During
the 1920s and going into the
1930s, animated characters tended to have eyes or pupils which were black and circular, but shaped like a pie that's had one slice removed from it. This was widespread until around the time color became the standard for most cartoons in the early 1940s, by which time the
Inkblot Cartoon Style had fallen out of favor, and
Western Animation as a whole had undergone significant
Art Evolution.
When it shows up in modern media, it's usually as
an homage or throwback. Parodies of the
Inkblot Cartoon Style will almost always employ this along with
Rubber Hose Limbs and the like.
See also
Black Bead Eyes. Not to be confused with a slang term for being drunk.
Modern Examples and Homages
- It was used in the 2 Stupid Dogs short "Hobo Hounds", which was made to look like an old silent cartoon.
- Appropriately enough, when Pac-Man is pictured in his mascot form (as having arms and legs) he usually has these eyes. It shows up on the arcade cabinet art, and in later games such as Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures and Pac Man World.
- My Life as a Teenage Robot, which uses a Retraux style.
- In Bobobo Bo Bobobo, Don Patch sometimes has these eyes.
- Toot Braunstein from Drawn Together, who is a parody of Betty Boop.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In the 10th Anniversary episode, Patchy shows a SpongeBob short in a 1920s style, where everything has this eye style.
- The animated segment in Johnny Dangerously uses them, as it's done in a 1930s art style.
- Cat clocks with moving eyes often are pie-eyed.
- In the Powerpuff Girls episode "Silent Treatment", the girls gain these when they get trapped inside a silent cartoon.
- Mostly everyone in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon has this feature, a rare modern usage not meant as a throwback.
- MOTHER 1 clay models had these kind of eyes on Ninten and Ana. Loid and Teddy's aren't apparent because they wear Opaque Nerd Glasses and Cool Shades respectively. This is another rare modern usage that is not a throwback. However, the characters in the two sequels feature Black Bead Eyes instead.
- Mr. Hanky, from South Park.
- The song "The Ghost of Stephen Foster" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers had an Animated Music Video that paid homage to the Max and Dave Fleischer cartoons of the 1930's. Every character in the video is pie-eyed.
- The Futurama episode "Reincarnation," which parodies several animation styles, gave these to the cast
◊ in the 1930s-style segment.
- The characters in Happy Tree Friends.
- GastroPhobia has a Western storyline drawn in this style.
