#peatb

[pinkyandthebraingifs]

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Pinky, Freedom and the Brain

In the Pinky and the Brain episode “Leggo My Ego”, Brain is given a backstory that interprets his desire for world domination as wanting the world he was taken from back. An subconscious desire to return home. His real home.

In the Animaniacs reboot, he is given a backstory that interprets his desire for world domination as a conscious desire for complete control of himself and his environment, to avoid the feeling of helplessness, and ultimately, pain.

Both these origins can be true, with the latter likely taking place after the former. Brain's tail only became kinked after being shocked, this is consistent with his tail not being kinked in the flashback shown in “Leggo My Ego”, where he was taken to Acme Labs for the first time.

Either way, be it from Acme Labs or from the feeling of helplessness/pain, Brain's desire for world domination ultimately stems from a yearning for freedom.

He could escape his cage at any time, but that's not enough.

Not until he has the world.

So the cage will have to do. For now.

As for Pinky, in both the original Animaniacs and its reboot, he's fascinated by pop culture and things humans consider trendy. For example, he's usually seen watching TV/YouTube to pass the time.

There isn't much of an explanation for this in either show, not that there really needs to be. On a meta level, it's an easy way to satirize pop culture, it makes Pinky more relatable to the audience, it's a good way to inspire Brain and hence kickstart the plot, and it's an easy way to brighten the tone of the Acme Labs portion(s) of their segments just enough so that the kids at home forget that this series is literally about two kidnapped children who were genetically altered against their will and forced to grow up in a cage. Despite this, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, although it is not considered canon, does have a segment that implies what the reason for Pinky's fascination with human pop culture may be.

In the segment "Pinky's Dream House", after becoming enamoured with the vision of a perfect life displayed by 1950s television comedies, Pinky dreams of a domestic life. He even sings a song about it, which is where the implications come in:

"Someplace, next to a landfill, there's a house. With a shelf full of knick-knacks made for a little mouse. A modern house is such a gift, to keep it clean you barely lift a finger. At night we'll sit and watch the tube and laugh at all the toothless boobs on Jerry Springer. Sofa's covered in plastic, never stain. I wish I had a little house made for me and Brain!"

He becomes so enamoured with the idea that he (and Brain, albeit reluctantly at first) lives out his fantasy in a dollhouse Elmyra owns.

Pinky's a lab mouse too, and although he doesn't openly show signs of trauma from any experiments, perhaps his fasciation with humanity's interests stems from an internal desire to be human. Probably not literally, but in the sense that it would allow him to have a "normal" life. A house instead of a cage, home-cooked meals instead of food pellets, etc. He doesn't strive for glory like Brain does, he'd be perfectly happy with a mundane, domestic life; but it seems that, just like Brain, he be much happier if he were free from Acme Labs.

He could escape his cage at any time, but that's not enough.

Not until Brain has the world, and makes it better.

So the cage will have to do. For now.

Pinky and the Brain are opposites in almost every way imaginable, but ultimately, they both want the same thing.

Pinky and the Brain want to be free.

[pinkyandthebrainscreenshots]

[pinky-and-the-brain-weekly]

[morgueradish]

screenshot redraw :-)

original under the cut

literally look at them. i luv this screenshot sm. wow.

[thelittlemermage]

RIP to Jerry Springer. What are the mice going to watch now? v.v

[toobadmice]

Adult Elymra from my PEatB revamp au. She grows up to be a formidable stock broker. 

[zirconpetals]

You are cordially invited ~