Living Emotional Crutch / Western Animation

Living Emotional Crutches in Western Animation.

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• Adventure Time:
  • In the Season 7 premiere, "Bonnie and Neddy", Princess Bubblegum is revealed to be this to her brother, Neddy. Neddy is a reclusive candy dragon who is extremely sensitive and lives in fear of everything that isn't his sister ever since his birth. His only source of security is suckling on candy roots, and when he is deprived of the roots, she is the only one who can comfort him.
  • And while a bit more subtle, Finn the Human appears to be one for Princess Bubblegum. Despite the occasional trouble, she utterly views him as a paragon and her champion, with his presence allowing her to function more positively. He also seems to morally ground her and help keep her on the straight and narrow path. It's also a bit deconstructed since he always had romantic feelings for her and she seemingly doesn't return them. While them being just friends allows her to rule her kingdom more balanced, there's implications that she is not being honest with herself.
    • Finn could actually be this also to Marceline though to a lesser extent since he helped her be a better person and reconnect with Simon AKA Ice King. While she doesn't show that strong of connection, Marceline's past hardships and difficulties seem to imply she does hold Finn closer than she may be aware of.
• Arcane:
  • Vi is this to Powder, as she is the only person besides maybe Vander who believes in her and consistently treats her right, despite her inadequacies and mistakes. Without Vi around, Powder's emotional instability quickly bubbles to the surface, and it all but crumbles when Vi hits and seemingly abandons her at the end of Act 1.
  • Of all people, Silco takes over this role for Powder turned Jinx as her new adopted father. Nearly every single scene between Silco and Jinx has him reassuring her, telling her that she's strong, that he trusts her and that she's perfect. It's clear her psyche needs the constant validation he freely gives her.
• As Told by Ginger: Ginger appears to be one for Dodie, Macie, and Courtney. For example, when Ginger was considering switching schools Courtney fell into pieces. Miranda is this for Courtney too, as she considered Miranda her right hand; now that she's gone and dating Darren, Courtney feels lost and says she only has her left hand now.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Appa and Katara serve as this to Aang, to some degree, particularly in regards to his grief over the annihilation of his people, the peaceful Air Nomads (Appa is his only remaining link to his past while Katara gives him hope for the future).
  • In "The Runaway", it's hinted that Katara might serve as this to Sokka and even to Toph on some level.
  • Ty Lee and Mai seem to be this to Azula, as their betrayal leads her to have a complete mental breakdown.
• Lydia is this (no pun intended) for Beetlejuice, who even states in one episode that "I can't live without you!" Of course, as he himself immediately lampshades, he's already dead. But he does have a difficult time functioning when they're apart, which is only exacerbated by the fact that she's also his Morality Chain.
• Diane is this to BoJack on BoJack Horseman. In Season 6, Diane moves to Chicago, but not before making BoJack promise her he'll be okay if she's gone. For a while, he seems like he will be, but he eventually relapses and nearly kills himself in the process, having left Diane a drunken voicemail blaming her for not coming to his rescue. This is the last straw for Diane, and she decides to end their friendship.
  Diane: I wish I could have been the person you thought I was, the person who would save you.
  BoJack: That was never your job.
  Diane: Then why did you always make me feel like it was?
• On Daria, Daria and Jane have this toward each other. Daria is the weaker of the two, as seen in "See Jane Run" (Daria becomes isolated and starts Thinking Out Loud without even realizing it), but "Is It Fall Yet?" demonstrates that they both have a hard time functioning when the two are fighting.
• In Ed, Edd n Eddy, the Eds are this to each other, possibly due to the neighbor kids' neglect of them and all three of them having dysfunctional home lives. This is especially evident in The Movie: Eddy shatters completely and begins to cry for the first time in the series when Edd decides to leave him; Edd breaks apart when he thinks the other two died in quicksand (even putting aside his Neat Freak tendencies at that moment just to save them) and Ed's worst nightmare is all three of them falling apart. Really, they mean the world to each other.
• PJ from Goof Troop is a more passive example of someone who needed help, but he acts depressed (apathetic, distant, and moping) in the first half of the pilot, and only starts to smile in the second when he's around Max. He even explicitly states that the day of fun he's had with Max is the only one he can remember ever having. His misery is highlighted repeatedly whenever their friendship is in danger. Though he may become less dependent on Max after finding a Love Interest in An Extremely Goofy Movie, it's unclear whether she won't just replace him, and it certainly doesn't take immediate effect: when Max threatens to transfer schools, PJ relapses from his Character Development.
• Futurama:
  • Philip J. Fry to Bender. It's to the point where Bender is no longer able to live alone and quickly stops drinking (the robot equivalent of getting blind drunk, since they're fueled by alcohol) if Fry pushes him aside.
  • Once he falls in love with her, Fry seems unable to survive without Leela in his life. He rejects the opportunity to live a normal life in the past again because he thinks he might have a chance with her. When he actually does go back to the past in the first movie, he's still miserable without Leela; he ends up getting attached to a narwhal that reminds him of her, only to spend years at sea looking for her before accepting she's found a mate and can be happy without him. Twice Fry has decided to kill himself because he thought Leela didn't love him anymore, thus robbing him of his only reason to live — the second time was so impulsive that Leela didn't even stand him up, his watch was just wrong.
• Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls both have trouble coping without each other. Mabel is the more dependent of the two. After a particularly bad day, learning that Dipper may decide to stay in Gravity Falls while she returns home alone terrifies her so much that she attempts to freeze time to prevent it from happening. Inadvertently causing the apocalypse in the process.
• Arnold Shortman for Helga G. Pataki on Hey Arnold!, for being nice to her when everyone else in her life was neglecting her, as is readily apparent in "Helga on the Couch." Unlike most examples, however, Arnold and Helga aren't really friends; she's his Loving Bully, to which he's oblivious.
• One episode of Jem has Rio being this to Minx. Usually he's annoyed by her romantic advances but after she nearly dies her personality completely changes and she's suddenly nice, though anxious and insecure. Her band kicks her out because they hate her new personality but she has nowhere to go and attempts suicide only to be stopped by Rio. She insists she has nothing to live for besides him and he feels incredibly awkward being her crutch. Thankfully at the end of the episode she gets better.
• The eponymous Jimmy Two-Shoes is this to Heloise to an extent.
• Kaeloo:
  • Kaeloo is highly dependent on her friends, especially Mr. Cat, and her entire life revolves around them. In one episode, all the characters play a VR game, and when everyone else quits and Kaeloo continues to play the game without them, she goes insane without their company and even tries to make Replacement Goldfish for them.
  • Mr. Cat feels the same way about Kaeloo, as his ideal version of the world is one where he and Kaeloo are the only ones who exist, her opinion of him matters to him more than anyone else's, and he once even claims that he "thinks about her day and night".
• The Legend of Korra: It is heavily implied that, at the end of the series, Korra has become this for Asami Sato. After her father's Heroic Sacrifice in stopping Kuvira's giant mech from destroying Republic City, Asami mentions to Korra at a wedding that she couldn't have handled losing her father and Korra in the same day. From this scene it is implicated that Korra is Asami's main reason for living after the loss of her family. Although, their relationship in no way is portrayed as unhealthy as Korra is more than happy to be there for Asami — especially after all of the care, kindness, and warmth Asami showed her while she was recovering from her poisoning, PTSD, and depression.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Spike's life utterly revolves around Twilight. One of his first focus episodes had him clueless about what to do when Twilight finally gave him a day off, and his greatest fear is revealed to be her revoking his "assistant" status and casting him out of Ponyville because she doesn't need him anymore.
  • Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, revolves the majority of her life on the approval of Princess Celestia, her own greatest fear being that character's rejection. One instance implies Twilight may have gone completely insane without her and Spike's intervention.
  • Apple Bloom seems pretty dependent on her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders. In one instance where Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo point out they have some wildly diverging interests and should occasionally try out things on their own, she interpreted it as them not wanting to be friends anymore and fell into a downward spiral.
  • Fluttershy is, for the first seasons, the only character Discord seems to have genuine affection for, due to being the only being willing to earnestly be his friend, and thus directly responsible for his reformation. In "Make New Friends and Keep Discord," he is so furious because she invites Treehugger to go with her to the Grand Galloping Gala instead of him. He makes a point of menacing to send Treehugger to another dimension until Fluttershy calls him out that making friends with anyone else doesn't mean she would dump him (though sending her friends to another world would be a good reason). In "Dungeons and Discords", Fluttershy encourages Discord to make friends with Spike and Big Mac while she is out. After a very rough beginning, he eventually warms up to the two, at the point of helping Big Mac to propose to Sugar Belle.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: Stimpy is this to Ren, and without Stimpy around Ren would become completely and irreversibly Ax-Crazy and overcome by loneliness. In the very first episode, Stimpy leaves Ren (temporarily). Ren falls to pieces within the first five minutes.
• In Rugrats Chuckie is this to his father Chaz. In one episode Chaz goes insane in a world where Chuckie doesn't exist. Although considering that Chaz already lost his wife and Chuckie is their child, this is very much justified. And heartbreaking.
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Adora served as this to Catra. Scorpia takes over the position after the former leaves the Horde in the series opener, though she isn't able to prevent her friend's Sanity Slippage. When she finally leaves due to Catra's abusive behavior, Catra undergoes a complete Villainous Breakdown.
  • To a lesser extent, Bow has always served as this to Glimmer, to the point that she panics when he starts branching out with other friendships in "Princess Prom." When a rift forms between them throughout Season 4, she does not take it well, highlighting the parallels between her and Catra.
  • Bow and Glimmer become this for Adora, after she leaves the Horde, until Season 5, when Catra joins them after her Heel–Face Turn. It's she who gives the major support to Adora pursue her own wishes instead of keeping putting everyone else's needs before her own.
  • Entrapta becomes this for Hordak, since she is the only person (besides Imp)to show him genuine affection. After she is sent to Beast Island by Catra, he falls into depression thinking she abandoned him, and has a Sanity Slippage when Double Trouble tells him the truth. It's Entrapta, indirectly, that helps Hordak to recover a small bit of his memory when he finds the crystal she gave to him. When Horde Prime tells him to kill her, that makes Hordak get over his brainwashing and give him enough courage to dispose of his abuser.
• In The Simpsons, Marge Simpson to Homer Simpson. "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" shows that it's above and beyond the usual Parenting the Husband, as Homer, briefly separated from Marge, tries to figure out what he can give her that no one else can and ultimately concludes that it's "complete and utter dependence" (keeping in mind that she has a baby).
  Homer: Marge, I need you more than anyone else on this entire planet could possibly ever need you. I need you to take care of me, to put up with me, and most of all I need you to love me, because I love you.
  Marge: But how do I know I can trust you?
  Homer: Marge, look at me. We've been separated for a day and I'm as dirty as a Frenchman. In another few hours I'll be dead! I can't afford to lose your trust again!
• Steven Universe:
  • Titular character Steven is the Gems' crutch, but the show repeatedly points out that this isn't entirely a good thing, as he begins the show as a young boy lacking the means or the maturity to be an appropriate crutch for ancient beings with a myriad of issues. In addition to being this for the Gems, he develops a habit of taking this type of role in interactions with other people, frequently putting everyone else's needs before his own. He earnestly tries to help as much as he can, even if it's mentally unhealthy for him or puts him in physical danger, with the latter half of the series making it clear that his position has fed into a Guilt Complex that causes him to often completely disregard his own needs; something Amethyst points out and spends an episode trying to get him to stop. Further deconstructed in Future. After being the crutch for so many others for years, he's caught flatfooted when they are finally in a place to handle things on their own, as being an emotional crutch became his default method of interacting with people. This combines with an unwillingness to open up about his own issues^note which itself stems in part from fear of causing stress for the people he's been helping, which he believes will create more problems he'll inevitably have to fix to be one of the causes of Steven's Sanity Slippage.
    Steven: I don't know how to be a friend without something to fix!
  • Another deconstructed example is Peridot as Lapis Lazuli's crutch. Peridot makes it her job to keep Lapis happy no matter what happens, but this arrangement means Peridot's own feelings have gone ignored, Lapis's issues haven't actually been addressed, and when they finally have a major disagreement, they lack any ability to communicate about it.
  • Rose Quartz, Steven's mother, was especially this for the rest of the team, who even fourteen years later are still very distraught about her "death."
  • Ruby and Sapphire initially come across as this. Ruby is especially distraught when forcibly separated from Sapphire, but both of them are simply determined to get back together and fuse back into Garnet. It's only much later in the show's run that they separate for a while in order to re-contextualize their relationship and they decide to try ceasing as this. It seems to work — by Steven Universe Future, they are able to willingly separate and teach different classes to various Little Homeworld Gems, and Garnet explains that she's learned that a person's soulmate should be their complement, not their "missing piece."
  • It becomes very clear throughout Season 5 that despite their dismissive attitude towards her, Pink Diamond was this to the other Diamonds. In fact, it's coded thoroughly into her character visually as well: Pink is the bottom of the Diamond symbol, Pink's ship is what holds up the others on the combined Mecha ship, Pink's actual brilliant-cut Gem is positioned on her body in profile, appearing triangularly with the flat side facing down, a shape that literally symbolizes stability. When Pink ceases to be around to bear their emotional burdens, the other three Diamonds' stability deteriorates rapidly, each manifesting this decline in different ways. However, it's made clear that Pink has been suffering in her attempts to keep their relationship with each other stable and everything she did for them amounted to nothing. It's only when they realize that their abuse was one of the reasons she betrayed the Authority, and admit how toxic their dysfunction was to her, that they make an effort to better themselves and establish healthier lives without her.

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