Character Tics / Western Animation

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• Arcane:
  • One of the things that carry over from Powder to Jinx is a habit of biting her lips.
  • Her sister Vi has a habit of rolling her left shoulder before or during a fight.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Whenever Giving Someone the Pointer Finger, Toph looks away from them without realizing it, due to her blindness.
• Big Mouth: Coach Steve has a habit of stretching his arms across his chest as if he's warming up for some sort of sport.
• Bob's Burgers has a couple:
  • Bob tends to talk to inanimate objects, especially if drunk or tired.
  • Linda's eye twitches when she's boiling over with anger, a trait passed on to her daughter Louise.
  • Tina has a distinctive run in that she never moves her arms.
• Bubble Guppies:
  • Most of the main guppy kids have their arms spread out and tails folded back behind him when in a stationary pose; Nonny in particular always has his arms hang before him while his tail points straight down, given his stoic and serious demeanor.
  • Oona's main tic is folding her arms before her when in standard pose, likely showing her demure attitude.
• In Central Park, Season 1 "Dog Spray Afternoon", Owen has a habit of rubbing his hands on his shorts when he's anxious, and, coincidentally, the tagger has a habit of doing the exact same thing, too, which is how Molly is able to identify the tagger.
• In Charlie and Lola, Lola walks hunched over when she's sad.
• Chowder: Kiwi, the Greek Chorus of the show, will typically punctuate a sentence by flapping his arms.
• Cyberchase: Each of the main human Cybertrio has their own tics they do whenever they are thinking over a problem: Inez positions herself upside down, Jackie paces back and forth (even having her own catchphrase she says before she does this), and Matt plays with his yo-yo.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy:
  • Whenever Eddy is annoyed, disgusted, or just plain bored, his eyebrows would be shown connected.
  • The trio also has distinct ways of running; Ed sort of losing control of his upper body (causing it to hang backwards as he runs with his arms extended), Edd knitting his arms and back straight, and Eddy doubled over with his arms extended (and more often than not, his big discolored tongue sticking out).
• The Fairly OddParents!:
  • Mr. Crocker goes into violent spasms whenever he says "FAIRY GODPARENTS!!!" He'll also sometimes spasm whenever he says other things as well. For example, in the episode Mr. Right, he has a spasm while saying "HAVE A NICE DAY!"
  • Poof either waves his arms or bounces when he's super happy or excited.
• Family Guy: Glenn Quagmire usually bobs his head when he's aroused by something.
• Gravity Falls:
  • The Author/Ford Pines likes to keep his hands folded behind his back. This is because he was frequently bullied as a child because of his polydactyly, and is used to hiding them.
  • Shown in 'Sock Opera', Dipper chews pens when he is frustrated, and eventually starts chewing his own shirt.
• Hey Arnold!: Arnold's cousin Arnie after he's done talking, will snort and then blink one eye at a time.
• In Horrid Henry, Henry's cousin Vera throws up a lot, so much that he calls her "Vomiting Vera".
• Kaeloo:
  • Whenever Stumpy gets annoyed or confused, his neck starts spasming while he yells random gibberish in a Tourette's-style tic.
  • A Running Gag in the show is that whenever Stumpy gets stressed out, he bites something (or someone) near him.
  • On some occasions where someone else around him does something even dumber or weirder than usual, Mr. Cat's eye usually twitches while he stares slight open-mouthed.
• Kim Possible has a few: Kim's "puppy-dog pout", Rufus's "groggy blink", and a couple others.
• King of the Hill: Hank Hill rubs the back of his neck when he's nervous or embarrassed. His older Japanese half-brother Junichiro shares this tic.
• Let's Go Luna!: Leo is prone to pulling his ears when he is nervous.
• Little Princess:
  • Princess circles her feet when she lies. She also skips when she's happy.
  • The Chef sings and hums while busy.
• The Loud House:
  • Leni walks with her hands in front of her.
  • Lucy often appears out of nowhere. She also frowns a lot.
  • Clyde breathes into a bag when he's nervous. He also used to act like a robot, get a Nosebleed, and occasionally pass out when he saw Lori due to having a crush on her.
  • Lynn Sr. pumps his fist sideways when he's excited, passes out when very nervous, and sings while doing chores.
  • Lisa also frowns a lot, though not as often as Lucy.
• Milo Murphy's Law: Melissa, Dr. Zone, and Agent Cavendish are prone to raising one eyebrow.
• Molly of Denali: Willow from the episode "The Story of the Story Knife" tends to raise her eyebrows instead of talking. This is actually a Yup'ik cultural thing, speaking with your facial expressions.
• Moral Orel: For Orel, one word sums it up: Gulp
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • The nerdy obsessive-compulsive Twilight Sparkle has a few, slightly bigger ones when she's panicking. She'll pace around, and sometimes Teleport Spam around the room (usually at least once she'll appear right in the face of whoever she's talking to/at).
  • Rainbow Dash's tic is being in the air at all times. She's rarely seen with all fours on the ground.
  • Pinkie Pie bounces around when she walks (it's called "pronking" or "stotting" when actual animals such as horses do it).
  • Apple Bloom's cousin Babs frequently blows her bangs out of her eyes. Initially, because she had been bullied for her lack of a cutie mark, she would nervously cover her blank flank with her tail at the mere mention of marks.
  • Ms. Peachbottom, from "Games Ponies Play", is extremely claustrophobic, and whenever her phobia kicks in starts stretching and "limbering up" in an attempt to distract herself.
  • Doctor Hooves, as revealed in "Slice of Life", will violently shake his head back and forth for a second or so whenever he needs to focus.
  • Starlight Glimmer's frequent bouts of nervous, forced laughter have become noticeable. She also tends to emit a sarcastic "yay" when she's not overly enthusiastic about something.
• The Owl House:
  • Luz hugs herself when she's feeling nervous, most often by wrapping her arms around her stomach.
  • Similarly, Amity clings onto the hem of her skirt when she's nervous or scared.
  • Hunter avoids eye contact and fidgets with his fingers when talking about an emotionally charged topic.
  • Both Hunter and Eda stretch out the "e" when saying "bye".
  • Belos often ends his sentences with the name of the person he's speaking to, especially when he wants something from them.
• Peg + Cat:
  • When Peg is very excited or scared, she waves her arms and legs about. Also, whenever she announces the "big problem", she will stare right at the screen and hold her arms to her sides.
  • When Cat wants Peg to snap out of her "totally freaking out" scenes, he will hold his paws up in a similar way to someone saying, "Do not enter".
  • Baby Fox likes to blow raspberries.
• Peppa Pig:
  • Whenever George or Richard cries, their tears squirt out like a sprinkler and they always make the same noise.
  • Rebecca and her mother blush whenever they mention or do things related to carrots, since carrots are a huge Guilty Pleasure for both of them.
• Phineas and Ferb: Blink and you'll miss it, but Candace blinks erratically while excited (to the point of being seen as a psycho) when she believes the boys are about to get busted.
• Ready Jet Go!: When Jet walks, he does so with his elbows out, as if he's marching.
• From Recess, Gretchen has a habit of adjusting her glasses during a few scenes.
• Rocko's Modern Life:
  • Whenever he's embarrassed, Rocko taps his fingers together and laughs nervously, occasionally adding a shaky "Oh my..."
  • Dr. Hutchison usually punctuates a sentence by cocking her head and asking "'Kay?"
  • Virginia Wolfe has a facial tic where her eye twitches and she grinds her teeth.
  • Mr. Dupette is almost always picking his nose.
• Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends: General Rinaker has a set of keys that he constantly twirls.
• ALL of the characters in any of Seth MacFarlane's shows, including celebrities, often raise their hand(s) at chest level. Possibly homage to the same tic that is used in several Hanna-Barbera shows that Seth grew up watching.
• The Simpsons:
  • Mr. Burns has one of the most obvious ones: his tendency to hold his hands in front of him like a praying mantis with his fingers steepled (often as he says his catchphrase, "Eexxxxcellent...").
  • Homer waves his fingers back and forth when he's excited or worried.
  • Lisa stands with her hands on her hips and her legs apart a lot.
  • Ned Flanders often holds one hand behind his back. He also tends to do this gesture similar to punching the air, but sideways.
  • Marge has a specific frustrated growl.
• South Park:
  • Stan pinches his nose (or, rather, where his nose should be) when he's irritated.
  • Cartman tends to point with both hands, especially when leaving.
  • Kenny would often tug on the strings of his hood when he's scared.
  • Butters tends to wring his hands or rub his knuckles together when worried.
  • Timmy contemplates his hands.
  • The red-haired goth kid Pete is often seen jerking his head sideways to flip his bangs out of his face.
  • Tweek has a whole host of them- constant twitching, tugging at his shirt, biting his lip, pulling his hair out, and screaming in the middle of his own sentences.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Star Butterfly's tic is to put her own Magic Wand to her mouth, as if about to chew on it. Though she does it less often in season 2, and no longer by season 3.
• Steven Universe:
  • Pearl tends to be very expressive with her hands, especially when she's excited.
    • Whenever Pearl is surprised, or knows something that the others don't, she covers her mouth with her hands, something that's shown to be outright compulsive when she almost tells Steven some important backstory information, but gags herself before she can. It's because Pink Diamond's final order, which Pearl is physically unable to disobey, was to never reveal that she was Rose Quartz.
  • Ruby throws her hands in the air and holds her head when she's angry or frustrated.
  • Amethyst sometimes picks her nose when she's bored.
• Teen Titans:
  • Robin's habit of punching his palm whenever he gets angry happens so often that if he took his glove off, viewers might see permanent knuckle prints there. Amusingly, this trait of his is carried over from the original Batman series.
  • Raven tends to pull up her hood when she's nervous or uncomfortable.
• In Total Drama, Mike's hidden alter Mal gives himself away by whistling In the Hall of the Mountain King, which Duncan recognizes as Mal's favorite song from back when both of them were in Juvie.
• The Transformers: One of the many tricks used to help characters stand out is to give them unique talking styles or quirks. For example:
  • The Insecticon Shrapnel repeats the last word of a sentence, sentence.
  • The Autobot Warpath has a Tourette's Syndrome-like tendency to intersperce what he's saying with onomatopaeia like "Kablam!", "Zowee!" or "Pow!"
  • Powerglide usually yells, "And awaaaaaaay we go!" as he takes to the sky.
  • The Constructicon Mixmaster originally didn't have a tic in their introductory episode, but when they next appear he sometimes repeats parts of words. "Right, right, right, Meg-Meg-Megatron!"
• Wallace & Gromit: Wallace often waves his fists when he's excited.
• What's with Andy?: When Jen is angry (which is a lot), she makes her hands into fists, tenses up her shoulders, and does a high-pitched growl.

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