Idea Bulb Smashed Over Head Funny

Tyler!: Harley? What the (caw) is that?!
Harley: ...what is what?
Tyler!: (points) That!
Harley: (looks up at the bulb that appeared) Oh, information technology's back over again...?

A character thinks and thinks... then, all of a sudden, has a bright thought! A lite seedling turns itself on directly to a higher place the character's caput. Ofttimes with character pointing one alphabetize fingers upwards. Sometimes accompanied by an Idea Ding.

This trope has been subverted for decades — it became a cliche nigh as soon as it was invented (in the 1920s, for the blackness and white Felix the True cat cartoons).

Frequently parodied. Nearly common subversions are the appearances of a broken light bulb to signify someone is thinking of a bad idea; candles, torches, or other sources of calorie-free appearing over the heads of characters who pre-date the lightbulb; and a character getting the bulb, but turning information technology off, indicating they had second thoughts and decided information technology wasn't a skillful idea subsequently all. In shows with a weak quaternary wall, characters may even catch the lightbulb off of their head and utilise it in their plan, or may happen to be continuing under an bodily lightbulb that is turned on past another character. Characters Genre Savvy enough will sometimes put an bodily lightbulb above their head or someone else's in an endeavour to requite them an idea. A Expressionless Horse Trope, definitely. Nigh every instance here is a parody or subversion. Oft used every bit part of a Rebus Bubble.

Also, this trope may take been invented in reference to a Mr. Thomas Edison having a great thought virtually something... what was information technology again? ^note Oh aye! The phonograph. The lightbulb? No, he didn't really invent that one. (Or it could just be the concept of enlightenment. Or having a bright idea.)

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Examples:

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    Advertising

• A promotional spot for the animated version of My Friend Rabbit showed the author of the original book, Eric Rohmann, with an idea bulb over his head.
• A commercial for Ruby Bull energy drinkable has Thomas Edison attempting to invent the calorie-free bulb. One of his employees brings him a Red Balderdash, which he drinks; this trope results... and he takes the seedling and screws information technology into the socket.

    Anime & Manga

• In one episode of Rozen Maiden: Traumend, a cell telephone signal icon with three bars appears over Suiseiseki's head.
• Not quite the same thing, but the first episode of Ouran High Schoolhouse Host Order uses a set of light bulbs turning on to betoken the members of the Host Club realizing Haruhi is really a girl. The first bulb to plough on is Kyouya, and the last is Tamaki. When Tamaki's bulb turns on, it then zooms out to show a whole wall of bulbs lighting up to form the kanji for "female person".
• Parodied in The Earth God Only Knows: when Elsee gets an idea, a unlike image pops up each time - firefly!Elsee, traveller!Elsee sighting a star, Elsee powering a lightbulb with a bike, etc.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: A little lightblub appears over Asuna's caput when she realizes that her anti magic fan (which is useless against all the non magic stuff in this arc) is the perfect weapon for enemies similar Takane, who clothes herself with shadow magic and has numerous shadow constructs as her fighting fashion.
• In Ben-To Zero The Road To The Witch they uses idea LCD light in lodge to conserve electricity
• In the Nichijou episode, Button, while Yukko and Mio were talking most the fire alert button, Yukko gets a lightbulb over her head, and then evily laughs and tricks Mio into pushing the button.
  • In the anime, the Professor also gets ane when she comes upwardly with the thought of giving Sakamoto the scarf that allows him to speak.
• Haruhichan:
  • In one episode, Tsuruya gets this when she gets an idea about the leftover chocolate.
  • This was used nonetheless again in the Halloween episode, in which Haruhi gets this.
• Chapter 170 of My Hero Academia features a variation, in that while Izuku gets the idea to bring Eri to the culture festival to make her grinning, it's Mirio who gets the idea bulb; it's notably broken, probably to admit that while Mirio himself didn't come up up with the idea, he however finds information technology first-class. Also happens after, after the large boxing against Re-Destro, Shigaraki of all people gets 1 afterwards realising he tin blow money on sushi, for Mr Compress at least.
• This rarely occurs in the Pokémon: The Serial anime, although a very unique i occurs during Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon; when Ash's Rowlet gets the thought to discover replacements for Meltan'due south nut that had been stolen, in the identify of a lightbulb is a Nintendo Game Male child (consummate with the startup screen), and while that occurs, Rowlet's optics too become Game Freak logos.
• Occurs a few times in How I Became a Pokémon Card. Whether a grapheme (or a Pokemon) gets an idea, a speech chimera with a lightbulb in it will appear.
• Dr. Rock presents a variation where the form of the light bulb evolves with the protagonists' progress in rediscovering lost engineering science of the pre-petrification modern human being culture. Initially, upon witnessing old-worlder Teen Genius Senku recreate electric lighting with a carbonized Japanese bamboo filament and a rough electric generator, local wizard-turned-scientist-understudy Chrome's thought bulbs for new technological advances are depicted equally a pair of hands passing electrical current through filament; later on, once the Kingdom of Science achieves precision glassmaking and tungsten refining, leading to the manufacturing of bodily incandescent light bulbs, Chrome immediately upgrades his idea bulbs to the classic design the moment he realizes that the new bulbs and archaic batteries would allow him and his young man villagers to safely behave mining expeditions deeper into nearby caves.

    Asian Animation

• In Happy Heroes, it is fairly common for a low-cal seedling to appear above characters' heads when they get an idea.
• In the Lamput episode "Houdini", a light bulb appears next to Slim Doc when he comes upwardly with an idea on how to capture Lamput.
• In Motu Patlu, Patlu'due south Catchphrase of "Thought!", which he says whenever he gets an idea, is normally accompanied by a lite bulb appearing somewhere near his caput.
• In Pleasant Caprine animal and Big Big Wolf, sometimes a light bulb will prove up above Wolffy when he comes up with a plan on how to catch the goats.

    Comic Books

• Asterix uses a burning torch or an oil lamp, since the series plays nearly ii m years earlier the invention of the light bulb.
• The Supergirl story arc Bizarrogirl has a lite bulb announced higher up Bizarro's caput when he figures out an easy way to explicate his predicament to Supergirl. Bizarro being Bizarro, the light bulb is broken.
• In The Wuzzles section of a Walt Disney Comics comic book, Croc had one announced in a thought airship, only Flizzard swiped it out of curiosity. (Croc nevertheless had the idea.) Later in the aforementioned story, Flizzard got out the bulb and held it upward, hoping it would turn on and trigger an thought. It did.
• In Larry Gonick'due south The Drawing History of the Universe, a caveman having a bright thought has a light bulb announced to a higher place his head. When he reveals the flintstone knife he'due south created, another caveman says "Oh, I idea it was going to be a light bulb."
• When Léonard le Génie has a peculiarly bright idea, or a series of ideas, he lights up and makes sounds like a Pinball machine or Video Game.
• The Simpsons:
  • In one result Homer gets an idea and a bulb appears higher up his head, but it really belongs to a lamp Marge is cleaning.
  • In another issue Krusty has ane higher up his head, it turns out a stage technician dropped it and lands on his caput.
  • Another has Ralph get an thought. And considering it'southward Ralph, it's a candle. But for Ralph, it's a smart thought.
• The curt: "How Much Is That Pony in the Window?" from Upshot 1 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) features an Idea Candle.
• De Kiekeboes: In Album 26 the family is locked within a darkened room and wonders how to become out of this state of affairs. Then Fanny says: I have an idea! And when comic book characters take an idea a lite seedling appears. And indeed, shortly enough a light starts called-for, making them able to see what is happening around them.
• The Donald Duck comics "Archimede due east la spedizione all'eurekannone" has the characters head to a land inhabited past a tribe that is responsible for creating brilliant ideas and spreading them all over the globe. These ideas, information technology turns out, all look like low-cal bulbs when in physical form.

    Comic Strips

• A Don Martin cartoon ◊ in MAD had a brain surgeon cut open a patient's skull and find a lightbulb (in a socket attached to a string) inside the head. When the surgeon turns the light on, the patient makes the Aha! reaction.
• Garfield:
  • The candle variation with Odie, the explanation being that he wasn't too bright.
  • Garfield himself had an idea once. Sadly, he "must have blown a fuse."
• U.Southward. Acres:
• FoxTrot:
  • Parodied when, with Paige alternately struggling with her study on Thomas Edison and her father's attempts to help her, a lightbulb appears just over her head - held by her dad, who begins to reel off Edison'south inventions. (The expect on her face up sells it.)
  • Or another where Jason makes a mobile out of lightbulbs.
  • In still another Paige tries to invoke this trope by taking the seedling out of her lamp and holding information technology over her caput; Peter says that he only does that with 100-watt bulbs.
• Parodied in Pearls Before Swine, when Pig comments that they don't have an extra lightbulb to replace a dead 1, Rat says that he has an idea. He then uses the seedling that appears above his head every bit a replacement. His idea was to take an thought?
• My Cage also parodied it; when Jeff has an idea most making the office more green, he conjures up a compact-fluorescent bulb. ◊
• Dykes to Watch Out For:
  • Sydney has an idea depicted (and labelled) as a "PC compact fluorescent bulb."
  • A fluorescent free energy saving lamp appears above one of the protagonists' caput. This is of course lampshaded in a caption that also points out that this is the politically correct way to indicate an idea.
• In Drabble, Ralph gets an thought, consummate with seedling. His wife glares at him, and in the adjacent panel, the bulb is a more than free energy efficient meaty fluorescent i. He looks annoyed, and his married woman is now smile.
• In The Wizard of Id, the championship grapheme is, in the kickoff panel, straining difficult to come up up with an idea. Panel two, his face up brightens, and a light bulb appears over his head. Console iii, the scene is fatigued at a wider angle to testify a huge pile of light bulbs next to him. Sorcerer grumbles, "I demand ideas. I get light bulbs."
• Implied to happen in one strip of B.C. were the Fat Broad is trying to sleep only is woken upwardly by a sudden brilliant light. Said lite turns out to have come from the cave side by side door that houses a lot of thinkers.

  "Okay you boneheads. Whose bright idea was that?"

• Off the Mark
  • Some strips use this to evidence how artists get inspired, except the bulb is fabricated to represent their famous works and styles.
  • Another shows what happens when a cockroach gets one, causing it to panic and all the others to scatter.
  • Withal another has a spider wanting prey to get in. It gets an idea bulb... and uses its light to concenter moths.

    Eastern Animation

• Pomysłowy Dobromir uses a feature variant—Dobromir's idea is always depicted equally a marble which bounces on his head until it finally settles down and pops with a bright flash.

    Fanfiction

• Referenced in The Simpsons fanfic Must Beloved Ned Flanders when Naomi says, "Light seedling" upon getting an thought.

    Films — Animation

• Parodied in Over the Hedge, with ideas appearing every bit lightning bugs (or fireflies, every bit some o' y'all may phone call 'em) slowing in flight and lighting upwardly over the head of the character getting the thought.
• In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, when Wallace gets the idea to use his brainwashing auto to make the rabbits he has captured hate vegetables, the light on his van turns on, though that was Gromit'due south doing.
• Parodied in Sausage Party, in one case Douche gets the idea to make himself stronger.

  Douche: Oh, lightbulb!
  Lightbulb: Yes?
  Douche: No, not fucking you dummy!

• Darla Dimple in Cats Don't Trip the light fantastic actually has her butler concord a lightbulb over her head and say "Ding!" when she has an idea.
• Gru from Despicable Me too says "Lightbulb!" when getting an idea.
• In Inside Out, the emotions insert lightbulbs into the Console to give Riley ideas.
• In 101 Dalmatians Two: Patch's London Take chances, when Thunderbolt gets an thought, he'due south conveniently under a sign shaped like a lightbulb.
• In The LEGO Batman Movie, the Joker comes up with his plan just equally a behemothic lightbulb (made of Lego) is existence carried behind him. It lights up with a 'ting!'.

    Films — Live-Action

• Played with in Dwelling house Alone ii. The concierge (played by Tim Curry) of the hotel where Kevin is staying gets suspicious and runs a check on Kevin'south begetter's credit carte du jour; when he finds the card was reported stolen, a light in an alcove over his head suddenly turns on. Although given the devilish smile on Curry'south face up at this indicate, the modern, oval-shaped bulb could also (ironically) symbolise a halo, given that the concierge is planning something dastardly.
• In Hot Fuzz, when Nicholas Angel gets an idea towards the end of the movie, he says 'Thought!' in a dramatic voice.
• Edgar Wright used this trope literally proverb 'Thought!' in A Fistful of Fingers with lightbulbs on sticks.
• In The Hitchhiker'due south Guide to the Galaxy (2005), the bureaucratic planet of the Vogons tin detect when someone has an idea and... whacks them in the face with a spade. Originality is frowned upon.
• In Bio-Dome, one character simply shouts "Lightbulb!" when he gets an idea.
• In Inspector Gadget, when Gadget tries to think difficult, a lightbulb rises out of his lid. When he gets an idea ("Get go gadget oil slick!"), information technology turns on. Subverted in that it was a bad thought to actually say this out loud, thereby spraying his Love Interest with, inexplicably, non oil, simply toothpaste.
• In Bedtime Stories (2008), Skeeter is fixing a lamp as his nephew talks about the bedtime story they told concluding night. When he notices that information technology was simply the story elements contributed by the children that come to laissez passer in the existent world, the lightbulb comes on.
• In Mel Brooks's Silent Moving picture, Mel Brooks plays a picture producer who'due south down on his luck. He'south produced only flops in contempo years, and the evil corporation "Engulf and Devour" is about to close his petty studio down. He sits down dejectedly in a chair against the wall, trying to retrieve of some way to save his studio. Of a sudden, he gets an "AHA!" look on his face ... and the light fixture on the wall straight over his head spontaneously lights upwardly.
• Less of an idea than it is a revelation, only when Cher in Clueless finally realises that she's in beloved with Josh, an unabridged fountain lights up behind her. Granted, information technology's not a lightbulb, but information technology's all the same the same bones idea of external calorie-free = inner illumination. (It's besides a fountain, which has its own allusion.)
• It even shows up in The Big Sleep, as Bogart is sitting on a burrow with a lamp backside him, and someone turns it on only after making an off-hand annotate that brings half the plot into focus (for Marlowe, anyway, if non the viewer).
• Spoofed in Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet (1977, Czechoslovakian movie). Nick Carter is the Greatest America's Detective and he'southward friends with Thomas A. Edison. At that place is a signed photo with Edison with a picture of a bulb. The message in the photo reads: My dear Nick, thank you for your advice. It was a million dollar thought. Gratefully yours, Thomas A. Edison
• Visualized in Spider-Man: Homecoming. When Peter Parker and Liz were talking about how he always disappear just as Spider-Man shows upwards when the traffic calorie-free was crimson. Liz's father Adrian Toomes tries talking to Peter about what happened at D.C. and when he finds out that Peter and Spidey are the same, the green light shows upward and grins.
• In Birds of Prey (2020), Harley Quinn gets three pinkish animated idea bulbs when she gets the idea to destroy the Ace Chemicals Factory in a fiery scene of fireworks to denote her breakup from Joker.

    Literature

• Happens oft in Xanth.
• Literal instance in Robert Rankin's The Book Of Ultimate Truths. We all have drawing style thought bubbles (or sleep Zzzzs) all the time. One sure monk has a terrible affliction whereby he can meet them, and we can see his. We know that a character has an idea when the monk observes the flashing light bulb.
• In the Elephant & Piggie book Can I Play Too?, Piggie gets one when she and Gerald are trying to figure out how their new friend, a snake, wants to play take hold of. Naturally, since this is a hip, modern series, it's a CFL.
• In the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Kleptomaniacal World, set up in an Alternate Tooniverse, the main role of the Crooked Globe Electric Company is producing thought bulbs. When our heroes bring free volition to the world, the resultant "Plague of Questions" results in the company beingness unable to go along upwardly with need.
• Whateley Universe: From "Christmas Elves: Fey and Jade's Holiday Havoc", when Jade gets the idea to talk about Teen Pregnancy every bit a style for Billie, who are both however in high school, to alter the subject field when talking to her parents:

  Jade scrunched her face up in concentration. And then she straightened. You lot could most see the low-cal bulb over her caput. "Y'all ask, 'Hey, is my baby going to be a mutant?'"
  "My…!" Billie appeared to be of a sudden choking on something.
  "You tell them, 'Oh, don't worry. I'm non meaning. Not even so.'"

    Alive-Action Television

• Saved by the Bong: Zack hears that tomorrow is a Jewish holiday; a menorah appears over his head, and he decides to get excused and so he tin see a baseball game. (It Makes Sense in Context)
• Parodied by Dr. Cox in Scrubs: "Either this kid'due south got a light bulb up his butt or his colon has a not bad idea." But to mention, this does happen in Real Life. Information technology is extremely dangerous and oftentimes deadly, because if the bulb breaks you can dice. And so don't practice it.
• One fairly unique alive-activity example involved no post-production effects at all: the set of the brusque-lived Uk TV series Mr Don and Mr George had several unobtrusive lights on diverse points on the walls. Through conscientious positioning of the cameras and actors, whenever a character had an thought, a light would light up backside them, actualization to be just above their heads. This was done and so smoothly and effectively that fifty-fifty though the gag was done several times, the audition never saw it coming.
  • This exact aforementioned thing was washed in Detroit Rock City, when the principal characters are trying to come up upwards with a way to enable one of their number to become out of tech class to call a radio station for Kiss tickets.
• Frasier: When the ii brothers are writing a book, Frasier is struck by inspiration (cypher appears):
• In Reddish Dwarf: "Confidence and Paranoia", Lister's Confidence shows how great he thinks Lister's plan is by literally holding a bulb above Lister's head.

  Confidence: Ding dong! Some other great idea from the people who brought you "beer milkshakes"!

• Played with in an episode of Merely Shoot Me!: Dennis is changing a lite bulb on a lamp behind Jack's desk, and information technology turns on merely every bit Jack gets an idea.
• A variation of this occurs in Engine Sentai Become-onger. Villain Hiramechimedes has iii lightbulbs on his head that light up in quick succession whenever he gets an idea.
• The Flavour 1Kids Incorporated episode "No Jockos"has a clip where the gang gets an idea for something to get the word out most their ring'south funfair afterwards a famous clown scheduled to appear bankrupt his leg. Even so Stacy, existence the youngest at just 9, doesn't get her light to come on immediately...just eventually it does come up on with even Riley (the soda jerk and the token adult regular) getting ane, resulting in the band performing as the clowns for the carnival themselves.
• Used repeatedly in one episode of That '70s Show. First during a school associates regarding the President'due south visit to boondocks, where the diverse teenagers have actual lightbulbs turn on when one aspect of the speech caught their involvement (for instance, Hyde when the principal mentions that they shouldn't crusade trouble to brand a statement confronting the authorities), culminating when the principal says that they don't like it, they can but leave (at which point the "Leave" sign above Fez's head lights upwardly and he walks out the door).
  • It came back later that aforementioned episode when Red got an idea and the porch light backside him turned on. Played with when he turns around and tells Eric to turn the light off.
• Hannah Montana plays with the trope when Mamaw buys her a goofy hat with lightbulbs in it for an awards show. When she hatches upward a Zany Scheme in mid-conversation in the wardrobe cupboard to convince Mamaw and Aunt Dolly to get along, the hat lights upwards, spooking out Lilly.
• In Dinosaurs when Charlene comes up with the idea that the earth is round a light bulb appears above her head, which is really just Earl fixing the lamp in the groundwork.
  • Same joke happened in Kenan & Kel.
• Kamen Passenger Fourze parodies this. The eponymous hero, Gentaro, has a "Eureka!" Moment during a special test, and every bit a visual, an Astro Switch was shown when the realization hits. Instead of the Flash Switch every bit an appropriate Visual Pun, we instead see the Hand Switch. Probably has something to exercise with Gentaro being an Idiot Hero...
• On Big Bad Beetleborgs, Flabber has Thinking Cap with a lightbulb on peak. When he gets an thought it lights up.
• In an episode of Parks and Recreation in which Ben gets a job at a new function, after a specially clever idea a colleague gets up, stands past the desk lamp behind Ben, and gets him to re-enact the moment he idea of it and so his colleague can switch on the low-cal at the correct moment.
• In the Supernatural episode "What Is And What Should Never Be", Dean sees the light seedling above his head in the warehouse, and he has a revelation. In that location is an electrical whine, and the calorie-free flickers earlier Dean sees himself bound and being drained of claret and realizes he is a victim of the djinn.
• Abby from NCIS might non exist able to summon a lightbulb over her head, but when she comes up with an thought, she still says, "Lightbulb, over the head!"
• Parodied on Jane the Virgin when Michael has an idea just every bit Nadine turns the fluorescent overhead calorie-free on. Lampshaded (heh).

  Narrator: You know that feeling when a neat idea comes to yous? [ding, ding] OK, that was merely a happy coincidence.

• In the Good Eats episode "Use Your Noodle two", host Alton Brown prepares ravioli. At one signal, Alton struggles with existence able to secure a hand-operated pasta machine onto his kitchen counter. Unable to do so, a light seedling turns on over his head, prompting him to apply a run-of-the-manufacturing plant ironing board for his pasta prep procedure.
• Arrow. In the episode "Cleaved Arrow", Ray Palmer shouts "Lightbulb!" as he has a "Eureka!" Moment.

    Music

• Starflyer 59's "Lose My Listen":

  Is there a lightbulb betwixt my ears?
  Could information technology be 'cause I had an thought?

• Inverted in "Song of the Caged Bird" by Lindsey Stirling; the initial lightbulb she finds in a crate by accident gives her the idea of opening the others.

    Theater

• At the Edinburgh Science Festival 2015 strand "The Thought Factory", the lecture theatres were decorated with large lightbulbs with unusually shaped filaments (a microphone, a tuba, a TV set, Vitruvian Man...)
• In a case of What Could Have Been, Mel Brooks reveals in the annotated libretto that originally, in the stage version of The Producers, when Bloom says, "A producer could brand more money with a flop than he could with a hit", a literal lamp was originally going to go on nigh Bialystock in a nod to Silent Picture. Even so, this didn't come up to pass.

    Video Games

• This is 1 of Phoenix Wright's attacks in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom three.
• In Conker's Bad Fur Twenty-four hour period, a lightbulb will appear above Conker's caput whenever he'due south in a context-sensitive area.
• In the SaGa series from the fifth game onward, this was used equally a indicate for whenever a new technique was learned in battle.
• This is an unlockable Emote in RuneScape.
• In Animate being Crossing, when a neighbor gets an thought, a cartoonish lightbulb appears over his/her head. Past talking to psychologist Dr. Shrunk, you lot tin larn to practice this as well.
• Spoofed in Nintendogs; when a puppy gets an idea, you can drag the lightbulb over to her/him, and (s)he'll consume it.
• In The Legendary Starfy, at one point, just earlier she pulls off a trick, Snips gets one of these later on being beaten up past Starly.
• Played with twice in Wallace & Gromit'southward Yard Adventures: The Terminal Resort. Equally Wallace gets an idea in the offset act, a few sparks in the plug backside him go off above his head. In the second act, information technology'due south a lord's day lamp.
• Golden Dominicus has a lightbulb as an emotion chimera.
• Puyo Puyo:
  • In a spinoff game chosen Seriri'southward Happy Altogether, Seriri has a lightbulb appear over her caput.
  • In Puyo Puyo Fever 2, a lite bulb appears in a higher place Amitie when she thinks of a way to go Arle back to her home.
• In the Updated Re-release of Tales of Graces, Tales of Graces f, Pascal gets one in Lineage and Legacies in the Eleth Research Laboratory following the boss fight when the party realizes something is incorrect with Fodra'southward core and she'due south asked if she has any ideas.
• In Touhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade, this is one of Koishi's attacks.
• Lightning Returns: Terminal Fantasy XIII: There is a side quest to find "adornments" for Candice the baton-twirler. When you lot give her some, a bulb lights upward above her head as she has an idea about how to habiliment them.
• Back to the Future: The Game has a variation: Teenage Emmett Dark-brown "invents" ^note In his ain words, he just took an existing machine and dressed it upwardly with attention-grabbing bells and whistles a device called the Mental Alignment Meter, which reads a person's mental responses to sure stimuli and is used to determine if they're an upstanding citizen or a hooligan. The examination involves wearing a leather cap with red, yellow, and green lights which light up when the wearer has a negative, apathetic, or positive attitude respectively. The thespian (as Marty) has to run the M.A.M. test while Emmett isn't paying attention and utilize stimuli such as electric shocks, a song he likes, and smells both pleasant and foul in order to falsely portray Emmett as a bad person, using the lights on the helmet as a guide.
• One of these always presides the Catchphrase of PaRappa the Rapper: "Yeah, I know! I gotta believe!"
• In The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, an anime-fashion idea seedling will sometimes appear over a character's head when they get an idea, such as in Chapter 4 when Emma excuses her talking with her cat, Celine, every bit talking with a friend on her ARCUS unit. It also sometimes shows upwardly when Rean answers a question in class.
• The Witches' Tea Political party: Pictorial Oral communication Bubble animation of a lightbulb lighting up is used by Charlotte when she remembers something, like when remembering that Evangeline met Xaviera before.
• Psychonauts 2 introduces Bad Ideas, monsters that appear in people's mindscapes which resemble blue quadraped critters with backs covered in bright red bulbs. They'll throw these bulbs at Raz, where they explode and deal massive damage (representing ideas that accident up in your face).
• Cute Bite: The "perfers to resolve conflict past wits" option for the vampire is represented by a lite bulb, a.yard.a that her Butler tells her she was feared for her cleverness, back when she was an adult.

    Web Animation

    Webcomics

• In this Guild of the Stick comic, Elan gets an idea and a lit candle appears over his head, and hither a lantern.
• Bob and George uses this when nosotros are introduced to Brilliant Human (who has a huge light seedling built into the top of his head; it'south his weapon) when it comes time to cover Mega Man 4. His showtime full sentence is a bad pun in a slew of already bad puns.
• TwoKinds plays with this by having one graphic symbol'southward hair on burn down and using that equally a replacement lightbulb, cleverly arranging the panels so the fire is out of sight except when he has an idea.
• An energy-efficient example appears in Dandy and Visitor via a meaty fluorescent light.
  • The same is washed in this Dawn's Lexicon Drama strip.
• Virtually the end of the original run of Narbonic, Dave gets an idea ◊ on how to go back together with Helen. Since he'due south simply gone mad, he gets a croaky light bulb.
• Played straight in this page of Gunnerkrigg Court. (The weird shape of the filament turns out to exist an Arc Symbol.)
• Nodwick:
• Brawl in the Family:
• Wapsi Square: Deitzel gets ane of these when he comes upwards with a way to wake up Monica.
• Played with in a strip from Friday four Koma, where the idea warranting a lightbulb is to use the lit bulb to see in the dark.
• Played with in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! Bob is trapped by villains in a small room, and thinks nigh how he desperately needs an thought. And so he glances up and sees in that location'due south an actual mounted lightbulb directly above his caput. He smashes it and escapes in the darkness.
• In Roommates Erik has a time-period appropriate idea candle and Jareth idea crystal.
  • In the Spin-Off Girls Next Door Leia gets an idea lightsaber.
• Sandra and Woo had this several times.
• Some Pokémon Mystery Dungeon comics tend to use this sometimes.
• Guilded Age takes identify in a medieval setting, and then when Frigg gets an idea information technology appears in the grade of her glowing mace.
• Viscous Dilly Buns: The trope is played directly (with added Wingding Eyes), admitting in a rather pocket-size image, when Ruby'south business organization sense (previously something of an Informed Ability) finally kicks in.
• Played rather straight in Questionable Content when Hannelore gets a meaty fluorescent lamp.
• Rusty and Co.: A light seedling with Mimic's lips on it is used to illustrate the troll captain coming to the understanding that the ball he'due south holding, and that require alcohol to dissolve the mimic gum on it, might be the mimic in their opposing sport team. Yes, trolls are slow on the uptake.
• Kat Vance from Sequential Fine art has an incandescent seedling appear above her head in strip #649. Kat and Vanity are being menaced by four evil demons, and must destroy a cursed dagger to banish them forever. Kat's idea is also a Take That! to the creator's favorite target.
• Beeserker features a burning trash can for the Sciencemen'due south suitably bad ideas. The author fifty-fifty mentions that they stole the idea from Beavis and Butthead (see beneath).
• In El Goonish Shive, Sarah gets one when she deduces George's extra grumpy mood is caused by him seeing that Justin has managed to find another gay guy to hook up with and therefore that George is gay and is attracted to Justin.

    Web Original

    Western Animation

• Betty Boop: In 1935, Fleischer Studios introduced a new character, Grampy, in Betty Boop and Grampy (available for download at archive.org). In this and subsequent episodes, when Grampy is called upon to solve a problem for Betty, he puts on his mortarboard Thinking Cap with light seedling mounted on summit. The bulb lights upward when he has the solution.
• Foster's Dwelling for Imaginary Friends, "Cookie Dough": Bloo tries to come up with an thought... and dismisses Bulby, who had snuck upward behind him.
  • "Seeing Red" also parodies this when Terrence is trying to call up of a way to beat upward Mac and Bloo:

  Terrence: That'due south information technology! I need... PIZZA!
  (a flying piece of talking pizza promptly appears side by side to him)
  Pizza: Howdedoo, I love you!
  (Terrence promptly devours information technology as it screams)

• The Simpsons
  • This is oft parodied to reveal Homer's idiotic idea processes. A variation ofttimes has his ideas represented by the antics of a pair of chimps in his skull.
  • The Itchy & Scratchy Show has had the psychotic mouse Itchy actually stab perennial victim cat Scratchy with a broken 1.
  • When Homer realizes he could from a bowling team with Moe and Apu in "Team Homer", pin lights go off over his head.
  • In "Dearest is in the N₂-O₂-Ar-CO₂-Ne-He-CH₄", Professor Frink dismisses his idea bulb considering it wasn't eco-friendly, with a fluorescent bulb actualization in its identify subsequently.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy
  • "High-Heeled Eds": While trying to think up a way to scam Sarah, Nazz and Jimmy, Eddy gets an Thought Bulb, though it flickers out briefly until he adjusts it.
  • In the episode "It Came From Outer Ed," Ed gets an idea for a scam and holds up some turf over his head while proverb, "Boing! Information technology'due south a lightbulb!"
• A broken calorie-free bulb appears oftentimes over Billy's head in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, indicating he's thinking of a really bad idea.
• In an episode of The Fairly OddParents, things get back to Colonial Times, and candles are used in lieu of bulbs. And so, Timmy gives people ideas past belongings candles over their heads. Wax ofttimes falls on the characters' heads, after which they say something along the lines of "I have an idea! ...and wax burns!"
• Similarly, early in the low-tech Avatar: The Final Airbender, when Sokka comes upward with an thought (ane his first instances of later on condign the The Smart Guy) for opening a sophisticated sleeping accommodation door, he has his back to a wall and there is a lantern above his head.
• Beavis and Butt-Caput
  • Sometimes appeared in with the seedling replaced by matches being struck or a manus trying to low-cal a lighter; this was eventually dropped along with Beavis' pyromania to appease Media Watchdogs.
  • Whenever this appeared in later episodes, it was commonly depicted as a small, noisy, flickering bulb (giving the viewers an idea of the soundness of the idea); it apparently had to shatter before the idea could exist verbalized by the character who had come upwardly with information technology. Another time a mushroom cloud was used every bit an equivalent.
• In Darkwing Duck, the villain Megavolt has a literal lightbulb attached to his head, as an indication of his thought processes.
• Animaniacs
  • A calorie-free bulb appears over Yakko'south head at to the lowest degree one time. Wakko promptly ate it, which hilariously resulted in Yakko forgetting the idea he just had.
  • The "Good Idea, Bad Idea" segments.
• In The Pink Panther short, "Psychedelic Pink", the Pink Panther (the cartoon character, not the gem) is trying to read "The Love Life of a Panther (uncensored)". He finds a room with a chair and a lamp. Equally with most light bulbs he encounters when he's trying to practise something, yet, it has a habit of turning off when it's least convenient to plow it on again. He sees a vending motorcar for lights, and having the wrong kind dispenses three times, he gets the idea to use the bulb resulting from the idea as a regular low-cal seedling. It is unknown whether or not it would have worked, though, because information technology gets a quarter-2d of performance before the lampshade falls downwards, causing the residuum of the lamp to disappear.
• In an episode of Duck Dodgers, a lightbulb appears over Dodgers' head when he gets an idea. So he stops explaining his thought to complain to the Cadet that the hologram projector is acting up again.
• In the episode "Rock TV" of Super Mario World, Bowser had 3 lit candles that played the NBC chimes (the show aired there).
• Histeria! played with this in the sketch about the inventor of the lightbulb, Thomas Edison. Throughout the sketch, he tries to think of a proficient invention and a lite bulb appears in a higher place his head with each idea. Later quite a while, Loud Kiddington points it out to him, and he decides to call it "the thing that clicks on over my head when I become an idea." Toast tells him to "lighten upwards" and phone call information technology a lite bulb.
• Secret Squirrel: The supervillain turned off every single light in the world and covered information technology in absolute darkness. Then Squirrel thinks of an idea to become a seedling on his head then he can take some light.
• In The Beatles cartoon "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", the 4 are lost in a jungle with a jeep that stopped working. After applying thought Ringo gets an idea with the cliche bulb over the head paradigm. Grab here is a huge snake appears (it was a worm simply a witch doctor turned into a ophidian) and swallows the bulb! Then the reptile shines a buoy every time it opens its mouth!
• Back to the Future The Animated Series: Physician gets an idea of how to test his new invention. A lightbulb is behind him - but so Doc walks away, revealing he is standing in front of a lamp, which Verne and so switches off.
• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: In "Normal Male child", Jimmy gets an idea, and a lightbulb appears in a higher place his head, which is promptly seized by the Gus the Janitor since a light went out in the teacher'south lounge.
• Heloise on Jimmy Two-Shoes gets one in the Flavor 1 episode "Monster Mutt". It turns into a flame as she puts on a Slasher Smile.
  • Lucius does a variant in "The Product Tester", where instead they appear as Wingding Eyes.
• Lead&J Otter! Whenever a character, usually Jelly, got an idea at the end of a Noodle Dance, a lightbulb would appear. Curiously, though, it would by and large appear off to the left, rather than directly higher up the character'due south head.
• Beetlejuice gets one, but has no idea why information technology'south there. He looks upwards at it and wonders if it means he's gotten an idea.
• In Rocko's Modern Life, Heffer gets an idea, only no bulb appears. He quickly asks Rocko what's the "thought symbol." When Rocko answers that it's a lightbulb actualization over your caput, Heffer actually makes one pop out the pinnacle of his head.
• In one Disney drawing, Chip 'northward Dale are trying to remember of a way to get even with Donald Duck. Dale has and idea, a light bulb appears over his head, and he shows it to Bit, who rejects it. Trying again, Dale comes up with a bigger bulb, which Scrap approves.
• In the VeggieTales episode, "The Star of Christmas," Bob the Lycopersicon esculentum'southward character is wearing a lightbulb on his head that Pa Grape'due south character is trying to go working (It Makes Sense in Context). He then gets a Cheshire Cat Smile equally he hits on a vivid idea. The next instant, the bulb lights up.

  Pa Grape: Ha! Got it! (Beat) What'due south going on?

• In the Will and Dewitt story "You Bet," the frog Dewitt gets an thought, but an Idea Seedling appears over Will's head. Dewitt gripes, "Hey, I'm the 1 who got an idea," swipes the bulb and places it over his head. He then notes "Hey, we're trying to save free energy" and the standard-fashion bulb changes into a CFL.
• On Dexter'due south Laboratory it was parodied with Dexter and Dee Dee getting simultaneous ideas. Dexter's was represented by 2 atoms undergoing fusion and producing light. Dee Dee'south was represented by 2 rocks banging together and making burn. Of course, since the previous is a natural process, while the latter represents one of the first ideas from which all science descends...estimate which program turned out better?
• A student film called "Employee Of The Month" entirely centers effectually this conceit. The Dominate is looking for big ideas — at that place's even a nautical chart for comparison, although virtually of the protagonist'due south ideas don't match up (not even the one he uses to steal his rival's thought, which is bigger than he is). The Stinger reveals that The Boss is a giant moth in a business organisation suit, who wants large ideas because he likes the pretty glowy things.
• Fanboy and Chum Chum: In one episode, Fanboy gets an idea bulb, but information technology burns out. However, Chumchum fixes it by walking upward invisible steps with a new lightbulb, and replaces the burned out one with the new lightbulb.
• In Dan Vs. "The Conservancy Armed services'', Dan demands Chris come with an thought. As Chris gazes beyond the street, a truck for Idea, Inc. drives by, complete with a smiling lightbulb mascot painted on the side.
• Used in an episode of Ruby Gloom when Iris and Misery attempt to recall of ways to get Skullboy's attention (Love spell, long story) a couple of idea candles appear above their heads.
• Justified a couple times in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. ^note (Whether or not the examples are related in-universe isn't specified.)
  • In the episode "Family Appreciation Day", Scootaloo excitedly jumps into the air when she gets an idea of how to get out of Apple Flower bringing Granny Smith to Family Appreciation Twenty-four hours, and she just happens to jostle a lantern hanging over her and turn it on.
  • In "Ane Bad Apple", we find the spot under the lamp is frequently where the CMCs go to think.
• Family unit Guy: Peter gets an idea, a light seedling shows up over his head. He jumps upward, breaks the calorie-free bulb, and gets his face up cutting on the broken glass. He screams in pain and forgets his idea. So he remembers it. Rinse and echo.
• In the Mike, Lu & Og episode "Sparks", Og gets the thought to invent the lightbulb. In this case, his "bulb" is represented by a thought chimera containing a candlestick.
• In the CatDog episode "Dogpower", the titular duo are unable to pay their electricity bill and thus are forced to go without power for awhile. When their housemate Winslow notes Dog being total of free energy whenever he enthusiastically chases things, an inspirational light bulb springs upwards above Cat's caput. However, it promptly goes out, forcing him to picture it with his finger to go on it on, suggesting that their present situation means even visual metaphors are low on power.
• Spongebob Squarepants, episode "SpongeGuard on Duty": Spongebob gets a bright idea and momentarily assumes the shape of a light bulb.
  • In "Krabs vs. Plankton", the seedling pops out of one of SpongeBob's pores.
  • In "Plankton'south Regular", Mr. Krabs' eyestalks turn into lightbulbs when he gets the idea to steal Plankton's chum recipe.
• Hildy from The 7D will oft have a candle appear over her head when she gets an idea.
• Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) has one appearing adjacent to Spidey as he hatches an idea on how to terminate Venom with a symbiote sample. He changes it from an incandescent bulb to a CFL bulb as information technology was "better for the environment".
• On Star vs. the Forces of Evil, the hearts on Star's cheeks plow into lightbulbs when she gets an idea on how to recharge her wand.
• In the Clarence episode "Goldfish Follies", which is a parody of early 1930s cartoons, uses this twice.
  • First, when Clarence gets the idea to proceed his goldfish alive in his mouth, a CFL bulb appears over his caput.
  • The second time, 2 Clarences become 2 bulbs, which when merge into i large bulb.
• Sonic Boom
  • In Don't Gauge Me, Knuckles distracts Eggman's Moth Bot with a lightbulb and pretends it is ane.
  • In No Robots Immune, when Eggman is wondering what to do with the remaining solar energy, a lightbulb on one of the lair screens lights upwardly every bit Eggman gets the idea to power up his robots with the solar energy.
• Tiny Planets: One appears above Bong's head when Bell has a moment of inspiration in "Spring Cleaning".
• Played with in the three-2-1 Penguins! episode "Runaway Pride at Lightstation Kilowatt". When Kevin gets an idea on how to save the Emperor's Pride, a light seedling conflicting lights up side by side to his head.
• In Villainous during an emergency situation, Dr. Flug is scolding his teammates for not post-obit his plans, which promply gives him a new program while he was but below some emergency lights.
• Old, directly to video cartoon Mad Scientist had every bit the plot of one of its episodes the titular demented doctor developing a device intended to cause anything he idea well-nigh to materialize in the real globe. Intended to solve the trouble of misplaced tools, the device worked also well, manifesting pretty much anything the bird-brained scientist happened to retrieve of, from the mundane, to the absurd, to even the abstract. Into this final category fell "ideas" which would start out as low-cal bulbs hovering over the professor's head before adopting anthropomorphic attributes suited to its type. A general idea would gain military machine fatigues before marching off, a big thought would abound to gigantic proportions, and a good idea would sprout wings and a halo while being very helpful. All would retain the lightbulb equally a head though.
• It's a Running Gag on Apple & Onion that every fourth dimension a character gets an idea bulb, they end up interacting with the seedling - getting popped past a bird, replaced by an free energy efficient model, used to replace a existent light bulb, etc.
• 101 Dalmatians: The Series: Lucky gets i in "Barnboozled" when he figures out to drive Cruella out of the barn.
• The Mighty B!: Bessie is surrendered one to save her relaxing hive from her popular peak enemies.
• Piggy Tales: In Pigs at Piece of work E3 "Spiral Upward", the pigs are trying to let become of as much weight as possible. One sus scrofa gets an idea, a lightbulb appears, and so he takes the lightbulb and throws it overboard.

    Real Life

• Oddly enough, the man brain uses about 100 Watts — enough to light i of the largest standard lightbulbs (or several compact florescents). "Luminous beings are we" indeed.
  • Then again, if the brainpower was beingness used to power a lightbulb there wouldn't be enough left to ability the brain...

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdeaBulb

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