History WesternAnimation / PinkyandtheBrain

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Has its own [[Radar/PinkyAndTheBrain page.]]

* AntiHero: Brain is constantly trying to take over the world -- hardly heroic -- but he is good-natured (when not hurting Pinky) and truly believes that the world would be a better, happier place if he was in charge; this is [[Main/JustifiedTrope justified]] by portraying real world's leaders as either egotistic, incompetent or plain crazy (or all at once). Also compare to his archrival Snowball, a sadistic villain whom Brain believed would destroy the world if ''he'' ruled it.

[[caption-width-right:209:''One is a genius, the other's insane...'']]

* FriendlyTickleTorture: In "Big In Japan", Pinky is seen playing with a "Tickle-Me Herbert" doll, a parody of the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll. Later in the episode, he uses this tactic to defeat a sumo wrestler.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Brain may want to take over the world, but it's only because he believes the world would be a better place with him in charge.

An AnimatedSeries about a super-intelligent, genetically-altered lab mouse who enlists his halfwit roommate (read: the other mouse in his cage) into his endless quest to TakeOverTheWorld. Each episode saw The Brain devise an elaborate, improbable scheme for world domination, only be foiled in the end due to some unforeseeable twist of fate, Pinky's bumbling or occasionally his own blundering arrogance. On one or two occasions he actually succeeded in taking over the world, but with some kind of unacceptable side-effect that sent him back to the drawing board. By contrast, many episodes had his schemes barely even getting off the ground, and the story centered around his attempts just to get the first step going.

* ReTool: The abysmal ''Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain'' changed it so that Pinky and Brain were [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Elmyra Duff]]'s pets.

* FantasticVoyagePlot: Done in the three-part episode "Brainwashed". The first part has them travel inside Tom Bodett's body while he's recording dialogue for a ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Good idea, Bad Idea]]'' segment to try and gain control of his voice, while the third and final part had them end up inside Bobby Bob while intending to get inside one of the members of Swedish music group Baab and having to use him to thwart Precious' plan.

** The intro to ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' has a scene where Brain is writing his "theory of everything" on a chalkboard, which is basically a bunch of pseudo-mathematical mumbo-jumbo, including "[[StockShoutOuts THX=1138]]".

* ClipShow: "Schpiel-borg 2000" starts off as this, which clips of every time Pinky and Brain said their catchphrases.

* AnimalWrongsGroup: In "Welcome to the Jungle", a group of them "liberate" the duo and return them to their "natural habitat": the jungle. By throwing them out of a plane, [[CriticalResearchFailure because mice can fly]].

An AnimatedSeries about a super-intelligent, genetically-altered lab mouse who enlists his halfwit roommate (read: the other mouse in his cage) into his endless quest to TakeOverTheWorld. Each episode saw The Brain devise an elaborate, improbable scheme for world domination, only be foiled in the end due to some unforeseeable twist of fate, Pinky's bumbling or occasionally his own blundering arrogance. On one or two occasions he actually succeeded in taking over the world, but with some kind of unacceptable side-effect that sent him back to the drawing board. By contrast, many episodes had his schemes barely even getting off the ground, and the story centered around his attempts just to get Step One going.

The duo is set to return as part of Creator/{{Hulu}}'s ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'' revival series.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Essential, since StatusQuoIsGod, given Brain's radical schemes. They do pull it off every so often, but a twist always has them starting over again.

The duo is set to return as part of Creator/{{Hulu}}'s 2020 ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'' revival series.

The duo is set to return as part of Creator/{{Hulu}}'s 2020 ''[[WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020]]'' revival series.

The duo is set to return as part of Creator/{{Hulu}}'s 2020 ''Animaniacs'' revival series.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Occasionally happens to Brains' plans -- the episode in which he creates a replica (or as he calls it "Chia") of Earth with nothing but paper mâché and has all people go there only to eventually become bored out of his mind being [[MayorOfAGhostTown leader of an abandoned Earth]] and find out the hard way that he accidentally saved mankind from ''the apocalyptic meteor that was a few days away from causing an EarthShatteringKaboom'' ([[FailedASpotCheck and he never noticed the extensive news and scuttle-butt that talked about it in the background]] throughout the whole episode) is a pretty good example.

** And his sidekick, "Little Piggy Flea Pie Waffle Shoe Clamhead Chris."

* BorrowingTheBeatles: In "All You Need is Narf", Pinky's SimpleMindedWisdom has him confused for a guru when he and Brain are in India to collect sandalwood. They become especially popular with The Feebles, a Beatles {{Expy}} that Pinky happens to be a fan of. When they begin to get in the way of the plan by booking a 6-month sit-in, Brain meets the tone-deaf singer Yoko Nono and pairs her with the John Lennon stand-in, leading to the band's break-up.

An AnimatedSeries about a super-intelligent, genetically-altered lab mouse who enlists his halfwit roommate (read: the other mouse in his cage) into his endless quest to take over the world. Each episode saw The Brain devise an elaborate, improbable scheme for world domination, only be foiled in the end due to some unforeseeable twist of fate, Pinky's bumbling or occasionally his own blundering arrogance. On one or two occasions he actually succeeded in taking over the world, but with some kind of unacceptable side-effect that sent him back to the drawing board. By contrast, many episodes had his schemes barely even getting off the ground, and the story centered around his attempts just to get Step One going.

* RunningGag: Pinky thinking that he and Brain are training to be seals (as opposed to Navy Seals) in the comic story "G. I. Brain".

* ArtShift: Both stories in Issue 18 of the comic book are drawn in a manga-equse style.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' segments, especially earlier on, Brain's megalomania is more apparent and he's barely tolerant of Pinky compared to later, even using him for labor. Pinky is less capable (a minion in the traditional sense) and far more likely to goof off, playing into the "insane" part of the theme song. There's some VocalEvolution as well.

* FriendlyTickleTorture: In "Big In Japan", Pinky is seen playing with a "Tickle-Me Herbert" doll, a parody of the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll. Later in the episode, he uses this tactic to defeat a sumo wrestler.

* InsultToRocks: After saying Pinky had the approximate I.Q. of an empty soap dish, Brain says "I take it back. I don't want to insult the soap dish."

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' segments, especially earlier on, Brain's megalomania is more apparent and he's barely tolerating of Pinky compared to later, even using him for labor. Pinky is less capable (a minion in the traditional sense) and far more likely to goof off, playing into the "insane" part of the theme song. There's some VocalEvolution as well.

* FriendlyTickleTorture: In "Big In Japan", Pinky is seen playing with a "Tickle-Me Herbert" doll, a parody of the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll. Later in the episode, he uses this tactic to defeat a sumo wrestler.

* InsultToRocks: After saying Pinky had the approximate I.Q. of an empty soap dish. Brain says "I take it back. I don't want to insult the soap dish."

* TerminatorTwosome: The Verminator and V100 in Issue 16 of the comic book.

** Slappy Squirrel briefly appears in "Stunted Publiticty" to comment on Pinky and Brain's attention-getting stunt.