History Main / OffscreenTeleportation

* ''Anime/HanaukyoMaidTai La Verite'' episode 9. Taro is standing on the ground with Mariel and looking through a fence. Taro wishes they could get a good view of the sunset. We lose sight of Mariel, and four seconds later she calls out to Taro from the roof of a nearby building.

* ''TabletopGame/Pathfinder'' has the ''Implacable Stalker'' template which turns anything with 3 or more base Intelligence into a SlasherMovie villain (a pastiche of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger). Of course, it adds the ability "Right Behind You," which teleports the Stalker, well, directly behind its target for throat slittin' time.

* There was a ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJw7yTEKb2U&feature=related/ Nike commercial]]'' where a woman in her bra and panties (and running shoes) actually outruns the Jason Myers-esque serial killer. He'd offscreen teleport behind a tree, only to realize that she had left that spot far behind. Eventually he gave up. MoralGuardians, decrying the commercial as sexist, got it canceled.

-->-- ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', when villains Yzma and Kronk are chasing Kuzco and Pacha, only to get hit by a lightning bolt and plunge into a chasm. But when the heroes reach their (mountain-top) destination, they find both villains there waiting for them.

** More than one of their respective masters (or "marthterths") has tested just how far this ability extends. Reacher Gilt in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' tries a bear trap. It doesn't work; his Igor hands him the (harmlessly sprung) bear trap and says one of his previous employers would stand with his back to a giant pit and call Igor "for a joke".

** In ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' (and the Sky One production; see Film), Mr. Teatime does this numerous times, often while [[FlashStep in full view]] of the people in the room. Naturally, it freaks them out. There's a very subtle implication that he's able to do this because of the [[CrystalBall glass orb]] in his eye socket.
** Lord Vetinari uses this to worry [[spoiler: Lupine Wonse]] in ''Discworld/GuardsGuards''. The villain is particularly unnerved since he had the palace ''checked'' for secret passages and didn't find any, but Lord V observes later that the man had failed to understand the nature of secret passages (presumably, that they're ''secret'').
** In a scarier version, at the beginning of ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' when we first experience the [[strike:Hunt]] Game, the [[strike:quarry]] player runs to a boat, with cargo covered in tarpaulins, to escape the werewolves by river. ''Guess where they are''. However, this is later revealed to be due to the fact that Wolfgang cheats - the theory is that the human runs away and the werewolves hunt them, while Wolfgang, as soon as or before the Game starts, sends werewolves to lie in wait in places people are likely to flee to.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/76457260_2851_4859_8b12_8c1ed1715cd1.png]]

[[quoteright:250:[[Webcomic/AwkwardZombie https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dequestrian2.png]]]]

Though possible in a multitude of genres, {{Horror}} movies are particularly prone to playing this one straight - the killer will know exactly where his victim is running to and be waiting for him before he even gets there, obviously because it lends itself so well to alarming the audience. This is especially common when the victim was ExploringTheEvilLair. This is one of those powers that the horror villain [[LoweredMonsterDifficulty loses]] as he goes through victims and starts to approach the final characters. Perhaps he's losing his [[TheScourgeOfGod Scourge Of God]] advantage? It's all covered by the RuleOfScary. For further examples done in the name of horror, see also FlashStep, VillainTeleportation and MobileMenace. Compare AlreadyUndoneForYou.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'', Hermione seems to suddenly arrive at her classes when nobody is looking, which Ron finds spooky. This carries across in the film adaptation, where she appears between camera cuts, to the same reaction. [[spoiler: Turns out she's using TimeTravel to take more classes simultaneously.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rain}}'', Ana goes from sitting at one end of a table to standing at the other end between [[http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/2396024/misfits/ the end of one strip]] and [[http://rainlgbt.smackjeeves.com/comics/2397427/blue-or-pink/ the beginning of the next]].

* ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'' has [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=072808 a parody]] of the "teleporting steed" in many video games (''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', in this case).
** ...And Roy demonstrates this ability [[http://www.awkwardzombie.com/index.php?page=0&comic=102008 here.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Rain}}'', Ana goes from sitting at one end of a table to standing at the other end between [[http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/915 the end of one strip]] and [[http://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/916 the beginning of the next]].

Compare TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot, a usually less blatant situation in which characters make it to a location much faster or slower than expected. See also CeilingCling (a character somehow always finds time to hide before a person enters a room and usually hides offscreen). Contrast HeWasRightThereAllAlong.

Compare TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot, a usually less blatant situation in which characters make it to a location much faster or slower than expected.

A character who goes offscreen for even a second can instantly appear anywhere else, usually as long as the camera shot doesn't include them or they're obscured by something in the scenery from a certain camera angle. Nevertheless, extreme cases will be able to switch position even when all that's happened is that the camera changed shots and we're looking at the same scene from a new angle, like a deliberate technical goof. No matter how impossible it is for them to go from Point A to Point B in the time given, much less doing so without crossing the camera's field of view or making a sound, they will get there. This is sometimes justified by having the character be supernatural, but this is often done even by an otherwise mundane character with no in-universe explanation given.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* Used when Victor flees from Emily in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'', the eponymous character, Phantasm appears to rely a lot on this trope to get around. A ''lot'' of [[SmokeOut Smoke outs]] were involved though. NINJA VANISH!

* Amusingly done in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' between Sully and Boo, the latter being a cute little girl who reappears out of nowhere like something out of a horror movie whenever he's got his back turned. Of course, to Sulley it ''is'' exactly like being inside a horror movie considering he believes that her presence is deadly to him.
* Then ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' plays with this a few times, particularly with the character Squishy, who is so quiet that he often unintentionally sneaks up and startles people. And he does learn to use that to his advantage.
-->'''Mike:''' We gotta put a bell around you.
* Arguably used in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' when Jack goes to rescue Sally and Santa from Oogie Boogie. Last we see Jack before the FinalBattle, he was [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent sneaking in behind Oogie's back]], quite a bit aways from the platform where Santa and Sally was. With the way the scene is set up, it would have been ''impossible'' for Jack to get to the platform without Oogie seeing him, no matter ''what'' sneaking skills being the Pumpkin King would get you.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'', Gru takes advantage of flashes of blinding light to sneak up on Antonio when he's dancing with Margo. He starts out staring from afar; after one flash, he's suddenly dancing with a man who was next to the Antonio; after another flash, he's directly behind Antonio, and he pounces; after the next flash, both have disappeared; after another flash, it's Gru now dancing beside Margo... at least until Antonio returns with a GroinAttack.
* A rather amusing version is done in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'': Shifu pulls this off by stepping out from behind Po when in the immediately preceding shot he had been standing in front of Po. He was out of the audience's view, but ''not'' out of Po's view. Then, when the shot changes (and, again, with Po watching the whole time), Shifu has teleported ''again''. Po is a bit freaked out by this.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'': When the birds at anger management go to the beach to see the pigs arriving, Chuck uses his SuperSpeed. To his surprise, Terence is already there.
* Ruth the sheep from ''WesternAnimation/TheStar'' is apparently so agile that it looks like she does this, which is seen when Bo encounters her on his journey to Bethlehem.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Lucky Roux the constantly-eating pirate does this in the first chapter to move up and shoot a bandit who had his captain at gunpoint, leading some fans to speculate that he has super-speed.
** Kizaru did this once in Chapter 507 (manga) and Episode 401 (anime) to 2 pirates. He was able to do it, because he ate the [[LightEmUp Glint-Glint]] Fruit, which allows him to travel at the speed of light. It should be noted that the nature of his powers weren't revealed yet when he performed this trope.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Doctor Strange, who can teleport. He's a wizard, and an extremely powerful one, so nothing strange there - save for his habit of appearing in deeply unexpected places, at deeply unexpected times. However, he can also teleport into, out of, and around Hogwarts, which is supposed to be impossible, and is a rule that even Loki seems to abide by. Strange? Not so much. Everyone else puts it down to 'Strange being Strange in every sense of the phrase', and Hermione has mild hysterics.