History Main / PaperPeople

* [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max]] undergo this at one point, in order to get under a locked door to obtain a ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''-styled coin.

* In ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', characters from the [=PaRappa=] universe are now depicted as being cardboard-thick, rather than paper-thick. [[FridgeBrilliance The reason behind this is because PaRappa would need to be thicker in order to stand a chance against the others, cardboard is stronger than paper, and he would literally be torn to shreds if he were still paper.]]

* The long-defunct online FPS game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhH6ZwZuH4w ''Paperman'']] is basically ''Videogame/CounterStrike'' starring anime style paper cutout characters.

** On certain stages, all characters have the same flattening effect applied to them, those being: all incarnations of [[UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch Flat Zone]], [[VideoGame/{{Electroplankton}} Hanenbow]], [[VideoGame/{{FZERO}} Mute City SNES]], [[VideoGame/PacMan PAC-LAND]], VideoGame/DuckHunt[[note]]Only in ''For Wii U/3DS''; its reappearance in ''Ultimate'' changes this to just having the illusion described following[[/note]], and VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker. The same applies to their Omega and Battlefield forms, which unfortunately means those specific ones are not allowed in tournaments because the 2D effect [[HitboxDissonance makes hit boxes work differently]]. Some other stages, such as [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand Dream Land GB]], use the camera angle to imitate this effect without actually having it.

* The "flattening iron" of ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}'' can turn objects and people paper-thin and -light (in case of people, it seems the iron also makes them unconscious while being flat), making them easy to be moved, rolled and stored. By spraying water on the flattened objects, they can be turned back into their original shapes and weight.

[[folder:Art]]

* From FrancoBelgianComics, ''[[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Krostons Les Krostons]]'' feature three evil gnomes originating from a comic book, who have the power to shift from 2-D to 3-D at will.

* Judge Doom towards the end of ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', after being flattened by a steamroller.

%%* ''Film/TheMask'', whether in the 1994 movie or its accompanying animated series.

* WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures had a one-shot villain named Origami who could magically fold himself like paper and used this ability to steal fine art.
* The WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog episode "Profiles in Courage" has a silhouette maker make life size paper versions of Eustace and Muriel who steal their counterparts [[LifeEnergy life force]] [[PinocchioSyndrome to become more human,]] but they change their mind when Courage shows them all the fun things they can do from being made out of paper, like being a paper airplane.

* During the first ''[[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron Jimmy Neutron]]''/''[[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents Fairly OddParents]]'' [[{{Crossover}} crossover special]], when CG Jimmy is transported into Timmy's 2D world, he remarks that his depth is gone, and falls flat on the floor like a standee.

* The WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog episode "Profiles in Courage" has a silhouette maker make life size paper versions of Eustace and Muriel who steal their counterparts life force to become more human, but they change their mind when Courage shows them all the fun things they can do from being made out of paper, like being a paper airplane.

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'' [[SequelEscalation takes it a step further again]], portraying colour as the literal lifeblood of the ''Paper Mario''' universe.

* Mister Origami, a World-War II-era supervillain from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', is paper-thin and can fold himself into many different paper animal shapes... and assume the abilities of the animal in question.

* ''Literature/FlatStanley'' (shown in the page image) is about a boy who is [[AmusingInjuries flattened by a falling bulletin board]].

* Even more so, A.K. Dewdney's ''Literature/{{Planiverse}}''.
* In [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment one scene]] in ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', Meg finds herself transported briefly into a two-dimensional world, where she can't breathe ("a paper doll cannot gasp"), and her heart can't pump blood properly ("a knife-like, sideways beat"). It was, Mrs. Which explains, an oversight on her part (apparently she and her two companions were perfectly comfortable there). It's implied that they were paying a brief visit to the above-mentioned Flatland.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Discworld/{{Pyramids}}'', one of Ptaclusp's sons accidentally becomes this trope due to the twisting of dimensions by the grossly-oversized Great Pyramid. He also tends to drift horizontally at a steady rate, as the "fourth dimension" of Time now runs that way for him.
* ''The Beautiful Culpeppers'' is a children's book about [[{{Lilliputians}} a family of paper dolls]] owned by a little girl. They also have a 2-D paper house, which is tacked to a wall; they can go inside it, but we never get any details about what it's like in there.

* Papyrus from ''The Chimera Program'' arc of ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' can turn himself completely flat and fold himself into a variety of shapes. He can also fold his arms into blades to attack people.

* The universe of ''VideoGame/PaRappaTheRapper'' is inhabited entirely by paper people. [[AndZoidberg And Boxy Boy.]]
* In ''VideoGame/PlaystationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', characters from the [=PaRappa=] universe are now depicted as being cardboard-thick, rather than paper-thick. [[FridgeBrilliance The reason behind this is because PaRappa would need to be thicker in order to stand a chance against the others, cardboard is stronger than paper, and he would literally be torn to shreds if he were still paper.]]

* Everyone in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMyLittleShop''.
* The Flatso enemies in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', which pop out of the floor of Cloudcuckooland's Central Cavern. The fact that they make a 'cha-ching' sound like that of paper money adds to this effect.
* ''VideoGame/HypeTheTimeQuest'' has tapestries with pictures of soldiers on them in the monastery. When you walk by them or retrieve something or otherwise trigger them, the soldiers rip themselves off the tapestries and attack you, still flat as paper. Fortunately, them being paper/cloth, [[KillItWithFire fire magic tends to work well against them.]]
* The Darwinians of ''VideoGame/{{Darwinia}}'' look like paper cut-outs. The basic Virii are just moving patterns on the ground.
* Cheat codes will let you do this to VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon in the [=PS1=] games ''Ripto's Rage'' and ''Year of the Dragon''.
* [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max]] undergo this at one point, in order to get under a locked door to obtain a ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''-styled coin.
-->'''Max:''' Lose weight ''and'' make money? Where do I sign up?\\
'''Sam:''' I dropped a whole dimension and I've never felt better!
* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' is notable for being the first FirstPersonShooter with polygon enemies. This is made possible by all enemies being rather edgy StarfishRobots. The (human) hostages you have to rescue would require too much polygons, so they are made of sprites like in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. To give these sprites an appearance of depth, their height is scaled depending on the angle you view them from. This has the drawback that they appear to be absolutely flat when viewed from above or below. The original campaign avoids this by placing them always in rooms with a low ceiling, but PaperPeople are an often seen graphical glitch in user made levels.
* The final boss in the 1999 PC version of ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' is a black "yeti" creature, like those seen on the arcade game's cabinet artwork. For some reason, the beast is also flat. There's no explanation or anything; it just ''is''.
* UB-04 Blade (Kartana) from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is a 1-foot tall origami-looking [[EldritchAbomination Ultra Beast]] who is flat like origami. It also sports lots of blade-based moves, an ''insanely high'' attack of 181, and can cut a steel tower in one slice, which means it'll be giving out the most painful papercuts ever.
* The characters in ''VideoGame/{{Snipperclips}}'' are Paper People who literally cut each other into pieces. (It doesn't hurt them and they can reform on a whim.)
* Slip from ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' looks exactly like the Prince, only paper-thin. In one level, if you're not controlling either of them, you can even find the Prince [[FunnyBackgroundEvent sitting on a photocopier with Slip emerging from the printer.]]

* In chapter 12 of ''Dr. Hitomi's Infirmary'', Usui becomes one of these when a giant falls on her. [[spoiler: It also turns her into a FourthWallObserver]]
* In ''Manga/{{JoJos Bizarre Adventure Diamond Is Unbreakable}}'', Terunosuke Miyamoto's stand, Enigma, allows him to turn both objects and people into paper.

* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', the [[NotSoHarmlessVillain deceptively powerful and vicious]] Nui Harime, a model of FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon who sports a pink frilly attire and parasol, often [[ArtShift Art Shifts]] into appearing to be a paper cut-out. Specifically, whenever she escapes a hail of blows from even the quickest and most powerful of the characters in the over-the-top narrative, she appears as a paper person rotating around her vertical access, giving the appearance that she is forever being blown away just out of the reach of the in-rushing attacks.

* In ''Anime/KillLaKill'', the deceptively powerful and vicious Nui Harime, a model of [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon]] who sports a pink frilly attire and parasol, often [[ArtShift Art Shifts]] into appearing to be a paper cut-out. Specifically, whenever she escapes a hail of blows from even the quickest and most powerful of the characters in the over-the-top narrative, she appears as a paper person rotating around her vertical access, giving the appearance that she is forever being blown away just out of the reach of the in-rushing attacks.

[[folder:Arts]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]]" has an ''EldritchHorror'' species called the [[Characters/DoctorWhoAliensAndMonsters Boneless]] by the Twelfth Doctor are a particularly nasty take upon what the lesser dimensional beings can wreak upon our world.

* In the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "Disney/PlutosJudgementDay", one of the cats testifying against Pluto is a chubby kitten whom Pluto chased into the path of a steamroller. After testifying he turns around, revealing that he - and the balloon he's carrying - is flat as a pancake.

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'' [[SequelEscalation takes it a step further again]], portraying colour as the literal lifeblood of the Paper Mario universe.

* The second edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the ''Duo-Dimension'' power, which lets a character use this trope. The follow-up power ''Duo-Dimensional Blade'' gives you a blade that has been SharpenedToASingleAtom. The latter power appeared in later editions as well.
* In the ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds'' setting ''TabletopGame/WonderlandNoMore'' by Creator/TripleAceGames one of the player-character races is a Playing Card. It is an Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland setting, after all. They have the ability to 'turn sideways' against an opponent, giving that opponent a penalty to hit them in combat. They can also slip under doors and such.

[[folder:Television]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E9Flatline Flatline]] has an ''EldritchHorror'' species called the [[Characters/DoctorWhoAliensAndMonsters Boneless]] by the Twelfth Doctor are a particularly nasty take upon what the lesser dimensional beings can wreak upon our world.
[[/folder]]

** On some stages, all characters have the same flattening effect applied to them on some stages: all incarnations of [[UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch Flat Zone]], [[VideoGame/{{Electroplankton}} Hanenbow]], [[VideoGame/{{FZERO}} Mute City SNES]], [[VideoGame/PacMan PAC-LAND]], VideoGame/DuckHunt[[note]]Only in ''For Wii U/3DS''; its reappearance in ''Ultimate'' changes this to just having the illusion described following[[/note]], and VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker. The same applies to their Omega and Battlefield forms, which unfortunately means those specific ones are not allowed in tournaments because the 2D effect [[HitboxDissonance makes hit boxes work differently]]. Some other stages, such as [[VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand Dream Land GB]] and VideoGame/BalloonFight, use the camera angle to give the illusion of this effect without actually having it.