This trope is where a character tries to move quietly and sneakily by walking on the tip of their toes, often accompanied by exaggerated gestures and expressions. This is usually done for comedic effect, as the character is either oblivious to the noise they are making or overestimates their stealth skills. In animated works, characters may also be shown tip-toeing using their fingers (or an equivalent) in addition to their toes. Also, in animated works, tiptoes may be accompanied by a string of xylophone notes, which amusingly results in them being louder (to the audience) than their normally silent footsteps. Sometimes, the character may be caught by someone who was watching them all along, or they may accidentally step on something that makes a loud sound and alerts everyone.
Tiptoes are a common way of moving around when someone wants to be stealthy or playful. They involve lifting the heels off the ground and balancing on the toes of the feet, making as little noise as possible. Sometimes, tiptoes are used to sneak up on someone and surprise them, or to avoid being detected by someone who might be angry or annoyed. Tiptoes can be helpful for many things, but they can also backfire if the person is not careful enough.
Tiptoes aren’t always used for stealth though. They are also used for ballet, which is a common dance for ballet dancers. Tiptoes are also used to reach something that is too high or far away.
This trope is commonly associated with Classy Cat-Burglar. Sometimes can be used with The Sneaky Guy. Also associated with With Catlike Tread when characters try to do this to be stealthy but end up failing.
Compare Sneakers of Sneaking, where footwear is chosen with stealth in mind. Often overlaps with Don't Wake the Sleeper. See also Noiseless Walker.
Examples:
- How to Train Your Dragon: Hiccup approaches a wounded dragon in the forest by tip-toeing. He is curious about the creature, but he also fears its reaction.
- Lampshaded in SpongeBob Squarepants: Sponge out of Water when Plankton is trying to sneak to Patrick in the Chum Bucket during an apocalypse:
Plankton: [sneaking to Patrick in Chum Bucket, only to be paused by Spongebob playing a piano] Will you stop playing that piano?!Spongebob: [stops playing piano] Sorry.
- The Return of the Pink Panther: Inspector Clouseau tiptoes to a hotel room where he thinks the Pink Panther diamond is hiding, but he accidentally causes a big mess.
- The Famous Five are often described as tiptoeing when they move stealthily, often past sleeping enemies.
- LazyTown: In "Robbie's Dream Team", during the "We Are Number One" music sequence, Robbie instructs his "dream team" to sneak around, complete with tiptoeing. He also tells them not to make a sound — cue one of them stepping on a twig and making an audible "crack" sound.
- The Burger King: In the Sneak King video game, the King walks around on tiptoes when sneaking around to surprise people with lunch.
- Quest for Glory: The hero's sneak animation moves around on tip-toes, with the typical pose. Because the skill needs to be trained to a high amount, the hero therefore needs to sneak across long distances.
- The Sims 3: Sims who are grounded or under curfew have a special "sneaky" walk animation when they leave the house, which consists of them walking on their tiptoes with a mischievous smirk. Burglars may use a similar animation when robbing a location. Occasionally, a bug can occur that makes this the Sim's main walking animation.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom: Spongebob's sneak ability allows him to walk on the tips of his toes, which is used to be able to get close to Ssh Tikis in order to break them as well as sneak up on Sleepy-Times to defeat them.
- Tomb Raider: There is a trophy called “On Tiptoes” that you can earn if you don’t alert any enemies.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: There is a mechanic called “Stealth” that allows the player to tip toe and reduce the noise they make.
- Dora the Explorer has this occur multiple times, often overlapping with Don't Wake the Sleeper:
- In "Hic-Boom-Ohhh", Dora and Boots encounter a sleeping Swiper in the Quiet Forest and invite the viewer to do the "Tiptoe Walk" with them so they sneak past Swiper without waking him.
- In "Te Amo" and "The Big Potato", Dora and Boots encounter someone sleeping (El Mago and a dragon) and sneak past them while singing the "La Lechuza" song.
- In "Baby Dino", Dora, Boots, Diego, and Baby Dino have to tiptoe past the Mommy T-Rex to avoid disturbing her as she rocks her baby to sleep; every time she looks at them, they have to freeze and hold still like statues so she doesn't see them.
- In "Dora's Fairytale Adventure", Dora's first test is to find the red ring in the Dragon's Cave. She encounters the dragon eating spaghetti and meatballs and invites the viewer to tiptoe past him so she enters the cave unnoticed.
- Used pretty much in Looney Tunes. An example includes Sylvester sneaking up to eat Tweety.
- SpongeBob SquarePants has used this trope several times on some occasions, mainly when the characters are trying to walk quietly. Examples include:
- Wanting to escape SpongeBob and Patrick's insistent attempts to get him to go jellyfishing in "Karate Choppers", Squidward enters the closed Krusty Krab, stealthily tiptoeing as he nears.
- In "Karate Choppers", when SpongeBob believes Sandy's hiding behind his couch, he attempts to silently tiptoe over. However, his feet quack as he walks; it's then revealed that he actually was stepping on squeaky toy ducks.
- "Suds" has SpongeBob tiptoe past a sleeping Gary and down the stairs for a midnight snack.
- While trying to catch the bus in "Rock Bottom", SpongeBob attempts to trick it by placing a cardboard cutout of himself next to a vending machine while tiptoeing towards the bus on the other side of the road.
- The beginning of "Dumped" shows SpongeBob playing tag with Gary, tiptoeing behind a rock as he approaches.
- "Just One Bite" has Squidward develop an urging for Krabby Patties, which he attempts to hide from SpongeBob. He eventually makes a run for the Krusty Krab at night, only tiptoeing while passing SpongeBob's.
- In "The Thing", SpongeBob and Patrick mistake a cement-covered Squidward for a wild animal. When Squidward gets thrown into a zoo, they attempt to rescue him at night, tiptoeing towards his cage.
- In "Spy Buddies", SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to stealthily track Plankton by tiptoeing behind him. It doesn't fool him, as their footsteps are earth-shaking at his scale.
- In "Giant Squidward", Squidward tiptoes away from an angry mob after he claims to be merely a lamppost.
- "I ♥ Dancing" begins with Squidward tiptoeing out of his house, not wanting to attract SpongeBob. He fails.
- "Walking the Plankton" shows the mailman approaching the Krusty Krab's mailbox on tiptoes, not wanting to gain the attention of SpongeBob (who nonetheless notices).
- At one point in "Face Freeze", SpongeBob tiptoes past Mr. Krabs, wanting to hide his horribly deformed face.
- After creating homes for miniature versions of themselves in "Fun-Sized Friends", SpongeBob and Patrick tiptoe away, not wanting to disturb.
- "Ink Lemonade" has a terrified Squidward tiptoe towards his door when the doorbell rings, all while hiding under a rug.
- Used in the Yogi Bear cartoons when the eponymous character sneaks for picnic baskets.
