LaserHallway\\
A type of security system that is conveniently easy to see.
* LaserSight\\
Snipers use laser sights so that the audience can tell where they're aiming.
* LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe\\
If it's not visually obvious that your superpowers are protecting you, you'd better state it explicitly in dialogue.
* LuminescentBlush\\
Blushing can be quite subtle, but in fiction it's usually clearly visible from the other side of the room so we can see their emotions. For a FunnyAnimal, it will also be visible under their fur.
* MadeOfIron\\
The audience can't feel the character's pain, so the character won't be incapacitated by what should be serious injuries.
* MidairBobbing\\
When a character is bobbing up and down, you know they're floating in the air and not just misaligned with the background.
* MindControlEyes\\
If his eyes are glazed over or spiralling, it's a good indication to the viewer that he's being brainwashed.
* ModelDissonance\\
Sometimes a game's graphics must be tweaked so they look right to the player.
* MorphicResonance\\
When a character shapeshifts, there are visual cues that make it easy to tell they're the same person.
* MotiveRant\\
If the writers want the audience to know the bad guy's motives, he has to actually explain them at some point.
* NarratingTheObvious\\
For the benefit of the audience, characters narrate events that should be extremely obvious to them.
* NationalStereotypes\\
How else will you know that it's foreign?
* NervousTics\\
She must be nervous because she always does that thing when she's uncomfortable.
* NoPeripheralVision\\
The camera doesn't have peripheral vision, so neither do the characters.
* NoPowerNoColor\\
Lack of color indicates that something's energy is depleted.
* NotTheFallThatKillsYou\\
As long as you don't ''splat'' into the ground, you'll be okay.
* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch\\
When a character wears an earpiece, they will touch it to let the audience know a message is being transmitted.
* ObviousPregnancy\\
A woman must have a baby bump even right at the beginning of her pregnancy, or else the viewers will forget she's pregnant.
* OffscreenInertia\\
As long as a character is offscreen, it's assumed that they continue doing whatever it was we last saw them doing.
* OffscreenRealityWarp\\
Implausible changes are accepted if they happen offscreen.
* OffscreenTeleportation\\
Offscreen characters are in a sort of limbo that allows them to reappear wherever they like when they come back onscreen.
* OutrunTheFireball\\
As long as you can escape the visible blast, you won't be hurt by the invisible shockwaves that would tear you to bits in real life.
* PaperThinDisguise\\
A character's disguise is much more transparent than it would take to obscure who they are, but if their disguise was actually that good, the audience might not recognize them, either.
* PowerEchoes\\
Super-powerful characters have a voice that echoes or reverbs dramatically.
* PowerFloats\\
Ordinary people can't float, so if a character can then he must have some sort of mystic power.
* PowerGlows\\
Power is represented with a highly-visible glowing effect.
* PsychicNosebleed\\
A strictly-mental injury is represented with the more-visible effect of a nosebleed.
* PunyParachute\\
Parachutes are small enough to fit on the screen.
* RadioVoice\\
You can tell the voice is coming from the radio because it's slightly distorted.
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic\\
Fictional conversations are, on a {{meta}}-level, pre-scripted, so there's no reason they can't be perfectly polished and smoothly flowing unless the plot specifically calls for it.
* RedLiveLobster\\
Crustaceans in cartoons have to be red-colored, otherwise, they just can't be crustaceans.
* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear\\
We can't hear the other end of his telephone conversation, but that's okay because he'll repeat it back for us.
* RustproofBlood\\
Blood stains stay red to let the audience know that it's blood, as opposed to other things that stain brown, such as mud, chocolate, or [[BringMyBrownPants feces]].
* SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil\\
If it isn't visible, it isn't audible either.
* SeeWater\\
The camera (and audience) can see clearly underwater; therefore, so can the characters.
* ShapesOfDisappearance\\
The audience gets to see the outlines or afterimages of where an entity that suddenly disappeared used to be, so they get to see what isn't there but is supposed to be there.
* SicknessEqualsRedness\\
You know that the character is sick because their nose is red.
* SlowLaser \\
Lasers behave in unusual ways that make them more visible.
* SocialSemiCircle\\
When characters form a group or sit around a table, they'll leave a gap so that none of them have their backs to the camera.
* SoftWater\\
Why shouldn't water be softer than dry land?
* SomeKindOfForceField\\
A visible disruption effect in the air, usually with appropriate sound effects, accompanies a force field.
* SoundingItOut\\
A character reads something out loud for the benefit of the audience, even though there's nobody else around to hear.
* SoundsOfScience\\
When scientific minds are engaged in scientific debate, they will mutter in a scientific manner so everyone can tell that's what they're doing.
* SpaceIsNoisy\\
There is sound in space because the viewers want to be able to hear what's going on.
* StockCostumeTraits\\
Certain visual cues let the audience instantly identify a character's profession.
* StockVisualMetaphors\\
An index of visual shorthands that help the audience understand what's going on.
* StreamingStars\\
If the stars seem to be stretching into lines as they go by, you're moving through space very quickly.
* SuddenlyObviousFakery\\
Something should be obviously fake, but the story relies on both the characters and audience being fooled, so it is portrayed as if it were real with no explanation until the audience needs to know the truth.
* TastesLikeChicken\\
Since the audience can't taste whatever exotic meat the character is eating, they have to say what it tastes like, and the best way to describe a taste is to name something else it tastes like.
* TechnicolorToxin\\
Poison is brightly-colored so it's easy to tell that it's poisonous.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics\\
For obvious reasons, you can't just display a character's genitalia, so you've got to find ''some'' way to make it clear who's a boy and who's a girl.
* TheatricsOfPain\\
Actors exaggerate pain for the benefit of the audience.
* ThinkingOutLoud\\
A character expresses their thought out loud for the spectator's comprehension.
* TranslationConvention\\
The characters may be foreigners, but the audience has to understand what's going on, so they're speaking English (or whatever the audience's language is).
* TravelingPipeBulge\\
When a character is traveling through a pipe, the pipe will bulge to show their location.
* TronLines\\
Glowing blue lines over everything are a good indicator of advanced technology.
* ViewerFriendlyInterface\\
Computer interfaces are designed for the viewers watching them on TV, not the characters who are actually using them.
* VisibleInvisibility\\
The audience needs to be able to see what an invisible character is doing.
* VoiceoverLetter\\
We can't see the actual text of the letter, so instead we hear a voiceover of the person who wrote it.
* VoicesAreMental\\
If characters swap bodies, their new body will talk in their old voice so that you can tell it's the same character.
* WaistDeepOcean\\
If the floor of a body of water isn't directly visible, then the depth can change to whatever the plot needs.
* WalkInChimeIn\\
A character just entering the set has somehow heard what the characters already there were talking about before they walked in--the audience knows, after all, so the characters should too.
* WaterIsBlue\\
In drawn media, water is always depicted as a clean blue rather than clear. This way, it's much easier for the audience to see it.
* WhenItRainsItPours\\
There's no point in having it rain so lightly that the audience can't even tell it's raining, so if it's gonna rain, it rains a ''lot''.
* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens\\
Something spins so you know the machine is doing science.
* WormSign\\
When something is tunneling underground, you can tell where it is because it will displace dirt or break floorboards on the surface.
* XRaySparks\\
You can tell he's being electrocuted because his skeleton is showing through his skin.

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[[AC:Film - Animation]]

[[AC:{{Film}} - Live-Action]]

!!Tropes based on this phenomenon include:

!!Unsorted Examples:

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Sue Storm's "invisible" self and force field are visible to the audience, by dotted outlines in the comics and CGI ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''-like distortion [[Film/FantasticFour in the movies]]. Played with in both. When they want the audience to see that Sue is doing something, such as sneaking around invisibly or deploying an invisible force-field, they will be rendered visibly. When they want Sue's reveal to be a surprise, they will leave her and her force fields totally invisible until the reveal. Improvement in art quality has removed the infamous dotted lines from the comics and replaced them with the same effect used for glass.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': When Jean Grey uses telekinesis, visible (to the reader) pink energy is often shown moving from her head to whatever she's manipulating. Other telekinetics often have similar effects (light blue for Justice/Vance Astrovik, purple for Psylocke, dotted lines or translucent white for the Invisible Woman, etc.). Rarely, if ever, is it made clear whether this energy is supposed to be visible or not. Often, onlookers will clearly be unable to tell why an object is moving seemingly under its own power, but on at least one occasion another character referred to Jean's telekinesis as "pink stuff."
** For that matter, pretty much every mental power gets a visual representation. Examples include concentric yellow circles for Aquaman's animal control powers, lightning bolts around his head for Professor X's telepathy (rarely used anymore), a wavelike effect for Magneto's magnetic powers, squiggly lines around his head (with half of his face turning into his mask if he's in his civilian ID) for Spider-Man's spider sense, etc.
*** A strange result of this was the case of Ink, a character who thought he had the mutant ability to simulate others' powers by getting an appropriate symbol tattooed on his body (it turned out he was a normal human - it was the tattoo artist who had super powers). One of his tattoo powers was telepathy, which he got from having lightning bolts tattooed on his head, just like the ones used to show Professor X using his powers in old school ComicBook/XMen comics.

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* In ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' (1971), none of the visitors recognize that the chocolate river ''is'' chocolate until Mr. Wonka tells them. Mr. Salt even comments "It's industrial waste, huh?" Clearly, the chocolate ''smells'' no stronger near the chocolate river than anywhere else in the confection-filled room.
** ''Film/EpicMovie'' has a characteristically boneheaded take on the same scenario: Edward drinks from the "chocolate river," and apparently likes it just fine, until someone tells him it's [[VulgarHumor actually a sewage line]].

* In ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', the eponymous monster [[OffscreenTeleportation just shows up]] practically on top of the protagonists in Central Park at the very end, yet [[SeeNoEvilHearNoEvil no indication of its approach]] is shown beforehand, like the fact that the ground quakes when it walks, and it tends to clumsily destroy the surrounding environment wherever it goes. The creature just appears out of nowhere to the protagonists [[BehindTheBlack because]] it appears out of nowhere to the audience.
* In ''[[Film/{{Selfless}} Self/Less]]'', Madeline doesn't recognize [[spoiler:the body of her husband]] until he turns around, despite having a good view of him from behind and hearing him speak. Granted he's wearing different clothes and [[spoiler:was thought to be dead]], but she seems to think he's a complete stranger until he turns around and she sees his face.
* In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', NoEndorHolocaust appears to be in play during the battles in Manhattan and Sokovia, respectively. ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' averts that trope with footage from those battles and others showing that, yes, innocent people had died during those battles and the Avengers had not noticed due to dealing with Loki's Chitauri army and Ultron.
* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'': Enforced. One of the film's famous rules is that nothing exists until it has been shown on screen; consequently, characters will frequently fail to notice things that should be extremely obvious to them, simply because the audience has not seen it yet.
* In ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'', during the climactic raid, Pakistani civilians neighboring the compound start to approach in curiosity. The SEAL team's translator tries to warn them off in ([[RealityHasNoSubtitles untranslated]]) Arabic, but to no avail. It's not until he cries out "Get away! They will kill you!" in English that the civilians stop, because this is an English-speaking movie.
* In ''Film/MovingViolations'', the jerkass deputy doesn't realize that the prankster of the traffic school class has rubbed brown gunk on his megaphone's speaking end, and reports to his boss with a brown ring smudged around his lips. Never mind that anything moist or tacky enough to adhere to human skin would easily be ''felt'' on one's own face ... that is, if this trope didn't prohibit characters from having a sense of touch.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin2011'', Captain Haddock recounts the legend of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock and realizes the villain Sakharine is the descendant of Francis’s nemesis Red Rackham. This reveal is done by Red Rackham dramatically unmasking in a flashback, showing [[IdenticalGrandson he has the same face as his descendant]], yet Captain Haddock shouldn’t have any way of seeing this because he’s just reciting the tales his grandfather told him.

* In ''Literature/HushHush'', Nora finds a gun in Patch's car, which is splattered with a red substance that she assumes is blood. Patch explains that the gun is a paintball gun and that the red substance is paint from a game a few days ago. It's possible that Nora simply can't tell the difference between a paintball gun and a real one, but the smell, texture, and color of several-days-old blood is different than several-days-old paint. (For starters, dried blood gradually darkens to black.)

* In "The Pine Bluff Variant" of ''Series/TheXFiles'', Mulder and Scully's conversation is bugged with a laser beam against the window of Mulder's apartment. The laser is bright red (so we know it's there), instead of infrared, which would be a lot more discreet.

* In a ''CSI'' arson investigation, Greg must compare a used match from the crime scene to a large pile of matchbooks taken from a suspect's home. In through-the-microscope views of him holding the torn match end to the matchbooks, the used match's cardboard shaft is dark in color, while the books' matches are light. This makes it more obvious to viewers that they aren't a [[IncrediblyLamePun match]] for one another, but begs the question of why Greg bothered comparing those samples microscopically at all, when their colors are so visibly different.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' uses this combined with RuleOfScary in "Blink". The Weeping Angels cannot move if they are being looked at, which means ''on camera'' specifically. TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' frequently uses this and it became a hallmark for the show. They constantly play with the use of narration in how the story unfolds and how the characters perceive a situation. One notable example was "Three Days of Snow" where Ted explains "This is a three day story" and we see three different plots going on simultaneously, only for a twist in that each story takes place on a different day. Another episode "No Tomorrow" has Ted believes himself to be experimenting with an unusually lucky night he was having at the bar. But Marshall shows him an accidental audio recording of Ted's evening where Ted's dialogue is the same but changed from curious and honest to sleazy.

* Good luck hearing The Beatles' catalogue the same way after reading and listening to some of the examples [[http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm here]].

* In the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series, any pipe with a Piranha Plant will only hurt you if you can see the plant. If the Plant is currently inside the pipe, you can go inside the pipe without taking damage.
* PlayedWith in Stick It To The Man. The hand you use to interact with the world is invisible to most characters.
* This is likely the only explanation as to why everyone keeps mistaking Shadow for Sonic in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' despite several cameras getting close-ups of his very different face from Sonic's. The player has to know that the hedgehog going around wreaking havoc is different from Sonic.
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', this is one of the reasons InUniverse as to why [[OurGodsAreDifferent Peryite is considered the weakest Daedric Prince.]] Peryite's spheres involve natural disease, pestilence, and decay, as well as the ordering of the lesser realms of Oblivion. Since these are things that are easy to maintain or just wouldn't be visible to the mortals inhabiting Nirn, most people think he isn't very powerful, especially compared with Princes who have far more obvious and visible activity. Despite this, [[AlmightyJanitor Peryite is just as powerful and dangerous as any other Prince]], and inflicted the worst plague in Nirn's history.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'', [[AnomalousArt Dusk's painting]] works on this. If someone sees her paint something, it is as real as anything else, but if they close their eyes before she starts painting, the creation isn't real and has no effect on them. [[WrongContextMagic No one really knows precisely how Dusk's painting works]], and even ''she'' can't really articulate it either.

* In Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick, whenever Elan plays his [[MagicMusic bard song]], green musical notes fill the air. As part of the strip's general MediumAwareness, one (green) character notices that they are the same color as she is.

** In the second season premiere, Discord corrupts Twilight Sparkle's friends one by one. When the ponies turn into jerks, they also become sepia-toned and later turn gray. Spike and Pinkie Pie are the only ones to note the color change, and both characters are among the only ones to have openly broken the fourth wall before.
** More generally, the [[ColorCodedWizardry colored auras]] that show up around unicorns horns or levitated objects are purely for the benefit of the audience, as they have never been commented on in-universe.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Airbending can be seen as visible gusts. Given how people normally can't see air, this is done to give scenes a little extra flair. And to avoid having a character look like a dork throwing their arms around without some sort of visual to show that they are doing something.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "Robositter", Shake and Frylock get jobs at a mall restaurant called Slurp-a-Lunch, which sells '''''liquified meat'''''. Shake proceeds to drink half a pitcher of a liquified meat called fried chickwit, but doesn't realize what he's drinking until ''after'' Frylock points it out to him.
-->'''Shake:''' ''(after vomiting up the drink)'' There was ham in that pitcher?!\\
'''Frylock:''' ''(annoyed)'' No, ''that'' was fried chickwit.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Sue Storm's "invisible" self and force field are visible to the audience, by dotted outlines in the comics and CGI ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''-like distortion [[Film/FantasticFour in the movies]].
** Played with in both. When they want the audience to see that Sue is doing something, such as sneaking around invisibly or deploying an invisible force-field, they will be rendered visibly. When they want Sue's reveal to be a surprise, they will leave her and her force fields totally invisible until the reveal.
** Improvement in art quality has removed the infamous dotted lines from the comics and replaced them with the same effect used for glass.

* When Jean Grey[=/=]Marvel Girl of the ComicBook/XMen uses telekinesis, visible (to the reader) pink energy is often shown moving from her head to whatever she's manipulating. Other telekinetics often have similar effects (light blue for Justice/Vance Astrovik, purple for Psylocke, dotted lines or translucent white for the Invisible Woman, etc.). Rarely, if ever, is it made clear whether this energy is supposed to be visible or not. Often, onlookers will clearly be unable to tell why an object is moving seemingly under its own power, but on at least one occasion another character referred to Jean's telekinesis as "pink stuff."

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

Likewise, when a character pauses for any reason, it's an audio cue that he's second-guessing what he wants (and ''doesn't'' want) to tell the others.

* ObviouslyEvil\\
Not every work benefits from a HiddenVillain; sometimes, the audience needs to know who the villain is [[DramaticIrony even when the other characters don't]].

[[AC:WebComics]]

* In ''Videogame/{{Arknights}}'', [[AnomalousArt Dusk's painting]] works on this. If someone sees her paint something, it is as real as anything else, but if they close their eyes before she starts painting, the creation isn't real and has no effect on them. [[WrongContextMagic No one really knows precisely how Dusk's painting works]], and even ''she'' can't really articulate it either.

* In the Creator/DonRosa story "[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse The Three Caballeros Ride Again]]," [[WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos Jose Carioca]] hides out in WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck's trunk and asks him to help him flee from a bandit. The two exchange several lines of dialogue, but do not recognize each other until they are face to face--apparently in a comic book, neither of them can hear the other's [[GratuitousForeignLanguage distinctive]] [[SpeechImpediment speech patterns]]...