On a limited budget it's somewhat hard to animate someone running without making it look jerky. As recently as The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, animators tended to draw legs moving with very little bending of the knee, sometimes at even a full run. In real life, this would be more than a little painful, as shown in this animated insert
from Sesame Street.
The preferred trick around this is to avoid showing the legs altogether. You can position the "camera" above the runner's waist while still showing him swaying about a little, or aim the shot straight at the feet, which also doubles as looped footage.
Some artists go an extra step if a female character has a skirt. The legs might be drawn nearly straight all the way down even while stationary, as if she doesn't have knees, thighs, or defined hips.
Oddly enough, knees seem to be a little too flexible in the Twisted-Knee Collapse.
See also Wheel o' Feet.
Examples:
- Aside from having a (rather notorious) problem with feet and pouches, Rob Liefeld has done this, with both men and women. Although the women tended more to have one knee that seemed to branch out into the rest of each leg.
- Sekoila Zarner from Zany to the Max has no knees. Because of this, the way she walks is very interesting. Her legs spin rapidly as if around an axis, to the point where Wheel o' Feet is used.
- Naturally, being a LEGO adaptation, The LEGO Movie features this with its characters, which is lampshaded when Emmett does "jumping jacks".
- Lampshaded in LEGO Island, which, since all the characters are LEGO minifigs, displays this by default.
Papa Brickolini: I have a bad feeling about this, I can feel it in my knees.Mama Brickolini: Papa, you are just imagining things!Papa: Imagining knees? ...You're probably right.
- The main heroine of Narbacular Drop is called Princess No-Knees - but it's not immediately obvious whether she lacks them, as it's a nickname referring to her inability to jump.
- Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders mentions and animates the aliens as having no knees. They make a two-frame movement animation with rapid footsteps. In contrast, humans are given a distinct bend in the knee, and make less frequent steps.
- It would be easier to list entities in Minecraft that do have knees than the ones who do not.
- The specific circumstances surrounding Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, combined with the various possible circumstances he can get into in that game, end up causing him to have very unusual and often comical animations to account for his complete lack of elbows and knees.
- The specific circumstances surrounding Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, combined with the various possible circumstances he can get into in that game, end up causing him to have very unusual and often comical animations
- In the 2009 Homestar Runner Halloween toon, "Doomy Tales of the Macabre", Strong Sad removes Homestar's knees—to no very great effect.
- Pintsize from Questionable Content originally had no knees or elbows, but during the course of the comic he happily received upgraded limbs.
- Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic occasionally displays this for Rule of Funny, such as a humorous backwards run done in Swarm of the Century. Otherwise, her knees are just as existent as the rest of the cast's.
- Averted in Ninjago and Legends of Chima, where characters bend their limbs despite also being LEGO minifigures.
