Flat What

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Ok, this is the most common thing I write. I've said it 34 times in my notes. Nothing else. Just that single word, followed by a lack of any punctuation. Not a question or an exclamation, just a statement of utter disbelief."

—Mark Reads Twilight

"What."

You've just been witness to something so bizarre, so eye-crossingly stupid (or possibly so mind-crushingly terrifying as to put you beyond the capacity for rational thought), that your brain can no longer put together a more articulate response - and so it settles for a Flat What.

Written as presented, this trope is a Stock Phrase of sorts that uses a single word to speak volumes about how absurd (or absurdly mundane) the situation is, with spoken examples leaning on the inflection in the speaker's voice - or typically a lack thereof: The "flat" part that distinguishes this from the "What?" that signals a standard (or at most somewhat rude) response or a request for clarification, as well as from the more surprised "What?!" that follows something disturbing or surprising. Further contrasts include:

  • "What!?" - Typically the Defensive "What?", used in response to accusatory stares towards the speaker's actions, or as a form of intimidation (e.g. "I'm in your face, what are you going to do about it!?")
  • "WHAT?!" et. al. - The Big "What?" that signals new levels of absurdity, and is also used primarily for comic effect.

Unless someone actually says one in the work, DO NOT list or Pothole this trope on other pages. This is not an Audience Reaction.

Examples of Flat What include:

Anime and Manga

Sayaka:... What.

  • In Toradora!, Ami, Kitamura, and Minorin do a flat what after Ryuuji tells them that he and Taiga are going to run away and get married.
  • In Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (Flunk Punk Rumble in the American release), Izumi reacts this way after the student council finds a necklace that claims to grant three wishes... and Chiba immediately suggests wishing that 5th-period PE get cancelled.
  • In the last episode of Ladies versus Butlers!, after Sernia and Tomomi have had one of their biggest battles ever over a ticket to the amusement park Try Aqualand for a date with Akiharu (won by Sernia), the guy is so Oblivious to Love that he completely misunderstands their enthusiasm, and gives the other ticket to Tomomi as a "sort of consolation prize". Cue absolutely deadpan Flat What from Tomomi, followed by some verbal abuse from most of the named cast, and topped with an earth-shaking double Armor-Piercing Slap from BOTH Tomomi and Sernia.
    • Honestly, Akiharu's an idiot.
  • Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei: This is Nozomu Itoshiki's standard reaction to whatever Kafuka Fuura's most recent, outlandish explanation was.
  • Witch Hunter: This is Tanya's reaction to Tasha being a boy.
  • Russia mixes one of these with a creepy, intense stare when Stalin informs him that the White Sea-Baltic Canal he spent a year breaking his back digging is totally useless.
  • In a recent[when?] Filler/Flash Back episode, Naruto (or, more accurately, one of his shadow clones) has this reaction to Tenten summoning what appears to be thousands of syringes to rain down on him.
  • In Corsair, in the midst of discussing Aura's wish to marry Canale, Ayace decides to bluntly let everyone know that Canale is his lover. While the others' reactions vary from awkwardness to surprise, Aura simply says "...what."
  • Uryuu Minene aka the 9th, a terrorist of some repute, of Mirai Nikki does this when the police officer Nishijima proposes to her. While they were on the run from other police officers. He even has a ring.

Comic Books

  • This is Doctor Nemesis's reaction to an unexpected teleport in the X-Men one-shot Blind Science.
    • In Joss Whedon's Astonishing X Men, Kitty leaves Emma Frost trapped in a cave beneath the Mansion. She then confronts the hooded leader of the new Hellfire club, who lifts the hood to reveal that she's...Emma Frost! She even declares that defeating her, the White Queen (Emma Frost's nom de guerre), won't be as easy as defeating Emma Frost. Kitty's reaction? "Yeahbuwha?"
  • A particularly amusing example from The Invisibles. A Mexican god of death tells to a very young Lord Fanny that she has to give her body/soul to a passage to the next level of her ritual to become a witch. She doesn't want to... so she offers the god a joke. A god of death answering with a flat what its just priceless (mostly because a lot of readers were asking themselves the same).
  • The Devil's response when John Constantine nonchalantly comments that the candles made booze out of holy water. The booze the Devil just drank, and the candles that Constantine promptly kicks over.

Fan Works

Kanda: Hey Allen. You're a bean sprout.
Allen: Your mom's a bean sprout.
Kanda: Your beansprout's a mom!
Allen: ...What.

  • Alphonse and Hohenheim have this reaction [dead link] to Edward's Determinator-style declaration in a doujin.
    • Though in all honesty that should be the reader's reaction to the doujin in general.
  • Given the frequency of positively bizarre crap that happens in the Pokémon fic Brave New World, one can hardly blame Pikachu for reacting this way often. You know it's approaching critical mass when Leo does it though.
  • Happens fairly often in the Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic Skin, more often than not followed by a Big "What?" when the weirdness factor hits critical mass.
  • In the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha fanfic Proper Equipment, Yuuno gives one in response to hearing that his new device Raising Heart is designed for long-range offensive magic. Apparently Mazda, the Scrya clan matriarch who gave it to him, didn't realize that he specialized in defensive and support magic, or that he was actually a boy.
  • Waking to a situation that's already taxing her mind, Keleria is further confused by Ayuri saying she's taken a courier job leading to Stranglethorn Vale.

Keleria blinked, feeling about as intelligent as a suffocating fish, "what."

  • Draco Malfoy has this reaction in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, when told that Harry needed a bit of cash, after using the money he'd stolen from his own Gringotts vault to buy a gift for Hermione Granger. Exactly which part of that the Flat What is in response to is left to the reader.
    • Harry also ends the first chapter with one.
  • In Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns, people occasionally exhibit this reaction when the protagonist issues some strange command, like telling Branka to make golem-sized pickaxes.
  • Continuing the tendency marked by his canon counterpart, Kyon in Kyon: Big Damn Hero gives a Flat What when Haruhi announces that, due to Kyon inadvertently making her believe he was upset with her, she can no longer trust him to put his costume on by himself and asks Yuki to hold him down.
  • In Weekend at Hisao's, hisao has this reaction when one of his old friends explains why he never told him that he's dating Iwanako, the girlfriend he used to have a (mutual) crush on.

Takumi: You were an asshole back then.
Hisao: (Beat) What?

Kisenian: Fiore, go! Kill him! He's shitfaced; it'll be easy.
Fiore: But... he's my lover.
Kisenian: ... What.

Kuwabara: Urameshi... I need you to finger bang me.
Yusuke: What.

Dartz: Here's what we're gunnah do, mayn. We're gonna find Yuu-gay Mowtoe, and we're gunnah take his d?ck.
Rafael: What.

Film

  • The best Flat What in history belongs to Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential when Guy Pearce expresses doubts about the Nite Owl case.
  • Somehow, Buster Keaton manages to pull out one in The General, a silent film. His deadpan face is like a physical Flat What.
  • The Fifth Element: Zorg's response when he learns one of his lackeys failed to take Korben Dallas' spot on the plane.
  • Fight Club: After Jack explains to Marla Singer that Tyler Durden is a separate personality that he's only just been made aware of, she delivers one that manages to be both flat and epic at the same time.
  • Trinity says this to Neo in The Matrix when he says that Morpheus thinks he's something he's not.
  • In National Treasure, Ben responds with this when his dad tells him he doesn't have the Silence Dogood letters.
  • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - this is Diane's initial reaction when Wayne tells her that his shrinking machine zapped their kids. It becomes a sharper "What?!" as she realizes the implications.
  • Equilibrium: The Nethers squad commander, after Preston kills two of his men. With their own shotguns. simultaneously.
  • There's a fantastic Flat What in Team America: World Police after Spottswoode tells Gary that he will have regained his trust if he performs oral sex on him. It Makes Sense in Context... kinda.
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The first evil-ex "boss battle" is already beyond absurd to everyone present in the scene, from Matthew Patel's crashing-in appearance to Scott surprisingly fending him off in fantastical fashion, but when Patel breaks out into a Bollywood-esque number (with demon hipster chicks) in the middle of the fight, a disbelieving Stacy Pilgrim can only manage a "what."
  • Toward the end of Super 8 after Joe is speaking with the Alien, and the Alien sets Joe down very nicely and starts to leave Cary delivers an extremely confounded Flat What.
  • In Full Metal Jacket, an officious The Neidermeyer type Colonel confronts Pvt. Joker about his peace sign necklace and helmet which reads "Born to Kill"

Joker: I'm trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir!
Colonel: What.

  • In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Aragorn does this when Gimli asks him to toss him to the stone bridge leading to the gate of Helm's Deep, claiming that he "cannot jump the distance".
    • This is also Gollum's reaction when Sméagol tells him to "Leave now and never come back!"

Literature

  • Attributed to Richard Nixon as the epigraph to the fourth part of Gravity's Rainbow.
  • In The Zigzag Kid, Nono says "What is this" instead of asking, because he's too shocked to "wrinkle his voice at the end to make a question" when he finds out his friend the Con Man is also his grandfather.
  • The Dresden Files: Harry Dresden occasionally punctuates "what" without a question mark.

Live-Action TV

  • Family Ties: This was Alex P. Keaton's response to Mallory and Nick's decision to get married.
  • Blackadder uses this fairly regularly.
  • Mad Men: Don Draper is fond of this.
  • The Tenth Doctor in second Doctor Who series gets in at least one of these per season. Often combined with a Triple Take.
    • His first use of it may have been in "Army of Ghosts", when the Cyber-Leader reveals the Cybus Cybermen didn't build the Void ship that broke the barrier between universes.
    • Used exquisitely in both "Last of the Time Lords" and the mini-episode "Time Crash" (which reuse the same scene). The hull of an antiquated ship smashes through to the interior of the TARDIS and the Doctor, as any sane man would, responds in surprise. And then repeats himself for emphasis. Finally, upon discovering that the ship is, in fact, the Titanic, he finishes off in a perfectly flat "What."
    • Also used in his first encounter with Donna Noble (at the end of series 2's final episode "Doomsday" and again, when the same scene is replayed at the start of the Christmas Special "The Runaway Bride"), when she suddenly, inexplicably appears out of thin air inside the flying TARDIS and starts berating him.
    • The Eleventh Doctor, too. And Amy.
    • The Fourth Doctor was very fond of saying "what", too.
    • Martha does one in "Gridlock", when she learns that a ten-mile trip on "the motorway" in New New York will take six years.
    • Also young Pond when the Doctor tells her his blue box is a time machine.
  • Hannah Montana uses this at least once an episode
  • In one episode of White Collar, Neal is given tranquilizers and strapped to a bed. When Peter finds him, Neal's still in the bed (singing, no less) even though he freed himself a while ago.

Peter: We gotta get you out of these binds.
Neal: Oh, you mean these? (Raises arms and straps fall to the floor) What.

  • Sam the American Eagle looses a fine one on learning that his requested concerto would be played by The Electric Mayhem.
    • Sam is rather famous for these. He has a particularly beautiful one while reading "The Ant and the Grasshopper"; he reads the traditional Aesop's fable until he reaches the last line:

"And so it was, dear listeners...that the Grasshopper drove his sports car to Florida, and the Ant got stepped on."

  • Cameron Mitchell of SG-1 says "what" with varying inflections so often that he's been accused of using it as his Catch Phrase. Obviously, at least one Flat What has come up.
  • In Skins, Emily launches one when Katie tells her she does have to ask her who she sleeps with.
  • Both forms are running gags on Titus; the flat what is often used by Ken Titus, usually toward an unseen observer of his behavior.
  • Lost has a few of these.
  • Community, right after Jeff telling off Abed's father for trying to control Abed vaguely backfires:

Abed's Dad: Fine! You want to raise him? You raise him! I'm out!
Jeff: What.

  • In Power Rangers Mystic Force, this was Koragg's reaction when Nick rode in to battle on Koragg's own Cool Horse, Catastros. Previously, Koragg had been the only one able to tame and ride Catastros.
  • Frequently, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on their respective shows in response to stupid world events. Mostly American. Mainly caused by their Politicans/Mediamen.
  • Barbara Walters interviewed Herman Cain as one of her most fascinating people of 2011 and gave this when he answered a question about theoretical cabinet positions with he would like to be Secretary of Defense. This from a man who admitted (and demonstrated) he didn't know squat about foreign affairs.
  • Third Watch: After a bad night, Doc does the math on how much they make on each run. Faith's response to the $13.85 is a Flat What.
  • David Letterman tends to quickly bolt out one if he hears something over the course of his show that's weird or otherwise catches him off-guard.
  • Life's Captain Tidwell inverts this amazingly, using the Flat What as his go-to response to other people's reactions to his odd comments.
  • The first half of the two-hour pilot of Firefly features one such moment, when Mal opens up Simon's crate, and finds Simon's cryogenically frozen sister inside. Naked.

Mal: ...huh.

  • At the end of Torchwood: Miracle Day, when the team finds out that because of the blood transfusion, Rex is as immortal as Jack, Jack, Gwen and Rex let out three Flat Whats in a row. Doubles a Call Back to the Doctor Who examples above.
  • In The Booth At the End The Man, normally unflappable, has this reaction to learning that Willem kidnapped and is keeping prisoner the girl he agreed to protect so he could "be the hero."
  • Good Luck Charlie:

Amy: I made Charlie, so, in some way, I made that painting too!
Bob: But honey, by that logic, I made that painting too.
Amy: Oh really? So you carried that painting inside of you for nine months?
Bob: What.

Music

Michael Bolton: (singing) This is the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow. Pirate so brave on the seven seas.
Andy: What.

  • In Eminem's Just Lose It, he tells a male chorus to grab their left nuts to make their right ones jealous. This is their response.

Video Games

  • The Second Life griefing group "W-Hat" takes its name from this.
  • In Recettear, a very flat "What." is spouted by Tear in a pub conversation where a very drunk Charme says, unflinchingly, that she became a thief out of necessity, but eventually grew to like the whole "being a murderous thug" thing..
  • In Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Alice pulls one after being defeated by Remilia in the latter's story.

Remilia Scarlet: To make rain fall, you... control dolls...
Alice Margatroid: What.
Remilia Scarlet: Hey, Sakuya, that makes no sense! Bring up the next!

Kenji: "That blind broad is up to no good; I can feel it in my spleen, man. Her presence is like a dark shadow that's in the way of my great vision. As expected of blind people."
Hisao: "What."

    • And again in Lilly's route:

Kenji: I've confirmed that Lilly is in the Mafia.
Hisao: What.

Hanako: ...Go away.
Hisao: (narrating) ...What?

Web Comics

Parson: Lolwut.

  • 8-Bit Theater uses this a lot, mostly by Black Mage and Sarda (the latter involving an incident that almost completely broke his brain).
  • The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Part of a Running Gag is that whenever something on TV mentions him in some fashion (the infamous "McNinja Burgers" from McDonald's, mayor Goodrich fingering him as the partner in the town's zombie defense system), the titular doctor will spend one brief panel staring at the TV in surprise and saying "What." in the next.
    • Also, this is how Dan McNinja opens his tirade against the pirates in the bar he's hiding in, declaring his intention to burn the place down on the way out.
    • A sort of extended variation of this trope is used for the doctor reacting to how Dan McNinja wound up on fire. "You. Lit. Yourself. On fire. Why did you light yourself on fire." Punctuated as it was in the comic.
    • In the Army of One storyline, Doc's reaction to Franz Rainer defending himself against the McNinja clone horde, taking full advantage of the Inverse Ninja Law.
    • And then there was that time the Doctor was shocked by his own improbable motorbiking skills. This time with no punctuation whatsoever.
    • "Yo ho!" "What."
  • In Hark! A Vagrant, Sucre elicits one of these from Bolivar after suggesting that maybe they shouldn't be fighting for freedom all the time. Which, of course, is a completely incomprehensible idea to Bolivar.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court:
    • Mort the ghost does this one when Annie has her other undead friends scare the bejeebers out of him (as a roundabout way of apologizing) in this strip. (This one is the setup for it.)
    • Haha! What?
  • Mike of CRFH has been known to use it.[context?]
  • The Last Days of Foxhound:

Liquid: Say, huh... Why don't you levitate yourself up here? You can do that.
Psycho Mantis: Couple of reasons. First, it takes a lot of concentration, and getting blown up sort of threw me off a little. Second, there's a stalactite the size of a goddamned baseball bat lodged in my chest.
Vulcan Raven: Stalagmite.
Psycho Mantis: What.

Eirin: Yes, it tastes almost exactly like "Tewi is trying to get me and Mika to pull a prank."
Reisen: What

Dan Shive: I love it when characters say 'what.'

Web Original

  • This is a common response online to signal confusion, bemusement and the like, and is particularly common on forums, Image Boards, social media, or many other online platforms, undergoing various Memetic Mutations all the while. It may be written with or without the period at the end, and may also occur as "wha", "wat", "wut?" or similar; a deliberate lack of punctuation may be used to emphasize the flat tone.
  • The unofficial Aetolia: The Midnight Age wiki has an entire page devoted to this trope here.
  • Pretty much the primary catchphrase of the Goosebumps series review blog, Blogger Beware.
  • Uttered by Ironyuppie in Alternate History: The Series "Casino Imperiale", after she finds out that Landshark beat her nemesis before she could.
  • The RPGNet Hive Mind is fond of "man what" (no punctuation) as a response to any completely brain-spraining statement. This was inspired by and often associated with a certain photograph of Bob Marley,
    • The hive mind seems to have determined it actually came as a response to someone discussing the Inferi from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... to the tune of "The Happy Wanderer" (the "Valderie, Valdera" song). "In-fer-iiiii... in-fer-aaaaaaa..." The first post after that was a prematurely-launched post consisting entirely of "man what"
      • NOTE: The absence of a period at the end of the previous entry is entirely deliberate and proper. The phrase expresses such a profound and utter state of confusion that it eradicates any and all punctuation and grammar within a radius of one post.
  • The Nostalgia Critic's review of Alone in The Dark:

N.C. (Through Speakonia): How did you get in here?
Spoony: I'm from the future.
N.C. (Through Speakonia): What.

Chester A. Bum: And at the end, something happens, but at the same time, nothing happens! What.

NC: Where are we?
NC of the future: The future!
NC: Okay, but...why are we downstairs in the basement?
NC of the future: Oh, it's the only place we can hide to stay away from the seahorses.
NC: Oh, okay.
(Beat)
NC: What.

Tim Curry: They can't fall in love...if they're DEAD!
Nostalgia Chick: What.
[cue noise and running around as the Tim Curry tries to kill Belle and the Beast through the power of dramatic organ music]
Nostalgia Chick: What.
[The Beast throws a piano at organ!Tim Curry]
Nostalgia Chick: What...EVER just end already!

  • Used as a tag on the imagesite Danbooru for those images that make no sense whatsoever. A user was quoted as saying, "Does it make your brain shut down for a second when you see it? Then it's a 'what' picture."
  • In this review of Eversion one reviewer has already written the game off as a generic Super Mario Bros. clone, when the second reviewer casually mentions 'and then there's your power to warp reality to your whims'. The first reviewer's response is of course 'What.'
  • Inventing Swear Words 4 has a good example, right after Stag complains to the GM that every other class is more powerful with him, to which the GM responds with a "What." Made funnier by how Stag then demands that every class be nerfed except his, which is, without even a beat, followed by the GM teleporting him away.
  • Very good one in The Fine Bros.' Kids React to Nyan Cat, at 3:01.
  • Vixen used this to describe a scene from Revolutionary Girl Utena. The scene in question has Utena jump down from a balcony, tear off her own dress to reveal her uniform, take a table cloth from a nearby table, then form a dress to cover her heterosexual life partner Anthy's Wardrobe Malfunction.
  • A staple in the commentaries at The Classic Doctor Who Twitter Blog. Frequently goes hand-in-hand with "Wait." Lots of them.
  • From A Very Potter Musical, Snape's reaction to Cedric's reaction to Snape's House roll call:

Snape: Hufflepuff...
Cedric: FIND!
Snape: What.

  • The page quote is from Mark Reads Twilight, a truly insightful blog not for Twilight fans.
  • In Nakar's Ultima VI Let's Play, during the parodic "cannon"ical ending, Draxinusom utters the Gargish version of this upon seeing the Death Cannon that everyone thought to be Steve's insane hallucination:

Draxinusom: To be saying what.

Blue: ¡El hombre con el sombrero nos envió!
Pink: ¡Él nos cuenta muchas historias asombrosas!
Z: (makes pinging noises)
Blue and Pink: Hohohoho!
Charlie: ...what.

  • On various image-sharing sites, "what" is used as a tag for bizarre, shocking, or absurd images, usually involving physical or anatomical impossibilities. Most Nearly all examples will be NSFW at the least, so seek them out at your own risk.
  • In Freeman's Mind, he says this when he is confronted with an elevator that finally goes up, but is blocked by boxes of explosives.
    • Adrian Shephard in Shephard's Mind does this twelve times in response to unleashing a swarm of snarks.And again:

Jon: I'd be down with a cool black star like that.
Emile: Actually, it's official name is Ztar.
Jon: ...What.

  • On Loading Ready Run's Daily Drop feature at The Escapist, the utter indestructibility of one object lead the captions to declare, "DOES NOT COMPUTE", "SERIOUSLY?" and finally the Flat What.
  • During the production of A Super Mario Thing on the talkhaus forums, this was Raocow's reaction upon discovering that Rule 34 had been made of Demo (the main character of ASMT and Raocow's own creation; a female demon alien minion with no arms, blue hair, and a face composed of a single giant eye).
  • Don't tell my dad!
  • Dragon Ball Abridged gave us a great one: Piccolo and Krillin use the Multi-Form technique to attack Nappa, but Nappa is still able to dodge their attacks. Piccolo ponders what kind of training Nappa had gone through to be so powerful, but Nappa is simply singing Patty-Cake in time to his attacks. Afterwards we get this:

Nappa: Good effort, but I'm still the patty-cake champion!
Piccolo: What.

    • Another one in Episode 16:

Yamcha: What the hell? I waxed off everything! I waxed off your car, I waxed off your house, I even waxed off your monkey!
Piccolo: Okay, I just started paying attention - what.

    • Aaaand Episode 15:

Vegeta: Look at you, Dodoria. You're always so damn proud. And now here you are, crying like a woman!
Dodoria: I am a woman!
Beat
Vegeta: What.

Nail: Learn your place earthling! you have some nerve demanding-
Guru: Here take it.
Nail: I... what.

    • Here's another one from their Bardock Special:

Zarbon: Mm, too bad. And that Bardock was such a dashing rogue.
Dodoria: What.

    • This was also Shenron's reaction in the Christmas Tree of Might Christmas Special when the group summons him and go on about the forest being devastated by fire. Naturally Shenron thinks they want him to restore life to the forest, but Krillin's response that nah, Krillin just wants a great Christmas tree first makes Shenron do a Flat What, then marks his breaking point from being a Benevolent Genie into a Jackass Genie.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanon, Ruby Pinch is the young daughter of the eccentric and alcoholic (yet still loving and highly dedicated) Berry Punch. Due to her mother's strange drunken antics a flat "Wat." became her catchphrase. Then this post on the "Ask Ruby Pinch" tumblr happened, in which Ruby Pinch responded to a bizzare submitted question with a coin with a denomination of "one wat." This rapidly became a reaction image used throughout the fandom, and other versions with higher denominations have appeared for situations where one "wat." is insufficient.

Western Animation

  • Lisa Simpson is fond of this expression. Notably, the episode "Bart's Inner Child" and motivational speaker Brad Goodman:

Brad Goodman: Young man, what made you yell out that remark?
Bart: I dunno...
Brad Goodman: You just wanted to... express yourself, yes?
Bart: I do what I feel like.
Brad Goodman: Why, that's marvelous! 'I do what I feel like'. Ladies and gentlemen... this little boy here is the inner child that I've been talking about.
(Cuts to Lisa, who is wearing an expression of Tranquil Fury.)
Lisa: What.

  • In the second season première of The Venture Brothers, this is the reaction of The Monarch to escaping from prison through the sewers, grasping the arm of what he believes to be one of his henchmen, and finding that it is instead the arm of Doctor Venture (and that the rest of the doctor is elsewhere, due to a teleportation accident.)
  • The Teen Titans episode "Troq". Cyborg and Starfire (well, Cyborg's doing the talking) inform Robin that "Troq" is a very offensive anti-Tamaranian slur (they had been assuming it was just a nickname, as they had all been given one). His Flat What is one of the few times it's not intended to be funny.
    • Robin also gets a Flat What of the second variety in "Apprentice, Part One", as Slade is revealing his We Can Rule Together ploy. Like the first example, it's not very funny.
    • In "Every Dog Has Its Day" when the Titans decide that what they really need to catch the alien dog-thing they're chasing (which has been constantly jumping on Raven and enthusiastically licking her every time it sees her) is "some bait". Raven gives the flattest "...what." you will EVER hear.
  • In The Batman's fourth season premiere, "The Batman/Superman Story", Lex Luthor can only manage a strained "Whaaat" when it becomes clear his plans have been foiled and Superman is hovering just outside of his Humongous Mecha.
  • Kim Possible does this occasionally, such as when she finds out Monique is a huge wrestling fan.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the gang is talking about some strange creature, and Aang simply gives a perfect flat "What."
  • This trope is Butt-Head's immediate reaction to the music video for "Real American" by Rick Derringer.
  • In the later seasons of South Park, the boys' Functional Genre Savvy (especially Stan) has reduced many of their reactions (to ever-increasingly improbable events) to "what."
  • In a "Dial M for Monkey' cartoon on Dexter's Laboratory, the Justice Friends say this after Rasslor's big melodramatic speech.
  • In Total Drama World Tour Noah gives out one of these after watching the Japanese Total Drama Action promo.
  • Bender delivers this after being asked, "Have you any idea how it feels to be a fembot living in a manbot's manputer's world?"
  • The Powerpuff Girls give a flat "say what?" in "Him Diddle Riddle" when they find that they have gone through white heat solving Him's riddles only to fail the last one, and now the Professor will pay...full price for a pancake breakfast.
  • Adventures of the Gummi Bears pulled one or two. Gusto Gummi had carved a wooden statue of a Gummi Bear that artistically parodied the Statue of Liberty, then it promptly got devoured by a super termite. Cue "What."
  • Spike gets one in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic episode "Fall Weather Friends" when Pinkie Pie goes off on a tangent about how grudge rhymes with fudge while the two are announcing for a race.
  • On Daria, when she reads from Trent's journal of song lyrics.

Daria: "My heart is like an open wound/That reads the tea leaves of its doom." What. "Soothe me with redemption's love/Like a heat-proof kitchen glove." God, I hope this is a first draft.

Marceline: Finn, you're like an ant to him.
Finn: Oh yeah? Well, this ant's about to get in his pants.
Marceline: ......What.
Finn: (blushes) Well--You know!

  • In the Phineas and Ferb episode "A Real Boy", Vanessa has this reaction when her father mistakenly says that he wishes he had a son instead of a daughter:

Dr. Doofenschmirtz: What? You're wearing headphones? So you haven't heard a thing I've said all day...
Vanessa: Why do you think I wear the headphones?
Dr. Doofenschmirtz: So you're not mad at me for saying I'd rather have a son than a daughter like you?
Vanessa: What.
Dr. Doofenschmirtz: Oh, nothing, nothing! Just... *puts the headphones back in Vanessa's ears* put these back on... there you go. *leaves*
Vanessa: Whatever.

  • Family Guy: Princess Peach when Mario asks her if he can have a kiss after he rescues her.

What.

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