I Want My Mommy!

"Mom, where are you?"

— Kevin, Home Alone

It's quite common in fiction works for a character, even/especially an adult, to call out for dear old Mom in times of great fear. Even though, unless she is a serious Mama Bear, she probably wouldn't be much help in the situation. This could probably be explained by the fact that for most people, their mother was always there to comfort them and keep them safe in the early years of their lives. When overcome by fear, stress, pain or all of the above, it's not hard to see why someone may appeal to the only constant comfort they've ever known, even if it will do no good. Sometimes the father is called too, or a Parental Substitute if the character is an orphan, but usually it's the mother who's called for.

This is usually played for comical effect in showcasing the ineffectiveness of the characters (and can often turn into Innocent Innuendo if another character responds with "Yeah, I want your mommy" or something to the effect of "Me too").

However, it can also be played frightfully seriously by showing just how horrified and terrified the characters are, especially in dire situations (or if they are legitimately children suffering). Another is for tearjerking effect in war movies when dying soldiers call out for their mother. Very much Truth in Television. Compare/contrast I Miss Mom, wherein the parent in question is long gone. Also see Desperate Plea for Home.

Not to be confused with that Atari 2600 video game.

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Examples:

Comedic

Advertising

• In ad for Capital One, an annoyed customer tells a customer service rep played by David Spade who always tells him "no" when he wants to redeem his credit card miles that he's coming to find him. So the customer service rep tricks him by telling him "I'm shaking in my bright yellow shirt," causing him to think he's some other timid guy in the office. It turns out that the customer is actually on a cell phone and arriving in the office as they speak.
  Customer: You! Yer goin' down!
  Yellow-Shirt Guy: [running away] Ahhhh-ah-ah-ah! ... ... I should have worked at Capital One! [whispers] What's in your wallet? [spots customer] Mommy!

Anime & Manga

• Azumanga Daioh does this in the episode with Tomo's dream during the "Nandeyanen" scene. Tomo dreams that Yomi gets a zero on a test. Just before the entire "nandeyanen" part, she lets out a somewhat feeble "Okaa-san..." (rendered in the dub as "I want my mom..."), though it's unclear if it's due to the shock of getting a zero, or if it's because she has to put up with Tomo's mocking^note Or even both....
• In the English dub of Digimon Frontier, when the seemingly broken beyond repair Angler starts moving, Zoe and Tommy cling to each other and start crying "Mommy!" repeatedly.
• Exploited in Frieren: Beyond Journey's End where in the past, a Demon who killed a child is able to stop the village from killing her by crying out for her mother, causing them to take pity on her and the village chief to take her in so that they could potentially raise her right, with Frieren having her suspicions. Unfortunately, Demons are morally incompatible with humans and as such, the Demon Girl decided to kill the Village Chief in order to give his orphaned daughter to the mother of her original victim. This time around, Himmel and Frieren very quickly strike her down with the latter pondering why she'd call for her mother considering that Demons aren't raised by their family. As far as the Demon's concerned, it's just a really useful phrase that gets people to stop attacking her.
• In the first episode of THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls, Uzuki cries "Mama!" when Producer (seemingly) menacingly approaches her.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean: The intimidating, seemingly powerful D an G cries for his mother in pain when he falls for Anasui's trap, revealing his true cowardly self. That being said, said trap caused him to get his arm impaled by Guccio's ribs, making this an example that straddles the line between comedic and dramatic uses of this trope.
• Used in episode 5 of Little Lulu:
  Westside Leader: You guys are trying to sound pretty brave.
  Tubby: I'm all through being brave. I want my mommy!
• One Piece: Kaido's response to having his Blast Breath reflected back at him by Gear 5 Luffy in the dub is to say "Mommy..." in an unusually high voice.
• In the Pokémon: The Original Series episode "Charmander -- the Stray Pokémon", Jerkass trainer Damien gets roasted by the Charmander he abandoned (and zapped by Pikachu), then runs off, crying for his mommy.
• SD Gundam Force: During a Zako Zako Hour, one of the hosts is fitted with a giant jet pack and sent flying off the stage by his co-hosts.
  Host 1: I WANT MY MOMMY!
  Host 2: I think he likes it, Zako.
• In the second episode of Shimoneta, when Anna asks the ero-terrorist Blue Snow (this time, really Tanukichi in disguise) if they have any last words, Tanukichi is seen hiding behind a generator crying "Mommy!"
• Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh! says it when Ryuji Otogi/Duke Devlin rides a car fast with (Hiroto) Honda/Tristan.

Comedy

• In Robin Williams's comedy skit "Shakespeare (A Meltdowner's Nightmare)" from Reality, What A Concept, his character (a night watchman at a nuclear power plant) cries out "Where is my mother?!" when he inadvertently creates a chain reaction by pulling the control rods of the reactor core.

Comic Books

• In Asterix and the Big Fight, Legionary Infirmofpurpus blows his cover (disguised as a tree) and runs off yelling "MUMMY!"
• In the second half of the bookend miniseries of The Children's Crusade (Vertigo), Oliver Mitchell states that he wants his mummy after seeing Maxine Baker and the legions of animals accompanying her.
• In one issue of Dork!, Evan Dorkin discusses his fear of death and at one point depicts himself as a small child yelling "Mommy!" running away from the Grim Reaper.
• In The Muppet Show Comic Book's "Pigs in Space" sketches, this is Link Hogthrob's reaction to, well, just about everything.
• Cruelly mocked in the Thunderbolts arc "Caged Angels", by Warren Ellis, after Norman Osborn snaps (again):
  Swordsman: ...mommy.
  The Green Goblin: YOU DIDN'T HAVE A MOTHER! A pig coughed, and you fell out!

Comic Strips

• Calvin and Hobbes:
  • Calvin likes to put on a brave front, but it never lasts:
    Calvin: We're brave explorers! The word "Lost" isn't even in our vocabulary!
    Hobbes: How about the word "mommy"?
    Both: MOMMMYYY!
  • Calvin often does this when the monsters under his bed make an appearance:
    Calvin: Are there any monsters under my bed tonight?
    Monsters: No. Nope. No.
    Calvin: If there were any monsters under my bed, how big would they be?
    Monsters: Very small. Go to sleep.
    Calvin: MOMM!
  • One week where Calvin's falling ill, he calls for Mom only to have Dad show up — only to be sent back to fetch Mom.
    Mom: Me? What's wrong with you for crying out loud?!?
  • This trope is subverted on several occasions as well; Calvin yells for Mom in the middle of the night and she rushes into his room, thinking something's wrong. Then it turns out Calvin just wants a glass of water or wants to ask her some random trivial question, such as, "How do ugly things like octopuses and hairy bugs reproduce? Are they actually ATTRACTED to each other?"
• Crabgrass: In one comic, after getting lost in the woods, Miles and Kevin first try to be brave, but the moment they hear a wolf howling, this trope occurs.
• Garfield: Jon's school's football team. Before each game, they'd yell their cheer "MOMMY!". Garfield says it "explains the losing season".
• In one U.S. Acres arc, Wade is acting really mean to the other characters due to hypnosis. One comic has Wade saying that his inner tube thinks that Orson is talking to Wade. Orson says "Mommy" once he realizes that this conversation has gone way too far.

Fan Works

• Button's Adventures: The eponymous character does this twice:
  • The first time is in the pilot episode when he loses a juice box contest.
  • In "Bar Buddies", Button falls off a stool after having too much apple juice. He can't get up so he screams for his mom.
• Madoka Abridged parodies Madoka's emotional breakdown following Mami's death.
  Madoka: I want my Mami!
  Junko: But I thought I was your mommy...
• The Night Unfurls: Stabbed in the gut, Michelle Pantielle writhes on the ground and screams for his mother just before he gets silenced by Hugh during his Trial by Combat. The reason why this instance is more comedic than dramatic is that Michelle is an Asshole Victim suffering an Undignified Death.
• Vex from Sackboy: A Big Adventure does one of these in one piece of fanart.
  Vex: Why did that Sacker ruin my Topsy Turver Plan?! It's not fair!!! MUMMY!!!! [starts sucking his thumb]
• In the Hetalia: Axis Powers fan comic "Saving Germany", Germany injects himself with painkillers as he takes shrapnel to his side in battle, and proceeds to have a very bizarre hallucination/dream involving "Dr. Awesome" (Prussia) and "Nurse Vee" (Italy) subjecting him to various humiliating medical procedures. Eventually Dr. Awesome gives him a rectal shot that causes Germany to flash back to when they were children and Prussia tormented him with leeches, causing little Germany to run away, screaming, "Nein!!! Vati!!! Vati!! Help!!!" He wakes up in a real hospital still screaming for his father, much to the real Prussia's amusement.
  Prussia: Was that you I could hear all the way down from the waiting room screaming like a kinder for Vati? You sounded so pathetic just like that time...
  [Germany kicks him in the head]
• In an omake of A Spartan in Westeros, after seeing Master Chief tank everything the Kingsguard can throw at him and then repay the favor by brutalizing them all and following by seizing Joffrey by the throat, Cersei Baratheon, the Queen Dowager, the Light of the West, is left curled into a ball sobbing, thinking of her mom.
• After Bakura loses a brutal duel in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, he's asked for his last words. He weakly responds with, "I want my mummy."

Films — Animation

• In An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, just before Tiger falls off a building because of a dog.
  Tiger: I want my mommy. [sucks thumb]
• In Bambi II, Bambi's would-be stepmom is caught in a hunting trap and, hearing the dogs, tells Bambi and Ronno to run. Ronno races away, shrieking, "Mommy!" At the end of the film, it's repeated again when Ronno is bit on the nose by a turtle and dashes away screaming in pain.
• In LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, Reverse-Flash lets out a small "Mommy." near the end when he's imprisoned and sees that his cellmate is Killer Croc.
• The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea: Uttered by Morgana at the end after King Triton freezes her inside a solid block of ice which is tossed back into the ocean.
• The Rescuers Down Under: During the operation scene, upon seeing the increasingly painful operating tools the doctor calls for, Wilbur cries "Mother!".
• In Disney's animated Robin Hood (1973), Prince John takes any moment of distress as an occasion to suck his thumb and cry for his mommy.
• In Rock-A-Doodle, when Snipes the magpie is panicking because of his claustrophobia while the characters are in a toy box, at one point water starts coming in, and before Patou the dog gets him to "[s]ettle down!", he does this ("I don't know how to swim! Mommy!").
• In Shrek the Third, just before Dragon knocks a tower on him, Charming manages to squeak out "Mummy?"
• Twice Upon a Time: Synonamess Botch when he thinks he's about to be hit by one of his nightmare bombs. "It's too much to bear! I want my blankie! I want my mommy!"
• Yellow Submarine: When The Beatles all turn into children, Ringo starts crying, and whimpers, "I want me mam!".^note In real life, Ringo Starr was very close with his mother.

Films — Live-Action

• Flubber: At the climax of the movie, as Flubber is flying around demolishing everything in sight, it finally flies straight into Wilson's mouth and shoots down his digestive tract, leaving Wilson with no other choice than to eject Flubber right from his... well, you know.
  Wilson: Oh, mommy... [sharp inhale, Flubber explodes through his pants]
• In Galaxy Quest, Guy, because of his cameo role as a Red Shirt in the original TV show, starts wailing for Mommy, as he's convinced he's gonna die the minute the shuttle touches down on an alien planet.
• In Home Alone, after reveling in the fact that he wished away his family and enjoying doing whatever he wants, Kevin decides to watch mobster movie Angels With Filthy Souls and is horrified by what he sees, shouting for his mother immediately after.
• Hook: These are the Captain's last words before he's eaten by the crocodile. The film is a thematic exploration of growing up and the relationship between children and their parents during the process, with Hook shown to have the body of an old man but the childish mentality of everyone else in Neverland.
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka: After Jack Spade tells his mother that he doesn't want her fighting his battles for him any more, she taunts him by reminding him of how he called out for her when he was beaten up as a child.
  Mother: I remember when you was always calling for your momma. [snip] All I could hear was "Momma! Momma!" [snip] I could hear your punk ass calling me half a mile away, "Momma, help me! Momma, help me!"
• In Inspector Gadget (1999), Claw's henchman Sykes at one point screams "Mama" when Dr. Claw tries to use him to get Bradford's technology to work.
• In the original film version of Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang, the Hooded Fang cries for his mother once it's revealed that he is really a nice person with the heart of a child who's maintaining his Kayfabe role as a Heel wrestler and that the child prisoners were only pretending to find him scary, with Jacob comforting him.
• In Kermit's Swamp Years, when Goggles and Blotch are scared by Vicki, they start screaming and Blotch cries out for his mama.
• Mannequin: Security Officer Felix (played by G. W. Bailey) cries this at the end as he is being hauled away during his Villainous Breakdown, since nobody would believe that the woman that Switcher rescued from the shredder was a dummy.
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie: Skull screams this when he and Bulk skydive out of a plane in the beginning.
• In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Rizzo screams "MOMMY!" while being forced to fly over London with Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past despite his fear of heights.
• In Pixels, a soldier cries out for his mommy right before he gets abducted by aliens. Later, when Violet breaks into the mothership to rescue her young son who has also been abducted, the soldier complains about the fact that his mommy didn't show up.
• From The Rocky Horror Picture Show song "Rose Tint My World":
  Brad: It's beyond me
  Help me, mommy
• The Shawshank Redemption: It precedes a serious case of Mood Whiplash, but one of the new inmates breaks down and begins crying for his mother. One of the veteran inmates calls back with "I've had your mother! She wasn't that great!" Then The Dragon shows up and proceeds to bash in his skull for being such a wimp.
• In Step Brothers, Derek cries out for his and Brennan's mother after Dale punches him out of his treehouse for mouthing off to him and he injures his shoulder in the process.
• The Live-Action Adaptation of Superlópez has a variation. After the eponymous hero escapes the villain's hideout with his Love Interest and his friend, they ask where they are going, to which he says that he's going to the one place a thirty-something person goes to when they get over their heads: their parents' house.
• Young Frankenstein: Frederick Frankenstein has this reaction when his Monster starts approaching him in a locked room, since he told his assistants not to let him out — no matter how much he begged — until he tamed the Monster.
  Frederick: Open this goddamn door or I'll kick your rotten heads in! MOMMY!

Literature

• In the Robert Westall short story "Blackham's Wimpy", a German airman, his plane on fire, calls out "Mutti! Mutti!" in between bouts of rage and recitations of his name, rank, and serial number.
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks shows Arnold saying the trope name verbatim twice: first after the bus unexpectedly transforms and the students become clad in scuba gear, and the second time when the bus starts lifting off into the sky. (To which another kid tells him that he said that already.)
• Played for Drama in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi where Jiang Cheng suffered a breakdown after witnessing his parents' corpses being disrespected by the Wen clan and lashed out against Wei Wuxian and blamed him for incurring the Wen clan's wrath and causing them to target and raze Lotus Pier to the ground. Once he calmed down a bit, Jiang Cheng broke down into tears and screamed that he wanted his parents.
• A Series of Unfortunate Events has Count Olaf scream for Mommy while fleeing from a burning building along with his enemies the Baudelaires, making him seem like even more of a cowardly joke than he already is.
• In Thud!, we're told that this was the reaction of a group of bandits who were given a stern talking-to by Lady Sybil's great-aunt.
• Esther's womanchild co-star Rachel does this a lot in Vamparazzi, both for serious threats and minor irritations.

Live-Action TV

• In the American Horror Story: Murder House episode "Pilot", Leah is attacked in the house's basement by a horrifying creature, and before it claws her face, she quietly says, "Mommy".
• In Blackadder Goes Forth, when Captain Blackadder and Baldrick are in the hands of the Germans:
  Baldrick: I want my mum.
  Blackadder: Yes, it'll be good to see her. I imagine a maternally outraged gorilla would be a useful ally.
• Breaking Bad: Played for Drama in the episode "Ozymandias"; Walt, after seeing that Skyler and Walt Jr. are now terrified of him, kidnaps Holly and takes her to a gas station. After he changes her diaper in a restroom, Holly says her first word: "Mama". Realizing that even his daughter now fears him, Walt has Holly delivered back to Skyler. Incidentally, this was unscripted: Holly's actress called for her mother (who was off-camera) and Bryan Cranston went along with it.
• El Chavo del ocho: One of the many, many running gags is Quico calling out for "¡MAMÁ!" whenever Don Ramón hurts him (or even not) in some way. This usually, but not always, leads into the gag where Doña Florinda slaps Don Ramón, etc.
• Fort Boyard: One of the women in series 2 says "I want my mum" just before she does a bungee jump.
• Horrible Histories likes this one:
  • Both a Spartan in "Spartan School Musical" and a Celt in "Celtic Boast Battle" say they want their mums; the former when the teacher reveals that his "favourite game" is whipping the students, the latter when his opponent ends the battle by stabbing him.
  • There's also an example in "Historical Hospital" where someone yells "Mummy!", but in that one it's a Pun, as the patient is Ancient Egyptian and thinks that another patient wrapped in bandages is, well, a mummy.
• Lidsville has Hoo-Doo saying this when foiled, frightened, or thwarted. He finally then gets to visit her when she comes by wanting to know what's going on in the final episode, named after her.
• Married... with Children:
  • In "Buck Can Do It", when Al, Bud, Steve, Buck, and a bunch of neighbor boys go camping and upon realizing that they're going to die, one of the boys has this moment:
    Boy: I want my mommy.
    Al: Yeah, so does your dad's brother.
  • When Al is framed for stabbing an elderly billionaire to death and discovers the knife in his hand in "Al Bundy, Shoe Dick", he cries out, "Oh, Mama!" twice.
  • Al also cries out for her in one episode where he learns that Peg has spent their mortgage money on something trivial.
  • Bud has been known to cry out for both parents on rare occasion, such as when he thinks he's losing his hair and when Al needs help while he's about to be choked out by a barbell.
  • Bud also shrieks "Mommy!" after a fat woman drags him off to have sex with him. Later, when he sets up a security guard so that she'll drag him off, the man screams the same thing. Especially funny since the guy is a gigantic, intimidating hulk, but reduced to a sniveling little boy by this woman.
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Bulk and Skull (again) in one episode.
  Bulk: I want my mommy!
  Skull: Yeah! I want your mommy!
• Mimpi Metropolitan: In episode 62, after Prima's motorcycle breaks down when Alan is riding it and Alan has no one to help him at the moment, Alan screams for his mother in frustration.
• When Mr. Bean is taking an exam that he is about to fail, he sobs and cries out "Mommy!" However, there are two exams to be taken that day: one envelope has a Calculus exam, which he accidentally opens and thinks is his test, and the other has a Trigonometry exam, which he did study for and doesn't see at first.
• Implied in Red Dwarf:
  Rimmer: Alright Kryten, you don't have to make me sound like a complete cowardly gimboid git! I'm fine now.
  Kryten: So, shall I cancel the order to find your mother?
• Saturday Night Live: On the Season 34 episode hosted by Jon Hamm, there was a sketch in which James Mason (played by Jon Hamm) insults a little boy's sailor Halloween costume. The little boy whines, "You're mean! I want my mommy!" Mason replies with a suggestive, "That makes two of us!"
• Saved by the Bell:
  • In "Rent-a-Pop", upon realizing that Mr. Belding is requesting a conference with his father instead of his mother, who Zack jokes is there so often that she even has her own parking space, he exclaims "I want my Mommy!"
  • In "All in the Mall", when asking a security guard to help them escape from some "killers" after them and upon him admitting that he's working with them, the gang all reel back in horror and Screech cries out "I want my Mommy!"
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the episode where Quark, Rom, and Nog get sent back in time to Area 51 circa 1950's, Rom gets upset and calls out for his "Moogie" (the Ferengi word for mother).
• A Running Gag on Three's Company is for Jack to scream "Mommy!" when frightened or startled.

Music

• In 1991, Jello Biafra and NoMeansNo released an album titled The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy.
• "Somebody Get My Mom" by Bowling for Soup is about someone having a rotten day (and life in general) and wanting his mom to come make things better.
• Rolf Harris had a song called "I've Lost My Mommy!" about adults trying to get some sense out of a lost child in a supermarket who just keeps repeating the title line until his mother turns up and gives him a clip over the ear.

Puppet Shows

• Crank Yankers: Special Ed quietly gives one of these at the end of a call to a donut shop, after getting BSoD'd by the guy actually going along with his buffoonery.
• The Muppet Show: Link Hogthrob does this on more than one occasion in the reoccurring "Pigs in Space" sketch:
  • In the Roy Clark episode, he says it word for word while sucking his thumb after getting popped back out from who knows where by a malfunctioning control panel.
  • When he and First Mate Piggy find out that the Swinetrek has been invaded by Dearth Nadir in the Crystal Gayle episode, Piggy asks him what they're going to do.
    Link: What can we do? [into phone] Link's mommy wanted on the bridge!
• One episode of Wimzie's House is called "I Want My Mommy!" It revolves around Wimzie Playing Sick to get her mother's attention, which has been taken up by an actual sickness of her little brother Bo's. Graziella is finally so overwhelmed taking care of two "sick" children that she calls "Mommy!" for her own mother, Grandma Yaya, to come and help her. This makes Wimzie realize that her pretending might have gone too far.

Radio

• The Wacky Musical Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Intergalactical Magical Radio: Grimace pleads that he wants his mother when the McDonaldland gang worry about the source of the mysterious knocking sound they hear during the track "Unidentified Knocking Object".

Theatre

• In Act 2 of Spies Are Forever, Agent Curt Mega name-drops this trope after failing to stop the assassination of the Prince.

Theme Parks

• At Universal Studios:
  • In Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, Carl quietly muttered "...mommy..." after Jimmy tried to unsuccessfully power up his Mark I rocket.
  • Louis Tully muttered this in Ghostbusters Spooktacular, after the ghost containment was unlocked.

Video Games

• Deep Rock Galactic: If you fall a great distance, your dwarf might call out for their mommy before they hit the ground.
• In Donkey Kong 64, the DK Rap has a verse for Chunky Kong, who apparently "Can make a Kremling cry out for Mummy!"
• Goat Simulator: Human NPCs have a chance to cry this verbatim when rammed around.
• In Mega Man 8, Clown Man may occasionally say "Mommy!" when hit by the Tornado Hold, his weakness.
• In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, mooks often let out a cry of "MAMA!" as they're killed.
• In Orcs Must Die!, you'll occasionally hear orcs cry out for mommy as they're getting mulched by your traps.
• At the end of Pac-Man World 3, Erwin yells out "Mother!" as he's sucked into his Spectral Syphon.
• Von Kaiser in Punch-Out!!. Especially effective if you give him a star punch just as or after he says it (since it gives you an instant KO):
  "Wo bist denn... MOMMY!"
• Ratchet & Clank:
  • Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando: Captain Qwark gives a plaintive "Mommy" just before being swallowed by a monster.
  • Commander Lornock Argos in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time will beg "Momma! Momma! Your little booboo needs help!" as his ship slowly sinks into the river when defeated in the past. He becomes a laughing stock to the civilization he tried to conquer decades later, despite claiming that history would remember him for his reign of terror.
• Kunio-kun:
  • In River City Ransom, enemies sometimes cry out "Mamaaaaaa!" when they're beaten.
  • In River City Girls, enemies sometimes cry out "Mommy!" when they're beaten.
• In Shrek 2, the knight enemies will occasionally yell "Mommy!" when defeated.
• Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: A couple of mercenaries are checking out a missile.
  Mercenary 1: I want my mommy!
• Star Fox: Star Wolf's Andrew Oikonny calls for his Uncle Andross as he's shot down on Fichina or Bolse in Star Fox 64, shot down by an Aparoid in Star Fox: Assault, and shot down during Sector B's space battle alongside Sector A's Meddlesome Mercs mission in Star Fox Zero.
• Star Wars: Republic Commando: A Battle Droid of all things might shout "Mommy!" whenever you throw a grenade at them.
• In a flashback in Tomb Raider: Legend, one man shouts in fear when attacked by an unknown entity. It's subtitled as "Ah, no!", but sounds like "Mommeeeee!"
• Violent Storm: Geld, the final boss, gives a big "MAAAMAAAAAAA..." when defeated.
• Wolfenstein 3-D: When you kill the boss Hans Grosse, he calls out "Mutti!", German for "Mommy!".

Web Animation

• Refreshing Stories: In some of Hiroshi's stories, the male antagonist will cry for his mommy after the consequences of his actions, to showcase how pathetic he really is.
  • "I set up a baby cam to check up on my new born baby, but the camera showed me something unbelievable": Son cries out for his mommy after his boss, who is Kanata Tanaka as a restaurant owner, fires him for his incompetence at work.
  • "My wife said she was going on a business trip, but was instead having an affair…": Shiori's lover, Santa, cries out for his mommy after ending up as a worker at a terrible toxic waste company headed by Kanata Tanaka.
  • "My wife cheated on me, then somehow expected to be paid in damages after our divorce…": After his mother disowns him for his affair with Kayoko and proclaims she shouldn't have given birth to him should she know he'd turn out like this (a cheater), he lets out "mommy" cries only for the poor woman to reject him.
  • "Manager thought I stole the company's money but...": Bonkura calls for his mommy after his salary decreased by $3000 following his demotion into a regular employee working at a faraway subsidiary branch under a younger manager.
• Trouble Busters: In "My wife, innocent and pure, was about to give birth, when our doctor showed us a shocking truth...": Lisa does this after her husband Alan reminds her that Dr. Washington has been arrested for deliberately flubbing Alan's DNA test, and therefore, her mother will follow him soon once the bribe goes public.
  Lisa: No, no no!!! Mommy, help me!!!

Web Videos

• Serving as yet another Humiliation Conga, Ask That Guy with the Glasses screams out for the mom he hates so much when his usual credits don't start.
• The Funniest Minecraft Videos Ever: A non-verbal one. At the end of the "Girlfriend Mod" video, after seeing the Girlfriend being the captain of the escape helicopter despite him and Charlie just defeating a giant version of her, Tommy exits the helicopter and closes the door behind him in-game, then runs out of his room to MotherInnit in real life.
• It has become a recurring gag for Hitler in the Hitler Rants videos to yell "MOMMY! MOMMMMMYYY!" whenever he's in a dangerous situation.
• Hiodoshi Ao of hololive is noted to be a giant chicken when it comes to horror games, which isn't surprising as many of her peers are too, but what caught people off guard was her actual mother coming over to support her when she cried for help. The first time it happened shattered her image as a cool ikemen forever.
• A YouTuber named makemebad35 or his real name Damian Zen, reacts to 2 Girls 1 Cup (NSFW) and starts hysterically screaming and at one point shrieks for his mom. It can be found here.

Western Animation

• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters has this in the episode "The Switching Hour":
  Jake: [whispering] Monsters.
  Nicky: Oh Jakey, can you say "bunny rabbit?"
  Jake: MOMMY!
• The Addams Family (1992):
  • This joke happens in the episode "FTV", where Norman Normanmeyer exclaims "Mommy" in response to Lurch catching him snooping on the Addamses.
  • Normanmeyer does it again in the episode "Itt's Over" when he ends up in jail for lying about Uncle Fester killing Cousin Itt.
• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius:
  • Carl Wheezer screams this in "Hall Monster" when Jimmy's friends confront him about taking the Hall Monitor job too far, before cheerfully adding, "...and some fudge!"
  • In The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, when a video game turns Goddard into killer robot, he at one point shakes a pole that Hugh is clinging to, causing him to sway back and fourth while shouting:
    Hugh: Help... me! Call... my... MOOOOOM...my!
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: In "Robo-Ninjas", this exchange occurs after Kwai Chang Crane destroys Grounder's laser by sticking his finger in it:
  Grounder: (crying) Mama!
  Scratch: D'oh, you don't have a mama, stupid!
  Grounder: (crying) But I want a mama!
• Arthur: Referenced by the joke that Binky steals. "What did King Tut say when the Sphinx scared him? I want my mummy!"
• The Buzz on Maggie: In "The Flyinator", the titular in-universe movie is so frightening to the audience that a young boy cries and hugs his mother, who in turn cries and hugs her own mom.
  Son: Ahh! I want my mommy!
  Mom: Ahh! I want my mommy!
  Grandma: [unfazed] Why is the television so loud?
• CatDog: During "The Great Parent Mystery", Dog looks around in a tree full of fire ants and exits through a branch along with Cat heavily burning and saying this until they fall down a river.
• Codename: Kids Next Door:
  • Mr. Wink can be heard crying out for his mommy when he and Mr. Fibb get spanked by Count Spankulot in "Operation: S.P.A.N.K.".
  • When Chad detaches the KND's moonbase and sends it towards the sun in "Operation: E.N.D.", Numbuh 86 orders her subordinates to implement "Plan M-11", which consists of running around screaming for mommy.
• Daria:
  • When Jake is speaking to his mother about the suffering they endured at the hands of his now-deceased father, "Mad Dog" Morgendorffer in the episode "Jake of Hearts", she suffers a panic attack and slumps besides him in bed, which prompts him to cry out a feeble "Mommy?" and then curse his father by yelling up at him. Fortunately, she's fine.
  • In another episode, Jake is in a hot-air balloon, which gets stuck in a tree, which makes him cry out, "Mommy?"
• Doc McStuffins: In "Lambie and the McStuffins Babies", the baby-fied Lambie cries out "I want my Doc-y" after she and the baby-fied Hallie, Chilly, and Stuffy are scooped up and carried in a bag by the Delivery Stork.
• DuckTales (1987): In the episode "Metal Attraction", Gizmoduck solemnly squirms "Mother" when he sees that Robotica is mad at him for dumping her.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: Both Sarah and Eddy have a Stock Scream of "Mommy!" whenever they're in a bad situation.
• 'The Fairly OddParents!: Inverted in "Dimmesdale Tales". Timmy's story ends with Crocker on a plane full of Mrs. Crockers, with the Sadist Teacher screaming "I don't want my mommy!"
• Family Guy: In the episode "Stewie Kills Lois", right after Stewie kills Lois, he trips and bangs his knee. He immediately begins crying for his mommy, whom he has just killed.
• Futurama: After Hubert overclocks Bender so that they can defeat their opponents at a video game, said opponents turn out to be Mom's sons, who are shocked that the guys they play exclusively because they stink beat them.
  Larry: Those cheaters must've cheated.
  Walt: Now, Larry, let's handle this like mature adults. Mommy!
• Garfield:
  • Garfield's Halloween Adventure, while in a rowboat drifting downriver:
    Garfield: Trim the mains, slip the sheets, libber the giblets, I want my mommy!
  • In Garfield and Friends episode "Brain Boy", the Insufferable Genius Jerkass young cousin of Jon named Roscoe is at the mercy of his hand-built robot, whom Garfield put brand-new batteries in and is trying to "teach" him to dance against his will, which causes him to cry out for his father.
• Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs: In the episode "Circus", Taury exclaims "Mummy!" when his clown bicycle starts to fall apart.
• Hey Arnold!: Harold, the school bully, will scream and run away whenever he gets scared.
  Harold: AAAAGGHH! HELP, MOMMY!
• In Jelly Jamm, Ongo's reaction to seeing a morbidly obese Dodo is "Oh, mama!". Coincidentally, this is the only time he speaks proper English in the show.
• The Johnny Bravo episode "T is for Trouble" has a flashback of Johnny being bullied by Little Ricky Simmons when he was a kid that ends with him repeatedly crying for his mama.
• Justice League: In "Eclipsed", a Smug Snake talk show host has been earning ratings with his criticism of the Justice League. When he realises that the sun is about to be destroyed, he can only whimper for his mother.
• Kaeloo: In one episode, Stumpy uses a Portal Door to go inside Mr. Cat's brain. Mr. Cat tells him to leave, but he refuses to, so Mr. Cat imagines something horribly scary which attacks Stumpy. Stumpy runs out screaming for his mother.
• Kim Possible: In the episode "Emotion Sickness", Drakken realizes he's in trouble when he finds out that Shego has been tagged with an emotion-controlling chip locked on the "rage" setting. When she shows up, hands blazing and yelling his name, he whimpers "Mommy" just before she attacks him.
• Looney Tunes:
  • When they face impending pain, Daffy Duck and Sylvester the Cat will often let out a feeble cry of "mother". In Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the car's monitor responds to Daffy's reaction as the car is about to hit a wall by saying, "Taking you to Mother," and then flying upwards.
  • Wile E. Coyote does this once, too. His failed attempt at riding a rocking horse while wielding a lasso results in him standing tied up on some railroad tracks with a train incoming. He promptly holds up a tiny sign that reads: "mommy".
• In the Mickey Mouse (2013) short "Shipped Out", Mickey can be heard screaming "Mommy" when he and Minnie are forced to partake in bungee jumping.
• In the Mixels episode "A Quest for the Lost Mixamajig", after being stripped of his mechanical suit, King Nixel vows revenge and runs off crying for his mom.
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Members Only", the girls defeat an extremely manly robot from space using their "Furious Flaming Feline" attack, causing him to fly off into space crying for mommy, right after being extremely sexist toward the girls.
• The Proud Family: Oscar frequently does this when on the receiving end of slapstick. Especially in the Pro Wrestling Episode, which leads to his entire wrestling gimmick being based on him being a pathetic wimp who needs Suga Mama to do the fighting for him. But when Mongo calls out for his mother, both Oscar and Suga Mama yell "Mama!"
• In The Real Ghostbusters, the episode "Look Homeward, Ray" at one point has Alan Favish scream "Mommy" while being chased by the Winged Puma of Morrisville.
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: In the episode "Flushed But Not Forgotten", Leo does a form of this right after Mikey is taken by the fish they flushed by accident, leaving Leo the last turtle standing.
  Leo: Okay. Keep your wits, and do what any brave and mature individual would. [cut to him crashing through Splinter's bedroom door] DADDYYYY!
• In a Robot Chicken segment where a giraffe, who is slowly sinking in quicksand and goes through the Five Stages of Grief, begins to dramatically cry when he reaches the "Depression" stage and at one point cries out "Mommy!" He ends up being saved at the "Acceptance" stage due to his incredible height reaching the bottom, albeit now stuck in there due to the sand burying him up to his neck.
• Rugrats (1991):
  • In "The Shot", Angelica teases Tommy and another baby about how painful getting a booster shot will be. At the end, while both babies took the shot without a fuss, Angelica herself is crying for her mommy.
  • This is the last line in Tommy's poem in "Tommy and the Secret Club".
    Silly me, my name is Tommy
    My diaper smells like old salami
    I have no hair, but I don't care
    Waah, I want my mommy
  • In "The Word of the Day", Angelica auditions against two kids to be a helper on Miss Carol's Happy House. Miss Carol asks one of them, a girl named Kim, "What does Miss Carol think of her kids?" Kim stutters, yells "I want my mommy!" and runs off the set.
  • Downplayed in Rugrats in Paris, where Chuckie's "I Want a Mom" song mentions mothers getting rid of scary situations.
• Scooby-Doo: The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode "A Night Louse at the White House" has Scooby tackled when he is mistaken for the Ghost of George Washington. When asked what he has to say about the confusion, Scooby responds by crying "I want my mumsy!"
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Brush with Greatness", while standing in line at the amusement park Mt. Splashmore's infamous water slide, the H2Whoa!, Bart and Lisa devise a successful ruse of having her crying for Marge in order to get to the front of it.
  • In "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", Ralph starts crying for for his mom when an Itchy & Scratchy executive yells at the kids.
  • In "Tales from the Public Domain", Lisa portrays Joan of Arc on a Rearing Horse in the midst of battle shouting, "You can't stop me; I was sent by God!", immediately followed by "I want my mommy," when she's pulled from the saddle and stuffed into a sack by Groundskeeper Willie.
• The Smurfs (1981): Gargamel cries out for his mother in "The Trojan Smurf" when he is inside the Papa Smurf statue that Bigmouth finds, thinking it's a doll.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In the pilot episode "Help Wanted", Mr. Krabs says this to Squidward when the Krusty Krab is overrun by a wave of hungry anchovies. ("I want my mommy, Mr. Squidward!")
  • In "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", Kevin the Sea Cucumber sits in a fetal position and cries for his mommy and blankie when attacked by a King Jellyfish. The other Jellyspotters join in shortly until SpongeBob saves them all.
  • Again with Mr. Krabs: He cries and screams this when the Flying Dutchman threatens to send him to Davy Jones's Locker in the episode "Born Again Krabs". This display of cowardice is so pitiful that the Flying Dutchman decides to give Mr. Krabs a second chance out of annoyance.
• In the Static Shock episode "Kidnapped", Shiv screams "Mommy" when Static interrogates him on the whereabouts of Puff and Onyx.
• In The Superhero Squad Show episode "The Ice Melt Cometh", Pyro comedically exclaims "Mommy" when he realizes that he's about to be hit by lightning from Thor.
• The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: In "Princess, I Shrunk the Mario Brothers", Mouser calls for his mommy after being shrunken and put in a fishbowl by Waldo the Wizard.
• Tak and the Power of Juju (2007) has Lok cry for mommy whenever he's intimidated as a running gag.
• TaleSpin: In the episode "Polly Wants a Treasure", Don Karnage gives a "Ma...Ma..." when a trap door opens beneath him, following his capture of Kit after Baloo discovers the cave's treasure. Baloo is of course able to catch Kit in time.
• The Teacher's Pet episode "Being Mrs. Leadready" has Spot wail for his mommy after getting overwhelmed by the stress of trying to pretend to be Scott Leadready II and Scott's mother all at once.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): Bebop will cry out "Mamaaaaa!" often during a bad situation.
• Vampirina: Edgar shouts this word-for-word when getting scared in "Vee's Surprise Party" and is caught on camera doing so. To his credit, he's the first to return after almost everyone freaks out and leaves.
• The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: A de-aged Grimace states that he wants his mommy's lap to go along with the rest of the gang's "trap" rhymes during the final musical number in "Birthday World" before Ronald and the gang defeat Pinchworm and return to their normal ages.

Dramatic

Anime & Manga

• In the manga Bio-Meat: Nectar, a lot of victims tend to scream for their mamas when they get eaten — either that or apologize to their mamas.
• In the Cowboy Bebop episode "Pierrot Le Fou", the titular Mad Pierrot/Tongpu has personal shields which protect him from gunshots — but not from knives, as he discovers when Spike stabs him in the leg. It actually makes for a powerful Alas, Poor Villain as it reinforces Jet's earlier discovery that for all his terrifying powers and murderous tendencies, the experiments performed on Tongpu have given him the mind of a child. This is likely the first time he's experienced pain since he was experimented on and escaped the facility. Due to his mental regression and inability to deal with this new feeling of pain, he reacts like a child would, crying and throwing a tantrum, all while calling for his mother until he is crushed to death by a giant parade robot.
• Cyborg 009: When 004, 007, and 009 take down a Black Ghost machine being used by the Viet Cong, fighter jets swoop in and bomb the area, leaving all the soldiers burned and dead. The cyborgs are horrified to see a child dying of burn injuries fall off of a rock and cry "M-mama!" before dying in 009's arms.
• In Deadman Wonderland, as one of the members of Scar Chain is sprayed with acid while being pursued by a robot, he barely manages to utter "Mother..." before getting crushed to death.
• In one episode of Digimon Frontier, the kids come across a “TV Forest” that shows images of the human world. Tommy, the youngest of the kids, sees the image of his mother, and when the images start to disappear, he is left crying out for her.
• In Doraemon, Suneo will cry "Mama!" in tears whenever he's in a worst-case scenario, like being held prisoner, especially in the movies.
• In early seasons of Dragon Ball Z, after Gohan gets kidnapped twice, he starts crying about how he wants his mommy.
• In the Fragments of Horror chapter "Red Turtleneck", Tomio cries out for his mother when pushed to his breaking point from the stress of having to hold his severed head on to survive.
• A tragic example in Freezing. The only time Kazuha recognizes Orie as her mother is when Orie's spirit approaches her after death, telling her not to blame herself for Orie's death and to take care of both herself and Kazuya. She breaks down crying and calls for her "Mommy" shortly afterward.
• Fruits Basket: A variation is done where Akito, paranoid about being abandoned by the Zodiac, starts crying and screaming "Father! Father! Help me!" (Akito's father having been dead for many years at that point). Considering what her mother has done, it's not surprising Akito wouldn't be calling for her.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has a particularly depressing example. First we have Nanoha breaking down over the fact that Vivio has been kidnapped (the only time in the entire franchise that she acts like this). Then we cut to Vivio, Strapped to an Operating Table and screaming for Nanoha to rescue her while Jail Scaglietti prepares to forcibly implant a Relic in her. Then it cuts to outside the room and we hear her scream "Mama!" one last time before the episode ends.
• Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka: Nazani cries for her mommy after Asuka slices off her arm. Asuka replies that she doesn't deserve her after Nazani killed a bunch of police officers.
• In the Mobile Suit Gundam episode "Escape", a Zeon soldier cries out "MOMMY!" just as his Zaku goes up in a massive explosion. It shows that this was Zeon's last gasp, that they were down to mere rookies.
• My Little Goat: Natsuki understandably begins screaming for his mother once his own father starts sexually assaulting him.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Asuka Langley Soryu has a tendency to do this, especially towards the end of the story during her Trauma Conga Line. In a particularly brutal instance, she calls out for an already-dead father figure.
• One Piece:
  • A variation happens where instead of his mother, Luffy, after losing his brother Ace during the Marineford Arc, calls out for his crew when Jinbei asks him what "[he] still [has]".
  • While giving his Final Speech to Luffy, Ace mentions that he wants to see his foster mother Dadan again.
  • Nico Robin has essentially been doing this her whole life (i.e., while not necessarily always saying the exact words out loud^note Although that is what she did at first), especially since her mother Nico Olvia, for all intents and purposes, abandoned her, with poor two-year-old Robin forced to watch as Olvia leaves her, and all so she could be on the team researching the Blank Century (or "Void" Century, or "Hundred Year Void", depending on the translation).
• Pretty Cure:
  • Glitter Force: In "Here Comes Glitter Spring", Harriet says this word-for-word when she's put under Brute's miserable spell.
  • Doki Doki! PreCure: In Episode 9, Ai-chan cries for "Mama" when she sees Cure Rosetta and Cure Sword getting attack by the Monster of the Week.

Comic Books

• In Batman (Grant Morrison), Damian Wayne's last words are him calling out for his mother. In a dark twist, he's actually begging his mother to call off the insane warrior (actually an aged-up clone of him) who is brutally killing him, desperately trying to confirm that she has at least a shred of humanity left. She does nothing to stop her own son's death.
• In Carnage: Family Feud, Royal Blue mutters "Mommy" as he is Eaten Alive by the eponymous character's Lovecraftian Superpower.
• In Crossed: Badlands, Steve mentions that during her time in the Middle East, the prisoners she and her fellow guards were torturing frequently called out for their mothers. In-universe, Steve considered this funny because in the prisoners' language, "mother" is pronounced "more".
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Bruce calls out to Alfred after Superman breaks his back and he wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. Granted, he says it with less fear and desperation than some of the other examples on this page, but it's poignant nonetheless, and given how Alfred quickly responds with squeezing Batman's hand and reassuring him that he's there, the relationship would appear to be mutual.
• Played to horrifying effect in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century when Hermione Granger cries this as the Antichrist a.k.a. Harry Potter rampages through Hogwarts.
• Discussed in Promethea. When the Painted Doll kills rival mastermind Jellyface (who calls feebly for his mother), he turns toward the reader and says, "Now why do they always say that at the end, eh? Why, 'Oh, mother?'"
• The Sandman (1989): Ellie, a victim of the sleeping sickness that resulted from Dream's imprisonment, calls for her mother both times that she briefly wakes up.

Fan Works

• At the beginning of The Candygirl, after realizing that her arm is permanently gone, Cree begs for her parents.
• Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: Right before she's about to be executed, Nanae cries out for both her mother and father while begging that she doesn't want to die.
• In Experimenting Fear, as a 10-year-old Nando is being tortured by a Mad Scientist, he begs to go home to his parents and screams for them when his eardrums are blown out by a gun being fired next to his head.
• An implied subconscious example occurs in Hope Springs Eternal. When Hades is about to be smote with extreme prejudice by Zeus whilst Demeter intends to take Persephone away from him forever, he finds himself in a position where he feels like he has no other choice than to pray, whilst also internally questioning just whom a god would pray to in the first place. Cue Rhea, the mother of the Olympians arriving out of absolutely nowhere to set everything straight. The narration lampshades this by stating "who else does one call to in distress than their mother?"
• In Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: An Apex child who fell in the lake within the Fog Car^note which is Silent Hill on the Infinity Train couldn't swim and was previously paralyzed from almost dying when he went on vacation at a beach, so he cried out for Grace, Simon, and then for his mother to save him before he drowned. Worse is how it became this way — Paul, as in Pokémon trainer Paul, asked Electvire to Thunder Punch him into said lake when the Apex child was about to attack him under the idea of Electvire being a Null, so it's implied the Thunder Punch paralyzed him and he wouldn't have been able to make it.
• In The Job Gone Wrong, young Gambit is captured via Tranquilizer Dart. He wakes up dizzy, stripped naked, and Strapped to an Operating Table, with someone hitting him to make him talk. When the interrogator breaks the electrified cattle prod, Gambit panics and screams for his papa.
• In A Little More Like Me, a variation of this happens when Len cries out in fear not for his mother, but for his sister when he realizes that he's trapped in Kaito's body.
• In The Nightmare House, a fanfiction about the nightmares of the kids from The Loud House, Lisa's nightmare ends with her shouting, "MOMMY!!!" because she wants Rita to save her from an evil teddy bear, who is spanking her.
• In The Night Unfurls, Anders Bleu, a Black Dog recruit who joined the group to get a harem, screams for his mother as the Hunter tears out his insides in the back. Clearly portrayed as a Mook Horror Show.
• In Of Life and Lemonade, Amelia wakes up in the middle of the night, throwing everything she can grab and screaming for her mother, the night after her mother's funeral.
• In On the breeding of Direwolves, Dragons Stags and Lions (rewrite), Catelyn Stark divorces her husband Ned after hearing the Awful Truth of Jon Snow's parentage and leaves for her family's home in the south. A seven-year-old Sansa soon starts begging for her mummy because she misses her and starts thinking that the reason Catelyn didn't take her along was because she doesn't love her daughter. Luckily for Sansa, the next time Catelyn visits her children, she lets Sansa come with her.
• In Reflections in a Cloudy Sky, during his third seizure, Camilo cries for his mother to help him.
• In To Extinguish The Sun, Camilo cries out for his mother, Pepa, during his Attempted Rape.

Films — Animation

• Atlantis: The Lost Empire has a young Kida at the very beginning, when her mother the Queen is being sacrificed by the Heart of Atlantis crystal due to her Royal Blood as a futile attempt to save Atlantis from being destroyed by a tidal wave her own husband caused due to him abusing the crystal's power by weaponizing it. Unsurpisingly enough, the Queen dies and Atlantis is still sunk anyway.
  Young Kida: Mahtim! MAHTIM!!! (literally Atlantean for "Mother! MOTHER!!!)
• Brave has one at the end. After it seems like Elinor is going to remain a bear forever, and lose the last remaining shred of her humanity, Merida completely breaks down and apologises for everything that lead up to this — and sobs "I want you back, Mummy!" She gets better thanks to this, luckily.
• In Finding Nemo, when Nemo is first caught by a diver, he screams for Marlin's help, which Marlin can't provide due to a camera flash temporarily blinding him. What veers into this trope more traditionally is when Nemo screams "Daddy! Help me!" when he nearly gets shredded by a tank filter fan.
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Occurs two times in succession during an amateur news report on the aftermath of the kids of Retroville doing everything they want after their parents disappear^note as a result of aliens abducting them, though no one knows that at first. First a kid who is sick from eating too much cotton candy says this word for word at the end of an interview. Then the girl doing the interview agrees and says it word-for-word and bursts into tears.
• ParaNorman: Done just after the climax by the ghost of Agatha, the 10-year-old "witch" that was the town's claim to fame and the cause of its curse, after Normal helps her realise that the only thing she really wanted was to see her mother again after the townspeople separated them.
• Peter Pan: After Wendy sings the song "Your Mother and Mine" to the Lost Boys, Michael says, "I wanna see my mother!"
• In Pinocchio, this happens with the kids turned into donkeys.
  Coachman: And what might your name be?
  Donkey: Alexander.
  Coachman: So you can talk.
  Donkey: Yes, sir. I want to go home to my momma!
  Coachman: [grabs him by the tail and ears] Take him back! He can still talk! [throws him into a pen with other donkeys]
• Pooh's Heffalump Movie:
  • Roo "captures" the heffalump Lumpy, but later releases him. Lumpy has been hearing his mother calling and wants to go home to her, but Roo wants him to meet his friends first. They can't find any of his friends because they're all off in Heffalump Hollow themselves trying to capture a heffalump. So Roo tries to get Lumpy back to his mother, but with every step they take, the calls seem to get further away, until finally they can't hear her anymore. Lumpy is upset and Roo sings him a small reprise of the "Little Mister Roo" song sung to him by Kanga earlier in the film. It doesn't really help Lumpy to cheer up much.
    Lumpy: [slumping on a log] I want my mum.
    Roo: Me too. ... Wait! My mom! She'll know what to do! Come on!
  • Slightly later in the film, Lumpy is caught in the heffalump trap that Rabbit and the others made.
    Roo: I'm so sorry. This is all my fault.
    Lumpy: [sobbing] I want my mummy.
• Early on in Spirited Away, Chihiro's parents eat the food of the spirit world and are transformed into pigs, leaving her all alone. She's then surrounded by spirits as night starts to fall and runs through the town in a panic before eventually just desperately screaming, "MOMMY!" in a heartbreaking voice.

Films — Live-Action

• In 50/50 (2011), as he's about to head off to last-ditch-effort cancer surgery, Adam cries for his mother, whom he earlier constantly rebuffed throughout the film. Unlike so many other examples, she's there to console him. Also, when he wakes up from the surgery, his first (happily said) words are "Mommy!"
• In Apaches, this happens when Sharon, who had unintentionally swallowed weed killer earlier that day, wakes up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain, screaming and crying and calling out for her mother.
• In Babe, after having watched his mother and family be led away (to slaughter, although he doesn't know that), having been put in a barn with unfamiliar animals, and generally feeling very vulnerable and alone, Babe says this. It's so tearjerking that Fly immediately steps up as a Parental Substitute.
• When the passenger jet in Blackout Effect is in a nosedive and a crash is imminent, a 5-year-old girl in the cabin — on her first flight alone — is shielded by an airline stewardess while crying out, "I want my mommy!"
• A Child Is Waiting: When Reuben's parents first drop him off at the Crawthorne State Training Institute, he tries to run after their car screaming "DADDY! MOMMY!"
• In Dancing Trees, Martha cries for her murdered mother Josephina several times. She doesn't seem to understand that Josephina is dead — she keeps talking about how cold and uncomfortable it must be in the grave, and how she didn't want to go there.
• Descendants: In the third installment, a spelled Audrey torments Chad, then leaves him traumatized, locked in a closet, and curled in a fetal position. When the others find him and rescue him, he speaks this trope word for word.
• The Exorcist: Believer: After her parents are tricked into sacrificing her to the demon Lamashtu, Katharine finds herself in another dimension, crying for her mother, just before Lamashtu drags her soul to hell.
• For Keeps: After Darcy gives birth to her and Stan's daughter, the exhausted former immediately says "I want my mother. Please, Stan. Go find my mother" even though they had a falling out months earlier.
• Fury (2014): When a tank is shot and bursts into flames, the commander comes out of the hatch, on fire, screaming for his father.
• Gone Baby Gone: Discussed, with Captain Doyle talking about the pain and the regret he feels over his only child's brutal murder several years prior and how he believes that her last words were calling out for him to save her, only for him never to be able to come.
• In Grave Encounters, there's a scene where Sasha is projectile vomiting blood and cries out for her mom to Lance.
• In Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, after a giant Adam is hurt by the static shock from a tranquilizer dart that hit the Hard Rock Café guitar he was playing, the confused and frightened child begins to call out "Mama," through his tears, unaware that his mother now dwarfs him by a good fifty feet. The impact of the moment is enough that the once frightened crowd below is silenced and looks upon the child with sympathy, compassion, and concern.
• In The Human Centipede, when Heiter is prepping his victims for surgery, Jenny breaks down and starts sobbing "I want my mom!". The utter despair and panic are heartbreaking.
• In Love and War (1996): Sandra Bullock's character, a Red Cross nurse in WWI Italy, says that Italian men "respect their wives. They spoil their mistresses. But the only women they love are their mothers." We immediately cut to an Italian soldier screaming for his mother as he dies horribly on the battlefield.
• Near the end of Jumanji, as Alan, Sara, Judy and Peter are about to finish the game, a flower shoots its poison spines on Judy's neck. Peter chops the flower too late, and goes to tend to Judy.
  Judy: I wish... mom and dad... were here.
  Peter: Me too.
• A Little Princess (1995): One of the youngest girls at the boarding school, Lottie, throws routine fits and cries out for her mother. While the others just let her have her fits, Sara, who is trying to do her studies, asks her to stop, only to find out from Lottie that her mother is dead. Sara then tells her that her own mother is dead, too, along with her baby sister, and then comforts her by explaining what a beautiful and happy place heaven is and how they're at peace, which cheers the younger girl up to the point where she doesn't throw another fit again in the whole film, except one which is used as a distraction.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street: During the iconic death of Glen Lantz, the last thing he shouts out is "MAMA!!! MAMAAAAA!!" In this instance, "Mama" actually does come, but is too late to do anything but watch a fountain of blood erupt from her son's bed (and in the uncut version, his body as well).
• Point of No Return gives us the Anti-Hero, Maggie, being executed by lethal injection. Even though she's a drug-addled punk who killed a police officer without a second thought, she cries out for her mother and experiences a Potty Failure as she dies.^note It's only a Potty Failure instead of a No Dead Body Poops because she didn't really die in the end.
• Poltergeist (1982): While she's on the Other Side and talking through a TV set, at one point Carol-Anne calls out, "Mommy!"
• Saving Private Ryan:
  • Near-dead soldiers ask for their moms at their last breaths. Considering the setting, it's not surprising. There's also a horrifically gored soldier on Omaha beach, crying for his mother.
  • Technician Wade dies calling out "Mama, mama, mama!" as he is dying from a morphine overdose the squad administers as a Mercy Kill. He was shot through the liver and was otherwise going to die a slow, agonising death miles from any kind of help.
• Scream (1996):
  • In the opening scene, Casey spends her final moments as she's murdered crying and begging for her mother. To twist the knife even more, her mother actually is nearby and looking for her, but Casey's too weak by that point to raise her voice above a whisper, and her mom can't hear her.
  • Later on, Tatum screams out "NO! MOM!!!" just before she's crushed to death.
• In Scrooged, as he is shown his Bad Future by the Ghost of Christmas Future, Frank finds himself being cremated alive from the inside of his own coffin. In addition to begging his brother not to let him burn, he also cries out for their mother.
• The Silence of the Lambs: Katherine does this when she's trapped in a serial killer's basement well. She sobs and cries "I wanna see my mommy!"
• Skinamarink: In the climax, the four-year-old Kevin finds himself trapped with a malevolent entity, with one shot displaying blood splashing onto the carpet as we vaguely hear what sounds like Kevin screaming, before the film suddenly reverses and the stains disappear. Following this is a single silent subtitle: "mommy".
• In War of the Worlds (2005), Rachel begins shouting that she wants her mom upon seeing the alien probes as Ray desperately tries to calm her down... and then she starts screeching it...
• The Wizard of Oz involves Dorothy and her Aunt Em, but the same principle applies. It happens when Dorothy is locked away in the Wicked Witch of the West's castle:
  Dorothy: I'm frightened... I'm frightened, Auntie Em, I'm frightened!

  The Witch then mocks poor Dorothy's suffering in a supreme Kick the Dog moment:

  The Wicked Witch of the West: "Auntie Em, Auntie Em, come back!" I'll give you Auntie Em, my pretty! HA, hahahahaha! HA, hahahahahahaha!

Literature

• In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Sejanus Plinth calls out for his Ma Plinth before being hanged for treason. His cry is picked up by the jabberjays, resounding through the woods.
• In a flashback in Black, White and Shades of Mediochre, Mediochre gets shot on a battlefield in World War I. His comrade, Pigeon, remarks afterwards that of all the men he's ever seen get shot, Mediochre was the only one who didn't cry for his mother. Mediochre only replies that Pigeon wouldn't be so surprised if he'd met her — although very shortly afterwards, Mediochre's last thought before blacking out from the pain of a shrapnel grenade blast is, "in spite of everything" of his mother.
• In the Hungarian novel The Book of Fathers, a character's last words are "Mother, my dear mother!" as he is dying in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
• In the picture book Bunny My Honey by Anita Jeram, Bunny gets badly lost in the woods. He starts to cry and shouts out "Mommy, Mommy, I want my mommy! Mommy, Mommy, I want my mommy!" Fortunately, Mommy Rabbit is is nearby and immediately hears him.
• In the book Camber of Culdi, when the hero's keep is attacked by the king's men, there is a moment when the daughter hears grown men crying out for mercy and calling for their mothers. She thinks on the fact that many of those same men were earlier being brave and swearing to fight to the end.
• In Carrie, just before the main character dies of her wounds, she cries for her mother, whom she killed earlier.
• In Dread, Stephen's last act as his sanity is broken by a sadistic fear experiment is to cry out for his mama. This disappoints his captor, who'd been hoping to receive some grand philosophical insight from his observation of a mind slipping into madness.
• In Freaky Friday, after spending a day in her mother's body, Anabelle has no idea where her own body has gone to, where her little brother is, or what happened to her mother's personality (not knowing for sure if her mom is in her own body). After trying very hard to stay calm and figure it all out, she finally breaks down and calls out "Mom? Mom? MOMMY!" Fortunately Anabelle's mother, who is in her daughter's body and has been out with her little brother the whole time, comes home just in time. Hearing an adult scream "Mommy!" clues her in that Anabelle learned the intended lesson of some of the less pleasant things that come with an adult life.
• In The Giver, the traumatic memory of a war's aftermath brings with it badly wounded soldiers lying out in a field, calling out for mother, water, and death.
• Gone with the Wind: After an exhausting, terrifying day that consisted of delivering sister-in-law Melanie's baby in the midst of a brutal heat wave while fearing the approaching Army, Scarlett dissolves into tears and screams this at Rhett when he tells her there's no way to get out of Atlanta.
• In Goosefeather's Curse, Goosefeather calls his mother's name when he's attacked by a badger and thinks he's about to die. Despite having his full medicine cat name, he's only seven moons old — just barely over the age most kits leave the nursery — so he's still quite young.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: In one of the few TearJerker scenes, Arthur faints upon learning Earth has been destroyed and wakes up sobbing for his mother.
• In the picture book I Love You With All My Heart by Jane Chapman, the bear Little Bear flops to the ground and sniffles that she wants her mommy after losing a race at school. Then she remembers what her mommy told her — that if she puts her paw on her heart, she'll feel her love beating on and on forever. So she does so and cheers up.
• There is a picture book, I Want My Mommy!, written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Alison Edgson, that is about a young anthropomorphic mouse who is having his first day away from his mommy, visiting grandma, and even his favorite dragon suit won't cheer him up, but maybe grandma can. There's also a gender-flipped follow-up, I Want My Daddy!
• One of the books in the Little Princess series is titled I Want My Mum! (U.S. I Want My Mom!) The plot is described as follows: "All day there had been disasters - the water pot went all over the latest painting; the Little Princess fell off the seesaw and banged her knee; and worst of all, there was a monster under the bed that night. The castle had been ringing with the constant shout of 'I Want My Mum!'. And Mum always knew exactly the right thing to sort out the problem..."
• In Johnny Got His Gun, after realizing that he's been left blind, deaf, and limbless after fighting in World War I, Johnny tries calling for his mom. Too bad for him that he's also lost the ability to speak.
• The Legendeer trilogy has one moment when the Gorgons mention that all the brave Greek heroes who try to kill them end up wanting their mothers in their last moments.
• This is a big part of the earlier books in the Llama Llama series. Late at night or when he's feeling scared and alone at school, little Llama wants his Mama Llama.
• There is a truly heartbreaking scene in Sharpe's Battle when young Rifleman Perkins is stabbed in the stomach and alternately begs for his mother and the company sergeant.
• Sheila Rae, the Brave: Sheila Rae calls out for her mother when she's lost in the woods. She follows it up by calling for her father, then Louise, the latter of whom arrives.
• In The Sinner, this is Jane Rizzoli's reaction to discovering that she's pregnant.
• In The Stand, one of the survivors trapped in the prison calls out for "Mother!" all the time, much to the aggravation of Lloyd Henreid.
• It is noted in the Star Wars: Republic Commando Series that injured and dying clones, who were born from tubes instead of mothers, cry out for their training sergeants.
• In The Tommyknockers, reporter John Leandro's last thought before he's killed is "Mama!"
• Tornado Brain: Frankie and Colette first met while hiding under a table during a tornado in kindergarten. Colette sucked her thumb and said, "I want my mommy."
• In Under the Dome, thug Frankie DeLesseps cries for his mother right before he's shot do death.
• In the novelization of The Wolfman (2010), Lawrence begs his dead mother to help him during his first transformation, in pain and scared out of his mind. Eventually he just takes to screaming her name, but all that comes out is an animal roar.

Live-Action TV

• In American Horror Story: Murder House, Moira breaks down and sobs "I don't want to be here any more! I'm frightened! I miss my mother!" when Constance torments her with the knowledge that her ghost will be trapped in the house forever.
• In Anne (a dramatisation of the story of Anne Williams), Anne finds out that her son Kevin was heard speaking before he died and suspects that he called out for her. It's later confirmed by a female police officer who was with him at the time; she tells Anne that he looked up at her and said 'mum'.
• In the finale of Ashes to Ashes (2008), Shaz watching a video showing how she died in the "real world": "I'm only twenty-six years old. I want my mum, Chris! I need to see my mum!"
• Black Mirror: "Playtest" ends with the protagonist screaming out for his mother over and over as he dies abruptly from massive brain damage caused by his phone interfering with the experimental device he was testing, faced with his deepest personal fear: watching his mother succumb to Alzheimer's just like his father did.
• In Boardwalk Empire, World War I veteran Jimmy Darmody tells a story about a German soldier stuck on barb wire for hours who kept calling for his mother ("Mutti") after Jimmy mortally wounded him.
• Breaking Bad: Occurs in the series's Wham Episode, "Ozymandias", after Walter kidnaps his toddler daughter, because he thinks she's all he has left. While he's changing her diaper, she utters her first words: "Mama, mama, mama", leading to his Heel Realization that he's lost everyone in his family. This was actually completely unscripted: The little girl saw her real mother off camera and started saying it and Bryan Cranston just rolled with it, making for a far more powerful scene.
• Cold Case:
  • The episode "Mind Hunters" uses the father variation with a teenaged victim named Tina James, who is about to be shot by serial killer George Marks crying out and sobbing, "I want my Daddy!" as her last words.
  • Said word for word by a crying Melanie (an 8-year-old girl) as she's held at gunpoint in "Fireflies".
• Decoy: After the villain of the episode "Ladies' Man" is shot, he screams for his girlfriend Maggie to help him. When she doesn't come, he starts calling her by his ex-wife Lois's name, then "Ma".
• Doctor Who: In the two-parter "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", the eponymous Empty Child keeps asking "Are you my mummy?" as he searches for her, using the power given to him by a bunch of extraterrestrial nanites to tear apart anything in his path while at the same time, inadvertently converting anyone he comes across into a Hive Mind. The trope is turned into a major plot point, as "Mummy" turns out to be Nancy, the girl he'd been stalking the whole episode, and who claimed to be his "big sister." Once the Doctor realises this, it allows him to figure out how to stop the child.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Mentioned when Melisandre coldly taunts Davos with the knowledge of how many casualties of the Battle of Blackwater died screaming for their mothers — because of him.
  • Actually occurs in the third-season episode "The Rains of Castamere": Robb Stark, mortally wounded, barely able to stand, and clearly in the depths of a massive Heroic BSoD, can be heard whispering "mother" before Roose Bolton finishes him off. Slightly different from other examples in that his mother is right there.... and is killed herself seconds later. There's a reason that the Freys are despised until the end of time after the Red Wedding.
  • In "The Dance of Dragons", Princess Shireen Baratheon spends her final moments begging her parents to save her. While her mother is horrified and held back by guards, her father is the one who ordered her burned at the stake as a Human Sacrifice. Although until the moment it happens, her mother is all for it. Her father is at least reluctant.
  • In "The Queen's Justice", Tyene Sand whimpers "Mama!" to her chained and gagged mother Ellaria after being fatally poisoned by Cersei in retaliation for the pair poisoning Cersei's only daughter Myrcella.
• General Hospital:
  • Tracy Quartermaine screams this when her mother, Lila, dies.
  • As Laura hemorrhages following an emergency C-section, she mumbles, "I want my mother", just before passing out. This is especially poignant as her mother passed away years ago.
• In Good Omens (2019), Brian starts crying and says he wants his mum and dad when his friend Adam goes full Reality Warper, going on a rant about destroying and remaking the world. Not helping is that Adam is refusing to let Brian or the others leave, or even move.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit:
  • Discussed in an episode where a popular mean girl is murdered by her Ax-Crazy Beta Bitch and her two minions. On the stand at the trial of the other two killers, the main killer is confronted by Casey, who asks if the victim begged for her life, even going as far as to offer her material possessions in exchange for not being killed, and if she thought it was funny when her "friend" cried out for her mother as she was being killed. She replies yes to every question.
  • In one episode, a rapist calls his victim's mother to taunt her about how the victim cried for her mother.
• The Mork & Mindy episode "A Mommy For Mindy" deals with Mindy's father Fred remarrying. Later there's a scene where Mindy has a nightmare about her father telling her that her mom has "gone to heaven". Then she starts doing this, eventually waking up in tears.^note Although technically it's Mork who wakes her up from her nightmare.
• Once and Again: In one episode, when Jessie finds out that her mother Karen has been hit by a car, she lets out a piercing scream of "Mommy!".
• Punky Brewster waxes melancholic about her missing mother in "The Search" (where she reunites her teacher with his missing mother), with Henry telling her that she still has her memories of her mother. Punky counters that you can't hug a memory or kiss it good night. She sobs "I want my mommy!" on Henry's shoulder.
• So Weird: In the episode "Twin", after Fiona and her aunt chase after what they believe is a message from her father, Fi is horrified to discover that it was a trap from a dark entity from the other side. While Jack and her aunt try to break down the door of the roof, the entity pushes Fi off the side of the building during, which she in tears cries out "Help, Mom, I'm gonna fall!" Something Molly is somehow able to hear, despite her being on the other side of the city in the middle of a session. Likewise, Molly is able to somehow also intuit her husband's spirit saving their daughter from falling to her death.
• Star Trek:
  • Discussed in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Silicon Avatar". While the crew is following and studying the Crystalline Entity, a visiting expert is a grieving mother whose son was killed in one of his attacks. While stern and stand-offish when she first arrives, she becomes more emotional as they learn more about the alien, in particular after they receive a transmission from a ship full of people screaming as the Entity devours them. Once she's in private, she bursts into tears in front of Data, wondering if her son called out for her when he was killed.
  • In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Real Life", the Doctor has created a holographic family. Initially it's an almost too-perfect, parody-like Leave It to Beaver family, so B'Elanna Torres makes some modifications. In the new version of the family, there's a lot of strife and conflict. At one point, The Doctor won't help his daughter Belle find her ion mallet, so she starts shouting "You're mean! I want my mommy here! She'd help me find my mallet! I want mommy! I want mommy! I want mommy! I want mommy!"
• A gender flipped version from Voyagers!: While sick and unconscious from rabies, Jeff moans for Bogg. The two are often portrayed as having an almost father/son relationship.
• The West Wing: Discussed in "In Excelsis Deo". Charlie notices that Mrs. Landingham has been depressed during the holidays, and she explains that they remind her of her twin sons, who were killed in Vietnam on Christmas Eve in 1970. She mentions how painful it must have been for them:
  Mrs. Landingham: It's hard when that happens so far away, you know, because, with the noises and the shooting, they had to be so scared. It's hard not to think that right then, they needed their mother.

Music

• Argentine songwriter Luis Alberto Spinetta's song "Post-crucifixión" is told from the point of view of a dead or dying Jesus who calls for his mother to hold him.

Professional Wrestling

• During WWE's Ministry of Darkness storyline in 1999, The Undertaker kidnapped Stephanie McMahon via the Not My Driver trope. Stephanie screamed for her dad Vince McMahon while being driven away.

Roleplay

• Near the end of Ruby Quest, the now monstrously gigantic, fleshy abomination known as "Subject Six" is seen cowering the corner of the room, crying for his "mommy" because "Ace is going to lock him up". The protagonist tries to call to him, but it's no use.
• In V4 of Survival of the Fittest, Amber Whimsy cries for her mummy whilst bleeding to death after being shot in the stomach by Kris Hartmann.

Theater

• 1776: The Act I finale, "Momma, Look Sharp," uses this trope for Mood Whiplash, as the show has largely been a comic romp about the Founding Fathers until the scene. Independence Hall's custodian Andrew McNair, a workman, and a young courier from George Washington's army talk about all of the drama surrounding the Continental Congress and how distant they feel from the legal documents the men are drafting. The courier then remarks that two of his friends were at the Battle of Lexington and Concord (the first battle of the Revolutionary War), where they were both shot and killed. One of them, William, lived long enough to try to crawl to safety, and the courier imagines that as he did, he was desperately crying for his mother to find him before it was too late:
  My eyes are wide open,
  My face to the sky,
  Is that you I'm hearin'
  In the tall grass nearby?
  Momma, come find me,
  Before I do die...
  Hey, hey, Momma...look sharp...
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee gives us the "I Love You Song". Olive Ostrovsky's mother is in an ashram in India, and her father is working late. Upon discovering that her father won't be able to attend the spelling bee at all, Olive has a minor breakdown and sings for her mother, begging her to come home. It's both heartbreaking and an extreme case of Mood Whiplash.
• At the beginning of the stage version of Annie, the youngest orphan Molly wakes up calling "Mama! Mama!" after having a nightmare in which her Missing Mom was with her again but then disappeared. In the 1982 film, she calls "Annie! Annie!" instead, highlighting that Annie is her Parental Substitute despite being a child herself.
• Carrie: In the 2012 adaptation, Carrie, after having killed her mother with her powers in self-defense, cries out for her as she dies in Sue's arms.
• Elisabeth: Rudolf is introduced as a young child, and his first lines are him calling out for his Mama because he was frightened in a cold, dark room. Elisabeth is nowhere to be seen — instead, Death befriends Rudolf and comforts him. As an adult, while confronting an aged Sisi on her negligence of him, he flat out says "Mother... I need you." Some actors speak the line, others sing it to the earlier tune of "Mama, where are you?". During "On the Deck of the Sinking World/All Questions Have Been Asked (Reprise)", some Rudolfs try to reach out to Sisi in between his struggle to stay on the sinking ship.
• During "The Crucifixion" in Jesus Christ Superstar, already a dire and terrifying musical number, Jesus repeatedly asks "Where is my mother?" while delusional from dehydration and blood loss.

Video Games

• In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Teruteru Hanamura cries out for his mother right before being executed.
• In Digimon Survive, after the group ends up trapped in the Digital World, the cowardly Ryo does this repeatedly. His mother died when he was young, and he deluded himself into believing that the Digital World was the afterlife and they were Dead All Along. If the player fails to help him face his fears and move on, he has a complete mental breakdown and starts seeing his dead mother everywhere while crying out to her, eventually running straight into the Fog of Doom and getting Killed Off for Real.
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions: Argath cries out to his mother when you kill him (again) after he's revived as a revenant.
• Faye during the prologue of Fire Emblem Echoes. Considering the 8-year-old has just received a rape threat, a death threat, and been told to fight for her life all in the span of a few minutes, it's a completely understandable reaction.
• In Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, sometimes, after being KOed in battle, main protagonist Oliver will randomly shout out "Mom!" He will still do this even after learning that his hope of bringing his mother back from the dead was a false one.
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad: Many soldiers will cry out for their mothers as they lie dying on the ground, usually terrified and sometimes crying.
• Rengoku: In the second game, Mars calls out for his mother before disintegrating, saying he can finally sleep.
• Silent Hill 4: Regardless of which ending you get, when Henry defeats Serial Killer Walter Sullivan, he utters an anguished "Mom".
• In Super Mario Galaxy, the little girl in the storybook, Rosalina, says this:
  "I want to go home! I want to go back to my house by the hill! I want to see my mother! But I know she's not there! I knew all along that she wasn't out there in the sky! Because... because... She's sleeping under the tree on the hill!"
• In Valkyria Chronicles, Welkin and Alicia come across a mortally wounded Imperial Soldier crying for his mother. Alicia in compassion, pretends to be the delirious young man's mother to comfort him in his dying moments, an action that the soldier's platoon repay by letting Welkin and Alicia escape with no conflict, while also thanking her for the kindness she showed to their fallen comrade.

Webcomics

• And Shine Heaven Now: After Walter traps Maggie in his wires, when he asks if she has any last words, she cries that she wants her mother. This breaks Walter's brainwashing long enough for him to free Maggie, trap himself in his wires, admit that he's Maggie's father, and apologize for putting her through this. She in her turn refuses to leave him after finding out that he's her father, even after the brainwashing kicks back in and he threatens her.
• Dead Winter: The page image is provided by Lizzie, whimpering only "mommy" as she's about to fall out of a collapsing air vent.
• Drowtales: Done strikingly at the end of Chapter 44. Sarv'swati, who has lost everything in the course of the District War, undergoes a complete Villainous Breakdown in the Sharen palace, which is minutes away from capture by the Sarghress forces. In her rage, she attempts to tear a way through the collapsed corridor to her mother's throne room — the very corridor she so gleefully destroyed thirty-one years earlier. Failing, she screams and collapses on the ground, whimpering to herself.
  Sarv'swati: Mother... I'm sorry- So sorry... Please come back.
• Girl Genius features probably the most impactful example of this trope ever, when English princess Neena, on the verge of a horrible death when she finds herself hanging by a rope from the side of an airship caught between two mad goddesses, a horde of monsters, and a swarm of giant flying rats; freaks out and screams out "MAMA!" This actually serves to summon her mother, the God-Queen Albia, to instantly materialise in the form of a gigantic valkyrie in order to rescue her.

Web Animation

• Happy Tree Friends: In "Don't Yank My Chain", Handy gets dragged by a moving train that's about to enter a tunnel. He whimpers "Mama" before he gets splattered across the tunnel wall.

Web Original

• Alien Abduction Role Play: Ackteal cries for her mother and complains loudly that she's having a bad dream when she sinks into her second feral episode. It's sounds so heartrending that it's easy to forget that she's as dangerous as a starving lion at the moment.
• SCP Foundation: SCP-1192 is a cockatoo with the mind of a young child. The Foundation gives him paper to write on, and one time he wrote "i wan my mom" [sic].

Web Videos

• Sparadrap from Noob is a Manchild with an implied Missing Mom, meaning that he instead asks for his grandmother instead when something bad happens to him.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: In the episode "Mystery Dungeon", Lemongrab cries out "Mommy!" as a giant monster is squeezing out all of his juice.
• The aunt variant also happens in Animaniacs of all shows. In the episode "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock", Skippy does this just as the social worker is about to take him to a foster home.
  Skippy: I don't want to go, I want my Aunt Slappy!
• In the Batman Beyond episode "Lost Soul", recently-deceased tech magnate Robert Vance has managed to survive his death (maybe) thanks to Brain Uploading and plans to get back to the real world by replacing his grandson's mind, attempting to kill Batman in the process for getting in his way. At the climax of the episode, Terry manages to get the data comprising his consciousness deleted. As he does, Vance very rapidly mentally regresses to an infant state, and the last thing he says before he's permanently deleted is to call out for his mother.
• Butterbean's Cafe: In "Cinnamon the Elephant!", the shy little girl Skylar isn't having a good time at the playgroup set up for the kids at Butterbean's Cafe and tells Butterbean unhappily "I want my mommy." Fortunately, her mother is just downstairs. Cricket eventually helps out and brings her out of her shell by sharing her favorite stuffed toy, Cinnamon, the stuffed elephant described in the title.
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood:
  • In "The Tiger Family Babysits", Teddy and Leo Platypus cry about wanting their Mama, Dr. Platypus after she goes away for a business trip. Fortunately, Daniel and his little sister Margaret are there to play a game with them to help calm them down.
  • In "A Storm in the Neighborhood", after the lights go out at the Tiger family house, Katerina Kittycat shouts "I want my mommy, meow meow!" That's easy enough, as Mom Kittycat came over with her.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Timmy wished himself into an adult and got into a bucketload of trouble as a result of not understanding that some things are Most Definitely Not Okay for grownups to do. Stuck in jail, and likely to lose his fairy godparents forever, Timmy gets upset and starts crying for his parents. This apparently is child-like (or perhaps childish) enough for the fairy godparents to hit the Reset Button. (The rest of the people in jail, upon seeing this, start crying for their parents, too.)
• Invincible (2021): In the first season finale, Mark after taking a horrific beating from his father, Omni-Man.
  Omni-Man: What will you have after five-hundred years?!
  Mark: You, Dad. I'd still have you...
• Jellystone!: Whenever Shag Rugg gets scared, he screams about wanting his mama.
• Lloyd in Space's little sister Francine during her endangered preschool day when unable to reach her doll Rosie.
• The Octonauts: In the episode "Baby Gator", the baby alligator Nipper cries "I want my mama!" after Kwazii tries to get him above water because salt water isn't good for him, only for seagulls try to snap him up as a snack.
• The Owl House: In "For the Future", Willow tries her best to be The Reliable One and refuses to show the slightest bit of weakness in favor of comforting her friends, meaning she's not processing any of the traumatic things she herself has been through, like seeing one of her dads having been turned into a puppet by the Collector. Eventually Willow cracks and starts suffering from severe Power Incontinence, nearly suffocating herself, Gus, and Hunter in a rapidly growing tangle of vines. It's not until Gus and Hunter tell her that she can let her emotions out that she finally breaks down and starts to cry for her parents.
  Willow: (sobbing) I miss my dads!
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Candy is Dandy", after Mojo Jojo steals a jar of candy from the Mayor that's treated as a G-Rated Drug to the girls, they proceed to beat him to a bloody pulp, leaving him utterly broken as he weakly cries "Mommy..."
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: Parodied and deconstructed in the infamous episode "Son of Stimpy", ^note Bu...er, "however", it is being included under dramatic examples, because it was written to invoke this version of the trope, because the creator was trying to prove a point about "fake pathos". where Stimpy cries for his...well, just read the article and see for yourself.^note A little warning, though. It's literally that idiotic, even by the show's standards.
• The Spectacular Spider-Man: In an example that is dramatic for an entirely different reason, Rhino calls out for his mom as a result of delirium caused by the steam around over-heating and his face being the only place he could sweat from. Spidey takes the opportunity to pretend to be Rhino's mother and ask who his boss is. The drama comes from Spider-Man learning that the crime boss, the Big Man of Crime, is none other than Tombstone aka L. Thompson Lincoln. It cements Spidey's war on crime and him realizing there's a much bigger picture.
• Steven Universe has the father-variant. In the episode "Adventures in Light Distortion", Steven and the Gems set off on a mission to save Greg after he's been kidnapped by Blue Diamond. Most of the episode is quite funny, but when Steven accidentally switches off the gravity engine in the Roaming Eye, causing the bodies of the Gems to get dragged behind the ship, and Steven's body to get pinned to the chair, panic ensues. And when on top of that, the ship warns it's about to crash into the Zoo at top speed, he breaks down crying.
  Steven: DAAAAD! (Sob) I want my dad! (Sob) I just want my dad...

Real Life

• History is filled with examples of soldiers crying out for their mothers as they are dying.
  • A final transmission of a kamikaze pilot has him yelling for his mother two seconds before impact.
• A survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing described having this feeling upon awakening in the hospital.
• One of the last words written (as he had lost the ability to speak due to his radiation sickness) by Masato Shinohara, one of the two technicians who died after the 1999 Tokaimura Nuclear Accident has been variously translated as “Mother, Please” or “Mother, Help me”. Considering that both Shinohara and his colleague Hisashi Ouchi had been kept alive by their families’ wishes, even though it was clear both had received more than fatal doses of radiation (Shinohara received the lower dose, but a destroyed immune system meant that he was essentially doomed to die of infectious pneumonia) means that this statement is up for interpretation...
• According to her confessed killer among the Manson Family, these were Sharon Tate's last words.
• This was tragically inverted with the horrifying murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks. According to one of the men responsible, after being abducted while on their yacht and realizing they were going to die, Jackie began crying for the couple's newborn grandson.
• According to video footages, when Kelly Thomas; a homeless schizophrenic man was beaten to death by two policemen, he was crying for his father to help.
• During the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, Floyd can be heard crying out "Mama" twice in video recordings as officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck.^note Floyd's mother, Larcenia Floyd, had died some time earlier; George's body was laid to rest next to hers.
• Another dark example was in the murder of Tina Isa, a Muslim girl who rejected her family’s culture. As her father was killing her for dishonoring their family, she begged her mother for help. Her mother instead joined in and killed her.
• When Serial Killer Otis Toole wrote John Walsh to taunt him about how he'd murdered his son Adam, he described the boy as "crying for his mommy" while he was being killed.
• Canadian-born Omar Khadr was dragged to Afghanistan as a kid by his Islamist father, then captured at age fifteen and imprisoned for a decade at Guantanamo Bay. In footage of an interrogation by Canadian intelligence agents who Khadr initially assumed had come to take him home, he can be heard crying for his mother in Arabic.
• This man thought he was going to die when a Slingshot ride operator pranks them by pretending him and his girlfriend’s seatbelts were not on. He cries for his mother in grief.

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