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alt title(s): Team Mum 
Stop lounging around and help your "mama", please?
" I'm not a leader, I'm a Den Mother." — Nico, Runaways
Janeway: "I'm not a parent!"
Q: "Maybe not in the biological sense, but you're certainly a mommy to this crew. Just look how quickly you house-broke that Borg drone."
In an ensemble show, especially of the fighting kind, there needs to be someone to hold this Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits together before they kill each other or wander off into the woods like so many Player Characters. Almost always a female, Team Mom basically acts as the mother figure for everyone else in the group, regardless of age or family relations. That said, the Overprotective Dad or older brother can qualify for Team Mom, and the same goes for a Cool Big Sis who grows Older And Wiser.
Not always the leader in action or adventure, but the leader the team needs in everyday life and practical matters. Quells fights, makes sure everyone cleans behind their ears and eats their greens. Can be pretty bossy. Usually, they're gentle, cute, kind, and capable of Mama Bear type stern mothering (or papaing, even).
Often enough, she's The Medic or The Heart. May be a Nice Guy, Staff Chick or The Messiah. If she's a more physical fighter, expect her to be a Black Magician Girl or a Lady Of War (and maybe an Action Mom, if she's got her own kids aside of the group members). They are by definition never the loner, and will in fact tend to be the one who pulls them into the cast's orbit as a Sixth Ranger. If anyone can break through and bring about a Heel Face Turn or Cooldown Hug, it's the Team Mom.
While they tend to be less combat capable than their teammates, Beware The Nice Ones most definitely applies, if any of her surrogate children or siblings are threatened, she can snap into angry Mama Bear mode and kick ass. Their absence (be it emotional or physical) will most certainly put the team on edge as their ability to function as, well, a team, comes into jeopardy. Thusly, these instances serve as a reminder of her value when the team grows complacent. And by the way? Villains should NOT threaten or harm her. Ever. Her family will not be pleased.
There is a bit of a problem with this character. If another team member falls for her, it comes off as distinctly oedipal, unless it's the Older Sidekick or maybe a Sixth Ranger. This is averted, though, if there's either a Team Dad or an old enough Big Brother Mentor in the surroundings: these guys will be the first rate candidates to win her affections.
See also the aforementioned Team Dad. Compare and contrast Cool Big Sis, Morality Pet. See also Only Sane Man, Liz Lemon Job, Harem Nanny, and Apron Matron. May be the person holding the Morality Chain.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Pictured above: Sarah Dupont in Kaleido Star, despite sometimes acting even more childish than her protegées.
- Brock from Pokemon is a rare male example.
- Another male example is Oishi Shuichiro of The Prince Of Tennis — Vice-captain of Seigaku's tennis team, he is often nicknamed "Mother Hen of Seigaku" by his teammates for his motherly nature. In the parody where the teammates are portrayed as a large extended family, he gets to be the mother, predictably.
- Jackal Kuwahara from Rikkai also is the Team Mom. More specifically, he's often asked to take care of his Bratty Half Pint kouhai Akaya Kirihara.
- A third male example would be Koujirou Saeki from Rokkaku.
- Nami of One Piece, although she's a particularly selfish example. This ended when Robin pretty much took over the role of Team Mom over time, even managing to mother Nami herself.
- Ouran High School Host Club - Kyoya is dubbed Team Mom by self-proclaimed Team Dad Tamaki, and Tamaki ups this a notch by addressing Kyoya as "Mom" quite frequently.
- Sora Takenouchi from Digimon Adventure fell into this rather frequently in the first season.
- Fai not only frequently calls himself the team mom in Tsubasa but makes sure everyone knows Kurogane's the Team Dad, too. (Much to Kurogane's disgust and the Yaoi Fangirls delight.)
- The Mobile Suit Gundam series, either from the Universal Century continuity or the numerous AU series, seem to REALLY love to apply this trope to their girls:
- In the original Mobile Suit Gundam, we have both White Base helmswoman Mirai Yashima and Liutenant Matilda Ajan. Mirai's place as Team Mom is aknowledged in canon when Ace Pilot Sleggar tells Cameron Bloom that he should respect Mirai's wishes, since she's the mother of the White Base and is confirmed when she gets involved with Bright, the Team Dad. Frau Bow also was a bit of a Team Mom, though younger and more childish than the other two.
- In Zeta Gundam, Mirai is succeeded by AEUG female pilots Emma Sheen and Reccoa Londo ( though the latter has a Face Heel Turn). The Team Mom torch is then passed on Chinese Girl Fa Yuiri in Gundam ZZ, and to Ace Pilot Marvette Fingerhut in Victory Gundam. Who is actually pregnant with her child at the end of the series. Too bad the father's baby, Oliver Inoue, had already been killed through Heroic Sacrifice.
- If we go to AU Gundams, G Gundam sometimes places Rain Mikamura in this role.
- In Gundam Wing we have Action Girls Lucrezia Noin and Sally Po, as well as circus girl Catherine Bloom.
- Murrue Ramius sometimes was not just The Captain, but also Team Mom for the Archangel's teenaged pilots and Bridge Bunnies in Gundam SEED. Her second-in-command Natarle Badgiruel wasn't too happy with this, but Murrue's example nevertheless prompted Natarle to act as a Team Mom to Fallen Princess Fllay Alster when she became her bridge bunny in the Dominion.
- Leesa Kujoh aka Sumeragi Lee Noriega from Gundam 00 pretty much fits this to a T, in addition to her role as the the captain of Ptolemaios.
- Sakura Kakei from Get Backers, who is the Team Mom for several street gangs she's joined.
- The Team Mom in Wa ga na wa Umishi is more like the team grandpa, old Gramp. Without him there's a better than 80% chance that the rest of Nanba Salvage would have killed each other by now.
- Shamal from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. Notable in that she's the Team Mom of the Quirky Miniboss Squad...at least, that's how they start out.
- Also, to an extent, Lindy Harlaown... and Nanoha herself, in Striker S.
- Captain Retsu Unohana aka Captain Mom from Bleach, among the Shinigami, though she's really not less combat-capable than others. There's also a subversion in the Kurosaki family, where the one handling the housework and keeping the family fed and well taken care of is actually a nine-year-old girl, Ichigo's little sister Yuzu.
- We also have a sort-of villainous example in the Third Espada Tia Harribel, who seems to have a quite close relationship with her all female Fracción.
- Francoise Arnoul aka 003 of Cyborg 009, more in the 2001 adaptation than the others. Not only she takes care of baby Ivan/001 as if he was either her child or her baby brother and aids Dr. Gilmore when he's gotta take care of the others, but at some point she talks to a disgruntled Jet/002 as if she was lecturing a whiny kid, despite them being the same age (they were both made cyborgs when they were teenagers). Lampshaded in a 2001 episode where she's kidnapped by a Mailer Daemon with a huge Oedipus complex, and one of the reasons behind that is speculated to be Francoise's motherly behavior.
- Yuka, Kouta's cousin from Elfen Lied. Lampshaded in the anime, where she's sometimes referred to as the "mother" of the group.
- Megumi Takani from Rurouni Kenshin.
- Also, Ill Girl Sayo Magdaria in the anime.
- Kurenai Yuuhi from Naruto, especially towards Hinata, and is also literally a mom now, being pregnant with Team Dad Sarutobi Asuma's child.
- Iruka Umino counts as a male example.
- Princess Tsunade turns into this after becoming the Fifth Hokage. The Mizukage might fit in as well.
- Raquel Casull of Scrapped Princess. If there is one perfect mother figure who isn't actually a mother, it's her.
- Chrono sometimes falls into this role in Chrono Crusade—humorously so, considering he's only male member of his group and appears to be much younger than he really is. Fiore also seems to take on this role for the villain's group. After Mary Magdalene, anyway.
- Colonel Volcott from Galaxy Angel takes on this role even though he's a guy. Since it's played for comedy, he completely fails at being a Team Mom, and ends up being more of a 'team maid' doing all the menial chores.
- Saori Kido aka Athena from Saint Seiya. Occasionally, Aquila Marin also fills in. It shall be noted that both are teenagers, with Marin being as much 17 and Saori being 13: this means, Saori is younger than some of the guys she mothers around.
- Mega in Transformers Super God Masterforce is a rare villainous example.
- Cordelia in Romeo X Juliet, despite being only two years older than Juliet. She becomes a literal mom in the epilogue.
- On her most focused days, Midori Sugiura from Mai-HiME fills this role.
- Yukine of Clannad, who plays this role for both her brother's gang and their rival gang.
- Téa Gardner/Anzu Mazaki from Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Mamori Anezaki from Eyeshield21. She even manages to (sort of) mother Hiruma, machine guns and all.
- What's more, her affection for Sena is explicitly maternal in nature.
- Sanae Nakazawa, Yukari Nishimoto, Yayoi Aoba, Yoshiko Fujisawa, Machiko Machida and (in the videogames) Youko Katagiri from Captain Tsubasa. Justified trope since they're all the managers of their respective teams, so they're literally the team moms. Kumi Sugimoto is an exception: she's an assistant too, but doesn't fill in since she's actually a newbie to the sport.
- Also, Tsubasa's mother Natsuko (specially in the first tournament arc) and Hyuga's manager Kaori Matsumoto.
- Axis Powers Hetalia has a male and two females in the Team Mom role. The male is Antonio/Spain, who raises Lovino/South Italy almost on his own. The females are Elizaveta/Hungary (who starts as Feliciano/North Italy's Cool Big Sis and is promoted to Team Mom when she marries Team Dad Roderich/Austria) and Katyusha/Ukraine (who is less lucky since her younger siblings are both Yanderes)
- Mia Kouji/Nasuti Yagyuu from Ronin Warriors.
- Vega in GEAR Fighter Dendoh, literally.
- In Fruits Basket we have two, a rare example of the loner kind, Honda Kyoko, because of her past but recruits quite the Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits, including her own daughter after her future husband, Honda Katsuya, healed her with the Power Of Love and the said daughter herself, Honda Tohru, a more traditional example, who also heals and held the Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits together with the Power Of Love.
- Isabella in Paradise Kiss... who's actually a transsexual.
- Older example: Megumi Ouka from Voltes V.
- If it were a regular giant robot anime this ought be the role Misato fills in Neon Genesis Evangelion, but since it is Evangelion she fucking sucks at it.
- Under "normal circumstances", Misato's Hot Scientist best friend Ritsuko Akagi would be a secondary Team Mom, and in fact she does fill in during the more light-hearted first part of the series... but you said that already, this is Evangelion
- In Cowboy Bebop, Jet Black is an odd masculine Oyaji male version of this trope. Though he has plenty of Badass moments, he is very much the Team Mom in domestic concerns aboard the Bebop, especially when it comes to feeding the crew.
- Fuu in Samurai Champloo, keeping Mugen and Jin to bitch/kill each other.
- Kagome Higurashi in Inu Yasha. As The Chick in the Five Man Band, she keeps The Hero in line ("SIT, BOY!"), acts like The Lancer's Parental Substitute, offers The Big Girl moral support and ships her with The Smart Guy.
- Lussuria of Reborn refers to himself as the "Mommy" of the Varia, so much so that his underlings actually call him "big sis" *shudder*.
- Namiko of GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class— lampshaded by her version of the ending that said she practically "mothers" the others.
- Flute becomes this in The Violinist of Hamelin. It's even commented on by others, and pointed out that since most of them lost their own mothers at a young age, Flute just sort of naturally becomes a surrogate parent to them. Flute's own mother Queen Horn seems to be this for all of Sforzando.
- Kitty Kitten from Space Runaway Ideon was this to the orphans she took under her wing. To a degree, Lin and Karala fit in too.
- Farnese becomes this in Berserk, as Casca's caretaker and because of her willingness to take care of everyone's basic needs.
- Trunks acted as a male version of this trope for Goku, Pan, and Gill/Giru during the first half of Dragon Ball GT.
- One or twice, Goku's wife Chi-Chi found herself in this position.
Comic Books
- Susan Storm from the Fantastic Four
- Nico Minoru of the Runaways, as noted above. In her case, she actually is the Team Leader in battle, after Alex betrays the team and then dies.
- Many X-Women have fallen into this trope, most famously Jean Grey, but also Storm and, most recently, Emma Frost.
- Before her leaving Gotham during the 'War Games' arc, Barbara/Oracle fulfilled this role to the Bat-Family. Which made things slightly odd given that Batman is one of her father figures. And that for a long while she was dating Nightwing.
- Aside from the minor fact that he's male, Alfred fits the role much better for the Bat-Family, to the point that Dick once actually called him his mom.
- The absent-minded cleric Piffany provides the moral center for the group in Nodwick (she's also The Medic). Her status as a likable, ditzy Purity Sue (by canon!) has her teammates be able to identify who the truly evil people in the setting are by them being mean to her. Gods save you from these Heroic Sociopaths if you make her cry.
- Big Guy Bane is trying to be this in the new Secret Six series. Seeing him mother assassins is... interesting, to say the least.
- Heather Hudson of Alpha Flight.
- When Robin, Superboy, and Impulse first started out as Young Justice, Robin remarked with disgust that they were acting more like Impulse's parents than his teammates. To which Superboy responded "Whoa, hey! I am not the mom, okay? I am NOT the mom!"
Film
- According to his toy bio, Demolishor from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen acts as a
den mother guardian to a leaderless group of Decepticons on Earth. Giant. One-wheeled. Rampaging. Demolishor.
- Hal Moore's wife does this in We Were Soldiers personally handing the notifications to the families of the fallen.
Literature
- Hermione Granger of Harry Potter, most notably in Deathly Hallows.
- Molly Prewett-Weasley (with the added bonus of having her kids in Harry's group of friends); she later acts as this for the Order of the Phoenix as well.
- Wendy Moira Angela Darling from Peter Pan, which makes this Older Than Radio.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Edmund claims Susan always tries to act like Mother, bossing the two youngest Pevensies around. He's right.
- Margaret "Meg" March, the oldest sister in Little Women. In Little Men, her middle sister Jo becomes the Team Mom of the Plumfield children.
- Susan in the Swallows And Amazons series.
- Max from Maximum Ride fits this to the letter. And she does frequently go Mama Bear, particularly when Angel is involved.
- 'Mother' from several Matthew Reilly novels isn't actually named for being maternal (her codename is an abbreviation of a slightly longer word...), but nevertheless often fills this role, along with truly terrifying Mama Bear moments. Paraphrasing the author: "A six foot shaved bald female Marine with a heart of gold."
- In Robert Asprin's Phules Company series of books, the female Legionnaire Rose is a painfully shy soldier who can only communicate when using a radio. She is apparently becomes very good at it and becomes the main communications point of the company, with everyone calling her "Mother" for being the nag that she is.
- Renie Sulaweyo adopts this role to some extent in Otherland, acting as the leader, spokesperson, and Mama Bear for the Ragtag Bunch Of Misfits infiltrating the computer network. Of course, she's not (with a few exceptions) herding around a bunch of kids, and so the others frequently resent this behavior.
Live Action TV
- Carla of Scrubs. Frequently complains about it, but in all honesty, "it's like crack" to her.
- Dr. Grace Foley in Waking The Dead.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek Voyager was likewise both The Captain and Team Mom, settling disputes, ordering her officers to get along, and helping "raise" several characters like Kes and Seven of Nine. Openly lampshaded in "Barge of the Dead" when B'Elanna encounters her mother in the Klingon afterlife — wearing a Starfleet uniform and using phrases Janeway had said earlier in the episode. Q calls her on it as well, when trying to dump his own teen rebel son on Janeway.
- Lucy on Hey Dude.
- Joyce Summers on Buffy. She took care of Willow and Xander when sick, soothed a brokenhearted Spike with cocoa and marshmallows (while he was still evil!), and once clubbed Spike unconscious with an axe in an awesome display of Mama Bear.
- Dr. Lisa Cuddy of House.
- And, to some extent, Dr. James Wilson. House's "ducklings" are frequently running to him for help, comfort and guidance when House is making their lives miserable. Lampshaded in a season two episode where House is out of town and calls Wilson, beginning the conversation with: "Hi, honey. How are the kids?"
- Lana Hawkins of Strong Medicine.
- Aaron Hotchner of Criminal Minds is another male example, although he doesn't fit the role perfectly: if anyone on the team breaks FBI protocol, he'll chastise them for that before he tells them how proud he is.
- Stacie Monroe from Hustle, arguably.
- CSI (original series) has Catherine (who usually takes the role of Cool Big Sis, but she has her "Mom" moments); CSI: Miami has Alexx, who even acts matronly to the corpses that come her way.
- Jon Stewart ends up in this role from time to time as a result of being the Only Sane Man at The Daily Show.
- Despite being male, Ren from Engine Sentai Go-onger fits this pretty well, to the extent that other characters on the show have actually dubbed him the mom of the group.
- Laura Roslin of Battlestar Galactica fulfills this role. Up to and including schooling people when necessary.
- How I Met Your Mother's most prominent Team Mom is Lily, although Ted has strong shades of this trope too.
- The Big Bang Theory's Penny is occasionally roped into this, as she is too sympathetic to refuse the job. Usually ends up getting stuck with Sheldon when no one else wants to deal with him. She's even taken to calling him "honey" and "sweetheart" in a kind, yet extremely patronizing, manner. This was especially emphasized in the episode The Guitarist Amplification, where Sheldon runs away to the comic book store, because he can't bear hearing Penny and Leonard fighting.
- Male example: Sergeant Carwood Lipton (played by Donnie Wahlberg) from Band Of Brothers, as he most often is the one looking out for Easy Company.
- Both Alyssa Enrile/White Tiger Ranger and Princess Shayla from Power Rangers Wild Force. Alyssa is even seen reading fairy tales to her friends and becomes a schoolteacher after the Grand Finale
- Also Hayley from Dino Thunder, Dr. Kat Manx from SPD and Udonna from Mystic Force.
- Katie, the Yellow Time Force Ranger. And her legendary hugs.
- Madeline Westen, of Burn Notice, is the literal (to Michael and Nate) and figurative (to everybody else) Team Mom.
- In That 70s Show, Eric Foreman's mother Kitty mothers everyone in the gang.
- Monica Geller in Friends.
- Dwayne Wayne's mom (played by Patti Labelle) on A Different World mothers all of Dwayne's friends and brings her famous prune cobbler. Lettie and Stevie are this at Gilbert Hall.
- Alex Eames (and, also, Megan Wheeler) of Law And Order Criminal Intent. When you consider who their partners are - the completely neurotic Bobby Goren and the madcap Zach Nichols - it's easily understandable. Even Captain Danny Ross isn't above acting like a little boy most of the time.
- Amber of The Tribe mothers or bosses everyone she comes into contact with. To such an extent that she's the de facto leader of the Mall Rats, no matter who else is technically in charge.
Video Games
- Raine Sage from Tales Of Symphonia.
- In Fire Emblem, you have Eyvel (Thracia 776) and Titania (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn). They play Team Mom to the Fiana Braves and Greil Mercenaries, respectively.
Boyd: Every time I look at you, Titania... I think that you're the prettiest person I've ever seen!
Titania: Uh... Um, thank you, Boyd... But I... Look, you and me, we're—
Boyd: You're like a really nice mom or something! Um... I mean...
Titania: ...
- Micaiah from Radiant Dawn is also a Team Mom to the younger members of the Dawn Brigade, such as Sothe.
- The Boss of Metal Gear Solid 3 is frequently referenced as this in relation to the Cobras, making her another of the rare villainous examples. Or maybe not so villainous.
- Mitsuru from Persona 3 — reinforced by her persona being of the Empress Arcana, which represents motherly qualities).
- Another one from the same game: Yuko, the Strength Arcana Social Link, is theoretically the captain of the Track Team, but acts as the team mom more often than not. If you follow her Social Link enough, she takes on the same role for a group of fourth-graders, and it becomes clear she has a very strong maternal instinct in general.
- In a rather darkly comedic example, Shauna from Soul Nomad And The World Eaters ends up playing this role in the Demon Path, as everyone else is too mentally unstable to take care of themselves.
- Emma from The Last Remnant acts as the mother figure for the main cast, she also has a daughter of her own that you run into throughout your adventures.
- In Samurai Warriors, Nene acts as the self-imposed Team Mom of the Toyotomi clan—her Gaiden battle even has her showing up during the battle of Sekigahara not aligned with either side so she can beat the snot out of both armies and then lecture them about not getting along with each other.
- In Baldur's Gate II, Jaheira tries to be one, but Keldorn's the true mum.
- In Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Squall Leonhart is seen having to look after Zidane and Bartz during their journey, and being the voice of reason on the group. Fanarts artists didn't miss the opportunity.
- Chizuru Kagura from The King Of Fighters, both during her brief time in the Women's Team (with King and Mai) and as the only female in the Shingi Troica she formed with Kyo and Iori. Yes, this Pale Skinned Brunette Miko managed to get Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami to teamwork. Wow.
- When Chizuru wasn't there, King took up the role. Well, that's what team working with Cute Bruisers and a Ms Fanservice will do to you. That, and she already had experience after getting a Promotion To Parent.
- To some degree, Diana is the team mom to Kula and K's group after her Heel Face Turn.
- In Planescape Torment, Fall-from-Grace's mature, perceptive and compassionate personality make her fit this trope perfectly (although fiery teenager Annah doesn't react well to anything she says or does).
- But the player characters in Planescape Torment don't NEED a Team Mom to keep them together, as they are all tied to the main character by their torment. Of the 7 possible playable characters besides the main character, 3 of them are actually the main character's slaves (although the player/main character doesn't know this at first), 2 of them follow his orders because they are creatures of law and logic, and 2 of them are in love with him. So having a Team Mom to keep them together is somewhat moot.
- Canonically, Karan S'jet of Homeworld is the Team Mom of the entire Hiigaran race. It IS canonical that everyone likes her because she's sincere and compassionate. Not to mention that she's currently piloting a Progenitor battleship which could singlehandedly annihilate the entire galaxy. You do NOT want to antagonize the Hiigarans - Makaan learned that the hard way.
- Wynne takes this role in Dragon Age: Origins after joining your group, particularly to Alistair.
- Also to a mage protagonist. The Circle of Mages takes The Corps Is Mother approach, and if the player chooses, the relationship between Wynne and the Grey Warden can take a distinct mother/child relationship, with Wynne will lampshade.
- The Protagonist of Persona 4 is a rare male example; his responsibilities include being Team Chef and Warrior Therapist to his group of friends, as well as Meido once Nanako and Dojima are hospitalized.
Web Comics
Web Original
Western Animation
Real Life
- 41-year-old Dara Torres of the 2008 U.S. Olympic swim team is often viewed as this by her teammates. To prove she's no slouch, she won three silver medals (just missing gold in the 50 free by 0.01 seconds).
- A mother, Sgt. Jane Strand, will head to war with her son, Pvt. Timothy Strand. In the National Guard, she "assumed the rank of mom to a collection of younger recruits," according to the article
 .
- In labs, especially large labs, there will usually be somebody to fill this role. At lunch, a professor once asked me who our "Lab Mom" was, and stated that she was pretty happy with hers.
- "Guild mother," anyone?
- At a wildlife sanctuary in England, a rescued Greyhound, of all things, is surrogate mom to everything from puppies to a barn owl.
- Captain's Wives sometimes did this for nineteenth-century sailing ships.
- Mary Ann Patten navigated the clipper Neptune's Car around Cape Horn while being The Caretaker to her sick husband and being pregnant to boot. They talk simplisticly, though not without justification, about the rigidity of ninteenth century customs. But New England sea princesses could be awesome when put to it and they don't make em like that anymore.
- Good Queen Vicky was Team Mom to the entire British Empire.
- Gina Dalfonzo is the moderator at this site and she is almost a classic Team Mom.
- Happens sometimes in forums in addition to online games with party or guild capabilities.
- Michelle Bachelet, as the first female President of Chile, is often seen as this by Chilean people.
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