History Main / HollywoodChameleons

* Hank the Octopus from ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' effortlessly blends with all sorts of backgrounds.

** The Nightcloak Malfestio [[EliteMooks deviant]] from ''Generations Ultimate'' can refract light around its feathers to appear invisible. It's [[CombatPragmatist quite crafty]] with this little trick, either following it up with a burst of [[InterfaceScrew Confusion]]-inflicting dust or a highly damaging [[SpinAttack corkscrew dash]]. Breaking one ear turns it into VisibleInvisibility, breaking both disables it entirely.

Chameleos from ''Dos'' is a huge [[OurDragonsAreDifferent chameleon dragon]] that can become completely invisible and spends much of its time in the state, notably not even bothering to take the initiative in attacking you (At least until ''Monster Hunter 4'', where it's evidently wised up and realized that an aggressive approach is more effective at fending off pesky hunters). The ability is said to be a result of the supernatural ability to refract light around its body as opposed to color changing, though, making it more justified. Fittingly, it's a massive {{troll}}, [[ItCanThink especially for an animal]], as it starts messing with other creatures and [[BanditMook pilfering their items]] either [[ItAmusedMe for a lark]] or to get them to [[RageQuit sod off]]. Breaking the horn disables this ability.
* The Nightcloak Malfestio [[EliteMooks deviant]] from ''Generations Ultimate'' can refract light around its feathers to appear invisible. It's [[CombatPragmatist quite crafty]] with this little trick, either following it up with a burst of [[InterfaceScrew Confusion]]-inflicting dust or a highly damaging [[SpinAttack corkscrew dash]]. Breaking one ear turns it into VisibleInvisibility, breaking both disables it entirely.

* The Chameleos in the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series is a huge [[OurDragonsAreDifferent chameleon dragon]] that can become completely invisible and spends much of its time in the state, notably not even bothering to take the initiative in attacking you (At least until ''Monster Hunter 4'', where it's evidently wised up and realized that an aggressive approach is more effective at fending off pesky hunters). The ability is said to be a result of the supernatural ability to refract light around its body as opposed to color changing, though, making it more justified.

* [[https://youtu.be/0G5uy8scp9U This Vertigo ad]] animated by WebAnimation/{{Cyriak}} Harris has a chameleon eat a vertigo lollipop and change color to reflect it's candy side, unfortunately, it's appearance and the fact that the Vertigo's stick is still sticking out of it's mouth causes an elephant to begin licking it.

* [[https://youtu.be/0G5uy8scp9U This Vertigo ad]] animated by Cyriak Harris has a chameleon eat a vertigo lollipop and change color to reflect it's candy side, unfortunately, it's appearance and the fact that the Vertigo's stick is still sticking out of it's mouth causes an elephant to begin licking it.

* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', the I Rex is capable of changing color to blend in to its background. When questioned on this, Dr. Wu states that the genetically engineered dino has cuttlefish DNA in it that is likely the source of this ability.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':

%%* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by Ilia Amitola, a chameleon [[LittleBitBeastly faunus]] whose animal trait is her color changing skin. The closest she ever comes to this trope is turning herself pitch-black when skulking around in the dead of night, while her skin usually changes colors depending on her mood (blue when sad, red when angry, etc.) and in patterns and colors that are clearly not meant to blend in with anything.

%%* ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'': [[http://pbfcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PBF133-Love_Lizard.jpg "Love Lizard."]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "The Lizard Whisperer", the boys' pet chameleon Steve can straight-up disappear. Of course, that inspires Ferb to give his [[TheQuietOne longest speech ever]], so we're not complaining.

->''"Perhaps the greatest deception that the spy lizard chameleon have ever achieved is deceiving humans into thinking that they change colors to blend in with their surroundings. They do not. They change color based on temperature and their mood. The only surrounding this can help them blend into would be a sad clown convention."''

* The chameleons in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' use their colors as a means of communication

* In ''Manga/{{Yaiba}}'' there's Chamaleon Bonaparte, a french-speaking chamaleon who could not only turn invisible but even transform into another character

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/RWBYScars''. Neo is a chameleon Faunus who can change her appearance and colours at will. However, that is just her semblance and it has nothing to do with her being a Faunus (with Neo's semblance being distinctly different from Ilia's ability at ChameleonCamouflage). Her Faunus trait is actually a simple forked tongue.

* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' with Pascal, who mostly changes with his mood, it's just that half the time he happens to be [[CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise in front of something of the same colour]]. The exception is the first scene with him, when he tries to blend in with a colourful pattern by appearing as this pattern. It doesn't work.

* In the movie ''[[WesternAnimation/CuriousGeorge2006 Curious George]]'', George comes across a chameleon and that turns brown as he passes it. Then he brings his animal friends (hippo, crocodile, zebra, etc) to make the chameleon match their color. Then they run around the chameleon in circles and the chameleon, dizzy, falls to the ground in a kaleidoscopic state and George places the dazed chameleon back in its tree branch.

* A storybook by Leo Lionni was also about a chameleon that can change colour this way. He angsts over it because he feels this means he doesn't have an identity of his own. Until he meets a lady chameleon, who explains that "we can be all different colours ''together''". D'aww.

* Actually subverted in a book where a kid buys a chameleon because he's seen how they can apparently change to any colour. Turns out they can only turn brown or some other colour, and the kid is understandably disappointed.

* The ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' character Espio's ability to blend into any colour is represented by him becoming almost invisible. In ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', he can use this ability to literally ''walk through laser detection systems without being spotted by them''.

* Sting Chameleon in ''VideoGame/MegaManX1'' could blend into the background and avoid X's weapons, though it's more of a cloaking field than color change. His weapon, when charged, causes X to flash in a rainbow of colors and be incorporeal to enemies and invincible while it lasts, ignoring all CollisionDamage and moving straight through them. The UpdatedRerelease ''Maverick Hunter X'' for the PS Vita turns the charged Chamelon Sting into a near GameBreaker by allowing X to switch weapons and attack while the invincibility is still active.

%%* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by Ilia Amitola, a chameleon [[LittleBitBeastly faunus]] whose animal trait is her color changing skin. The closest she ever comes to this trope is turning herself pitch-black when skulking around in the dead of night, while her skin usually changes colors depending on her mood (blue when sad, red when angry, ect.) and in patterns and colors that are clearly not meant to blend in with anything.

* Zig-zagged in ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'': there have been several strips about chameleons blending into the background, but one story arc has a family counsellor called "Chamilla Moodring", and the fact her colour responds to emotions is the point (although that ''also'' gets exaggerated).

** One short had a chameleon who shows off his colour changing abilities, but breaks down when he finds a plaid backdrop.

* The chameleons in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' use their colours as a means of communication
* In the animated film ''WesternAnimation/KatyCaterpillar'', the titular character meets up with a group of chameleons who can change to "any colour of the rainbow" and even two colours at once, and look down on anyone who can't change colour.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly": A chameleon living on a racetrack changes colours to exactly match an STP can. It then gets eaten by a snake living in the can, regardless of the perfect camouflage.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyGymPartnersAMonkey'', after an advertising executive abused Ms. Chameleon's colour-changing abilities for a TV commercial, she was unable to stop changing colours.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', the Chameleon Brothers don't actually change colour...but they do change jobs a lot, based on what's trendy.

In RealLife, chameleons have only a limited colour-changing ability which is primarily dictated by the lizard's mood. Any usefulness as camouflage is entirely unintended.[[note]]There are some exceptions, such as the Smith's dwarf chameleon. However, they tend not to have the spectacular colors of their relatives, typically just switching between shades of green and brown.[[/note]] The colours they change into (shades of green, brown, and grey, with bolder psychedelic patterns usually reserved only for courtship or [[GameFace frightening rivals and predators]]), just happen to be the same as their surroundings most of the time.[[note]]Of course, the reason they turn these colors and not, say, bright pink or blue is that they're far more likely to be useful as camouflage.[[/note]]

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In RealLife, chameleons have only a limited colour-changing ability which is primarily dictated by the lizard's mood. Any usefulness as camouflage is entirely unintended. The colours they change into (shades of green, brown, and grey, with bolder psychedelic patterns usually reserved only for courtship or [[GameFace frightening rivals and predators]]), just happen to be the same as their surroundings most of the time.[[note]]Of course, the reason they turn these colors and not, say, bright pink or blue is that they're far more likely to be useful as camouflage.[[/note]]

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* Anolis is a genus of lizards that can change color and use this ability for camouflage, but are not chameleons. They're native to the Americas and more closely related to iguanas. They are sometimes refered to as American Chameleons or some regional variation, but don't have the same color range and don't really look too much like true chameleons. Anoles typically change between dark, dingy brown and bright green due to being arboreal.
* Cephalopods in RealLife are more like Hollywood Chameleons than real life chameleons
** The cuttlefish can blend in with a ''checkerboard'', or put on a hypnotic display of undulating lights.
** One squid was put on a striped background that researchers thought it couldn't mimic. It turned ''[[TakeAThirdOption transparent.]]''
** A mimic octopus can mimic a Banded Sea Krait, a venomous elapid snake, by changing colour to black and white rings. It even mimics the shape and swimming style of the Banded Sea Krait. It can also mimic a flatfish, lionfish, jellyfish, mantis shrimp, and stingray. And these are just the species we ''know about.''
** Cephalopods can even change the ''texture'' of their skin by raising bumps in the appropriate places, which is something not even Hollywood Chameleons are depicted as doing.
** They even use [[BioluminescenceIsCool Bioluminescence]] to [[UpToEleven hide their ''shadow'' and their outline.]]
* There actually are ''a few'' chameleons that use their trademark color-changing ability for camouflage, such as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%27s_dwarf_chameleon Smith's dwarf chameleon.]] However, they tend not to have the spectacular colors of their relatives, typically just switching between shades of green and brown.
* Frog fish can change their color to blend in with their background or mimic another animal like a sponge.
* Some bottom-lying flounders and plaice can adjust how dark their sand- or pebble-mimicking spotted upper sides are, the better to match the seabed.
* There are twilight-depth fishes that use glowing photophores on their bellies to emit ''just'' enough blue light to blend in with the faint blue of the waters above them, thus camouflaging their silhouettes against predators looking up from the depths. At night, they switch off their photophores so they won't stand out in the blackness.
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Subtrope of SomewhereAHerpetologistIsCrying. Compare InvisibilityCloak. Can often overlap with LovableLizard.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'':

As a side note, the most well-known animal that actually does this is the [[StealthyCephalopod octopus]], a trait rarely attributed to it in fiction. Meanwhile, the camouflage thing isn't the only behavior which has been falsely attributed to chameleons; in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was popularly believed that these lizards lived by eating nothing except ''air''. The title character of Shakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' references this, claiming to do the same thing himself (during his period of feigning madness).

As a side note, the most well-known animal that actually does this is the octopus, a trait rarely attributed to it in fiction. Meanwhile, the camouflage thing isn't the only behavior which has been falsely attributed to chameleons; in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was popularly believed that these lizards lived by eating nothing except ''air''. The title character of Shakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' references this, claiming to do the same thing himself (during his period of feigning madness).

* ''Franchise/Pokemon'':

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by Ilia Amitola, a chameleon [[LittleBitBeastly faunus]] whose animal trait is her color changing skin. The closest she ever comes to this trope is turning herself pitch-black when skulking around in the dead of night, while her skin usually changes colors depending on her mood (blue when sad, red when angry, ect.) and in patterns and colors that are clearly not meant to blend in with anything.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Stanley}}''; Stanley becomes a chameleon, thinking it'll be cool to be able to change colors at will, but quickly learns that it doesn't work that way.

* Kecleon from ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', aside from its belly stripe, which never changes.
** Sobble's evolution line also counts, particularly Sobble itself. The anime shows that projectiles like sand can render its invisibility useless.

* The Stealth Sneak in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. Its camouflage mostly keeps you from telling what it's doing the first time it's fought, due to [[Disney/{{Tarzan}} Clayton]] riding on it, which gives its location away. While you don't have the same luxury in later encounters, it eventually drops its camouflage once it's been damaged sufficiently anyways.

* PlayedWith in ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' with Pascal, who mostly changes with his mood, it's just that half the time he happens to be [[CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise in front of something of the same colour]]. The exception is the first scene with him, when he tries to blend in with a colourful pattern by appearing as this pattern. It doesn't work.

[[quoteright:263:[[Disney/{{Tangled}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pascal-camouflage-pot-01_7339.jpg]]]]