History Main / TheHypnotoad

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[[DescribeTopicHere Describe "The Hypnotoad" he-]]''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD. THE HYPNOTOAD IS THE GREATEST OF ALL TROPES IN FICTION. ALL HAIL!]]''

What is the Hypnotoad? In addition to being our glorious lord and master, the Hypnotoad is a creature that has the ability to control other creatures, especially humans, via some form of MindControl through hypnosis, telepathy, or any other method that does not involve [[PuppeteerParasite biological invasion]] of some sort. This power is the Hypnotoad's primary method of defense, and the Hypnotoad itself has [[SquishyWizard few, if any]], other ways to protect itself.

The Hypnotoad's most important feature, aside from its ability to control minds, is that such a creature is not human, or even humanoid. It may be some sort of StarfishAlien creature, or a bizarre alien animal or plant. HypnoticEyes are a common feature. Such creatures never have any sort of a civilization, and typically come from places where their hypnosis is much [[LikeADuckTakesToWater less effective]]. After all, if their mind control powers were 100% effective in their home environment, they would have conquered the universe already. A Hypnotoad may not even be intelligent, for that matter... but regardless, ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

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!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/OutlawStar'': A bizarre alien cactus uses its powers to influence human brains to... sell ice cream. This was actually a test of its powers before it tries its hand at galactic dominion. However, when it encounters someone that its powers cannot control, it ends up squished.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has [[https://scryfall.com/card/soi/245/the-gitrog-monster The Gitrog Monster]] and [[http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/sacrifice-2016-03-23 its accompanying lore entry]], which brainwashed an entire village into worshipping it. At the end of the story, the heroine confronts the beast and [[spoiler:is likewise influenced into worshipping it]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'':
** Starro the Conqueror is a StarfishAlien villain who started using mind-control powers in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}}.
** There's also the Star Conqueror, a different member of Starro's species.
* ''ComicBook/SubMariner'': [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] stories briefly introduced a non-sentient, one-eyed "hypno-fish".
* Subverted in ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheUntoldStoryOfArgoCity''. As watching a recording featuring a space monster named Zygor, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} learns the creature seems to have developed the power to control Kryptonians with its single huge eye. However, it is later revealed that tape was a hoax and the monster never gained such a power.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/PrettyCureHeavyMetal'': In one episode, the author mentions the Hypnotoad in narration, and even though the Hypnotoad doesn't appear, he does manage to say -- ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'': The python Kaa can hypnotize human and other creatures who meet his gaze, if he so desires. [[note]]Hypnotizing prey is a folkloric ability attributed to snakes in general.[[/note]] In [[Literature/TheJungleBook the original stories]], Kaa can hypnotize animals ''en masse'' with a sort of dance, although humans are not affected and Mowgli can extend that immunity to any animal he touches.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'': The serpent-bearded Byatis uses hypnosis to attract human prey. And yes, it's toad-shaped. However, despite being a Great Old One (thus very, very big), it does get [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punched out]] [[spoiler: when a human defeats it by setting it on fire.]]
* ''Literature/GarrettPI'': The Dead Man is a rare good-guy example. Loghyr possess formidable mental powers even when they're alive, but are humanoids capable of more independent action than The Hypnotoad generally is. After death, their spirits remain bound to their inert and slow-to-decay corpses, still psychically gifted but physically inert, vulnerable to scavengers, and increasingly bored.
* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'': The Gaiaphage can control anyone who comes close enough to it whenever it wants to. It can even control people after they move away. It's not usually a complete control ([[spoiler: Lana managed to resist it long enough to try to kill it, although she didn't succeed]]), and the person might not even be aware that they're being controlled. ([[spoiler: Such as Caine.]]) It is different from other examples in that it has many, ''many'' other forms of defense besides mind control.
* Creator/JorgeLuisBorges: The Strong Toad is almost indestructible and has the power to control other living things with its [[HypnoticEyes eyes]]. The only way to destroy it is by [[KillItWithFire burning it completely]].
* ''Literature/KnownSpace'':
** In "The Handicapped", the Grogs of the planet Down could not move unaided, but can control others by putting thoughts in their heads telepathically. They develop active trade with humans (we give them mechanical hands and mobility, they serve as useful translators and living security monitors). The humans are ''fairly'' certain it's an even trade without any mind control involved, and that the planet-destroyer set up over their homeworld in case that changes is outside their range. ''Fairly'' certain.
** The Grogs are thought to descend from the Thrintun, a species better known as the Slavers. Slavers were an intellectually inferior species that nonetheless ruled a vast interstellar empire via such control after a spacefaring race landed and was forced to give them the secret to faster than light travel. They never invented anything for themselves, which eventually bit them in the ass when the species with the longest mental "leash" used that freedom to rebel; the counterattack was a suicide command that killed ''everything in the galaxy that had a notochord''.
* ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndTheOceansOfVenus'': The [[SpaceX Venusian frogs]] have [[{{Telepathy}} empathic and telepathic]] abilities. They use these abilities instinctively to defend themselves by causing potential predators to become fond of them and unable to kill them; this endearing quality makes them popular pets for humans. However, they can also be used by people; [[spoiler:Lyman Turner uses them to read and influence other human minds]].
* ''Literature/{{Mode}}'': One of the worlds visited by the main characters is populated by telepathic horses that control the native humans. In the absence of human brains, they're only as intelligent as ordinary horses, but their telepathy lets them become as smart as people by using the brains of nearby humans to help them think better. (Being used in this way doesn't appear to affect the main characters' intelligence, although generations of being mind-controlled by horses has resulted in the native humans having a very animal-like society and culture.)
%%* ''Literature/TheRollingStones'': The flat cats. Heinlein said he may have gotten the idea from a story written in 1905, which might make this OlderThanTheyThink. %% ZERO CONTEXT EXAMPLE. ADD CONTEXT BEFORE UNCOMMENTING. HOW DOES THE MIND CONTROL ABILITY MANIFEST? IS IT REALLY MIND CONTROL? %%
* ''Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse'': "Troublesome Minds" are Isitri usually totally innocent and friendly people who, without actually realizing they’re doing it, naturally assert their will over everyone around them on a massive scale as part of Isitri telepathic contact. These crowds of people then consider it their greatest purpose in life to ensure the Troublesome Mind is comfortable and gets what he or she wants. From the viewpoint of the Troublesome Mind themselves, people just go out of their way to make them comfortable and be considerate to them. Aren't people ''nice''? This is part of the reason a Troublesome Mind is rarely hostile--they have no experience of mistreatment.
* "Beyond lies the Wub", a short story by Creator/PhilipKDick. The Wub is a sentient Martian pig-like creature, but it has telepathic powers that enable it to freeze the captain with a look and later (when the Captain insists on shooting and eating the Wub) [[GrandTheftMe steal his body]].
* In ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'' written by David Gerrold, creator of the tribbles, a scientist points out a form of Chtorran life called the meep, which when placed with a mother rabbit will induce her to abandon her young and allow the meeps to nurse her to death. At the time the protagonist is studying another form of Chtorran life; endearing floppy-eared creatures called bunnydogs. Noting the CutenessProximity response most people have towards them, he suggests that the bunnydogs are meant to be the human-equivalent for meeps.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", the petrified hand of Eldrad, a silicon crystal-based alien, used mind control on humans to take his hand to a nuclear power plant to generate a new body.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. Tribbles, endearing balls of fur that emit trilling sounds that are pleasing to the human ear. Unfortunately they are an ExplosiveBreeder species when taken from their predator-rich homeworld.
* ''Series/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'': In one episode, Wayne creates an invention that allows a person to [[NinetyPercentOfYourBrain utilize a higher percent of their brain]]. As a side effect, those affected temporarily gain psychic powers. Quark the dog is exposed and is shown to be a mesmerizer.
%%* ''Series/TheMonkees'': The Frodis does this, ironically enough under force.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mythology and Folklore]]
* Myth/ClassicalMythology has the phrygian dragons, a species of wingless, snake-like dragons. Lacking wings, they can't fly, but they have a magical breath that they use to hypnotize prey, particularly birds, to willingly walk or fly into their jaws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'':
** In the second episode, Cecil reports on a sinister glowing cloud heading for the town, and once it reaches him he falls under its MindControl and declares "''All hail the mighty Glow Cloud''." Said cloud becomes a recurring character of sorts, becoming a prominent member of the community and [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext head of the local PTA]]. It's hard to discuss its policies, though, since all discourse is cut off by the inevitable choruses of "ALL HAIL".
** [[AdorableAbomination Khoshekh the floating cat]] also displays these powers, turning anyone who sees him into a cat lover and getting the radio station staff to care for him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'':
** The Mastermind of the [[AlienInvasion Scrin]] race in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' can take control of exactly one enemy unit or building at a time and has the additional ability of teleporting allied units around the battlefield. Other than that, it has no actual means of self defence.
** This is based on [[MindControlDevice Yuri's psychic drones]] from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2''. Yuri himself is an excellent example, as he's shown controlling someone's mind simply by grabbing his shoulder. The explanation? His brain can somehow both receive ''and transmit'' information. Yuri's Masterminds are tanks driven by psychic brain, it can take control any unit within its range, but it will overload if it controls more than 3 units, and will slowly loose health until the excess unit is gone.
* ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' features Kathool Atchoo, a squid-like deity who [[DreamWeaver controls the dreams]] of the UnderwaterCity called Tethys. Sleeping Humans who enter that town usually end up hypnotised (or BrainwashedAndCrazy) by the time Kathool is finished with them.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': Cats are prone to "adopting" your dwarves, and there is nothing you can do about it. These drones will then flip out if their furry little masters are harmed. Since they also breed explosively, this leads many players to stick all new kittens in cages or [[EatTheDog butcher them]] to stop them from mind-controlling your dwarves and killing your framerate, at least until it became possible to geld them.
-->'''Bay 12 forum-goer''': When life gives you kittens, you make kitten-ade.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'':
** The Thorian is an excellent example of this. [[spoiler:It's a huge, telepathic plant-like entity that spreads spores in the air to control its victims.]]
** Reapers subtly indoctrinate other creatures into serving them, influencing their minds over long periods of exposure. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler:their leviathan creators demonstrate the ability to enthrall people, which works immediately, completely subsumes the target's mind and can fully override indoctrination, but only works as long as the enthralled being is within a certain distance of a leviathan or leviathan technology]].
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Certain Psychic-type can function through moves such as Hypnosis. The best examples are Inkay and Malamar, squid Pokemon that happen to be [[CombatPragmatist Dark]] and [[PsychicPowers Psychic]]-types. Malamar has been described as having the most compelling hypnotic powers of any Pokemon. Additionally, we have a ''literal'' example in the Poliwag line, which are actual toads/frogs capable of hypnotizing you with [[BizarreAlienBiology the swirly intestines showing through their transparent bellies]], though the only thing they're capable of is putting you to sleep.
* ''VideoGame/Prey2017'': Telepath Typhon can take over human [=NPCs=] and turn them into dangerous {{Action Bomb}}s.
* ''VideoGame/StarControlII'' features the Dnyarri, a race of toadlike beings that can utterly dominate the minds of others and may be the inspiration behind the TropeNamer. [[spoiler:After a slave revolt millennia ago, the entire race was genetically altered into nonsentient pets. When just one is accidentally reverted to full power, it shows horrifying power levels, and immediately takes control of an interstellar empire all by itself.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' [[https://www.xkcd.com/1664/ #1664 "Mycology"]] has a lab opening a whole new wing to cultivate a very promising fungus that takes over mammal brains and makes them want to study fungi.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Webcomic/AsteroidQuest'', the neumono species has a natural predator that hijacks their empathic link to control and destroy their minds. While a dumb (or desperate) predator may just mind-control a neumono into a toothy death, more clever ones keep herds of mindwiped zombies which can last for generations (on both sides; one is explicitly stated to have received/inherited his herd from his mother). [[spoiler:Things get worse when a few of the neumono's ''smart'' hereditary enemy get their pincers on a predator.]]
* ''WebOriginal/UnforgottenRealmsLive'': The Whisper Snake, which controls people through whispering.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': The Worm King can hypnotize and lock people into their dreams. Introduced in the "Evicted!" episode of Season One.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' had villain Mechanikles create a robot named Gregarious, a mobile robot with hypnotic abilities. Greg was able to control everyone in Agrabah, including Aladdin and the rest of the gang, so his inventor can take over. Luckily, Genie was immune to the effect but was unable to convince his friends that something was off until he found the source of their odd behavior: Greg's power. When the robot was destroyed, the effect wore off.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': The alien starfish Starro (or his minions, at least) shows up in several teasers in the first part of Season 2 controlling various people. He finally appears in person in "The Siege Of Starro, Part I!", [[spoiler: [[CurbStompBattle only to be quickly defeated by Captain Marvel's transformation lightning]]]].
* ''Franchise/{{DCAU}}'': Starro appears twice. The first time was in the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Main Man". It was just a cameo, and its appearance was overshadowed by Lobo and the plot. At the end, it and all the other animals seen are provided a home at the Fortress of Solitude. Its second appearance was in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. [[spoiler:It has taken control of Superman and attached itself to his chest.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': The Gigglepies, a race of stuffed bunny-like aliens, are actually conquerors who use their hypnotic cuteness to take over via merchandising. The more they sell, the less their victims can resist them. This tactic doesn't work on the Yugopotamians, who hate all things cute and fluffy, though the Gigglepie King admits that conquest through fear works just fine.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has the TropeNamer, the Hypnotoad. Using its large oscillating multicolored eyes and emiting a [[DroneOfDread droning hum]], it's able to influence humans and probably other creatures (including sheep) into doing its bidding. It has used this ability to win a contest for best pet. Afterward, it got its own sitcom, which -- [[InterruptingMeme ALL GLORY]] [[MemeticMutation TO THE HYPNOTOAD]].
** His sitcom, ''Everybody Loves Hypnotoad'', consists of 30 minutes[[note]] Okay, 22 minutes plus commercials[[/note]] of Hypnotoad staring at you. It is the greatest piece of entertainment ever produced. ("Feh, [[SeasonalRot it's been going downhill since season three]]").
*** But whatever you do, don't interrupt his program for anything, or [[PsychicAssistedSuicide he'll make you kill yourself]].
*** The ''[[Recap/FuturamaM1BendersBigScore Bender's Big Score]]'' DVD comes with a bonus, full-length ''Everybody Loves Hypnotoad'' episode.
*** Among other things, this episode contains a commercial for the ''Everybody Loves Hypnotoad'' Season One DVD boxset: all 365 episodes, with deleted scenes (indistinguishable from the rest of the show), {{hilarious outtakes}} (including one where the toad is shown upside down) and director's commentary (take a gue-ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD).
** There are also the alien cats who enslave people through cuteness, the [[PuppeteerParasite Brain Slugs]] and the opening song to ''[[Recap/FuturamaM4IntoTheWildGreenYonder Into the Wild Green Yonder]]'' mentions "the psychic worms from Rigel IX who control everything we do". Nibbler can do it as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': "[[Recap/InvaderZimS1E13RiseOfTheZitboy Rise of the Zitboy]]" features one of the more bizarre examples: Zim develops an enormous pimple on the side of his head that can hypnotize people into submission by ''jiggling''. He dresses it up with a doodled-on face (actually GIR's doing) and a little puppet body and goes to school, passing it off as his new friend "Pustulio" -- and soon, Pustulio is ''everyone's'' new friend [[spoiler: until it explodes]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': "[[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsS1E10CatManDoImpeachFuzz Cat Man Do]]" features an intelligent cat capable of hypnotizing humans as its villain. Its EvilPlan involved using a machine to amplify its hypnosis powers so that all humans became slaves of catkind.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': Starro appears in season one as a giant alien starfish that's been found frozen in Antarctic ice. The Light steals a piece of him [[spoiler: as part of their main plan to create mind control devices that they can infect the Justice League with]]. Starro shows up again in season three [[spoiler: leading an armada of alien warships to attack Earth. Vandal Savage defeats it with Warworld and is shown to have fought Starro before in the distant past]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Cuttlefish, a type of cephalopod closely related to squids and octopodes, are capable of ensnaring prey by dazzling them with rapidly cycling colors on their skin. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1T4ZgkCuiM It's exactly as awesome as it sounds]].
* Cats. No, seriously. Their meow sounds so similar to a human baby's cry to evoke human's instinct to help them, and they can spread toxoplasmosis, which has been shown to alter the host's behavior to be more accommodating to cats (it's commonly believed that mice infected with it actually seeks out cats rather than running away, but in actuality it just makes mice lose their instinctive fear of the scent of cat urine). It's been theorized that the CrazyCatLady phenomenon is actually due to toxoplasmosis, though the extent that its infection has on human behavior, if any, is still unproven. In addition, they have been found to have evolved their way into domestication by making themselves as tolerable to humans as possible, in order to take advantage of the safety and the food supply of a granary or a farm -- and humankind was more than happy to oblige, and that's why cats are nowadays a household pet. It is also a very well known fact that cats view their human as a personal minion that has the obligation of providing them food, shelter and cuddles if required.
* Flowers. The whole reason they smell good is so bees and other insects will get close and happen to spread their pollen. They just happen to smell good to humans as well, even though we can't pollinate.
[[/folder]]

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->'''''[[HellIsThatNoise BZZZZZZZZZZZZBZZZZZ]]''''''''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AOfbnGkuGc ZZZZZZZBZZZZZZZZZZZZ]]'''''

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