Line #63 Main/FlyingFace


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9	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starfox_adventures_final_boss_andross.png]]]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350:"The target is just [[{{Pun}} a-head!]]"]]
11
12	A fictional character or creature that is just a head (as opposed to a WaddlingHead or someone who's recently [[LosingYourHead lost their head]]) that can also fly, hover, or just get around under its own power.
13
14	Comes in a few artistic styles:
15	* [[DemBones Flying skull]] or [[HoverBot Robot]]: usually some form of AttackDrone but occasionally more powerful than a similar character with a full body.
16	* FloatingMask: sometimes causes DemonicPossession.
17	* [[SkullForAHead Skull]] or [[CoresAndTurretsBoss Core]] with a [[MadeOfAir less real body]]: Such as a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghost]], [[BlobMonster slime]], or [[MobileFishBowl fish]] with an ectoplasmic body and a bony skull or a robot with a mechanical core and a bunch of wires.
18	* Winged: a head that flies by means of wings or similar structures, typically replacing the ears.
19
20	Sometimes these Flying Faces are nice, sometimes noisy {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s, often [[ShorterMeansSmarter intelligent]], and sometimes they don't talk.
21
22	Not to be confused with FloatingHeadSyndrome.
23
24	See Also: {{Cephalothorax}}, OracularHead, and {{Oculothorax}}.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* In ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'', Dead Master fights using flying skulls.
33	* ''Anime/GateKeepers21'': Yuurei Shoujo with her "pretty" skull-in-a-ball.
34	* In ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'', one of the {{Obake}} the eponymous Nube runs into is a human head with bat wings.
35	* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' villain Count Broken is a flying head with a headless android body... that just follows it around. He never attaches the head to his body; in fact sometimes he carries the head under his arm.
36	* ''Manga/UshioAndTora'': The Gamin-sama are a family of five Youkai (Grandfather, father, mother, son and daughter) taking the form of huge floating heads. According to Tora, they come from China and their clan is Hitoban.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
40	* ''Animation/VirTheRobotBoy'' has the floating green alien heads in "Vir Vs Bodyless Aliens", who try to give themselves a body by latching on to the other characters.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Card Games]]
44	* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'': One of the monsters has a ''Mortal Kom Bat'': a flaming skull with bat wings.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Comic Books]]
48	* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'': Part of the iconography of government agent Yankee Doodle is an aureole of floating faces around him all having different expressions. He can weaponize them if needed to terrifying effect.
49	* ''ComicBook/{{Madballs}}'', published by defunct Creator/MarvelComics subsidiary Star Comics, depicts the titular Madballs as heads that can get around by flying.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
53	* The MindScrew horror film, ''Film/TheBoxersOmen'', features the penanggalan cryptid from South-East Asian folklore (see Mythology folder) as one of the demons summoned by a witch doctor.
54	* In ''Film/BrideOfReAnimator'', the already body-deprived Dr. Carl Hill gets ''bat wings'' grafted to his head, allowing him to personify this trope.
55	* ''Film/MysteryMen'': The Bowler, has her father's skull embedded in her weapon, a bowling ball. She talks to it, and it, apparently, to her. It saves the day.
56	* ''Film/{{Zardoz}}'': The eponymous Zardoz, an enormous flying head [[spoiler:which is actually a vehicle]].
57	* The climax of ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' involves the huge, floating head of the "God" character chasing Kirk up a mountainside [[{{Narm}} while howling "YOOOUUUU!!!" at him]].
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	* In ''Literature/TheArtOfArrowCutting'', Mage is attacked by a Japanese ''bakemono'', which consists of a disembodied head and set of hands. He defeats it by pinning the head to the floor through its ears with a knife.
62	* ''Literature/BookOfImaginaryBeings'': The Chonchón is a Chilean creature resembling a disembodied head that flies with its prodigiously large ears.
63	* ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'': Fritz the robot is an hoverhead, a model whose head can detach from his body and fly around on its own.
64	* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': Shrieking skulls are a relatively common presence in old manor homes with supernatural residents. They're a distinct species and are benign when not bothered; Varney finds a walnut-sized hatchling playing with his drapes and ''squeaking''.
65	* ''Literature/MaxAndTheMidknightsBattleOfTheBodkins'': Late in the book, Mumblin' the Wizard appears to Max as just his floating head. He has Max toss a pill into his mouth to get the rest of his body to appear.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
69	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and its adaptation ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' have some of these:
70	** Dai-Satan of ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', who is essentially Satan himself appearing as a giant blue floating head with large spines as hair. This being also appeared in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' adapted as the MonsterOfTheWeek Lokar.
71	** Daimaoh, the BigBad of ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'' has a flying base in the form of of demonic skull, called the Skeleton Skull. This flying base also appears in the third season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers under the name Space Skull.
72	%%* ''Series/{{Svengoolie}}'': Zelda, and Tombstone from the sequel ''Son of Svengoolie''.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Manhwa]]
76	* ''Manhwa/JackFrost'' features Arvid, the Blood Pirate, a vampire that sprouted leathery wings from his EyepatchOfPower and flew away when all that was left from him was his head.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Music]]
80	* Music/AvengedSevenfold's mascot, the Deathbat, is a skull [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin with bat wings]].
81	* Music/{{Overkill}}'s winged skull mascot Chaly.
82	* ''Music/TheAquabats'': Space Monster M, traditional enemy of the Bats in the band's mythos, is typically depicted as a white bald floating head with no eyes.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Mythology and Folklore]]
86	* In Japanese folklore, Ōkubi are {{youkai}} that appear as giant flying human heads. Their appearances are an omen of impending disaster, which may be a typhoon, earthquake, tsunami, or fire. Despite that, they are otherwise harmless and will disappear soon after the first sighting.
87	* The Penanggalan is [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a type of vampire]] from Southeast Asian folklore that appears as a floating disembodied woman's head [[BodyHorror with its trailing organs still attached]]. Certain witches develop the ability to become one at night in order to drink blood and terrorize people.
88	* The Chonchon from Chilean folk myth is a flying human head with feathers and talons, as well as [[EarWings extremely large ears that serve as wings]]. They are created kalkus (Mapuche sorcerers) from decapitated heads and used by them to perform evil deeds and attack their enemies.
89	* In ''Myth/BrazilianFolklore'', the Cumacangas are floating woman heads engulfed in fire that scare travellers in Friday nights. A Cumacanga comes to be when [[MagicalSeventhSon a girl is born after six boys]] or, in some versions, as a punishment for women who had intercourse with a priest. Their head disattaches during their sleep in Thursday to Friday nights and only goes back at dawn, and the [[CurseEscapeClause curse may be lifted]] by making the previous son be the godfather of the girl.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
93	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
94	** Beholderkin resemble floating heads with a single eye and fang-lined maws, and topped by a varying number of eyestalks. There is considerable speculation in-universe as to how they make this body shape work, and they have some interesting organ placement to compensate -- their stomachs are in their lower jaws, for instance.
95	** Demiliches, liches who have over time decayed into nothing more than a mad, flying skull studded with gems.
96	** Vargouilles resemble heads flying around with bat's wings where their ears should be, and their "kiss" [[ViralTransformation can turn you into one of them]] by making your own head sprout wings and fly away.
97	** In adventure [=OA6=] ''Ronin Challenge'', the last manifestation of General Goyat is a 50 foot tall floating head. Once the {{PC}}s do enough damage to it the flesh flakes away, leaving a giant flying skull.
98	** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' has Skullport, an underground city ruled by flying, spellcasting skulls that order the inhabitants to perform bizarre actions (and punish them if they don't).
99	%%** ''Basic D&D'': The sacrol and druj monsters.
100	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Servo-skulls are human craniums embedded with machinery and turned into floating recording devices, light sources, projectors and communication terminals.
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Video Games]]
104	* ''VideoGame/SeventySevenPEggwife'' have the giant yellow faces that flies everywhere, popular enough to show up on most of the game's promotional materials.
105	* ''VideoGame/AmidEvil'' has two of these. Fire Visages are fire-breathing statue heads that fly around the [[TempleOfDoom Sacred Path]]. Umbers are skull-faced spheres that float around in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Void]] and bombard you with MagicMissileStorm attacks.
106	* ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' features The Face, a floating head, as its WarmUpBoss, along with other floating variants like Shy Boy and [[NestedMouths I.M. Phace]]. His other variants don't play this straight, however; Dashing Face and Dead Donny Dash [[WaddlingHead run on normal human legs]] connected to their lower jaws, while [[OptionalBoss Hannya and Black Okame]] simply drag themselves along the ground.
107	* ''VideoGame/CarnEvil'': Umlaut is a floating VillainousHarlequin head that appears between levels and later serves as the penultimate boss.
108	* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'':
109	** The recurring villainess [[TheVamp Carmilla]]'s OneWingedAngel form is that of a gigantic, [[BarbieDollAnatomy naked]] woman riding an equally oversized skull that cries [[TearsOfBlood bloody tears]] (as a VisualPun for her theme, "Bloody Tears"). Other examples periodically show up in this series, such as [[TheGrimReaper Death]]'s [[OneWingedAngel OWA]] in [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse the third game]].
110	** Flying [[GoddamnBats Medusa Heads]] are common enemies.
111	* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'': Skelly, one of the many optional party members, starts out as this. You have to find and assemble the rest of him to recruit him.
112	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'': The Giga-Fortress is built as a floating pile of laser cannons and missiles, but transforms into a giant floating head with a ridiculously overpowered laser that outranges AntiAir defenses, kills most ground units in one or two shots, does SplashDamage, ''and'' self-heals, so that the only reliable way of killing it involves lots of fighters as it can't attack air. Unless it's over water, in which case it just needs to land to take out the fighters and take off again.
113	* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'': The Sargassoes are flying skulls, appearing in the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first]] [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 two]] games as recurring enemies.
114	* ''VideoGame/DistortedTravesty 3'' [[https://youtu.be/SGhrWIek-30?t=27s has flying Skull Balls]] as an homage to ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink''.
115	* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' has Lost Souls (flying flaming skulls which home in on you like missiles), Cacodemons (big red faces that belch ball-lightning), and Pain Elementals (giant brown faces with stubby arms that would cough up a potentially endless crowd of the aforementioned Lost Souls).
116	* ''VideoGame/DragonBlaze2000'' have a giant floating horned skull as a sub-boss.
117	* ''Eyes - The Horror Game'' have your protagonist being constantly stalked by a floating, pale white, female ghost head.
118	* ''VideoGame/FaceRaiders'' involves being attacked by a number of flying heads with the faces of anyone you've photographed.
119	* ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}} 2'' has the Water Sphere, resembling a skull floating inside a bubble of water.
120	* The Architect from ''VideoGame/{{Ghostrunner}}'' appears as a floating blue face projected by holograms. Since you don't know he's an AI when he starts calling you, its a shock to free him from his "cell" to find a gigantic digital head instead of a person.
121	* ''VideoGame/GreatDungeonInTheSky'' has tons of characters to choose from, including several varieties of floating skull.
122	* ''VideoGame/{{Ghostlore}}'', being based on South-East Asian mythology, naturally features the Indonesian ''penanggalan'' cryptid as a recurring enemy, dangling entrails included.
123	* ''VideoGame/{{Inkulinati}}'': In contrast to their more complete counterparts, Head Exploders are simplistic floating heads, while Trumpet-Playing Skeletons are nothing more than a floating skull and hand. They're counted as flying units as a result.
124	* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' has the floating gorgon heads that haunt Asphodel. There is also a MiniBoss variant, and a friendly variant in Dusa, the maid of the House of Hades (she uses the snakes in her hair to operate objects). Speaking to Dusa implies she may be ''the'' Medusa and thus the MonsterProgenitor of all the floating gorgon heads, but either way they're a touchy subject to her.
125	* ''VideoGame/HolyDiver'' has the zigzagging flying head Lyer. Besides being [[GoddamnedBats annoying]], it's one of the most common enemies in the game.
126	* ''VideoGame/HongKong97'': Tong Shau Ping, the BigBad, is a giant disembodied head dripping with blood.
127	* ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'': Possessed samurai heads are a recurring enemy, who attacks the players with a supernaturally-charged [[UseYourHead headbutt]] owing to the sharp ornament on their helms.
128	* ''VideoGame/KeithCourageInAlphaZones'' has two types of flying skull enemies.
129	%%* ''VideoGame/{{Lazerman}}'': Lazerman is this combined with HyperDestructiveBouncingBall.
130	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
131	** Several games from the series have flying skulls as enemies called... [[FluffyTheTerrible Bubbles]].
132	** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'':
133	*** Bubbles are flying skulls that that take multiple hits to kill, but are worth such good experience that people would spend hours grinding on them.
134	*** Maus are wolf and dragon heads that fly around without the rest of the body attached.
135	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'':
136	*** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges'': The boss Smog resembles a flying head made out of clouds.
137	*** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'': The second part of the penultimate dungeon boss fight is against his giant flying skull, which spits fireballs at you.
138	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Cursed enemies are variants of the skeletal stal- foes that consist of nothing but the flying skull of a Bokoblin, Moblin or Lizalfos animated by Ganon's power and dregs of its former personality.
139	* ''VideoGame/TheNightOfThePenanggalan'' is a horror game set in Indonesia where you're a reporter investigating a ''penanggalan'' - an Indonesian cryptid resembling a flying decapitated head (see the Myth folder) - allegedly haunting a Jakarta apartment. After spending most of the game interviewing residents and searching for clues only to come up empty-handed, you're ready to dismiss the ''penanggalan'' as a hoax [[spoiler:until it suddenly reveals itself at you near the end in a JumpScare]].
140	* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has an ability called ''Summon Raging Spirits'' which are ghostly skulls that attack your enemies until they expire after a short time.
141	%%* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': Morte and the mimirs.
142	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Glalie resembles a floating skull, and is even classified as the "Face Pokémon".
143	* ''VideoGame/HeavyMetalFAKK2'': [[BigBad Gith the Spoiler]] is nothing more than giant floating gas mask.
144	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'': The ever-annoying flying heads in ''The Shadow and the Flame''.
145	* ''VideoGame/SepterraCore'': Ghosts are huge, ghostly floating skulls. Their damage reduction and magic attacks make them DemonicSpiders
146	* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'':
147	** Some demons, such as Chatterskulls and Loas, are usually depicted as floating skulls.
148	** [[{{God}} YHVH]] normally appears as a floating, golden head.
149	** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNINE'', [[FinalBoss Yaldabaoth]]'s head detaches from its body and floats freely after taking enough damage.
150	* ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}'': The titular Sinistar may be the earliest VideoGame example.
151	* ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'': Dreamcatcher in ''Skylanders: Trap Team''.
152	* ''VideoGame/{{Something}}'': The Yukkuri head appears as the main adversary of Yukkuri Take in ''Something Else''. It's a sprite-swap of the Angry Sun, so it can fly and mercilessly pursue Luigi.
153	* ''Videogame/SonicAdventure'': Chaos is a character of the third type, with a liquid like main body and core organs.
154	* ''VideoGame/SpaceBomber'' gives nearly all the bosses, and some of the higher-level mooks this design. For starters, the first boss is a dustbin-shaped robot who, upon receiving enough damage, transforms into a huge robotic head to continue the battle. There's also a comedic-looking cartoon skull and a clockwork elephant head as bosses.
155	* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'': The final boss, Olmec, is an enormous golden head that tries to crush the spelunker.
156	* ''Franchise/StarFox'': Andross, the BigBad of most games, usually appears as a flying [[ManiacMonkeys primate]] head paired with disembodied hands. In ''[[VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures Adventures]]'', his natural face is fused with the face of a Krazoa Statue, meaning that both sides of his body (front and back) have a face each.
157	* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'': Chenya's unnamed unique magic allows him to render himself partially invisible, which he uses to appear as a floating head.
158	* ''VideoGame/UndeadLine'' have those spooky blue glowing ectoplasmic skulls which shows up in the graveyard stages. They can drain your life with a single touch.
159	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': There's a floating ghostly skull available as a non-combat pet. Floating ghostly skulls also appear during the fight against Yogg-Saron. Looking at them makes you lose sanity.
160	* ''VideoGame/YokaiHunterShintaro'' have a Sōgenbi, a Yokai resembling a floating, gigantic severed head surrounded by flames as one of it's bosses.
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder:Web Animation]]
164	* ''WebAnimation/CatFace'': Cat Face is essentially a giant floating cat head. He has a body but it is extremely small and atrophied and just hangs underneath limply.
165	* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Balloon and Evil Balloon, the sentient balloons.
166	* ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'': Strong Bad considers becoming one of these in "disconnected", on top of having an autonomous headless body.
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Webcomics]]
170	* ''Webcomic/CassiopeiaQuinn'': Averted by Motor Minx -- her (robotic) body is stolen, and the remaining detached head can't move by itself, but is carried about by Penny.
171	* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'':
172	** Ennesby the robot, whose physical body is a spherical computer core outfitted with a face and an antigravity system.
173	** Averted by the various AI characters, who (mostly) appear as flying heads but are actually holographic projections.
174	* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Khert fires cause all kinds of temporary anomalies, including at one point a bunch of [[https://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch14/ch14_96.html flying haunted skulls wreathed in cold blue fire.]]
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Web Original]]
178	%%* ''WebVideo/CaptainDisillusion'': Holly.
179	* ''Website/GoodbyeStrangers'': The lume generates a floating human head when it is born which orbits around it. The lume dies if the head is destroyed or is taken away from it. The lume itself is blind but the head is able to see and seems to have a mind of its own (or at least as much as strangers have minds). Sometimes a lume will collect extra human heads from actual humans, but it is still dependent on the original head.
180	* ''WebVideo/TheMonumentMythos:'' Normally, [[MineralMacguffin Giza Glass]] severing a limb or fragment of the body just lets it remain alive while separate, controlled by the person it belonged to but still entirely affected by gravity. Cutting off someone's ''head'' with it has entirely different effects, leading to a body that is ambiguously alive and a mute, but living floating head that slowly bloats and gets bigger and bigger, more so if not supplied with vinegar. These are known as Canyon Crowns, due to their abundance around the Grand Canyon [[spoiler:thanks to political dissidents regularly getting decapitated by Giza Glass in the area, and being lured by the heads]]. Their permanent levitation is strong and controlled enough that multiple war zeppelins during WWI were lifted and powered by Crowns alone, showing superior speed and maneuverability.
181	* ''Webvideo/RetroShock'': Isaac is a floating robot head, {{justified\|Trope}} in the ''Isaac, a robot'' (''Isaac the robot'') short where he mentions his creator died before (s)he could have finished him.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Western Animation]]
185	%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': The Flying Pizza monster is somewhere between this and FloatingMask.%%How?
186	* ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'': Megatron spends most of the second season as an absolutely ''enormous'' airborne head-fortress.
187	* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'': One episode has the smuggling of very literal Warhead {{Attack Drone}}s.
188	* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget2015'': Talon becomes this in some scenes of the episode ''[[Film/TheMatrix What Is... The MADtrix?]]''
189	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Dethklok's mascot, Facebones.
190	* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The Giant Floating Baby Head, which is more of a recurring background gag than a character.
191	* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': The season 2 premiere, "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E01StrangeEnergies Strange Energies]]", has [[NumberTwo Commander Ransom]] get hit with "strange energies" and [[AGodAmI declares himself a god]]; he eventually gets so pissed off at Mariner and Captain Freeman he turns into a giant floating head and attacks the ''Cerritos'' in orbit, even biting it! He's only thwarted when Mariner repeatedly subjects him to a GroinAttack and Dr. T'ana squashes his body under a large boulder.
192	* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Flying Princess Pony Head is... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a flying unicorn head who happens to be a princess]].
193	* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'': Octus, the mighty robot core of a force-field body. However, his most used forms sprouts arms and legs, turning him into a {{Cephalothorax}}.
194	* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'': In "Shiver Me Whiskers", the pirate skull and crossbones are a variant of this with OffScreenTeleportation.
195	* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Dr. Screwball Jones is basically a clownish face with [[PrehensileHair a prehensile mustache]] attached to a flying banana.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Real Life]]
199	* The [=CIMON=]2 robot onboard the international space station floats around in microgravity gently and for extra points is a TVHeadRobot.
200	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FlyingFace