Team Pet: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"The rabbit is cuddly! Kids like little cuddly sidekicks! I mean, the rabbit... it's a time-tested... okay, the rabbit bites."''|[[The Incredibles|Mr. Incredible]], defending an In-Universe fictional
The default mascot of the party and usually the most outlandish of the bunch. Can be a robot, magic animal, or in a more realistic setting, a [[Tagalong Kid|little]] [[Token
Most of the time, the Team Pet is comic relief. For obvious reasons their mere presence can [[Narm|ruin a dramatic scene]] most of the time. More seriously, their motivations for fighting may seem kinda vague, especially when they are [[Optional Party Member
If the Team Pet is an otherworldly being, it may end up as an [[Amusing Alien]]. It may also be a [[Pet Monstrosity]].
[[Gratuitous Animal Sidekick]] is a special category of this, often used in an [[Animated Adaptation]] of a live-action show. See also [[Intellectual Animal]], [[Nearly-Normal Animal]], [[Talking Animal]], and [[Timmy in a Well]].
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{{examples}}
== Anime & Manga ==
* Iggy the Boston Terrier from ''[[JoJo
* Kon the mod-soul in ''[[Bleach]]'', who insists on being taken seriously, since he has the duty of possessing Ichigo's body when he's in shinigami form. He seldom is, since he normally inhabits the body of a plush lion.
* In early episodes of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'', Pikachu, when not in battle, was usually found doing something goofy while the human characters were dealing with the situation. This was later dropped with both his and Ash's maturity.
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* ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]'' has Shigure's pet mouse Tochumaru. It happens to be a competent martial artist.
* Shiina in the ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]'' TV series is both Miyu's talking pet of sorts and a Shinma with a ''very'' powerful eyesight.
* Ein the Welsh corgi from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. He mostly serves as a vehicle for [[Animal Reaction Shot
* Arthur the cat is probably this for the student council in ''[[Code Geass]]''. He's used mostly for [[Running Gag
* [[Catgirl|Blair the cat]] from ''[[Soul Eater]]'', who has the distinctly unique honor of being the
{{quote|'''Soul:''' Anyone want the sexy kitty? She's free.}}
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' gives us Chamo, the talking [[Weasel Mascot|ermine]]. He's also a bit of a mentor, though.
* Shuko, the 1121st owl mascot in ''[[
* ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]]'' has V-8 (Asuka's pet dog) to the Sugo Asurada team.
* Ryo-Ohki from [[Tenchi Muyo!]] certainly belongs here, when she's not a [[Cool Starship]].
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** If Kyubey counts, then every [[Magical Girl]]'s [[Mentor Mascot]] and [[Weasel Mascot]] would count, especially since Kyubey doesn't do anything useful in combats aside from [[Mr. Exposition|talking.]]
* Printemps, Jeudi's pet cockatoo in ''[[Honoo no Alpen Rose]]''.
* [[Darker
* ''[[Kuroko no Basuke]]'' has Tetsuya #2, a dog. It was adopted by the Seirin High Basketball Club, and named after the main character, Kuroko Tetsuya, for their identical eyes, [[The Stoic|and expression, or lack thereof]].
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** To be fair, Deadpool has never been au fait on the distinction between "friendship" and "Stockholm Syndrome". See Weasel, Blind Al, etc.
* X-Men have Lockheed, when Kitty Pryde is on the team, most of the time.
** Subverted in that Lockheed is anything ''but''
*** He can also speak {{spoiler|and has actually been spying on the X-Men, albeit benevolently, for quite some time}}.
**** Hardly a subversion. Whoever said that a Team Pet has to be harmless? Lockheed is certainly goofy, though, at least in appearance (and for this Troper, quite intensely irritating, to the point of being [[The Scrappy]] as much as a Team Pet. Of course, that's frequently a damn fine line).
* [[Great Lakes Avengers]] have [[Squirrel Girl]] as their Team Pet, being the youngest, goofiest and least experienced member who [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|has a tail and talks to squirrels]]. But if you want to get technical, it's really Squirrel Girl's sidekick <s>Monkey Joe</s> Tippy-Toe, who's a full member of the group, despite being a squirrel. Yes, that kind of [http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel squirrel].
* ''[[Bamse]]'' has Katten Jansson and Husmusen, a cat-and-mouse duo that really belong to the main character's grandmother, but often sneak along on adventures. Some [[Furry Confusion]] is involved here, as the cast of the comic are [[Funny Animal
** Katten Jansson and Husmusen are also usually [[Those Two Guys]] when they do not star in the story.
* Back in the [[Silver Age]], [[Superman]] and [[Batman]] both got a [[Gratuitous Animal Sidekick]], Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound respectively... who ended part of the "Legion of Super-Pets". Both were [[
** Batman gets a Great Dane puppy in The [[New 52]] version of Batman and Robin named [[Titus Andronicus (theatre)|Titus]]
* Glomulus the Cleaner Slug for the [[Green Lantern|Orange Lantern Corps]].
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* [[Super Sentai]] has a few of these, most notably IC the cyborg dog from ''[[Denshi Sentai Denziman]]'' who {{spoiler|dies by using himself as a power circuit for the [[Humongous Mecha]], but gives the team one final [[Tear Jerker]] message}}.
* ''[[Lexx]]'' had 790 the robot head (and briefly, Squish the cluster lizard).
* In ''[[Firefly]]'', River and Kaylee double for this spot. Although Kaylee is also the [[Wrench Wench]] and [[Mr. Fixit]]. In the [[Serenity|Big Damn Movie]], River [[Took a Level
* Classic ''[[Doctor Who]]'' had K-9.
* In ''[[Primeval]]'' we get Rex, a Coelurosauravus from the Permian anomaly. He doesn't serve much purpose, except to hang out and look cute, possibly to counter all of the [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* ''[[Imagination Movers]]'' has Warehouse Mouse, a
* ''[[Human Target]]'' has Carmine the Rottweiler.
* ''[[Torchwood]]'' has Myfanwy the pterodactyl.
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* [[Sublime]] had Louie Dog, the beloved Dalmatian of the late Bradley Nowell, who frequently joined the band on stage.
== Real Life ==▼
* [[The Other Wiki]] refers to many military mascots, including goats, rams, antelope, ferrets, and even penguins. Maybe a penguin can be quite sensible, but the idea of having them as a pet isn't...▼
== Video Games ==
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* Sazh's Chocobo chick in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''.
* [[Swiss Army Weapon]] Jack in ''[[Gears of War]]''.
* Meemai in the first ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' game isn't a party
* Boo in both the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' games was something of a pet if Minsc was in your group, though he was little more than an annoyance to many players as he took up a valuable quick item slot.
** In ''[[Megatokyo]]'', a hamster is named Boo in honour of Minsc's pet.
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* Cupil from ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' fills this role, but doubles as Fina's weapon. To a lesser extent, the "Jester" Pow, who's Vyse's <s>dog</s> [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|huskra]].
* Hans in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'', a (vestigially) winged pig. Exists mostly to look [[Even the Dog Is Ashamed|embarrassed]] when the protagonist flubs romantic moments in cut scenes.
* ''[[Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al
** And, apart from being the [[McGuffin]] at the end of one chapter, he doesn't have any impact on the story at all. And, the best that the main character can get out of his [[Relationship Values]] with Muppy? ''A pinky swear''. No, really.
* Similarly to R2-D2 in the movie example, T3-M4 from ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is essentially a very useful team pet.
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** OTOH, Oghren seems to dislike him (becomes more obvious when he's drunk). Alistair, of all people, also has a knack for pissing off Dog. Getting too close to his food, teasing him about eating human flesh, etc. At one point, the Grey Warden can remind him that Dog is a ''warhound'' and not a puppy to be teased. The "dialogue" Alistair has with Dog also doesn't seem terribly friendly either.
*** Oghren's just annoyed that Dog doesn't agree that his wearing a saddle and serving as Oghren's personal cavalry mount is a good idea.
** The ''entire'' Mabari breed are the
* Nall and Ruby of the ''[[Lunar]]'' series.
* Ricky [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|the monkey]] from ''[[Dubloon]]''.
* In ''[[Mother 3]]'', one of the party members is the main character's dog, [[Loyal Animal Companion|Boney]], who is also the only character besides main character Lucas to appear in every chapter.
** Used to a lesser extent in ''[[
* ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'''s [[Dub Name Change|Borongo/Saber]] is a sabrecat served as [[The Hero]] and Bianca's
** ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' has Munchie, [[The Hero]]'s rat pet that is very smart. It can be used to clear curtain puzzles in a dungeon. {{spoiler|It turns out very latter that Munchie is [[The Hero]]'s ancestor in disguise.}}
* Pochi, the family's pet monster from ''[[Legacy of the Wizard]]''.
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== Web Comics ==
* Parodied in the hiatused webcomic ''[[RPG World]]'' by the character Dragobo, a portmaneau character based on a dragon and a chocobo.
* Parodied in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104020018/http://thosedestined.pensandtales.com/ Those Destined]'', where the Team Pet is also the party thief. Another adventurers party was less lucky, and their Team Pet is a [[Small Annoying Creature]].
* The [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20040528.html May 28, 2004 strip] of ''[[Exterminatus Now]]'' sees Virus bring a [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Chao]] to the team, [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] its role in the process, which is soon followed with a [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20040611.html discussion on what to name it]. Seven strips after its introduction, it meets a demon, [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20040716.html undergoes a radical transformation], and becomes a bite-sized killing machine. In [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20040723.html the following strip], it is christened "Blasphemy."
* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', the non-human members of the main cast (Bun-Bun, Kiki, and Aylee) tend to fill this role, each in varying degrees (though not so much Aylee now that she's taken a mostly human form).
** Bun-Bun is actually a pardoy of this trope as he was specifically bought by Torg so the strip could have a cute animal...said cute animal is a murderous criminal that can take care of himself and seemingly only hangs around Torg for free food and lodging and whom orginially Torg wanted dead and/or gone (although it IS later revealed he has grown to actually really care about the main cast much later in the strip and fairly early on Torg was shown to clearly miss Bun-Bun when he was AWOL for a while). Kiki on the other hand plays this trope very straight.
* Davan's hairless, amorphous cat Choo-Choo Bear in ''[[Something
* ''[[Adventurers!]]'' has Chookie, some sort of [[
* Snookums the tentacle bunny in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'', although he's mainly Molly's pet. It's notable that Molly herself started out as Bob's pet, before she turned out to be sentient and grew to human size.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', Mr. Scruffy the cat becomes the Team Pet once adopted by Belkar. It could be argued that Blackwing, Vaarsuvius' raven [[Familiar]], occupied the role before, but he's more of an [[Intellectual Animal]], and now a full character in his own right.
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== Western Animation ==
* Snarf from ''[[Thundercats]]'' is pretty well the epitome of this trope. Utterly useless in a fight except against the weakest of minions, and tends to serve as weak comedy relief. Subverted only slightly in that Snarf is actually the nanny for Lion-O before he wakes up all growed-up on Third Earth.
** In ''[[Thundercats 2011]]'' Snarf is much more explicitly a ''pet'': Though possessing [[Amplified Animal Aptitude]], Snarf cannot speak, and instead serves as an [[Empathy Pet]] and [[The Confidant]] for Lion-O's many [[Surrogate Soliloquy
* Momo in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' is a flying [[Mix-and-Match Critters|bat-like lemur]]. In contrast, Appa is a 10-ton flying bison who has been subject to serious [[A Day in the Limelight|personalized stories]] and has a strong century-long bond with the titular character, making him more of a life-long companion than a Team Pet. Momo's presence or absence is a firm indicator to how light-hearted and whimsical or serious and edgy the current story is. To compound to it all, his character was originally designed to be a little robot named "MOMO 3" (when [[What Could Have Been|the original draft set the series in a futuristic environment]]) and Co-creator Byan Konietzko has admitted that he based him on his childhood cat Buddy.
** In the [[Sequel Series]], The Legend of Korra, the two team pets tradition continues with Pabu, the fire ferret (red panda/ferret hybrid) and Korra's polarbear-dog, Naga.
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* Lily and Sparkles from ''[[Barbie and the Diamond Castle]]''.
* It would really be a disservice to call [[Godzilla]] a team pet in ''[[Godzilla: The Series]]''; the crew prefer "[[The Big Guy]]". They have [[Robot Buddy|N.I.G.E.L]] for that.
* Slimer in ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' and ''[[Extreme Ghostbusters]]''. Also in ''[[Ghostbusters the Video Game]]'', but since it's based purely on the film continuity, ''there'' he's an incorrigible mischievous glutton who has to be kept in a terrarium so he won't wreak comedic and comparatively harmless
* [[Scooby-Doo (animation)|Scooby Doo]] could very well have been the [[Trope Maker]].
* Rufus the naked mole rat in ''[[Kim Possible]]''.
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* Bronx in ''[[Gargoyles]]'' is the pet of the gargoyle team, and their equivalent of a [[All Animals Are Dogs|dog]].
* ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' has both Sphere the supercycle and Wolf the um, [[Big Badass Wolf]]. They both help in missions.
▲== Real Life ==
▲* [[The Other Wiki]] refers to many military mascots, including goats, rams, antelope, ferrets, and even penguins. Maybe a penguin can be quite sensible, but the idea of having them as a pet isn't...
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Video Game Characters]]
[[Category:Token Index]]
[[Category:Team Pet]]▼
[[Category:Five-Man Band]]
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