History Main / QuizzicalTilt

** In the second season episode "Reptile Boy", Buffy tilts her head when she, Willow and Xander are watching the {{Bollywood}} movie:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

-->'''Sydney:''' Hmm. Going to need a proper thinking tilt to figure this guy out.

* Mabel tilts her head in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode, "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel" complete with a dog like, "Aroo?"

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': One of Chiana's freuqent CharacterTics is tilting her head from side to side. This actually arose due to Gigi Edgley trying to see out of the black contact lenses she had to wear which severely limited her vision. The lenses were eventually switched to a less restrictive pair but the movement was so firmly established that she kept doing it.

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images//quizzical_tilt.jpg]]

Common in {{Animal Reaction Shot}}s, especially with dogs (although [[AllAnimalsAreDogs animals who behave like dogs]] may do it too), accompanied by a Quizzical (or [[EvenTheDogIsAshamed Disapproving]]) Whimper.

* In "VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot", Susie tells Kirby he'd never understand how great it is to work, followed by Kirby adorably tilting his head in confusion.

* In ''Manga/WelcomeToDemonSchoolIrumaKun, both Iruma and Ameri tilt their head to the side with a confused expression when Opera tells them they don't understand the concept of cooking.

%% * The standard problem-solving method used by [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html The Simple Dog]] in ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf''. Often until she actually flips over. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

It is common in all forms of animation, as well as in RealLife, for a character to tilt their head sideways in confusion. In anime, this is often accompanied by a "..." while it is more often accompanied by a "...huh?" in western animation. A raised eyebrow is common in every genre.

%%* [[CloudCuckoolander Osaka]] of ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' does this.
* Nia in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' does this when she sees Lagann in a garbage heap.

* Those creepy-cute [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodama_%28spirit%29 tree spirits (kodama)]] from ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' are very much this.
* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/MuneGuardianOfTheMoon'' does this throughout the film, along with a chirping noise.

** In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', Charlie the ''Velociraptor'' does this when she encounters ParentalSubstitute Owen in the firefight. Until this point, it appears that the raptors have [[spoiler: betrayed their alpha and sided with the ''I. rex'']], but Charlie is visibly conflicted and chitters at Owen instead of attacking him. [[spoiler: [[TearJerker It gets her killed by the mercenaries.]]]]

* Brutus does this to Wild Bill in ''Film/TheGreenMile'' just before he gets a faceful of moon pie.
* Detective Hoffman does this towards Strahm while residing inside the glass box in ''Film/SawV''.
* In ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'', Michael Myers does this when he's examining Bob whom he has just pinned to a wall with a kitchen knife. It becomes a trademark [[CharacterTics habit]], with practically every subsequent movie having him tilt his head at least once.
* Jason Voorhees does this several times throughout the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' series.
** First instance comes in ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPart2 Friday the 13th, Part II]]'' when [[FinalGirl Jenny]] mimics [[PredecessorVillain Jason's mother]] in an effort to lower his defenses and then kill him.

** Jason does this in surprise in ''Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday'' when he finds out that he can see his true self in a mirror while possessing some else's body.
* In ''Film/TheMask'', Stanley's dog Milo does this the first time Stanley turns into the title character.
* ''Franchise/StarWars''
** ''Film/ANewHope'': Luke does this when he finds Princess Leia in the Death Star detention center, and right before she asks him "aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"

** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': Kylo Ren does this when he asks Rey "you still want to kill me?" after she wakes up in the Finalizer's interrogation room.

* One of the invaders does this upon seeing Steven Hiller and David Levinson in one of their ships in ''Film/IndependenceDay''.

* Karou of ''Literature/DaughterOfSmokeAndBone'' does this frequently, in a manner described as a "quick birdlike tilt." It's one of the first things Akiva notices when he meets her, as it reminds him of his deceased lover Madrigal [[spoiler:which makes sense, as thanks to {{Reincarnation}} they're the same person]].
* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'':
** The titular character has this as a defining quirk.
** Correspondingly to the titular character's, so does [[spoiler:Lord Vile]].
** In ''Kingdom Of The Wicked'' when [[spoiler: the [=Alternate!Lord=] Vile sees Skulduggery and does this.]]
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry's dog Mouse tends to do this when Harry explains something to him. How much he actually understands is up for debate, since Mouse is smarter than your average dog.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Spock made considerable use of this, as well as the FascinatingEyebrow (and sometimes both at once).

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': The Vorta, especially Weyoun and Eris, have quite a few of these.
* Det. Goren does one while interrogating a suspect, in the intro to ''[[Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent Law & Order: Criminal Intent]]'', and does them fairly often through the series as well.

* A very common gesture of ''Series/TheManFromAtlantis''.
* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': Cameron does this. A ''lot''.
* Spike on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this very often. In fact, his head's default position seems to be tilted. He has the Quizzical Tilt, the intimidating tilt, the "I'm about to bite you" tilt, the arrogant tilt, the tilt of sexy... well they're all pretty sexy, so that should probably be renamed the tilt of "I'm going to shag you right now."

* The Observers in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' do this a lot in response to human behavior. September's actor Michael Cerveris got the idea from watching his dog.
** The series later provided an in-universe explanation for it in the final season, the subject of an ''epic'' TheReasonYouSuck speech delivered by Nina to the Observer commander, Captain Windmark. The Observers are hyper-evolved TranshumanAliens from 600 years in the future, whose brains have been enhanced to reality-warping levels by sacrificing the regions of the brain responsible for emotions. The Observers repeatedly say they feel that regular present-day humans are animals compared to them. As a final screw-you before he kills her, Nina points out that the Observers tilt their head in that way because it's an atavistic trait: reptiles and lower mammals have an instinct to tilt their head to change the angle at which sound hits their eardrum, when they hear a noise they are unfamiliar with. Modern-day humans evolved beyond this rudimentary trait. So for all of the Observers' talk about how they are superior to regular humans, they're just walking science experiments, who even accidentally spliced back in a few behavioral traits from junk DNA - and like reptiles, they also spliced out their capacity for love, wonder, or the ability to appreciate "beauty".
* ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfOldChristine'': New Christine hurts her neck, but everyone just assumes she's just doing this.

* Bassist Charlie Haden can be seen doing this on the cover of Music/OrnetteColeman's ''This Is Our Music''.

* [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] has done this. Though it's usually accompanied with getting your ass kicked. He would also say it during interviews or when one of his promos were interrupted, usually followed by...

* Wrestling/{{Kane}} did this back when he wore a mask and didn't have a voice, probably borrowed from Michael Myers of ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}''.

* Seen [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BH8lk5KCcAEj2Nn.jpg:large here]] by the referee as two hockey players demonstrate some impromptu yoga. (San Jose at Phoenix, 4/15/13.)

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' includes a particularly good scene where Joker does this after EDI cracks a hilarious, albeit very poorly timed, joke.
* Emperor Palpatine hilariously does this when accessing Imperial security panels in ''VideoGame/LEGOStarWars''.

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''
** When [[AmnesiacsAreInnocent something about normal life]] confuses Sophie in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'', she will do this.
** Emil Castagnier of ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' tends to do this a lot as well.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s "Meet the Pyro" has him do this to the enemy Sniper. In his mind, everything is a happy SugarBowl of rainbows and sparkles, so he just doesn't understand why the Sniper is begging for help just before he's ''burned to death''.

* As a reference to the films featuring him, [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] does this in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' as his post-round taunt, and after doing his Slasher throw, understandably confused that his opponent is getting back up [[MadeOfIron after being violently impaled on a machete]].

* Doki does this in ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' when Nabi tries to explain that [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies relationships]] don't work.

* Website/CuteOverload calls this the "baroo", after the sound dogs (supposedly) make along with it.
* The standard problem-solving method used by [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html The Simple Dog]] in ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf''. Often until she actually flips over. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

* Kitty from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has done this.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "The Chamber of Frozen Blades" Dr. Princess does this in reaction to Finn, Jake and the Ice King acting like ninjas.

* Mabel does this in the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode, "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel" complete with a dog like, "Aroo?"
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E23SoundsOfSilence Sounds of Silence]]", since Kirins don't talk and show little emotion, the one most common bit of body language they demonstrate is a curious head tilt. It's adorable.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Data quizzically tilted his head every ten seconds or so.

* Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries: Spock made considerable use of this, as well as the FascinatingEyebrow (and sometimes both at once).
* Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration: Data quizzically tilted his head every ten seconds or so.
* Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine: The Vorta, especially Weyoun and Eris, have quite a few of these.

* The standard problem-solving method used by [[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html The Simple Dog]] in ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf''. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

-->'''Larry:''' "Bartlet was playing a round of golf with Toby Ziegler, the prickly, mumbling Communications Director whose inner, bitter darkness spelled the breakup of the one marriage we know about."[[note]]It's been well established President Bartlet hates golf[[/noted]]\\

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Doki does this in ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' when Nabi tries to explain that [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies relationships]] don't work.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' [[{{CuteMonsterGirl}} Celty]] and [[{{TheBerserker}} Shizuo]] do a simultaneous version, which A) goes to show their LikeBrotherAndSister bond, and B) [[http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/I_am_Latia/drrrceltyshizzyheadtilt-1.gif is absolutely adorable.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendship'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E23SoundsOfSilence Sounds of Silence]]", since Kirins don't talk and show little emotion, the one most common bit of body language they demonstrate is a curious head tilt. It's adorable.