History Main / PlayingWithPuppets

* The Imperious Curse in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', doesn't ''usually'' fit the trope because normally it's used to put [[TheMole moles]] in the Ministry, but Voldemort does ''try'' to use it to humiliate Harry at one point (in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'') and earlier in the same book is the antics in defense against the dark arts class when fake Moody is teaching them to resist said curse. Justified as it's stated that one has to ''enjoy'' dominating others for the curse to be at its most effective.

* ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' - Under the control of a hypnotizing experiment he just captured, Experiment 625 and Hamsterviel force Gantu to: eat a peanut butter sandwich with sardines, hop on one foot and say 'blah, blah, blah', dance like a ballerina and say he's a 'big blubberhead', stick out his tongue and make spitting noises, and balance himself on a rolling pin while juggling sandwiches and a cake on his head....with a cherry on top. Lilo herself does this to her rival, Murtle, by using the same experiment to make her act like a chicken.

* The Imperious Curse in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', doesn't ''usually'' fit the trope because normally it's used to put [[TheMole moles]] in the Ministry, but Voldemort does ''try'' to use it to humiliate Harry at one point (in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'') and earlier in the same book is the antics in defense against the dark arts class when fake Moody is teaching them to resist said curse.

* The Imperious Curse in ''HarryPotter'', doesn't ''usually'' fit the trope because normally it's used to put [[TheMole moles]] in the Ministry, but Voldemort does ''try'' to use it to humiliate Harry at one point (in Goblet of Fire) and earlier in the same book is the antics in defense against the dark arts class when fake Moody is teaching them to resist said curse.

* On TheSimpsons, the bully Nelson is fond of grabbing his victim's (say, Millhouse), forcing Millhouse to slap himself, and taunting, "Hey, why are you hitting yourself?" This is, of course, a way of PlayingWithPuppets when you don't have any phlebotinum, and the idea came from bullies in [[TruthInTelevision real life]]. In one of the "Treehouse of Horror" specials, which parodies HarryPotter, he does use phlebotinum in the form of a magic wand, and he engages in the same mocking of Millhouse for "hitting himself."

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* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', [[MagnificentBastard Lelouch]] is usually relatively responsible and [[ItOnlyWorksOnce economical]] with his HypnoticEyes's, but during one of many HeroicBSOD/VillainousBreakdown's he's subjected to, he commands some drug dealers to do push ups, squats, handstand (he quite [[SquishyWizard dislikes PE class]]), dance, howl and clap. The catch is that his mind control is ''permanent'' and forces the victim's body beyond its limits if necessary to carry out the command. And Lelouch did not specify a time limit.

* ''{{Heroes}}'' has Eric Doyle, whose superpower is controlling other people's actions with his mind. He uses this power to force Claire, Sandra, and Meredith into a twisted three-person game of Russian Roulette, among other things.

* Westernanimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender has the water tribe member who is teaching Katara start doing this with Aang and Sokka, both to demonstrate how powerful bloodbending is and to force Katara to use bloodbending to stop her.

* ''EllaEnchanted'', unsurprisingly.

** "A man ''chooses!'' A slave obeys...[[spoiler: "''Would you kindly...''" (hands Jack a golf club) "'''''KILL!"''''' You then proceed to beat your own father to death without any control over it.]]

* In ''{{Bioshock}}'', this trope lends weight to a vicious TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. ''Run! Stop! Turn!''

* {{Avatar}} has the water tribe member who is teaching Katara start doing this with Aang and Sokka, both to demonstrate how powerful bloodbending is and to force Katara to use bloodbending to stop her.

* This trope was exaggerated for the creepy factor in TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth when the evil aliens took over ‘’every child on Earth’’ to make them SpeakInUnison to deliver the aliens’ ultimatum.

* In ''CodeGeass'', [[MagnificentBastard Lelouch]] is usually relatively responsible and [[ItOnlyWorksOnce economical]] with his HypnoticEyes's, but during one of many HeroicBSOD/[[VillainousBreakdown Villainous Breakdown]]'s he's subjected to, he commands some drug dealers to do push ups, squats, handstand (he quite [[SquishyWizard dislikes PE class]]), dance, howl and clap. The catch is that his mind control is ''permanent'' and forces the victim's body beyond its limits if necessary to carry out the command. And Lelouch did not specify a time limit.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has Scorpius taking control of [[VillainousGlutton Grunchlk]]'s body with a MindProbe, and forcing him to [[{{Fingore}} eat two of his own fingers]]- partly for Scorpy's amusement, but mostly to get him to talk.

* In [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'', when Jafar takes over Agrabah, he humiliates Sultan and Jasmine with PeoplePuppets. One of his cut songs involved doing this to Aladdin.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', [[BigBad Slade]] gains access to [[spoiler: Terra]]'s powers via a special suit with neural interfaces, supposedly to [[spoiler: help her control her powers]]. But later when [[spoiler: Terra]] starts to have second thoughts, he uses the suit to practically hijack her body and forces her to fight her former LoveInterest while she's clearly in distress.

* ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'': Huey does this when he accidently gets braces laced with mind-control head gear. He forces his brothers to pull their own underwear and act like monkeys, and then orders [[DonaldDuck Donald]] to recite {{Shakespeare}}'s soliloquies.
* In the ''KimPossible'' episode "The Twin Factor", Drakken has Kim dress up in Shego's clothes and [[TheDragon Shego]] wear a pink apron and clean the lair.

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Sometimes the controller [[JustifiedTrope claims]] they're [[HowDoIShotWeb testing the extent of their control]], but it will never be the most reliable way of doing ''that'', either; the purest examples are clearly ForTheEvulz. If the victim is only made to KneelBeforeZod, they got off very lucky indeed; the PowerPerversionPotential here is [[GoGoEnslavement all too obvious]], not to mention the possibility of forcing the victim to injure himself or someone else. A less malicious mind-controller might just force his zombie slave to [[MundaneUtility perform routine manual labor]] or perform a dance for [[ItAmusedMe simple entertainment]], without the motive of triumphant gloating about how he has [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill obliterated someone else's free will]]. Of course, any mind-controller who would be simply indifferent about his victims' free will might ultimately seem to be even more [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien to the audience's normal value system]] than a CardCarryingVillain who enjoys forcing a slave to kneel before him.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren": The Platonians use their telekinetic powers to make the Enterprise crew members act in absurd and humiliating ways.

* The Imperious Curse in ''HarryPotter'', doesn't ''usually'' fit the trope because normally it's used to put [[TheMole moles]] in the Ministry, but Voldemort does ''try'' to use it to humiliate Harry at one point (in Goblet of Fire).

Sometimes the controller [[JustifiedTrope claims]] they're [[HowDoIShotWeb testing the extent of their control]], but it will never be the most reliable way of doing ''that'', either; the purest examples are clearly ForTheEvulz. If the victim is only made to KneelBeforeZod, they got off very lucky indeed; the PowerPerversionPotentil here is [[GoGoEnslavement all too obvious]], not to mention the possibility of forcing the victim to injure himself or someone else. A less malicious mind-controller might just force his zombie slave to [[MundaneUtility perform routine manual labor]] or perform a dance for [[ItAmusedMe simple entertainment]], without the motive of triumphant gloating about how he has [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill obliterated someone else's free will]]. Of course, any mind-controller who would be simply indifferent about his victims' free will might ultimately seem to be even more [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien to the audience's normal value system]] than a CardCarryingVillain who enjoys forcing a slave to kneel before him.

Sometimes the controller [[JustifiedTrope claims]] they're [[HowDoIShotWeb testing the extent of their control]], but it will never be the most reliable way of doing ''that'', either; the purest examples are clearly ForTheEvulz. If the victim is only made to KneelBeforeZod, they got off very lucky indeed.

* ''QuackPack'': Huey does this when he accidently gets braces laced with mind-control head gear. He forces his brothers to pull their own underwear and act like monkeys, and then orders [[DonaldDuck Donald]] to recite {{Shakespeare}}'s soliloquies.

* Spider Robinson's ''Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Callahan's Lady]]''. A villain uses her MindControlDevice to force the people in Lady Sally's House to perform disgusting and embarrassing acts for her own amusement.

* Spider Robinson's ''[[{{ptitlebga5e439}} Callahan's Lady]]''. A villain uses her MindControlDevice to force the people in Lady Sally's House to perform disgusting and embarrassing acts for her own amusement.

* ''DoctorWho'': "Planet of the Spiders" has the [[EvilOverlord Great One]] taking control of the Doctor's body and forcing him to march in a circle. An especially frightening example as this is arguably the first time we've seen the Doctor so powerless and utterly dominated by one of his foes.
* ''{{Farscape}}'' has Scorpius taking control of [[VillainousGlutton Grunchlk]]'s body with a MindProbe, and forcing him to [[{{Fingore}} eat two of his own fingers]]- partly for Scorpy's amusement, but mostly to get him to talk.

* In ''TeenTitans'', [[BigBad Slade]] gains access to [[spoiler: Terra]]'s powers via a special suit with neural interfaces, supposedly to [[spoiler: help her control her powers]]. But later when [[spoiler: Terra]] starts to have second thoughts, he uses the suit to practically hijack her body and forces her to fight her former LoveInterest while she's clearly in distress.
* Lilo and Stitch: The Series - Under the control of a hypnotizing experiment he just captured, Experiment 625 and Hamsterviel force Gantu to: eat a peanut butter sandwich with sardines, hop on one foot and say 'blah, blah, blah', dance like a ballerina and say he's a 'big blubberhead', stick out his tongue and make spitting noises, and balance himself on a rolling pin while juggling sandwiches and a cake on his head....with a cherry on top. Lilo herself does this to her rival, Murtle, by using the same experiment to make her act like a chicken.
* Quack Pack: Huey does this when he accidently gets braces laced with mind-control head gear. He forces his brothers to pull their own underwear and act like monkeys, and then orders Donald to recite Shakespear's soliloquis.

** "A man ''chooses!'' A slave obeys...[[spoiler:(hands Jack a golf club) '''''KILL!"''''']]

* The Imperious Curse in ''HarryPotter'', though it doesn't follow one of the requirements because normally it's used to put moles in the Ministry.