Character Tics / Video Games

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• Another Code: Ashley Robbins tends to lean forward slightly and tilt her head to the right when speaking to people.
• BlazBlue: In the story mode, characters only have 3 sprites - neutral, pre-fight and "defeated", and they do something unique in each. Though they also have certain other tics outside those sprites, such as Ragna face-palming, Nine holding a fire on her palm, or Azrael putting his hand on his pockets.
• Chrono Trigger:
  • Magus has a habit of readjusting his gloves. He usually does it when focusing a spell.
  • Robo has one too, after doing something that takes a bit of effort, his casing opens up and a hissing sound is heard. This is definitely a Justified Trope, as he's venting out heat since he's, well, a robot. Done to sinister effect when it's done by his brothers, the rest of the R-Series, after they beat the crap out of him. All six of them do it. Then, one of them picks up his battered body and throws it down a disposal shoot, which is a simple task, but he does it again, showing how trivially they think of disposing one of their own.
  • Lucca moves her glasses up and down, possibly adjusting them, as a substitute for raising unseen eyebrows. She does it when she takes notice of something, and usually doesn't stop until something else happens.
• Crash Bandicoot: Starting from the third game, Coco tends to flip her hair every so often.
• Destiny:
  • Cayde-6 twirls his pistol almost every time he pulls it out, Revolver Ocelot-style.
  • Uldren Sov is very emotive with his arms, gesturing and waving them around a lot when he’s speaking. He also tends to punctuate for emphasis when sufficiently angry or annoyed.
  • The Spider has very fidgety hands and uses a ghost shell as a makeshift fidget toy. Some lore entries indicate that this is a bit of a nervous tic for him; he knows full well that the Guardians could easily kill him and is constantly on edge when they’re around, despite his seemingly calm demeanor.
  • Dominus Ghaul has a noticeable tendency to lightly clench his fists when stressed or pensive.
• Devil May Cry: Vergil flips his hair back often, which gives his hair its characteristic spikiness and reveals his forehead. It's also used in his default taunt. As shown in the third game when he has his hair down due to the rain, he looks strikingly similar to his twin Dante, but one hair flip later and it's back to shape, making the tic a way to separate and further differentiate himself from his brother. In Devil May Cry 4, Dante slicks his hair in the full animation of Dark Slayer Style as a reference to his brother doing it in the past, and in Vergil's opening cutscene from the Special Edition of that game, he still somehow flips his hair back even if it's already slicked. In Devil May Cry 5, Vergil's human half V also has a habit of flipping his bangs during his Idle Animation, and Dante slicks his hair again as another homage when he defeats Vergil in the Bloody Palace mode.
• Gale in Digital Devil Saga has a habit of touching the bridge of his nose reminiscent of the way a person might adjust their glasses. Supposedly it's because he is the partial reincarnation of the scientist David, who was Jenna Angel's lover in the real world. The forehead touch is similar to a "phantom limb" effect: David wore glasses, and switching from wearing glasses for years to not wearing glasses still leaves behind the feeling of wearing glasses.
• Disco Elysium:
  • Kim:
    • Always walks with his hands behind his back.
    • When he extinguishes his cigarettes, he puts them out on the sole of his shoe.
    • He will take out his notebook and scribble in it when thinking or tuning out the Detective's annoying behaviour.
    • He has a distinctive way of raising his eyebrow in a way that completely overpowers the Detective's free will.
    • Whenever mentally preparing to do something that proves he's Not So Above It All, he pops his collar, as if to get into character. In The Final Cut, he also raises the pitch of his voice in popped-collar mode, sounding more youthful.
  • The Detective sometimes uses 'fuck' without a definite article, as if to imply it's an abstract force ("I want to have fuck with you", "I don't give fuck"). He tends to grab his head a lot, on account of his apocalyptic hangover, and rub his chin (clean-shaven between his 70s Cop Muttonchops).
• Disgaea:
  • Laharl tends to have his arms folded across his chest, no matter what his mood is at the time. This applies both to his in-game sprite and his cutscene portraits.
  • Valvatorez from Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten likes to sweep his cape whenever he is being dramatic. Which is often.
• Several of the cast of Dragon Age: Inquisition have at least one of these. Josephine frequently punctuates the air with her quill while she's talking. Cullen, when embarrassed or uncomfortable (and particularly during his romance arc), will do the Hand Behind Head gesture to rub the back of his neck. Dorian tends to prop one elbow on the opposite arm and touch his chin when thinking or pontificating. Leliana often puts her hands behind her back, which is a bit of Fridge Brilliance considering that she's the spymaster and is ensuring that her hands reveal nothing of her thoughts.
• Elden Ring:
  • Ranni likes to tent her fingers together when she's talking.
  • D, Hunter of the Dead is always seen holding the sculpted head on his armor with one hand.
  • Shabriri holds his hands over his eyes. This is the only indication before you talk to him that you're not talking to Bloody Finger Hunter Yura, whose idle pose has his hands by his sides.
• Elsword: All characters will do something unique to each character if you activate an emoticon. There are also purchasable idle poses for each characters that'll make them hold their weapons in certain ways. That's on top of their Ass Kicking Pose and Victory Pose, which can be different for their different Prestige Classes, showing their divergent developments.
• In Eternal Sonata, Allegretto tends to be very expressive with his hands when talking.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy VI: Edgar tends to wag his finger a lot. It's even his spell-casting pose.
  • Final Fantasy VII relies on this a lot due to the fact that the stylised look of the game meant a repertoire of gestures was the best way to convey character personality. Many of the little gestures developed this way got carried over to less stylised depictions of the characters in their various sequels and cameos.
    • Cloud's very posey and theatrical, but in a consciously cool sort of way. He flips his hair, strikes a particular pose with one hand on his hip and his leg forward, and does a very distinctive over-the-top full-body shrug. He also tends to grab his mouth and tap his foot while thinking, and scratch the back of his head. When freaking out he grabs his head with both hands and shakes.
    • Barret loves pumping his forearm for emphasis.
    • Aerith likes to take the Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose a lot.
    • Tifa likes to stretch her arms and flaps them up and down when she's irritated.
    • Yuffie shadow-boxes when showing off.
    • Rufus flips his hair a lot.
    • Sephiroth has a distinctive laugh where he will slump his shoulders & laugh with such force that he started to shake, a laugh he shares with his father, Hojo. He would also raise and spread his arms, and look up at the sky while giving speeches.
    • Hojo walks with his hands clasped behind his back.
    • A rather odd example occurs when near the beginning of the game, Cloud has to engage in a contest with body builders, doing the most squats in a time limit without screwing up. He has to practice the motions first, then start the competition (and could possibly lose miserably.) Later, one might notice Cloud loves doing squats effortlessly, usually in flashbacks. This is an extremely subtle hint that things may not be as they seem. As a result of this, Zack has this tic too, it's his preferred workout method but he even does it when he's not working out. The flashbacks are all about Zack, with Cloud replacing him as he believes he's Zack.
    • Kadaj, of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, has a tendency to sort of twitch his face if things aren't going his way.
    • While not exactly this trope, Sephiroth never blinks, and has extremely shallow breathing animations, even while tossing buildings at Cloud. He also has a distinctively light, acrobatic way of moving that he didn't in the game. He also never lets go of or sheathes his sword, which is odd, because he was always leaving it behind in the original game.
  • Final Fantasy VIII:
    • As in most other games, all of the characters have a defined pose they do when initiating/ending a fight which shows of their individuality. Squall will rest his Gunblade on his shoulder and swing it a couple of times and cooly turn his back against the opponent. Zell warms up before a fight and loudly celebrates shaking his fists in the air after winning. Quistis, being the elegant, collected one, lashes with her whip going into a fray and afterwards stretches and relaxes. Selphie, the spirited and spunky girl, throws her arms in the air before resting her Nunchaku on her shoulders and doing a sassy pose. Irvine, in keeping with his cool sniper façade, twirls his rifle around and cockily salutes with his hat, whereas Rinoa, the high-class rebel girl who is new to fighting, seems a bit nervous and sighs in relief then the battle is over. Pretty much every action each character does, like casting a spell or even sitting, will be animated in a particular way to showcase their personality.
    • Squall adjusts his weight. A lot. Standing still on the World Map lets you watch him constantly adjusting his standing position. He also facepalms. A lot. He enters battle with his Gunblade resting over his shoulder and ends it by doing the same. Later on, in Dissidia, this becomes his default stance. As a verbal tic, "Whatever" and "..." comprise a sizable portion of his "dialogue". Finally, when Squall is in a critical situation such as facing a tough decision, he tends to throw his arm horizontally across his face VERY dramatically.
    • Selphie tilts her head to the side several times, tends to dance in place, pumps her fist in the air, and will occasionally pull up one leg, then the other, like she's checking the bottom of her shoes. She will also throw her arms down to her sides when arguing, and trust her to immediately lay down on the nearest bed available, spreading her arms wide like she owns the place.
    • Rinoa has her trademark "Point towards the sky" pose. She also will brush her hair off her forehead repeatedly and tends to squat and almost hug her legs when feeling vulnerable. She's prone to "cute" gestures, such as dangling her feet when she sits.
    • Zell shadowboxes. Like, a LOT, whenever he grows bored, which drives Seifer up the wall. He also punches the ground at times (which is actually one of his Limit Break finisher moves) and most of his gestures are very exaggerated to showcase his loud persona.
    • Irvine, who tries hard to look like a cool, detached cowboy-sniper, will typically tend to strike cool poses, touch his hat, and take aim at things with an imaginary pistol. He also sways his hands around, similar to Jack Sparrow.
    • Quistis' gestures showcase her smart-elegant characterization. She will only laugh when putting her hand up to her face to cover he mouth, for example, and when she sits, she'll do it like her legs are glued together, the way a "proper lady" in Japanese culture would.
    • Seifer, the cocky jerk anti-villain, will wave his Gunblade around at the first opportunity he gets and is always pointing at people with it. We're talking cutscenes, not battle here, mind you.
    • Even characters who don't get as much screen time have them. Laguna has a limp that manifests itself only when nervous (usually around the object of his affections) and rubs the back of his head a lot; Kiros, a cool, reserved guy will cross his arms over his chest; and Ward will wave his hand in front of his face to indicate something is a bad idea, a character trait he shares with Raijin. His partner, Fujin, only speaks in one-word sentences, despite showing on occasion that she's capable of speaking normally. She'll also throw her hand to the side a lot.
  • Final Fantasy IX:
    • Zidane bends over slightly to scratch his butt, which makes him seem very monkey-like when combined with the fact that he also has a tail.
    • It may just be a talking animation that translates poorly, but Quina appears to sniff the air quite often.
    • Vivi will fiddle with his hat when nervous.
  • Final Fantasy XIV, Emet-Selch has two, his tendency to perform potent feats of magic with an audible (through gloves no less) Badass Finger Snap, and a distinctive dismissive wave when leaving the scene. This serves to identify him when in 5.3 Elidibus banishes your character and their party into the Rift, and they use the crystal of Azem to summon aid , despite a generic Amaurotine model being used, the finger snap when the party is summoned back into battle, and the hand wave as he fades away make it obvious who it is.
  • Final Fantasy XV: Noctis likes to put his hands on his hips and bend from side to side at the waist while 'listening' to other people talk.
  • Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: Benjamin has a notable habit of shrugging at the screen whenever he encounters something — or someone — weird, or when the Old Man gives him an instruction with no information. (So basicially the whole game.)
• Fire Emblem:
  • Recurring character Anna always, no matter what, will have a finger resting on her cheek or chin.
  • Three Houses has a few of these:
    • Byleth often gestures by holding out their arm, bent at the elbow and palm out, when conversing with someone, since they don't talk.
    • Claude always twirls an arrow before he fires it.
    • Sylvain tends to hold his hands behind his head.
    • Felix puts a hand on his hip when speaking to people.
    • Marianne is usually clasping her hands together and keeps her head down when she talks to people to convey her crippling shyness.
    • Ferdinand tends to place a palm to one side of his head when talking, especially if things get dumb.
    • Lorenz tends to hold his hand up to his face.
• Grand Theft Auto III: Claude sways and nods almost absent-mindedly when listening to someone, as if in exchange for being able to talk.
• Guilty Gear. Sol Badguy popping his neck.
• Half-Life: The G-Man has some very noticeable ones. He straightens his (always perfectly straight) tie, and brushes non-existent dust off his suit. It gives the impression that he knows humans have Character Tics so decided to imitate a few without knowing their actual purpose. That or he's just a Neat Freak. He also smirks with only one side of his mouth, occasionally combining this with Fascinating Eyebrow.
• Hyperdimension Neptunia: Histoire plays with this trope in the original game, as she likes to use emoticons when she speaks in her fairy form. To name a few in Mk-2, Nisa tends to strike a heroic pose now and then while speaking, Compa touches her finger to her cheek when thinking, and IF facepalms when distressed.
• Tammy in I Was a Teenage Exocolonist tends to pull on her ears when she feels unsure.
• Killer is Dead: Mondo Zappa has a habit of slicking his hair back with his left (cybernetic) hand, usually before starting his missions. This is what cues the player in that the mysterious figure using Dark Matter to rebuild the mansion on the moon is a post Face–Heel Turn Mondo.
• The King of Fighters: Ryuji Yamazaki often puts one of his hands (blame Ambidextrous Sprite) in his pocket, a tic he took from his late mentor-in-crime when he was younger, even during fights. He only attacks with his pocket-hand for his stronger attacks, such as pulling a knife from said pocket.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • In the series, there would be at least one scene per-game where Sora would place his hands behind his head. It's quite common in Kingdom Hearts II, where he does this in almost every single world (where his form is unaltered).
  • Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: Ventus is also prone to do this, which partly justifies this trope for Sora.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Each of the Links has their own quirks, to set them apart from one another. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Link have a habit of brandishing the things he drinks in front of him and cocking a hand on his hip and swaying while listening to someone; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Link has his mouth in an O almost constantly; and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Link twirls his sword when targeting enemies.
  • Ghirahim from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword really likes to wiggle his fingers around a lot, even when he's not Milking the Giant Cow.
• In Love & Pies, Mayor Mei tends to wink at the camera or at other people whenever she comes up with a plan.
• Mass Effect:
  • Tali'Zorah has a habit of wringing her hands when nervous. Admiral Shala'Raan does as well, given that she's an Honorary Aunt to Tali, this may be where she got it. Also, quarians in general (if Veetor is any indication) seem to have a habit of bouncing on their toes when idle.
  • The Council as a whole have a habit where two of them look to the third; if that third person nods, they agree with Shepard's plan, with refusal following from the vastly more common head-shake. Shepard does the same thing with Anderson, and is also prone to doing a Reverse Arm-Fold when receiving orders.
  • Shepard rubs the back of his neck or scratch her head while looking away whenever they feel nervous or embarrassed. For example, when Niftu Cal claims he has a "biotic god" he states that he "began to smell his greatness". Shepard can only respond with this gesture.
• Mega Man X: X has a distinctive gesture of crossing his arms in front of his face, then throwing them back. This is usually associated with him switching armors, but he often does this for dramatic effect, notably whenever he appears as a boss. In Mega Man X: Command Mission he gains a new tic, reacting to nearly every situation by planting his feet and pointing his Arm Cannon.
• Metal Gear Solid: Revolver Ocelot has such a distinctive pistol-twirling motion that Hideo Kojima once didn't bother to refer to him by name in an interview — he merely imitated the twirl.
  • Also, in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater he has a hand gesture similar to Star Trek's Picard.
  • Otacon pushing his glasses up at the bridge of his nose as a nervous tic is so persistent that he makes the motion even when he's not wearing glasses for the majority of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' fourth Act.
• Moshi Monsters:
  • Captain Squirk often bobs up and down and moves his arms as though he's dancing.
  • Baz Barnacle often scratches his neck and spits out sand.
  • Crazy Bill often sidesteps and swivels his eye.
  • Zack Binspin plays with his hair.
  • Dr. Strangeglove strokes his moustache.
  • Frau Nau Brownkau swings her arms when she walks, and folds her arms while standing.
  • Lady Goo Goo dances by bobbing up and down with her legs together and/or waving her arms.
• Persona:
  • Persona 2:
    • Tatsuya has a habit of flicking hiz zippo lighter on and off all the time, especially in his Idle Animation and when he can't find a response during a conversation. It's to the point where in Eternal Punishment where he doesn't have his old lighter on him, he goes to buy a new one because his hand feels empty without one.
    • Maya tends to pull her earlobe when thinking and tilt her head to that direction.
  • The protagonist of Persona 3 really likes putting his hands in his pockets - it fits the Ineffectual Loner/Emo Teen vibe his design gives off. He's seen walking like this more often than not in cutscenes, he'll walk around like this in gameplay if left idle for a few seconds, his portrait in the pause menu shows him doing it, and in the post-battle Victory Poses, he's almost always seen slipping one hand into his pocket after flourishing his weapon. The full version of the game's theme song, "Burn My Dread" (which seems to be told from his perspective), even points this out:
    "Voiceless town, tapping feet,
    I clench my fist, in pockets tight."
  • Artwork for Persona 4 frequently shows the protagonist pushing his glasses up from the bridge of his nose, but in the game proper, he only does it as a victory pose. The anime adaptation gave him a new one - see that folder for details.
  • Persona 5: Like the Persona 3 protagonist, the P5 hero almost constantly has his hands in his pockets when standing around and walking outside of dungeons (though unlike the P3 protagonist, he takes them out whenever he starts running). He'll also regularly push up his glasses or play with a lock of his hair during his Idle Animation or in cutscenes. While in dungeons in his Phantom Thief garb, he also habitually tightens his gloves to the point it's part of his Victory Pose, idle animation, and running animation.
• Pokémon:
  • Red seems to have a character tic of adjusting his hat to cover his eyes before a battle. He does this many times, including his HGSS sprite, a Pokémon Trading Card Game statue, and the first trailer for Battle Revolution.
  • Hau from Pokémon Sun and Moon moves his arms when excited.
  • Guzma from the same game crouches during Pokemon battles, whereas most trainers are usually standing. Also, if you examine his chair in the Team Skull hideout, the description box states the arms are worn, as if someone has been pounding their fists on it a lot.
  • Several NPCs in Pokémon Sword and Shield have a tic. Hop umps his hands when excited, Sonia twirls a strand of hair when thinking, etc.
• Portal 2: Wheatley. The most obvious is his eye sparking after GLaDOS crushed him, but he also waves his handles around a lot while talking, like a human would with their hands. Oh, and the side-to-side blink whenever he's self conscious, the loopy spin thing he whenever he's happy, relieved, or telling you to turn around, the flaring-out thing when he's in GLaDOS's body he'll do when he's angry...
• Punch-Out!!: Von Kaiser in the Wii version acts like a malfunctioning machine. He twitches frequently (and sometimes makes clock noises), which is a reference to his fight in the NES game, where he'd twitch his head just before throwing a punch.
• Resident Evil: Wesker often slicks back his hair with his hands. He also has two different ways of adjusting his sunglasses: sometimes he will push them up by the bridge with two fingers, but other times he has a more unique way of adjusting them where he holds them by one lens with two fingers (one finger on either side of the lens, and sometimes with his thumb on the bottom). The second way is especially noticeable in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as seen here◊
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Sonic has a couple of tics: his smirk with accompanying finger-wag, his cocky nose-rubbing, and placing his hands at his sides while impatiently tapping his foot, all of which established his "Dude with the 'Tude" persona. Metal Sonic has a tendency to mimic these, being his Evil Doppelgänger.
  • Tails tends to mimic Sonic's body language, which is justified as Sonic practivally raised him.
  • Shadow typically holds himself in a Badass Arm-Fold or has his hands straight down in fists. The Badass Arm-Fold is even his victory pose.
  • Silver is always sitting cross-legged. When flying, on top of the cross-legged stance he alsoleans back as if lounging on something, which is also featured in his victory pose.
• Super Sized Family: Virginia always holds her hands to her sides when she's standing up, unless she's sick.
• Survivor: Fire: The little girl (the protagonist's sister) walks with a skip.
• Both protagonists from Tales from the Borderlands have a habit of touching their hair; Rhys runs his fingers through it, and Fiona brushes her side bang out of her eyes.
• Tales of Graces: Asbel tends to do a quick Hand Behind Head where he quickly ruffles his hair, Sophie tends to cock her head to the side, Cheria angrily leans forward when scolding someone and has a habit of placing her hands placed in front of her when walking. Pascal does this... rather weird gesture where she raises her hand looking like she's falling sideways before she catches herself and stands like normal and tends to answer with "Y'okay".
• Tales of Symphonia:
  • Lloyd often stands with a hand resting on the pommel of his sword when relaxed.
  • Raine will often cross her arms when she's about to deliver a lecture - especially if it's about history or ruins.
  • Sheena puts a hand on her hip when speaking a lot and she's also fond of Giving Someone the Pointer Finger.
• Sagume Kishin, from Touhou Project, is a Goddess/Amanojaku hybrid. Amanojaku are beings that exemplify Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad, they live to be hated by the entire world and are Consummate Liars. Sagume, being a Goddess, do not quite share these traits, but is instead literally hated by the entire world itself and reality warps itself in order to turn everything she says into lies. Consequently, Sagume is The Quiet One and is seldom, even in fanart, seen without a hand covering her mouth or fingers touching her lips.
• Tyranny: The Fatebinder can make [Glare silently.] their tic; the more often they do it, the more often others will comment. Tunon in particular finds trying to silently out-glare his White Mask of Doom an infuriating insult.
• Undertale: Sans frequently rubs the back of his head when he's feeling awkward, otherwise he has his hands in his pockets. He also winks when delivering the punchline to his jokes, though that's implied to be deliberate.
• The Urinal Game: The guy in the green shirt always has one hand on his hip and the old guy somehow pees with both hands on his hips.
• The Walking Dead:
  • Clementine develops a habit of hugging AJ whenever they're given a calm moment or after a tense situation.
  • AJ rubs his knuckles/fingers (knuckles-side) together at times when he's nervous or inquiring about something. One of the earliest examples can be seen when he and Clem are inspecting the tire swing at the abandoned rail yard at the beginning of Season 4, Episode 1.
  • Louis has a habit of pulling at the collar of his coat, usually after telling a joke or otherwise when he's in a good mood.
  • Tenn can very frequently be seen to fidget with his fingers, particularly when he's nervous.
• Due to limited animations, certain side characters in Yakuza 0 have very distinctive poses that they strike frequently, such as the Mr. Shakedowns leaning in and bobbing their head in a "What did you just say to me!?" fashion, or the Mr. Libido pelvic thrusting dance. Awano also has a very distinctive facial tic in cutscenes where the left side of his mouth turns up into a condescending sneer.

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