Puppeteer Parasite: Difference between revisions

[[Sub Trope]] of [[Body Snatcher]].

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* One of these showed up in ''[[Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service]]''.

* Bardiel, the 13th Angel in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. {{spoiler|It takes the form of a thundercloud and possesses Evangelion Unit 03, [[Body Horror]]-fashion.}}

* Many of the byouma in [[Hokenshitsu no Shinigami]]

* The aliens in the seinen manga [[Parasyte]]

* Even ''[[Pokémon]]'' has a case in the form of Paras and Parasect. Paras is a simple bug being slowly eaten alive by the mushrooms on its back, the bug making the best of its situation by using them for self-defense. Parasect is this same bug, virtually dead and covered with the mushroom, which has overridden the insect's nervous system.

* The Flood in ''[[Halo]]'' does this too. They use fleshy pods to evolve into small, bulbous creatures full of tentacles. Once they find a suitable host, the Infection Forms attach and paralyze the victim before '''ripping open the chest cavity and nestling inside''', taking over the host's nervous system and beginning rapid mutation, culminating in a real ugly abomination known as a Combat Form. Though the host is technically dead, the controller retains enough of the host's experience that Combat Forms are decent marksmen (!). In some cases however, a Combat Form victim is still alive and conscious, occasionally able to regain partial control for a while. The Infection Form is still visible from the outside and destroying it will kill the host too; Infection Forms can voluntarily abandon the host if it sustains heavy damage though if it is killed or removed forcibly, other Infection Forms can take its place and reanimate the Combat Form. Simply dismembering the CFs arms won't stop it. Large concentrations of Flood biomass releases spores that can also cause an infection; because of this, the only sure-fire way to eliminate a nest is to [[Kill It With Fire|burn it with plasma]] or [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|destroy the biomass via activating the Halo rings]].

** They're not quite ''Alien'' copies. They exhibit a number of psychic powers which make humans want to care for and nurture the worms, show them the benefits of being part of a [[Hive Mind]] and ultimately join the Many. You read the diaries of several crewmembers who embraced their change.

* The Jockeys from [[Left 4 Dead 2]] take a more physical approach to this trope: They simply grab on to the survivor and push them in the desired direction until someone else comes up and knocks him off your head.

* In [[Death Spank (Video Game)|Death Spank]], the Mind Barnacles that he helps spread are clearly examples of this trope but the main character helps them spread due to them offering him a quest. Plus they would bring World Peace by infecting all living things with Mind Barnacles!

* Inverted in Alpha Centauri. The planet hosts mindworms who can do nasty things to humans (they are the equivalent to barbarian units in CIV games), but can be captured and utilized as military units under the right circumstances. Rather ironic to have a huge mass of alien worms being controlled by a human colonist.

 

 

** The same parasite typically infects rodents and alters their brain chemistry significantly-incidentally, this is why it changes human personalities. The alterations it makes are actually necessary to reproduce: it can only infect rats and mice, but it needs cats innards to breed, so it changes the brain chemistry around to that it's host is ''attracted'' to the scent of cat, rather than repelled as normal. Then it gets eaten and the whole process starts again when the cats defecates.

** Oh, and there's even some evidence linking ''Toxoplasmosis'' infection to schizophrenia.

*** "The study suggests that male carriers have shorter attention spans, a greater likelihood of breaking rules and taking risks, and are more independent, anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose. It also suggests that these men are deemed less attractive to women. Women carriers are suggested to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls. The results are shown to be true when tested on mice, though it is still inconclusive. A few scientists have suggested that, if these effects are genuine, prevalence of toxoplasmosis could be a major determinant of cultural difference." Feel free to quake in terror.

*** Notice how one of the personality changes is that it make you feel more suspicious. As in paranoid. Now ask yourself, [[Paranoia Fuel|how do you feel]] after reading about this infection? [[Oh Crap]]

[[Category:Evil Is Visceral]]

[[Category:Puppeteer Parasite]]