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Mind Game Ship: Difference between revisions
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There's this one person. They're not very nice, although they're probably very [[Affably Evil|polite]], and they can be very [[Casanova|charming]]... in their own way. The thing is, they like [[Manipulative Bastard|playing with your mind]] a lot. They like [[Flaw Exploitation|pushing your buttons]] for kicks, and [[The Chessmaster|playing you like a puppet]] in some kind of elaborate game.
For some reason, they've got a [[Stalker with a Crush|special interest]] in playing someone in particular. Maybe that someone is especially [[The Woobie|pure and innocent]], at the start, in which case they can expect their personality to be [[Break the Cutie|broken]] or at least [[Corrupt the Cutie|corrupted]]. Maybe that someone is seen by the [[Manipulative Bastard]] as a [[Worthy Opponent]] and even a [[Bastard Understudy|potential player]] themselves, in which case there will soon be [[Gambit Pileup]] in the future. [[The Svengali]] will tend to have this kind of relationship to their protege(s).
In any case, for [[Fan Girl|some]] people in the audience, they find all those mind games kind of [[Fetish Fuel|sexy]]. Could be the [[Stockholm Syndrome]] kicking in, or having a too literal interpretation of the expression "[[Mind Screw]]" or could be the fact that getting to know someone well enough to play with their mind that way is kind of... intimate. And an excellent fodder for [[Dark Fic|Dark Fics]].
Usually a subtrope of [[Foe Yay]]. Not to be confused with the [[Mind Screw]] (where it's the author who screws with the mind of the audience). May result in [[Stockholm Shnozzing]], but not always. Not Related to [[Mind Game]] the movie. See also [[Angel
{{examples}}
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== Anime/Manga ==
* [[Pokémon (anime)|SommelierShipping]] (Cilan/Cabernet) comes off as this, with Cilan being the manipulator.
* Johan Liebert (the titular ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'') and Dr. Kenzou Tenma.
** Also, Johan and Anna/Nina. She is probably the only person in the world that he cares about, but he's not above {{spoiler|mind raping her, allowing his henchman to kill her, and manipulating her into nearly shooting herself.}} And not to mention those certain "emails" he sent her about being "born to smother [her] with flowers." ... Whatever ''that'' means.
* [[Osamu Tezuka|Tezuka]]'s Michio Yuki from ''[[MW]]'' actually ''did'' have an explicit relationship with his [[Mind Game Ship]] target, Garai. Make of that what you will.
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** Before you [[Yuri Fan|get too excited]], you should know that {{spoiler|it ends badly for both of them in both arcs.}}
* Alucard and Integra in ''[[Hellsing]]'', especially in the manga.
** In the manga Alucard and Integra have something like a [[Bodyguard Crush]] dynamic since their meeting. The Gonzo Anime, on the other hand, they did have head games with Alucard ''testing'' her when they met (which never happened in the manga, she wished for a knight to rescue her and got it). So I'm not sure if this applies ''especially'' in the manga. Alucard's loyalty to Integra is unquestionable without setting her [[Bound and Gagged]] in an illusion.
** Despite their [[Bodyguard Crush]] dynamic and his [[Undying Loyalty]], there ''are'' still shades of this. Alucard tests her quite a few times and constantly goads her, spurring her onwards into killing humans and the undead and then expressing his, erm...''excitement'' over it when she allows him to give them hell. In the [[OVA]] official ([[FUNimation]]) subtitles, he even asks her if declaring war excited her. Alucard has [[Interplay of Sex and Violence|interesting ways]] of [[In Love with Your Carnage|declaring]] his [[Undying Loyalty]] to her. While it might not be 'mind games' per se, there are definite undertones of powerplay in their interactions in both the manga/OVA and the anime and they certainly apply.
* ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'': Later on, after Suzu goes insane, his love/hate towards Tetsunosuke makes their relationship prime [[Mind Game Ship]] fuel.
* Naoe/Takaya in ''[[Mirage of Blaze]]''. They both have been known to give as good as they get.
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** {{spoiler|He died heroically charging the [[Big Bad]] in a vain attempt to save her. Or out of righteous anger that the [[Big Bad]] would dare to treat her like a thing. [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] and all that.}}
* ''[[Naruto]]'' is practically brimming with this sort of thing. It doesn't help that most of the characters show signs of having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Of exceptional note is Orochimaru with ''many'' people, especially Sasuke. Later on, Pain and Naruto have traces of this, to an extent. As do Itachi and Sasuke.Additionally, any Kabuto pairing is bound to have some of this- he usually presents himself as this harmless, bumbling oaf with [[Nerd Glasses]], but is in fact in league with this villain, and...well...poor Naruto's look of betrayal when he realizes this is almost too much.
** Naruto's whole innocence, gullibility and inspiring-Messiah-like outlook are a lot of reasons why a lot of fanfics either a) mind-screw him over, or b) pair [insert name here]xNaruto ... and not the other way around... It's probably why the author likes to break him so much too.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': Dark Marik and Dark Bakura with just about everyone.
** To a degree, normal Marik has this kind of relationship with Yugi/Yami Yugi, as he's explicitly challenging him and playing games with his mind, presumably so that killing him would be more interesting.
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* And in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]'', we get Divine with Aki playing the trope to the hilt.
* Mukuro/Tsuna in ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''. Based on Mukuro's obsession with [[Grand Theft Me|obtaining Tsuna's body]] at any cost and screwing with his head. And Mukuro/Chrome.
** Also, Byakuran/Anyone but especially with either Tsuna or Uni.
* Several interpretations of Light/L (''[[Death Note]]'') seem to portray their love/hate/manipulate relationship as culminating in a [[Double Entendre|Two Xanatos Pileup]].
** Shoot, if you paired Light OR L with different people, it could exhibit this trope.
** Also, Beyond Birthday/Anyone.
* An example of this that's not [[Foe Yay]]: Sensui and Itsuki from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''.
** Also in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'': Kurama/Karasu canonly and any halfway ''realistic'' Kurama/Hiei, considering Hiei dislikes almost everyone, including himself, and kitsune play games practically obsessively. Considering Hiei seems to enjoy being around Kurama beyond anyone, I'd say he enjoys partaking in Kurama's teasing.
* The majority of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' shipping-based fics featuring [[Psychopathic Manchild|Ru]][[Cute and Psycho|ss]][[Yandere|ia]] use this approach.
** Some [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Alternative Character Interpretations]] of certain nations can also invoke this trope in shipping fics, like England being a [[Manipulative Bastard]] (especially in England/China and England/Spain fics, and some ''ostensibly'' England/America and England/Japan fics have shades of this) and Japan being [[Cute and Psycho]] or a [[Yandere]] (especially in Japan/China fics).
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** And let's not forget the [[The Masochism Tango|America/Vietnam]] fanworks out there.
** Any Russia/America fanfic will almost certainly either take place during the [[Cold War]] or make numerous references to it. Mutual [[Mind Rape]] ensues.
** If China is portrayed as a [[Manipulative Bastard]] during [[Imperial China|Imperial]] or [[Red China|Red]] times, this will ensue almost doubtlessly.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the relationship between Roy and Ed can be interpreted as this. A ''lot'' of people love pairing them together, quite a bit of it having to do with how Roy knows exactly which [[Berserk Button|buttons]] to push to make Ed angry, and how much he enjoys doing so.
** Envy/Ed is another popular [[Mind Game Ship]].
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* The relationship between Ulquiorra and Orihime in ''[[Bleach]]''.
** And for that matter, Ichigo with Grimmjow and Ulquiorra.
** As of recently, Mayuri/Ichigo may qualify.
** As does {{spoiler|Aizen}}/Ichigo.
**** {{spoiler|Aizen}}/''anyone'', period. (Except {{spoiler|Gin}}, maybe.) And we all know what happened to the ''one'' person who gave in... {{spoiler|''Poor'' Momo.}}
*** Depending on what sort of...alterations were included in his healing process, Mayuri/{{spoiler|Uryu}} as well.
*** Gin/Ichigo. Gin demonstrated in recent chapters that he ''really'' loves fucking with Ichigo's head by giving him [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectures]] and picking at his fear and insecurity.
** Long, long before Ichigo, Gin was already messing with Kira's head. Gin/Kira is a perfect example of this trope, really.
** Let's not forget Gin/Rukia. It's pretty much canon that Gin scares the shit out of Rukia. When she was in Soul Society waiting her execution she stated that even if he wasn't talking to her she'd get this ominous feeling like "snakes were curling themselves around her" and she could feel "every bead of sweat" on her body whenever he was in her mere presence. And of course, there's the fact that Gin was a total asshole and told her that he would save her from being executed before squashing her hopes down flat.
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* Aion and Chrono in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' tend to be written like this in yaoi fanfic. And some of the scenes in the anime actually border on this without the need of fanfic to back it up.
* ''[[GetBackers]]'': Takuma and Ban. It's a bit one-sided on Takuma's part though.
* [[Durarara!!]] has Izaya doing this to Shizuo. Well, Izaya seems to like to screw with everyone's heads, but messing with Shizuo in particular appears to give him great pleasure.
** Actually, not really. He explicitly states in the light novel that he despises him and would rather be as far away from him as possible. He also hates talking about him in general and seems to get pissed whenever anyone mentions him. Shizuo's the ''last'' person Izaya would try to play mindgames with face-to-face - he just wants him dead.
** Later on in the books he takes a particular liking to dicking around with {{spoiler|Kida}}'s emotions, especially once {{spoiler|Kida reluctantly starts working for him}}
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{{quote|'''Seiji''': I'm so in love with {{spoiler|[[A Love to Dismember|the scars on your neck]]...}}}}
* [[Soul Eater|Medusa/Stein.]] Canonical seductive touching while Medusa tries to drive Stein [[Sanity Slippage|insane]]? It's all hallucinated, but that just means it's ''working''. Naturally, fanfic-writing proponents of the couple have taken this concept and run with it.
** You just know Medusa/anyone is not going to end well... Really. Just. Not.
* Unusual that [[D.N.Angel|Krad/Satoshi]] isn't here. Now it is! Whenever we see the two together alone, it's generally Krad cuddling Satoshi from behind, or declaring that "You are my everything, Satoshi-sama". Would be incredibly sweet if not for the fact that Krad is also a homicidal blonde angel, who only really wants Satoshi for his body.
** ... by which he actually means to take over Satoshi's body, as he's some kind of incorporeal spirit and Satoshi is his "host". Well. Hopefully that's all he means by it. Krad also tremendously enjoys reminding Satoshi that he (Satoshi) is not allowed to get close to anyone, and especially not his sworn enemy/best and only friend/possibly love interest.
* Albert and [[Magnificent Bastard|the Count]] in ''[[Gankutsuou]]''.
* This is the main appeal of shipping Keith and Matsuka in ''[[Toward the Terra]]'', given that Keith seems to exert every effort to give Matsuka a vicious case of [[Stockholm Syndrome]], and if anything it works a little too well - by the end of the series, Matsuka is willing to {{spoiler|sacrifice his life to save Keith's}}.
* ''[[Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]'': Haguro towards Inugami. To a lesser extent, Ryuuko towards Inugami.
* Somewhat benign case, but entirely canon, ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' Miki has a stated crush on Hinagiku, and she's shown that she plays a lot of mind games on her. It's even on her profile as one of the things she likes. Luckily for the [[Unwanted Harem|harem]], it seems that she's using these powers to push Hayate and Hinagiku together.
* Sebastian and Ciel in ''[[Black Butler]]'', in the sense that all the moments of [[Ho Yay]] between the two come off more as [[Nightmare Fuel]]-riffic threats considering that Sebastian is a demon and is merely killing time until he gets to eats Ciel's soul.
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== Fanfiction ==
* Dean and Jimmy Novak/Castiel in ''Angelface'' and its sequels.
* A lot of [[Harry Potter|Draco/Hermione]] fanfiction ends up like this.
* [http://sympathy-crime.livejournal.com/ Sympathy Crime], a ''[[Persona 4]]'' fic, features the pairing of {{spoiler|Yosuke/Adachi, where Adachi manipulates Yosuke's emotions in hopes of breaking up the investigation team, and also for his own sick enjoyment.}}
* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''[[MLP: The Games We Play|The Games We Play]]'' sees Mare Do Well making [[The Bet|a bet]] with Rainbow Dash: that she can get the pegasi to fall in love with her before Dash can unmask her. To this end, she teases and misleads her to suspect all of her friends, and takes a lot of enjoyment in how much she screws with Rainbow's head.
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** Since everyone Robert Fischer interacts with in the movie is messing with his head in one way or another, [[Shipping]] featuring him tends to end up this way.
* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'': The White Witch and Edmund.
* ''[[Nine And A Half Weeks]]'': ''Everything'' about the relationship on John's part is a [[Mind Game Ship]] -- emotionally, intellectually, sexually.
* ''[[Peter Pan]]'': Wendy and Captain Hook, as well as Peter Pan and Captain Hook.
** Don't let's forget Tinkerbell to Wendy as well.
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* Wanda of ''[[Erfworld]]'' has a definite thing for Jillian Zamussels, her "favorite prisoner" and frequent torture subject. There are explicit instances (such as their first interaction in the strip) and constant overtones of [[Foe Yay]] and [[Les Yay]], not to mention [[More Than Mind Control]] when Jillian is later released with the intent of becoming [[The Mole]]. Even after all this, Jillian still feels strongly for Wanda and continually tries to persuade her to defect.
* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', King Radical towards Dr. McNinja (in a totally awesome way).
* ''[[Homestuck]]'' features a veritable queen of this trope, [[Homestuck/Characters/Trolls Three|Vriska Serket]], who has mind control powers and throws them around in a frankly cavalier manner. When she's not forcing people to cripple themselves for her amusement, she's systematically undermining their self-esteem and basically just making them cry. Naturally she gets shipped with everyone. We also have [[Blind Seer|Terezi Pyrope]], who doesn't even need mind control powers to manipulate you, and gets under Vriska's skin more than anyone else in the universe. Naturally she gets shipped with Vriska and also everyone else. In fact, a good quarter of ''Homestuck'''s main cast is populated by [[Our Trolls Are Different|members of an alien species]] [[Bizarre Alien Reproduction|whose romantic lives revolve entirely around this]].
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[South Park]]'': Eric Cartman/Kyle. And Cartman/Butters.
** That last one is sliding so close to canon it's not funny. Well, a little.
* Mr. Incredible/Syndrome from ''[[The Incredibles]]''.
** And Syndrome/Violet.
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* Slade/Robin, Slade/Raven, and Slade/Terra from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''. There's also Red X/Robin, Red X/Starfire, Malchior/Raven, Jinx/Raven, Trigon/Raven, and Cyborg/Brother Blood. The show has definite [[Foe Yay|undertones]] to support each shipping.
** Red X/Raven is getting to be a popular [[Mind Game Ship]] on [[Fanfiction.net]].
** And Blackfire/Starfire.
** Terra/Slade is actually ''canon'' in the comics.
* Similar to [[Teen Titans (animation)|Slade/Robin]], ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' gave us Vlad/Danny.
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