Mind Control Device: Difference between revisions

[[File:hypnoduck_1555hypnoduck 1555.jpg|link=Disney Ducks Comic Universe|frame]]

This is the device that the villain (usually) will use to keep the hero, townspeople, or Mr/Mrs. Random Supporting Character in thrall. It has been used countless times in stories across many different types of media. [[The Grand List of Overused SciScience Fiction Clichés/Section III: Overused story events Fiand Plotplot Devicesdevices|Plot Device]], [[MacGuffin]], and even a key part of a [[Very Special Episode]].

That sword you just picked up? ''[[War CraftWarcraft|Hope you like being a slave to the evil overlord]].''

That mask that looks so good on you? ''[[The Mask (Comic Bookcomics)|Hope you can control the demonic power inside]].''

== Anime &and Manga ==

** Chibi Moon (Rini) -- Wiseman{{context|reason=What sort of device was used?}}

* Shampoo of ''[[Ranma One Half½]]'' uses hypnotic pressure points, mind-control mushrooms, and memory-erasing shampoo at various points to further her sinister plots. The plots usually don't work, the items/techniques work flawlessly. Not only that, in the final story arc she is ''imprisoned'' in a ''mind-control egg'' and emerges the slave of the bad guys.

* The Consideration Console in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] StrikerS]]''. Implanted in {{spoiler|Lutecia}} by [[Mad Scientist|Jail Scaglietti]] so that someone like [[Smug Snake|Quattro]] could [[Villain Override|override her thoughts]] should the need arise.

* In two episodes of ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'', the Galactor organization uses a mind-warping ray to turn innocent civilians into murderous, rioting mobs.

* [[Marvel Universe|The Marvel Universe]] has the Serpent Crown, a mind control device used to channel the power of Set, an [[Eldritch Abomination|Elder God]]. Many [[Superhero|superheroessuperhero]]es have fought villains attempting to conquer the world in the thrall of Set.

** The Squadron themselves have been mind-controlled often enough that it's been [[Lampshaded]] both in comics (an issue of ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' claims that whenever they run into the Squadron, they assume that they're mind-controlled and about to attack until proven otherwise) and in [[Role -Playing Game|games]] (the ''Marvel Saga'' rpg stats for Squadron members list susceptibility to mind-control powers among their weaknesses).

* Actually kind of subverted in the ''[[Donald Duck]]'' comic ''The Hypno Gun'' by [[Carl Barks]], from which the page picture is taken. The titular hypno gun is in fact just a harmless toy gun that Huey, Dewey and Louie ''pretend'' to hypnotize one another with... however, Donald, overhearing them, thinks that it's a ''real'' hypno gun. Donald is, in fact so convinced that the hypno gun works that it actually ''does'' work on him, even if it doesn't work on anyone else.

* [[Named Weapon|Brox's Kiss]], the hot pink short sword, in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]''. It works only on people of the opposite sex from the wielder. Besides being used on both John and Paul at different times, it was used to take control of a bunch of men in a crazy scheme to invade Ketafa. Paul [[Super Strength|snaps it over his knee]] at the end of the book.

* Possibly, the pokeballs in [[New World (Fanfic)|New World]]. When a Pokemon is caught in one, they are mentally compelled to do whatever the trainer instructs them to do. It is implied that their name acts as an implanted trigger word.

* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', Jafar [[Hypno Ray|hypnotizes people]] with the eyes of his magical cobra head staff.

* The gigantic hypnotic spinning wheel from ''[[The Incredibly Strange Creatures]]''.

* Let's also not forget the Neuraliser from ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men In Bl]]''-- *flash* Forget what?

* The first ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]'' film had this as the main weapon of the villains.

* In the ''[[Wild Wild West (Filmfilm)|Wild Wild West]]'' movie, Artemus Gordon uses one to gain information about the [[Big Bad]]'s plans.

* This is the invaders' sole weapon in ''[[Aliens in Thethe Attic]]''.

* Subverted in ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]'' with the Penguin's spiral-patterned umbrella:

{{quote| '''Maximillian 'Max' Shreck:''' What is that supposed to do? Hypnotize me?<br />

* In ''[[Flash Gordon (Filmfilm)|Flash Gordon]]'' the Emperor Ming [[Hypnotize the Princess|hypnotizes Dale Arden]] with his ring.

* In the later ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Honor Harrington]]'' novels, a rogue planet of eugenicists called Mesa develops a nano-virus that is capable of compelling behavior out of its victims. It is used several times to stage assassinations and get rid of key enemies and is notable in the series for being initially dismissed as impossible because they've had mind control tech for centuries but every military has its people protected against it.

* Trombophone Music in ''[[The City of Dreaming Books (Literature)|The City of Dreaming Books]]''. While we see a taste of it early in the novel, exactly how powerful it is doesn't become apparent until the very end.

* ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' has an episode where the villain who has befriended Emma Peel, offers her a watch as a gift. Unfortunately it essentially turns her into a puppet. It is a relatively dark episode since the villain poses as her friend and there is a hint that Emma is attracted to him.

** ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. Homaged in the ''Captain Proton'' holodeck program in "Thirty Days". The Twin Mistresses of Evil (played by the famous Delaney twins) have Buster Kincaid (played by Harry Kim) chained up so they can use the terrible Brain Probe, which they promise will turn him into their grovelling slave. Harry does not seem particularly adverse to the idea.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' does it for real on occasion. In ''Dagger of the Mind,'' a "hospital" basically zombifies people with a hypno-spinny-thingy. Trying to remember what happened to you, let alone tell others, causes increasing pain and eventually death. However, brainwashing in ''Trek'' usually takes the form of [[More Than Mind Control]], psychic manipulation, etc.

** And then there's the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode "The Game" where a simple [[Puzzle Game]] takes over the psyches of the crew. (Think of it as an allegory of what would happen if ''[[Angry Birds]]'' or ''[[Zuma (Video Game)|Zuma]]'' was created with evil intent -- ifintent—if such a thought really is a stretch.) {{spoiler|Fortunately, [[The Wesley|Wesley Crusher]] makes a guest appearance just in time to save the day.}}

* Several different varieties turned up during the original run of ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''; sometimes it was even the Doctor himself using them.

* ''[[The Daily Show]]'': If Karl Rove gives you a cookie, ''[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=209408&title=Chris-Wallace don't eat it.]''

* One of these is used in ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]''. It only controls the body, giving a rather interesting discussion between victim and targets.

* Used comedicallycomedicly (of course) in ''[[All That]]'', with Hypnopants, the evil villain with hypnotic pants. {{spoiler|At least once he was beaten by Boring Man [[Literal Metaphor|boring the pants off him]].}}

* ''[[Perfect Strangers]]'': In a Halloween episode, Larry dreams that Balki is an alien who possesses people with his embroidered vests.

** The Great/Noble "Mask of Mind Control" allows the wearer to [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|control the minds of others]].

* Heroic version: ''[[Little KingsKing's Story]]'' for the Wii from the makers of ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' features a little boy finding a magical crown that commands the obedience of all around him.

* ''[[Command and Conquer|Command & Conquer]]'' features mind control with Yuri in ''Red Alert 2'' and more elaborately in the ''Yuri's Revenge'' expansion pack. Units change side (and color) and start fighting against you so long the mind control guys are alive and not controlling someone else instead. Furthermore there are two kinds of mind control: direct, [[Puppet Master|puppet master]] mind control that involves units temporarily commandeering others and less specific, broadcasting Psychic Beacon mind control culminating in the Psychic Dominator doomsday devices that {{spoiler|won the game for Yuri half a minute into the opening cinematic if not for both a lucky fighter crashing into a Dominator power source and Einstein conveniently pulling a functional time machine pretty much from hammerspace.}}

* Arthas' sword Frostmourne in ''[[War CraftWarcraft]] III'' is a tool of mind control.

* You, the [[Brain In Aa Jar]] in ''[[Cortex Command]]'', use this to control units. Good thing too, since so far, the AI is pretty darned dumb.

* The {{spoiler|O-pins}} in ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' {{spoiler|are used by the [[Big Bad|Conductor of Shibuya]] as part of an [[Assimilation Plot]].}} Luckily for {{spoiler|Neku, [[Chekhov's Gun|both of his Player Pins]]}} negate the mind control, since {{spoiler|they were made by the Conductor's superior, the Composer.}}

* In the ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' game ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'', the magic tattoo version of this from the novel ''Azure Bonds'' (see Literature) has apparently been licensed out to various evil organizations. The main quest involves the PCs freeing themselves from azure bonds placed by [[Villain Team-Up|five evil organizations]] who usually don't work together.

* The Chips implanted in the world population in ''[[Syndicate (Video Game)|Syndicate]] Wars'', allowing the connected UTOPIA network to alter the subjects perception of reality.

** ''Terror From the Deep'' replaces psionics with a strange technology called "Molecular Control", which uses mind control implants to direct the aliens by some unknown means.

* ''[[Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden]]'' put this to immediate use at the start of the series, giving us a chance to watch the turtles try to kill each other, bringing their emotional hot spots to the forefront, and allowing the viewers to realize that with this much blood and agony, the webcomic certainly isn't going to be as kid-friendly as [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|the cartoon]].

* The "slaver wasps" from ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]''.

* So-called "turn-masks" in ''[[A Tale of Fiction]]'' make monsters and magique-wielders fight for the tyrannical [[The Empire|DUF]] when placed upon their faces.

* [[The Spoony Experiment (Web Video)|Dr. Insano]] has apparently also built a "Neuraliser" that sends messages like "Obey Dr. Insano". It has never been shown in operation, though, but that didn't stop the fandom from having a field day with it. There is also [[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Linkara's]] [[Buffy-Speak|brainwashing/subliminal message machine-thingey.]]

** "Dr. D's Brainwashing Shampoo and Cranium Rinse."

* Mad Mod's hypno-screens from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]''.

* Deadeye from ''[[Chop Socky Chooks]]''.

* The Hypno-Ray from several episodes of ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: (Animation)Boy Genius|Jimmy Neutron]]''.

* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' used one of those spinning things to brainwash everyone in the cul-de-sac in the episode "Look Into My Eds". Then the Kanker Sisters got their hands on it...

* Sublimino's pocketwatch in ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]''.

* In ''[[Code Lyoko (Animation)|Code Lyoko]]'', XANA control ordinary people through his specters on Earth, or the heroes with the Scyphozoa on Lyoko. He's been known to use other tricks, like tampering with [[Cell Phone|cell phones]] to make people [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], or sending a [[Hypno Trinket]] to Aelita by disguising it as a Valentine's gift from Jérémie.

* In his debut episode of ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'', Plankton enters Spongebob's head and implants his brain with a mind control device to make him steal a Krabby Patty. It almost works, despite Spongebob's constant attempts to resist.

** Plankton succeeds in even more spectacular fashion in the film, when he gives away mind control devices disguised as Chum Bucket helmets and brainwashes the entire town. His control is broken by means of {{spoiler|[[The Power of Rock]]}}. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|Yes, it is awesome]].

* Used often in ''[[Codename Kids Next Door (Animation)|Codename: Kids Next Door]]''.

* ''[[Quack Pack (Animation)|Quack Pack]]'': Huey duck sets off for the dentist, but winds up instead subject for an evil scientist, who accidentally equips the duck with the bio-remote the big bad needed to use to conquer the world. As the headgear gives Huey the near-infinite power of mind control, Huey becomes mad with power and makes himself emperor of the world by forcing the populace to worship him, but realizes he's still miserable. Played for laughs but still a WHAT THE HELL HERO? moment.

* ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'': Appeared in both episodes, "Walk This Way", and "G is For Garbage", as a mystical horn that hypnotized its victims into trance-marchers who did anything they could by those who possessed it. However, the horn must be pointed directly at the victim for it to work. Hypnotizes nearly all the girls into doing the villain's bidding in the second episode.

* ''[[Sonic theSat Hedgehog (TV)AM|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': In one episode, Robotnik uses a stolen crystal computer's "submission spell" to control Princess Acorn and Bunny.

* ''[[Lilo and& Stitch: The Series]]'': Lilo uses a centipede-like experiment named Checkers capable of giving the user who wears it command over all living creatures, to make the town worship her as their queen and make Murtle and her friends build her the locust moat she wanted after they rejected her idea earlier. Although, the victims retain their personalities but are completely under the wearer's power. Eventually, Lilo learns the error of her ways when she finds that Murtle has imprisoned most of the townspeople for the slightest infractions. When Lilo decided to step down, Gantu took Checkers and was in power until Stitch, who was immune to its powers, gathered several experiments to help overthrow him.

* ''[[My Gym PartnersPartner's a Monkey]]'': When Jake finds a diamond doorknob, he discovers its power when all of his animal classmates (except human Adam) become enchanted with the item because of how shiny it is.

{{quote| '''Everyone:''' ''[[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny.]]'' }}

* ''[[Underdog (Animationanimation)|Underdog]]'': Simon Bar Sinister replaces phone booths with "phony booths" that enslave anyone who uses them (including, inevitably, Underdog himself).

* This is pretty much the Mad Hatter's schtick in ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]''. When he did it to mice, it was cute and scientific. When he did it to a female co-worker named Alice on whom he had a huge unrequited crush, it became creepy and stalkerish, but he relented and let her go when Batman called him out on it.

* In the ''[[Mega Man (Animationanimation)|Mega Man]]'' cartoon, Dr. Wily has a handheld reprogrammer that can also turn off robots. This gets a [[Call Back]] in a later episode when Tar of the Lion Men uses it to reprogram Protoman, Roll, and the rest of Wily's robots to serve him.

* [[wikipedia:MK-ULTRA|Project MK-ULTRA.]]

* A popular [[Conspiracy Theory]] holds that blood drives are a "cover" for implanting mind control chips, and the secret was blown when someone ran a stud finder over his arm and found the chip. The [[Myth BustersMythBusters]] showed that you ''can'' detect a microchip implanted under the skin with a stud finder (they borrowed a dog with an ID chip to practice), but found no chips in either Jamie or Adam after a trip to the Red Cross.

[[Category:Tropes Examined Byby the Mythbusters]]

[[Category:Mind Manipulation Tropes]]

[[Category:Mind Control Device{{PAGENAME}}]]