Twitchy Eye: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
In fiction, a
▲In fiction, a [[Twitchy Eye]] is never merely a facial tic -- for some reason, a twitch reveals your state of mind.
The prevailing notion seems to be that an eye twitch denotes insanity, which can apply to a permanently mad person with a permanent tic, or an unstable character whose twitch manifests along with their madness. As such, it usually accompanies a [[Broken Smile]], and sometimes overlaps with [[Mad Eye]].
Of course, there are other emotions that give characters a
Other times it's not a mood, but an action -- [[Pinocchio Nose|such as lying]]
In [[Real Life]], a twitching eyelid ''can'' be sign of emotional instability, but it's usually a sign of tiredness or severe stress.
▲In [[Real Life]], a twitching eyelid ''can'' be sign of emotional instability, but it's usually a sign of tiredness or severe stress.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': [[Bishounen]] Duke Devlin gets a twitchy eye when he's losing to Yami at a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters (Which ''he'' invented). Ouch.
* Kagami does this occasionally in ''[[Lucky Star]]'', when she's trying to deal with Konata.
* Kaname gets this a ''lot'' in the high school parts of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]!''. Mostly due to Sousuke.
* The otherwise unflappable Xellos got an eye-twitch in ''[[Slayers]] TRY'' after Filia called him "raw garbage".
* Natasha Zabikov gets one on ''[[G Gundam]]'' when a boy calls her "Old Lady."
* Miyabi in ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]''.
* Nenene in [[
* In ''[[Sonic X]]'', Knuckles' eye has been seen twitching when he was extremely angry on a few occasions.
* {{spoiler|Hiro-chan}} in [[Narutaru]] has this shortly before she snaps.
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== Film ==
* Done dramatically by [[The Lord of the Rings|Gandalf]] whenever the Ring speaks in [[The Movie]].
* The [[Watchmen (film)|film version]] of ''Watchmen'' does this with Rorschach, though sparingly.
* Sir Ruber of the movie ''[[Quest for Camelot]],'' one of the characters with a permanent tic, starts out with a slight
* Chief Inspector Charles La Rousse Dreyfus in the ''[[Pink Panther]]'' movies.
* Ed the hyena from ''The [[Lion King]]''.
* The anchorwoman in the film version of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' was said to blink involuntarily when she reported a story she knew was a lie.
* Several characters played by Kitano Takeshi have a twitchy eye, most memorably Nishi in ''[[Hana-bi]]'', whose eye twitch announces an imminent outburst of sudden violence.
* [[The Obi-Wan|Master Shifu]] of ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' seems to have developed one of these, particularly after Po gets selected as the [[The Chosen One|Dragon Warrior]]
* ''[[The Incredibles]]'': after Kari has been putting up with Jack-Jack throughout the whole of the movie, she manages to freak out the new 'babysitter' with one of these.
* Russell being dragged across the Big Bad's window induces a slight eye twitch in the latter in [[Up]]
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* ''[[The First Law]]'': Glokta's ruined eye (along with his face, sometimes) tends to begin twitching/blinking uncontrollably when he's nervous, lying, or any other time it's inconvenient to look like he's not utterly composed. He Lampshades it in his thoughts, calling it "treacherous jelly."
* In the novelization of [[Resident Evil|Resident Evil 0]], it's mentioned that Birkin's paranoia has caused him to develop a facial tic. Though, it's a slight subversion because it's actually on the corner of his mouth rather than his eye.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
== Live
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' featured Jack, a genetically-engineered super-genius who was unstable and borderline paranoid, in two episodes. He was very twitchy.
* Data's [[Evil Twin]] Lore in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' had a facial tic when first discovered and activated.
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* In ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', Ned's eye twitches when he lies.
* Barney in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' does this occasionally, most notably when he was trying (and failing) to hide his fear at being on the receiving end of another slap from Marshall on Slapsgiving.
* Peter on ''[[The Monkees]]'' sometimes displays this tic when he is nervous or startled.
{{quote|
'''Peter:''' "Nervous? Don't be silly! Look at how slowly I'm twitching." }}
* On ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'', Dennis realizes Nina is trying to keep a secret because of her "I've got an itch to snitch" twitch.
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* "Your eye twitches like that when you're happy right?"
* "[[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin's]] going to be inside for a week?"
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* ''[[Portal 2]]'' gives us a robotic example in Wheatley the Personality Core. He gets damaged early in the game and, from that point until the showdown with the [[Disc One Final Boss]], he has a short circuit that randomly causes him to spasm and give off sparks. Since his body is intended to resemble a robotic eyeball inside a frame, the effect is strongly evocative of a twitchy eye in a human, and even works as [[Foreshadowing]] that Wheatley is not as sane as he appears to be.
== Web Comics ==
* The OCD-suffering Hannelore of ''[[Questionable Content]]'' does this when Marten unthinkingly jokes about spreading garbage around her apartment.▼
* This is supposedly the "tell" in poker of the Patterner in ''[[Exterminatus Now]]''. To clarify: the Patterner is an [[Expy]] of Tzeentch, ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'': Nosh does this when he learns that he has to go to Tesskil, whose inhabitants, the [[
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' had an Ob'enn admiral suddenly sporting a twitchy eye. For a good reason, considering that in the next panel he screamed "The A.I. has gone feral! Nobody said anything about the A.I. being feral!" and the ''next'' panel was a nuclear fireball enveloping his last known location.
== Web Original ==
* The main character of ''[[
▲* The OCD-suffering Hannelore of ''[[Questionable Content]]'' does this when Marten unthinkingly jokes about spreading garbage around her apartment.
▲* This is supposedly the "tell" in poker of the Patterner in ''[[Exterminatus Now]]''. To clarify: the Patterner is an [[Expy]] of Tzeentch, ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'''s god of [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent]], [[The Chessmaster|manipulative]] [[God Is Evil|bastardry]]. When he's shown preparing to deal, he has at least five decks of cards floating around him and held in all four hands. And ''he'' displays he's bluffing when his eye (which is not only all of his head, but floats around separate from his body) twitches.
▲* ''[[Drive (webcomic)|Drive]]'': Nosh does this when he learns that he has to go to Tesskil, whose inhabitants, the [[Always Chaotic Evil|Tesskans]], lost a war with his own species, the [[Gentle Giant|Veetans]].
== Western Animation ==
* Any character in ''[[Invader Zim]]'' will get twitchy whenever they start feeling crazy, but particularly Gaz and the so-happy-it's-freaky experiment, Nick.
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* Mr DeMartino from ''[[Daria]]''
* Brock Samson of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' has a very twitchy eye that manifests when he enters one of his [[Unstoppable Rage Unstoppable|Rages]]. This happens especially when killing people who have threatened his [[True Companions|Family]]...or {{spoiler|[[Car Fu|run him over with a truck]], while he's returning the favor.}}
* Tweek of ''[[South Park]]'', in addition to his overall jitteriness, has a perpetually twitchy eye.
* In a [[The Simpsons (animation)|''Simpsons'']] parody of ''[[Amadeus]]'' Lisa, as Salieri, does this when the emperor declares all music other than [[Anachronism Stew|Beethoven]] obsolete, making her schemes against Mozart all for nothing. She then hails a coach for the nearest asylum and rides off, [[Laughing Mad|cackling hysterically]].
** If you pay careful attention, you can see Ned Flanders twitch an eye during "Hurricane Ned" after the rebuilt house falls down, just before he puts his glasses back on and [[Freak-Out|completely loses his shit]].
* An episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' ends with a shot of Fry doing this after being forced to destroy his robot Lucy-Liu girlfriend, and then watch Bender start making out with the real Ms. Liu. Or at least her head. It's complicated.
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* ''[[Megas XLR]]'' has [[Cephalothorax|Magnanimous]] get one after being sucked through a portable black hole. And he lampshades it.
* Guess how Kevin can tell that his friend [[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben]] is lying? It even becomes a minor plot point in one episode.
* Happens often in ''[[The Fairly
* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Heloise does this after [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit|Cerbee]] and [[The Slacker|Beezy]] ruin her private picnic with Jimmy. She then is paralyzed with rage, breathing deeply and heavily in one spot for hours.
* ''[[Atomic Betty]]'': [[Big Bad|Maximus IQ]] does this after {{spoiler|Galactic Guardian HQ is destroyed}}, because Noah and Minimus accidentally do it before he can.
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* Miss Achmetha from ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' has this as a character trait, and comes up pretty much every time she's used.
** A subtle one in ''Duke and the Great Pie War'' done by Duke (played by Larry):
{{quote|
'''Madame Blueberry's character:''' Otis the Elevated.
'''Duke:''' *[[Stunned Silence]], eye twitch right before cut to black* }}
* Shifu of [[Kung Fu Panda]] does this when Oogway chooses Po as the Dragon Warrior. This only serves as an early warning signal for the horror that he unleashes on Po.
** [[Big Bad|Lord Shen]] of [[Kung Fu Panda 2]] also has a tendency to develop an eye twitch during his particularly unstable moments.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]:''
** In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** Twilight briefly does this while worrying about whether Princess Celestia will approve of her friends in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** Spike's eye also twitches in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** At the [[Season Finale|Grand Galloping Gala]] in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** Twilight does this ''repeatedly'' after [[Sanity Slippage|going nuts]] in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' has the character of Big Shot, a [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] version of ''[[The Punisher]]''. He gets all eye-twitchy whenever he shoots, fights, or even says the word "gun". This is indicative of some pretty deep-seated mental trauma, as he is prone to collapsing into uncontrollable sobbing while screaming "Why didn't you love me, Mommy?!"
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' does this when Patrick meets him in his house. "I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU PATRICK!"
== Real Life ==
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Eye Tropes]]
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