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"C'mon guys, build... build... build... build... oh crap. (Olimar returns to ship with zero Pikmin) Whaaat?! WHAAAAT?! WHAAAAAAT?! NO! NO! NO! NO! ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! THEY ALL RESPONDED TO MY WHISTLE!"

This trope is about yelling a ridiculously long, loud "WHAAAAAT!?" Usually uttered when the character is confused, annoyed or just plain ol' shocked. May be used in the form of: "You WHAT?"

The Japanese equivalent is a Big "NANI?!" or Big "NANDA?!" / "NANDE?!" note often translated as "Say what?" or "What the-" to match the two-syllable format. However, it's also quite common to see it as a Big "EEEEH?!"

A variant appears where a character, in response to an ally's foolish or incredulous action, utters a "You WHAT?!/You did WHAT?!" such as when a villain finds out his top minion had the hero on the ropes, then let them get away.

If it gets cut off, it's more likely to be a Flat "What" for some reason. A Sub-Trope of Big Word Shout. Compare Flat "What", Defensive "What?", Big "NO!", Big "WHY?!".


Example subpages:

Other examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Asteroid in Love:
    • Mira gives out a loud "EHHHH?!" of shock when she learns that the "boy" she'd been daydreaming about for years is actually a girl.
    • Mai gives out one of these when Mari and Mikage step down as president and vice-president of the club at the end of the sixth episode and naming Mai as their successor.
  • In episode 14 of Azumanga Daioh, Nyamo's "What Did I Do Last Night?" ends with a big WHHAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?
  • Black Clover: The priest and orphans of the Hage Village church all go "WHAAT?!" when Sister Lily reads Asta's letter saying henote  was recruited as a Magic Knight.note 
  • Bleach has Shinji and Hachi. The latter pulls a big "WHAAAATTTT?!?!" (or, in Japanese, "EEEHHHHHH?!?!"), and Shinji replies with "Don't 'WHAAAATTTT?!?!' me! You're standing there with your mouth open, looking like you're trying to catch flies!" (or, in Japanese, "Don't say 'EEEHHHHHH?!?!'! It's not cute when an old fart like you whines like that!")
  • Cardfight!! Vanguard: Season 3 episode 2. Morikawa Katsumi was greatly surprised when being informed Tatsunagi Kourin transferred to Miyagi Academy, in fact as Aichi's classmate.
  • During the Cowboy Bebop finale, bimbo co-host Judy of the bounty-hunter reward-listings program Big Shot cuts loose with a very non-bimboish one of these when she learns, on-air, that said program has been abruptly cancelled.
  • In Cross Ange, Embryo lets out a sharp, disbelieving one in Episode 24, when he hears Tusk deflowered AngeEmbryo's crush object — a couple episodes back, leading to the beginning of Embryo's Villainous Breakdown.
  • The very first thing we hear Myotismon say in Digimon Adventure, when DemiDevimon tells him that Garurumon digivolved to WereGarurumon.
  • In Episode 17 of Dragon Ball Super, Goku lets out one of these when he learns that Vegeta has been training with Whis for six months, all while bursting through the wall a la Kool-Aid Man.
    Goku: VEGETA'S DOING WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!
  • In a bit of Adaptational Explanation in Episode 5 of the Animated Adaptation of Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte, the rest of the cast gives out a big "Ehh!?" when it turns out the invader of the Riefenstahl estate is Fiene's mother Elizabeth.
  • A common stock phrase used by mooks after Kenshiro says his famous "Omae wa mou shindeiru." in Fist of the North Star.
    Zeed: NANI?!
  • In Episode 6 of Glitter Force, Emily shrieks one of these when she learns that Candy forgot why she needed to assemble the Glitter Force.
  • In Episode 3 of Glitter Force Doki Doki, Lance yells one of these when Clara refuses to become part of the Glitter Force.
  • In Higurashi: When They Cry's Meakashi arc, Shion lets out a rather unhinged one when Detective Ooishi informs her that Satoshi has "disappeared".
  • Inuyasha: Inu-Yasha has yelled this a few times. Memorable moments include one after being told by Kagome that she left their jewel shards in a demon-infested temple on the night of the new moon.
    Kagome: My bag! I left it at the temple!
    Inu-Yasha: So get a new one.
    Kagome: The things is... I left the jewel shards in it.
    Inu-Yasha: Wh... WHAT'D YOU SAY?!"
  • Episode 11 of Kokoro Connect has Iori and Yui suddenly turn into children, to their friends' shock. While the boys are too stunned to freak out, Inaba darts to the nearest window and screams "WHAT THE HELL?!" at the top of her lungs.
  • Lucky Star: Meito Anizawa sometimes utters one of these in a very over-the-top fashion whenever Konata bypasses something he's expecting her to buy.
  • In March Comes in Like a Lion, Rei is a professional shogi player who keeps his status as one a secret from two of his friends, Hina and Momo. They react with an echoing "EEEEHHH" after finding out about this secret through an accident involving a taped video recording of one of his matches.
  • Tohru from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid lets out an incredibly high-pitched "YOU WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!" when Ilulu states she's figured out what job she'll have while staying at Kobayashi's home... which is she wanted to make babies with Kobayashi, thinking that qualified as a "job".
    Tohru: I don't know what you're trying to fool, ma'am, but you've crossed over the line and back!
    Kobayashi: Also, we're both female.
  • Akira's response in the anime adaptation of Monochrome Factor when Shirogane cheerfully tells them that he's not longer human.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • In the first anime, upon being told that Negi had just depowered himself intentionally, thus becoming The Load, one female character bellows a loud "Naaaaniiii!!?"
    • Also from the manga:
      Chamo: Didn't I tell you? An Ermine Fairy has the happy blushy super ability to measure people's affections.
      Everyone: YOU WHAT!?
  • Nichijou:
  • One Piece is very fond of this trope:
    • Sanji does this in the Thriller Bark arc once he finds out an invisible man saw Nami bathing. Then he goes Super Saiyan.
    • Hogback pulls this after hearing that Luffy curbstomped Moria, though that may be anime exclusive.
    • One of the earlier occurrences happens in the Baratie Arc, when Ghin reveals that Don Krieg's fleet of 50 ships was destroyed (save the flagship) by one man: hinting that the Grand Line is just that dangerous (it's soon revealed the culprit is "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk: one of the Shichibukai and one of the most dangerous people alive).
    • Sengoku literally pulls this after hearing that the Government wants to cover up the escape of countless dangerous wanted criminals from Impel Down
    • To some degree (a silent "what") this happened early on in the series a number of times when Luffy proclaimed that he will be the Pirate King someday. And more recently when Luffy said it straight to Whitebeard's face.
    • When Luffy uses Haki to knock people out (initially, without even knowing it)
    • Sanji lures a bunch of Marines and Agents aboard Puffing Tom to the back of the train, then locks the doors in front of them. When they realize he also detached their cars, leaving them stranded aboard the sea track, they let out a big "WHAT?!" Two episodes later, after Zoro slices these same cars in half as Rocketman passes with his Two Sword Style Rashomon technique, everyone in the Train cars, the entire Franky Family, Lulu and Tilestone, Chimney and Gonbe, and Chopper all pull a really big "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT?!?!".
    • Probably one of the biggest what's of the series occurs after Monkey D. Garp announces who Luffy's father is, who just happens to be the leader of the revolutionary army, Monkey D. Dragon. Another smaller version of this follows when he casually asks everybody to forget everything he just said (but makes up for it with Mass Color Failure).
    • Another epic one in Chapter 903, after Luffy and his crew receive Luffy's latest bounty after his antics in Whole Cake Island. It was so big that everyone on the board freaked out, Luffy included. It is 1.5 Billion Berries, if you were wondering.
    • The movie One Piece Film: Red features a collective example from an entire crowd, when Luffy casually reveals that Idol Singer Uta is the daughter of Shanks, one of the dreaded Four Emperors.
    • In One Piece Film: Strong World, Nami is forced to record a message telling the Straw Hats she's leaving to join Shiki's crew, and warning them not to come after her since they couldn't defeat Shiki if they tried. When the Straw Hats listen to it, Luffy is so pissed off that he yells out a big "WHAT THE HELL?!" at the top of his lungs before the message can even finish. It conveniently hides the end of the message, where Nami does tell the crew to definitely come save her.
  • Reborn! (2004) chapter 381 has Mukuro, Reborn, and Verde saying "What!?" in response to seeing what Vindice looks like without their cloaks and hats.
  • In the second episode of Sakura Wars the Animation, Hatsuho Shinonome yells "What?!" after she learns about the White Cape's most recent whereabouts.
  • The Sands of Destruction manga loves reacting strongly to just about everything surprising. The anime and game versions (which came first) aren't quite so heavy on the whats.
  • In The Secret Agreement, Iori casually mentions in the middle of having sex that his wedding is the next day. "WHAAT!?" is probably the only response Yuuichi could articulate.
  • Something Kawachi from Yakitate!! Japan would do is that he'd yell, "What'd you say?" in situations like this (The record was about 30 times in a single chapter of the manga).

    Comic Books 
  • Black Moon Chronicles: Haazheel Thorn is not happy after he learns that Wismerhill has betrayed him and closed the Hell Gate that he had opened to conquer the world.
    ''He did WHAAAAAT!?
  • Issue #12 of Goldie Vance ends with Goldie screaming an overjoyed WHAAAAAT that stretches for several panels when she learns that her former rival Sugar Maple left her a fancy new car as a going-away present for helping arrest her sister, who had sabotaged Sugar's race car and nearly killed her with a radio-controlled explosive.
  • Lunar Girl and Scarlet Sparrow: Lunar Girl and Scarlet Sparrow are called to a crisis of a cat stuck up a tree. When they see it's already been averted by a fire fighter bringing the cat down, Lunar Girl goes "WHAT?".
  • Supergirl:
    • In Volume 5 Annual #2, Supergirl has this reaction when she finds out that Brainiac 5 accidentally created a super-bomb while analyzing a mystical statue.
      Brainiac 5: It's a ten-thousand-year-old Brocian hunting statue! Rumored by natives to have "magical" properties when struck by lightning, so I was analyzing its reception to other kinds of energy!
      Supergirl: Okay! So what did you hit it with?
      Brainiac-5: Uh, I opened the timestream and bombarded it with chronon energy.
      Supergirl: WHAT?
      Brainiac-5: Obviously that wasn't the best of my ideas!
      Supergirl: So what's it doing now?
      Brainiac-5: Based on my readings, I'm pretty sure I just created a magical time bomb. And if my calculations are correct, we've got less than four seconds to live.
    • In Bizarrogirl, Kara's reaction when Lana tells her about the Supergirl-looking Bizarro destroying the city.
      Lana: Where are you right now?
      Linda: I'm at the house. Why?
      Lana: Because a Bizarro with your face is tearing up the financial district!
      Linda: WHAT?!?
  • Ultimate Spider-Man:
    • Kong could not believe it when Parker resigned from the basketball team.
    • Aunt May could not believe it when Peter got a job in the Daily Bugle.

    Comic Strips 
  • Garfield: This is Jon's typical reaction whenever somebody — usually Ms. Feeny — calls to tell them that Garfield has done something.
  • Peanuts: Charlie Brown kept asking, "You're what?" after Schroeder announced that he was quitting baseball.

    Film — Animation 
  • Aladdin:
    • Jafar uses this after Iago suggests he marry Princess Jasmine. That reaction probably has more to do with the way in which he initially worded it, though:
      Iago: Oh! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Jafar? What if YOU were the chump husband?
      Jafar: WHAT?
      Iago: Okay, okay, you marry the princess, all right? And... and uh, then you become the sultan!
      Jafar: Marry the shrew? I become sultan? The idea has merit...
    • Played straight once Jafar is tricked into Becoming the Genie by Aladdin:
      Jafar: Yes! YES!! The power! The ABSOLUTE Power! (...) The universe is mine to command! TO CONTROL!!
      Aladdin: Not so fast Jafar! Aren't you forgetting something?
      Jafar: Huh?
      Aladdin: You wanna be a Genie? You got it!
      Jafar: [metal cuffs appear on his wrists, bounding his powers and himself to his newly-formed lamp] WHAT?!!
      Aladdin: —And everything that goes with it!
      Jafar: NOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!--
    • And in Aladdin: The Return of Jafar:
      Iago: You know something? You're nothing without me!
      Jafar: WHAT?!
  • Alice in Wonderland: Alice becomes trapped in the White Rabbit's house after eating a size-altering cookie that turns her into a giant. The Dodo comes by and offers this suggestion to the White Rabbit:
    Dodo: We'll burn the house down!
    White Rabbit: Yes, burn the house— WHAAT!?
  • Beauty and the Beast: Three of them: when the Beast learns Belle isn't coming to dinner (as ordered), Cogsworth's reaction when the Beast releases Belle to go find her father, and the enchanted objects' reaction when Cogsworth tells them.
  • In The Book of Life, one of Chakal's bandits reacts like this to Chuy's pig army.
  • Brave: Lord Macintosh does this when his son reveals that he doesn't want to compete for Merida's hand because it is a big surprise.
  • The Brave Little Toaster:
    • "Why, if we were all wiener dogs, our problems would be solved!" [PAUSE] "WHAAAAAAT????"
    • Kirby (the vacuum cleaner), does it later on on the movie when they're in the forest:
      Toaster: You guys, we are going to need some kind of shelter.
      Kirby: Yeah, shelter from the likes of them (points to Lampy and the Radio).
      Radio: Come on over here and say that, chrome dome!
      Kirby: WHAT?!
      Radio: Oh, sorry about that. I meant to say "vacuous vacuum"!
  • Cinderella has an exchange that takes place between the King and the Grand Duke after the ball ends and the Duke retrieves the glass slipper that Cinderella lost. The Duke has trouble getting a word in, because the King is ecstatic about the prospect of the prince marrying the beautiful woman who captured his heart. But when the Duke drops to his knees to explain himself and the King takes a sword and touches him with it to knight him, this little bit of dialog takes place:
    King: I hereby dub you Sir... uh, hmm... Oh, by the way, what title would you like?
    Duke: Sire, she got away.
    King: Sir "She Got Away"? A peculiar title, but if that's what you— She WHAT?! Why, you... you traitor!! [uses sword to try and attack the Duke]
  • Coco: Miguel yells "WHAT?!" when the clerk tells him that he stole from the dead.
  • Despicable Me: After Gru finds the girls and two of the Minions (Jerry and Stuart) throwing toilet paper around the living room, Edith says it was Jerry's idea. This is Jerry's response.
  • Used in the Family Guy The Empire Strikes Back parody, Something Something Something Dark Side, when Stewie declares that he is Chris' father.
  • In Frozen II, when Olaf recaps the first movie, Mattias does one when Olaf reveals that Prince Hans is the villain.
  • Hercules: Hades does this twice; the first when Pain and Panic tell him he's late for his meeting with the Fates and again later, once he finds out that Hercules will stop his plans.
    Hades: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! [instantly cools down] Okay, fine. Fine. I'm cool. I'm fine.
  • Ice Age: The Meltdown: Ellie does one after Manny says that it's their responsibility to save their species. She later admits she overreacted.
  • The Incredibles:
    • Dash lets out one in the cave when Helen says Violet is in charge while she goes to look for Bob.
    • Helen does one after Mirage says Violet and Dash triggered an intruder alert and Syndrome's guards are after them.
  • Kung Fu Panda:
    • There is one in the first film when Po first gets chosen as the Dragon Warrior. It's followed with a Flat "What" from Po, then a bigger "WHAT?!" as the reactions get bigger from the Furious Five, Shifu, and Mr. Ping.
      Oogway: The universe has brought us the Dragon Warrior!
      Po: What?
      Furious Five: WHAT?!
      Shifu: WHAT?!
      Mr. Ping: WHAT?!
    • Po yells "WHAT?!" in Kung Fu Panda 3 when Shifu tells him that he will be the new teacher of the Five. The force of the "what" pushes Shifu back at least a foot.
  • In Lilo & Stitch, Jumba does this when Stitch asks him to help rescue Lilo from Captain Gantu.
    Jumba: WHAAAAAT?! After all you put me through, you expect me to help you, just like that?! JUST LIKE THAT?! (Stitch nods affirmatively) Fine!
  • In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Human Pinkie Pie gets three in a row, first upon learning that the Fall Formal has been pushed back a day, then again when she learns that this is because the decorations she put up got ruined. Her third one, in response to Twilight saying they need to get the Fall Formal back on schedule, is interrupted by Applejack slapping a hand over Pinkie's mouth.
  • In The Rugrats Movie, Drew and Charlotte drive to Stu's house where they see a news crew gathered on the front lawn. Reporter Rex Pester approaches them...
    Rex: Mr. Pickles, how does it feel knowing your brother lost your only daughter?
    Drew: He WHAT!?
  • The Sword in the Stone has this exchange:
    Merlin: Madam, I have not disappeared. I'm very tiny. I'm a germ, a rare disease, I'm called malagolintomontorosis. AND YOU CAUGHT ME, MIM!
    Mim: WHAT?!
  • Toy Story:
    • Woody screams this when Buzz accuses him of endangering the universe.
      Buzz: Because of you the security of the entire universe is in jeopardy!
      Woody: WHAT?! What are you talking about?!
    • During the staff meeting, a textual one flashes across Mr. Spell's screen when Woody lets slip that Andy's birthday party has been moved to that day.
  • In Turning Red:,
    • Devon is understandably shocked when Ming shows him Mei's fantasy drawings, especially since he doesn't have any affiliation with the latter beyond her being just another customer.
    • Mei has a more excited one after Abby tells her that 4*Town is going to be in Toronto.
    • During their confrontation at the Sky Dome. Ming gives an angry one after Mei reveals that she lied to her.
    • Mei has a confused one when her grandma and aunties help her drag Ming back into the ritual circle.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: King Candy positively bellows this as Vanellope overtakes him in the race. Very much Justified when you consider that Vanellope's cart had been smashed, she was locked in the Fungeon, she had no racing experience, she was a no-show to the race, and her racing means he's in danger of literally getting dethroned in the game. Not to mention that he's probably never been passed late in a qualifying race by anyone.
  • Yellow Submarine:
    • The Chief Blue Meanie after the Flying Glove misses at clobbering Old Fred:
      Chief: What? What?? WHAAAAT??! The glove is losing his touch!!
    • And before that, when Max says "yes":
      Chief: WHAAAAT??! [lifts Max up by his ears] We Meanies only take "NO" for an answer! Is that understood, Max?!
      Max: No, Your Blueness!
      Chief: [calming down] That's better.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • This exchange from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen:
    Sally: [a bit spitefully] The Baron's kissing your wife.
    Vulcan: [steam blowing out his ears] WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!
    [Sally starts back in fear]
    Vulcan: [much more quietly] I mean, what?
  • In Ali, this is Cassius Clay Sr.'s reaction when his namesake son informs him that he'll no longer be known by his father's name.
    Elijah Mohammad: [to the man previously known as Cassius Clay, and later, Cassius X] From this day forward, you shall be known as Muhammad Ali.
    [cut to the next scene at the front yard of Cassius Sr.'s home, where a visibly shocked father turns around to face his son]
    Cassius Clay Sr.: What? You...you WHAT?!?
  • In Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Tutar can only exclaim "What?!" when Americans tell her that in the US, women can do things like legally drive cars and own stores.
  • The restored version of The Blues Brothers when Curtis tells the band why their performance is important.
    Curtis: Jake and Elwood are donating the band's share of the door money to pay the taxes on the St. Helen's orphanage in Calumet City.
    Band: WHAT!?
  • In A Christmas Story, Ralphie's mom asks him where he learned the word "fuck". He decides it's a bad idea to truthfully say his dad, so he says his friend. Ralphie's mom calls the friend's mom and notifies her. She screams "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" and proceeds to beat the shit out of him without even hanging up.
  • In the comedy Clean Slate, the hero lost his memory of his testimony for the mob, but taped what he could remember before he forgot the rest of it. Then he found his girlfriend accidentally taped over it, and did this trope.
  • Halloween Kills: This is Allyson's reaction to being told that Michael survived the fire he was trapped in at the end of the previous movie.
  • Near the end of Harold and Maude, Maude tells Harold she took pills and will be dead in a matter of hours. There is a long pause from Harold before he says "WHAT?!"
  • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York: Peter has one when he discovers Kevin did not accompany the family to Miami.
  • Home Alone 3: Beaupre has this after Alice tells him they lost the toy car after managing to finally find it.
  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: When Jay and Silent Bob discover that they're to be played by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon in the unauthorized movie based on their lives, Jay gives a "Say WHAAAAAA?"
  • Juan of the Dead: Juan notices how close to each other his daughter Camila and slacker California are getting, so he decides to talk to each other separately. California gets a Shovel Talk. As for Camila, he warns her about California having herpes, which is false. California's reaction:
    California: He said I had WHAT!?
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: Dr. Wu lets one out when Zia reveals she gave Blue a Tyrannosaurus blood transfusion to save her life, pretty much dooming his plans for a new Indoraptor batch.
  • Happens in King Kong (2005) after Ann and Jack escape the jungle and the crew prepares to leave the island.
    Denham: Wait — what about Kong?
    Jack: What about him?
    Denham: We came here to make a moving picture, and we found something worth more than all the movies in the world!
    Englehorn: What?!
  • Playing With Dolls: When the police detective is informed that Cindy put his tactical vest in the dryer, he lets out one of these and goes to get it. He's then seen carefully carrying a flashbang grenade through the room, weary that it might go off at any moment.
  • Predator: Poncho says this ("Qué?!") when Anna told him "the jungle came alive and took [Hawkins]".
  • Legally Blonde:
    • Elle early on in the film in response to Warner dumping her. Her subsequent crying is enough to draw attention from the other restaurant-goers.
    • While still on trial towards the end of the film, Brooke exclaims "What?" when she hears from Emmett that Elle quit her law firm. At that point, Brooke feels like she didn't want Elle to quit because the latter is smart enough to know that Brooke is innocent.
  • At the beginning of Sanjuro, when Sanjuro finds out that the guy he pegged as the villain knows about the younger samurai's secret meeting place, he utters the Japanese equivalent: "NANIIIIIII?!"
  • Star Wars:
    • A New Hope:
      • Leia's reaction to Tarkin revealing that he is going ahead with the destruction of Alderaan, even after she gave the (fake) location of the rebel base.
      • Darth Vader does this when one of his TIE Fighter escorts is destroyed by Han Solo, preventing him from shooting Luke's X-Wing.
    • There's an urban legend that Harrison Ford had pretty much this reaction at the Hollywood premiere of The Empire Strikes Back at the Big Reveal about Darth Vader. When filming the movie, the line that David Prowse delivered was that Ben Kenobi killed Luke's father; the real line was concealed from all but a handful of people to best preserve the surprise.
    • In The Rise of Skywalker, Poe shouts "what!" after General Hux reveals he's the spy giving First Order secrets to La Résistance.
  • During the Final Battle in Top Gun:
    Merlin: What are you doing? You're slowing down, you're slowing down!
    Maverick: I'm bringing him in closer, Merlin.
    Merlin: You're gonna do WHAT!?
  • In the first Underworld (2003) movie, Kraven does this when he finds out that "Selene's pet" (Michael) was bitten by a werewolf. His use of this has the unfortunate side effect of waking up Viktor.
  • In The World's End, that's Gary's reaction to Andy ordering a tap water at the pub crawl.

    Literature 
  • This little gem from Animorphs: The team is on their way to plant a nuclear explosive so as to open a space-time rift to get out of the Cretaceous (It Makes Sense in Context). Ax, the local genius aliennote , is in charge of placing it.
    Ax: Prince Jake, you do realize I have no idea as to where to place the explosive or when to set it off?
    Jake: WHAT!? WHAT!? WHAAAAAT!?
  • Danny, the Champion of the World: Danny's father's reaction, when nine-year-old Danny reveals that he drove a customer's car to Hazell's Wood.
    Danny: I brought the car. I came in the Baby Austin.
    Danny's father: You WHAT?!
  • In the middle of The Divine Comedy, Statius lets out a big what in response to learning that Virgil is from Hell, which by all rights should be impossible given they're halfway through Purgatory.
  • When the Kokonoe twins deduct points from her in the salon struggle in Girls Kingdom for turning the chicken leg over to remove the last of its meat when the proper way would have been to cut away the meat then remove the bone, Kagura yells out a big ol' WHAT? at them over their deduction because apparently, they taught her to always flip the meat over for years on end. The twins feign ignorance and continue on.
  • Max & the Midknights: Max lets out a "WHAT?" when Kevyn's mom informs her that girls aren't allowed to do most jobs in Byjovia, being a knight included.
  • Roys Bedoys: Roys shouts, “What???” when he learns there is another Friday the 13th coming in March at the end of “It’s Friday the 13th, Roys Bedoys!”.
  • Somewhither: Abby goes "Whaaat?!" when she hears that God in human form was tortured and killed on Earth. The word in her language for "what" is "ayyu", which, as the narrator points out, is highly convenient for shouting in a drawn-out way.
  • There's one of these in basically every one of the Froggy children's book series.
    Mom or Dad: Froggy!
    Froggy: Whaaaat?

    Live-Action TV 
  • Babylon 5: "The Quality of Mercy" had this when Londo and Lennier are involved in a brawl in the Zocalo. Garibaldi hears about the fight and goes to his office. As the door closes, he hears who took ultimate responsibility for the fight (Lennier, to help Londo save face). Considering that Lennier is a Warrior Poet—and that before this episode, his fighting ability had not been shown or even hinted at — Garibaldi's reaction is understandable.
  • Barry has an episode literally titled "What?!" Barry screams the title line at the end of the episode when he discovers that Loach doesn't want revenge for Barry killing his partner, he was just using it as leverage to get him to kill his ex-wife's new boyfriend.
  • In The Basil Brush Show episode "Manic Organic", Basil and Co. make a fortune selling radioactive vegetables that restore people's hair, with their total profits equaling £7,453,000 and 32p. The first thing that basil decides to do with the money is pay the milkman. Only then is he informed that the milkman who has been delivering his Mongolian yak's milk throughout the episode to deal with his bad breath has been flying himself and his yak in and out of Mongolia every day to deliver it fresh. Because of all the air travel involved, the twelve pints that he drank cost exactly £7,453,000. Basil's subsequent exclamation sounds like a kettle whistling.
    Basil: Wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!???
  • Battlestar Galactica's Cavil says this, once he realizes that his disagreement with the Sixes has escalated into a full-blown Enemy Civil War. "Say WHAT?"
  • In The Big Bang Theory, after a Flat "What", Leonard yells this spectacularly at Sheldon, after Sheldon tells him that there was no need to suffer through wearing his itchy sweater.
  • Bones: This is the last thing Christopher Pelant ever says.
  • On Boy Meets World, Eric lets out an epically huge "what" after he learns that Mr. Feeny is retiring.
  • In the pilot episode of The Boys (2019), Billy Butcher convinces Hughie Campbell to help him by pretending to be an FBI agent. It's only after they've knocked out Translucent, one of the most famous superheroes in the country, that he reveals the truth. It's the high pitch of Hughie's voice that really sells it.
    Butcher: Yeah, o-okay, so, look, technically, I'm not a Fed.
    Hughie: WHAT?! Then who the fuck are you?!
  • The Chronicles of Narnia (BBC): The White Witch says this just after Edmund has entered her house, and has dared to ask for more Turkish Delight.
  • Community: When Joshua (played by Matt Walsh) deadpans that he should never have trusted the location of the trampoline to a black person, Troy smiles in agreement for a second before it clicks, "Wait, WHAT?"
    • Troy delivers an even louder one in "Curriculum Unavailable", when the study group is informed that Greendale College was actually a shared delusion and they really spent three years at a Bedlam House.
      Troy: [gasp] ... I parked by a meter. Any of y'all park by a meter?
      Troy: WAIT, WHAT?!
  • Diff'rent Strokes: "WHATCHUTALKINBOUT, WILLIS?!"
  • The Devil Judge: This is Yo-han's reaction when Ga-on accuses him of murdering Isaac.
  • Doctor Who: This is Yo-han's reaction when Ga-on accuses him of murdering Isaac.
    • "The Five Doctors":
      Borusa: Commander, you are authorized to use the Mind Probe.
      Castellan: WHAT? No, not the mind probe.
    • The Tenth Doctor has several times used the phrase "What. What? WHAT?!" — starting from a Flat "What" and working his way up to a Big What. And the other way around. See "Voyage of the Damned".
    • "The Sound of Drums": The Doctor's reaction when "Harold Saxon" (actually the Master) announces on TV First Contact with the Toclafane. It's revealed later that this is because that's the name of a Time Lord boogeyman.
    • "The Eleventh Hour": The Doctor says "what" several times with increasing volume when he learns that Amy is in fact Amelia, the little girl he met a little while ago, all grown up via The Slow Path.
    • "The Timeless Children": The Thirteenth Doctor ends the episode giving a Ten-style triple "WHAT?!" when she gets back to her own TARDIS only to be abruptly arrested by a Judoon "cold case" squad and teleported to an asteroid prison.
    • "The Power of the Doctor": The newly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor lets another string of three when he recognizes his "new" teeth.
  • ER.
    Carol: I'm three days late.
    Doug: Uh huh (Double Take) What? WHAT?!
  • Jack from Father Ted has No Indoor Voice so any use of the word "What?" by him is this by default. He does seem to play it up when pretending to be deaf, though.
  • Fawlty Towers: The "Gourmet Night" episode featured a truly magnificent "WHAT??!!"
  • In Friends, Joey's roommate Janine dislike Chandler and Monica. The latter pressed Joey for the reasons why:
    Joey: She said you were loud.
    Monica: WHAAAT?!
    [Beat]
    Monica: What?
  • An episode of The Golden Girls uses a different word, but has the same effect. The ladies are listening to a woman give a eulogy at a funeral. The woman's mentioning all the wonderful things the deceased has done (which shocks them, because they all knew the woman as a total witch). Then they realize she went into the wrong funeral: Bea Arthur's delivery is what makes it funny (at 1:15).
    Woman: Yes. Celia Rubenstein loved all mankind. She was—
    Dorothy: WHO!?
  • The "Say What?" Mad Libs Catchphrase of Hannah Montana. It was always said very specifically, "[General Description] say whaat?"
  • Hogan's Heroes: Colonel Klink gives one that can shake the windows when Hogan tells him that no, he's not nuts, there really is a chimpanzee working in the garden outside his window. In a German POW camp in the middle of World War II. Wearing fatigues from the French military.
  • The first episode of How I Met Your Mother has three of these in a row after Ted blurts out to Robin that he loves her... after their first date. Smash Cut to his friends at the bar going "What!?", followed by his kids listening to the story in the future doing the same and then finally Robin herself.
  • iCarly: Carly shouts two of these in "iWin a Date" when she realizes Gibby chose her instead of Shannon.
  • One The Kids in the Hall sketch featured a husband (Scott) who could apparently only say "What?"; as his wife (Bruce) kept looking at him without an answer while dusting, the husband quickly invoked this trope.
  • Mimpi Metropolitan:
    • In episode 7, Slamet shouts a big "What?!" upon hearing that Bambang missed the entrance exam, followed by two random watchmen also shouting "What?!" upon hearing Slamet's reaction.
    • Done as an extended joke in episode 33. First, Bambang and Alan simultaneously exclaim "What?!" upon hearing something on their respective phone, which annoys each other. Then, they tell Prima the news.
      Bambang: Dadang said he is visiting his hometown for about a week.
      Alan: WHAT?!
      [...]
      Alan: Pipin's stomach is aching so she asks me to do her job, cleaning Mami's house.
      Bambang: WHAT?!
      Alan: Not yet! So if you need anything, just ask Bambang. WHAT?!
    • Topan's reaction upon hearing that Juna is brought to hospital in episode 35: "What?! My best friend is sick?!"
    • Both Mami Bibir and Alexi's mommy have this reaction in episode 37 when Alexi says that he wants to work with Mami Bibir. The former shouts a happy "What?!" while the latter shouts an angry one.
    • In episode 45, when Prima tells Mami Bibir that Alexi wants to leave her agency, Mami Bibir screams "What?" so hard it make the camera shakes.
    • In episode 47, this is Alexi's reaction to Juna suggesting to Akbar that Juna should get a recurring role as Alexi's backup. Alexi doesn't like Juna at the moment and wants to protest, but Akbar likes the idea and ignores Alexi completely.
    • In the first scene of episode 49, Topan has this (delayed) reaction when Pipin tells him that she accidentally broke his laptop.
    • Episode 53: Alexi and Prima's reaction when they find out that the "million-rupiah" house they are offered is actually a cheap shack.
  • In the famous Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch about a horribly translated and sexually-charged English-to-Hungarian book, the responding constable to the Hungarian's "you have beautiful thighs" is to look at his own thighs and scream WHAT?
  • In The Nanny episode "Danny's Dead and Who's Got the Will?", Niles has this reaction after finally discovering what "The Thing" is.
    Maxwell: (about Fran quitting) I suppose I should've seen it coming. A man can't tell a woman he loves her and then just take it back.
    Niles: You WHAT?!
  • From New Girl:
    Cece: [opens door] ...Jess?
    Jess: Nick kissed me!
    Cece: ...Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
    Opening Credits
  • The New Normal: Goldie does this when she hears that Shania has taken a marker to Brian's couch.
  • Dana Carvey as the title character in the Saturday Night Live skit "Lyle, The Effeminate Heterosexual" would say this whenever anyone would accuse him of being gay.
  • Schitt's Creek: Alexis Rose says this when she figures out that her boyfriend Ted's friends might not like her/resent her over the little fact that she broke off two engagements with Ted and cheated on him during their first romance.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: Here is a collection of all the times someone said "What." From this to Flat "What" to all the whats in between.
  • Star Trek: Picard: In "Maps and Legends", Laris exclaims this after Picard announces that he's going to try to rescue Dahj's "sister" from the Zhat Vash and the Tal Shiar.
  • A Running Gag across the seasons of Super Sentai will involve a large group (if not all) of the Rangers all shoving their faces into the camera and yelling "EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!" Mashin Sentai Kiramager in particular tends to abuse this trope somewhat; these moments take up at least 5% of the show's screen time.
  • Both forms are running gags on Titus; the big what is often used by Christopher as a reaction to the crazy thought patterns of those around him.
  • Torchwood: In "Exit Wounds", Ianto gives one out in response to Captain John Hart telling him what he and Gray have done to Jack (namely buried him alive to suffocate and resurrect endlessly 2000 years in the past).
  • In True Jackson, VP the title character is prone to say "YOU SAY WHAT NOW?!"
  • Wizards of Waverly Place: In "Max's Secret Girlfriend", Alex and Harper discover that Max has been secretly dating a girl named Nancy, and had hidden it from the rest of the family so he wouldn't be embarrassed by them. Eventually Theresa finds out, and she scolds Max for lying about Nancy and keeping secrets. Taking her advice to heart, Max decides to be more honest with Nancy and tell her the truth about who his family is, which leads to this:
    Max: I did it. I told Nancy the truth.
    Jerry: We are very proud of you, Max.
    Theresa: Aw, isn't it easier telling the truth, honey?
    Max: It really is. I am so relieved I told her I'm a Wizard.
    (Jerry and Justin Spit Take)
    Jerry, Theresa, Justin and Alex: YOU WHAT?!

    Music 
  • Occurs at the end of Alice Cooper's "Department Of Youth"; "Who's got the power?" "We have!" "And who gave it to you?" "Donny Osmond!" "WHAT?!"
  • The B-52s' "Love Shack". "You're what?" "Tin roof, rusted!"
  • This trope has been associated with rapper Lil' Jon (along with the Big "YES!"), even before Chappelle's Show spoofed it.
  • In Taylor Swift's video for "You Belong With Me," as the boy brushes off the Alpha Bitch cheerleader (played by Taylor) for the sweet Girl Next Door (also played by Taylor), you can almost hear the AB scream "What!!"
  • The last verse of "Thinking Machine" by They Might Be Giants has John Linnell reacting to John Flansburgh's increasingly bizarre Word Salad Lyrics first with a Flat "What", then a big "Whaaat?", then a "what" so big it overlaps with Flansburgh's last line.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • CM Punk tried to do this when Vince McMahon apologized to him. However even after several invites the crowd didn't bite.
  • "Stone Cold" Steve Austin invoked this trope (WHAT?) as a heel in 2001, when he was acting strangely, saying "what?" during promos in order to repeat what he had just said. He first did this in real life, when he was leaving a bored answerphone message (see this video on its origins). Later he used it as an intimidation tactic, it caught on with the fans (WHAT?) and quickly became so popular (WHAT?) that they chanted "WHAT?" during the National Anthem (WHAT?) and made Austin a face in the process (WHAT?). It quickly became an Overly Long Gag (WHAT?) and would be used on other wrestlers (WHAT?), particularly Kurt Angle. (WHAT?)
    • The Undertaker was able to counter the "WHAT?" chant on a 2002 episode of Raw:
      Crowd: WHAT?
      Undertaker: I'll tell you what, why don't you say "what" again if you like to sleep with your own sister.
      Crowd: WHA...BOOOOOOOOOO!
    • As did Hulk Hogan:
      Crowd: WHAT?
      Hulk Hogan: —cha gonna do, brother, when Hulkamania runs wild on you?
    • As did Roddy Piper, who reacted as if the audience was asking him a question, every time.
      Roddy: [WHAT?] Keep up with me, people. [WHAT?] I'm not doing all that again. [WHAT?] Can you not hear me out there?
    • We had The Miz:
      The Miz: (dripping with menace) Nobody compares to me, in the WWE.
      Audience: WHAT?
      The Miz: NOBODY. Compares to me. In the W. W. E. Do you understand that now?
      Later in the same promo:
      The Miz: YOU ALL SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF DUCKS! WHATWHATWHATWHAT! SHUT UP WHILE I'M TALKING!
      And in the same promo:
      The Miz: Are we gonna do this ALL day?
      Audience: WHAT?
      The Miz: REALLY?
      Audience: WHAT?
      The Miz: REALLY?
      Audience: WHAT?
      The Miz: REALLY?
      Audience: WHAT?
      The Miz: SHUT YOUR MOUTHS, I WANT ABSOLUTE SILENCE WHILE I'M TALKING!
      Audience: WHA—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
    • And when teaming with R-Truth, he gave us this gem.
      R-Truth: Air Boom is as bad as a sneaky fart.
      [the Miz stops the crowd from saying the usual What]
      The Miz: I got this. [looks at R-Truth, completely dumbfounded] What?
    • And Vince McMahon:
      Vince McMahon: And next week, in spite of your insidious and stupid "What?"s— [WHAT?] Thank you. And, if you're an imbecile and you're from Hartford, you'll say— [WHAT?] That's my point.
    • And Alexa Bliss:
      Alexa Bliss: If you're a failure, say "What".
      Crowd: WHAT?
      Alexa Bliss: My point exactly.
    • R-Truth encouraged it, first as a heel ("Don't What me!") and then as a face. ("...okay, What me!")
    • JBL:
      JBL: This is not 'Sing-Along With JBL' time. You will be quiet.
    • Roman Reigns:
      Roman Reigns: If y'all keep "what"-ing me, I'm gonna smash all of y'all like I would Steve Austin. Just like I'm gonna smash Brock Lesnar.
  • In a case of a Big What that isn't part of the above, there was the time that The New Day and The Rock met one another. For context, the New Day were wearing unicorn horns on their heads.
    The Rock: "The Rock knows exactly who you are. You are the WWE Tag Team Champions. You are obviously extremely entertaining. But here's what's amazing. What's amazing is the fact that you are that entertaining when you still wear llama penises strapped to your head."
    Xavier Woods: "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?! WHAAAAAAAAT?!"

    Radio 
  • On I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, one of the rounds revolves around the panelists singing along to a record. The volume of the record is then turned down so that the panelist is singing solo. Points are awarded (allegedly) depending on how close the panelist is to the song when the record is turned back on, and whenever Barry Cryer gets the rhythm wrong (quite often), he tends to give a loud and shocked "What!?"

    Sports 
  • Was famously then-ABC commentator Al Michaels' dumbfounded reaction to the astonishing catch (and subsequent winning touchdown) made by Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman* during the overtime of a November 2000 NFL game between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings.
    "...HE DID WHAT?!!"
  • This bit from the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix between Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Räikkönen and his race engineer in the paddock:
    Alfa Romeo Paddock: OK Kimi, we have now 5-second time penalty that we will serve after the race.
    Räikkönen: For what?
    Alfa Paddock: So they will add 5 seconds to your time after the race-
    Räikkönen: FOR WHAT?!
    Alfa Paddock: For crossing the line on pit entry.
  • After the Oklahoma City Thunders lost to the Utah Jazz, a reporter asked a bizarre question to point guard Russell Westbrooknote , Russell responded in a way that quickly became memetic beyond sports:
    "What..!? Bro, what are you talking about, man? I'm out, this [guy] is trippin'..."

    Theatre 
  • The Book of Mormon has a few examples:
    • This is Elder Price's reaction when he finds out "Hasa Diga Eebowai" is Ugandan for "Fuck you, God".
    • The Mission President lets out one when Joseph Smith announces he's going to rape a baby during the the Ugandans' performance of "Joseph Smith: American Moses".
  • In Show Within a Show of The Drowsy Chaperone, this is Funny Foreigner Aldolfo's reaction to the slightest inconvenience or unexpected answer. It appears to be a trademark of his fictional actor, the Large Ham Roman Bartelli, as he is heard to do the same in the massively racist other show, Message From a Nightingale.
  • In the musical adaptation of Legally Blonde, we get this in the opening number:
    Chorus: Oh my god, omigod you g—
    Serena: [slams door] Guys, she's not here.
    Chorus: [in unison] WHAT?!
    • Then in the following number:
      Warner: That's why you and I... should break up.
      Elle: Yes, baby, I'll give you my hand, we — WHAT?!
  • This is a Running Gag in Urinetown, used possibly to greatest affect in this reveal...
    Ms. Pennywise: Hope is my daughter!
    The Poor: [all gasp in shock]
    Ms. Pennywise: And I... AM HER MOTHER!
    The Poor: WHAAAAAAAAAAATT?

    Web Animation 
  • Awesome Center, from the always over-the-top Egoraptor.
  • Keela has one in Dreamscape when Kaila tells her she is also from the Unworld. Its not as big as other examples, but for Keela, its big for her.
    • The Overlord of Evil has one when he sees his Mooks destroying his base in the flashback in "Over and Under".
  • DSBT InsaniT: 'The Party': Said by Killer when Andy (and later, Fire Guy) tricks him.
    • 'Beach Brawl': Said by Cell before Martha freezes him, and Kerry when Lisa makes a snide comment about Asia and Shawn.
    • 'The Camping Webisode': There are a lot of instances here, but the biggest one is said by Andy when Koden reveals that Killer Monster was his pet.
  • Kotomaru uses this several times in the second episode of Girl Chan In Paradise.
    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT IS THIS PLACE??"
  • Homestar Runner:
    • Done completely out of place in the April Fools' Day cartoon "Under Construction".
      Stinkoman: Heeeey. Sticklyman. WHAAAAAAAAAAT are you doing?"
    • According to the 100th email, Homestar beat Strong Bad in their first competition to see who gets an egg. But:
      Prince of Town: And the Duckie-man is the winner! Loser gets the egg!
      Homestar: WHAAAAT??!!?&,:;%${}
    • Also happens in Teen Girl Squad Issue 12, themed to Valentine's Day:
      Cheerleader: Valentimes is serious times!
      So and So: [annoyed] —tines.
      Cheerleader: [glaring angrily] What?
      So and So: [shouting] VALENTINES!
  • A trio of these are done before a Fake-Out Fade-Out in the Matt 'n' Dusty episode "Flipper's Revenge". A character that died earlier in the episode came back to life briefly just to give the third "WHAT?!".
  • The Most Epic Story Ever Told in All of Human History: Epic-Man lets out an exasperated “wait WHAT?!” upon getting Epic Fail assigned as his sidekick.
  • Red vs. Blue: Simmons, repeatedly.
    Donut: You guys seemed like you knew each other. I thought you were just catching up.
    Simmons: He was firing grenades at me!
    Donut: Yeah? So? I thought that was an inside joke between the two of you.
    Simmons: What? What kinda joke would that be?
    Donut: Well how do I know? I've been gone a long time, Simmons.
    Simmons: What?
    Donut: In fact, it was clear that I didn't know the guy. So shame on you for not introducing us. And quite frankly, I found the whole thing a bit rude.
    Simmons:...Whaaaaaaat?!
    Donut: Ruh-de.
  • RWBY: Cinder Fall spends the second and third volumes being smug, self-assured and utterly composed. However, at the end of the third volume, something so unexpected happens that she's completely blindsided, releasing a loud and angry "What?!". Her actions trigger Ruby Rose into releasing a hidden super-power that even Ruby didn't know she possessed. By the next volume, Ruby's power has left Cinder permanently disfigured on the left side of her body and consumed with an obsessive need for revenge.
  • Superhero Intern: Mr. Merica says this when Tyler told him he returned the coffee machine.
  • Underpants features a very loud and understandably confused "WHAT?" from Sr. Pelo as his understandable response to getting utterly wrecked at the very start of the Genocide Ending's final boss fight. No doubt this was the reaction of many other players when they got destroyed by Sans' first blue attack, represented here as a massive sucker punch to the face.
  • Mundo Canibal: In "Escola de Inglês Whatahell", Whatahell works as an English teacher and instructs the students to ask "What?" whenever they don't understand something. Since Mr. Donizildo does not understand any English at all, he keeps shouting an angry and confused "WHAT?" multiple times throughout the class until finally snapping out.

    Webcomics 
  • Bittersweet Candy Bowl has this when Mike rejects Lucy's Anguished Declaration of Love.
  • Apparently Bruno the Bandit used to do this so often that the author started to put "too surprised to yell the obligatory what" at the end of the strips when they didn't for a while.
    • In one strip after quite a few occurrences he suggested turning it into a drinking game.
  • Dean & Nala + Vinny: On Nala's 4th birthday (or as Dean calls it in his brogue, "bearthday"), this was her outraged reaction as Dean posted a message to his followers:
    Dean: Thanks for the bearthday wishes but don't send gifts as Nala is a very spoiled cat.
    Nala (in party hat): WHAT!?
  • In Godslave, this is the museum custodian's reaction to finding out that a two-thousand-year-old locked-up canopic jar has a live fennec fox inside.
  • El Goonish Shive provides a double example here. And an even bigger one here.
  • Homestuck: Doc Scratch is not amused when he finds out that Vriska has a magic cue ball that she's been using to gain an advantage against him. SHE HAS WHAT?.
  • The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob!: Jean has a very big one here.
  • The Order of the Stick, from Eugene.
    Roy: Wait, what? What about the Blood Oath of Vengeance?
    Case Worker: It's not a problem for us. Go on up.
    Eugene: WHAT?!?!?!
    Roy: In lieu of Paradise, can I just get a picture of the exact expression on his face?
  • In Outsiders, Siobhan does this when she reads a response to one of her job applications. It is later revealed that she'd been asked for an interview at the World Trade Center in New York.
  • Romantically Apocalyptic's Snippy says BWAH??

    Web Original 
  • Atop the Fourth Wall:
    • Linkara responds to one of the more severe biology fails in Marville with "I...I don't... WHAT?!"
    • Done to, rather than by, Linkara by Jaeris when he proclaims that to amuse himself while doing boring circuitry work, he will review a crappy comic book.
      [first few bars of theme song]
      Jaeris: WHAT?!
    • Linkara does a rapid-fire version of this after it's revealed in Dark Nights: Metal that the original Monitor is back.
  • Bennett the Sage has one at the end of his review of Ninja Resurrection due to its Bolivian Army Ending.
  • In Courier's Mind: Rise of New Vegas, through some clever editing, four different companions do this, after The Courier reveals that he is going to a meeting with Caeser.
  • In episode ten of Chuggaaconroy's Pikmin let's play, when he thought he left behind 98 Blue Pikmin due a glitch not making them show up at sundown, a massive freakout ensues. Chugga is prone to reactions like these, particularly when something really bad or ridiculous happens.
  • Vicas has a few of these in DazzlingAddar's Let's Play of Donkey Kong 64, including in Gloomy Galleon where the LPer pushes a button and it goes out.
  • Dream High School has several:
    • Micah when you claim that somebody from your dream called you in real life.
    • You when your brother wants to join Dream High School.
    • You when Corliss mentions the flowers she gave you as a kid.
    • You when Nara states that she thought you'd become a doctor because of what you said in first grade.
    • Aidan when you make an offer for Embarrassing Nickname exchange.
  • Dzwiedz24 tends to utter one (or several) of those when he manages to survive or defeat an enemy against the odds.
    Dzwiedz: WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT?! I just fucking shanked a guy who had a fucking ulti running! The Golden Gun! That's taking the piss! We're playing against fucking vegetables!
  • In the "Tetris Smackdown" video done by the Freelance Astronauts. Maxwell and pipes! are playing, and pipes! fires off four in a row when Maxwell drops a train on him:
    Ferr: More lines than a Kevin Smith movie, son!
    pipes!: ...now you're just reaching.
    Ferr: That was good!
    [Maxwell scores a Tetris, the garbage lines pushing pipes!'s stack to the very top of his screen]
    pipes!: WHAT? WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT?!
    [pipes! loses; the other three burst out laughing]
  • The Game Grumps play of Pokémon FireRed has Danny, who's rather unfamiliar with the series, have some rather "spirited" reaction to some of the stranger Mons that pop up on screen.
    Danny: OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?! I'm still embarrassed by getting Maurette's name wrong and now I have to deal with this?! What the fuck is it?!
    Arin: It's Jynx.
    Dannny: It looks like a bird that wants to be an opera singer and it also mutated.
  • All the main characters of If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device get at least one:
    • The Emperor is visibly shocked when he learns about partition of Legions into much smaller Chapters.
    • Kitten nearly freaks out when the Emperor lets it slip that he was building Human Webwey to access Eldar prostitutes.
    • Magnus doesn't appreciate the Emperor's pastimes:
      Emperor: This put me more into balance than the time I surfed a space hulk right into one of Tzeentch's crystal garden planets.
      Magnus: You did WHAT?!
  • JonTron yelps this out in "Anti Drug Games" when a black drug dealer turns into a snake man. "WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"
    • From his review of Monster Party:
      "Then they fused together". WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
  • ProtonJonSA's reaction to the infamous Kaizo Trap in Kaizo Mario World Special World 2. That is all.
  • AttackingTucans had one in his Let's Play of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, after finding out that you don't get a Big Wallet if you complete the Oceanside Spider House on the second or third day.
  • Mario Party TV: Holms' reaction to stumbling across the Game-Breaking Bug in Crazy Cutters. The clip of this moment became part of Season 3's intro.
  • In Rooster Teeth's Let's Play of Minecraft, Geoff screams this out when Ray tells the crew that there's lava (put there by Gavin) engulfing their first house.
    • The Achievement Hunter division's twentieth Golf It video has one from Ryan after Jack points out partway through that Geoff is in second place (behind Jack).
      Ryan: Wait, what?! WHAT?! Detective Roger Davis is on the job!
  • The Music Video Show does this in Episode 203 when it references a meme that she possibly does not understand.
  • The Nostalgia Critic:
    • Happens to the Critic when reviewing the Mind Screw that is Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
      Nostalgia Critic: WHAAAAAAAAA? How can you blow into your hand and make a woman!? Why would you even be chasing hedgehogs if you can blow into your hand and make a woman!?
    • "What!? Pumpkin? P-Pumpkin? What? What? What? Pumpkin, What!?"
    • Likewise, he uses this several times during his review of Sidekicks, the biggest being when Chuck Norris fights alongisde the main protagonist. "W-W-W-W-W-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?"
    • And again in his review of North, when he gets furious about the film's All Just a Dream ending.
    • And once again in his Patch Adams review, when Adams shapes the hospital doors like a vagina.
  • Real-Time Fandub had this line in part 2 of the Sonic Adventure 2 dub...
  • FTA of Hellfire Commentaries does one when faced with the solution to the "Who's the Captain" puzzle in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). He then leaves his computer and does an Atomic F-Bomb in the background while apparently banging his head on the wall.
  • In pokecapn's Let's Play of Sonic Unleashed, when Kung-Fu Jesus implies that the people of Shamar eat sand, medibot gives us this gem:
    medibot: Wait, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA? Kung-Fu Jesus, you can't say that on the internet!
    Kung-Fu Jesus: It's okay. I eat sand.
  • In the popular meme video kid tells dad he's a brony, the dad gives him several of these in a row once he admits he's a clopper.
  • Stop Skeletons From Fighting:
    SKFF: "Until next time, gang, remember: good games are great because they're good."
    Nightshade: *Beat* "WHAT!"
  • In The Super Failio Cousins, Pencil did this when Macaroni got past her and Mollipop in Mario Kart Wii (Macaroni was a fail back then).
  • Some Jerk with a Camera does one of these that is so big that he continues screaming until he's an old man and then a skeleton in the Terminator future when he sees the ending of Escape from Tomorrow.
  • In the Skyrim Book Report episode of Unraveled, this is BDG's reaction to the fact that there are 337 books (excluding journals and diaries) in Skyrim that are simply world building and add nothing to the plot.
    BDG: I had two reactions to this. My first reaction was, "Wow. This is an incredible amount of world building. To write 300,000 words that could essentially be skipped over while still having the the full Skyrim experience, it's amazing. And it's a level of world building that could only exist in an interactive medium. And for that, I commend you, Bethesda." My second reaction to this was, "WHAT THE FUCK. HEY TODD? WHAT THE FU-"
  • Vinesauce: Vinny has been known to belt quite a few of these out, usually in either shock or frustration. And expect to hear more than one hysterical "What is this?!" when he's streaming corruptions.
  • Sapnap lets one out at the end of Minecraft, But its raining Cats and Dogs...
  • The hunters in Dream's video "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE" have this reaction to Dream hopping across lava in the Nether using nothing but boats. Justified, since he manages to pull off a feat nobody expected him to do.
  • Literally everyone's reaction to what Chris-Chan confessed to in the infamous July 29, 2021 audio leak. Twitter even had a trending hashtag reading, "#CHRISCHANDIDWHAT".
    • It was also everyone's reaction to hearing that he/she was bonded out on March 28, 2023.
  • Every Cold Open of Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men has the presenters discussing something about the upcoming comics which ends with Jay dropping an unexpected fact and Miles saying "WHAT???" When Jay was on parental leave and Al Kennedy stood in for him, he got a Borrowed Catchphrase when Miles told him how long this would last, and in a later episode Miles does it twice:
    Al: One time, [Death's Head] had to take down a giant, planet-eating god.
    Miles: Woah. Death's Head beat Galactus?
    Al: No. Unicron from Transformers: The Movie.
    Miles: WHA... Wait, no, sorry, that's too early. Uh, Unicron, that's an unexpected crossover. Wait a minute, though, aren't the Transformers huge? Whenever I've seen Death's Head, he's been the same size as regular superheroes.
    Al: Oh, that's because, when he moved from the Transformers Universe into the mainstream Marvel Unverse, he got shrunk down by the person who took him there in the first place.
    Miles: Hank Pym? Tony Stark?
    Al: Doctor Who.
    Miles: WHAT???

Chuggaaconroy: (Sees Pikmin were saved after all) Oh.

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Forgive Them AGAIN?!

After being laughed at by Tom and Rosie for his accident, Junior is in utter disbelief that he has to forgive them again.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (1 votes)

Example of:

Main / YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe

Media sources:

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