PhineasAndFerb.Tropes Q To Z: In "No More Bunny Business", Phineas and Ferb buy some X-ray glasses that turned out to be fake, so Phineas immediatly decides that they should make their own functional X-ray glasses.
VideoGame.The Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask: Jedi Mind Trick: The Stone Mask makes Link effectively invisible to minor enemies by rendering him "as boring as a stone." You obtain it from an unfortunate soldier who put it on and then collapsed from exhaustion—but couldn't get anyone to help him because of the mask's effects. Link himself can only perceive the soldier using the Lens of Truth.
WesternAnimation.Once Upon A Time 1995: The twist of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that the entire family are secretly wolves wearing masks and the the boy could see their true faces through his glasses.
VideoGame.Pokemon Red And Blue: The Silph Scope works in this fashion, allowing the wearer to see the true form of Ghost Pokémon.
VideoGame.Strange Horticulture: A strange hermit gives you a device that can be used as a lens for invisible magic, which turns out to be critical for some important secrets.
Funny.Spy Hard: When WD-40 is testing a pair of X-Ray Vision See-Thru Specs, he catches a fat man wearing lingerie underneath spoofing the Power Perversion Potential trope.The air freshener-flamethrower lighting Michael Jackson's hair on fire referencing the 1984 Pepsi commercial incident. Michael: Woo-hoo, oh, not again! (falls out a high window screaming). The fact that Michael just randomly happened to be there at an intelligence agency...for some reason(?).
Characters.Guilty Gear XX: One of his XX win quotes reveals that his eyes can see through people's clothing. Unfortunately, he uses it on Bridget. Robo-Ky: YOU'RE A BOY, HUH!? YOU CAN'T TRICK ME! I HAVE X-RAY EYES AN—UH...FORGET I SAID THAT. He later uses it in -REVELATOR- when 2cave and two Assassin's Guild members put a bag over his head while talking to Venom. Robo-Ky analyzes them and discovers their terrified heartbeats, which makes him realize they had been sent by Zato-1 to secretly test Venom's resolve.
Literature.Technomagia I Smoki: The narrator has a pair of spectacles made with smoky quartz lenses to be able to see Servants of Mercy whose invisibility works by polarising light.
WebVideo.Joueur Du Grenier: The sunglasses always dangling from JdG's shirt are described as allowing to see the state of someone's soul (which ends up damaged after really awful games and big videos).
Film.The World Is Not Enough: Bond's tinted lenses gave him quasi-X-Ray vision. He used them to see concealed weapons and lingerie.
Characters.Red Dragon Inn: Omni-sight goggles. One of Wizgille's inventions that she can use to cheat during a round of gambling...if they work. In fact, if her omni-sight goggles are "offline" she may not bother to ante at all.
Recap.Victor And Valentino Pilot: The luchador mask Victor bought in the maze allows the two to see the spirits roaming Monte Macabre, along with the spiritual form of their grandmother.
Literature.The Spiderwick Chronicles: Looking through the Seeing Stone allows one to see the fairy world. Hobgoblin spit on the eyes acts as a permanent version.
VideoGame.The Goonies II: The glasses are not only useful for revealing certain plot-important items, but frequently a source for finding capacity increases to your keys, bombs, and Molotov cocktails.
Literature.Dead Djinn Universe: Spectral Goggles, specialized eyewear that allow ministry agents to perceive the supernatural. He reached into his coat to pull out the small leather case where he kept his spectral goggles. The copper-plated instruments were standard Ministry issue. They fit like eyeglasses, though the pronounced round green lenses were far wider. Onsi had removed his spectacles to slip on his own pair. Eyesight mattered little when it came to the spectral world—which appeared the same to everyone in a haze of startlingly vivid, luminescent jade.
Literature.The Inkworld Trilogy: Orpheus claims this about his own glasses to intimidate the people of the Inkworld, who have never seen spectacles before.
VideoGame.Flashback: Conrad's transparent green eyepatch doohickey, used to spot aliens who are hiding in human guise. Features prominently in cutscenes as well as the box art, yet you never actually get to use it. It does, however, get used in the remake.
Literature.A Net Of Dawn And Bones: True Sight: A few varieties.Some, like Church, are born with the Second Sight which helps to see through some illusions and greater ease in detecting minor details. Those who have died and come back to life see the world differently, being able to perceive souls through human flesh and magic. Additionally, they can see through vampiric glamours and hear their true voices. Specialized lenses can be made to assist seeing through illusions with having access to either of the above, but tend to be specialized to see through different phases.
Awesome.The Order Of The Stick: "Parental Insight" contains two: First is him revealing he knew Elan, Haley, and Vaarsuvius were in cahoots with Roy, Belkar and Durkon all along, but put the band back together for his own benefit...but not for catching Nale, since there is no chance he has left the city yet, or even the palace. How does Tarquin know this? As the strip's title says, parental insight...and because he got a Ring of True Seeing for his birthday. Cue an invisible Nale shitting himself as Tarquin smiles at him. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny too.
Literature.Coraline: The stone with the hole in it. When Coraline looks through it, she can see the souls of the ghost children glowing.
TabletopGame.Call Of Cthulhu: The Fungi from Yuggoth campaign, adventure "The Thing in the Well". A pair of spectacles allows the wearer to see into another dimension. Each time you use them, you could see a monster that could attack and kill you if you don't take them off in time.
TabletopGame.Achtung Cthulhu: An Andersseher-Helm allows the viewer to see creatures and beings that the human eye is normally incapable of seeing, including star vampires and flying polyps.
WebVideo.Witch Craft SMP: Pris obtains one from the guardian of the Spirit Realm in her 11th episode. The spyglass can be used to detect people who are possessed by spirits and ghosts, as they glow when seen through its crystal lens.
VideoGame.Bayonetta: Luka can see the angels if he uses Cereza's glasses. Cereza herself says "The glasses aren't magic silly, I can see the monsters without them". When handing them to him though, she does tap the lenses with her finger doing "Something" magical to them, if the brief flash of light that results is anything to go by.
VideoGame.Clive Barkers Undying: Using the Scrye magic allows Patrick to see or hear the past, reveal hidden truths or creepy foreshadowing.
Manga.Ayakashi Triangle: Spit Take: Matsuri spits out his drink when Seigen calls Suzu his "idol". Much later, he does this again (right in Shirogane's face) when Suzu and Mei appear nude because of a See-Thru Specs iyo the latter covertly possessed him with.
EyeScream.Webcomics: In chapter 24 of Ava's Demon Odin Arrow tries on Ava Ire's damaged See-Thru Specs, only to get a tiny piece in his eye. This allows him to partially see some of the demons possessing the main characters.
Characters.Genshin Impact Mondstadt: Imaginary Friend: Venti's Story Quest deals with this topic. With a special monocle borrowed from Lisa that allows wearers to discover invisible beings, he, the Traveler, and Paimon find out that children are more likely to have them, while adults tend to stop having such innocent imaginations once they grow up.
VideoGame.Spyro Attack Of The Rhynocs: The Phoenix Shades, a pair of ruby-tinted heart-shaped glasses that allow Spyro to see invisible teleporters.
Webcomic.Apocalyptic Horseplay: Pesty’s eyes are used to make a pair of goggles that do this. (Don't worry. He has spares.)
Film.Thir13en Ghosts: Both movies used special glasses to see the ghosts, but in the original the audience got them, while in the remake the characters got them.
VideoGame.Metroid Prime: The X-Ray Visor lets Samus see through fake and destructible objects, and reveals invisible things. It is the only way to keep Chozo Ghosts visible.
Literature.A Dead Djinn In Cairo: Spectral Goggles, specialized eyewear that allow mortal ministry agents to perceive the supernatural.
WesternAnimation.Puff The Magic Dragon: Puff's smoke rings have this effect. Looking through them allows Puff and Jackie to see that Very Long John secretly wants to be a baker.
WMG.Gravity Falls Objects: The magnifying glass part seems incredibly likely; if you're paying attention, the writing in the jacket of the book ("Property of") is clearly visible through the "gem" part of the charm/pendant/whatever. As to what it does, well, there is a trope for that.
Film.They Live: The sunglasses allow anyone wearing them to see the aliens and subliminal messages. "Put the glasses on! PUT 'EM ON!"
Literature.Nightmares And Dreamscapes: "The Ten O'Clock People" has the Weirdness Censor become broken by, of all things, moderate smoking. For some reason the chemicals in cigarettes let people see through the monsters' disguises, but only if you ingest them at a rate somewhere between 'smoke occasionally' and 'chain smoking'.
VideoGame.Alice Is Dead: There is a lens that's used to reveal hidden text on the four walls, showing a sequence of numbers.
Film.The Whisperer In Darkness: Wilmarth is unimpressed when George Akeley turns up with a photograph of a creature his father supposedly shot, yet there's nothing to be seen because they're allegedly made up of 'a different kind of matter'. Until one of the scientists uses a parallax viewer, revealing the creepy sight of the Starfish Aliens Mi-Go.
VideoGame.Aground: Spirit Goggles are an early-game Magic item that allow you to see and interact with elemental spirits and spirit structures.
Anime.Hello World: Younger Naomi is provided with a pair of sunglasses that he initially needs to see homeostatic system programmes.
Recap.My Little Pony Tell Your Tale The Game Is Ahoof: The visor that Izzy made for Zipp includes a see-through pseudo-x-ray mode that lets Zipp see the skeletons inside ponies and look through closed drawers, in addition to a heat vision option.
Manga.The Ancient Magus Bride: The stone that Elias gave Chise can be used like this when peered through, granting her an even stronger form of True Sight than she already has.
Literature.Dangerous Visions: An anti-hallucinogenic drug that neutralizes the hallucinogen in the water that makes everybody perceive the Party Leader as a human being. In actuality, it's not clear exactly what he is, but it's implied that he's some kind of godlike entity that feeds on humanity.
YMMV.James And Mike Mondays: Nightmare Fuel: The "Sonic the Hedgehog Rom Hack" episode opens with what appears to be a pleasant game of the first Sonic game...only for the screen to be filled with static and change the backdrop to a hellish landscape, replacing Sonic with Sonic.exe. It gets worse from there... I AM GOD While playing Layers of Fear, James recounts a nightmare he had where he found a pair of X-ray goggles and used them to peer through the walls of his house. He found a dead, rotting corpse. The (acted by miniature) car accident at the end of "Wii Car Adapter and Travel Pack" can be this for some.
Literature.The Haunting Of Tram Car 015: Spectral Goggles, specialized eyewear that allows ministry agents to perceive the supernatural. He reached into his coat to pull out the small leather case where he kept his spectral goggles. The copper-plated instruments were standard Ministry issue. They fit like eyeglasses, though the pronounced round green lenses were far wider. Onsi had removed his spectacles to slip on his own pair. Eyesight mattered little when it came to the spectral world—which appeared the same to everyone in a haze of startlingly vivid, luminescent jade.
Literature.Dungeon Crawler Carl: Donut's benefactor sends her a pair of sunglasses that allow her to see invisible objects. Which is how she spots the enchanted crossbow bolts that Hekla fires at Katia. Oh, and they also focus her Magic Missile spell into a laser beam.
Pantheon.Phrases: Portfolio: Wears special shades that lets him see the reality of his world being invaded by aliens, able to take sheer amounts of damage but gets really injured later on, very hammy while talking courtesy of Roddy Piper, extremely paranoid for good reason, from a regular civilian to a gunslinger in a few moments, decides to blow the aliens' masking equipment and expose them all at the cost of his own life, all in an explosion
VideoGame.The Darkside Detective: With the addition of the appropriate occult symbols, a View-Master toy becomes an artifact that lets the possessor see and hear ghosts.
OvershadowedByAwesome.Video Games: In Resident Evil 2 (Remake), Ada Wong of all people gets overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Despite being a Femme Fatale Spy with a cool introduction, her gameplay segment is a far less splashy affair compared to Leon, Claire, or even Sherry (who's 12) as all Ada does is use her gizmo the EMF Visualizer to scan through walls and hack electronics before getting unceremoniously overpowered twice by Annette Birkin (whom she was trying take down). After that, she's only there to pass Leon a RPG to kill Mr. X during the climax.
Creator.Robert Bloch: "The Cheaters" features glasses that let you read people's minds.
VideoGame.Wishbringer: A pair of apparent joke glasses that allow one to tell whether something is magic. (They can also switch someone from their Dark World personality back to their regular one, but only if the person is actually wearing them.)
VideoGame.Carrier: The only way to know if a human is infected or not is to look at them with the BEM-T3 Scope.
WebVideo.Dr Glaucomflecken: In "How to Ace Your Radiology Residency Interview", the applicant tells the program director about how disappointed he was when the x-ray glasses he got as a child didn't actually work, so he tried to make the world's first working pair of x-ray glasses. The program director smiles and calls it a "fun little kid project." The applicant then chuckles and says "Nice pacemaker, by the way," and the program director looks at his own chest in surprise.
VideoGame.Metroid Prime 3 Corruption: The X-Ray Visor returns, now allowing Samus to see the symbols and characters of special keyboards she must use to write codes in Pirate Homeworld. She can also use the visor to see through Phazite plates and activate certain gizmos when using the Nova Beam.
Literature.Dishonored The Returnof Daud: Norcross possess a monocle with an ivory stem and lens made from a ground crystal from the Pandyssian continent. It allows him to see magical artifacts and the like, including the Mark of the Outsider.
Characters.Jupiter Men: Lavani's goggles let her see the starstruck that is invisible unless it's exposed to a certain frequency of light while it's attacking Nathan's base.
ComicBook.Secret Invasion 2008: 3-D Man's 3-D glasses let him see through the Skrulls' disguises, being one of the very few things that could tell Skrull impostors apart. The explanation is because they're "old school" and somehow immune to the ritual the Skrulls were using that allowed them to evade detection.
VideoGame.Prey 2017: Enemy Scan: The primary ability of the Psychoscope is to analyze Typhon organisms and give a detailed breakdown of them, which unlocks various Typhon abilities that you can then mod onto yourself. It can be upgraded with various chipset modifications, two of which allow the user to identify disguised mimics. Nastiness ensues because the first chipset can only see standard mimics — "greater" mimics are only visible with an enhanced chipset which isn't always found on every playthrough.
Characters.Mega Man Star Force: His dad's Visualizer can see some electromagnetic waves; it's not until Omega-Xis accidentally crashes into his face and activates it that Geo can fully see the Wave World. It turns into the Visualize Visor when Geo becomes Mega Man.
Film.Paranormal Activity: The family finds an old camera in the basement that can allow them to see spirits.
Characters.Fractale: Having removed their Fractale Terminals, Lost Millennium members are unable to see doppels unless they wear special eye monitors.
Film.A View To A Kill: Bond has a pair of glasses with adjustable polarization, which allow him to see through one-way mirrors.
Literature.Midnighters: The Seer power. Rex is mostly blind without his glasses, but things touched by Midnight (including Midnighters) appear in sharp focus. When he wears his glasses, "normal" things are clear, but stuff involving Midnight gets blurry (or outright invisible in the case of runes and lore).
VideoGame.Metroid Prime 2 Echoes: The Dark Visor allows Samus to see objects and elements that are either invisible, or cross-dimensional (between the Light and Dark Worlds).
WinxClub.Tropes S To Z: In the first movie, The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, Bloom's sister Daphne gives Bloom her mask, which allows Bloom to see her home planet Domino as it looked before the Ancestral Witches froze it.
Memes.Live Action Films: They Live!: Altering scenes where the See-Thru Specs are donned, or adding them to original photos. By the way, Roddy Piper has come here to Chew Bubblegum. And kick ass. And he's all outta bubblegum.Explanation The ad-libbed one-liner became so widely reused (most famously in Duke Nukem 3D) and parodied that it became a trope.
ComicStrip.Fox Trot: Played with in one strip where Jason orders X-ray glasses from a comic book and uses them in front of Peter to say that he can see Paige's leopard print underwear. She protests loudly to refute this point which causes Andy to think Paige has something to hide. Peter: Those things don't really work, do they? Jason: I think they work extremely well.
YMMV.Exalted: The Twilight Caste ability was widely noted to be far and away the best anima power around in 2nd Edition, since it granted heavy Damage Reduction—intended primarily to avoid a caste of Squishy Wizards—for free. In comparison, the caste actually meant to be warriors, Dawn, received a far weaker defense boost that only worked on relatively weak creatures. It was nerfed, and of 2.5, removed completely. Whether or not the new See-Thru Specs version is a bit too weak...
DarthWiki.Gravedreams: The spyglass some of the dreamers and dream creatures were searching for is this. It's why they were interrupted, as it would show that most of the dreamers were being possessed by nightmares and possibly revealed who Knack was.
Headscratchers.DC Universe Online: Gadget Villains: The Joker? He's not got powers, sure, but he's not really gadget-oriented. Maybe a little...I'd personally replace him with Lex.The mentors seem to be counterparts of each other. Supes, Lex. Batman, Joker. But I agree, the mentor titles should be a little different to suit the mentor or the mentor's should be changed. Acid-squirting flowers, bombs, razor-edged playing cards, Electric Joybuzzer, "Bang!" Flag Gun, Extendo Boxing Glove, exploding chatter teeth, See-Thru Specs, Jokermobile and Joker-copter, knives, guns, Joker Venom, big hammers, crowbars...
VideoGame.Cold War 2005: Carter's Camera is capable of this, allowing the player to see through walls to check for Guards.
VideoGame.Bayonetta 2: Luka gets another pair of glasses that let him see into Purgatorio from Rodin in exchange for some genuine sake. However, he unfortunately forgets that being able to see things in Purgatorio is not the same as being able to touch them.
Characters.Jujutsu Kaisen Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School: Because Maki has extremely low cursed energy, she can't see curses without a pair of special glasses. Ironically, after losing her cursed energy entirely and becoming fully Heavenly Restricted this is no longer true, as her senses have evolved to superhuman levels such that they can detect curses anyway. After fully realizing this with the help of Rokujushi Miyo, she has a Power High leaping between buildings to dodge Naoya's supersonic ramming attacks as she realizes she'd been living with perpetually foggy glasses compared to what she can really feel and see.
