Jaw Drop

So don't just sit there, slack-jawed, buggy-eyed...

"I've achieved 'exasperating,' and I've achieved 'eye-popping'. (THONK!) All right!!! 'Jaw-dropping'!!"

— Garfield, reacting to Jon Arbuckle doing this, after seeing Garfield had torn up his furniture.

Most frequently observed in Western Animation, though it also occurs in other media as well. A character becomes surprised or shocked, and their jaw drops comically, oftentimes with the sound of a saucepan for the comedic cherry on top. This is done to ridiculous extents in some cases (where the jaw drops to the floor and sometimes even an Overly-Long Tongue rolling out, as seen with Genie in the image on the right), but also sometimes within a reasonable human limit (as seen with Jafar). The former can be either pure Rule of Funny or justified by the character having supernatural powers or superhuman flexibility.

On occasion, another character will reach over and close the dropping character's jaw.

Compare Gasp!, Wild Take, Eye Pop.

---

Examples:

Advertising

• An ad for mobile phone plans that would "really make your jaw drop" was accompanied by a man's jaw-dropping to ever-increasing CGI-lengths as he listened to each new benefit.
• There was once an ad for the Ford Ka featuring a jaw drop.
• There's a truck ad in which everyone stares agape in the presence of the truck's awesomeness. And we do mean everyone - even a bear (drops a fish out of its mouth) and other trucks (their tailgates fall open).
• In an ad for Amazon Prime depicting Medusa ordering sunglasses, then going to a bar, a generic, mega-muscled hunk at the bar itself starts ogling one of the women at Medusa's table. After being petrified, his lower-lip and chin promptly break off and land on the bar.

Animation

• Happy Heroes: In Season 3 episode 5, Big M.'s jaw drops when he nearly gets hit by a knife. He promptly compresses his mouth closed.
• In the Lamput episode "Rival Doc", this is Fat Doc and Slim Doc's reaction to the rival doc actually managing to capture Lamput by getting him to climb into his suitcase with minimal effort. The stunned scientists promptly push each other's jaws back into place.
• Simple Samosa:
  • In the episode "Cricket Match", Samosa's jaw drops in surprise when he first sees that his friend Jalebi is participating in the cricket game, complete with an Overly-Long Tongue rolling out of his mouth.
  • This happens twice in "Spa Wars", both examples also featuring Overly Long Tongues. The first instance is when Dhokla stares in awe at the futuristic technology found in Appa Spa. The second instance is when Samosa looks on in surprise at Iddiyappam Appa confessing his love for Iddiyappam Amma, and the latter returning the former's feelings.

Anime & Manga

• Azumanga Daioh: Used as Mr. Kimura's default expression, as it's rare to ever see him with his mouth closed.
• In Bakemonogatari, Araragi takes a moment to really look at the Bakeneko (who is possessing Hanekawa). As he takes in all the details — the long white hair, the twitching cat ears, the bare shoulders, the large breasts bulging out of the half-unbuttoned pajamas, the cat-like way she licks the back of her hand — his draw drops so hard it cracks the concrete.
• Hideki of Chobits drops his jaw in four stages, each time making a sound like a squeaky hinge when Chi points at a want ad for a dominatrix and asks whether it's a job she could do.
• In Digimon Adventure 02, Daisuke (Davis), V-mon (Veemon) looks Patamon digivolving to Angemon
• In Digimon Tamers, Jenrya (Henry), Ruki (Rika), and their partners do this when they realize that Dukemon (Gallantmon) is Takato fused with Guilmon, though compared to other anime, their expressions are much tamer (no pun intended).
• Dragon Ball Z: It happens to Krillin after being dumped by his ex-girlfriend (in one of the anime fillers).
  • Back in the original Dragon Ball era's second arc, Master Roshi/"Jackie Chun" had a pretty good one when Goku avoided a ringout by helicoptering in with his tail.
• In Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen!, Spacytchi does a rather deadpan jaw drop after seeing Oyajitchi of all people emerging from the egg that Mametchi and his buddies delivered to the Gotchi King (Spacytchi had hoped a wish-granting being would hatch from the egg so that he could wish to take over Tamagotchi Planet).
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Truth does this near the end of Brotherhood.
  • Greed after Edward decides to 'work' for him.
  • Alex and Olivier Armstrong also do this after witnessing Izumi toss Sloth around like a ragdoll.
• Kaiju Girl Caramelise: When Kuroe and Manatsu are attacked by giant Malicious Monitor Lizards, one of the lizards does this in response to Kuroe turning into Harugon in order to fight them off.
• Dedede and Escargon from Kirby: Right Back at Ya! does this after catching a glimpse of Fumu-tan of the Stars.
• Maken-ki!: Minori has a knack for leaving onlookers shitfaced in disbelief, due to how freakishly strong she is:
  • She left everyone slackjawed, near the end of the Venus Arc, by physically ripping apart one of Martha Minerva's dimensional barriers. A feat that should have been impossible, since Minerva is an SS rank Maken user.
  • During her fight with Ouken Yamato (chapter 42), she punched him through a cliff wall and out the other side, which split the rockface in half and left Takeru incredulous. Then she stunned Miyabi when she unleashed "Ginko Muro" on Ouken, causing Miyabi to fear Ouken might've lost.
• Occasionally done in Naruto when Kishimoto briefly uses the "comedic" wacky art style instead of his more realistic one.
• Chamo the ermine from Negima! Magister Negi Magi does this when he sees Negi run out of magic, the Giant Oni is standing in front of him, and the powerhouse mage behind him gets out of his bind.
• One Piece has enough to justify its own page.
  • In the first half of the series, this is the general reaction when Luffy reveals his Gum-Gum powers: Alvida and crew, Coby, Zoro, Nami, Buggy and crew, Carrot, Pepper, Onion, Usopp, Kaya, the Black Cat Pirates, Sanji, Don Krieg's crew... the list goes on.
  • Some of Alvida's pirates have this reaction when Luffy bursts out of a wine barrel, and then casually asks who they are.
  • Alvida, Coby, and all of her crew do this when Luffy calls Alvida fat (or rude, or ugly, depending on the translation): her Berserk Button.
  • Axe-Hand Morgan, Helmeppo, and all present Marines when Luffy accidentally breaks Morgan's giant statue of himself.
  • Also done by Buggy's crew and Nami when Luffy presses his Berserk Button: "BIG NOSE!"
  • Johnny and Yosaku have an epic one when they see that Arlong bit a stone pillar…and the pillar breaks beneath his teeth. Usopp gets one, too, but nowhere near as epic.
  • When Nami leaves her hometown to go with the Straw Hat Pirates, she rushes through the crowd, assembled to see the Straw Hats off, without stopping or giving anyone a decent opportunity to bid her farewell, and leaps from the port all the way to the ship, which had already gotten some distance away. Then she lifts her shirt, and countless wallets fall to the ground…yeah, she pick-pocketed the entire village. Cue their Jaw Drop.
  • Every single member of Buggy's crew after Luffy's miraculous rescue.
  • Mr. 5 has this reaction right before Zoro one-shots him. Vivi has this reaction immediately afterwards. And then Carue has this reaction a few moments later when Nami comes out of nowhere and one-shots both Luffy and Zoro.
  • Vivi tells Luffy, Zoro, and Nami not to ask her about the identity of the boss of Baroque Works, because if she tells them, they'll be in danger too. Then she lets it slip. Nami and Vivi have this reaction while Zoro says "You Just Had to Say It".
  • On Little Garden, when Sanji casually reveals to the others that they don't actually have to wait around for a year for the log pose to reset, because he intercepted an Eternal Pose to Alabasta (which is exactly where they want to go). Cue giant jaw drop from the entire rest of the group (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Vivi, and Carue, a duck), which in turn causes Sanji to Sweat Drop.
  • In Alabasta, Luffy performs a Gum-Gum Rocket to get to a restaurant, because he's hungry…as usual. He flies into Smoker, knocking him and Portgas D. Ace through at least fifteen walls before he asks the chef for food. Everyone in the restaurant has this expression, not just because of his Dynamic Entry, but because he just sent Ace flying, and Ace is a very high-ranking member of the Whitebeard Pirates. And their fear probably would have been justified if Ace wasn't his brother.
  • God Enel (Eneru) is always calm and composed...until he realizes his powers don't work on Luffy. Cue FULL PAGE Jaw Drop◊.
  • The reaction of the entire Franky Family and the Galley-La Foremen when Luffy and Zoro create a gaping hole in the Aqua Laguna (a tsunami) large enough for their sea train to go through when their best efforts only made splashes.
    • A bit later, they have this reaction again when Zoro bisects a pair of train cars in front of them. The government agents in said train cars join in the Jaw Drop and the Big "WHAT?!".
  • Oimo has one after he's been tricked into hitting Kashi with his club, knocking him out.
  • Done frequently with Spandam, in his equally frequent Oh, Crap! moments.
  • All of the Marines and Agents on Enies Lobby, along with Spandam and Robin, have this reaction when the Straw Hats shoot the World Government's flag: a declaration of war.
  • The reaction of everyone present when Robin uses her powers to squeeze Franky's testicles.
  • Although it wasn't on a full page, Perona pretty much had a very similar expression as Enel when she realized her powers (which makes people feel extremely negative about themselves) can't work on Usopp.
  • Luffy and later Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, Brook, and Nami to a lesser extent have this reaction when they see Duval's face.
  • When Luffy attacks Saint Charloss for shooting Hachi^note Charloss is a World Noble, who are practically the Aristocrats Are Evil trope incarnate, and the price for harming them in any way is being hunted down by a Marine Admiral. Why is that bad? Anyone with enough power to hold the title of Admiral is considered The Dreaded; most pirates would run away screaming at the mere sight of one. the only ones in the entire building who don't have this reaction are the other Straw Hats, the other World Nobles (though they're stunned, too), and Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid, both of whom smirk.
  • Everyone in the Kuja Tribe except the leader, Boa Hancock, does this when Luffy one-shots Bacura.
  • Ivankov, Buggy, Galdino (Mr. 3), and hundreds of Marines and pirates have this reaction when Luffy starts talking back to Whitebeard, and then shouts at his face, "I'M GOING TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" For dozens, if not hundreds, of the pirates and Marines, this justifies A Truce While We Gawk.
  • In Chapter 731, Luffy mimics the audience's reaction with a huge, Enel-like jaw drop that once again fills the entire page. We don't see what he sees, but we're told what it is through a very-telling Wham Shot: Sabo, who is actually still alive.
  • Rocinante, a.k.a. Corazon, does this when Law first refers to him as "Cora-san".
  • Diamante has this reaction in Chapter 776, mixed with Oh, Crap! when he sees that Kyros is unfazed by an attack that could take out an army. Underestimating him was a fatal mistake.
  • And nothing can be said about the epic, collective jaw drop all of Dressrosa has in Chapter 778 after Zoro slices the mountain-sized Pica to bits.
• In Episode 21 of Osomatsu-san, the Sextuplets do this after Kamimatsu reveals that he has naturally started a job for the family.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Ash does this when he realizes that he's won against Sabrina in their gym match when Haunter gets her to laugh, which, due to a telepathic bond with her Kadabra, makes it laugh, too.
  • Brock's Ludicolo has an epic jaw drop after his Mawile crush dumps him for a Psyduck.
• In Episode 27 of Smile PreCure!, Wolfrun's jaw hangs to his waist when he realizes that he can't get Bad Energy from Tae.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has this in episode 13. Everyone on the team does this when they see Simon and Boota ravenously devouring the vast array of food prepared by Lethal Chef and otherwise perfect girl Nia, having just sampled the food themselves.
• Jaden Yuki on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX does this while turning his face square.
• In the episode "The Steel Bison", Zoids: Chaotic Century has the Blade Liger of all things doing this with a Sweat Drop when it's accidentally targetted by the DiBison along with the enemy targets before firing a Beam Spam.

Comic Books

• Phoney Bone does this in Bone when Lucius outsmarts him at the Great Cow Race by putting the deed to his tavern on Gran'ma Ben... At 100:1 odds that Phoney had arranged for after fooling everyone else into thinking she couldn't win.

Comic Strips

• Candorville has an unusual variant in which characters' jaws unroll like carpets, lying flat across surfaces. This is a good example of the phenomenon.
• Garfield: In the 1993-12-04 strip, Jon's jaw drops to the ground when Garfield shreds his couch's upholstery.
• A hilarious five-way jaw drop happens between Ming, Jenny, Luis, and the dodos happen in this strip of Safe Havens when they find out Maria the time-traveler is Samantha and Dave's Kid from the Future.

Fan Works

Calvin and Hobbes

• Calvin & Hobbes: The Series: Calvin's mom does this when she realizes that the canoe (the only way off their camping island) has drifted away.

Crossover

• Kyon: Big Damn Hero (Haruhi Suzumiya & TV Tropes): Koizumi after Kyon commented he (that is, Kyon) was set in an Arranged Marriage with Tsuruya.
• Shadows over Meridian:
  • This is Hay Lin's reaction to Taranee's Precision F-Strike is Chapter 7.
  • Caroline's jaw drops in Chapter 29 as she learns from Sofia and Maya details about Phobos' jailbreak and alliance with the Shadow Realm.

Disney Animated Canon

• The Bolt Chronicles:
  • When Mittens first sees Bolt's Cosmetic Catastrophe in "The Makeover," her eyes pop and her jaw plummets before she subsequently breaks into hysterics.
    It was then that Mittens saw him. Her eyes widened like soccer balls and her mouth dropped open like a trap door before she collapsed on her back, convulsed with hysterical laughter.
  • When Mittens realizes that the morbidly obese Lazy Neutered Pet cat she just met in "The Party" is her former street fling Tom from "The Clouds," her jaw is described as dropping "like a guillotine blade" in shock.
• A Played for Horror example happens in the Creepypasta Toy Story 3 Alternate Ending. In the pasta, Woody smiles wider than it is humanly possible, in which his jaw melts off of its hinges and falls on top of his lap.

Dragon Age

• Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium: Happens to Varric during his Love Epiphany. It takes him a minute or two to realize he needs to close his mouth.

Godzilla

• Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): Dr. Chen's jaw falls during the Final Battle when she's watching the benevolent Titans kick Keizer Ghidorah's ass.
• In the Abraxas: Empty Fullness one-shot "Ain't That a Kick to the Head", Monster X's jaw, Monstrous Mandibles and all, falls slack when they realize that Rodan is courting them.

Hetalia: Axis Powers

• Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: With how many times "jaw dropped", "mouth dropped", and their variations are present within the story, it's amazing the characters' mouths can still work properly.

Marvel Universe

• A Prize for Three Empires: Carol Danvers' jaw drops when she is introduced to the new Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau.
  She was a black woman in a black-and-white costume, and, when she chose to, she was composed of light. The Thing introduced her as the latest Avenger to the three, Nick, Logan, and Carol, who hadn't met her. "Carol Danvers, meet Captain Marvel."
  Carol dropped her jaw, and then asked if Mar-Vell had retired, or suddenly gotten a new look? She meant it as a joke.

My Little Pony

• Mirror's Image: Has one for Rainbow Dash mixed with Stunned Silence when Chrysalis signs a copy of the latest Daring Do book, revealing herself as the author of the Daring Do series.

Naruto

• Naru-Hina Chronicles:
  • Both Sakura and Ino do this while shouting a Big "WHAT?!" when Naruto asks Hinata to go on a date with him for the first time.
  • Hideki has this reaction when he sees Naruto opening a scroll that only a Namikaze can open (unaware that Naruto is the son of Minato Namikaze).
  • Both Naruto and Kiba have this reaction when Mina offers to let Naruto grope her breasts as a payback for Kiba accidentally grabbing Hinata's breast.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

• Asuka & Shinji's Infinite Playlist: Shinji's jaw drops open and he stares at his nearer friend when he finds out that neither of the four hundred children taking the Myojo Academy's entrance test will be allowed to leave temporarily due to a sudden and dangerous blizzard.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: Asuka gets angry whith Shinji staring at Rei instead of paying attention to her. When Shinji tries to explain it bothers him when he sees Rei alone, Asuka growls, turns around and marches straight towards Rei's desk. Shinji gets terrified at the thought of a public fight among them, but his jaw fells open in shock when Asuka asks Rei if she wants to join Shinji and herself for lunch.
• Rise of the Minisukas:
  • One of the Minisukas becomes slack-jawed when Rei calmly declares she will exact a terrible, frightening and dreadful revenge against the Minisuka "Prankster" who doodled on her face.
  • The collective reaction in the Nerv's command center to Israfel being a Super Sentai team.
    The NERV command center was dead silent after this spectacle. Not a word was spoken as jaws were collectively on the floor.
    "Oh shit." Aoba managed to collect his thoughts first. "They're a super sentai team."
  • Shinji -and everybody else- needs to collect his jaw when Toji and Kensuke perform a perfectly synchronized four-minute-long dance routine.
• Role-Playing (Evangelion): Fuyutsuki's jaw drops when he accidentally finds out that Kaji did put spy cams in Nerv's bathrooms.
  "We can blame it on Kaji. He's always up to something anyhow. I wouldn't be surprised if he's got the bathrooms bugged."
  "I had those removed. They were... inappropriate."
  For a moment, Fuyutsuki went slack-jawed.

Odd Squad

• My Dream Is Yours: Olympia has this reaction to Oren talking about his supposed nightmare, as she realizes that he has her dream.

Star Trek

• In the Star Trek: Enterprise Parody Fic Farce Contact, T'Pol tells Trip to relax his jaw while giving Vulcan neuropressure. As Trip finds this difficult she slips off her top, causing Trip's jaw to drop at the sight of the best Vulcan peaks outside of Mount Seleya.

Unsorted

• Batman Beyond Revisited: Jake's reaction to Inque's elegant dress.
• In Supergirl fanfic Hellsister Trilogy, this is Kara's reaction when she finds out her old enemy Satan Girl has returned.
  "Now—here I am," she said, taking a seat at the table. "I see you've got the Fatal Five out again. But you could probably handle them without me. And I've been brain-scanned twice in the last few minutes. It sounds like something's coming up for me, specifically. Why did you summon me?"
  "Because of this," said Brainiac, and thumbed the controller again. The image of a masked woman came up on one of the holoscreens.
  Supergirl dropped her jaw.
  "Her!" she said, after she found her voice. "Great Rao, after all these years... her!"
• Luffy's Renewed Adventure:
  • When Luffy performs the aforementioned Groin Attack, Coby has one of these, but Zoro is too busy laughing his ass off to do the same.
  • When Luffy makes a deal with Morgan to give him a boat and let him leave the island if he wins…and then stands still and does nothing, everyone apart from Morgan does this. Then they have another one when he hits Luffy with his axe, and the axe shatters.
  • Zoro, Nami, and Buggy’s crew all have this response when Luffy survives a direct, point-blank hit with the Buggy Ball without a scratch.
  • Johnny and Yosaku have this reaction when Luffy catches the cannonball that Fullbody shoots at them.
  • The Krieg pirates and Baratie chefs do this when Gin begins his "The Reason You Suck" Speech about the crew.
  • Everyone present has this reaction when Luffy swallows the MH5 bomb and blows the gas back at Krieg, remaining perfectly unharmed thanks to his Acquired Poison Immunity.
• New Game Plus:
  • When Luffy one-shots one of Alvida's lackeys, sending him flying through the walls of the ship and out into the horizon, Coby and the other two lackeys have this reaction.
  • When Luffy responds to Alvida's Fairest of Them All question with the truthful answer of Boa Hancock, Coby gapes at his gall at not answering Alvida. It grows further when he blatantly insults her.
  • Helmeppo, Coby, and Ririka have this reaction when Luffy uses his Haki to knock out the Marines flanking Helmeppo. Coby's continues when he one-shots Helmeppo.
  • Morgan's underlings have this reaction when Luffy insults him and announces his intention to defeat him.
  • Buggy's three lackeys have this reaction when they announce their intention to rob them, and Luffy just laughs. Then they do it again after Zoro cuts one of their swords at the hilt.
  • Buggy and his crew have this reaction when Luffy shows off Gear Third, and he only uses half of the normal amount of air.
  • Under Even Evil Has Standards, Buggy is appalled at the interest rate Nami charges Luffy for repairs.
  • Courtesy of his powers, Buggy's jaw actually separates from his head when he hears that the Training From Hell that Luffy is putting his crew through was learned through firsthand experience with his grandfather. His crew has this reaction when they learn who said grandfather is.
  • Many of the ones watching have this reaction when Luffy protects the Baratie chefs from Don Krieg. Or rather after he catches all of the bullets that Krieg fires.
  • The Baratie chefs have this reaction when Zeff announces that they'll be joining the Straw Hats, followed by cheering.
• Lady Silvermane does this in Whispers after learning of Princess Luna's betrayal, apparently needing her hoof to close it.
• Dia Anderson does this in Cowboy Noir when she finds out the first place prize of the singing contest is a satin choker with the biggest dang diamond she has ever seen.
• In Dragon Ball Abridged, Krillin does this just like in the original anime as mentioned above. However, this time it isn't because Maron is dumping him, but because she reveals that she's actually an undercover government agent who pretended to be his girlfriend so she could investigate suspicions of Krillin being guilty of insurance fraud.
• In The Legend of Korra fanfic Book 5: Legends this is Bolin's rather understandable reaction to seeing Korra and Asami's The Big Damn Kiss in the finale.
• In Kara of Rokyn, Kara has this reaction when she walks into a dressing room and bumps into her scantily-clad rival wrestler.
  Kara entered the dressing room, and found that she was not alone.
  Jasmine was there, clad only in a short robe. She was looking straight at Kara.
  Kara Zor-El dropped her towel and her jaw at the same time.
• The Rigel Black Chronicles: James Potter stares for several seconds, having forgotten the partially chewed food in his open mouth, after Harriett tells him that she's invited Caelum Lestrange to their house to brew potions together.
• In Street Fighter/Evangelion crossover Neon Genesis Evangelion Senshi No Michi, Gouken is watching a news broadcast showing a battle between several humongous mechas and a giant alien in Tokyo-3. His jaw drops when the red robot uses one of his fighting moves on the alien monster.
• In Junior Officers, Peso's beak drops when he learns that Kitsune's pregnant.
• In Ships Ahoy!, this is Otto's reaction to finding out that Olive and Oscar are in a relationship. In addition, he becomes at a loss for words for a couple seconds until he can find it in him to form a coherent sentence to go along with his reaction.
• Olive's Last Partner:
  • Olive and Oscar do a simultaneous jaw-drop when Otto tells them that the door to the Boiler Room was unlocked and that's how he was able to save them from drowning. They're quick to realize that they could have walked out of the room at any point and not have a Near-Death Experience in the process.
  • Following the events of the Odd Squad episode "Mystic Egg Pizza", when Olive and Otto get sick and start throwing up, Oscar walks into Oprah's office with an Un-Smell-inator gadget and he's told of why they're vomiting. He then asks to try an egg salad pizza, and when he does, he finds it delicious, much to Otto's complete shock as his jaw drops.
• All Mixed Up!:
  • In Chapter 6, Mariana Mag heads to Odd Squad with a case of eggs and magnifying glasses stuck on her fingers. Once she's cured, she asks to see Oprah, and when the Director obliges and goes down to the Lab to see her, all she can do is go slack-jawed in shock.
  • Otto and Oscar also go slack-jawed later on, when Oprah tells them how Carlos was created.
• OSMU: Fanfiction Friction:
  • The reactions of Opal, Omar and Orla when they see Oswald in Perky Goth attire, with leather wristbands and a shirt with a blazing skull on it, is to go slack-jawed.
  • Orla and Oswald have this as a simultaneous reaction to watching the Hotter and Sexier revival of Bizarre Brigade. Orla in particular is so appalled by what she's seeing that her jaw manages to hit the floor.
• The Palaververse From The End of the Day, after Celestia gets some extremely unexpected help / sacrifice, her mouth opens in surprise:
  Celestia realised her mouth had fallen open, and closed it. “I can’t accept this,” she said.

Films — Animation

• AKIRA: Both Kaneda and Colonel Shikishima get one while watching Tetsuo's transformation during the climax. It's probably the most realistic and justified jaw drop in Anime history.
• Aladdin: Genie does this. Twice.
  • After Aladdin tricks him into granting a free wish by getting him and Abu out of the cave.
  • The second time (shown in the page picture above), after Princess Jasmine starts pretending she's in love with Jafar, interrupting Genie's attempt to explain to Jafar that he can't make people fall in love. Jafar closes his mouth like a window-shade.
  • Jafar also has a mild (and more realistic) variant of this trope at the same time as Genie playing it straight, providing humorous contrast.
  • He also does it briefly (complete with eyes bulging out) during his song "Friend Like Me", but it is just a part of his act. It's even literally in the lyrics.
    Genie: [singing] So don't just sit there slack-jawed, buggy-eyed...
  • Earlier in the film, Abu does this after watching Jasmine pole vault to the next rooftop.
• The Angry Birds Movie: Hal's jaw drops on Bubbles when Leonard introduces himself.
• The Book of Life: This is Xibalba’s reaction after Manolo passes his challenge by taming the giant bull.
• Brave: The triplets, along with the mounted deer head they were playing with, do this upon seeing Bear!Elinor for the first time.
• Brother Bear: Has Denahi reacting like this after seeing Sitka in his spirit form. He closes his mouth anyway.
• Cars: Played with when the Chick Hicks pit crew drop their bumpers upon watching Guido change tires like a boss. To specify, it takes a crew of eight about 12 seconds to change the tires on a car... Guido did it in four... by himself.
• Cinderella II: Dreams Come True: Jaq and Gus do it when they witness Anastasia flirting with the baker and actually being nice.
• Coco:
  • A skeleton guard's jaw drops (literally!) when he sees that Miguel, a mortal, has made his way into the Land of the Dead.
  • Later, when Miguel tells Héctor that Ernesto apparently is his great-great-grandfather, Héctor's jaw drops so far that his eyes fall into his mouth.
  • Played straight in the climax: Tias Rosita and Victoria react with shock at the woman behind the Riveras' ban on music singing for an audience at the Sunrise Spectacular.
• Corpse Bride: Parodied in the final scene, when it's revealed who killed the Bride, one of the members of the wedding's audience drops his jaw. Literally. The jawbone falls to the floor in shock. Justified, as he's a skeleton.
• Despicable Me: A priceless look on Edith's face upon first meeting Gru.
• Finding Nemo: Near the end, this happens to a boy in the dentist's waiting room (he is reading an Incredibles comic), when he sees the brief scuffle between Nigel the pelican and P. Sherman the dentist through the fish tank's glass (it's located inside a large rectangular hole in the wall separating the dentist's office from the waiting room). But that's not what solicits this reaction. He doesn't see Nigel; he only sees the dentist moving around like a maniac while hearing the dentist's drill and Darla's screaming in the background. So, he has the Jaw Drop upon seeing that Sherman is apparently a Depraved Dentist.
• Goof Troop's An Extremely Goofy Movie: There's a collective Jaw Drop at the beginning of the Disco scene.
• In Hercules: There are several instances of Hercules dropping his jaw, whether it's facing monsters or the seductive Meg.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame II: A literal one from the Gargoyles at the end. When Madeline tells them she'll take good care of Quasi and winks at them, making her the first person other than Quasi to notice that they are sentient, causing them extreme shock and their mouths fall off.
• The Jungle Book: Mowgli's jaw drops as Kaa hypnotizes him.
• Kung Fu Panda 2: Crane's lower beak drops when Tigress hugs Po. The exact same thing happens again when Po hugs Tigress.
• The Little Mermaid: Sebastian is the jaw-dropper when he sees Ariel with Eric during the reprise of "Part of Your World". Scuttle does the jaw-closing honors.
• The Lion King:
  • The Lion King: When Simba realizes the lioness he's fighting is childhood friend Nala, they stop fighting and start laughing, prompting a jaw drop from Timon.
  • The Lion King 1 ½: Pumbaa gets a rather impressive one when Timon, scrounging for ideas on how to stall the hyenas until their trap is ready, proposes to Shenzi.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
  • Twilight Sparkle and Spike both have this reaction when Human Pinkie Pie accurately sums up the plot of the movie based on "a hunch".
  • Two jocks do this during the "Let's Fix It Up" number when Applejack casually picks up a table and walks off with it while they had to work together to lift one.
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship: Pony Twilight's jaw hangs down when she sees Celestia opens the restricted area of the Canterlot Library. Sunset Shimmer does the honor of closing her mouth with a hoof.
• Pocahontas: Meeko the raccoon, when the title character magically learns English through The Power of Love.
  The Nostalgia Chick: I'd like to thank the raccoon for channeling the audience's reaction.
• Robots: One character's jaw drops on another character's head.
• Shark Tale: Angie arrives at Oscar's new penthouse with a lava lamp for him as a gift. Oscar is pleased and decides to "put it right next to my other one. Cue a jaw drop from Angie as she watches Oscar place the pink lava lamp next to a HUGE green one that touches the ceiling!
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: SpongeBob and Patrick famously do this after witnessing their car being eaten by a frogfish that is then eaten by a large eel.
• Toy Story 2: The main toys do a collective drop while they look at a group of Barbie dolls having a beach party in Al's Toy Barn.
• In Turning Red, Mei and her friends' jaws all drop when they see Tyler at the 4*Town concert.
• Wreck-It Ralph: Pac-Man does one after Ralph smashes the cake.

Films — Live-Action

• Becky in Clerks II when she sees that the guys have set up a donkey show in the Mooby's fast-food restaurant. "I'm disgusted and repulsed and I... can't... look... away..."
• A variation in The Flash (2023). At one point Barry Allen gets a tooth knocked out and sticks it back in with superglue. At the end of the movie he's apparently fixed the mess he made of the timeline only to find that Batman now looks like George Clooney. At that point, his tooth falls out again.
• Voldemort gets a minor one in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 when he sees Harry willingly surrendering himself to Voldemort.
• Dr. Sattler does this in Jurassic Park when she sees the Brachiosaurus.
• Kong: Skull Island: Bill Randa's jaw falls open the first time that he witnesses King Kong, and also when he witnesses a Mother Longlegs killing a soldier a short distance behind him via its bamboo-like leg impaling the soldier through the mouth while no-one was looking.
• Man of Steel. Colonel Hardy does a faint but noticeable version when Faora-Ul steps out her spacecraft in a Custom Uniform of Sexy.
• Rare live-action example in Disney's Mary Poppins: After witnessing their new nanny slide up the banister, Michael is left this way. Mary Poppins sees this and gives the memorable line: "Close your mouth please, Michael. We are not a codfish."
• The Mask, whose jaw hits the floor and his tongue unrolls like a carpet on seeing Tina and completed with an Eye Pop.
• Matilda has Michael drop his jaw when he sees their father with blond hair.
• In the horror spoof Monster in the Closet, the heroine goes into a slack-jawed trance every time she sees the hero without his glasses. And then the monster does the same thing...
• In Muppet Treasure Island, this is Captain Smollet and Mr. Arrow's response to "Big Fat Ugly Bug-Faced Baby Eating O'Brien", a man so ugly he looks like an attractive woman.
• Both versions of The Producers feature an entire audience doing this during Springtime for Hitler's opening number.
• In Return of the Jedi, Nien Nunb does this when he sees that they are about to hit a low ceiling. They just barely manage to tip the surface.
• Combined with Dramatic Drop in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Dr. Silberman pulls the cap off a hypodermic needle with his teeth (because Sarah Connor has broken his arm) so he can sedate her. When he sees the T-1000 walk through a barred door, the cap drops out of his mouth.
• Played with in Thor: Ragnarok which opens with Thor imprisoned in a gibbet cage relating The Story So Far to his cellmate, who is revealed to be a skeleton. At one stage its jawbone falls off as if in amazement at the story Thor is relating.
• More noticeable in Watchmen when Night Owl II watches Silk Spectre descend the stairs in her Stripperiffic outfit.
• In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie drops his jaw when he first sees Jessica Rabbit (he had assumed she was a Rabbit like Roger); a rather miffed Betty Boop closes his mouth shut.

Literature

• Throughout the Aunt Dimity series, Lori is very apt to do this when given unexpected or astonishing information. Humourously related to her inability to conceal her feelings.
• Ghost In the Noonday Sun: After Oliver tells First Mate Ringrose that he marked the spot where he thinks the treasure is buried by leaving his jackknife pointed in that direction, Ringrose's jaw drops "like a trapdoor." He then reveals that he saw the jackknife lying there, thought Oliver had lost it, and picked it up to return to him later.
• Horrid Henry's jaw drops in one story after noticing a coin while shaking Perfect Peter's moneybank.
• In Heart of Steel, Alistair has this reaction at the end when he sees Julia all dressed up for dinner.
• In the Warrior Cats book Firestar's Quest, Firestar's jaw drops open when he realizes that Smudge's home is the former SkyClan camp.
• In the Soldiers of Barrabas novels, Alex Nanos takes his friends to see the beautiful stripper he's smitten with. They inform him that technically a stripper is expected to remove her clothes in public.
  "Did you see anything hit the floor after she came on stage?"
  "Only your jaw and mine."
• The Mysterious Benedict Society:
  • The original book:
    • The jaws of many of the students of the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened drop when Reynie approaches Mr. Curtain from the front while he's sitting in his favorite spot, something no student has ever done before.
    • Martina's jaw drops with disbelief after S.Q. asks Mr. Curtain if they should be asking permission to put things in people's minds.
    • Sticky's jaw drops when Reynie tells him that he should try to resist the Whisperer and stretch out the session to buy him time to signal Kate and Constance.
    • Mr. Curtain's jaw drops after, when having failed to open his secret door with the code-word "control," Reynie (correctly) suggests trying it in Dutch instead (you just add an "e" at the end.)
  • The Perilous Journey:
    • Risker nearly drowns after trying to retrieve what he thought was a diamond, but turns out to obviously be a fake because it's floating on the water. When Reynie tells him that he had no idea whether it was a real diamond or not, his jaw drops.
    • Kate's jaw drops after McCracken pulls a razor-sharp pencil out of a wall it was firmly lodged into "as easily as one might draw a thumbtack from a bulletin board."
• Clémentine:
  • In Completely Clementine, Margaret tells Clementine that she got her mother to let her go shopping for new shoes for her upcoming wedding with her boyfriend. Clementine doesn't think much of this, in fact, she considers shopping for shoes to be punishment. Then Margaret tells her that they're going to be high heels and her jaw drops.
    It took all my power to crank it back up to my chin by the time we pulled in to school.
  • In the same book, Clementine's mother's mouth is described as forming an "O" after Clementine and Clementine's father present her with "The Pentagon," a secret project that they've been working on, a five-sided table.
• In the picture book The Rabbit Listened, the young boy Taylor's jaw drops in shock and upset after a flock of crows unexpectedly knocks down the amazing block tower he created.
• Dinotopia: Throughout Windchaser, the first of the digest novels, London pickpocket Hugh has learned about a Dinotopian philosopher and diplomat named Laegreffon and developed a respect for he and his sayings (many of which he agrees with, based on his own experiences in life); in the end of the book, he winds up going to study under him. But before that, in the penultimate chapter, Windchaser the Skybax informs Hugh that he's made a critical error in his assumption about the "man", resulting in the trope coming into play...
  Hugh: "I wonder what Laegreffon would have said about all this. That's one bloke I really wouldn't mind spending time with, ya know? If he and I were in London together, we'd kick up quite a ruckus!"
  Windchaser: (laughs)
  Hugh: "Here, now! Are you laughin' at me?"
  Windchaser: "Whhhhhoooooo elllllssse?''
  Hugh: "And what exactly is so funny?"
  Windchaser: "Lllllaegggrefffonnnn. Nnnnottttt bbbbloke! Tttttriccerattopsssss!"
  Hugh (jaw drops): "He's a dinosaur?"

Live-Action TV

• The Big Bang Theory: Has Sheldon do this after he tempts Amy to try and ruin one of his favourite movies with him lampshading this at first by telling her to take his jaw and drop it, and then playing it straight. After this Amy does the jaw closing honors.
• Blackadder: Happened near the end of the season 4 episode "Corporal Punishment", when Blackadder returned to the dugout when George and Baldrick thought he was dead, whereupon Blackadder took the opportunity to make use of his trademark snarkery: "Still the striking resemblance to guppy fish at feeding time."
• The Boys (2019): When Billy Butcher and Hughie Campbell enter an exclusive club for super-powered people, Hughie witnesses several sexual acts and immediately gets distracted by a couple shamelessly having sex mid-air. Billy promptly tells him to "Pick your jaw up off the floor."
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In "A New Man", Giles holds a feather duster in his mouth while searching through a Tome of Eldritch Lore. It falls out during a subsequent Oh, Crap! exclamation.
• Daredevil (2015): Karen does a very subtle jaw drop in the last scene of season 2 when Matt reveals to her that he's the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
• Doctor Who: In a rare case of this trope being played not for laughs, but for horror, the 60th Anniversary Special episode Wild Blue Yonder has the Not-Things, one of them copying the Fourteenth Doctor's form, explaining that he hasn't yet fully figured out the Doctor's form, and that "once [he] figures out the arms... then [he] has a problem with the jaw...", and said jaw drops nearly to the floor in horrific Uncanny Valley.
• Emergency!: This appeared a few times, mostly under conditions that would make pretty much anybody get a little slack-jawed:
  • Johnny, Roy, and Chet were on a fishing trip and have to take a couple of accident victims to the local doctor, a "Dr. Frick." Johnny expected to see a middle-aged family doctor type, but when the doctor appeared he was about thirty and looked like a classic hippie, right down to the long fuzzy hair. Johnny was dumbstruck.
  • One call for Station 51 required them to get a man out of his car after a minor accident left the driver's side door jammed. They got the door open without too much trouble, and the driver got out and stood up ... and up ... and UP. Both Johnny and Chet did perfect "oh my god" jaw-drops when they saw how tall the driver was. It was an understandable reaction since the car wasn't very large and the driver was basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a cameo appearance.
• FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman': The episode "Ruff's Big Break" shows Nina doing this for a split second when she and the Fetchers saw Ruff wearing a cast and cone from hurting himself.
• The Joe Schmo Show: The second season episode Last Chance for Love, or Joe Schmo 2. Eleanor, the weeper, gets out her "coupon book of love" at the suggestion of Austin, the bachelor that she and the other girls on the show are supposedly pursuing.^note The Joe Schmo Show being a parody of reality shows in which most of the cast are actually actors performing to a script except for the chosen schmoes. She finds that one of the coupons, for a ten-minute foot massage, is missing. Cammy, the airhead, says that she had already used it with Austin, that she "thought it was okay," at which point the mouth of that season's Joe Schmo, Tim, forms a perfect jaw-dropping oval at what's going on around him.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000: In "Beginning of the End", Mike decides to call down to Deep 13 on his own initiative to complain about the movie. When Mike and The Bots learn what the Mads get up to when they think no one is looking, it is so horrifying that Crow's jaw drops and Mike has to close it up for him.
• The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nóg: Very subtle but still hilarious. When Prince Garrett (arrogant ally-turned outright enemy-turned humbler and redeemed) is informed that he is destined to become a Mystic Knight as well, his eyes widen, his mouth gapes, and for the first time he's actually rendered speechless. He gets over it quickly, but still a great bit from the actor.
• Married... with Children: Marcy's jaw was stuck in the drop position for a long time after she and Steve came home one night to find their house gone.
• Out of Jimmy's Head: In the pilot movie Re-Animated, Golly's jaw drops to the floor when he sees his Totally Radical reimagining of himself from when Sonny was in charge of Appleday Studios.
• In "Hollow Pursuits" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Troi has this reaction upon seeing Barclay's "Goddess of Empathy" simulation of her.
• Star Trek: Voyager: Captain Janeway has this reaction when Q says he wants her to be the mother of his child. It's not quite visible as he's got her bent over in a Gone with the Wind pose. In another episode, Neelix is communicating with an alien race that speaks partially through body language. He adopts a number of postures while speaking to their consul, ending with him tilting his head and standing with his mouth open. Match Cut to Janeway watching this in amazement, mouth open and head tilted to the side. And then there's the time Neelix offered her his "Even Better Than Coffee" substitute...
• Worst Cooks in America, Sarah's jaw drops in "Blast from the Past" from Season 6 after Tyler tells her that the truffle he's holding is worth $350.

Music

• Mentioned in Angus McSix's "Laser-Shooting Dinosaur":
  Here I come, drop your jaws to the floor
  I'm riding on my mighty laser-shooting dinosaur

Pro Wrestling

• Molly Holly did a lot of this in 2002 when she was in her prude persona, usually after one of the Ms. Fanservice Divas removed her top to flaunt her own sexuality at her.
• On GLOW, during Ashley Cartier's "Asking Ashley" segments, there would always be a letter from a guy named Tim. Tim would mention some item, then what he'd want to do with it - namely use it as a Noodle Implement for sex. Ashley's jaw would drop as she continued reading silently, ending with her tearing up the letter and chastising Tim for his lewd thoughts.
• When Mike Adamle was named GM of Raw, John Cena and Batista could produce nothing but genuine expressions of complete confusion◊.
• When the backstage segment supposedly showing the Big Boss Man reuniting Al Snow with his precious dog Pepper as promised instead concluded in yet another example of Boss Man being the Kayfabe worst person ever, the Smackdown cameras cut to Jerry Lawler^note who was usually obnoxiously pro-heel at the time looking hilariously gobsmacked at the announce table.
• In WWE NXT, this The Velveteen Dream's reaction to Ricochet jumping out of the ring and landing a perfect front flip right in front of him, essentially refuting Dream's own claims that he could do better anything Ricochet could do.
• Abby the Witch, of all "people", has one when Bray Wyatt first reveals The Fiend.

Theatre

• In The Robber Bridegroom, according to the song "Once Upon the Natchez Trace," the moon had this reaction to Rosamund's beauty.
  One night, she's sleepin' in the raw
  The moon looked down, and dropped his jaw
  He roasted hot as the sun from the sight he saw

Video Games

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
  • Wario humorously does this after seeing King Dedede being assisted by Luigi and Ness, both of whom Wario had previously turned into trophies. He also does it briefly for a taunt in gameplay.
  • King Dedede gets one when Kirby suddenly appears on the trophy carrier he's driving. Given their relationship, this one borders on Oh, Crap!.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate:
  • DK and Diddy do this in the reveal trailer for King K. Rool when Dedede removes his disguise.
  • In Banjo’s reveal trailer, DK, Diddy, and King K. Rool do this when the Duck Hunt Duo remove their disguises.
• King Dedede does this in the Extra Mode unlock screen of Kirby's Dream Land. This has since gone on to reappear as a keychain in Kirby: Triple Deluxe under the name "Shocked Dedede" and again as a sticker in Super Kirby Clash, and was even recreated after defeating Giant King Dedede's Revenge in Kirby's Blowout Blast.
  • He hilariously does it again in Kirby's Return to Dream Land when the Big Bad Magolor shows his true colors.
• The Legend of Zelda has several:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Link's jaw drops when he sees the combined form of Twinrova.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:
    • Link's jaw drops when he sees Armogohma's wimpy second form.
    • Link has this reaction when he sees Midna's true form. Lampshaded by Midna; she makes fun of him for being stunned speechless.
    • Midna gets an at least somewhat serious one when she discovers that Zant has broken the Twilight Mirror.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Link does this when Groose skydives into Faron Woods, and crashes into Link.
• The Evil Chancellor in Chrono Trigger has a pretty good one, seen (among other times) when Crono and gang escape through a time portal.
• Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: Diddy and Dixie do this before every boss fight. Considering that Donkey Kong Country 2 was made by Rare which also did Battletoads, this is not surprising.
• This is comically exaggerated when the final boss of Rayman 3 goes One-Winged Angel. Rayman's jaw literally hits the ground. Not entirely surprising, considering how freaking huge the boss is.
• In Super Gem Fighter, this befalls on anyone who gets hit with Akuma or Dan Hibiki's special throw command, which is either Akuma giving a speech or Dan's horrid singing. As the context of the game is comedy, it's always a good kick to see the usually Comically Serious Akuma get hit with it.
• In Battletoads, the Toads do a combination of this and Eye Popping when a boss makes his/her entrance. This carried on into the Crossover game Battletoads & Double Dragon, with the Lee brothers doing the same thing.
• Catherine:
  • Vincent does an impressive one when he first wakes up and sees Catherine in his bed.
  • In the Bad Cheater ending, Vincent runs out of the Stray Sheep hallucinating that Catherine is just waiting for him outside after rejecting his marriage proposal to her and promptly gets run over by a car. Orlando pulls a wonderful Jaw Drop at the sound of his friend getting squashed.
    Orlando: Oh fuck.
  • Happens again in both Freedom Endings (seeing as the True one is the same as the Good one but with an additional scene after the credits) when Jonny confesses to having asked Katherine out. Both Vince and Orlando pull a magnificent, in-tandem dual Jaw Drop.
  • One of the stills during the credits of the Freedom True ending also shows Boss completely astonished (and with a proper Jaw Drop) at the fact that Feather won her wrestling match.
• Nihlus in Mass Effect gets a very bizarre equivalent when he first sees Sovereign. His side mouth mandibles twitch in an utterly alien gesture, which, however, leaves very little room to interpretation.
• In Holy Umbrella, when the protagonist is surprised, his jaw drops as his face bulges out of the normal bounds of the Character Portrait.
• Varric delivers a verbal one in Dragon Age II, upon learning that Guard-Captain Aveline wants a romance with one of her subordinates.
  "I think my jaw just landed in the Deep Roads somewhere."
• Mega Man Legends: Teisel Bonne when he learns his attack on the city was foiled by a mysterious blue boy.

Web Animation

• DEATH BATTLE!: This is Starscream's reaction to Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom.
• Helluva Boss: In season 1 episode 8, when Loona is feeling like a fish out of water as an introvert at a rowdy party, this is her reaction to Bee-Lzebub's colourful way of talking, specifically the line "I feel like I went a little too far with the confetti this time, though. I have, like, a rainbow in my vagina right now."

Webcomics

• In The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, the death of King Radical in the final chapter causes some dropped jaws, especially Gordito's. His, in particular, is probably due to not just the dramatic event but the way in which it is achieved: Dr. McNinja sneaks behind Dracula, grabs him by the ankles and swings him mouth first at King Radical, making him accidentally bite him into a vampire. Then he grabs the pope and throws him at King Radical, making him explode.
• Better Days: Persia grew up shepherded from one beauty contest to another by her mother Bobbi, which was the last time Fisk had seen her. Persia came to Sheila's wedding a grown young woman, and still drop-dead gorgeous. Fisk gets one look, and his jaw drops. Lucy politely closes it with one finger.
• El Goonish Shive:
  • This installment has Susan's reaction to the principal's double standard.
  • Also, this strip has Elliot's reaction to Susan's deductive skills.
  • This one has Sarah and Grace's reaction to Susan's critique of The Princess Bride.
  • And this one has three for the price of one when Elliot reveals Ashley saw him transform. Then he closes Tedd's mouth.
  • There's the earliest one in EGS, complete with high-five.
• Freefall: Winston might be a seasoned parasitologist, but the sight of Starfish Alien Sam with his pants off leaves him agape and stammering in horrified disbelief. He got off light — others who've seen what Sam looks like outside his containment suit have tried to gouge out their eyes.
• Girl Genius:
  • Agatha in does it here upon first seeing the fake Heterodyne, and Zeetha closes it with the comment that she should face the "new era" with some dignity.
  • One of the Mechanicsburg councilors reacts with slack-jawed shock to Gil's rampage.
  • And before that, the jaws drop on pretty much everyone in Mechanicsburg when Gil summons up a lightning strike to destroy the lead war stomper.
  • When Sanaa sees that Moloch is actually incredibly competent rather than the bumbling fool she thought he was her mouth goes slack.
  • Goomblast takes the cake. When it comes to jaw-dropping, that huge mouth of his blows the competition away.
• Homestuck:
  • Karkat, after witnessing two of his comrades die at the hands of another, delivers the mother of all whiplashes with this face.
  • Later on, Roxy goes ":O" for three lines running after John mentions the precise nature of cherub sex.
  • We see Roxy do an actual physical drop when she see's Vriska Serket fire her stolen Teleport Gun at Dirk.
  • The floating innuendo factory known as Jasprosesprite^2 causes these en masse. Starting with Calliope, then Roxy (again), before reaching critical drop levels with Jane, John and a X5 COMBO with the above four and Tezeri.
• Magick Chicks: This winds up happening a few times:
  • Just about everyone present was stunned speechless when Melissa laid Rain out in seconds flat, without having to cast a single spell.
  • About a week later, Dark Skye stunned Callista at her own birthday party, by frenching her girlfriend right in front of her. Then left everyone slackjawed when she departed on a wolfback.
• MeatShield: Jaine's jaw drops when she learns that Dhur owes about 50,000 crowns back home.
• Haley's jaw drops in The Order of the Stick strip "Oh no, he DIDN'T!", when Roy finally snaps and tells Knight Templar Miko to shove it. Then Haley hugs him.
• From a strip of Penny Arcade.
  Tycho: Ungaah ung Ungah!
  Gabe: Shut up and help me find my goddammed eyes.
• Jin of Wapsi Square looks like this after encountering her mother alive and well.
• Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic:
  • Beholders have a pretty large jaw, so when Bob lets his drop, it's impressive.
  • Lewie the Lich, being mostly a skeleton, can literally drop his jaw to the floor.

Web Original

• A decidedly non-comedic version with the Internet meme OMG Cat, featuring a cat whose jawbone had been dislocated. The image resulted from her owner putting out an urgent call for help to 2chan, asking them what to do since this happened at night when the animal hospital was closed. Thankfully she made a full recovery.

Web Videos

• This happens a lot to The Nostalgia Critic.
  • He jaw-drops during his Neverending Story 3 review when the Rockbiter starts singing "Born to be Wild". About a 1 feet drop. It's a simple special effect, but quite effective.
  • From the Captain Planet review:
    Critic: So, Captain Planet. What other issues are you going to talk to grade-school kids about?
    Todd Andrews: AIDS?
    [drum beat as the Critic's jaw drops]
  • And in Return of the Nostalgic Commercials:
    Critic: I mean, can you think of any other commercial that can be taken the wrong way so easily?
    Man in the next commercial: Just wait'll you see what I've got. [fishes out a box] It's the Wunder Boner!
    [dramatic sting as the Critic's jaw drops]
  • During his review on Tom and Jerry: The Movie, this is his reaction to the silent duo suddenly singing about how they are now best friends.
• When Brad Jones reviewed Too Smart for Strangers on DVD-R Hell, his jaw dropped when Pooh started singing a song about kids getting molested. He was joined in by his wife, his cat Lloyd, and ROB the robot. In an interview, Brad said that this was his reaction in real life. He paused the DVD and called Jillian in to watch the rest of it.
• Markiplier:
  • His jaw dropped when he played the sixth night of Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and learned the big deal Plot Twist:
    Markiplier: It is a prequel!
  • He got one in earlier in the fourth night of the first game as he realizes what's going to happen to Phone Guy. Then Foxy gets him.
• "Military Bronies React to Wonderbolts Academy": As soon as Lightning Dust mouths off to Spitfire, the commentators' jaws drop in a Mass "Oh, Crap!".
• Kitboga is a scambaiter popular on Twitch and YouTube. He often portrays himself as crazy characters such as a cranky old man named "Billy Maizear." In the animated version of "Buying Gift Cards Instead of Hot Dogs (for Scammers)," Billy Maizear's son Morty's jaw drops when he takes off his shirt, revealing himself to have "the body of a Greek god."

Western Animation

• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: In "Missing Linka", Linka investigates the sudden sickness in her hometown with some help from her older brother Mishka. Wheeler mistakes Mishka for Linka's boyfriend and his jaw falls open when Linka finally corrects the misunderstanding.
• Tex Avery favored them in his MGM work. See the Droopy cartoons, for example.
• A surprisingly dramatic version happens when Jacob Marley visits Scrooge in Richard Williams' version of A Christmas Carol. His jaw is literally unhinged from his skull and has a cloth to keep it shut.
• Animaniacs uses this a lot, too. In the episode "Meet Minerva", this is a squirrel's reaction to seeing the title character clad in nothing but a towel.
  • At one point in the Pinky and the Brain short "The Brain's Apprentice," not only does Pinky's jaw drop, but also his nose and his eyes.
• Arthur:
  • Arthur and Buster each decide that their group of friends prefers the other character, and so essentially switch personalities in an attempt to seem more likable. When the two each enter The Sugar Bowl behaving exactly as the other would, all of their friends are completely flabbergasted and the Brain's mouth falls open in shock. Francine closes it for him.
  • In the episode "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble," when the class finds out that their substitute teacher will be Mr. Ratburn's sister, Miss. Ratburn, Buster's jaw drops. He closes it back up only for it to drop again.
  • In "Arthur's First Sleepover," Buster does highly exaggerated, cartoony versions of both this and an Eye Pop in his nightmare in which he discovers that Arthur and the Brain are aliens, only to wake up, comment "That was scary," and flop back over to sleep.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Zuko has this reaction when he walks into Sokka's tent (after bumping into Suki), and finds him Ready for Lovemaking.
  • Sokka himself has had a number of these moments throughout the series, one of the most memorable being his reaction in "The Headband" to Aang enrolling in a Fire Nation school.
  • In the Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, episode "A Breath of Fresh Air", everyone present is completely shocked by the fact that Bumi can now airbend, despite not previously being an airbender. Bolin, Meelo and Ikki's faces are especially hilarious.
• Cellbound: The protagonist, a prisoner trying to escape jail inside a TV, is joyously pondering all the wonderful places in the world he's going to visit... then he slowly realizes that the TV has been delivered into the jail warden's office. Cue him baring his fangs and doing one heck of a jaw drop.
• Parodied in Chowder, when Mung, Chowder, and Gorgonzola wouldn't stop dropping their jaws several times to the floor.
• Clifford the Big Red Dog: Jetta's jaw drops in "A Friend in Need" after she arrives back at the park and sees how Emily Elizabeth and the others finished cleaning it up for her, despite her insistence that she didn't need help.
• An episode of The Critic features a costume party with the main character's father dressed as The Mask. After he sees a woman, his jaw drops. Jay tells him to control himself until he sees the dessert cart and his jaw drops.
• Porkchop from Doug does one of these when he found out that Stinky the cat is a girl and had kittens.
• Parodied in Family Guy. In order for the others to believe that Peter's new friend is actually Jesus, he increases Lois' bust size several sizes and Brian's jaw literally drops to the table.^note Hilariously, with a loud THUD.
  • One episode started with the Griffin family watching an episode of Eight is Enough which shows the father slapping his daughter eight times and another one of the daughters stops him and tells them that "eight is enough" and they all laugh. Cut to the whole family (except Stewie, who has a big smile on his face) looking at the TV with their jaws dropped.
• In the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Zoned Out", Reed does a rather impressive one upon seeing the large crowd of Negative Zone bugs after Ben's energy pack.
• Hercules: The Animated Series: There are several instances of Hercules dropping his jaw, mostly when he's facing monsters.
• In the House of Mouse short "Rollercoaster Painters", Mickey and Donald do this when Goofy wins the lifetime pass.
• In the Johnny Bravo episode "Johnny Meets Farrah Fawcett", Johnny's jaw drops progressively lower and lower as he watches Farrah Fawcett leave her car, and finally drops all the way to the ground as she's completely revealed.
• Justice League:
  • A subtle joke in the episode "In Darkest Night": Green Lantern is accused of destroying a planet and killing its three billion inhabitants. (To be fair, it was an accident. And a hoax.) At the trial, a video is shown of Green Lantern's ring blowing the planet to smithereens. Superman, The Flash, and J'onn Jonnz all drop their jaws in horror. Hawkgirl, however, is not fazed in the slightest.
  • And it happens again when the League proves that the planet was never destroyed and the entire court is agape at being played for fools.
• Justice League Action: In "Unleashed", Plastic Man's jaw literally hits the floor when Dex-Starr (who had been posing as an ordinary housecat) reveals himself as a Red Lantern.
• Kaeloo: Kaeloo usually does this when she is surprised or shocked (for example, after seeing Stumpy eat at a really fast speed and then dump all his food packaging on the ground).
• Kick does this in an episode of Kick Buttowski when he finds out Wade's been promoted and is never coming back to his favorite shop.
• Ron does this in the Kim Possible episode "Emotion Sickness" on seeing Kim wearing a sexy black dress. Kim's dad even closes his jaw for him.
• A large number of Looney Tunes shorts feature these.
• In one episode of Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, one character's jaw drops all the way down from a helicopter.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Both Twilight Sparkle and Spike have this reaction in the first episode after Rainbow Dash demonstrates her ability to clear the clouds out of the sky in "Ten. Seconds. Flat."
  • Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie go for the jaw drop when Rainbow Dash does the Sonic Rainboom in the episode of the same name. Fluttershy, amusingly enough, goes for a different kind of reaction, made funnier by her earlier attempts at cheering on Rainbow Dash.
  • Princess Celestia, of all ponies, gets in on this in the first episode of the second season, after finding out Discord has already stolen the Elements of Harmony. Cue a similar reaction from the Mane Six... except Pinkie Pie of course.
  • Twilight after seeing the normally reserved Fluttershy seemingly take down a bear by kicking its back and snapping its neck; likely making viewers gave the same reaction as well.
  • All of the school fillies, Apple Bloom especially, in "Family Appreciation Day" after Granny Smith finishes her story which also resulted in The Reveal she was responsible for the founding of Ponyville.
  • Pinkie Pie, after seeing Extreme Door Mat Fluttershy stand up for herself in "Putting Your Hoof Down". Rarity does the jaw-closing honors.
  • Diamond Tiara does one after getting a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech from her former best friend Silver Spoon, who sarcastically closes it with a hoof before turning her back on Diamond Tiara.
  • Twilight in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" when she realizes Shining Armor and Cadance are going to have a baby meaning she's a soon-to-be aunt.
• On PB&J Otter, Flick's jaw drops in "Thanks for the Giggle Melon" after Peanut voluntarily offers to do a Noodle Dance to help Jelly think of ideas to help her giggle melon plant grow and then starts dancing.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • Candace does a really humorous jaw drop at the very end of "The Fast and the Phineas" when she sees the tricked-out car has been returned to the garage and lost all the modifications and squeaky clean from the car wash, to Linda's delight.
  • Candace does it again at the end of "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?" when she sees the boys' teleportation device has been shrunken down by Doofenshmirtz's Shrink-inator which Linda thinks were earrings the boys made for her to replace the ones she lost. Linda then tells Candace to close her mouth to avoid catching flies.
  • Candace has a third jaw drop at the end of "Perry the Actorpus" when she sees the giant billboard advertising Perry for Totally Tools outside the Flynn-Fletcher house has replaced Perry with Sergei the Snail.
• Razzberry Jazzberry Jam: Ella’s jaw literally hits the floor in “A Royal Pain” after Princess Persephone suggests that she (Ella) can’t handle harmony.
• Ready Jet Go!:
  • Sean does a major jaw drop in "Space Race" after Zucchini uses his new thrusters in the titular race.
  • Carrot does one in "Back to Bortron 7" after Eggplant informs him and Celery that they'll be done with Earth after their presentation. For dramatic effect, the Exploding Shake that Carrot was holding explodes in his face.
• In the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner short "Fast And Furryous", following the Road Runner's little burst of speed, the Coyote comes to a stunned stop and pulls this expression.
• Samurai Jack: In "Jack VS. Aku", Aku does one after watching an entire robot army destroy ITSELF, just by one of them tripping on a rock. Considering Jack didn't even do anything to beat them, it's a fitting reaction.
• The Simpsons:
  • In The Movie, Scratchy's jaw drops at the sight of a whole heap of rockets flying at him, which promptly fill his gaping mouth.
  • A similar scenario occurs with Bart and a rat during an episode wherein Skinner expels him.
  • A reporter does this when Mr. Burns spits out a piece of a mutant fish that he contaminated.
  • The episode "Marge and Homer turn a couple play" has Homer and Bart (as well, all the male audience) having this reaction when Tabitha (a showgirl), in the Springfield Stadium, strips down to lingerie and launches into one of her own songs with lascivious dancing.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In "Krusty Love", Mr. Krabs has a hilarious one after SpongeBob gives him a profane rant.
  • In "Krabby Land", SpongeBob and the children have a humongous collective one following Mr. Krabs' cheap and talentless presentation of Krabby the Clown.
• Star Wars Rebels: Agent Kallus has done this a few times.
  • "Spark of Rebellion": His reaction to seeing Kanan get out his lightsaber on Kessel, complete with Stunned Silence.
  • "Wings of the Master": When he sees the B-Wing blow away the cruiser to his right with just a few shots from its Wave-Motion Gun.
    Kallus: That's impossible!
  • "The Honourable Ones": Kallus does it again when Zeb throws his bo-rifle up to the surface, followed by a look of silent indignation when Zeb throws the meteorite and transponder up as well.
  • A variation on the trope in "Brothers of the Broken Horn". Chopper is holding a stormtrooper helmet for Ezra's target practise, but when Ezra says he doesn't want to be a Jedi any more, the droid drops the helmet to convey his shock.
• The Super Mario World episode "Mama Luigi" had Bowser/King Koopa drop his jaw after seeing all the furniture in his room is gone thanks to Baby Yoshi.
• The episode "Betrothed" of Teen Titans has a particularly extreme example given by Robin, where his jaw drops off the screen, loops back around, and drops onto his head.
• In an episode of Timon & Pumbaa, the two are looking for treasure. During a fight, Timon places a dividing line and states that whatever one finds on their side of the line, they can keep for themselves. Pumbaa promptly unearths a gold nugget, to which a shocked Timon's jaw drops to the ground.
• Tiny Toon Adventures uses this fairly often. In one episode, Montana Max is so shocked that his jaw goes right through the floor and lands on the floor of the basement below him. When his mouth closes again, his body gets pulled down to where his jaw was sitting.
• Done a lot on Tom and Jerry, for instance in the short Quiet Please! when Tom reveals to Jerry that he's given Spike the bulldog "knock-out drops", foiling Jerry's plan to get Tom in trouble by waking the dog up. Also in "Mouse Cleaning", in when Tom does a wild double take as he sees a mess Jerry causes him to make.
• Total Drama: Katie and Sadie are the first of the Killer Bass to show the team a talent to possibly send out to the talent show that evening in "Not Quite Famous". They dance together and it's so incoherent and outright bad that Courtney, Bridgette, and Tyler all let their jaws drop at the display.
• Transformers: Animated does this twice to Bulkhead. First time was in the premiere episode "Transform and Roll Out", where Prowl pushes Bulkhead's jaw up after Optimus pulls a few stunts they didn't know. The second time was in "Along Came a Spider"; Blackarachnia strokes Bulkhead's jaw while flirting, and it literally falls partially off.
• Wakfu:
  • Sadlygrove at the sight of his master, Goultard, vanquishing Rubilax in one blow.
  • Amalia◊, when Grovy gets himself into a duel by defying her brother Armand. Followed by Eva doing a double Facepalm.
  • Ruel, when learning that Sadlygrove had seen Evangelyne naked, and not in a dream.
• Work It Out Wombats!: In "The Treeborhood Thankfulness Stew," Mr. E does this when Zeke gets picked to cook the stew, and does an even bigger one when Zeke picks Louisa to be his helper.
• Raimundo from Xiaolin Showdown when he sees a group of green monkeys jumping through the air to attack him. His jaw literally hits the floor.

Real Life

• In the team finals of the 2012 Olympic Games, American gymnast McKayla Maroney, the reigning world champion on the event, hit a vault so astronomically spectacular that it has simply been known forever after as "McKayla's perfect vault". But the audiences weren't the only ones impressed — one of the judges actually did this at what she had just seen.
• When O.J Simpson was acquitted, Rob Kardashian looked up at him with his mouth wide open.
• This reflex has actually been proven to have a calming effect on the mind. Since your jaw naturally clenches when stressed or angry, letting it drop can release dopamine, thus calming you down.
• During Janis Joplin's legendary performance of "Ball And Chain" at the Monterey Pop festival, the camera catches Cass Elliot staring in slack-jawed amazement.
• During the last National Basketball Association game before the suspension of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID pandemic, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was seen dropping his jaw in reaction to the breaking news of the season's suspension.
• In this viral video from 2020, a young girl sees a pair of humpback whales breaching near her family's fishing boat and her mouth hangs open for several seconds.

---