Characters / Pinky and the Brain

Animaniacs Main Character Index
The Warner Siblings | Pinky and the Brain | Slappy Squirrel | Goodfeathers | Rita and Runt | Buttons and Mindy | Other Supporting Characters

"Gee Brain, what do you wanna do tonight?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky —- try to Take Over the World by reading the character tropes about our cartoons!"
"But are there any unmarked spoilers on this page, Brain? Narf!"
"Definitely, Pinky. Tropers, You Have Been Warned."

The Main Duo

General

One is a genius, the other's insane. You tell us which is which.

The main duo. If you would like to see how they would describe themselves and each other, go to their self-demonstrating page.

---

• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: The Trope Namer. Once an Episode Brain asks Pinky if they're thinking the same thing, only for Pinky to say something idiotic, which in turn causes Brain to Dope Slap Pinky. In one instance, they even lampshade the whole bit.
  Brain: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
  Pinky: Whoof, oh, I'd have to say the odds of that are terribly slim, Brain.
  Brain: True.
  Pinky: I mean, really, when have I ever been pondering what you've been pondering?
  Brain: To my knowledge, never.
  Pinky: Exactly. So, what are the chances that this time, I'm pondering what you're pondering?
  Brain: Next to nil.
  Pinky: Well, that's exactly what I'm thinking, too.
  Brain: Therefore, you are pondering what I'm pondering.
  Pinky: Poit, I guess I am!
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Pinky is the Big Guy to Brain's Little Guy, although Pinky is not any stronger than Brain.
• Breakout Character: The duo's segments proved to be among the most popular to viewers that they were the only ones to have received a spin-off and a sequel to said spin-off. As a result, the theme song to Animaniacs no longer mentioned the two, replacing the lyrics "Meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe" with "Meet Ralph and Doctor Scratchansniff, say hi to Hello Nurse". Their popularity played a part in why they were the only returning characters besides the Warners in the 2020 series. As a result, their Theme Tune (and they themselves) are even more popular and more referenced by others than even Warners themselves.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Pinky is the Gleeful (cheerful and kind) and Brain is the Grumpy (short-tempered and sarcastic).
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: They're rarely seen apart and both have been shown to be devastated if one were to leave or betray the other. Brain has even repeatedly stated that the goal is for him to rule the world with Pinky, and has never even considered of sacrificing him or abandoning him once his goal is reached.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Both of them suffer physical abuse regularly. However, Brain gets the worst of it.
• Resourceful Rodent: Brain routinely concocts Bond villain-esque plans to take over the world, some of which nearly succeed. Meanwhile, Pinky, despite his psychosis, is remarkably good at improvising when Brain hits a wall.
• Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The Brain is an Insufferable Genius who is mean and condescending to everyone, while Pinky is a Minion with an F in Evil who still likes and admires Brain, no matter how much abuse he gets from him.
• Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Pinky is a kindhearted goofball and Brain is the more snarky, sarcastic & short-fused genius.
• Take Over the World: The main draw of their skits is the duo's various, convoluted attempts to try and take over the world. Most episodes naturally end in failure, but the times they do succeed ends with them losing that chance or giving it all back.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Of the Villain Protagonist variant. While neither one is very threatening physically (what with being lab mice and all), the Brain, with his serious demeanor and great intellect, is far more of a threat than the spastic, dimwitted Pinky, who isn't even aware that he's a villain.
• Villain Protagonist: They are the main characters whose main goal is world domination, though they are rarely out-and-out villainous.

The Brain

"I am a mind — a Brain! I am the Brain!"

Voiced by: Maurice LaMarche (English), Kenichi Ogata (Japanese), Orlando Noguera (Latin American Spanish), Hércules Franco (Brazilian Portuguese), Pierre Hatet (French), Gunnar Ernblad (Swedish)

A genetically altered lab mouse with a large head who plans to — you guessed it — Take Over the World.

---

Tropes associated with The Brain:

• Adaptational Jerkass: Brain is much more abusive and outright evil in the Animaniacs revival. Somewhat Justified as Maurice LaMarche claims this is caused by Brain cracking under the stress of constant failure for the past 27 years. He still has his occasional nice moments, however.
• Adaptational Villainy: He and Pinky are antiheroes at best and Villain Protagonists at worst in their own show, but they're the antagonists of the video game. He also Took a Level in Jerkass for the reboot, and is crueler and more malicious in his methods. Pinky even commented on this once.
• Affably Evil: The Brain intends to rule benevolently for the good of all, but he does intend to become the unquestioned dictator of the Earth. In person, he's amiable enough (unless you're Pinky and you've just said something so stupid that the only proper criticism is a sharp smack).
• Ambiguously Evil: His attempts to Take Over the World are the whole point of the series, which you could argue qualifies him as evil, but he is genuinely trying to change it for the better. Beyond that, he doesn't do anything particularly villainous. It's also heavily implied that the world really would be better off if he took over. However, he does admire many of the great autocrats of history, including unambiguously evil ones like Saddam Hussein.
• Anti-Hero: Brain is constantly trying to take over the world — hardly heroic — but he is good-natured (when not hurting Pinky) and truly believes that the world would be a better, happier place if he was in charge; this is justified by portraying real world's leaders as either egotistic, incompetent or plain crazy (or all at once). Also compare to his archrival Snowball, a sadistic villain whom Brain feared would destroy the world if he ruled it.
• Anti-Villain: If you interpret him as a Villain Protagonist, though he really blurs the line between this and Anti-Hero. After all, the rest of the world is portrayed as so messed up and idiotic, so him taking it over might actually lead to some form of utopia.
• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: I think so, Trope Namer, but what does having a TV Tropes article have to do with taking over the world?
• Awesomeness by Analysis: You wouldn't think it by looking at him, but if a physical action or sport can be reduced down to physics or mathematics, Brain can do it flawlessly.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Doesn't act so much as read his lines. His physical acting is just fine though — in "Brain's Song", he bounces a lemon-football around like a basketball during a live broadcast, and in "Cinebrainia" he essentially becomes a silent-film comedy actor this way.
• Berserk Button: Downplayed in the sense that he doesn't go blind with rage, but there are two things that he will give top priority to — saving Pinky, and stopping Snowball.
• Big "YES!": Essentially what one of his Catch Phrases is.
• Break the Haughty: This Old Mouse.
• Cartoony Tail: He has a tail like a real mouse, except it is kinked in a way that it looks like stair steps. It's eventually revealed in "The Rodent Trip" that it was once normal-shaped, and became kinked after he was repeatedly shocked in the same Acme Labs experiment that acts as his Freudian Excuse.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?"
  • "Yes!"
  • "I'm going to have to hurt you."
• City Mouse: Becomes The Load in outdoor and non-technical situations.
• The Comically Serious: He can provide some laughs solely because of his stoic personality and having to deal with Pinky's dim-witted antics.
• Creative Sterility: Seems to be a pet worry of his. A couple of episodes focus on him worrying about how he can't come up with a new plan.
• Deadpan Snarker: Seems he can't tell a normal joke though.
• Determinator: Tonight's plan failed? Start planning for tomorrow night. Repeat as needed.
• Didn't Think This Through: Sometimes Brain's plots will fail because of something he didn't consider or something Pinky actually warned him about.
• Ditzy Genius: His plans are quite brilliant, but tend to lack common sense.
• Dr. Brainpart: Names himself after his superior mouse brain size. Note that this is not his original name.
• Dub Name Change: He is named "Cortex" in the European French dub.
• Enraged by Idiocy: When Pinky says something stupid, he insults him and hits him on the head.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • His refusal to sell his soul for world domination in the Halloween Special. Usually, an aversion, since he was never particularly evil to being with, and has enough scruples that he doesn't need Pinky to be a Morality Pet... most of the time.
  • In another episode involving time travel, one of Brain's plans ends up rewriting history so that the population of the world consists entirely of moronic Pinky clones. Brain is so horrified that he immediately plans to go back in history to set things right. Pinky asks Brain why he plans to do that because with a population like that, it would be easy to rule the world. Brain confirms that Pinky is right... but who would want to?
  • One Very Special Episode against smoking has Brain playing Brainy The Elf, a spokesman for the tobacco industry, who use him as a mascot to get children to smoke. While he initially planned to put an additive in the tobacco as part of a plan to take over the world, he has a My God, What Have I Done? when he sees children about to start smoking, and turns against the tobacco industry.
  • In Wakko's Wish, when Dot is seemingly killed by King Salazar, Brain looks just as horrified and distraught as everyone else.
• Evil Genius: Subverted, in a couple of ways — he is a genius, but Brain works for himself and was never particularly evil in the traditional sense (he'll take direct action against actual evil) — but we don't have "Anti-Hero Genius" as a trope yet.
• Fatal Flaw: His lack of common sense. He has a few other glaring flaws, but this is what kills his nightly plan the most.
• Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: Walks and runs upright as a rule, even in the mouse wheel.
• Future Me Scares Me:
  • In "This Old Mouse", Brain invented a way to see the future and is terrified upon seeing an elderly Brain still trying to take over the world.
  • In the reboot, Brain ends up meeting his future self in one episode, who tries to steer him away from Pinky under the claim that Pinky would betray him. Brain figures his future self has gone delusional on account of knowing Pinky to be too dense and loyal to ruin his plans intentionally.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Being taken from his home and family when he was younger. Where were they living? A can with a globe (i.e. the world) on it.
  • As a lab mouse, he's subject to testing; in "Where No Mouse Has Gone Before" at least, he holds a mild grudge over this.
  • It is suggested in "Project: B.R.A.I.N." that his desire to take over the world stems from his shame at never getting a chance to show the research scientists his newfound intellect.
  • In "Rodent Trip" Brain reveals that his desire to take over the world is a result of his being used as a subject for experiments in learned helplessness. He wants to take over the world so he will never be powerless again.
• Friendly Enemy: He tries to be this to Snowball. It never works, though.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Brain's strongest suit. Quite often, the gadget or means to world domination is assumed to be an automatic success, and their 'twilight campaign' is typically the duo filling in a minor cog in the plan. However, it only applies to gadgets — take away his lab access, and he's completely lost.
• Glad I Thought of It: Averted...? Though he will criticize the original comment as being unhelpful or irrelevant, quite a few world domination plans happen to be Brain's extrapolation(s) of something Pinky said or did, and he's more than happy to dole out credit for it.
• Guile Hero: ...Hero might be pushing it a little, but he shows a clear preference for plans involving as little physical violence as possible, with (temporary) Mind Control and other forms of influence being favorites.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: It has been proven on numerous occasions that behind the megalomaniac outer layer lies a complete softy who cares deeply about the ones he loves, especially Pinky. The Christmas Special has to be the best example of his sweeter side. He also
• His Own Worst Enemy: Brain could take over the world... if he wasn't blinded by his own ego or accounting for Pinky messing it up. His robot son B.R.A.I.N. even points this out, that Brain's plans are too complicated while putting him at the center of attention. It's even suggested at one point that he's sabotaging himself because if he got what he wanted, then he would lose his purpose. Brain treats that as an Ignored Epiphany.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The nightly plan for world domination usually fails because of something Brain did that boomerangs on him, such as trusting Pinky with a crucial part of the plan (more common early on), or some minor detail that turns out to be a lynchpin. Sometimes it's not even Pinky's incompetence but Brain's reaction to it that wrecks his plans.
• Indy Ploy: Averted. Brain's not all that good at dealing with a Spanner in the Works that he didn't account for (separate from his lack of common sense), though this is due to an element he couldn't have predicted as often as it is just him dismissing something as irrelevant. In some cases, the plan gets as far as it does on sheer dumb luck.
• Insane Troll Logic: Every so often, he concocts a plan so farfetched, it's hard to imagine how exactly he expects to go from step one to world domination. B.R.A.I.N. even lampshades this in the reboot, telling him using the moon to mess with astrology is stupid when he could use it to control the tides and force the world to surrender.
• Insufferable Genius: He is usually condescending to everyone. Although he's pretty tolerable compared to Snowball...
• Intellectual Animal: A scheming, inventive, and amazingly well-educated mouse.
• Iron Butt Monkey: Usually gets it worse than Pinky.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's implied that he does have a small soft spot for Pinky deep down. And by 'implied', we mean 'all but publicly stated with a megaphone from the rooftops'. (It's most obvious when he thinks he might have accidentally hurt or killed Pinky through a device.) Multiple times he has stated his conquests as "our," and though he repeatedly snarks at Pinky, he would go out of his way to help him, even if it means aborting every single plan.
• Kavorka Man: Has no trouble attracting women when playing a human.
• Kick the Dog: Brain has a few moments in the revival series.
  • "Pinko and the Brain": He starts an anti-mouse campaign during the Red Scare, leading to the Mouseketeers being arrested. Even Pinky questions the morality of this, pointing out they are mice and it's hypocritical. Fortunately, Brie interferes and exposes them.
  • "Mousechurian Candidate": Brain plants an obedience chip in Julia's brain. He had also planned on using child labor to build bombs (though this is only stated in a single throwaway line).
• Large Ham: His voice actor described Brain as "65% Orson Welles, 35% Vincent Price."
• Laughably Evil: To a large extent, even though he's The Comically Serious. To quote him, "I am not devoid of humor."

• Meaningful Rename: Whatever his name was before, he goes by 'Brain' now. In the Italian dub, his name is "Prof" (short for professor). Subverted in the French dub where his name is "Cortex".
• Mobile-Suit Human: His mech suit is a human body... that has no fake head.
• Multiple-Choice Past: His origin and/or reasons for taking over the world are never the same. In one episode of the Spin-Off where he was psychoanalyzed by Sigmund Freud, it was shown that he wanted to rule the world to reclaim what he lost when he was captured by Acme Labs^note His family lived in a can with the Earth on the label. In another episode, his transformation happened alongside Snowball after an accident. Yet another one showed that he and Pinky were experimented on as part of Project B.R.A.I.N. (where he got his name) and set out to take over the world to prove his worth. Finally, in the reboot he reveals to Pinky that when he was a normal mouse, the scientists experimented on him by having him electrically shocked every time he tried to eat a piece of cheese, driving him to want to be the puppetmaster.
• My Brain Is Big: You only need one look at the title characters to know which is the smart one.
• My Greatest Failure: In "All's Fair in Love and Door", he admits that it's his fault Julia went crazy and he genuinely regrets it.
• The Napoleon: He is short and very passionate (specially when he's angry), so that's a given. An episode even has him taking the place of Napoléon Bonaparte himself!
• Noble Demon: Wants to conquer the world to make it a place of kindness, equality, and happiness for all. In the original series of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain, he showed there were some lines he wouldn't cross.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Orson Welles. One Animaniacs skit even had Brain mimicking the "frozen peas" take.
  • Possibly Maximilien Robespierre as well, or at least the popular conception of him as a power-hungry intellectual driven mad with power.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: When not using a mech suit as part of it, a lot of his human disguises are just himself with a wig. Even with the suits, his head is exposed, and sometimes includes a wig.
• Parental Abandonment: One episode gave it as his Freudian Excuse. He meets his parents again in another episode; it doesn't exactly work out.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In "A Meticulous Analysis of History", Brain espouses the view that historical rulers like Attila the Hun and Caligula were thwarted by their own senseless brutality and warmongering, which is part of the reason why his own plans for world domination are almost always nonviolent.
• Sarcastic Confession: Quite often, Brain will be forthright with people that he and Pinky are lab mice scheming to take over the world. Whoever he says this to thinks he's just joking around (and that's probably what he intends).
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He can speak in layman's terms when he wants to (he switches over when dealing with people as part of the nightly plan), and Pinky understands him just fine most of the time. It's only gotten in the way of a plan when he tried to be a stand-up comedian — even then, he became popular as a highbrow insult comic.
• Shorter Means Smarter: He and Pinky provide the page image. Even though they're genetically engineered lab mice and already pretty small by default, Brain is shorter than Pinky, who is a Cloudcuckoolander.
• Sophisticated as Hell: He doesn't dabble in this too often, but it's there. "Opportunity Knox" provides this little gem when they take the Lab's van:
  Brain: Now Pinky, let us, in their vernacular, take this hog out on the road and show who's boss.
• Spell My Name with a "The": 'The Brain', though in practice it's more of a 'full name' thing and he's not particularly insistent about it.
• Take Over the World: He tries to, but always fails.
• Technical Pacifist: There's a number of explanations for it, but Brain's plans rarely involve direct physical harm for anyone, even when that would greatly simplify things.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In Wakko's Wish, the Warners make him Prime Minister and charge him to run their kingdom, since they're just kids and don't know how government policy works. Brain is actually happy with this because he got his wish, on a small scale. While he tells Pinky they'll take over the world in the sequel, they'll lay low for now and focus on taking over the kingdom, and making it better at the same time.
• TV Genius: Averted. Though he's a brilliant engineer and scientist, he clearly has social skills (as well as a low tolerance for stupidity), and is sometimes seen studying.
• Uplifted Animal: Due to being part of the B.R.A.I.N. project, Brain was turned from a normal field mouse into a super-intelligent talking mouse prone to human behaviors.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: He wants to take over the world, sure, but it's implied he really plans to make the world a better place for everyone.
• Villain Protagonist: Brain can be interpreted this way, since his goal after all is to take over the world.
• Villains Never Lie: Parodied. Whenever Brain uses his mech suit and is asked why his head looks like a mouse, instead of coming up with an excuse (i.e. skin condition), he outright tells them the truth in a Sarcastic Confession... and they laugh it off.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Brain supplies all the vitriol, Pinky cheerfully thinks (rightly) that they're best buds.
• Vocal Dissonance: He's a mouse who's tiny even for his species that has the voice of Orson Welles. His rather baggy eyes do make his voice seem a little less out of place though...
• Vocal Evolution: His voice is slightly higher in the 2020 reboot and gains Orson Welles' mid-Atlantic accent, which he prevously lacked.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • It's not often you get a character who wants to Take Over the World so he can change it for the better, but there you go.
  • This was a bit of Character Development on Brain's part; the notion of making the world better was a result of events in the episode "Megalomaniacs Anonymous" ...and even then, he's still doing it just a little for his own ego.
  • Even before that, there's every indication that he plans to rule the world far more benevolently than Snowball.
  • There are even quite a few implications that if he succeeded, the world actually would be better off — in the Freakazoid! episode "Freakazoid is History", Freakazoid inadvertently changes history and finds himself in a world where the Brain is president of the United States and the world is better off for it — among other things, cold fusion works and Sharon Stone is a good actress.
• Workaholic: The other side of being a Determinator, and occasionally to an uncomfortable degree. ("This Old Mouse" points out that he's around 2 human years old, and can expect to reach 4.)

Pinky

"I think so, Brain, but then I would have to know what pondering is, wouldn't I?"

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (English), Hideyuki Umezu (Japanese), Frank Carreño (Latin American Spanish), Alexandre Moreno (Brazilian Portuguese), Vincent Violette (French), Niclas Wahlgren (Swedish)

Another genetically engineered lab mouse: the Brain's closest friend, devoted assistant and part-time Spanner in the Works.

---

Tropes associated with Pinky:

• Adaptational Jerkass: He noticeably shows more of a jerkish side to him in Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain. Lampshaded by the Brain in "My Fair Brainy".
  Brain: You used to be a hindrance. Now you're a hindrance with an attitude.
• Ambiguously Bi: There's a lot of examples for this. For example, Pinky doesn't seem to care much that Brain and him have literally had a son together (compared to Brain) nor does he mind acting as Brain's wife from time to time. In the comics, there's a lot more of innuendos about this. It could be because of a type of comedy used as a caricature of heterosexual couples in the 50's.
• Anti-Hero: An example of Classical Anti-Hero.
• Anti-Villain: The only reason he's a villain at all is because he helps Brain.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: This is much more common earlier on, but continues to play a large role in his side of the "Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?" exchange.
• Bad Liar: In the reboot, he mentions that he hates lying because he's not good at it. Brain later forgives him for spilling the beans during their Red Scare plot because he put too much pressure on him.
• Break the Cutie: "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas", "A Pinky and the Brain Halloween", "That Smarts: and "The Pink Candidate" to name a few episodes. He can easily go from Plucky Comic Relief to Woobie under the right conditions.
• Bumbling Sidekick: Though Brain clearly trusts him as an assistant, and they both think of it as a partnership/friendship anyway.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "I think so Brain, but [*improvises idea that has nothing to do with taking over the world*]" after Brain's Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?.
  • "NARF!"
  • "Poit!"
  • "Zort!"
  • "Troz!"
  • "Oh, wait... no, no..." [always said before he points out a flaw in one of Brain's plans]
• Cloudcuckoolander: In particular, he has a tendency to bring up celebrities at random and he always replies to Brain's statements of "Are you pondering what I'm pondering" with a completely irrelevant question.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Every so often Pinky will bring up a "flaw" with one of Brain's plans that seems completely illogical and random, but often turns out to be exactly how the plan ends up failing.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: While he may be a massive Cloudcuckoolander, when he gets his act together, he can come up with plans to take over the world that actually WORK.
• The Cutie: In contrast to Brain, he's usually cheerful and lovable.
• A Dog Named "Dog": The less obvious version — "pinkie" is a term for a newborn mouse (or other rodent), due to their lack of fur at birth.
• The Dragon: Generally The Lancer, as his Cloudcuckoolander status makes him a less than useful Dragon.
• Dub Name Change: He is named "Minus" in the European French dub.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Subverted. Despite his Cloudcuckoolander status, Pinky is quick to realize and point out the logical fallacies regarding a plan's logistics only for Brain to have already taken them into account.
  • He once defied the usual Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering? schtick in "Brain Food" by pointing out to Brain that they've never been on the same page when he asks that and even questions the odds that for once it would work. In an odd way, Brain realizes they kind of were pondering the same thing, just not about his latest plan.
  • Played straight in the reboot when he points out to Brain that their plan to scapegoat mice during the Red Scare is a bad idea because Pinky can't lie for him well, and they are mice so the plan can go wrong.
• Dumb Is Good: Though, when events conspire to make him 'smarter' than usual, he doesn't get any less good.
• First-Person Perspective: One episode is done entirely from Pinky's literal point of view, revealing that Pinky's flights of fancy take on literal form in his eyes (for instance, Pinky ruminates about hippos when listening to Brain. Brain turns into a hippo). Capped by a first-person perspective view of what it is like to be blasted out of the Space Needle.
• Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: Usually walks upright, but runs on all fours in the mouse wheel.
• Genius Ditz: The theme song doesn't specify which one of them is the genius or insane... But in a more literal sense, Pinky's wide-ranging knowledge of pop culture (current and past) comes in handy from time to time — and he supplies them with no hesitation whatsoever. It's worth noting that, by mouse standards, Pinky is genuinely a genius: he's capable of speech, tool use, and higher-level reasoning. It's just that, by human standards (to say nothing of the Brain's standards), he's kind of a dim bulb.
• Genius Serum: One episode had Brain decide that it's Pinky's idiocy that causes his plans to fail, so he uses an intelligence-enhancing device to make Pinky smarter. Unfortunately for Brain, rather than helping him succeed in his world domination plans, Pinky used this newfound intellect to point out they were deeply flawed and were never going to work in the first place.
• Goofy Buckteeth: He has large buckteeth and is a scatterbrained mouse who regularly spouts Non Sequiturs.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Most of the time he's goofy and hyperactive, but has a strong moral compass that shows on occasion. Particularly when he became president of the U.S for one episode and turned Brain down when he tried to get him to abuse some of his new powers because "it would go against everything I've come to stand for."
  • Besides that, while he doesn't have Brain's sheer intelligence, he is still keenly observant and humanistic, and by far the more grounded of the two.
  • You wouldn't think being easygoing and adaptable would ever be useful, but it saves their lives in "Welcome to the Jungle" — Pinky manages to come up with stone age-level solutions to being trapped outside, while Brain is reduced to complete reliance.
  • In the "Around The World In Eighty Days" spoof, he's trying to communicate with the locals of several given countries by using a phrasebook. He's able to pronounce languages he's never even spoken before remarkably well.
• Indy Ploy: Pinky's fast talking has been the only thing keeping the plan going on many, many occasions.
• Insane Troll Logic: A P.O.V. Cam episode reveals that while Pinky mostly hears Brain's lectures as constant "blah blah blah"ing, he'll occasionally lock onto a particular word or idea, then wander down a series of bizarre associations to himself ("My, Brain has a big head. Hippopotamuses have big heads..."). When Brain asks for his input, Pinky responds with whatever thought he's currently reached in his chain. So it's not that he's speaking in non-sequiturs — it's that his idea of logic is bizarre.
• Interspecies Romance: With Pharfignewton (a horse), of course, but also with a sea lion and a pig in other episodes (unsuccessfully).
• Iron Butt Monkey: Of course, Pinky doesn't really mind when Brain bops him on the head, so perhaps he's okay with it.
• Keet: He's an very hyperactive mouse.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Usually goofy and scatter-brained, but certainly nicer and happier than the Brain.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: "I think so Brain, but [*improvises idea that has nothing to do with taking over the world*]" after Brain's Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?.
• The Millstone:
  • On occasion, though Brain's plans tend to fall apart without outside help. Early on in the Animaniacs segments, he tended to be the latter far more often; by the time of the series, he's rarely even The Load.
  • Brain at one point makes a calculation that shows it's always through Pinky's idiocy that his schemes fail, so he uses an intelligence-enhancing device to make Pinky smarter. Pinky uses this newfound intellect to point out that it's Brain's nonsensical plans that are doomed to fail in the first place.
  • In the Animaniacs reboot, a version of Brain from the future comes to the conclusion that Pinky is actively sabotaging his world domination schemes, which the modern Brain does not believe at all.
• Minion with an F in Evil: He's just too ditzy and sweethearted to realize that hanging around someone who wants to Take Over the World doesn't put you on the side of good.
• Morality Pet: On the rare occasions Brain's megalomania gets the better of him. If Pinky gets seriously hurt, physically or emotionally, Brain will pull the breaks on his latest plan.
• Nice Guy: A contrast to his friend, Pinky is a nice, though pretty dim, guy with everyone.
• Nice Mice: Between the two, he balances them out to this.
• Only Friend: Considering Brain's plans are for world domination, it's a wonder he has at least one friend who helps him.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He provides comic relief with his occasionally random comments.
• Simpleton Voice: His voice is very goofy-sounding (with what Rob Paulsen described as "a goofy whack job" of a British accent) and it matches his dim-witted nature.
• Smarter Than You Look: There are hints that Pinky is actually very intelligent, the genius in the opening theme song, but his poor connection with reality and the fact that he's quite content with his lot in life hides it too well.
• Tender Tears: Despite his cheerful personality, he cries fairly easily.
• Too Dumb to Live: In the "Animaniacs Stew" segment "Pinky And The Cat", he gets devoured by Rita... and enjoys it!
• Too Kinky to Torture: "This is more fun than the coat-me-in-peanut-butter-and-shove-me-in-the-anthill game!"
• Trademark Favorite Food: Cheese. He enthusiastically sings a song about all the cheeses of the world in "Cheese Roll Call." And when he and Brain go to a fancy restaurant on Brain's day off, Pinky is content to order macaroni and cheese rather than something fancy.
• Undying Loyalty: To Brain, for the most part.
• Unexplained Accent: He's a mouse who was genetically modified in a lab in California. Nevertheless, he speaks with a Cockney accent, including one of his Verbal Tics in the early days being "Zounds". In the episode "Bride of Pinky" in Animaniacs (2020), Dr. Brainenstein even points out that his assistant Pigor (Pinky) has an inexplicable Cockney accent.
• Uplifted Animal: Part of the B.R.A.I.N. project with Brain, he too was an ordinary mouse, obtained from a pet store. Their origins episode reveals that the experiment actually had the same effects on both of them; Pinky was specifically chosen because he was the worst mouse in the lab at running mazes prior to the experiment.
• Verbal Tic: Narf! Zort! Egad! Poit! Troz!
• Vocal Evolution: Pinky's speech impediment is more pronounced in the earliest segments. His voice is also a notch lower in the earlier Animaniacs segments.
• The Watson: Grows into this as the show progresses. Brain is aware of this, and will occasionally rework the plan based on Pinky's observations.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: He sometimes dresses as a woman as part of Brain's plans.

Other Characters

Snowball

Voiced by: Roddy McDowall

A hamster who was put through the same gene splicer as the mice and also schemes to Take Over the World, but does not intend on making it a better place like Brain would. As such, he is The Rival to the Brain. He's eventually changed back to an ordinary hamster in his last appearance.

---

• Always Someone Better: He's actually smarter and more efficient than Brain. He's also more evil and doesn't need a sidekick, making him much more dangerous.
• Brought Down to Normal: His final appearance has him turned back into a normal hamster.
• The Caligula: It's suggested that Brain doesn't want Snowball to win because he's insane and the world under his rule would fall into chaos.
• Creative Sterility: Despite his genius intellect, he doesn't have much imagination, and he sometimes steals Brain's world-domination plans.
• Evil Brit: He was voiced by Roddy McDowall after all.
• Evil Counterpart: To Brain, and evil enough that Brain will drop everything to stop him.
• Evil Former Friend: He and Brain were friends before their intellects were enhanced.
• Evil Genius: He's a highly intelligent mastermind and is much less scrupulous than the well-intentioned Brain.
• Faux Affably Evil: He may act sophisticated and polite, but he's much worse than Brain.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Snowball isn't a very scary-sounding name, but he is still a force to be reckoned with.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From a harmless hamster to Brain's rival in achieving world domination.
• Killer Rabbit: He may be a hamster, but he isn't to be underestimated.
• Knight of Cerebus: Snowball-centric episodes are always darker.
• Mobile-Suit Human: Like the Brain, he also has a human mech, although he has a fully working head.
• Perpetual Frowner: He rarely smiles.
• Rival Turned Evil: When he and Brain became highly intelligent, they turned against one another because of a disagreement on which of them should be ruler of the world. One that stems from the fact that Snowball completely lacks The Brain's noble intentions for taking over the world
• Sanity Slippage: He appears to get more and more unhinged every time he comes back to battle Brain again.
• Shadow Archetype: Snowball is what Brain could've been if he didn't have Pinky as an anchor.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Like Brain, he has a large vocabulary.
• Uplifted Animal: Formerly an ordinary hamster. Though he wasn't in the duo's origins episode, he was apparently part of Project B.R.A.I.N. like the main characters, or a related experiment.
• Villainous Crush: Like Brain, he has a crush on Billie.

Billie

Voiced by: Tress MacNeille

Another genetically altered lab mouse that Brain sometimes romantically pursues, despite her being as ditzy as Pinky.

---

• Abhorrent Admirer: She becomes this towards Pinky in "Brain Noir". After Billie reveals that she loves Pinky rather than Brain or Snowball, Pinky himself is rather disturbed by Billie's advances and runs for it after she kisses him.
• Distaff Counterpart: She's basically a female Pinky.
• Genius Ditz: Her intelligence is about as high as Pinky's, but her vocabulary expands greatly after receiving electric shocks.
• Love Dodecahedron: Between her, Brain, Pinky, Pharfignewton and Snowball. Specifically, both Brain and Snowball love her, but she has a crush on Pinky, who in turn is in love with Pharfignewton.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Speaks with much less simplistic terms after being subjected to electric shocks.

Pharfignewton

A grey and white race mare whom Pinky fell in love with in the segment "The Kentucky Derby". She reciprocates his feelings, but sadly, they come from different worlds... not to mention different biological orders. The relationship between them obviously disgusts Brain.

---

• Interspecies Romance: With Pinky (a mouse).
  Brain (impatiently): Pinky, you are a mouse. That is a horse.
  Pinky: Oh, now don't start ''that'' again, Brain...
• Nearly Normal Animal: For the most part appears to be an ordinary horse, but is clearly shown reciprocating Pinky's affections.

Roman Numeral 1 "Romy"

Voiced by: Maurice LaMarche (as an infant), Rob Paulsen (as an adult)

A mouse created from Brain and Pinky's combined DNA.

---

• Deadpan Snarker: He makes a few sarcastic remarks, particularly about Pinky and Brain's arguments and quarrels.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Romy's creation is played similarly to a baby being born in addition to Brain and Pinky's disagreements on raising him being reminiscent of dysfunctional parents.
• Interspecies Romance: He ends up in a relationship with Pat "the Bunny" (a human).
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: While the ethical problems it raises aren't addressed, Brain constantly refers to Roman Numeral 1 as "it" while he is still a baby.
• Mix-and-Match Man: He looks like a cross between Pinky and Brain.
• Patchwork Kids: If you decide to look at him as Pinky and the Brain's son rather than a scientific experiment.
• Two-Donor Clone: He was supposed to be a standard clone of Brain but a clip of Pinky's toenail got mixed in, making him more of a composite of the two.

Brain's Parents

Voiced by: Ernest Borgnine and Tress MacNeille

• I Want Grandkids: Brain's mother at one point chides her son for not giving her grandchildren.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: They do nothing but berate Brain for being untidy after gaining the ability to speak and threaten him whenever he tries to get a word in edgewise, but after they are sent away at the end of the episode, Brain mentions that his parents invited him and Pinky over for Thanksgiving, hinting that they care about their son at least a little bit.
• Uplifted Animal: They are ordinary mice at first, but gain human-like posture and speech after Brain equips them with devices enabling them to talk.

Pinky's Parents

Voiced by: Eric Idle

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: They make Pinky seem focused.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: It's clear where Pinky gets it from... if anything, his parents are worse.
• Dumb Blonde: Pinky's mother has blonde hair after being exposed to the gene splicer and is every bit as idiotic as her son.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In reboot episode "Roadent Trip", Pinky mentions that his father is incapable of feeling and opening up. What happened to him in the 22 years since he was last seen that reduced him to a bitter, emotionless mouse is unknown.
• Uplifted Animal: They're put through the same machine that made the main characters sapient.

Pinky's "Sister"

• Companion Cube: "She's" a spool of thread.

Larry

"Hi there! I'm the one named Larry."

Voiced by: Billy West, Rob Paulsen (theme song)

A dopey chubby mouse with frizzy hair that sticks out in the sides like Larry Fine of the Three Stooges. He accompanied the duo during one of their schemes, doing little except constantly introducing himself and providing useless observations. Eventually, Brain tires of him and tells him to leave. He later joins up with Paul Simon.

---

• Big, Thin, Short Trio: He becomes the big to Pinky's thin and Brain's short.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: The entire reason for his existence. Larry was created in response to the network's request that Pinky and the Brain be joined by a third main character. Naturally, the writers thought this to be completely pointless, so they created Larry to demonstrate just how pointless a third main character would be. However, the network eventually won out, with Elmyra of Tiny Toon Adventures being shoehorned into the show in Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.
• The Bus Came Back: Larry returns 23 years later in the Animaniacs reboot segment "The Flawed Couple". He makes a silent cameo during the "Narfs" musical number.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Larry, naturally.
• Catchphrase: "Hi there!", "Hello!", and "I'm Larry!".
• Chromatic Arrangement: If you look closely, you'll see that he has green eyes to complete the arrangement (Pinky has blue eyes and Brain has pink ones).
• Flat Character: Deliberately so. Larry contributes absolutely nothing to the episode's plot, and doesn't do anything except introduce himself and point out that he's Larry. He's merely there to demonstrate just how useless adding a third wheel to Pinky and the Brain would be.
• Furry Baldness: He has tufts of hair around his head implying baldness even though his body's covered in white fur like Brain and Pinky.
• The Generic Guy: A parody of one. His entire character revolves around the fact that he's Larry (which he points out often), and he has no other real traits to speak of. He's even named after a well-known example of the trope. So is Zeppo, the mouse who replaces him at the end of his episode.
• Here We Go Again!: Finally, Brain managed to get rid of Larry, and be just a duo with Pinky again. Now it's time to take over the world, without Larry... and the scientist opens the cage and introduces a new mouse, Zeppo. And Here We Go Again!
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Done deliberately by the writers. Whenever the character is mentioned, it's usually after Brain or Pinky mention one another, almost as if Larry's just an afterthought.
  Brain: Tonight's plan is my masterpiece, Pinky... and, uh, Larry.
  Larry: Hi there!
  Pinky: I like the lines, Brain, and, uh, Larry.
  Larry: I'm Larry!
  (this gag continues throughout the episode)
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Larry from The Three Stooges. There's even a point in the episode where Brain gets a piece of wallpaper stuck to his head that looks like Moe's bowl-cut hair.
• Remember the New Guy?: The one episode featuring him treats him as if he always was part of the main cast.
• Shoo Out the New Guy: After their latest scheme gets foiled, Pinky and the Brain both agree that Larry (who literally just joined them) needs to go.
  Brain: It's all about teamwork. That special chemistry. The Yin and the Yang.
  Larry: And Larry!
  Brain: No, that's it! It's just yin and yang! There shouldn't be a Larry!
  Pinky: Zort! Am I the yin or the yang?
  Brain: I don't know, Pinky. But he is definitely the Larry!

Zeppo

• Here We Go Again!: Pinky and Brain manage to get rid of Larry... and the scientist opens the cage and introduces a new mouse, Zeppo.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of the Marx Brother, Zeppo.

Trudy

Voiced by: Pamela Hayden

A black-haired mouse from the black and white episode "The Third Mouse".

---

• Furry Female Mane: She has hair like that of a human woman.
• Humanoid Female Animal: She has a more humanoid body shape than Brain and Pinky.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: Unlike most other mice, she doesn't go barefoot.

Mousey Galore

Voiced by: Diane Michelle

A Russian lab mouse and rival to Pinky and the Brain in "To Russia With Lab Mice".

---

Tropes associated with Mousey Galore:

• Femme Fatale: She's very pretty and also attempts to play Brain for a chump.
• Furry Female Mane: She has hair like a human woman.
• Humanoid Female Animal: Has a curvaceous body and looks notably more humanoid than Pinky and Brain.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: As with Trudy, another example.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: She makes some very prejudiced statements about Americans, such as remarking that Americans are so fond of being in charge and that Pinky's idiocy is a common trait among Americans.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: She wears a dress that shows off her bare back.

Dr. Mordough

Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

The scientist who built the gene splicer that turned Brain, Pinky, and Snowball into their anthropomorphic forms. He appears only in part three of "Brainwashed".

---

• Named After Somebody Famous: Sort of; his name references Dr. Moreau, possibly made into a portmanteau with "Brando."
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a blatant parody of Marlon Brando, who'd played Dr. Moreau in a then-recent adaptation.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He probably never would've expected his experiments to make the lab pets hungry for world domination.

The Evil Clown

Voiced by: Corey Burton

Precious's confidant.

---

• The Dragon: He does the physical work for Precious.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His name is never given. In fact, his name was shown only on Kids' WB!'s website.
• Evil Laugh: He's constantly laughing.
• Monster Clown: He's an evil clown.
• The Voiceless: He never talks, but he does laugh constantly and later screams in pain when Bobby Bob pours coffee on him.

Precious

Voiced by: Nora Dunn

Dr. Mordough's cat who was the Diabolical Mastermind of the scheme the mice had to foil in "Brainwashed". Like the mice, she too gained brainpower from the gene splicer, but lost her feline beauty and swore vengeance on humanity as a result.

---

• Disproportionate Retribution: Precious' motive for wanting to annihilate civilization is revenge for what science did to her. The gene splicer made her highly intelligent, but at the cost of making her NOT adorable anymore.
• Freudian Excuse: She wants to destroy the world as revenge because her increased intelligence robbed her of her good looks and therefore made her an outcast.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Unlike Brain or Snowball, she just wants to destroy humanity and bring everything to ruin out of anger and has no intention of ruling anything.
• Partially Civilized Animal: While she is highly intelligent, she still is susceptible to common feline instincts such as playing with small shiny objects.
• Revenge Before Reason: She's dead set on making the world pay for ostracizing her for not being pretty anymore. Even when Snowball points out she could easily send herself back through the gene splicer and turn herself back into a normal cat, she shoots this down in favor of carrying out her revenge.
• Uplifted Animal: Like the main characters, but unlike them, she hates what she's become.

Zalgar

Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

A humanoid alien who scouts planets to eat the brain of the local being with the highest intellect. He attempts to steal Brain's after sending him an email promising to help him take over the world, and after his defeat he decides to settle for Dick Cavett's.

---

• Brain Food: He eats brains.
• Little Green Men: His minions Synapse (whose brain he's already eaten) and Neuron.

Mr. Sultana

Voiced by: Paul Rugg

A self-described paranoid recluse who lives in a damp, messy house next to Acme Labs.

---

• Funny Foreigner: He's a huge weirdo with an accent that's definitely not from the United States.
• The Hermit: Apparently he became a recluse on the advice of a career consultant.
  "The pay is not so good, but the hours are very flexible."
• Recurring Character: Shows up in several episodes, including a major role in "My Feldmans, My Friends."
• Repetitive Name: His full name is Sultana Sultana, though he asks Brain to call him "Barry."

Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain Characters

Elmyra Duff

Voiced by: Cree Summer

The annoying redhead from Tiny Toon Adventures. She turned up to chase the Warners in one of their segments, but is listed here because of her being shoehorned into Pinky and the Brain. See Tiny Toon Adventures for her tropes.

Pussy Wussy

Voiced by: Frank Welker

Elmyra Duff's pet cat.

---

• All Animals Are Dogs: He started out as a cat hungry for Pinky and the Brain (because, you know, they're mice). But then came "The Cat Who Cried Woof", where Brain turns him into a dog, and he stays that way for the rest of the series, averting Status Quo Is God.
• Expy: Of Furrball from Tiny Toon Adventures.

Mr. Shellbutt

Elmyra Duff's pet turtle.

---

• Expy: Of Tyrone Turtle from Tiny Toon Adventures. Also appears to be this to Byron Basset, since he's the other most frequently seen pet from Furrball.

Rudy Mookich

Voiced by: Nancy Cartwright

A fat slob who replaced Montana Max as Elmyra's love interest in Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. Has the hots for Brain's occasional alter-ego, Patty Ann.

---

Tropes associated with Rudy:

• Attractive Bent-Gender: He falls for Brain's Patty Ann persona.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He may be a jerk, but he seems to care for his snake Tunk (pictured next to him).
• Expy:
  • He doesn't like Elmyra any more than Montana Max did.
  • He is a copy of Nelson Muntz. He's a troublesome jerk and even has the same voice actor.
• Jerkass: He's completely rude to everyone he meets.
• Meaningful Name: Well, he is rude.
• Pet the Dog: At the end of "Party Night", he lets Elmyra walk with him on his way home.

Vanity White

Voiced by: Jane Wiedlin

• Alpha Bitch: Well, with a name like Vanity...
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Vanna White.

Wally Faust

Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

The seldom-seen antagonist of Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, he is a man pursuing the mice to use in his own world domination schemes.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: He had grey hair in the opening, and brown hair in the show.
• Advertised Extra: He only appears a handful of times even though he's seen in the show's intro.
• Big Bad: He is the closest thing Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain has to a recurring antagonist, even though we barely see him.
• Determinator: The opening shows how persistent he is in checking on the mice he needs for world domination. So persistent that they "had to flee constantly, needing a place to hide".
• Early-Bird Cameo: Sort of. Christopher Walken has made at least a couple appearances on Pinky and the Brain before this guy appeared.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Okay, evil-detecting cat, but still, a nearby alley cat sees Wally, and yowls in fear.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Circle as a whole could qualify under this, as it's suggested that he's just an agent, not their leader, but it's hard to tell.
• Knight of Cerebus: Reflected in the opening of the show. Elmyra's house and her surroundings are bright and colorful, but Wally Faust is almost always seen as a shadowy silhouette, and his surroundings are much darker. The few episodes featuring him also tend to be notably more serious in tone.
• Manipulative Bastard: He tried to manipulate Brain into a trap. Tried to, but he came kinda close.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He is clearly modeled after and talks like Christopher Walken.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: His presence is accompanied by this. Well, sort of. They're really saying things like "gingivitis", "lactose", and "gluteus maximus".
• Series Continuity Error: In the show's opening, Pinky and the Brain clearly know who Wally Faust is and what he wants with them, yet in his debut episode, they act like they don't know who he is or what he wants with them until it came to Brain's "cheese ray". Their ignorance made it easy for Wally to almost lure them into his trap. Well, that's what happens when you take candy from strangers.
• Verbal Tic: He likes to say "crisply" in his sentences.

Characters from Animaniacs (2020)

Egwind

Voiced by: Chris Cox

A mouse who ends up serving as a third teammate for the duo in some episodes. His time never lasts as he always removed at the beginning of the episodes he appears in.

---

• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Just like Larry before him, Egwind provides the big to Pinky's thin and Brain's short.
• Chromatic Arrangement: His eyes are green while Pinky's got blue eyes and Brain's got pink eyes.
• Foil: To Larry. While Larry was an awkward fit to the group who is shooed out after his only major appearance, Egwind seems to have some sort of chemistry with the duo but his time with them is cut short by tragedy, yet he shows up again as a semi-recurring character.
• They Killed Kenny Again: He ends up biting the dust in most of his appearances. The only time he isn't killed off is in a brief appearance of a non-"Pinky and the Brain" segment.

Benedict

Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore

A dragon who the titular mice attempt to tame in "How to Brain Your Dragon". He is not as the tales initially make him out to be, however...

---

• Non-Malicious Monster: It turns out he wants to be an actor, and the injuries he inflicted on the knights at the beginning were likely either self-defense, an attempt to submit his credentials, or another dragon entirely.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Brain ropes him into playing the part of the gazelle, oddly enough, with the mouse playing the role of a knight (and Pinky as his steed) who pretends to slay the dragon in exchange for the kingdom. He ends up accidentally breaking the charade by getting up to ask Brain how his performance was.

B.R.A.I.N.

Voiced by: Maurice LaMarche

A robot built by Brain to act as his son.

---

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Betrays his father to try and take over the world by himself.
• Logic Bomb: Suffers a fatal one thanks to Pinky's usual stupid question.
• Villain Has a Point: He tells Brain that the latter doesn't have good plans, because Brain has to be at the center of it.

Julia

Voiced by: Maria Bamford

WARNING: Julia is a Walking Spoiler, to the point that her appearances in any episode beyond her debut are intended as surprises. Please read this section with caution.

^{Click here to see her later appearance} 

A mouse whom Brain mutates — and marries — to serve as his potential first lady during his Senatorial campaign. His attempt to control her turns her into his Arch-Enemy.

---

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Even though it was never subject to mind control, Brain's virtual duplicate of Julia in "All's Fair in Love and Door" winds up going crazy in the same way she did, even showing an image of the real Julia's mind control chip (which it did not have prior to that point), when it learns that it's just a computer program.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: She wears various outfits throughout the series (a green pantsuit in "Mousechurian Candidate", a spacesuit and Spy Catsuit in "Reichenbrain Falls", a 1950s housewife costume in "All's Fair in Love and Door"). The only one that includes shoes is the spacesuit.
• Blessed with Suck: Her neural implant does greatly increase her intelligence, but also has a Mind-Control Device function in case Brain wants to step in. The "obedience chip" is clearly defective and malfunctioning; it causes her terrible pain and causes her to go completely insane.
• Brainy Brunette: She's as intelligent as Brain and she has brown hair.
• Break the Cutie: Poor Julia! Brain ruthlessly manipulates her mind, body and emotions, which ends up damaging her both physically and psychologically.
• Composite Character:
  • She seems to be a mix of Billie and Snowball from the original series; she's a genetically spliced lab mouse set up as a Love Interest for Brain (Billie), but she's as smart as (if not smarter than) him, and becomes an Evil Former Friend bent on revenge against him at the end (Snowball).
  • She also becomes a composite of Pinky and the Brain, because she's both a genius and insane.
• Create Your Own Villain: Brain has no one but himself to blame for Julia turning against him, since it was his malfunctioning Mind-Control Device that drove her crazy.
• Ear Notch: She has one on her left ear.
• Everyone Has Standards: Julia tells off Brain for how he mistreats Pinky. She says her "husband" ought to be nicer to his best friend. Brain responds by trying to brainwash her.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: It's unclear if she actually turns evil at the end of "Mousechurian Candidate". Julia has a hideout and webcam to monitor Brain and Pinky, but she just smugly watches as Pinky obliviously puts salt instead of sugar in Brain's coffee. Julia seems to be focusing solely on the Brain and mimicking his Catchphrase to Take Over the World to mock him. However, "Reichenbrain Falls" confirms that she has indeed undergone a Face–Heel Turn. She's become Brain's vengeful Arch-Enemy and plans to rule the world herself.
• In Spite of a Nail: In "All's Fair in Love and Door", Brain tries to create a simulation of what life would've been like if he hadn't been so terrible to Julia. Though this artificial version is as pleasant as her progenitor originally was, she immediately goes off the deep end when she finds out that she's just a computer program, implying that even without the neural implant, it wouldn't have taken much for her to become a megalomaniacal villain. However, this may or may not involve AI Julia gaining the original's memories.
• Master of Disguise: When she returns in "Reichenbrain Falls", she's disguised as Pinky for part of the episode. She almost pulls it off, but a few subtle O.O.C. Is Serious Business moments allow Brain to figure out that it's an impostor. She also becomes a Mobile-Suit Human to kidnap Pinky in the first place.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After she realizes how much of a tyrant Brain is, he brainwashes her. However, she breaks free, escapes, and starts plotting against Brain.
• Mood-Swinger: After her Face–Heel Turn, her continuing mental damage causes her to alternate between Tranquil Fury and just plain fury. Sometimes this happens mid-sentence, which leads to a Suddenly Shouting speech pattern.
• Nice Mice: She's compassionate and idealistic... until Brain messes with her mind, which causes her Face–Heel Turn.
• Pantsless Males, Fully-Dressed Females: A zigzagged example. Julia initially makes her debut in "Mousechurian Candidate" wearing no clothes much like Pinky and Brain. But in later appearances she tends to wear full sets of clothes (except for shoes), in contrast to the pair's incomplete outfits or even lack of one, such as her green pantsuit in the same short she first appears in, or her catsuit in "Reichenbrain Falls". The only time Julia is shown clothesless more than once is when she pretends to be an ordinary mouse at the end of the former short, seemingly having lost her sapience as a result of her malfunctioning implant until she enters her hideout.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: During her Freak Out at the debate, Julia (who, we remind you, is a mouse) is somehow able to pick up the human-sized podium and throw it through a wall.
• The Resenter: One of the reasons she turns against Brain.
  You think you're so smart, the Brain, which is barely a name, by the way, but I'm far more clever! More hard-working.
• Took a Level in Badass: By "Reichenbrain Falls", she's become quite a competent fighter.
• Uplifted Animal: A rare example of such a character created by another uplifted animal.
• Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to discuss her without revealing her surprise appearance and Face–Heel Turn in season two.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Brain makes her as intelligent as himself for one of his schemes, but his failed attempt to control her has a negative impact on her mental state when she escapes. When they meet again, she has the mind of a Mad Scientist. Emphasis on mad.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: She follows along with Brain's plan up until she reads his script about having children build bombs. Upon which, she opts to do things her way.

Brie

Voiced by: Grey DeLisle

A Senate intern in "Pinko and the Brain" who becomes suspicious of Brain when he's impersonating Senator Garp.

---

• Animal Motifs: She was intentionally designed to resemble a mouse and have a "mousey" appearance with her nose, glasses, buck teeth and plain fashion. Her name is also a type of cheese. This comes to play later on when Brain accuses her of being a mouse.
• Badass Pacifist: She defeats Brain and exposes him, not by scapegoating others or stooping to his level, but with simple logic to prove her point and keen observation.
• Good Is Not Soft: She will browbeat a witness during a Senate trial against herself because she suspects that the latter is trying to lie under oath. Since the witness was Pinky, she was right to take this course of action.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Brie is the only member of the Senate whom Brain cannot blackmail or scapegoat; she has a clean record. Even when Brain tries to argue that she must be a mouse because she's from Wisconsin, the cheese capital of the U.S., she turns the tables on him by pointing out that cheese is an American staple and anyone who doesn't like it must lack patriotism.
• Only Sane Woman: She's the only one who questions that Senator Garp is Not Himself — owing to Brain impersonating him — and starts keeping tabs on him. After all, she's worked with him for a year and knows that no human would want canned ham and mayonnaise in their coffee.
• Punny Name: Her name is also the name of a type of cheese, adding to her mouse Animal Motifs.
• Worthy Opponent: Brain admits at the end of the episode that she's the only person who ever outsmarted him.

The World Leaders

Voiced by: Eric Bauza (Kim Jong Un), Anthony Carrigan (Vladimir Putin), Carlos Alazraqui (Nicolás Maduro)

Leaders of various nations.

---

• Even Evil Has Standards: Putin, Maduro and Kim Jong-un all consider Brain's attempts to talk about world domination during a banquet to be very rude.
• Fun-Hating Villain: Putin is portrayed as such in "Anima-Nyet". When the Warners perform a playful and upbeat song on the titular bootleg show, Putin sends an army to shut it down.
  Putin: Happy-go-lucky tinkle-dee-doo-dah song? Nyet on my watch.
• Take That!: None of their appearances paint them in a positive light. Brain even gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how poorly they're running their countries.
• Terrible Trio: Putin, Maduro and Kim Jong-un form one. Putin is the de facto leader of the trio, clearly more powerful than the other two.

---