History Main / ExposedEyeballsAsEyes

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16835586360.09402000 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

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[[quoteright:200:[[Series/SesameStreet https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elmoeyes01.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:It's almost as if someone drew black dots on a pair of pingpong balls and then glued them to his head...]]
->''"But I must question how Croc's eyes prevent him from dropping dead. He has no shielding from the air. It's literally just eyes stuck on top of a head. Nothing covering them. It's actually kind of stomach-turning. Simply disgusting. And yet... fascinating. I wonder how it feels to grasp the back of one's eyeball... oh, it must feel so liberating..."''
-->-- '''WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}}''' in his review of ''VideoGame/{{Croc}}''.

Most normal eyes are visibly connected to their user's body in some way, whether it be by the standard optic nerve and them sitting comfortably behind a pair of eyelids, or, say, [[EyeOnAStalk them being placed on a stalk]] if you're some sort of alien, crab, or snail. Not in this case; this trope is about characters whose eyes are literally exposed eyeballs that aren't visibly connected to anything, and at best are just slapped on top of their head (somehow without falling off or rolling away).

May either be a specific case of CartoonyEyes, or a trait of a particularly monstrous or weird being. May involve EyesDoNotBelongThere. Not to be confused with FacelessEye, which is about a single eyeball devoid of a body or face. Compare DisembodiedEyebrows.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'', one of the designs used for frogs that appear across the Green Green Grassland gives them big eyeballs that are not contained within eye sockets.
* In ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'', Dhokla and Vada both have eyeballs that aren't connected to them in any way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In ''Franchise/ToyStory'', Mr. Potato Head and his wife, being toys with detachable parts, sometimes have to hold their eyes in their hands in order to see better.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Blind Io is the chief of gods. The most notable characteristic of his is that he has a piece of cloth covering where his eyes should be, and he instead uses lots of floating eyeballs in order to see.
* In ''Literature/TheDistortionDetective'', this is the way Moses describes his Distortion, his entire head and face are totally invisible save for his eyes, which from her view mostly seem to hang suspended in the air at his expected eye level.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Small from ''Series/BigAndSmall'' has these.
* In ''Series/TheBigGarage'', the segments featuring the various animated tools, the hammer and oil can have exposed eyeballs.
* Several Muppet characters are like this:
** ''Series/SesameStreet'': Cookie Monster, Elmo, the Martians.
** ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': Beaker.
** ''Series/FraggleRock'': Red, Wembley, Gobo (first season).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* Donutchi from ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'' has exposed eyeballs near the top of his head.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Croc}}'', Croc and many other creatures have their eyes be just ellipses placed on top of their heads.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', we see a dark take on this trope: one of the bosses is a {{Doomsayer}} who kept showing up at the estate's hamlet to turn the population against your ancestor, because the latter was about to unearth [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow something unspeakable]]. Said ancestor gave him one RasputinianDeath after another, but the doomsayer [[UnexplainedRecovery kept returning]] to rile up the population. The ancestor finally showed him that he wasn't about to unearth the unspeakable thing, but already ''had'' unearthed the portal to summon it. The doomsayer [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Went Mad From The Revelation]], [[EyeScream tore out his own eyes in madness]], and became the prophet of the {{cult}} worshiping the thing. When you get to fight him, he still holds his disembodied eyes in his hand: they are still alive, and he supposedly sees through them. (And, inversely, peering into them stresses out your dungeoneering party for obvious reasons.)
* ''VideoGame/DontStarve'': [[WhenTreesAttack Poison birchnut trees]], a kind of enemy resembling a monstrous, living tree that spawns from normal birchnut trees when you cut down too many, appear at first glance to have a single, large EyeOnAStalk... until you look closer, and see that there isn't actually any stalk involved: rather, the eyeball's a perfectly smooth orb that isn't actually connected to anything, but rather just precariously balanced on a pair of thin twigs sprouting from the tree's canopy.
* In ''VideoGame/KaoTheKangaroo'', Kao's eyes are just placed on top of his head. Notably, he's the only character in the series whose eyes are like this.
* ''VideoGame/ZniwAdventure'': Zniw has two large eyes on top of her head. Her eyes are white when seen from the back, but when seen from the front, she does have eyelids that appear when she makes certain expressions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'', Krumm is a monster who has to hold his eyeballs in his hands in order to see.
* The frog in ''WesternAnimation/TheFrogShow'' has them.
* ''WesternAnimation/WishKid'' had an episode with a ghost who could become invisible except for his eyes, which could then be knocked out of place.
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Films - Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Mr. Potato Head and his wife, being toys with detachable parts, sometimes have to hold their eyes in their hands in order to see better.

* Donutchi from ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' has exposed eyeballs near the top of his head.

* In ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'', Vada has eyeballs that aren't connected to him in any way.

Most normal eyes are visibly connected to their user's body in some way, whether it be by the standard optic nerve and them sitting comfortably behind a pair of eyelids, or, say, [[EyeOnAStalk them being placed on a stalk]] if you're some sort of an alien. Not in this case; this trope is about characters whose eyes are literally exposed eyeballs that aren't visibly connected to anything, and at best are just slapped on top of their head (somehow without falling off or rolling away).

[[quoteright:200:[[Series/SesameStreet http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elmoeyes01.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:It's almost as if someone drew black dots on a pair of pingpong balls and then glued them to his head...]]

** ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': Beaker

[[/folder]]

->''"But I must question how Croc's eyes prevent him from dropping dead. He has no shielding from the air. It's literally just eyes stuck on top of a head. Nothing covering them. It's actually kind of stomach-turning. Simply disgusting. And yet... fascinating. I wonder how it feels to grasp the back of one's eyeball... [[SanitySlippage oh, it must feel so liberating...]]"''

* Several Muppet characters are like this:
** ''Series/SesameStreet'': Cookie Monster, Elmo, the Martians.
** ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': Beaker
** ''Series/FraggleRock'': Red, Wembley, Gobo (first season).

'''Indices:''' EyeTropes