Madness Mantra / Western Animation

Madness Mantras… Madness Mantras… Madness Mantras… Madness Mantras… Madness Mantras… in western animation.

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• Adventure Time:
  • Finn's tower song counts as somewhat of a Madness Mantra.
    Finn: Baby's building a tower into space
    Space is where he's gonna find his dad
    Daddy's got an arm, and baby's going to harm
    His arm by ripping it off his dad.
  • "Power of FROST! Power of FROST! Power of FROST!"
  • "In the tree, part of the tree. In the tree, part of the tree. In the tree, part of the tree."
  • "Gunther, no! Gunther, no! Gunther, NO!"
• The Amazing World of Gumball: "I get up, I shower, I come to work, I work all day, I go home, I go to sleep. I get up, I shower, I come to work, I work all day, I go home, I go to sleep. I get up, I shower, I come to work, I work all day, I go home, I go to sleep. I get up, I shower, I come to work, I work all day, I go home, I go to sleep..."
  • In the series finale, "The Inquisition": "It's better this way, It's better this way, IT'S BETTER THIS WAY!"
• In the Season 2 finale of Amphibia: "Give him back. GIVE. HIM. BACK!"
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: " Azula always lies... Azula always lies..."
  • The Legend of Korra: In the Fog of Lost Souls humans lose track of themselves and get caught in terrible memories. Most stand in place. Some wander aimlessly, repeating their names, who they are, and what they want in an attempt to stay themselves.
    • "I am Zhao the Conqueror. I am the Moon Slayer. I will capture the Avatar. I am Zhao the Conqueror. I am the Moon Slayer. I will capture the Avatar..."
    • "You are the son of Aang. You are the hope for future generations of Airbenders." It decays quickly, in that case.
• CatDog: "I will obey the rules. I will obey the rules. I will obey the rules..."
• Courage the Cowardly Dog, "Human Habitrail": "It's Doc Gerbil's world! It's Doc Gerbil's world!"
• Danger Mouse: The episode "Ants, Tress And Whoops-A-Daisy" had DM falling into a temple looking for Penfold and running into a group of snakes who have adapted a cult of the 1960s, chanting "Peace and love" over and over. When DM gives an off-handed "Good grief," the snakes adapt "Good grief" as their new mantra.
• In Dexter's Laboratory, after Dexter throws Dee Dee's favorite teddy bear Foozeems away accidentally when putting Foozeems into astronaut training, Dee Dee went into an Angst Coma that had her saying "Foozeems, Foozeems, Foozeems..." all over and non-stop.
• In Dog City, Screwy Louie was Driven to Madness by loose screws causing misfortune all throughout his life. Now he's on a mad crusade to remove every screw in the city, cackling, "Drive them out, drive them out, drive them aaaall out!"
• DuckTales (1987): A sillier example (and one that's eventually snapped out of) is the Overly Long Gag "A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!" The reboot actually makes fun of it in the episode “Let’s Get Dangerous.”
  Scrooge: [apathetic] A sea monster did not eat my ice cream.
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends:
  • In "The Trouble with Scribbles", Bloo constantly asks every other imaginary friend about what's behind the secret door. Eventually, Bloo is reduced to saying "Secret door, secret door, secret door..." as he becomes more obsessed with it.
  Bloo: Secret door, secret door, secret door, secret door...
  • This sequence was later reused in the credits sequence for a later episode, despite Bloo already knowing what was behind the door.
  • In "Who Lets the Dogs In?", Mr. Herriman is suggested to say "A dog is not in the house presently" by Frankie when he becomes paranoid of a dog in the house. Which he starts to repeat when he sees puppy paw prints and a bloody bone (ketchup on the paws and the bone) as his voice rises higher and higher.
  • "Gotta go. Gotta go. Gotta go."
• Futurama: "Fix it! Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!... Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!"
• G.I. Joe: Four words: Was Once a Man!
• Gravity Falls: The code at the end of "Northwest Mansion Mystery” is just STANISNOTWHATHESEEMS several times.
• Green Lantern: The Animated Series: "But...I came back for you. I came back for you. I came back for you. I came back...I CAME BACK FOR YOU!!"
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL!"
  • "I'll take the chicken. DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL!"
• Doctor Destiny in the Justice League TV show was stuck humming Frère Jacques while catatonic after injecting himself with a sedative while fighting Batman, who was humming the song to keep Doctor Destiny from influencing his mind.
• Looney Tunes:
  • "The Daffy Doc": "Where's a patient? Where's a patient? I gotta find a patient. I gotta find a patient."
  • "The Henpecked Duck": "Yes, m'love. Yes, m'love. Yes, m'love! HOO HOO! YEEEEEESSSSS M'LOVE!"
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: In "Fastest Man Alive", K'nuckles goes crazy after being constantly arrested by a constable on a bicycle. He curls up in a ball and is only able to impersonate the bike's bell, going "Ching. Ching. Ching".
• At the end of the Metalocalypse episode "Snakes n' Barrels", it's revealed that Pickles' old bandmates create the most brutal album ever with their psychotic rantings, one of which includes the constant "I'm a chicken! I'm a chicken! I think I'm a chicken! I'm a chicken! I'm a chicken! I'm a chicken! I believe I'm a chicken!"
  • Dr. Rockso will say "I'm Dr. Rockso, the rock n' roll clown. I do cocaine!!" or just "I do cocaine!" regardless of his situation. Due to his drug use, Rockso is obviously a few songs short of a metal album.
• Mission Hill: Bling-blong-bling-bling-blong-bling...
• Moral Orel: After Orel is grounded from going to church, it's . . . well . . .
  Orel: Church, church . . . churchy church!
• In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, when Twilight goes insane over not finding a friendship problem to write to Celestia about: "Clock is ticking, Twilight. Clock... is... TICKING!!"
• On The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, when Piglet (in a nearly-episode-length Imagine Spot) is a knight sent to deal with a dragon (played by Eeyore), he reacts to the dragon's distant "roar" at one point by chanting "I am not brave, I am not brave..." Doubles as an inversion of Survival Mantra.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
  • "It was me. It was me. It was me."
  • "I just stood there, waving goodbye. I just stood there, waving goodbye. I just stood there, waving goodbye, and they raced off. Just stood there."
  • "I am a good fighter... I am a good fighter..."
    • "I am a good scientist... I am a good scientist..."
    • "I am a good narrator... I am a good narrator..."
  • In "Just Another Manic Mojo", the girls hit their baseball through Mojo Jojo's lab and he tries to take advantage of the moment to destroy them via a hidden laser beam, but they don't sit still long enough for him to target them and ends up getting hit with it himself. Having had enough of their presence, he returns their ball and kicks them out.
    "Here, Here, Here!"
    "Get out, Get out, GET OUT!!!"
    Each girl separately: "Thank you, thank you, thank you..."
    "Curses... Curses... Curses..."
    Narrator: "Next day, next day, next day..."

  • In "Fuzzy Logic", Fuzzy goes on an animalistic rampage through Townsville, attacking everyone he claims to be touching his "property". When the girls try to ask the townspeople who did it, they are so traumatized, they can only do this.
    "Haaaaaat... Haaaaaat... Haaaaaat..."
    "My property. My-My-My-My property."
    "I... I remember... PINK!"
  • Bubbles: "I'm not a chubby crybaby. I'm not a chubby crybaby."
• In much-loved animated series Recess, TJ is subjected to Ms. Finster's newest punishment: The Box. At first, he laughs at it. It is just four chalk lines on the ground. No big deal. As he spends more time in "The Box", he begins pacing angrily, starts shouting and "banging" on the nonexistent walls, and then starts to hallucinate that The Box is sinking into the ground. It goes From Bad to Worse when Ms. Finster eventually finds TJ in the fetal position, whispering to himself "This old man...he played two...he played knick-knack on my shoe..."
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: The occasional repeated phrase can be found among the manifold delights of Ren Hoek's extended ravings.
• Robot Chicken: "Mars is amazing..."
• Rocko's Modern Life had an episode where Filburt and Heffer stole every phone in town so they can win pro-wrestling tickets from a radio contest. When a phone starts ringing, they have no idea which one it is. Heffer temporarily snaps and starts mumbling.
  Did you hear that, Filb? The phone is ringing. Ringing. Ringing. Ringing...
• In the Rugrats episode "Pickles vs. Pickles", Angelica files a lawsuit against her parents for punishing her for refusing to eat her vegetables. Not only does the suit go through, but the court finds in favor of Angelica and she is awarded all of her parents' possessions. Stunned, Drew can only shout over and over "I'm a good father! I'm a good father! I'm a good father!" It's later revealed to be All Just a Dream.
• What trope would be complete if The Simpsons hadn't done something with it? Examples:
  • "Lisa's First Word": The classic mantra, "Can't sleep. Clown will eat me," which a shaken 3-year-old Bart says over and over after the first night in his new "clown" bed. After Lisa is born, Homer tries to lure Bart out of his crib by making a clown-shaped bed for him, playing off his love for Krusty—but Homer's poor handicraft skills result in a deformed, looming Monster Clown, which scares Bart to the point he is unable to fall asleep.
  • They also had to parody the Shining example in "Treehouse of Horror V".
    Homer: No TV and no beer make Homer... something something...
    Marge: Go crazy?
    Homer: Don't mind if I do! A-woolagoolawoola!
    • Just prior to this the trope has already been subverted ("Feelin' fine.") and then twisted right back around on itself like a twisty-tie when a sudden lightning bolt lit up the dark room to reveal NO TV AND NO BEER MAKE HOMER GO CRAZY scrawled all over the walls and ceiling.
      Marge: (concerned) Hmm... This is less encouraging.
  • "Urge to kill: rising..."
  • A Continuity Nod appears in "Hurricane Neddy" when we see a certain film critic in a mental ward:
    Jay Sherman: It STINKS! It STINKS! It STINKS! It STINKS!
  • "Moe, Moe, Moe, Moe..."
  • One of Bart's earlier babysitters never quite recovered from the encounter.
    Sitter: [while sitting blank-faced in a rocking chair] No, Bart. Put it down. Put it down, Bart. Bart, put it down.
  • In "Kamp Krusty", when Bart has suffered at Kamp Krusty without any appearance of Krusty the Clown:
    Bart: Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming, Krusty is coming...
  • "Kill the Alligator and Run" episode began with Homer having a breakdown when he realized he will die in 3 years. He is reduced to saying "CAN'T SLEEP, GONNA DIE" over and over.
  • After Homer breaks out of jail on a book cart:
    Homer Must kill Moe... Whee! Must kill Moe... Whee!
• In South Park, when Butters' mother discovered that his father was having sex with random men, she repeatedly repainted the house while muttering "Paint... everything clean... everything new..."
  • When Stan's mother started finding dead people in her son's room, she blamed him, although it was really his evil goldfish. Eager to cover up for her murderous but still beloved boy she dragged the corpses to bury them in the backyard while chanting "You're such a good boy...mommy will protect you..."
  • "Second verse same as the first, dreidel dreidel dreidel, I made you out of clay..."
  • "KILL John Lennon!"
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • "Pizza Delivery: SpongeBob, an inexperienced driver and under pressure from Squidward to reverse their vehicle, finally manages to do so, but spends until the next morning reversing the car and repeatedly uttering "BACKING UP!" until they run out of gas.
  • "Boating School": A guilt-wracked SpongeBob confesses to his driving teacher Mrs. Puff that he had been cheating for the entire duration of his unusually-skilled performance that day and forsakes ongoing control of the car he had been piloting in favor of spouting a series of variations of "I'm cheating".
  • "The Algae's Always Greener": When a distraught SpongeBob confesses to Plankton (who has temporarily taken on Krabs' life) that he had accidentally given a large drink to a customer who ordered a medium, he proclaims that he has "soiled the good Krusty Krab name" and proceeds to fall into a repeated utterance of "SOILED IT. SOILED IT. SOILED IT. SOILED IT."
  • "Squid's Day Off": The phrase "Have you finished those errands?" becomes one within Squidward's mind as his paranoia drives him to repeatedly return to the Krusty Krab from his attempts to take the day off and he winds up having to answer to SpongeBob's innocuous inquiry.
  • "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III": SpongeBob and Patrick are asked to housesit the Mermalair for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy; when the two first see their greatest villain Man Ray frozen in tartar sauce, they repeatedly chant, "Ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma, ma-ma!" in fear. Then when SpongeBob realizes he's frozen, Patrick chance, "Fro-fro-fro-fro, fro-fro-fro, fro-fro!".
  • "Chocolate with Nuts": When SpongeBob and Patrick venture into an entrepreneurship as chocolate salesmen, their very first customer seems to fly into a furious frenzy at the mention of chocolate and pursues the pair whilst repeatedly screaming "CHOCOLAAAAATE!" at the top of his lungs. Turns out he's just wild about chocolate and wanted to buy their entire inventory.
  • "SB-129": Squidward is reduced to a helpless mantra of "FUTUUUUURRE! ...... FUTUUUUURRE!" once his whole Fish out of Temporal Water scenario sinks in.
  • From the movie: "ALL HAIL PLANKTON. ALL HAIL PLANKTON. ALL HAIL PLANKTON."
    • "MEOW, PLANKTON."
  • From "Bumper to Bumper", SpongeBob winds up taking a lesson from Mrs. Puff way too well and winds up repeating nonstop: "Focus on the road, there is nothing but the road."
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Tup's mantra when affected by Order 66. It comes back in both the show's final season and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, showing that it happens to every clone when order 66 is activated.
  Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders. Good soldiers follow orders...
• Steven Universe: "Chille Tid" has Steven dream of Jasper when he accidentally astral projects into Malachite's mind.:
  Jasper: YOU!
  Steven: Jasper!
  Jasper: You... You... You...
• Steven Universe: Future: In "Everything's Fine", Steven's Sanity Slippage and Power Incontinence leads to him creating Plant Mooks who run around Little Homeworld shouting "Steven's here to help!" Later, Steven's dream projection abilities lead to Connie receiving a recording of Steven himself shouting "Steven's here to help!", which ends up glitching into "Help Steven!"
• In Total Drama, after Courtney discovers that Duncan cheated on her with Gwen, she becomes obsessed with eliminating Gwen to the point when she is making a list, chanting "Gothie's going down, Gothie's going down, Gothie is going down". Heather even lampshades her "madness".
  Heather: Izzy, you have been replaced.
• The Transformers has Galvatron, Scourge, the Sweeps and Cyclonus go to Torkulon where they interrogate the inmates there for the location of the Autobots (Galvatron was duped into travelling to the planet by Cyclonus in order to help cure him of his insanity). Cyclonus peers in one of the cages that has a three headed inmate tied up in purple webbing repeating in monotone "I have no head...I have no head...I have no head." This makes a disturbed Cyclonus step backwards from the cell.
• X-Men: The Animated Series Greydon Creed gets a truly scenery chewing worthy one when Wolverine reveals to the Friends of Humanity that Greydon’s father is the mutant Sabertooth
  Greydon Creed: I’M NOT LIKE HIM! I’M NORMAL! I’M NOT LIKE HIM! I’M NORMAL! I’M NOT LIKE HIM! YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER! YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER! YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER!

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