Was that you knockin'?
A character gets hit in their face but instead of a bloody gaping hole or a gruesomely disfigured face, they end up with a funny thing similar to when you crumple a blanket. Their facial features sink inwards and a few wrinkles appear in their place.
As a Sub-Trope of Amusing Injuries, expect this to be played mostly for laughs.
However, the cause of this doesn't always necessarily have to be physical violence. Sometimes a character can have their face sinking by itself as a reaction to some unpleasant sensation, mostly horrid smell or eating some really bad food.
Contrast Cranial Eruption, where injuries cause bumps instead of dents.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Jin Mikuriya receives a crater in 3rd episode of the Kannagi OVA, when Nagi snaps and knees him in the face after learning, that the entire haunted storeroom thing was a ruse.
- In Katanagatari Togame's face is left a wrinkly sunken mess when Shichika uses it as an impromptu jump pad.
- One Piece: During the battle against Ceasar Clown, Luffy smacks him with a Megaton Punch so strong he's left with the imprint of his fist across his nose, giving him a lisp for the rest of the battle. A more cartoony example happens when Luffy, having Awakened his Devil Fruit, does such a trick on Kaidou himself.
- During Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Goh sometimes gets the Pokéballs he throws at the Pokémon deflected right back at him, caving in his face.
- In the eighth chaper of School Zone Girls during PE class Yokoe gets hit in her face by a basket ball. The next panel is Yokoe downed on the floor with her face sunk in like a rubber balloon while her friend Yatsude comments that now Yokoe's face looks like a sea urchin.
Comic Strips
- Dick Tracy: This happened at least once to the villain Putty Puss, whose gimmick was that he could rearrange his facial features to impersonate other people. After figuring out that a celebrity was actually Putty Puss in disguise, Tracy revealed the deception by socking him in the face, which crumpled around his fist.
- One single-panel cartoon in Playboy has a bar patron with an imploded face. The bartender smarmily asks, "Martini dry enough for you, sir?"
Films — Animation
- In Cue Ball Cat, this happens to Tom when Jerry throws a billiard ball at his face.
- Doraemon: Nobita's Treasure Island: Every time Quiz the robot parrot thumps Nobita, Gian and Suneo in their faces when they got a wrong answer for his quizzes will result in a comical-looking sunken face.
- Frozen (2013): A blink-and-you'll-miss it moment, but Prince Han's face is briefly caved in when Anna punches him.
- Hercules: Upon emerging from the River Styx carrying Meg's soul and with his godhood restored, the first thing Hercules does is give his Evil Uncle Hades an Offhand Backhand, which caves his face inwards. Being a god, Hades shrugs this off shortly afterwards.
- Ninja Scroll: At one point during the final showdown with Genma, Jubei punches him in the face until his face caves in all the way. Unfortunately, Genma has a Healing Factor so strong that such a gruesome wound is just a temporary setback.
- In "Porky Pig's Feat", Daffy Duck accuses a hotel manager of insulting him and gets way too far in his face about it.
Daffy: Hey, look! A Dick Tracy character: Pruneface!
- Roger Rabbit Shorts: In "Tummy Trouble", Mrs. Herman points her finger at Roger as she warns him not to let Baby Herman get hurt, pushing it so far into his face it caves in briefly before popping back out.
Films — Live-Action
- The Greasy Strangler: The Senegalese tourist is dispatched by the eponymous character in such a manner.
- Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons: When demons are hit, their faces dent in the shape of the attack.
- Kung Fu Hustle: When the Landlord and Landlady battle the Beast, their punches flatten his face several times. Notably, all it really does is amuse him.
- Spider-Man 3: During the fight between Spider-Man and Sandman in the subway, Spider-Man, using a passing train to propel himself, lands a powered punch into Sandman's face. Since Sandman is made of, well, sand, Spidey's attack left a fist-shaped crater in Sandman's cheek, which refills itself in a couple seconds.
Live-Action TV
- The Muppet Show: This happens to Statler a few times in the series. His "punched" face has no visible nose.
- Played with in the Supernatural episode "ScoobyNatural", in which Sam and Dean cross over into a Scooby-Doo episode. When they first arrive, cartoon Dean slaps cartoon Sam in the face, briefly leaving his handprint on Sam's cheek. Sam has to rapidly shake his head back and forth to make his face return to normal.
Manhua
- A recurring gag in Old Master Q will have Master Q often getting into fights, which often results in anyone getting punched in the noggin' to have their faces sunken in as part of the comic's slapstick nature. The 1983 movie Old Master Q & San T have a punk trying to fling a baseball at the titular character having his projectile reflected back into his face, leading to this trope.
Video Games
- Henry Stickmin Series: In the Bounty/Operative route of Completing the Mission, Henry can choose to do a Dance-Off at every choice option. The third time he can do this, the Right-Hand Man punches his face in, leaving a smooshed mark and causing a FAIL.
- Not in the games itself, but in one of the behind-the-scenes concept art of Metal Slug X shows a rebel soldier's entire face sunken in after being hit by a bullet, rather than the more realistic Boom, Headshot! . The picture can be seen in the game's gallery after beating the final level, or on Twitter
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Webcomics
- When the Grrl Power villain Hench Wench punches mister Amorphous (a hero with stretching abilities) in the back of the head, we get a face sunk outwards — which is deeply traumatizing for everyone involved, not the least of which being his girlfriend.
Mr. Amorphous: Wow, that felt weird. Kind of like when your eyelid gets flipped over, but for my whole head... What?
Heatwave: Oooooh, baby. I'm gonna need some time to process that. - Kill Six Billion Demons: Allison reacts to a surprise encounter with the villainous God-Emperor Gog-Agog with a Super-Strength punch to the face. Being The Worm That Walks, Gog-Agog is unharmed by having her head turned inside out, but is a bit annoyed to be the butt of yet another Amusing Injury.
Gog-Agog: owie zowie! nobody gives me a fair shake!! [pops her nose back out]
- Scandinavia and the World: In Potato shaped like a potato, this is Denmark's reaction to eating raspeballer, an extremely salty Norwegian potato dish.
- Sequential Art: Scarlet tries to free the goat-man Thumbless from the Winter Witch's clutches by dousing her with water, à la Dorothy versus the Wicked Witch. Scarlet throws a bucket with a champagne bottle at the Winter Witch, not noticing that the water in the bucket is frozen solid. The Witch takes a solid ice block to the face in strip #922, and the resulting imploded face is seen clearly in strip #924.
Western Animation
- One of Bill Plympton's favorite things to draw. As early as his short 25 Ways to Quit Smoking, he was using this gag; one of the ways suggested involves punching yourself in the face every time you take a drag.
- Celebrity Deathmatch: During the Jim Carrey/Mariah Carey fight, Mariah punches Jim hard enough to turn his face into a crater. Jim plays it off by asking if Mariah saw the "tiny fly" that "landed gently" on his face, before stretching it back to normal.
- In Chowder, the titular protagonist eats a whole puckerberry before Mung Daal can warn him not to. It is so sour it causes Chowder's entire head to pucker in on itself, leading him on a journey inside his own body.
- The Fairly OddParents!: In the episode "A Mile in My Shoes", Timmy gets a dodgeball straight into his face. When the ball falls off, his face is concave until Wanda fixes it. It happens again later in the episode when he falls face-first into a pit filled with dodgeballs.
- The Proud Family: In the episode "Penny Potter", Suga Mama gives Oscar one of these after he kicks her out of the house in favor of her sister Spice.
- In The Simpsons, Professor Frink demonstrates his latest invention, a sour candy so sour it has to be suspended in a magnetic field to keep from eating through its container... only to notice it's gone missing. Cut to Homer, his mouth collapsed in on itself, shrugging and making a muffled "I dunno" sound.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Ghost Host", SpongeBob pounds on Squidward's door and accidentally pounds his face in when he opens it.
