Putting on My Thinking Cap: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[Congruent Memory]]. Can be a specific [[Character Tics|character tic]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* L in ''[[Death Note]]'' claims that if he doesn't sit in the odd way he does, his reasoning ability drops by forty percent.

* ''[[Naruto]]'': Shikamaru's hand movements and sitting position.

* Yue in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' seems to have the most going on in her head when she's calmly sipping an odd drink of some kind with a slightly blank look in her eyes. Although in dangerous situations where she has to think on her feet, she doesn't do anything in particular.

** While Nodoka is already a pretty good [[Mahjong]] player, she becomes absolutely phenomenal when she's hugging her penguin plushie, capable of figuring out plays that would bring about the highest efficiency at once. Almost, she's great when she's playing at home online, so hugging her plushy puts her in the same mindset.

** Saki finds this in taking off her shoes.

 

== Comic Books ==

** He really should have seen that coming.

** In other comics, Gyro's thinking aid is ''hitting himself on the head with a hammer!''

* ''[[Nextwave]]'': Dirk Anger has some very odd rituals he engages in when he needs to concentrate, or just be alone. Some of them are intended to be potentially lethal for no easily discernible reason.

* ''[[Leonard Le Genie]]'' has a number of gadgets to help him concentrate. They usually involve strong coffee, or holding him upside down to improve the blood flow to his brain.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[A Few Good Men]]'': Tom Cruise's character -- "Where's my bat? I think better with my bat." And later that scene, "He does think better with his bat."

{{quote|'''Ford''': This should give him [[A Worldwide Punomenon|some zest]] for a couple minutes.}}

 

== Literature ==

* Violet from ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' will tie her hair up in a ribbon when she is concentrating on something.

* ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'': Pooh Bear thumps his head while saying "think think think". He also had a Thoughtful Spot, where he went specifically to do this.

* In ''Tom Sawyer, Detective,'' the lesser-known second sequel to ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', narrator Huckleberry Finn observes that the 17-year-old Tom has a tendency to trace a V-shape on his cheek or chin while he thinks.

* In ''The Mad Scientists Club'' stories, you know Henry is working on a brilliant scheme whenever he tilts his chair backward. He says that sends more blood to the rear of his brain, which is where he keeps his best ideas.

* The sentient dinosaurs of ''[[Dinotopia]]'' can think best when they move their feet, due to their original technique of writing via leaving footprints in the sand. Because of this, reading machines for dinosaurs are treadmills which move the scroll the user wants to read.

 

* In ''[[The X-Files]]'', when Mulder needs to think really hard about a problem he watches ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]'' on the reasoning that the film is so bad it shuts down his logic and allows him to make his standard huge leaps of deduction.

* A number of the Doctors in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' - the second played music on the flute or recorder, the tenth puts his glasses on, etc. The [[Doctor Who|Eleventh Doctor]] seemingly has dozens of these, particularly quick (1-2 step) back and forth pacings, slapping his own forehead, and shutting people up.

* BBC's ''[[Sherlock]]'', like his literary counterpart plays the violin and uses [[Settting Update|nicotine patches]] instead of smoking, and also stops eating when he's figuring out a case. This can go on for days.

* ''[[Worzel Gummidge]]'' didn't have a thinking cap, he had a literal ''thinking head''. Being a living scarecrow, he was able to remove his own head and replace it with a more intelligent one when he needed to concentrate on something.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[FoxTrot]]'': Jason wore an "external brain" (a cap resembling the surface of a brain) while helping Paige with her homework. However, it's pretty clear that he was just doing it to jerk her chain.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

* William Barfée from the ''[[The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]]'' is noted for spelling out the words on the floor with his foot before saying them aloud. He sings a song about it.

* Lucky in [[Waiting for Godot]].

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[The Sims 2]]'' has an actual Thinking Cap, a baseball hat with a light bulb. Wearing it will make you learn skills and complete intellectual activities ''very fast''. [[Yes but What Does Zataproximetacine DO|Side effects may include falling unconscious, losing previously obtained skill points, ending up with the cap welded to your head, and fulfilling one or more Fears. Consult your aspiration meter before use]].

* In the ''[[Fallout]]'' series, most hats give a bonus to Perception. Perception governs skills like Energy Weapons, Explosives and Lockpicking. So if there's a puzzle involving lasers, bombs and tumblers, you might well need a thinking cap. [[Booze-Based Buff|Or Absinthe]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* Agatha from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' hums or plays a tune she invented when she wants to think. Judging by Von Mekkan's reaction, it's possible that ''[[In the Blood|every single member of her family]]'' did that. Judging by her uncle's reaction, it's an instinctive act linked to being a [[Mad Scientist]]. Which makes sense, considering {{spoiler|the family name is from heterodyning, the generation of new frequencies by mixing, or multiplying, two oscillating waveforms. Which is what she's doing}}.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Peter Griffin has his Thinking Grenades.

* ''[[South Park]]'': When Towelie wants to think, he gets high (unfortunately, the ideas he comes up when he's high only inevitably get him into trouble).

* In Fleischer Studios' ''Betty Boop'' shorts, Grampy has a literal thinking cap, essentially a mortarboard with a blinking [[Idea Bulb]].

* In his silent cartoons, ''[[Felix the Cat]]'' paced back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back.

* Parodied in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', where Sokka is desperately looking for something to replace his missing boomerang as his icon and begins insisting on wearing his detective hat and using his bubble pipe while sleuthing.

* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'': "I'd better put on my patented Stuponetron helmet."

* ''[[Cyberchase]]'': Jackie's catchphrase is "Make room! I gotta pace!" She gets annoyed if anyone else steals it. The other characters have their own habits; Inez stands on her head, and Matt plays with his yo-yo. Overlapping with [[Character Tics]] in Digit's case is the eyeball on his cap which [[Idea Bulb|sometimes flashes red]].

* [[Bugs Bunny]] puts on his thinking cap to get an idea to rid the island of Japanese Soldiers in the wartime Merrie Melodie cartoon, 'Bugs Bunny [[Yellow Peril|Nips the Nips]]'.

 

== Real Life ==

 

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[[Category:Body Language]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]