History Main / CompanionCube

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'': Emmett has a potted plant called "Planty", who he considers his roommate. Him having Planty as a "friend" may be due to not having any real friends at the start of the movie.

For some reason, Companion Cubes [[VideogameCaringPotential tend to become very popular]] [[RobotGirl with the audience]]. Something to do with the UncannyValley, probably. Or simply because the idea of having an inanimate object being a character is funny. Or maybe because it's easy to project the best traits you can think of onto the object. Or because you can [[TheRedStapler make yourself a replica at home]]...

** [[UncannyValley The Duttle]].

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]] becomes this for Zack in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' [[LateArrivalSpoiler post-Nibelheim]] partly because Zack needs to care for a living comatose Cloud and partly because Zack needs to stay sane.

* Catherine, a MagicalComputer in a briefcase, is treated this way by the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FlowerSunAndRain'', and it never leaves his side [[spoiler: if he can help it]]. Although given [[MagicRealism the setting's peculiarities]], it's anyone's guess whether or not it's actually sentient.

* Milla of ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' has a tree stump she named Mr. Stumpy as her only companion for much of her life (as in, from the time she lost her parents to the time she saved Carol from a cave-in). Even in [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 the sequel]], she still values it to the point she dug it up and planted it outside her laboratory.
* Sisyphus in ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' has gone a little nutty spending eternity in Tartarus, and he's named the rock he's been forced to push as "Bouldy", treating it as his best friend and closest confidante. Zagreus can also talk to Bouldy, but unsurprisingly, Bouldy doesn't reciprocate. [[spoiler: Gifting Bouldy some Nectar on the other hand...]]
* Deirdre's ship in ''VideoGame/IMissTheSunrise''. Justified for a number of reasons; its stasis chamber kept her from going insane from emitter radiation, she was naturally inclined towards science and technology to begin with, and the other members of Purity Point shunned her, leaving her with little other companionship.

* ''WesternAnimation/WorkItOutWombats'': Zeke has a stuffy named Snout. Zeke takes Snout everywhere with him, has 'conversations' with the plush, and will never let go of him, even if he's dirty and in desperate need of a wash. Zeke also uses Snout as a form of projection and self-expression; no Zeke isn't afraid of zip-lining, it's ''Snout'' who's afraid.

* The series finale of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', "[[Recap/CheersS11E25 One for the Road]]", appears to suggest that the reason Sam Malone will never be happy with any woman is because his OneTrueLove is ''the Cheers bar itself''.

** ''New Vegas'' also gives us ED-E for the player. It's a floating robot ball that doesn't talk or have personal problems to solve like the other companions. But it has a [[FunWithAcronyms fun nickname,]] plays a jingle to alert you to enemy presence, increases your detection range, has a [[SlowLaser zappy laser weapon]] that sets enemies on fire, and is generally adorable to watch just floating around. If you complete ED-E's sidequest, his slide in the ending notes that [[spoiler: it stays with the Courier as a loyal companion.]]
*** In the Lonesome Road DLC, ED-E becomes much more emotive, revealing a deeper personality and backstory. He was the prized creation of Dr. Whitley, who fawned over ED-E, but was unfortunate enough to have been created him in the Enclave. ED-E was forcibly upgraded by another Enclave researcher, a process as painful to ED-E as anesthetic-free vivisection to a human. The last straw was when Colonel Autumn, commander of the Enclave, ordered Whitley to destroy the Duraframe Eyebots for use in the Hellfire Armor project. ED-E was forced to flee from the one man he loved to escape death, who was likely killed in the Enclave-Brotherhood of Steel war. Essentially, ED-E's story is both remarkable and tragic.
* In the description of the "Water, Talk to Me" quest in ''Farmington Tales'' the quest-giver states that she gets so lonely while jogging that she drew a face on her water bottle and called it Bob.

* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', Souma has his sword: sharpening it is one of his favourite activities, he refers to it in the same breath as his pet turtle Kamegorou at one point, and he takes it everywhere with him, becoming very upset when he is asked not to take it out. Luckily, he does have a government permit (somehow) to take it to school and in public, so it's not ''quite'' as inconvenient as you'd logically think, but he does notice with disappointment that others around him often seem scared of him as a result.
** For a more extreme example, there's Shu's doll Mademoiselle, who he treats as a totally separate identity from himself, speaking through it as though she's a separate person.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}:''

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', it is possible to have conversations with several different inanimate objects, provided your Inland Empire skill is high enough, but the one that sticks out the most is your [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes Horrific Necktie]]. The description treats it as an old friend, and it acts like one through the game, often urging you to stand up for yourself (sometimes at inopportune moments), expressing camaraderie, and sometimes having useful advice. [[spoiler:It can even pull a HeroicSacrifice as part of an improvised Molotov cocktail.]]
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'''s 'feast day' [=DLCs=] adds special gifts to give to your companions, more specifically 'special gifts' and pranks. Shale's special gift is a pet rock called "Herbert". The insulting one? An uncrushable ''[[BerserkButton pigeon]]''.
* Bianca of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is an even more apparent instance of this trope. Varric actually holds conversations with Bianca. Bianca is a crossbow, by the way.

* In one episode of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Sosuke is coaching the lousy school rugby team. He makes them go through physical and mental training from hell. At the end of the training, he gives each of them a football and makes them assign female names to them. Cut to one of the football players caressing his ball saying, "Don't worry, baby. I won't be rough. I won't hurt you" with a mentally disturbing smile and crazy eyes.

* When LLENN of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'' gets particularly stressed in battle, she begins to imagine her P90 submachine gun, "P-chan", speaking to her and promising to help protect her. The gun's destruction in battle sends LLENN into a vengeance-fueled BerserkerRage.

* Satou, the {{hikikomori}} protagonist of ''LightNovel/WelcomeToTheNHK'', often hallucinates that the appliances of his apartment are talking to him and has long conversations with them. While the light novel and manga implies that the cause of this is the [[MushroomSamba use of designer drugs]], the anime plays it as a delirium due to Satou's social isolation.

* ''WebVideo/The8BitDrummer'': along with [[EverythingsBetterWithPlushies his plushies,]] he also has a jug and a water bottle with googly eyes that he drinks to stay hydrated during his streams.

* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': Sean, Sydney, and Mindy all have one. Sean has his Neil Armstrong action figure, Sydney has her Commander Cressida action figure, and Mindy has her teddy bear, Stuffy Bear.

* Downplayed in ''Fanfic/TheEggTeam'' with Teddy's Sonic plush that he obtains early on. He thinks it's cute, and makes it watch him practice his aim while he's recovering in the basement.

* How Ridiculous, basically the [[TransatlanticEquivalent Australian equivalent]] of Creator/DudePerfect, features a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]]'' doll that the group calls "Rexy" in many of its videos. The group even lists Rexy as [[https://howridiculous.org/pages/team an official team member]].

* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Kurt has a "boyfriend pillow" named Bruce. When Rachel and Santana find out, he gets one for each of them ([[LipstickLesbian giving Santana's a sex change]]). Also a case of AluminumChristmasTrees, as the "boyfriend pillow" is an actual item you can order.

* ''VideoGame/BionicCommando 2009''. Man... Okay, so, pretty much, [[spoiler:his arm is his wife.]] Good lord, what else is there to say? [[spoiler:Near the end of the game, it is revealed that Spencer's missing wife was killed and her brain was integrated into his one companion for the whole game, his bionic arm.]] He is in severe denial after this reveal, probably because he sees it as ridiculous as it is. The twist was severely criticized by multiple reviewers, and thus is a perfect example of handling a Companion Cube poorly.
* In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' you can get the Handyman Gene Tonic, which lets you spend EVE to repair friendly bots and turrets. In true mechanic fashion, it also gives names to the bots you've hacked to fight alongside you. It kind of gives you an incentive to keep those bots active given that it's you versus a city full of Splicers.
* Cute little boy Carl Clover from ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'' has an automaton named Nirvana that he talks to and treats like his older sister, Ada. It's animate, and is implied to be sapient... but isn't actually capable of talking. He acts like it is, anyway. [[ZigZaggingTrope Various characters can't decide if Carl's just crazy.]] [[spoiler: Well, he ''is'' probably crazy, but, as it turns out, the automaton IS his sister. His [[MadScientist father]] finally alluded to [[MoralEventHorizon killing Carl's sister]] and using her soul to power the automaton.]]
* [[DeathSeeker Gehrman]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has a ball jointed doll without a name, which she becomes AnimateInanimateObject once [[PlayerCharacter the Hunter]] arrived. Gehrman even insists you to "use" the doll.
-> ''"You're welcome to use whatever you find, even the Doll, should it please you."''
-->-- '''Gehrman, The First Hunter'''
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' has Tannis becoming attached to her tape recorder as she descends further into madness. In the sequel, she fell in love with two ceiling chairs and opposes Handsome Jack because Hyperion destroyed one of them while they were torturing her.
* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'':
** [[CreepyChild Tiny Tina]] has two stuffed bunnies rigged with explosives whom she affectionately refers to as Mushy Snugglebites and Felicity Sexopants. Her comments regarding them are disturbingly, explicitly sexual. Also, two of the guests for her tea party sidequest are Sir Reginald, a jar with a varkid in it wearing a top hat with a monocle and mustache taped to the front, and Princess Fluffybutt, a doll with a grenade for a head.
** Axton the Commando is in love with his Sabre Turret. He calls it "honey" and variously refers to it as his wife or girlfriend. Gaige offers to give it a proper personality at one point, a [[FemmeFatale sexy action girl]], but we don't know if she went through with it.
** Shotgun-wielding bandit Marauders are best pals with their big, powerful shotguns, which they call "Shotty" or "Bucky." When injured they'll even assure the gun that they're alright.
** Gaige repeatedly refers to her bodyguard robot Deathtrap is if it was alive and has conversations with it. It is possible that Deathtrap has true AI, but Gaige is [[{{Robosexual}} into machines]] [[CargoShip of all kinds]] so take what she says with a grain of salt. Finally confirmed in a DLC, where Deathtrap finally speaks for the first time, asking questions and socially interacting with the other Vault Hunters. However, since only Gaige can understand Deathtrap's machine code language, she has to translate everything he says.
* The Male Undead Merchant in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has a wooden basket named Yulia, which he constantly pets and talks to like it was a cat or lover. His [[KatanasAreJustBetter uchigatana]] maybe in the basket.
* This shows up in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' {{fanfic}}tion with the Devil Arms, but since those bear the sentient souls of the defeated demon in question, it's something of a JustifiedTrope. More straightforwardly, in an early scene of the fourth game, Nero and Kyrie talk about Nero's "Red Queen" sword as if discussing a female.
** Two of the Devil Arms, Agni and Rudra, can even talk, although Dante would only take them with him if they kept silent. They start laughing during one of Dante's flashier combos with them, forcing Dante to yell [[BigShutUp "SILENCE!"]] as a reminder of their agreement.
** In the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first game]], Alastor and Ifrit also speak to Dante (via text, no words are heard on the player's end)... before respectively [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him]] and [[KillItWithFire trying to toast him alive]]. If ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' is any indication, [[RecurringBoss recurring character]] Blade Master Alastor is [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the spirit of the same blade]] Dante obtained in ''[=DMC1=]''.

* [[http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v355/fujikuro/Smush/ This custom made figure.]]
* Furbies - Designed to emulate a plush pet with a personality, they were in fact popular enough to warrant a revival after disappearing from the market. And though they've never threatened to stab anyone, others find them horrifically repulsive, even to the point of reacting to them with violence. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZVUHf8JLzs Like this.]]
* Most PVC figures manufactured by japanese company fall into this category.
* Let's face it- most toys in general, even if they're not in the shape of a living creature. Dolls and stuffed animals especially.

** Trilo from case 3 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice For All'' is a ventriloquist's dummy who seems to have a mind of his own. He may have been derived from the Batman character The Ventriloquist, as he also abuses his handler.
** The series also has "Charley", a potted slender palm lily in the main character's office. It's one of the few characters from the original series to show up in ''Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney'' and subsequent games. "Charley" could also be a reference to "Chuck the plant", from ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'', which became a running in-joke and appears in many adventure games afterwards, such as ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' and ''Enclosure''.

** Likewise some ''VideoGame/NetHack'' players and the custom-named ---Bane items, or random artifact items of popular use.
* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingWildWorld'', the Normal villagers all love to talk to their mop, which they call Moppina. WordOfGod states this reflects their slightly obsessive nature and their strong dislike for germs.
* Boo, the Miniature Giant Space Hamster of ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' fame, served as a biological version of this trope for the brain-addled Minsc. Although it's also entirely possible Minsc was right. It has been [[http://archive.gamespy.com/interviews/october00/minsc/ implied]] by what may count as WordOfGod that Boo was bought from Elminster himself.
** It's also worth noting that canonically, Giant Space Hamsters do exist in the Forgotten Realms Settings at that point.

* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Jemimah has a tree in her home garden that's she's dubbed Uke, and in general doesn't find it odd to talk to inanimate objects. In a strange variation of the usual bond that comes with this trope, Jemimah's goal is to one day 'defeat' Uke by knocking him down.
* In ''Roleplay/RainQuest'', there's Aramu Kurokku-chan, Joel's alarm clock, who he has claimed as his waifu. Later on, Joel gives Nina his umbrella as her own companion, which they name Anburera-kun.
* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'':
** Hannah Rose and her "magic hat".
** Alice Jones and her stuffed rabbit (complete with a ShoutOut to ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'') could have been counted as a borderline example, too, until she discarded it in favour of [[spoiler:Guy Rapide's [[AlasPoorYorick head]]]].
** Back in v1, we also had Cody Jenson and Loretta, a ''motorcycle''.
** Shawn Morrison in the SpinOff ''SOTF-TV'' uses, of all things, a dead baby boa constrictor as one (he named it Music/BrianEno).
** From another SpinOff, we have Sycanus Appletin and Tobeyn (her teddy bear) from ''Virtua''. It's also a rare canonical example of CargoShip, as she's explicitly in love with it and at one point is shown making out with it.
* In ''Roleplay/UltimateChatFicOfMutualMemeing'', Nagito and Hajime's "son" Bobstevenson (actually a pet rock) [[spoiler: eventually joins the chat by way of Nagito switching accounts and throwing him at the keyboard, thus becoming TheUnintelligible.]]

* You'll get this from time to time in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. Canonically, Inner Sphere pilots are ''much'' more likely to get attached to their gear, on account of it often being old and full of quirks. Many 'Mechs are passed down as {{Ancestral Weapon}}s, so some families train the next generation of pilots with it and pass on its legacy that way. As a result, many Inner Sphere pilots specialize in piloting one or two chassis, and sometimes one 'Mech in specific, leading to this trope when a pilot spends their entire life with a certain 'Mech to the point that they give it a name and sometimes a 'personality' based on its quirks. This is also because Inner Sphere pilots are much more likely to ''own'' their own gear than comparable Clan pilots, for whom being reassigned from one 'Mech to another depending on the needs of the unit is a fairly commonplace occurrence. Much of this is inspired by the real-life military examples below, and aircraft pilots/crews in particular.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has a feat named Familiar Item. The Item actually can be alive and have personality and ego ''only'' for the owner... and just because the owner likes it so much.
** The Prestige Class Kensai forms a bond with a specific weapon strong enough to imbue it with magical powers. There are also ceremonies that most any character can undergo to magically/spiritually bond with the weapon of their choice. Not to mention Intelligent Items, which, being sentient, can actually form friendships with characters.
** Occasionally subverted in that the owners find the intelligent items so annoying, given that they do not need to sleep, eat or take breath to continue talking, that they tend to be found in unfortunate places like sewers or active volcanoes.
** Brass dragons are chatterboxes who can never get enough conversation for their tastes. As a result, some have a tendency to give nicknames and ascribe personalities to portraits, busts and similar artworks in their hoards, and happily pass the hours having one-sided conversations with these inanimate objects.

* ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'' has a power that allows the Promethean to create an intelligence in any inanimate object. It's mentioned that the intelligence can survive indefinitely as long as the Promethean keeps funneling a single point of [[{{Mana}} Pyros]] into it, and that Prometheans will sometimes do this so that they don't have to be alone. [[TheWoobie Only rarely does any of their kind deride this.]] (In situations where loneliness isn't a concern, Prometheans sometimes use the power to create subtle spies.)
* The Adeptus Mechanicus "Machine Cult" of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' treat ''all'' machines as if they contain sentient "machine spirits". Interestingly, ''actual'' artificial intelligences are considered anathema by the Cult Mechanicus, as it's believed that "thinking machines" nearly [[RobotWar destroyed humanity at one point]].
** Though, it is notable that Titans, The Giant Mecha of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' universe, are Semi-sentient, with each having its own mind. On one occasion, the mind of a Titan commander is also resident inside the machine, after he dies while still linked up to it.
** It should also be noted that Machine Spirits seem to be real, particularly in more advanced machines; Land Raider tanks in particular have a reputation for continuing fighting long after their crew has been killed. Either the vehicles genuinely are possessed, quite possible in the demon and god filled setting, or the Techpriests are building [=AIs=] into their machines without realizing it, since many machines are made by creating exact copies of ancient designs that nobody really understands anymore.
*** Some 40k media state that instead of [=AIs=] the Adeptus uses the brains of large, predatory animals as organic computers, which explains why a tank can go "feral".
** The closest things to being "cute" in a non-ugly way in that world are the drones the Tau use. They're programmed to be loyal like puppies, and as a result the Tau consider them companions rather than, well, expendable drones (a sentiment decidedly ''not'' shared by the players).

* Paul Hindemith's opera ''Cardillac'' is about a goldsmith who treats his creations like his own children: he sings to them, swears to protect them -- and murders his customers to regain them. Indeed, he treasures his handiwork more than his life-and-blood daughter: his dying glance falls not on his heartbroken daughter, but on the beautiful gold chain hanging on her neck.

-->'''Celeste #1''': He's very quiet.\\
'''Soldier''': Yes. Actually he is. He lost his hearing during combat exercises.\\
'''Celeste #1''': What a shame.\\
'''Soldier''': He can't speak either.\\
'''Celeste #2''': Oh. How dreadful.\\
'''Soldier''': We have become very close, though.\\
'''Celeste #1''': So I see.
* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': "These are my friends, see how they glisten..."

* The Pet Rock, and Chia Pets.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball-jointed_doll Ball Jointed Dolls]] fandom.
* The [=RealDoll=].
** A man in England took the Hans Bellmer route with his [=RealDolls=] and actually gave them fully fleshed-out personalities, occupations, and histories. A photo of one such doll named "Rebecca" by Bay Area photographer Elena Dorfman was featured in an article in the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Doll#RealDolls_in_popular_culture San Francisco Chronicle.]]''
*** Since [=RealDoll's=] invention in the early 90's, this obsession has been [[OlderThanYouThink more common than you'd think]]. There have been full webrings dedicated to the fictionalized characters the owners have written for their dolls, with extensive bios, journals of their lives, and galleries featuring the dolls in a variety of fashions.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'':
** One Christmas, Susan got Greg a baby doll named Alfredo which he became extremely attached to until he lost the doll (actually, his Dad took him and hid him). So Greg replaced Alfrendo with a grapefruit that he took care of in the same manner for the next three months.
** Manny has the remains of his old knit blanket, which he calls "Tingy" (which was accidentally thrown away by Frank).

* ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'':
** Ojo has Snowbear, a teddy bear with white fur.
** Treelo has Rockboy, a rock.

* Ol' Lynchy in ''Roleplay/ComicFuryWerewolf'' is this. The villagers are very affectionate of it, and there were riots when it was replaced with a typical lynching platform in Game 11. It was brought back as of Game 12.

* [[Wrestling/MikeShaw Trucker Norm]] carried a Toys/TeddyBear around.

* The entire premise behind ventriloquist acts.
* Creator/JeffDunham frequently lampshades it during his routines. In "Arguing With Myself", he relates a story of taking his "helpers" through airport security:

* Leona from ''Series/BetweenTheLions'' has a plush moose named Lovey.

** Zoe has a pet rock named Rocco, which she treats as alive. Elmo [[EnmityWithAnObject often scoffs at the idea]], though he sometimes goes along with the charade just to get it over with.
** Big Bird has his teddy bear, Radar (a ShoutOut to the ''Series/{{Mash}}'' character), whom he received as a gift from Mr. Hooper.
** Ernie has his rubber duckie.
** Julia has Fluffster, her stuffed rabbit.
** Even a few of the monsters have monster dolls of their own. Herry Monster has Hercules, Telly has Freddy, and Elmo has Baby David, which he named after David, the proprietor of Hooper's Store at the time, in Episode 2256.
* Amy, The Dancing Brick in ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie''. In theory, not totally dissimilar from Gonzo's usual acts (Yollanda, The Dancing Cheese, for example), except that "she's" not a Muppet brick; she's just a brick.
* In ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', Squire Trelawney (Fozzie Bear) has an imaginary friend who lives inside his finger.
-->"Your finger hired the crew?"\\
"No, [[DontBeRidiculous that's silly]]: [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall The man who LIVES inside my finger hired the crew]]. Mr. Bimble"
** Not to mention Dead Tom.
* In Series/{{Gerbert}}, the titular character has his stuffed toy bear, Rory.
* Series/{{Oobi}}'s sister Uma has her doll, as shown in the episode "[[BabysittingEpisode Babysitter!]]"

** Music/EchoandtheBunnymen named their band after their drum machine.

** Music/Echo and the Bunnymen named their band after their drum machine.