Circling Birdies: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~Scamp_Stars~~.jpg|link=Scamp|frame|Why pay ten cents when you can see stars for free?]]

[[File:Scamp Stars.jpg|link=Scamp|frame|Why pay ten cents when you can see stars for free?]]

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.

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** 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.

** Roger would eventually see stars later on, ~~after -- literally~~ -- [[Anvil on Head|getting a ton of bricks dropped on him]]. He regards their presence with, "[[Non Sequitur Thud|Look, stars! Ready when you are, Raoul!]]"

** Roger would eventually see stars later on, after—literally -- [[Anvil on Head|getting a ton of bricks dropped on him]]. He regards their presence with, "[[Non Sequitur Thud|Look, stars! Ready when you are, Raoul!]]"

* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', when Iago is knocked out by the Sultan flying on the magic carpet, he sees little flying sultans saying "Have a cracker! Have a cracker!"

* In ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'', Kuzco sees llamas after being hit with a frying pan.

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* 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.

* Brendan Fraser is in a class by himself for this trope. Not only does he experience it about a half a dozen times as George, but he also hears tweeting birds in the live-action film version of ''[[Dudley Do-Right]]'' and a cut scene from ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]].''

* Michael Jordan sees circling ~~birdies -- more~~ accurately, circling golf balls with bird ~~wings -- after~~ a hard fall in ''[[Space Jam]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_bR0X2-8o as seen here].

* Michael Jordan sees circling birdies—more accurately, circling golf balls with bird wings—after a hard fall in ''[[Space Jam]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_bR0X2-8o as seen here].

* 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.

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** 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.

* Dizziness in ''[[Street Fighter II]]'' was indicated by the character standing groggily with stars, bells, birds, or [[Grim Reaper~~|Grim Reapers~~]] circling their head.

* Dizziness in ''[[Street Fighter II]]'' was indicated by the character standing groggily with stars, bells, birds, or [[Grim Reaper]]s circling their head.

* ''[[Bubble Bobble]]'' (not in the NES [or Virtual Console] version): When Bub/Bob dies, after he spins out, he falls on his back and dizzily sees stars above his head while his eyes circle around (no spirals) before poofing away. It's also in the first ''[[Bubble Bobble|Puzzle Bobble]]/''Bust-A-Move'' game, in which the sprite animations are based on Bubble Bobble's.

** ''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.

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* Happens in ''[[Monster Hunter]]'' to monsters if they get smacked in the head with a blunt weapon enough times, or if they get hit with a flash bomb. Can also happen to the hunters if they get hit with certain attacks, or receive too many hits within a short span of time.

* Circling birdies denote being stunned in the ''[[Tales (series)]]'', which can happen to pretty much anyone who suffers enough abuse in a short period of time, or if they get smacked upside the head with a Pow Hammer.

* Any enemy stunned by [[Commander Keen]]'s Neural Stunner in ''Keen 4'', ''5'', and ''6'' will see stars around its ~~head -- if~~ you don't, that means the stunning is only temporary. Fortunately, this applies to Keen himself if he gets stunned by his own fire or by a Bloog baby in ''6''.

* Any enemy stunned by [[Commander Keen]]'s Neural Stunner in ''Keen 4'', ''5'', and ''6'' will see stars around its head—if you don't, that means the stunning is only temporary. Fortunately, this applies to Keen himself if he gets stunned by his own fire or by a Bloog baby in ''6''.

* 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.

* Most of the ''[[Mario Party]]'' games feature this with birds if a character is stunned by something like dangerous areas or hazzards on the game board.

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* ''[[Girl Genius]]''

** One strip showed [[Mad Scientist]] Gil [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040719 seeing] circling [[Zeppelins from Another World|airships]].

** Maxim [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100609 gets] circling [[Nice Hat~~|Nice Hats~~]].

** Maxim [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100609 gets] circling [[Nice Hat]]s.

** 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.

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

* Almost every [[Looney Tunes]] short:

** In ''Daffy Goes Hollywood'', Daffy Duck tries to get past a studio guard in order to see movie stars. At the end the guard decides to help him see the ~~stars -- by~~ hitting him over the head with his nightstick. Daffy then calls the "stars" by name "There's Alexis Smith, and Dorothy Lamour..." and even gives one a kiss.

** In ''Daffy Goes Hollywood'', Daffy Duck tries to get past a studio guard in order to see movie stars. At the end the guard decides to help him see the stars—by hitting him over the head with his nightstick. Daffy then calls the "stars" by name "There's Alexis Smith, and Dorothy Lamour..." and even gives one a kiss.

** 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!"

* ''[[Dragon Booster]]'': The title character comedically falls down a pipe, and when he hits the ground, a bunch of curvy ~~stars -- his~~ personal ~~emblem -- circle~~ his head.

* ''[[Dragon Booster]]'': The title character comedically falls down a pipe, and when he hits the ground, a bunch of curvy stars—his personal emblem—circle his head.

* In the ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Survival of the Idiots", Patrick gets hit in the head and sees chicken drumsticks.

* 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.

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** 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.

* On ''[[Futurama]]'', The sign in front of The [[2001: A Space Odyssey|HAL]] Institute for Criminally Insane Robots has birds circling above it.

* [[Eminem]] ~~-- in~~ his "normal" form of Marshall Mathers, rather than his Slim Shady alter ~~ego -- sees~~ circling birdies with a side dose of a [[Cranial Eruption]] after being thrown from a mechanical bull in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrTLj_fKW0I&feature=related second episode] of his animated series "The Slim Shady Show."

* [[Eminem]]—in his "normal" form of Marshall Mathers, rather than his Slim Shady alter ego—sees circling birdies with a side dose of a [[Cranial Eruption]] after being thrown from a mechanical bull in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrTLj_fKW0I&feature=related second episode] of his animated series "The Slim Shady Show."

* In ''[[Dudley Do-Right]]'' "Flicker Rock", Snidely Whiplash pushes a big rock down on Dudley's head with no effect of killing him, but causes Dudley to deal the episode of seeing things like birds and trains that aren't there.