Circling Birdies: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

An animated character who has been stunned, usually by blunt head trauma, will display a "halo" of twittering birds or twinkling stars orbiting his head at or above eyebrow level. Sometimes it's just circles or whirls spinning around. This is a cartoon representation of [[wikipedia:Phosphene|"seeing stars"]]. [[Hard Head|Upon recovery]], the character will usually brush them away with an impatient or brusque sweep of his hands.

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* In [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4qngg_froot-loops-hockey-1998_ads this commercial] for Froot Loops from 1998, a teen hockey player gets knocked out during a game and hallucinates that he's playing against an entire team of Toucan Sams. When he comes to at the end, stars and Toucan Sams circle his head, as he asks "What's with all the birds?"

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9adXo8fIVhM In this Cap'n Crunch commercial,] a martial arts instructor is knocked over and sees pieces of Cap'n Crunch spin around his head.

* In the late 80s/early 90s, the Swedish Chef of [[The Muppets]] fame had his own breakfast cereal, Croonchy Stars. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrSGAZNMQOA This commercial] features the circling stars version of this gag while showing the Chef making a batch of Croonchy Stars in "the Muppet Test Kitchen".

* Cookie Crisp makes people have cookies for breakfast, but people say cookies are not for breakfast, but then say that cookies are for breakfast. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=a6EO2zVsIfs This] commercial uses bird sound effects when the teacher gets her taste of Cookie Crisp.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSVeepDEHs&feature=related This] [[McDonald's]] commercial used bird sound effects when Birdie crashed after she failed to land.

 

* In [[Dr. Slump]] the characters comment on that: "Wait, it's American, we're Japanese", and shoo out the birds, who swear as they fly away.

* In ''[[Sakura Taisen|Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris]]'', Erica gets stunned several times; each time she gets a "halo" of little fluttering angels, and remarks on them.

* Mahoro's circling birdies in ''[[Mahoromatic]]'' apparently are real, as they can be seen by other characters.

** Although they appear when she's asleep, and continually multiply until she wakes up, leading to some... awkward situations when Suguru decides to observe her when she's dozing off.

** At one point in the second season, Mahoro's birdies are seen to re-enter her head when she wakes up. Only five this time, though.

** Near the end of the manga, it is explained that {{spoiler|Matthew (actually named "Arcadia Matthew Faye Ray") is an artificial intelligence, the birdies are part of her "sleep program", and that Mahoro was patterned after Matthew and/or the creator of Matthew, "Mahoro Matthew Faye Ray").}}

* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has Crona seeing stars after a good bash to the head from Stein's foot. [[Ambiguous Gender|He/she]] even says "Uwaa-- I can see stars... but I can't figure out how to play with them~"

** Oddly enough, in one episode of the Pokémon Black and White TV series, Ash's Snivy got circling stars when she was confused by one of Trip's Pokémon, in which, in that case, was Trip's Frillish, who had used Water Pulse on Snivy.

** Not to metion the Ditto at the begining Pikachu's Ghost Festival, in which the Ditto gets circling stars when it got hit on the head by a Cubone while Ditto was disguised as a Cubone.

** Happened earlier than that in the TV series, in Urd's debut episode. When Keiichi gets medicine for Belldandy, he gets a bonus "instructional video" from the pharmacist (Urd in disguise). When Urd leans in for a kiss, an intrigued Keiichi follows suit, and Urd somehow accidentally knees him in the chin, resulting in the Trope for Keiichi.

* Happens to the title charcter of ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor|The Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'' when he's knocked silly in one episode.

* During one scene of [[Sonic the Movie]], after Metal Robotnik crashes into the sea, Robotnik explains about his plans. However, when he mentions that Sonic "will have to fight something more evil than Metal Robotnik," Sera hits Robotnik on the head, and stars circle Robotnik's head. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZ8Y5eS-Sc&t=4m31s This video has the entire scene.]

* [[Pokémon Special]] had this trope sometimes. For example, in ''Yellow,'' Gengar gets these when it gets hit by Dizzy Punch. Meanwhile, in ''Diamond and Pearl,'' Roark's Craindos gets circling Torchic after becoming confused by a Water Pulse attack.

 

** Roger sees Circling Birdies after getting hit by a refrigerator while making a cartoon, but the director gets mad at him for not following the script: "It says 'Rabbit gets clonked, rabbit sees stars'. Not ''birds'', '''''stars!'''''" Roger proceeds to repeatedly bash himself in the head, resulting in a whole series of revolving visions of everything ''but'' stars.

** Later in the film, after Eddie goes to Toontown, he bumps his head getting out of his car and sees birdies, and shoos them away in disgust, giving one of them its own circle of something in the process.

* In ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'', [[The Bully|Tunnu]] gets these when he was crashed by a ball hit by [[Bully Hunter|Maruti]].

* Fred Flintstone (John Goodman) sees circling pterodactyls after he's punched in the live-action film version of the ''[[The Flintstones]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roEjpll8_gA as seen here].

* Happens to George too many times to count in the two ''[[George of the Jungle]]'' films. One of the henchmen in the first film also hears birds after a punch, and Shep the elephant also sees circling stars and after unsuccessfully trying to use his head as a battering ram in the sequel.

* Animated birdies and stars circle Joe Torry's head after his character is punched in the comedy ''Sprung''.

* In ''The Scene,'' Jimmy Fallon hears tweeting birds after running head-first into a bus.

* In ''Gremlins'', [[Big Bad]] Stripe hears tweeting birds after getting knocked out moments before he sees the fountain.

 

== Literature ==

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Nickelodeon's ''[[Roundhouse]]'' enjoyed playing with this trope. While injured actors usually only heard the bird sound effect, in the episode ''Disaster,'' a cast member spun a mobile of stars around Ivan Dudynsky's head after a fall, and a castmate remarks that she can tell he's injured because of the tweeting birdies. In another episode, Dudysky is clonked with an anvil and says that he sees "stars," as a castmate spins a mobile with cutouts of Cher, Whoopi Goldberg and other Hollywod big names around his head.

* Jimmy of ''Out of Jimmy's Head'' sees circling birdies a couple of times after being bonked with a mallet.

** Happens to Nick in another episode, in which Nick gets knocked silly while trying to slide into home in a baseball game, leaving him on his back and hearing tweeting bird sound effects.

* Invoked in ''[[Scrubs]]''. After running face-first into a door, J.D. remarks that he hit his head so hard he thought saw cartoon birds but then realized that he was just seeing the wallpaper in the pediatric ward.

* On a segment on Popular Mechanics for Kids, animated stars appear and bird sound effects play after host Jay Baruchel is beaned with a baseball.

* ''[[Unfabulous]]'' uses bird sounds in the episode ''The Toot.'' In a daydream sequence, Addie imagines herself passing gas with enough force to send her boyfriend Jake flying. He crashes into a soda machine and looks dazed as bird sounds play and soda cans clonk him on the head.

* Mexico's version of the game show "Hole in the Wall" ("Aguas con el Muro") uses this trope on contestants who get knocked into the water. In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbek2PMbJu4&feature=related this clip], for example, singer Adrian Varela sees circling dolphins after his fall.

* ''[[American Idol]]'' used the bird sound effect in the audition phase of its 11th season when one contestant, Tyler Beach, banged his head on a low-hanging pipe when celebrating his golden ticket to Hollywood, as seen in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwQJyomFUzI this clip].

* MTV's ''Room Raiders'' used bird sounds in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PJJF3BDn-A one episode] after a contestant banged his head on the top of a canopy bed.

 

== Music Videos ==

* Aaron Carter's music video for "That's How I Beat Shaq" uses bird sound effects near the end after Aaron's mother asks him whether he had hit his head.

 

* The stage musical version of ''[[The Lion King]]'' invokes this trope. At the end of ''I Just Can't Wait to be King'', the actor playing Zazu notices his bird puppet is gone. He asks, "Where is my bird?" before running smack into the wall at the side of the stage. Bird sound effects play as he staggers in a daze momentarily.

* Used in "Hot Shoe Shuffle," a West End musical about five Australian tap-dancing brothers. When the youngest brother, Slide, is [[The Door Slams You|hit in the head by a door]], he does a vaudeville-style dazed stagger while bird sound effects play. Adam Garcia originated the role, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6c1PjYVUqo&feature=related as seen here.]

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', whenever [[Donald Duck]] and Goofy (or any of your other companions, for that matter) are [[Non-Lethal KO|knocked out]], stars circle their heads.

* Unconscious guards in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series are differentiated from dead guards by a little halo of stars merrily orbiting above their heads. As the guard gets closer and closer to waking up, one star at a time will cheerfully ascend heavenward and vanish. A guard with five stars won't be waking up for a while, but a guard with one star could open his eyes any time... (Weirdly enough, the MGS games are usually considered serious. Of course, it does fulfill a gameplay function.)

*** This can be done to quite a few characters in ''Wind Waker'', including [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sScQFV_Y3nE&feature=channel Link after a Hurricane Spin attack,] but Medli is the only one who has actual birds circling her head.

*** Probably because she ''[[Winged Humanoid|is]]'' [[Winged Humanoid|a bird.]].

** Technically, the ones in ''Gold''/''Silver'' are bird ''balloons''.

** In ''Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver'', in the minigames, the birds are replaced by Psyduck.

** In the Pokéwalker, the player's Pokémon experience this; when knocked out, in the journal, stars circle that Pokémon's head, Blissey for example. For large Pokémon, the stars that circle its head are not in the background, but above the background. Wild Pokémon do not experience this trope; when the HP hits zero, they run away.

** ''Bubble Symphony'': Bub and Bob still fall backwards upon death (even though they spin out differently; their original spinouts being taken by Coro and Kulu) and their eyes circle around but no stars are visible.

** ''Bubble Bobble Plus'' (WiiWare): They spin out as fast as in the arcade original and end up lying on their back before they poof away. There are no hovering stars. [http://gonintendo.com/?p=72242 According to this.]

** Unsurprisingly, as it's basically a knockoff of the ''Punchout'' series, Glu's Super KO Fighter 2 uses the trope in the same fashion when a fighter is knocked down. The fighter 15 Cent, a parody of 50 Cent, sees circling dollar signs, for example. Your character sees simple stars. The trope actually factors into gameplay, as the fewer circling items above the character's head, the more likely he is to be able to get back up.

* The final frame of Mario/Jumpman's death animation in most versions of the original ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' includes a plain white halo. It was likely intended as this but limited by hardware.

* Falling from great heights causes this (and loss of a hit point) in ''[[The Lost Vikings]]''. If you are in the unfortunate situation of already having only one hit point, the poor viking [[Critical Existence Failure|hitting the ground will splash to tiny pieces and die.]]

** Also occurs if Eric tries to ram a wall that DOESN'T break on impact.

* A character in ''[[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2]]'' whose guard has been broken will stand there, dazed and with yellow birds circling over his or her head.

* In one cutscene of ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', as Chip explains on how he lost his memory, when he said "And then nothing," he sees stars and tiny versions of himself circling his head (Wii version only, for they are replaced with normal stars in all other versions), [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHlyqlwjVtA&feature=related as seen here.]

* Dirk from ''Dragon's Lair II'' has this trope, but only consists of circling hearts in one death scene... no, ''two'', in Level 3, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3s11LZOFOo&t=12m24s and circling stars in another death scene in this longplay.]

* Wii Party features numerous ways to inflict this trope (stars with bird sound effects) upon your Miis, as [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-K1rjzgK0&list=UUffBt8Lsi5lpJJ_S7083obA&index=1&feature=plcp this montage] demonstrates.

* In [[Kirby Mass Attack]], when Kirby is stunned, a bird circles Kirby's head.

** However, World 2's boss gets circling stars.

* In [[Brain Dead 13]], if you defeat Vivi, a bat circles Vivi's head.

* [[Power Instinct]] has this starting with the first game, but one of the stuns are flying hearts. The second game takes this to the next level with circling objects, such as people, sushi plates, chicks, and fish.

 

== Web Animation ==

* ''[[The Annoying Orange]]'': Seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXX1ltl94E here]. Orange gets hit on the head by Cantaloupe, and has stars flying around his head. Then two cartoon-like birdies turn up complaining that the stars are stealing their jobs. Later, Midget Apple gets hit on the head as well, and the stars turn up again. But this time, the birds get ''really'' angry and start beating up the stars.

* Happens to Strong Bad at the end of the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' animation "Marshmallow's Last Stand" as a result of him being tripped by Homestar for ripping up the star on his shirt after a fight. Homestar then takes one of the stars circling Strong Bad's head and places it on his own shirt.

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Girl Genius]]''

** Mini-Clanks [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20091012 have] circling ''cogs''.

* In a ''Numbskulls'' strip, Ed finds that he doesn't have a star for the top of his Christmas tree, so the Numbskulls send him outside to fall over and hit his head. Sure enough, stars start dancing around his head; however, one of them is frozen solid by the cold, allowing him to pluck it out of the sky and stick it on the three.

** In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0716.html this strip], a lizardfolk bounty hunter named Gannji gets three circling pterosaurs after getting hit by a "Power Word: Stun" from Vaarsuvius.

** Earlier, Lien threatens to hit Qarr the imp so hard he would see demonic circling birdies.

* ''[[Wapsi Square]]'': [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/back-in-college/ NOT birdies], and with [[Wingding Eyes]] thrown in.

 

== Web Original ==

* Danny Casale of [[Dannys Studio]] sees stars with bird sound effects when he finds himself in an [[Angry Birds]] parody in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbJIEx20zLM this video.]

* The Feet and Sleep sereies had bird sound effects, and sometimes stars or birds circling a dazed girl's head.

* [[Smosh]] has a parody called "Pokémon In Real Life" starring Anthony [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzy9D_YKxso&t=1m32s This part] has a scene of Anthony noticing Jigglypuff hiding in a bush after being put to sleep by the song. Anthony then {{spoiler|finds a brick}} and yells, "TAKE THIS!!!" Then, he {{spoiler|throws the brick at said bush}} and it hits Jigglypuff '''in the head''', and Jigglypuff staggers in a daze as it hears bird sound effects, and Anthony has the chance to engage battle with Jigglypuff.

** Anthony himself also experiences this trope in his aptly named video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPBQwgk3t4 "Punch myself in the face so hard I see birds."] In true cartoon fashion, Anthony tries to shoo away the birds circling his head after he's hit.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Cartoon cats who see Circling Birdies sometimes swat at them as though they were real.

* Almost every [[Looney Tunes]] short:

** In ''Rabbit Hood'', [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] [[Karmic Trickster|tricks]] the Sheriff of Nottingham by telling him that the [[Look Behind You!|king is coming]], and then hitting him over the head when he turns and bows. The Sheriff then sees little kings walking around his head, leading to the classic line, "Odds-fish, the very air abounds in kings."

** The Road Runner short ''Going! Going! Gosh!'' has Wile E. Coyote getting run over by a truck, then having little miniature trucks circling his head in place of birds or stars.

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' "Treehouse of Horror" version of ''The Raven'', Homer runs into a wall and falls down with tiny Bart Ravens circling his head saying "Nevermore! Nevermore! Nevermore! Nevermore!" Bart himself experiences this trope in a later "Treehouse of Horror" spoof of ''Nightmare on Elm Street.'' In his dream, after being hit with a Frisbee, birds circle his head while [[Wingding Eyes|"No Sale" signs]] pop up in his eyes.

** Also seen in the Season 20-present [[Couch Gag]], in which Jebediah's statue's head falls on Ralph's. One of the things he says after being hit is "I see stars!"

* Kind of [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', where animal lover/killer Elmyra gets trapped in the mall after closing time. At one point she gets hit on the head, send birds flying around her head. Then Elmyra grabs one of the birds and hugs it, which also has smaller mini-birds circling around ''its'' head.

* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show|Super Mario World]]'' cartoon, Mario gets hit in the head while trying to find something useful in the blocks. Due to this, when he does find something (a feather), he's too dazed to be able to catch it. He then grabs one of the stars circling his head, and is able to use it as if it were [[Invincibility Power-Up|a Starman powerup]].

** It also happens on the ''Super Mario Bros. Super Show'' episode "Pirates of the Koopa", when Mario asks for a star which is circling the parrot's head after he bumped it on the top of the crow's nest.

* Played with in the [[Pixar Short]] ''Day and Night'', whose characters have scenes visible inside them. When Day gets hurt, birds are seen flying inside his head.

* The cartoon versions of Chris and Martin Kratt often experience this in their animated series ''[[Wild Kratts]]''. The circling creature usually corresponds to whatever critter they're following that day. For example, after a fall from a tree in one episode, Chris sees circling lizards. Another episode features Chris seeing circling walruses and Martin seeing circling polar bears after a blow to the head.

** Lizzie's brother Matt also experiences this trope a few times via sound effects, such as in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrTCv0QN9LE this episode], when he unsuccessfully tries to break a board with his head.

'''Ed:''' [[Invoked Trope|Then I gazed at the stars...]] }}

* Frequently happens in ''[[The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' and was invoked in the episode "Tails Prevails" by Tails, who is at a junkyard searching for items to be used a gift for Sonic. After an unstable pile of junk falls on his head, the resulting circling birdies prompt Tails to remark that he needs to add wings to Sonic's gift.

* In ''Kid vs. Kat'', this trope was experience in some episodes; however, Kat (aka Mr. Kat) has experienced this in some episodes being the only ones with Kat with the trope; for example, in ''Never Cry Sheep'', when Coop slams a trash can on Kat, Kat has stars circling his head.

* Happens on ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]''. [[Canine Companion|Cerbee]] chases them off.

* The ''[[Care Bears]]'' series used this trope frequently, especially in the Nelvana episodes. Beastly, Grumpy Bear, Braveheart Lion and Champ Bear were its most frequent victims, but most of the bears and Care Bear Cousins experienced it at one point, as did one of the kids the bears were trying to help. The show usually used stars but sometimes threw in other circling objects, most notably when [[Evil Sorcerer|No Heart]] saw circling bats after being knocked out by Grumpy.

* In the old cartoon ''Spy vs. Spy'' episode, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkrwI-WthnI&feature=related "Beach"], a bird circles the black spy's head after running into a wooden stake (in which the white spy was able to get a photo from a woman to trick the black spy into running into the wooden stake.)

** Also happens in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUdXU2bqws8&NR=1 "Wall"], in which the white spy gets circling stars after getting smacked by a fence. (Strangly enough, stars also circle the hand at the begining of the episode when the white spy punches the brick wall.) Also, in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJy_66aV9A&feature=related "Basketball"], at the begining of the episode, the black spy enters the scene in which the white spy notices the black spy and screws up, in which, as a result, the basketball hits the white spy in the head. Bird sound effects then play, as the white spy staggers in a daze, right before the black spy steals the ball. Also, in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1Y5QO0hQ4&NR=1 "Toliet Plunger"], the white spy sees circling birdies after a hit to the head with a toliet plunger, with a rock attached to it to make it look like as if it were a HAMMER.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Videogame Effects and Spells]]

[[Category:The Silent Age of Animation]]

[[Category:Stellar Index]]

[[Category:Stock Visual Metaphors]]

[[Category:Avian Tropes]]