History Main / FishEyes

* Creator/JeanPaulSartre was apparently teased and bullied for having these during childhood.

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[[quoteright:290:[[Film/YoungFrankenstein https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_marty-feldman_2222.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:290: "Damn your eyes! [[LampshadeHanging "Too late!"]]]]

A particularly common form of OffModel in both hand drawn and computer generated 2D animation, especially when depicting an aside glance. Compare ComicallyCrossEyed, which is also used to convey stupidity or insanity, but is almost always PlayedForLaughs.

* Depending on the angle, Ryuk from ''Manga/DeathNote'' can have this.
* Caster of ''LightNovel/FateZero'' has these, emphasizing that he's [[AxeCrazy not the world's most stable individual]]. He's also a walking reference to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, so it's only fitting he has the "Innsmouth look" mentioned under Literature. In the Einzbern Consultation Room specials, it is revealed that he had these even when he was alive, and [[spoiler:Jeanne d'Arc]] would regularly poke his eyes back in.
** When he appears as a Saber in ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'', he begins with normal eyes, but as his sanity declines, his eyes morph into this shape.
* Katou from ''Manga/{{Holyland}}'', emphasizing how nuts he is.

* Some of the aliens from ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' will have this expression if their cover is blown or sustain enough heavy damage, right before dishing out horrible bloody violence.

* Cell from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' briefly adopts this look (complete with slobbering) after Gohan kicks him so hard [[spoiler:he vomits up Android 18.]]
* Gastro from ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' has eyes apart from each other, and they probably enhance his shooting skill.
* Maeve from ''Manga/{{Blame}}'' has eyes like this to make her look more dangerously unhinged.
* Midori of ''Anime/SpacePatrolLuluco'' does this at one point when asked to look at two copies of a pamphlet on either side of her. Her third eye also sprouts a second pupil so it can look both ways as well.
* Played for drama/horror in ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks''. Shigeru's fall off a cliff causes a skull fracture which leads to bleeding on his brain, requiring surgery to relieve the pressure. When Shige sees him in the hospital after the surgery, he is comatose, his eyes pointing in opposite directions with extremely dark scleras, as if they're very bloodshot or even bruised.

* Ink, one of Nicky Cavella's lackeys in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' is depicted with his eyes looking in different directions.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': In "The Cameo," Blaze's ButterFace girlfriend Tracey is walleyed. It's shown to affect her vision, as she is heard crashing into a wall when trying to exit the doggy door. Blaze [[InnocentBigot insensitively makes fun of this]], calling her Ditzy-Doo -- and Tracey is rightly not amused.
* Ditzy Doo, Element of Kindness in ''FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'', is stated to have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus strabismus]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Ed the hyena.
* Squabble from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'', due to being an expy of Ed the Hyena in the above example.
* Maruti from ''Animation/TheReturnOfHanuman'' does this sometimes, either to show he's crazy or that it's [[OffModel because of technical problems]].

* Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, whenever portrayed by [[PeopleInRubberSuits a suit]] that had fixed eyes. This is especially pronounced in his 2016 incarnation, to the point that his eyes don't ever focus on anything and are, for the most part, unmoving.
* Igor from ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' (pictured above).
* Jeebs in ''Film/MenInBlack''.

* The Mad Hatter in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010''. This, combined with his bright orange hair and insane demeanor, is a result of severe mercury poisoning.
* An interesting case of this trope and MethodActing on the part of the actor for Pennywise the Dancing Clown in ''Film/It2017''; initially the director wanted to achieve this effect through CGI techniques, but Bill Skårsgard told him that he could actually unfocus his eyes to achieve the desired effect. Thus, Pennywise appears wall-eyed in most scenes that he's in that aren't action heavy, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou with most of said scenes shot so that one eye is pointed directly at the camera.]]

* A minor character in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books is Nobby Nobbs's on-again off-again girlfriend Verity Pushpram, a fishmonger who apparently has such a bad case of fish-eyes it's earned her the nickname "Hammerhead".

* Part of the [[Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth Look]], according to Creator/HPLovecraft. [[spoiler: Makes sense, since the inhabitants of Innsmouth are slowly turning into FishPeople]].

** A minor character named Pounce from ''Ravenpaw's Path'' has this look worn all the time. He's often seen [[FunnyBackgroundEvent derping in the background.]]

* Jack Elam had a successful career unnerving people in various roles, starting in western films and series like ''Series/{{Rawhide}}'' and continuing in guest roles well into the 1990s. Often he was the villain, but sometimes he just put the "strange" in stranger.
** Lampshaded in one comedic guest spot (possibly his recurring role on ''Series/EightIsEnough'') where someone [[RunningGag kept saying]], with reference to Elam's character, "Never trust a man who can't look you in the eyes."

* Q*Bert has this expression in the lower-left corner of the ''[[Pinball/QBertsQuest Q*Bert's Quest]]'' playfield.

* ''Series/TheMuppetShow:'' Wanda, of the ill-fated duo of Wayne and Wanda, has slight wall-eyes, though she isn't portrayed as particularly unintelligent (now, ''Wayne'' on the other hand...) just spectacularly unlucky.

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' taking an "R U A Wizard?" pill gives Isaac wall eyes for a short time as a reference to the "Are You A Wizard?" meme. Unlike most examples of this trope Isaac's eyes actually move to the side of his face rather than just facing outwards. This makes it much harder to aim because he fires his tears at a 45 degree angle rather than straight out in front of him. Picking up "The Wiz" gives Isaac this effect permanently and also gives him a DunceCap, but to compensate it doubles his rate of fire and makes them travel over obstacles. It's still widely seen as a PowerUpLetDown, though.

* Lemmy Koopa from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' has a lazy eye, that sometimes invokes this trope.
* [[TokenHeroicOrc Gooey]], a ([[DumbIsGood questionably]]) sapient offshoot of [[BigBad Dark Matter]] and best friend to ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'', has these.

* Used on a near-constant basis in ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' to identify video game characters (and [[ThisLoserIsYou video gamers]]) being stupid, either in [[ArtificialStupidity gameplay]] or [[IdiotPlot story]].
* Mario and sometimes Peach in ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers''.

* ''Webcomic/RageComics'': Many, many [[http://ragefac.es/ rage faces.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera'': Zoe Aves gets this expression twice when she nearly blows her secret identity in front of Manny and Frida. The first time, her BlindingBangs prevent the viewer from seeing her left eye, so it merely looks like she's watching Frida warily. The second time, her helmet exposes her other eye, so the viewer can now see how one eye tracks Frida and the other tracks Manny.

* On ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' this is done a few times. Most notably in the episode 'Selling Out', done by the new manager, Carl. The only time he doesn't do this is when he narrows his eyes at Mr. Krabs, but he's back to his glasgow-style smile and literal fish eyes afterwards.
* Luigi briefly wears this expression at the end of the ''[[WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBros Super Mario World]]'' episode "The Yoshi Shuffle".

** One background pony (called [[FanNickname Cloud Kicker]]) in "Griffon the Brush Off" can be seen making a crazy "shocked" face, complete with fish-eyes, when Gilda scares off Fluttershy. The same background pony makes another fish-eyed face in "Hurricane Fluttershy".
** Rainbow Dash briefly wears this expression in "Fall Weather Friends" while trying to laugh off Twilight Sparkle's suspicions.
** Pinkie Pie wears this expression during her infamous SanitySlippage in "Party of One" whenever she is puppeteering the friends that she created for Gummy's after-birthday party.
** Twilight Sparkle lapses into this several times during [[SanitySlippage her brief struggle with mental instability]] in "Lesson Zero".

** Purposefully averted at one point during the Season 2 finale. During [[spoiler:fake]] Cadance's song, she gives a sideways look at the audience (directly to her right) while standing in front of a mirror (directly to her left). The show's art style would have rendered this as her having fish eyes, so her mirror image's eye is closed to keep the focus on the other one. Fans sometimes cite this as an animation error, not realizing how odd she would have looked had this not been done. Basically, as the ponies have their eyes partly to the sides of their heads and not pointing directly ahead as with humans, turning one eye directly to the side makes it impossible to point the other one in the same direction. From the character's own point of view, it would seem she would have split her field of vision in two if she'd kept the left eye open, so this was perhaps {{justified}} in-universe too.
* Pops up now and again on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', especially on earlier seasons. There's even one episode ("Diatribe of a Mad Housewife") where Marge is trying to talk some sense into him, and his reaction is to stand there staring off into space, with one of his eyes wobbling back and forth. Then the same scene is repeated with Bart and Lisa in the same episode.

** The episode "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" revolves around Marge being stalked by a bug-eyed fugitive who wanted her to see him in prison after she persuaded him to turn himself in to the police, but she never did. This feature is pointed out repeatedly and usually PlayedForLaughs, but it looks rather disturbing at a point when they're in a stadium and he appears to look down at Marge from the jumbotron. For bonus points, the guy was voiced by Creator/SteveBuscemi.

* Technically speaking, this is a design staple in various Creator/MattGroening creations, including ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''.
* Ren from ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' has them from time to time.
** MANY characters from ''Ren & Stimpy'' have fish eyes when drawn in an "off-model" way. Ren's pretty obvious, though, because he's a chihuahua.
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron'', in the movie Attack of the Twonkies. The Twonkies often wear this expression. It is also the default expression for Bolbi.
* In ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', this is [[DumbMuscle Ed's]] default expression.
* Greta Gator, the hotelkeeper in episode 2 of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has constant Fish Eyes.
* Cartoon depictions of Rodney Dangerfield sometime veer into this when he's playing stupid: see ''WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield'' and the Genie's impression of him in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}''.

* On ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', this is the default expression of Perry the Platypus when he's in his civilian guise. In "Mom's in the House", Phineas and friends make fish-eyed expressions like Perry during the "Perrytronic" song.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Grunkle Stan gets this expression a lot whenever he states a stupid plan, most notably the driving bear from "Bottomless Pit".
** Old Man [=McGucket=] sports this nearly all the time.
* Mike from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Revenge of the Island'' and ''All-Stars'' always has this expression while he takes a deep breath right before one of his alternate personalities activate.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Frybo", Steven goes wall-eyed when he zones out on an {{infodump}} from Pearl regarding some magic gem shards.
* Rivet from ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfFigaroPho'' sometimes dons this expression, such as in the "Fear of Mad Dogs" episode when he is malfunctioning.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In "Knock It Off", this expression is seen on several of Dick Hardly's Powerpuff knock-offs.

* As on glorious display above, the late Creator/MartyFeldman, a talented actor and great comedian. His were caused by Graves's disease.
* Music/GeorgeHarrison of Music/TheBeatles. That didn't seem to matter to any of his thousands of fangirls, though.
* Richard Williams of Music/{{Kansas}} sometimes has this appearance in early photos of the band. Justified in that one of his eyes was a fake glass eye (replacing an eye he lost making a homemade bomb when he was younger). Eventually he got tired of fooling around with the glass eye and started wearing an eye patch.
* The man of the "Are You A Wizard?" meme.

* Creator/ScarlettJohansson, although it's not very noticeable.

* Creator/PeterLorre had these but they're not really obvious.
* Creator/RyanGosling, however, this is pretty subtle but it's more obvious in his page pic.
* Creator/JeanPaulSartre was apparently teased and bullied for having these during childhood.

* Creator/DavidProwse got these towards the end of his life.

* The hotelkeeper in episode 2 of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has constant Fish Eyes.

* Monchi, the Mitchell family's pug from ''WesternAnimation/TheMitchellsVsTheMachines''.

* In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', Tiny Tina's left eye sometimes drifts outwards due to a glitch, but the developpers liked it so they left it in.

* A kangaroo enemy in ''VideoGame/DynamiteDux'' has these.

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' taking an "R U A Wizard?" pill gives Isaac wall eyes for a short time as a reference to the "Are You A Wizard?" meme. Unlike most examples of this trope Isaac's eyes actually move to the side of his face rather than just facing outwards. This makes it much harder to aim because he fires his tears at a 45 degree angle rather than straight out in front of him. Picking up "The Wiz" gives Isaac this effect permanently and also gives him a DunceCap, but to compensate it doubles his rate of fire and makes them travel over obstacles. It's still widely seen as a PowerUpLetDown, though.

* Part of the [[Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth Look]], according to Creator/HPLovecraft. [[spoiler: Makes sense, since the inhabitants of Innsmouth are slowly turning into FishPeople]].
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'': Merope and Morfin Gaunt's eyes are said to point in different directions.

* Expressing these can be a symptom of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotropia exotropia,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus strabismus,]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graves%27_disease Graves' disease.]]
* As on glorious display above, the late Creator/MartyFeldman, a talented actor and great comedian. Of the three listed causes above, his was Graves's disease.

* Some of the aliens from ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' will have this expression if their cover is blown or sustain enough heavy damage, right before dishing out horrible bloody violence. [[http://read.mangashare.com/Gantz/chapter-036/page012.html THIS]] [[http://read.mangashare.com/Gantz/chapter-062/page017.html DOES]] [[http://read.mangashare.com/Gantz/chapter-063/page015.html NOT]] MAKE THEM FUNNY! AT ALL.

* A minor character named Pounce from ''Literature/WarriorCats'': ''Ravenpaw's Path'' has this look worn all the time. He's often seen [[FunnyBackgroundEvent derping in the background.]]

* Ed the hyena in ''Disney/TheLionKing''.

* Cartoon depictions of Rodney Dangerfield sometime veer into this when he's playing stupid: see ''WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield'' and the Genie's impression of him in ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}''.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, whenever portrayed by [[PeopleInRubberSuits a suit]] that had fixed eyes.
** This is especially pronounced in his 2016 incarnation, to the point that his eyes don't ever focus on anything and are, for the most part, unmoving.

[[folder:Pinball]]

* Ben of ''WebVideo/PuffinForest'' often draws himself with this look when he is feeling stupid.

[[/folder]]

** Lampshaded in one comedic guest spot where someone [[RunningGag kept saying]], with reference to Elam's character, "Never trust a man who can't look you in the eyes."

* Parodied in ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' episode "Game Glitches" during the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' part, when [[ScrewySquirrel the Glitch Gremlin]] changes Rocky Balboa's face by making his eyes pop out, and calls him "Bug-Eyed Balboa".

* Caster of ''LightNovel/FateZero'' has these, emphasizing that he's [[AxeCrazy not the world's most stable individual]]. He's also a walking reference to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, so it's only fitting he has the "Innsmouth look" mentioned under Literature.

** The episode "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" revolves around Marge being stalked by a bug-eyed ex-con whom she promised to visit in prison, but didn't. This feature is pointed out repeatedly and usually PlayedForLaughs, but it looks rather disturbing at a point when they're in a stadium and he appears to look down at Marge from the jumbotron. For bonus points, the guy was voiced by Creator/SteveBuscemi.

* Pops up now and again on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', especially on earlier seasons. There's even one episode (''Diatribe of a Mad Housewife'') where Marge is trying to talk some sense into him, and his reaction is to stand there staring off into space, with one of his eyes wobbling back and forth. Then the same scene is repeated with Bart and Lisa in the same episode.

* Creator/PeterLorre has these but they're not really obvious.

* Creator/RyanGosling, however, this pretty subtle but it's more obvious in his page pic.

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' taking an "R U A Wizard?" pill gives Isaac wall eyes for a short time as a reference to the "Are You A Wizard?" meme. This makes it much harder to aim because he fires his tears at a 45 degree angle rather than straight out in front of him. Picking up "The Wiz" gives Isaac this effect permanently and also gives him a DunceCap, but to compensate it doubles his rate of fire and makes them travel over obstacles. It's still widely seen as a PowerUpLetDown, though.

A particularly common form of OffModel in both hand drawn and computer generated 2D animation, especially when depicting an aside glance.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Fanfic]]

[[folder:Pinballs]]