Care Bear Stare: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
Pretty much the polar opposite of [[Mind Rape]], one character bombards the other character's mind with peace, joy, [[The Power of Love|love]], [[Precious
In some cases may work due to a combination of [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]] and [[Go Mad
▲Pretty much the polar opposite of [[Mind Rape]], one character bombards the other character's mind with peace, joy, [[The Power of Love|love]], [[Precious Puppies|puppies]], [[Everything's Better with Rainbows|rainbows]] [[Tastes Like Diabetes|and other such sweet stuff]]. Generally used by heroes against villains. Will sometimes cause damage to or drive off [[The Heartless]], [[The Undead]], Demons, and other enemies that it's [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|allowed to damage because they don't really count]]/are [[Made of Evil]]. See [[Revive Kills Zombie]]. When used on good guys, may bolster morale and even heal good guys in body and spirit.
▲In some cases may work due to a combination of [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]] and [[Go Mad From the Revelation]]. Can be a practical use of [[Heart Beat-Down|Heart]], and in some cases may even cause a [[Villainous BSOD]] and [[Brainwashing for the Greater Good]].
Compare [[Mental Affair]] (the "adult" version of this), [[Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul]] (no less forceful, but not as overt).
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[[Trope Namer|Named]] for the "attack" used by the ''[[Care Bears]]'', naturally. The [[Fantastic Aesop|moral]] here being: "Never mess with a humanoid bear with a laser cannon in its chest."
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'', Kamille Bidan gave a Mind Hug to Haman Khan, but all it did was tick her off.
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* Hilariously subverted in the ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' anime. After Kyon laments that he'd like to have even a bit of Haruhi's super-confidence, she gives him a '''[[Death Glare]]''' and then supposes she has sent "warm energy" into Kyon's body. Kyon, in his usual [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] attitude replies "No? I felt like my life was in danger.." Nothing else more completely illustrates how out-of-touch Haruhi is with {{spoiler|her own [[Reality Warper|nigh-omnipotence]].}}
** Although, interestingly, once the battle actually started, Kyon got into the game to the point that he was shouting his attack orders at the computer. And really, wouldn't Haruhi think it a bit strange if Kyon had immediately burst into full hot-blooded confidence as soon as she stared him down? [[Fridge Brilliance|A delayed reaction?]]
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* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' has a few attacks that simply "heal" or "purify" monsters or transformed humans. These are spliced in with all the ''lethal'' attacks she uses.
** Sailor Chibi Moon attacks with "Pink Super Heart Attack". In the anime, it rarely works - and when it does, it tends to be more of a nuisance used for humor. She eventually joins Sailor Moon in a ''lethal'' attack during SuperS. And in the manga, [[Little Miss Badass|her attacks are all lethal]] despite having names like [[Heart Is an Awesome Power|"Pink Sugar Heart Attack".]]
* Subverted in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', by {{spoiler|Mukuro's father, who had used her as a sex toy since birth, and threw her out after she had thrown acid on herself to make herself less appealing.}} The mind hug was implanted into her at a very young age, giving her conflicting feelings of joy and happiness with her father whenever there were thoughts of death and revenge, leaving him safe from her, but unprepared for Hiei's attack, who took this situation and made her a "sweet" birthday present, if we read "sweet" to mean "thoughtful, but still some pretty damn creepy." But they're [[Youkai]], so it works.
* Manga example : In ''Majuutsukai no Shojo'', the heroine Kashe gets a mental link to a [[Eldritch Abomination|demon]] that experiences positive emotions as negative and negative as positive and is eating her soul. When she figures this out, she inverts the process and gleefully tortures it into submission by focusing on her good feelings.
* Another manga example: In ''[[Kare Kano]]'' volume 16, Rika and Tsubasa [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/kare_kano/v16/c077/11.html literally] Care Bear Stare {{spoiler|Arima's [[Evil Matriarch|horrid biological mother]]}} into submission.
* In the early episodes of ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' (episode 2 to be exact), Belldandy does this a lot to Keiichi.
* Fans joke about ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha's]]'' attacks being this, to the point that "[[Defeat Means Friendship|befriend]]" has become a synonym for "utterly defeat". ''Multiverse Crisis [[MUSH]]'' has turned it into an [http://multiverse-crisis.wikidot.com/nanoha actual ability:]
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* Tsutomu to Nataru in ''[[Birdy the Mighty]] Decode 02''.
* The "Love Beam" was the specialty of Getalong in [[Flint the Time Detective]]. It helped calm down berserk Time Shifters, and occasionally prevent other fights/arguments from happening.
* The title character's [[Magic Dance|dancing]] seems to do something like this in ''[[Princess Tutu]]''.
* The various Forte/Fortissimo attacks from ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'' are like this, as the attacks end up purifying the Heart Flowers of an affected human, freeing them from their problems. Erika Kurumi/Cure Marine has the dubious honor of being hit with it twice, the second time showing that it does bring about a calming effect on them and when a Giant Snackie is hit with one, he just turns his suit white, but he still works for the bad guys.
* The manga version of ''[[Trigun]]'' features an incredibly long climax whose final resolution involves [[The Messiah|Vash]] giving every plant on the planet, in the form of [[Evil Twin|Knives']] [[Body Horror]] collective thing, a
** It affects Knives, too. {{spoiler|He apologizes, and apparently dies. But later-apparently he had just enough energy left to pull together a human form, and get a [[Nice Hat]] to spend his final years wearing. He doesn't tell Vash.}}
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** It must be said he killed said Bliss-bringer by {{spoiler|'''KICKING CAPTAIN AMERICA IN THE BALLS'''}}
*** Well, that's certainly... an [[Crowning Moment of Funny|effective method]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|for Deadpool.]]
* In the ''[[Maximum Carnage]]'' crossover, [[Spider-Man]] and his friends built a
* Zatanna once used the [[Mind Hug]] in order to ''[[Mind Rape]]'' someone. She "reprogrammed" Doctor Light, a vicious rapist, trying to pull out a good side that wasn't really there. What she succeeded in doing was creating an inept villain, but the idea was there.
** Depending on your interpretation she either had slightly more success or ''much'' greater failure when she attempted the same thing in the pages of [[The Flash]]. Barry Allen asked her to try to make The Top, a recurring villain of his, an actual ''hero''. It worked, at first. But Top now had a conscience and couldn't deal with the horrible things he had done. He went nuts and started trying to do the same to other Flash villains. It didn't end well.
* In ''[[Lucifer (
* Used by name on Illyria in [[Angel]]: After the Fall.
** To be more precise the psychic floating fish Betta George flooded Illyria's original form with Wesley and Spike's memories of Fred.
* In ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' Professor X has used his psychic powers to deliver a super mind hug, built of all the positive thoughts he could find to drive off [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]].
** He did it again in The [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate Universe]] to stun Gah Lak Tus.
* In a Manga version of ''[[Star Trek: The
** This differs from his [[Boldly Coming|usual approach to First Contact]], how?
* Noora in ''[[The 99]]'' has the power to shine light at people, making them see their own inner darkness and feel guilt. [[Meaningful Name|Not coincidentally, "noor" means "light" in Arabic.]]
* In ''[[Green Lantern]]'', the Indigo Tribe is made up of reformed villains whose rings provide them with a compassionate outlook... in many cases, not entirely willingly. When the rings come off... hoo, boy.
** The recent storyline is currently dealing with [[Death
* In the eleven part "Black Ring" storyline in ''[[Action Comics]]'' (specifically, issues #890-#900), [[Lex Luthor]] releases the Zone Child (a creature that intended to purge all negative emotion from the universe) from the Phantom Zone and defeats it. He gains its full power and proceeds to use it as the Zone Child would. We then get a montage of [[The DCU]] (the ''entirety'' of it) experiencing eternal bliss. Luthor learns that he can only keep his newfound power as long as he doesn't do anything negative, [[Status Quo Is God|so of course]], he tried to kill [[Superman]]. This led to [[The Joker]] commenting about how Luthor, with his pettiness, squandered the ultimate power to do good.
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* In ''[[Ghostbusters]] 2'', the team are able to channel the positive emotions of New Yorkers to weaken Vigo the Carpathian's hate-slime by coating the interior of the Statue of Liberty with positively-charged slime and getting her to walk by playing "Higher and Higher". Once inside the museum they're able to release Janosz from Vigo's power by spraying him with mood slime.
* ''[[Little Nicky]]''.
{{quote|
[shoots rainbows out of hands and group of bunnies appear]
'''Nicky:''' Yes, they're furry.
'''Demon:''' Bunny, Bunny, Bunny, Bunny! }}
* Charles in ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men: First Class]]'' uses his telepathy to help Erik recall a happy memory to unlock his full potential of his powers.
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* At the end of Madeline L'Engle's novel ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]'', Meg Murray's brother Charles Wallace has been converted to evil by the being called IT. She frees him by concentrating on and expressing her love for him.
** She PONDERED doing it to 'IT'... but she found that impossible.
* ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]''. Not intentionally done by the citizens of Whoville, but probably the definitive example of this trope.
* Something like this happens to {{spoiler|Wendy Nogard}} in ''[[Wayside School]] Gets A Little Stranger'' when she tries to use her evil telepathic powers on Mrs. Jewls' baby: {{spoiler|"Babies don't think in words. Miss Nogard heard pure love. And trust. And faith. With no words to get in the way. It was a love so strong that it dissolved away all the bitterness that had been caked around her heart."}}
* Happened in the conclusion of ''The Witch Returns''. The villain is finally defeated when the entire family of the protagonists gathers in a circle around her and assaults
* Something similar is used in ''[[The Wish List]]'', also by Eoin Colfer. Apparently, whenever an act of perfect good is performed, it sets off an explosion in the spiritual plane that leaves ghosts unaffected, but has the same effect as a nuclear bomb on demons, not to mention that it leaves a nice scent around them when they end up splattered back in Hell.
* The title character in ''Lord Valentine's Castle'' does this. Actually, [[Robert Silverberg]] is fond of this trope in general.
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* Dameon in ''The [[Obernewtyn Chronicles]]'' and other Empaths are able to bathe people in feelings of calm, love, comfort etc. This just as well for the emotionally repressed protagonist.
* In ''[[Sword of Truth]]'', magical healing works by sharing the pain of the healed. When someone is affected by an ailment of the soul, the healer has to link his own soul with theirs. This is described as being much more intimate than sex, though not erotic in any way.
* At the climax of the ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' novel, The Deacon's Tale, {{spoiler|The Deacon has Cai Rui's love for his mentor and Iishi's love for his mate telepathically forced into his mind, awakening the atrophied parts of his mind that deal with love and kindness}}. This is made all the more jarring by the recipient's nature as member of a species who consider mind rape as a healthy form of social interaction, and the
** According to the game's sequel, he got better. {{spoiler|So much better, in fact, he ended up [[Heel Face Turn|rebelling against The Great Masters]] and became responsible for a ''[[Strange Bedfellows|liir-zuul alliance]]''.}}
* In the ''[[Animorphs]]'' series, Jake morphs into a Howler, a member of the foottrooper race of the [[Big Bad|Crayak]] built to do nothing but have fun destroying and murdering. When Jake learns that all Howlers ever created share a hivemind, he begins pushing all of his memories of love and kindness into it. The end result is that the next time the Howlers are sent to destroy a planet, they try kissing everyone instead.
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* ''[[Futurological Congress]]'' by [[Stanislaw Lem]] features special drugs benignators that cause severe feats of tenderness and love in humans.
* [[Night World]] series: Maggie does this to {{spoiler|Delos}}. She takes a romp through his head and kisses happiness and light into the darkness. It's not nearly so [[Tastes Like Diabetes|sickly sweet]] as that makes it sound.
* ''[[The Last Dove]]'': the Doves, particularly Queen Vasi, have the ability to defuse tension and make people feel at ease.
== Live Action TV ==
* Not exactly a mind hug, but in ''[[Star Trek:
** In ''[[Star Trek: The
* Inverted in ''[[Star Trek: The
* The ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' finale "[[Crisis Crossover|Countdown to Destruction]]" had the Red Ranger destroy Zordon's chamber, unleashing his goodness on all the bad guys currently battling. Monsters were turned to dust, humanoid villains were all turned good.
* In ''[[Angel]]'''s third season, post-[[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]] Connor gets a
** Although later developments suggest it might have been something a little more sinister. After all, it's not like Connor's demeanor towards anyone else improved as a result.
* The cult variant (see ''[[Real Life]]'' below) featured in the ''[[Strangers with Candy]]'' two-parter "Blank Stare". It works on Jerri - and when they try it on Chuck, who has supposedly come to rescue her, all it takes is the words "Do you need someone to love you?" before he breaks down crying and gives in.
* One episode of ''[[Bewitched]]'' involved aliens visiting Earth and threatening the neighbors with their terrifying N-
* The Doctor pulls this one with a deranged Elizabethan mental patient in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Shakespeare Code".
** The Doctor also frequently uses positive emotions (or ''any'' emotions) against the Cybermen.
* Stark from ''[[Farscape]]'' can psychically transmit memories, making him ideal for calming down those in pain or distress. {{spoiler|He's also very good at helping the dying to cross over.}}
** The Eidolons are legendary for their Care Bare Stare: quite simply, it's a calming aura used to make individuals "see reason," powerful enough to have [[Magnificent Bastard|Scorpius]], [[The Hero|Crichton]], and [[Big Bad|Emperor Staleek]] cheerfully sitting around a table discussing the terms of a Peace Treaty.
* Annie from ''[[Community]]'' has a will
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== Music ==
* In [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WgT9gy4zQA "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny"] by [[Lemon Demon]], [[Jackie Chan]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]] are struck by an instance of the [[Trope Namer]] when they collide in midair over [[Transformers|Optimus Prime]].
== Tabletop Games ==
* Compel Emotion in ''[[GURPS]]: Magic'' can be used to compel happiness or peace. Ecstasy is a more malicious variant used to incapacitate the target.
* In ''[[Dungeons
* The ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card "[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129667 Pacifism]" essentially disables opponent creatures by making them too peaceful to attack or block.
* The Emotion Control power in ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' can be used in this manner.
== Theater ==
* [[Depending on the Writer|Depending on the director]], this can happen at the end of Mozart's opera ''[[The Magic Flute]]'', when the Queen of the Night is destroyed by the appearance of a family united in love.
* At the end of ''[[Pokémon Live]]'', Mewtwo uses his [[Psychic Powers]] to use Ash's pure heart to do this to "Mechamewtwo", the robot super-Pokémon that Giovanni created as his new superweapon after creating Mewtwo backfired on him.
== Video Games ==
* James did this to Dolores in ''[[Zone of the Enders]] Dolores i'' when she had a [[Heroic BSOD]] via [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]]. Appropriate, considering she's a [[Robot Girl]].
* All three ''[[
* Lenneth Valkyrie, of ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'', can use the experience gained by her Einherjar to increase their virtues and reduce their vices to increase their individual [[Karma Meter|"Hero" rating]].
* [[Disgaea|Laharl]] is subjected to one of these in the form of sexually attractive women spouting optimistic phrases. Given his aversion and (literal) allergy to the aforementioned, his stats are cut in half for the next fight. Flonne spouting "eternal love!" didn't help at all.
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* In the Demonflame adventure pack for ''[[Champions Online]]'', you force a demon into temporary servitude. After you rescue some children, it uses the happy thoughts of those children to destroy a magical barrier. Before doing this, the demon informs you that "Regrettably, it will not harm the children."
* ''[[King Of Dragon Pass]]'' has what players have nicknamed the Chalana Arroy Peace Bomb. An inaccurate summary is that a clan pools its magical power to send one of its members back to the world's creation, where she (re)performs one of the great deeds of that age. By affecting the creation, she [[Rewriting Reality|Rewrites Reality]] in the present. One deed basically consists of healing everything in sight, so a good enough healer can spam it until everything is sunshine and puppies.
* A literal Care Bear Stare is apparently used as a weapon, similarly to the XKCD example, during the original [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (
* Another literal example of a Care Bear Stare being parodied in [http://batfee.deviantart.com/art/Twilight-Sparkle-92552798 this] ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' comic.
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*** Or an intentional parody? Given that it comes from the Virtue Bear's butts in the form of [[Fartillery|a fart]], probably the latter.
* Subverted in an ''[[Xkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/146/ strip]; this "Care Bear Stare" is an energy blast that knocks the target down, and the black hat is a long-established identifier of the strip's "[[Jerkass]]" character. [[Word of God]] says that he got this power from ''[[Made From Real Girl Scouts|eating Care Bears]]''.
* In ''[[Nodwick]]''
** Also, a [http://comic.nodwick
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'':
** [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050418 Calming pies].
** The effects of Agatha Heterodyne's "perfect" coffee. Except on other [[Mad Scientist|Sparks]] who are more overall resistant than normal people, and Jaegermonsters, for whom it's just Verra Gud Coffee, Vit A Nize Kick (he was beaten with a wrench while drinking it). She did say she could "fix that" after seeing the initial euphoria, so while the Spark could be resistant, she could also have toned it down....
* In the Superhero arc of ''[[Dragon Tails]]'', Lemuel becomes a villain named Sparkles with the superpower of "Happiness Sparkles", in an attempt to pacify his enemies. It doesn't work particularly well - all it does is make them feel rather happy about beating the snot out of him.
* ''[[Something
* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-01-28 This] ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' strip subverts it to the point of [[Nightmare Fuel]] (continued two comics later).
** Later an Immortal used a heavy assault Care Bear Stare called a [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-09 Serenity Spell] as an emergency [[Instant Sedation]] for a magic-user going bananas.
* Subverted in ''[[8-Bit Theater
* ''[[Dark Legacy Comics]]'' in [http://www.darklegacycomics.com/251.html
== Western Animation ==
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** ''[[The Care Bears Movie]]'' has it used to stop an evil spell, but it's not enough to stop the villain. That takes [[The Power of Friendship]].
* Maguro from ''[[Sushi Pack]]'' frequently uses her telepathic powers to share zen thoughts when an antagonist needs to calm down. In one instance, she used this on her own team mates to make them follow a course of action that they did not agree with.
* In ''[[The Fairly
** {{spoiler|Until they learn they taste like manure, said aliens' most loved delicacy, at which point they proceed to eat them.}}
** A greater example is shown in "Wishology" as {{spoiler|the Darkness is defeated by blasting it with a celestial smile, turning it into the Kindness}}.
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== Real Life ==
* Love bombing. This practice is frequently used by cult members on potential recruits. The cult focuses on showing up as affable, joyful, giving, and attentive, with the intent to convince the "bombed" one into joining the cult. (See http://www.rationalrevelation.com/tr/lovebomb.html )
* Studies have shown that humans who have animals in their lives have lower stress levels.
* It's debatable how [[Real Life]] it actually is, but if you take the author of [[The Men Who Stare at Goats]] at his word, a number of U.S. military personnel were involved in trying to create a military unit too cute and cuddly for enemies to shoot. Standard field issue would include cute animals and flowers, and soldiers would learn how to project positive thoughts at the enemy. The theory was (as far as we know) never put into practice in actual combat situations.
** And would almost certainly not have been effective, since most modern warfare is done with neither side seeing the other without electronic aid, not to mention what is cute and cuddly in one culture will almost certainly squick or just confuse those from another.
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[[Category:Love Tropes]]
[[Category:Sublime Rhyme]]
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