Team Mom: Difference between revisions

'''Q''': Maybe not in the biological sense, but you're certainly a mommy to this crew. Just look how quickly you [[Humanity Ensues|house-broke that Borg drone]].|''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''}}

In an [[Ensembles]] show, especially of the fighting kind, there needs to be someone to hold this [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] together before they kill each other or wander off into the woods like so many [[Player Character|Player Characters]]s. Almost [[Always Female|always a female]], [['''Team Mom]]''' basically acts as the [[Promotion to Parent|mother figure]] for everyone else in the group, regardless of age or family relations. That said, the [[Overprotective Dad]] or older brother can qualify for Team Mom, and the same goes for a [[Cool Big Sis]] [[Character Development|who grows]] [[Older and Wiser]]. In many cases, she actually is a mother or older sister to at least one other character.

Often enough, she's [[The Medic]] or [[The Heart]]. May be a [[Nice Girl]], [[White Magician Girl]], or [[The Messiah]]. If she's a more physical fighter, expect her to be a [[Black Magician Girl]] or a [[Lady of War]] (and maybe an [[Action Mom]], if she's got her own kids aside of the group members). They are by definition never [[Loners Are Freaks|the loner]], and will in fact tend to be the one who pulls them into the cast's orbit as a [[Sixth Ranger]]. If anyone can break through and bring about a [[Heel Face Turn]] or [[Cooldown Hug]], it's the [['''Team Mom]]'''.

The [['''Team Mom]]''' is frequently shipped with the [[Team Dad]], for obvious reasons.

* Another male example is the male [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] Oishi Shuichiro of ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' -- Vice—Vice-captain of Seigaku's tennis team, he is often nicknamed "Mother Hen of Seigaku" by his teammates for his motherly nature. In the parody where the teammates are portrayed as a large extended family, he gets to be the mother, predictably.

** Jackal Kuwahara from Rikkai also is the [[Team Mom]]. More specifically, he's often asked to take care of his [[Bratty Half-Pint]] ''[[Senpai Sempai-Kohai|kouhai]]'' Akaya Kirihara.

* Nami of ''[[One Piece]]'', although she's a particularly selfish example. This ended when Robin pretty much took over the role of [[Team Mom]] over time, even managing to mother Nami herself. [[Word of God]] even says as much, although sometimes she seems more like a [[Cool Big Sis|Team Big Sis]].

* Fai is not only frequently referred to as the team mom in ''[[Tsubasa]]'' but makes sure everyone knows Kurogane's the [[Team Dad]], too. (Muchmuch to [[Tsundere|Kurogane's]] disgust and the [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]]s' delight.).

** In the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', we have both White Base helmswoman Mirai Yashima and Lieutenant Matilda Ajan. Mirai's place as [[Team Mom]] is [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledged in canon]] when [[Ace Pilot]] Sleggar tells Cameron Bloom that he should respect Mirai's wishes, since she's the mother of the White Base {{spoiler|and is confirmed when she gets involved with Bright, the [[Team Dad]]}}. Frau Bow also was a bit of a Team Mom, though younger and more childish than the other two.

** In ''[[Zeta Gundam]]'', Mirai is succeeded by [[Action Girl|AEUG female pilots]] Emma Sheen and Reccoa Londo ( {{spoiler|though the latter has a [[Face Heel Turn]]}}). The [[Team Mom]] torch is then passed on [[Chinese Girl]] Fa Yuiri in ''Gundam ZZ'', and to [[Ace Pilot]] Marvette Fingerhut in ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]''. {{spoiler|Who is actually pregnant with ''her'' child at the end of the series. Too bad the baby's father, Oliver Inoue, had already been killed through [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}}

** In [[Gundam Wing]] we have [[Action Girl|Action Girls]]s Lucrezia Noin and Sally Po, as well as circus girl Catherine Bloom. They're joined by {{spoiler|the no-longer psychotic Lady Une}} in ''Endless Waltz'', and by {{spoiler|the [[Older and Wiser]] Hilde Schbeiker}} in the ''Frozen Teardrop'' novels.

** Murrue Ramius was not just [[The Captain]], but also Team Mom for the ''Archangel's'' teenaged pilots and [[Bridge Bunnies]] in ''[[Gundam Seed]]''. Her [[Number Two|second-in-command]] [[Sergeant Rock|Natarle Badgiruel]] wasn't too happy with this, but Murrue's example nevertheless prompted Natarle to act as a [[Team Mom]] to [[Fallen Princess]] Fllay Alster when she became ''her'' bridge bunny in the ''Dominion''.

* Sakura Kakei from ''[[GetBackers]]'', who is the [[Team Mom]] for several street gangs she's joined.

* The [[Team Mom]] in ''[[Wa Ga Na Wa Umishi]]'' is more like the team grandpa, old Gramp. Without him there's a better than 80% chance that the rest of Nanba Salvage would have killed each other by now.

* Shamal from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha AsA's]]''. Notable in that she's the [[Team Mom]] of the ''[[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]''...at least, that's how they start out.

** The Psychic Assassins arc gives us Mai, the [[Team Mom]] for the ''[[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]''.

* Chrono sometimes falls into this role in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]''--humorously—humorously so, considering he's [[The One Guy|only male member]] of his group and [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|appears to be much younger]] than he really is. Fiore also seems to take on this role for the villain's group. {{spoiler|After Mary Magdalene, anyway.}}

* Colonel Volcott from ''[[Galaxy Angel (anime)|Galaxy Angel]]'' takes on this role even though [[Gender Flip|he's a guy]]. Since it's played for comedy, he completely fails at being a [[Team Mom]], and ends up being more of a 'team maid' doing all the menial chores.

** Polaris Hilda was the [[Team Mom]] for the whole Ansgard, until she was brainwashed into becoming the [[Dark Messiah]]. {{spoiler|She gets better.}}

* On her most focused days, Midori Sugiura from ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'' fills this role.

* Yukine of ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', who plays this role for {{spoiler|both her brother's gang and their rival gang}}.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has a male and two females in the [[Team Mom]] role. The male is Antonio/Spain, who raises Lovino/South Italy almost on his own. The females are Elizaveta/Hungary (who starts as Feliciano/North Italy's [[Cool Big Sis]] and is promoted to [[Team Mom]] when she marries [[Team Dad]] Roderich/Austria) and Ukraine (who is less lucky since her younger siblings are ''both'' [[Yandere|Yanderes]]s)

*** He's more of a [[Team Dad]], arguably. China fits better as [[Team Mom]], and even more if we consider his relationships with the other Asians.

* Isabella Yamamoto in ''[[Paradise Kiss]]''..., who's actuallyalso a [[Transsexualismtransgender]] example.

** Under "normal circumstances", Misato's [[Hot Scientist]] best friend Ritsuko Akagi would be a secondary [[Team Mom]], and in fact she ''does'' fill in during the more light-hearted first part of the series and even manages to mother Misato herself... but you said that already, [[Dysfunction Junction|this]] [[There Are No Therapists|is]] [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Evangelion]]

*** The closest thing ''Evangelion'' has to a [[Team Mom]] in actuality is probably ''Shinji''. [[You Suck|God it sucks to be Shinji]]

** If the various flashbacks are any indication, Alebreio Imma was [[Team Mom]] for Ala Rubra with Konoe Eishun serving as [[Team Dad]].

** Even ''Luna the Cat'' has the [[Team Mom]] ball on her kitten back more than once, ''specially'' towards Usagi since she lives with her.

* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has two ''[[Gender -Inverted Trope|male ]]''[[Gender -Inverted Trope|examples]]. Kotetsu tries to "mother" his partner Barnaby and make sure he eats properly {{spoiler|(somewhat ironic considering the fact that Barnaby's an orphan)}}, but ends up being more successful in the case of Ivan, Pao-Lin and Karina. The other "mom", Nathan, is more than happy to listen to his fellow superheroes' woes -- lendingwoes—lending helpful and worldly advice whenever possible.

* Susan Storm from the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'', both literally ''and'' figuratively, as she has two young children of her own.

* The absent-minded cleric Piffany provides the moral center for the group in ''[[Nodwick]]'' (she's also [[The Medic]]). Her status as a likable, [[The Ditz|ditzy]] [[Purity Sue]] ([[Word of God|by canon!]]) has her teammates be able to identify who the truly evil people in the setting are by them being mean to her. Gods save you from these [[Sociopathic Hero|Sociopathic Heroes]]es ''if you make her cry.''

* Of all people, Vexen is completely this in ''[[Fill the Moon]];'' he basically raised the incredibly dysfunctional [[Badass Family]] that was the Apprentices during their time in Radiant Garden, and continues to do so after they all become Nobodies. Once the Organization's ranks begin to swell, he manages to accept the others as surrogate children. {{spoiler|Well, except for Marluxia, but he's his lover.}}

* In fitting with the Comic Book example above, Sue Dibny is the [[Team Mom]] of almost the entire superhero community in ''[[DC Nation]]''. It helps when you're the political liaison for the [[Justice League]] and used to take the senior [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Titans]] out for ice-cream after report cards.

* Jeri Katou in the ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'' is a Team [[Mama Bear]], as even when she [[Took a Level Inin Badass|Takes Aa Level Inin BadAssBadass]] and becomes an [[Action Girl]] she is still the most protective of the tamers.

* In ''[[Vocaloid]]'' fanon, Meiko tends to take this role when not being a [[Bottle Fairy|drunkard]]. Due to her shared status as [[The Ladette]], however, she tends to be either a [[My Beloved Smother]] or [[Mama Bear]] as well. When it's not her, it's usually [[The Stoic|Luka]].

* Margaret "Meg" March, the oldest sister in ''[[Little Women]]''. In ''Little Men'', her middle sister Jo becomes the [[Team Mom]] of the Plumfield children.

* Fitz Kreiner, from the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] Eighth Doctor Adventures, once brought three meals a day to the Doctor's door when the Doctor was mourning the death of a loved one, for almost four whole days. The Doctor never actually ate any of them. He also once carried around a pair of clean socks for days while the Doctor was wandering through a jungle -- whenjungle—when the Doctor reemerges, he finds he does in fact need them. Whenever the Doctor [[Real Men Get Shot|gets hurt]], it's almost inevitably Fitz's job to [[Determinator|get him to take a break]] and then tend to him. He's also the first character to start treating Trix civilly, even though she stowed away on the TARDIS, and he often functions as [[The Heart]] of the group when the Doctor is making morally-dubious decisions. When the Doctor develops [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]], Fitz ends up with the most functional seniority on the TARDIS. Although the Doctor is also the [[Team Chef]] and often protective of the other characters, Fitz is so overly loyal to the Doctor that he doesn't always [[What the Hell, Hero?|call him on his shit]], and Anji is responsible for the vast majority of the series' [[Closer to Earth|sensible decision-making]], see the following exchange, in which Fitz behaves like [[Harry Potter|Molly Weasley]] and the Doctor [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it:

* Captain Kathryn Janeway from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' was likewise both [[The Captain]] and [[Team Mom]], settling disputes, ordering her officers to get along, and helping "raise" several characters like Kes and Seven of Nine. Openly [[Lampshaded]] in "Barge of the Dead" when B'Elanna encounters her mother in the Klingon afterlife -- wearingafterlife—wearing a Starfleet uniform and using phrases Janeway had said earlier in the episode. Q calls her on it as well, when trying to dump his own teen rebel son on Janeway. In "Favorite Son", Kim dreamed that his mother said she was suspending him from duty (a line that the Captain had given him that day). There's [[There Are No Therapists|something about]] this crew....

* Lucy on ''[[Hey, Dude!]]''.

** Lampshaded again after Rossi has joined the team, with the others referring to them as [[Team Mom|Mom]] and [[Team Dad|Dad]].

* Laura Roslin of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' fulfills this role. Up to and including schooling people when necessary.

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'''s most prominent [[Team Mom]] is Lily, although Ted has strong shades of this trope too.

** In fact, while Ted is [[Lampshaded]] in-canon as being the [[Team Dad]], he seems to better fit the [[Team Mom]] trope. Both he and Lily spend a lot of time worrying and fussing over the others, making them talk their problems out, bossing them around or doling out much-needed advice.

* Henrietta 'Hetty' Lange in ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'' is very much the [[Team Mom]]. The short, sweet, scary, seventy-year-old spy of a [[Team Mom]]. Don't get on her bad side.

* In the Gospel of John (19:25-27) Jesus, on the cross and near death, made his mother Mary the [[Team Mom]] for the early Christians.

** And now she's considered [[Team Mom]] for the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches; the Protestant churches tend to downplay her importance.

* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]'', you have Eyvel (''Thracia 776'') and Titania (''Path of Radiance'' and ''Radiant Dawn''). They play [[Team Mom]] to the Fiana Braves and Greil Mercenaries, respectively.

*:* Micaiah from ''Radiant Dawn'' is also a [[Team Mom]] to the younger members of the Dawn Brigade, such as Sothe.

** She also {{spoiler|gave birth during the landing on Normandy in WWII, making her the ''literal'' [[Team Mom]]}}.

* Mitsuru from ''[[Persona 3]]'' -- reinforced—reinforced by her persona being of the Empress Arcana, which represents motherly qualities). She actually ''expects'' the team to maintain good grades.

* In ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'', Nene acts as the self-imposed Team Mom of the Toyotomi clan--herclan—her Gaiden battle even has her showing up during the battle of Sekigahara not aligned with either side so she can beat the snot out of both armies and then lecture them about not getting along with each other.

** When Chizuru wasn't in the Women Fighters Team, King took up the role. Well, that's what working with [[Cute Bruiser|Cute Bruisers]]s and a [[Ms. Fanservice]] will do to you. That, and she already had experience after getting a [[Promotion to Parent]].

** But the player characters in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' don't NEED a [[Team Mom]] to keep them together, as they are all {{spoiler|tied to the main character by their torment. Of the 7 possible playable characters besides the main character, 3 of them are actually the main character's slaves (although the player/main character doesn't know this at first), 2 of them follow his orders because they are creatures of law and logic, and 2 of them are in love with him. So having a [[Team Mom]] to keep them together is somewhat moot.}}

* Jason from ''[[ItsWalkyverse|It's Walky!]]!'', though he kind of plays [[Team Dad]] as well.

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100529072109/http://www.itswalky.com/d/20011022.html\]

** Later, it's Joyce, who even asks herself, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100401073023/http://www.itswalky.com/d/20030427.html "When did I become the mom?"]

* Despite being an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of one of The [[Seven Deadly Sins]] this is pretty much Lust's job description in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131023144450/http://www.sincomics.com/index.php?357 The Sins]''. Like Carla from ''[[Scrubs]]'' she complains about it, but is addicted to the role.

* Vandi of ''[[What Birds Know]]'' is this for the trio of girls who venture out into the woods, due to her serious and responsible nature -- itselfnature—itself a product of a youthful [[Promotion to Parent]] after her mother died in childbirth.

** This is further reflected with {{spoiler|her ancestor, The Dolorosa (a reference to the Virgin Mary), being the adoptive mother of [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|The Sufferer]], and who herself acted as the [[Team Mom]] to the Sufferer's small group of closest followers.}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100101221804/http://badgods.com/overmom.html The Adventures of Evil Overmom] by Lore Sjöberg. The note says, "Antidote, Love Mom." What a cool mom.

* A mother, Sgt. Jane Strand, will head to war with her son, Pvt. Timothy Strand. In the National Guard, she "assumed the rank of mom to a collection of younger recruits," according to the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081230051624/http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1232845.html article].

* Good [[Queen VickyVictoria]] was [[Team Mom]] to the entire British Empire.

** Hell toward the end she was getting to be the [[Team Mom]] to the whole of ''Europe''. She was actually known as "the grandmother of Europe" because of how big her family was. World War I reads like the world's biggest, nastiest family spat.

* Gina Dalfonzo is the moderator at [https://web.archive.org/web/20131122165326/http://thepoint.breakpoint.org/tp-home this site] and she is almost a classic [[Team Mom]].

[[Category:TeamAll Momthe Tropes Superhero Team]]