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Confused Question Mark (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:tintinconfused_2869tintinconfused 2869.jpg|link=Tintin|rightframe]]
 
The question mark is a common, handy visual representation of confusion, surprise, or just being plain weirded out. It can manifest as several question marks floating around the nonplussed character's head, a single such symbol hovering over the character, or pop up as the contents of a thought bubble (or a regular [[Speech Bubble]], in which case it seems to represent the "huh?" sound. Compare [[Visible Silence]].)
 
In some contexts, [[Expressive Hair]] can form the [[Confused Question Mark]].
See also [[My Name Is Question Marks]], where it is used as a symbol of the unknown. Compare [[Alertness Blink]]. ▼
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{{examples|Examples:}}▼
 
▲See also [[My Name Is Question Marks???]], where it is used as a symbol of the unknown. Compare [[Alertness Blink]].
 
▲{{examples|Examples:}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' episode where Joey is [[Wager Slave|forced to wear a dog suit]], he actually [[Talking Withwith Signs|holds a sign with a question mark on it]] when he's confused about Dungeon Dice Monster's rules.
* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai (Anime)|Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''
** Episode 9. Konoe Tsurugi refuses to have her picture taken because she doesn't want the camera to steal her soul. When she hears this, Mariel has three question marks appear next to her head, one at a time.
** Episode 11. When Ryuuka asks Taro if he's interested in someone else, he looks at Mariel. Mariel then has question marks to each side of her head. Later, when Ryuuka appears before Taro in his bath a question mark appears over his head.
** Episode 12. Ryuuka has just given Taro a giant cake shaped like her for his birthday. When she sees him staring at it, a question mark appears over her head.
** Episode 15. Taro has a question mark appear above his head several times when he's puzzled.
* ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'': Used by the Gorgon sisters and [[Idiot Hero|Luffy]] when they find out the latter is immune to [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Hancock]]'s [[Taken for Granite|petrification powers]].
* In ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', [[Expressive Hair|Arika's braids]] at one point form a question mark when she is confused by events.
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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* Very common in ''[[Tintin]]''. The page picture is from the end of ''The Secret of the [[Cool Boat|Unicorn]]''.
 
== [[Film]] - Animated ==
* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', the Genie's ponytail forms a question mark as he wonders what riding animal to turn Abu into.
* In ''[[Yellow Submarine]]'' one of the cat-like Butterfly Stompers has a tail that momentailymomentarily goes question mark.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Done in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'' to represent that the tourist Twoflower doesn't understand what the Ankh-Morporkeans are saying.
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
* Not sure if the scene from ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' where Eko goes to the other hatch counts. There's a giant "?" on the ground.
 
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[Peanuts]]'' uses the "'?' in speech bubble" variety.
* ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''. General Halftrack sometimes has a question mark appear over his head when he comes upon members of his staff acting in a bizarre manner.
* All [[Popeye]] comic strip artists have used this, but none so more than [[Long Runner|Bud Sagendorf]], who downright littered his strips with question marks. A panel with question marks in four or five individual speech bubbles were hardly unusual.
* [[The Phantom]] and [[Mandrake the Magician]] uses a lot of question marks in indvidual speech bubbles. It's probably no coincidence that both strips were created and written by Lee Falk.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Many [[Role Playing Games]] indicate Confusion status with question marks.
** In the ''[[Pokémon Stadium]]'' games, question marks appeared above a confused Pokemon's head. In other games, it is usually portrayed by birds flying around its head.
** In ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', the confusion status effect was indicated by two question marks appearing above the Pokemon's head, each accompanied by a sound effect suggesting the "huh?" sound.
** Also, question marks appear above a [[Pokémon (Franchise)|Pokémon]]'s head when it uses [[Status Buff|Nasty Plot.]]
** The protagonists of ''[[Persona 3 (Video Game)|Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)|Persona 4]]'' do this to indicate confusion.
* In ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'', the icon for the "confusion" power depicts a perplexed head surrounded by question marks, and the confusion projectile itself looks like a giant question mark that the protagonist throws at the enemy, after pulling off the dot like a grenade pin.
* ''[[Disgaea]]'' has no confusion status effect, so it uses question marks to represent amnesia (the "silence" [[Standard Status Effect]]) instead.
* Nospikes from ''[[Commander Keen (Video Game)|Commander Keen]] 6'' like to charge at you, but if they run off a ledge, they stand in mid-air for a while and a question mark appears above their head before they fall.
* In ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'', trying to examine an object without something to examine will cause a questionmark to pop up.
* If the Elite bosses from ''[[Hero Core]]'' try to use an ability [[Cast Fromfrom Hit Points]] with only one point left, a question mark will appear above their heads.
* When a soldier in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' sees something unusual a question mark appears above their head (followed by an exclamation mark if they see you).
* In ''[[Okamiden (Video Game)Ōkamiden|Okamiden]]'', since Chibiterasu relies on his [[Exposition Fairy|partners for exposition]], any time you try to examine something without your partner, all you get is a whimper and a ? above Chibi's head.
* In ''[[Stealth Bastard]]'', question mark appears over to robots and cameras if they detect the presence of player but haven't gotten fully alert yet.
* In [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic the Fighters]], right after Dr. Eggman zaps your character with a cloning ray (which produces a grayscale doppelganger).
** Also, [[Sonic Adventure|the Chao]] sometimes turn the floating balls atop their heads into question-marks.
 
== Webcomics[[Web Comics]] ==
* [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=1&p=000060 This] ''[[JailbreakJail Break]]'' page (and several others like it.)
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', the Goo has a single question mark over one of its heads [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-11-18 here].
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' cartoon ''Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life'', Jerry ends up walking off a construction beam and a question mark appears above his head just before he falls. In a [[Ninja Prop]] moment, he grabs the question mark and uses it as a hook to latch onto a ledge. Tom later attempts the same thing, but before falling he becomes ''shocked'' rather than ''surprised'', getting an uselessly straight exclamation mark instead.
* A question mark appears above DM's head at least once in ''[[Danger Mouse (Animation)|Danger Mouse]]''.
* [[Felix the Cat]] would often pick up the question marks that formed over his head and use them as tools. In at least one cartoon, his tail turned into a question mark.
* In the [[Classic Disney Short]] ''A Gentleman's Gentleman'', as [[Pluto the Pup]] wonders how to get a gumball from a gumball machine, one of his ears forms a question mark.
 
== [[Other Media]] ==
* Chess notation marks bad moves with one question mark, blunders (very bad moves) with two.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
* The 2023 discovery by the James Webb Space Telescope of [https://gizmodo.com/question-mark-spotted-in-deep-space-webb-telescope-1850693160 an astronomical feature resembling a galaxy-size question mark] has led many wags to suggest that it means the universe as a whole is fundamentally confused.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Trope{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Sequential Art]]
[[Category:Stock Visual Metaphors]]
[[Category:Confused Question Mark]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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