History Main / CharacterTics

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'':

* ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'': Spoony, thanks to his LetsPlay of ''VideoGame/Phantasmagoria2'', now involuntarily slaps himself whenever he makes a terrible pun.

** Ariel sighing so that it blows her bangs upward, and biting her lower lip when she's excited or upset.
** King Triton [[FacePalm buries his face into his palm]] whenever he's ashamed or depressed.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'': Ariel sighing so that it blows her bangs upward, and biting her lower lip when she's excited or upset.

Things like [[Franchise/StarTrek Spock's]] [[FascinatingEyebrow "Fascinating" eyebrow-raise]], the wide eyes of surprise, the "these people are crazy" eye-roll, the scoff of derision, the furrowed brow of anger, the other kind of furrowed brow of concentration, and the lip-curl of disgust.

** Franchise/{{Batman}} tends to... ''loom'' at every available opportunity.
** Given the way comic-book physics work, there is no possible way Franchise/{{Superman}} (or any other hero, for that matter) ''needs'' to [[UpUpAndAway raise one arm]] when he takes flight. Yet... [[RuleOfCool it looks cool]]. Although it may be so that anything he smashes into hits his fist first instead of his head.

** ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: During the Golden Age ComicBook/EttaCandy's "Woo-Woo!" often bordered on a tic, as she would say it reflexivley when others said just about anything.

*** There is plenty of evidence that Professor X, ComicBook/JeanGrey, ComicBook/RachelSummers and all the various {{telepath|y}}s can use their [[PsychicPowers mental powers]] without [[PstandardPsychicPstance pressing their fingers to their temples (and optionally extending one hand)]] -- doing so would appear to be the telepathic equivalent of sticking your tongue out the corner of your mouth while aiming at a target: it just feels like it helps, even though it serves no purpose.
*** ''X-Men'' villain (and sometimes [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor ally]]) ComicBook/{{Magneto}} appears to reflexively extend his hands to guide his magnetic powers (one hand for minor uses, both for really big stuff). It clearly isn't necessary, though, as he will occasionally remain motionless when using his powers for intimidation purposes, presumably a conscious decision to imply that a foe is beneath his notice. There has been evidence that he can use his powers better when using his hand, but like the example below, it's probably just to help him focus.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'':

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'': Caleb runs his hand through his hair when he's nervous. He puts his hair in a ponytail to hide this.

*** Anna brushes a lock of hair behind her ear whenever she feels nervous or embarrassed. She also bites her lower lip a dozen times throughout the movie.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Rapunzel narrowing her eyes. Rapunzel also has a little half-laugh she'll do when she's nervous or excited. She shares this trait with her mother -- which, even more than their strong resemblance to each other, really drives home their connection to each other when they reunite and both do the little laugh.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
** Grace has a habit of holding her hands in front of her, a bit like a squirrel. Grace's squirrel hands make her recognisable even when she's transformed into a duplicate of someone else.
** Also, several characters will touch their index fingers together when nervous or embarrassed.
* ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'': Lamont giggles nervously when he's nervous.

* ''LetsPlay/{{Pwnage}}'': Damian has a habit of slapping his desk or whatever's around him when angry. Apparently it comes from Kyle.
-->'''Kyle:''' Nobody-nobody knows that that comes out of us being in college and you saying weird shit and me slamming my hand on the desk to tell you to shut up, cause [[EnragedByIdiocy I was so fucking tired of being in the room]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a raving lunatic that babbles like a batshit idiot.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Ming has the habit of biting her lower lip when she feels embarrassed, like when telling her daughter about the family's... "inconvenience", that is, the red panda transformations.

** Swallows and retches Carl's walker.