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Surreal Symbolic Heads
- 162 statements
- 30 feature instances
- 2 referencing feature instances
| Surreal Symbolic Heads | type |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads | comment |
This trope is under discussion in the Trope Repair Shop. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })A recurring motif in Surreal Horror, Surreal Humour, and, really, surreality in general, is an apparently human being whose head is something else entirely. In some cases, it's simply been replaced with the head of some species of animal; in others, it's actually an inanimate object walking about on a human body; in still others, it's neither a human with a strange head nor an object piloting a human body, but rather some other entity that looks mostly human. Whatever the reason, the result is often referred to as an "object head". In any case, the effect ranges from unusual to sinister; they appear mainly in dreams, visions, hallucinations, and if they appear physically it's a good sign that Reality Is Out to Lunch. As a result, they are frequently subjects of the Rule of Symbolism. Compare Malevolent Masked Men, which plays on much of the same imagery in a way compatible with a more mundane setting or situation. Compare and contrast Anthropomorphic Personification and Physical God - many take the form of a person with the head of something else, but unless they are used for surreality and metaphor they are not this trope; instead, they are Non-Human Head, its supertrope. Not to be unnecessarily confused with TV Head Robot. Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); }) Examples: |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads | fetched |
2021-12-13T15:41:55Z | |
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Dropped link to MeaningfulName: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to MinorThreat: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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Dropped link to RealityWarper: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
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Dropped link to ThePerryBibleFellowShip: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads | processingUnknown |
ThePerryBibleFellowShip | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_10b03dcf | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_10b03dcf | comment |
One of the first-person areas in Batman: Arkham Asylum contains a mannequin of the Joker, with a television head that plays a message. Actually, it's the Joker himself. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_12bc81c8 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_12bc81c8 | comment |
Tele-evangelists in Civilization: Call to Power are shown as a business suit topped by a television. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_20ac8a71 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_20ac8a71 | comment |
Doom Patrol Several of Dorothy Spinner's imaginary friends and enemies take this form. Damn All has a newspaper with multiple eyes and a broad smile, his 'wife' Darling-Come-Home's face is a portrait of a light bulb, and their ghost baby Flying Robert has the head of a balloon. Many agents of the Cult of the Unwritten Book have similar appearances. The Weeping Blades are flayed, beheaded corpses with blades for heads. The assassin group Fear the Sky all have celestial objects as heads. |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_3f214754 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_3f214754 | comment |
I'm the Grim Reaper has an example in a flashback, narrated by Ana. her parents' heads are replaced by a megaphone and a stapler respectively, and her ex-husband's face is permanently covered by a paper bag. He's referred to as "Paper Bag" as well. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_4506525e | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_4506525e | comment |
In the fan sequel Yume 2kki, Urotsuki can dream her head into a telephone, a box of tissues, or a bomb in the shape of an eyeball. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_452b566 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_452b566 | comment |
As the name of the film might suggest, Eraserhead has heads as its Body Motif. Henry Spencer and his girlfriend Mary X are stuck with tending to a disfigured child with a horrible, chickenlike head. In a Dream Sequence, the baby's head sprouts under Henry's, beheading him. The result is a body of an adult man with a Fetus Terrible for a head. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_4fc3c258 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_4fc3c258 | comment |
Donnie Darko has recurring visions of 'Frank', a man with the head of a creepy rabbit, giving him warnings about the future. Frank turns out to be a real person wearing a rabbit mask, whom Donnie has never met before... which doesn't actually explain much. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_585e522c | comment |
In the film Ink Bad Guys from the monochromatic dreamland carry the teleimage of smiling faces on shoulders. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_5d4da367 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_5d4da367 | comment |
Yume Nikki: The Eye Palm effect allows Madotsuki to dream that her head has taken the form of a large hand with an eye in the palm. Using the effect allows her to return to the hub area. The Lamp effect gives Madotsuki a lamplight for a head. It's useful for navigating dark areas. There are also the Toriningen, the "enemies" of the game, who resemble tall girls with eerily silly bird-like heads. |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_68ff28c9 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_68ff28c9 | comment |
The infamous Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2 has the body of a man with, well, a large pyramid for a head. Looking closely reveals that it really is his head and not just headgear, as the underside shows flesh reaching all the way to the "helmet's" edges. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_6a8aff51 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_6a8aff51 | comment |
Part of the mythos in The Stormlight Archive revolves around visions of strange creatures who are humanoid in shape, but have strange symbols for heads. It is revealed in Words of Radiance that these are the Cryptics, essentially the idea of lying given sentience. Despite being creepy, they aren't evil, just strange. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_6e907c1 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_6e907c1 | comment |
Boss Smiley makes another appearance as his slimy eerie self in The Sandman. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_7038c36b | comment |
Danger 5 has an eagle-headed colonel commanding the show's elite Nazi-fighting team. A later episode has a Swiss gangster with a tiger's head challenge Tucker to a duel. No explanation for any of this is given. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_73b4d4c1 | comment |
Call of Cthulhu Supplement Curse of the Chthonians, adventure "Thoth's Dagger". One of the Investigators who touches the title magic item will fall under its curse. He sees visions of ancient Egypt that include a guard with the head of a baboon and a priest with the head of an ibis. Supplement The Fungi from Yuggoth, adventure "Sands of Time". While the Investigators are trapped in an underground area they have a vision of two men with the heads of crocodiles. |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_78974fd8 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_78974fd8 | comment |
Psychonauts 2: In the level Hollis' Hot Streak, there are various NPCs roaming about that have card suits, cartoon skulls or dice for heads. The nurses in the level have a syringe, a speculum and a urine cup for a head. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_7aefccf3 | comment |
In Hotline Miami, the protagonist is visited by three strangers in animal masks, in dreamlike settings. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_86d75b82 | comment |
Schoolgirls with winged insects for heads appear in the dream world of Wonder Egg Priority after the girls "revive" their friends. They're the only enemies in the series that remain undefeated, and all of their encounters leave the main characters shaken. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_a5e363d7 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_a5e363d7 | comment |
In the original series, Prez Rickard, teen president of the United States, had a few run-ins with Boss Smiley, the physical embodiment of political corruption, whose head was a bald sphere with Black Bead Eyes, a tiny nose, a broad smiling mouth — basically, a flesh-toned version of the classic yellow smiley face emblem. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_a5e3b5b5 | comment |
In the 21st-century reboot, the character is given a disturbing twist where — due to corporations achieving full personhood under the law — all CEOs have become de facto mascots, disguising their true faces behind holographic "masks" and being referred to by their company names; Smiley, befitting his origins, has established himself as the most powerful simply because, by getting everything to the consumer as quickly and cheaply as possible, he sells the most valuable commodity of all: time. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_a8c53c86 | comment |
All the characters in Mondo Medicals have televisions for faces - with a blank screen, simple faces, or a gnashing mouth. Mondo Agency uses the same idea, only now the screens are four-sided and spin! | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_c92f1e2a | comment |
The video for 'Cause I'm a Man by Tame Impala features an invisible man in a suit. Throughout the video, various objects appear in place of his head. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_d55b8d2 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_d55b8d2 | comment |
One of the unexplained screens in the NES Godzilla Creepypasta shows a figure in a pinstriped business suit, whose head is a dripping faucet. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_dbde69cf | comment |
In the First Book of MARZENA, while in Dr. Sam's Virtual Dream World, Kristen gets attacked by a plumber wielding a circular saw and who has a Model House instead of a head. The monster appears to be linked to some tragedy that happened in Dr. Sam's house. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e0bfc6c4 | comment |
In the film Being John Malkovich, when John Malkovich is inside his own head (long story), every other person's head is replaced by his own head, and all they can say is "Malkovich." | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e219eef | comment |
Another music video by Air, How Does It Make You Feel, has a woman being assembled piece by piece. She appears to be put together normally for most of the video, but at the end she is given a fish head. | |
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| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e25322af | comment |
Homestar Runner: Played for Laughs in the Strong Bad Email "crazy cartoon". Strong Bad's Author Avatar in "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes" is a version of himself with a Casio keyboard for a head for no reason other than he's in a cuh-RAZY cartoon. Keyboard Strong Bad tends to dance around while playing "Unterlanders Heimweih" whenever he gets mad, though in the Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Decemberween episode from "Decemberween in July" he plays "Jingle Bells". | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e34d9eac | comment |
In Turgor, the brother called Whaler has his head replaced with a kind of ornate metal spire. (The head itself is strapped onto his back...) | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e5d521ef | comment |
DARQ features a number of bizarre creatures of this kind, unsurprisingly considering its nightmare setting. These include gun-toting humanoids with lampshades for heads, who periodically turn the lightbulbs inside them on and off and shoot you if you step into the pool of light they cast, and a wheelchair-bound creature with what appears to be a tuba for a head which propels itself around backwards by the sheer force of its off-key notes. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_e7e62758 | comment |
In Lamentations of the Flame Princess one possible consequence of resurrecting a character with the Electric Grave spell is that the resurrectee's head is replaced by "some cosmically appropriate object". Some of the art in the sourcebook the spell comes from features a character whose head has been replaced by a large ornate clock. | |
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Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Surreal Symbolic Heads / int_ee344d3d | comment |
The Evil Within: The Keeper has a safe wrapped in barbed wire for a head. Not only that, it can regenerate itself from other safes scattered throughout the game. The DLC missions The Assignment and The Consequence have Shade/Spotlight, a monster that's just a lumpy torso mounted on a pair of human legs with a searchlight for a head. |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| DARQ (Video Game) / int_41162118 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads | |
| Transverse (Webcomic) / int_41162118 | type |
Surreal Symbolic Heads |
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