Puppy Dog Eyes: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Generally, the younger the character doing it is, the more effective.

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Anime's "large-eyed" style in general, of course

** So's normal Bakura.

** And sometimes Mokuba.

** Actually, it's pretty much Yugi's default expression.

* Usagi in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.

* Miaka in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''.

* Shinobu in ''[[Love Hina]]'', to whom it seems so natural as to be an integral part of her character, done with unconscious ease. Her very character seems like perpetual Puppy Dog Eyes, as if the concept were incarnated as a character.

* The titular protagonist from ''[[Steel Angel Kurumi]]'' gets these when she wants to get something done by her master - with varying levels of success.

* Kororo in ''[[Shaman King]]''.

* Ryuichi from ''[[Gravitation]]''.

** Kirimi did this. Holy crap was it effective.

** This is basically Hunny's default expression.

** Ash does the same thing himself.

** Episode "Fangs For Nothin'". Jesse and James of Team Rocket do this while trying to persuade a Dragonite to help them.

* Nel the Arrancar does this at times in the anime version of ''[[Bleach]]'', usually when she's talking to Ichigo.

** Ichigo, of all people, pulls this (something similar at least) with Captain Bitchninja in an episode of the Captain Amagai filler arc. It ''works''.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', a bunny does this when the young Elric brothers are about to kill it for food. It works until a fox snatches it to feed her kits instead.

* Nagisa from ''[[Animal Detectives Kiruminzoo]]'' pulls this on Ken in a couple of the earlier episodes. While she's part puppy, actually.

* Used of all people by [[Emotionless Girl|Rei Ayanami]] at Gendo Ikari in the new ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' feature. Succesfully! A bit more subtle than the average anime example, but still obviously present.

** Episode 1. Taro's 3 personal maids do this when he orders them not to touch him while he's in the bath.

** Episode 2. Ikuyo Suzuki (with tears) to Taro, when she thinks that she might be laid off.

** Episode 15. Ikuyo Suzuki to Taro agian, to persuade him to wear a maid's uniform.

** ''La Verite'' episode 4. Konoe meets a little lost girl who tears up when Konoe asks who she is.

* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Maya uses them on his brother Kira to strong effect.

 

== Comic Books ==

** But it's the only time in six volumes we get to see it!

 

== Fan Works ==

* Kyle in the ''[[Shark Tale]]'' story "Alternate Ending" does this at the end to Lenny.

 

== Film ==

** He later makes the same face in ''[[Shrek]] the Third'' after [[Freaky Friday Flip|being body-swapped with Donkey]], hoping it will dissuade his enemies from trying to kill him. It doesn't.

** He also tried it earlier in the movie on Shrek after the latter put him outside the window. Shrek just closed the curtains, thus making it the first time it didn't work on others for Puss.

** He also used it on Donkey in the fourth movie to "borrow his tongue".

** The [[Direct to Video]] short "The Three Diablos" has three kittens try to outdo Puss, lealding to a kitty-cat eyes standoff. {{spoiler|Puss wins.}}

** It actually did work; but when they realized their parents were going to be all lovey-dovey they decided bedtime wasn't so bad.

* In ''[[Road to El Dorado]]'', Miguel deploys this technique to persuade Tulio to gamble for the map to El Dorado.

* Giselita does this to Serge and Deni to try and get them to find their mother Giselle in ''[[Open Season 3]]''.

* Jake Blues escaped his (and his brother's) certain death in the tunnel by his jilted bride (played by Carrie Fisher) in ''[[The Blues Brothers]]'' partly this way.

** No. He just does it ''for the entire <s>film</s> trilogy''.

* Guido and Luigi get them in ''[[Cars 2]]'' when they read Mater's depressing farewell letter.

* Agnes does it in ''[[Despicable Me]]'' to postpone the start of the ''[[Swan Lake]]'' recital for a few minutes. {{spoiler|Gru misses it anyway}}.

* ''Red Dog'': "All the sad faces in the world ain't gonna work, so you can just stop", John Grant tells Red Dog when they first meet as Red Dog tries to hitch a ride in John's bus. John overestimated his resolve in the face of extreme cuteness.

* Loki in ''[[Thor]]'' {{spoiler|in his last scene with Odin when he tells him that he did it all for his family and Asgard}}. The combined effect is tear-jerking.

 

== Literature ==

* In The Angel Experiment, Fang lets Angel keep Total when she gives him "the bambi eyes."

 

** Dr. Wilson too.

** And House isn't exactly adverse to looking like a kicked puppy when someone hurts him in one of his weak spots, either. His initial reaction to his cane snapping in half in "Safe" and his emotional moments with Stacy are good examples.

'''House:''' ...I need you. }}

::: She did the tests.

** Dean is no slouch in the puppy-eyed-and-pouty department when he's feeling particularly angsty, either.

** Castiel pulls off this look as well from his very first appearance - probably one of the main reasons [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|he's so popular in the show...]]

** Yep. Perma-Bedroom Eyes.

** Sylar also manages to pull off this look on occasion, when he's not being [[Draco in Leather Pants|completely psycho]].

** Also Peter, when he's trying to convince Nathan to go along with one of his [[Idiot Hero|ideas.]]

** Giles was accused of this once by Jenny Calender.

*** And when he replies "I didn't mean to make 'dog-eyes' at you..." it has the same effect on her.

* Barney from ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' has been known to use them.

** Lily too. Definitely an [[Alyson Hannigan]] thing.

* Chuck from, well, ''[[Chuck]]'' does this without even knowing whenever he's let down by Sarah, or when he needs to persuade her to help him. Specifically the season 1 finale, when he even had the watery eyes. Come to think of it, [[Chuck]] is basically Chuck and Sarah making Puppy Dog Eyes at each other throughout the series. Casey also makes the face after Chuck blows up his precious Crown Vic, and right after his flashback to when Ilsa "dies".

* Cassidy Casablancas from ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. He doesn't even really try and use them, but he just ''always looks like that.''

* Occasionally Richard Hammond on ''[[Top Gear]]''. Might not be deliberate: his eyes are naturally large and he quite literally looks up to the very tall Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson likes to lampshade it by pointing out Hammond's resemblance to "that cat in ''[[Shrek]] 2''."

** Clarkson gets in an ''epic'' puppy-dog mope of his own in the ''S12E6'' news segment when he has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZerNgHZfWZM lost his voice] and both his fellow presenters and the ''audience'' are merciless.

** The Fifth Doctor was also capable of this, although in his case it was often more of a [[Heroic BSOD]] than puppy-dog eyes.

*** [[Matt Smith|Eleven]] isn't bad at this either; but then, that could be because his entire persona reflects [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|that of a Jack Russell Terrier]].

** Him being a [[Cosmic Plaything]], Rory's big eyes can look permanently sad.

* Annie in ''[[Community]]'' uses this often to manipulate the group.

* ''[[The Inspector Lynley Mysteries]]'': DS Barbara Havers, whose large, expressive sage green eyes are more than capable of this, and clue the audience in to her [[The Woobie|vulnerability]] when she's covering it up with a [[Tsundere|scathing remark]]. It is, in fact, largely because of her eyes that Barbara is such a sympathetic character; if her eyes didn't provide a window into just what a good reason she has to be defensive and prickly, she would come off as a complete bitch in early episodes.

* Ziggy from ''[[The Wire]]'', oh God, Ziggy of all the characters. Take a look at any scenes where he's upset, but particularly scenes involving Frank, his neglectful and rather disdainful father. For all Ziggy's faults, the jailhouse scene dialogue coupled with his big sad browns is a reason, why some viewers finally warmed up to him.

** James Ransone, who plays him, continues this in [[Generation Kill]].

* Josh Lyman of ''[[The West Wing]]'' absolutely ''owned'' this trope, particularly the facial expressions that go along with the eyes. He was outmatched only by the even more heartbreaking puppy dog eyes of his assistant, Donna Moss. Josh once explicitly told Donna that he couldn't bear to tell her a particular piece of bad news because her sad eyes haunted him.

* Moriarty, the main villain from BBC's ''[[Sherlock]]'' has large brown eyes that can range from murderous to really cute in the span of two seconds.

 

== Music ==

 

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Parodied in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', where one strip shows Calvin practicing "Bambi eyes" in preparation for asking his mother if he can have a flamethrower. Not surprisingly, it doesn't work.

 

 

== Video Games ==

** Larry Butz also has them when doing his [[Ocular Gushers]] bit. It virtually never works.

** Dahlia Hawthorne does this, and it ''does'' tend to work {{spoiler|until her true nature is revealed}}.

** Her ex-boyfriend, Terry Fawles, does this in the courtroom lobby.

** Detective Gumshoe has a more subtle version of this as one of his default expressions, and [[The Woobie|it's arguably the most effective example in the game.]]

** Another, more ironic example is ''[[Catgirl|Nikki]]''.

* In [[Banjo-Kazooie]]: Nuts and Bolts, the titular pair does this in an attempt to have the [[Deus Est Machina|Lord of Games]] give them their old powers from previous games back...it fails.

** He winds up giving them back in the end, however, in case Nuts & Bolts didn't sell well. Not surprisingly, it did, lampshaded by Mumbo in game no less.

* Your Mabari war hound in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'' can do this to anyone. It even works on ''Morrigan''.

** Maybe they should have tried it against the darkspawn horde...

* Oddly enough, in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', ''[[Perpetual Frowner|Fenris]]'' of all people has a tendency towards this now and again, at least on a Hawke who's his friend; Merrill even namechecks the trope in a bit of party banter if Fenris is Hawke's love interest. It's remarkably effective, too...

** Merrill would know. She's a master of this herself.

 

 

== Web Original ==

** He also has the puppy-eyes after telling his viewers about the failure of his latest crime ("Captain Hammer... threw a car... at my head").

*** And in another [[Joss Whedon]] work, ''[[Firefly]]'s'' resident [[The Woobie|woobie]] River sometimes has these in her more vulnerable and traumatized moments.

** Jade's version is so powerful it has a [[Fan Nickname]]: the Big Sad Puppy Dog Eyes Of Doom.

 

 

== Webcomics ==

** And in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-21 this one] to get the principal to help cover up Elliot's [[Gender Bender|being turned female.]]

** And in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-09-21 this one], in which Sarah, intentionally or unintentionally, uses puppy dog eyes to make the principal allow her to wear a beret. In [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-30 this one], Sarah does it to show off her general cuteness... err... that is, distract Susan... Yes.

** And in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-09-18 this one], where Catalina Bobcat used them to get out of trouble. [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-06-20 And just because].

** Heck, even the [http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2008-12-12 ads] make use of it.

** Grace managed to "[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-08-09 convince]" Ellen and Nanase to agree on a double date with her and [http://egscomics.com/?date=2007-02-12 Tedd].

** Tedd, shocked by his own bout of badassery and [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-09-30 in need of a hug].

* [[Meaningful Name|Appropriately enough]], used by The Sorrow in [http://www.gigaville.com/comic.php?id=337 this] ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': Used effectively by Tae and Kea, the Akaelae Twins.

** Used ineffectively by {{spoiler|Khaelis}}.

** Ironically, that's both literal and figurative Puppy Dog Eyes in both examples. Tae and Kea are wolves and {{spoiler|Khaelis}} is a fox.

* [http://www.ozfoxes.net/cgi/pl-fp1.cgi?959 Deliberately "turned on"] in ''[[Faux Pas]]'' to get help in searching for a missing rabbit.

* Buwaro from ''[[Slightly Damned]]'' [http://www.sdamned.com/2008/08/08012008/ does this a lot]. [http://www.sdamned.com/2008/06/06262008/ The rest of the cast isn't above it either].

* In ''[[Everyday Heroes]]'' the first day Summer met [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/eddurd/everydayheroes/series.php?view=single&ID=73518 Carrie].

* Milny's puppy dog eyes convinced three ''demons'' to help her save her friends in this ''[[Planescape Survival Guide]]'' [http://planescapecomic.com/81.html strip]

* [[Nerf Now|Nerf NOW!!]] has [http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/374 larva eyes].

* [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/11292002/ This] ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' strip has Monica using puppy dog eyes to convince Darren to watch her dog while she's on vacation.

* [http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20110309.html Nina Delacroix] in ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' - she once even [http://www.eeriecuties.com/d/20090902.html gets called on for it.]

* Quentyn in ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' does it to get info from an elder. Apparently a pretty common technique among Racconan kits.

* Jeremy MacConnor of ''[[Platinum Grit]]'' doesn't even know he has these, but they're his default expression.

[http://twitter.com/Othar/status/18619514589 Okay, yes, so a lot of people almost starved to death due to "ethical conflicts". How was I to know that herring have such big sad eyes?] }}

 

== Western Animation ==

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUMm_5OFv_M THIS.]

* One of the many running gags in ''[[Kim Possible]]'' was the "[[media:kimpdp.jpg|puppy dog pout]]". While it doesn't look the same, it's used to the same effect, and it apparently works on every non-villain she knows; besides, Kim has too much self respect to use it on a bad guy. Her mother, Ron, and Rufus have all appropriated it at one time or another.

*** Kim used it on [[The Dragon|Shego]].

*** And Shego (Miss Go, rather) used on Kim.

** Miss Go's [http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee357/Pichu_Chu/Image4.jpg looks] [http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee357/Pichu_Chu/Image2.jpg the] [http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee357/Pichu_Chu/Image3.jpg most] like puppy dog eyes then anyone else's in the series.

* ''[[Looney Tunes]]'': Charlie Dog uses the "big, soulful eyes routine" when wooing prospective owners.

** Another ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' example: in ''Broom-stick Bunny'', [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] pulls this on Witch Hazel, who is about to cook him. She relents because Bugs [[Trickster|reminds]] her of Paul, "my pet tarantula."

** And another ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' example: the little penguin Bugs ends up protecting against his will. [[Chuck Jones]] couldn't resist using 'em.

** AAAAAAAAAWWW!!!

* ''[[Johnny Test]]'' parodies this when the title character gives multiple people this look, which is referred to as simply "The Look", with a sad song on a tape player.

* The Fireside Girls from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' use their "[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/phineasandferb/images/6/64/TheyCanSeeYou.png big pleading eyes]" as a way of getting people to buy their cupcakes.

* [[Hokey Wolf|Ding-A-Ling Wolf]]. 'Nuff said.

* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', [[Creepy Child|Heloise]] tries doing this, accompanied with the phrase "[[Blatant Lies|I feel bad about it now]]," to try and appease Jimmy when she does something he disapproves of. It rarely works.

** In fact, she's tried doing this several times when trying to attract him. Jimmy, [[Oblivious to Love|being Jimmy]], doesn't notice.

* Subverted in ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' - Ren's eyes are already bugged out of their sockets; this takes it a few disturbing steps further.

* [[The Replacements|Riley Daring]] [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100602062109/disney/images/2/2a/RileyDaring6.jpg tried it out] when asking her parents if she could get a digital video camera.

* An episode of ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'' had Cody do this to Gwen to try and convince her to carry an epipen for him instead of his [[Abhorrent Admirer]] Sierra.

* In an episode of [[King of the Hill]] Hank's friends are trying to find out why Alamo Beer isn't in stock and Peggy knows the secret, and Hank says "Aw Boomhauer don't give me those basset hound eyes" and Boomhauer has his usual expression.

* Believe it or not, [[The Starscream|Starscream]] in [[Transformers Prime]] [http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5952/ssib.jpg seems] [http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j427/Flavenstein/tumblr_loupa9jrcE1qiwc0yo2_500.png to] [http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j427/Flavenstein/tumblr_loncctmhY11ql5gqvo1_400.gif be] [http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j427/Flavenstein/2kqaa.png a] [http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j427/Flavenstein/tumblr_louffjOAON1qgjyu7o1_500.jpg master] of this trope!

* Used quite often by the dogs in [[The Hub|The Hub's]] ''[[Pound Puppies]]''. Shocking, huh?

 

== Real Life ==

* If you've ever had a dog, especially a puppy, you've seen this look.

* [[Nicolas Cage]].

* [[Neil Patrick Harris]].

* [[Paul McCartney]]... though we are quickly moving into basset hound territory.

* [[David Tennant]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Eye Tropes]]

[[Category:Tear Tropes]]