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File:Mindcontroleyes04 1628.png

You are getting sleepy..

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"Her eyes! My God, what's wrong with her eyes?"
Shelley, Evil Dead
Cquote2


A character who is performing or under the influence of hypnotism or mind control will show this influence in his or her eyes with a visual change. This is mostly for the benefit of the audience. While people around the character may note they're "acting a little funny", usually nobody In-Universe ever notices the change.

In live-action and some forms of animation, the standard signal for mind control or possession is totally black or totally white eyes. In many Western cartoons and comics, hypnosis is represented by the eyes appearing as swirling spirals or concentric circles. Sometimes it's also represented by changes in the dilation of the pupil; the pupil will either get really small, or really large. In Anime, their irises become dull, flat disks of their base color without any detail, highlights, reflections or even pupils. Obviously heavy eyelids surmount the altered eyes, and sometimes drift into a half-closed position.

A rare variation involves severe walleye in both eyes. This is a Shout-Out to a traditional Japanese artistic device: a character performing superhuman feats of swordsmanship (Musashi slicing arrows out of the air... as they're coming at his back) will be depicted as severely cross-eyed, indicating that they are using "inner guidance". Another extremely rare variation is sometimes where the pupil remains the same but the sclera (the white part of the eye) may change color.

It should be noted that in Real Life, hypnotized people's eyes are likely to dilate (i.e. the pupils get a bit bigger.) This is apparently not subtle enough for animation, which prefers to Open the Iris. Also note that some art styles have eyes with less detail than others, and so the eyes may have some of these traits already; this doesn't make them an example of this trope.

This also counts as Nightmare Fuel for some people. Not to be confused with Hypnotic Eyes, which is about people who can hypnotize others just by looking into their eyes. See also Red Eyes, Take Warning, which may be a form of this.

Examples of Mind Control Eyes include:


Anime & Manga[]

  • Ellis from El Cazador de la Bruja has these--though it's more subtle than usual--whenever her powers manifest without her control. Inverted when she still gets Mind Control Eyes even after gaining full control. Frequently awesome.
  • In Dragon Ball GT, the eyes of Baby's possessed minions glow completely red.
  • Ryoko from Tenchi Muyo gets Mind Control Eyes when Kagato directly controls her. As an extension, her eyes also change color to a light shade of green, the same color as Kagato's sword; a good example of Colour-Coded for Your Convenience.
  • In episode 8 of the 2005 Ah! My Goddess TV show, Urd puts Keiichi under a kind of mind control to get him to kiss Belldandy, and he, of course, gets Mind Control Eyes.
  • Kohaku in Inu Yasha is often shown in this situation.
    • The same happens to Kagome Higurashi thrice: when she had her soul stolen by Urasue to re-create Kikyou, when Tsubaki the Dark Priestess curses her, and when the evil baby Akago attempts to brainwash her through More Than Mind Control. Except for the first time, she breaks free pretty much out of her own and delivers a Shut UP, Hannibal speech to the culprit.
  • Toward the end of Variable Geo, we see a mind-controlled fighter with these eyes.
  • Subverted in Project A-ko. When B-ko arrives for a timely rescue, C-ko is found with Mind Control Eyes. B-ko thinks she's been drugged; however, on coming round, C-ko explains that she "wore herself out whining and crying".
  • In Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, characters under the effects of SEED mode display this physical trait. Subverted in that it's NOT mind control. Click the SEED mode link for clarification.
  • Digimon Adventure features Sora and Matt sulking in psychically-induced angst with this kind of eyes.
  • Subversion: Juri Katou in Digimon Tamers has these while she appears to be possessed. However, this "Juri" is actually a clone constructed from data, with the real Juri trapped and being constantly mind-raped inside the D-Reaper.
  • Exception: In Code Geass, Lelouch's Evil Eye shows a variation, with a red sigil appearing when he uses his power. His targets, however, merely have a bright red outline around the iris that appropriately flickers, fades, and returns depending on whether the power is being fought, dispelled, or not in effect. Characters retain all normal ocular features. The staff actually reworked a scene from the first episode when it was released on DVD because the victims' reactions to Lelouch almost made this defy the "for the audience's benefit" part of the trope.
    • The manga adaptation of the series (the one that shares the exact same name, that is) uses a variation of the standard Mind Control Eyes where the victims are shown with one eye turning white with a copy of the sigil inside for the duration of the effect.
  • Yorito and Aono in Sola. This happens with all Yaka powers though, not just mind control.
  • Fumi in Mai-HiME, after her Child is defeated.
  • Kirika's pupils disappear in Noir when she goes into "Gray" mode (essentially a Heroic BSOD).
  • Sailor Moon, under the influence of "Wise Man." This also happens with Mamoru whenever he's brainwashed by the enemy, to the victims of the Death Busters and/or Dead Moon Circus in S and Super S, and to Uranus and Neptune when they pretend to make a Face Heel Turn on the Senshi.
    • Although she isn't technically possessed, Usagi gets these when she turns into Princess Serenity for the first time.
    • Similar to the above, Sailor Moon gets these at the climax of S, when she forcibly manifests her heart crystal and transforms into Super Sailor Moon without the aid of the Grail.
  • Ikuto has them in Shugo Chara on the first appearance of Death Rebel.Also the X-Egg/?-Egg victims usually have them.
  • The inhabitants of Winia's hometown in Scrapped Princess all fall under this when a powerful Mauser magician orders them to kill Pacifica.
    • Oh, and humans under the effects of Providence get red eyes with green pupil-less irises. D-Knights likewise have yellow, cat-slitted eyes with green whites (excuse the expression).
  • Anzu and Jounouchi get these eyes as well as an evil voice when they're mind-controlled by Marik in Yu-Gi-Oh Something similar happens with Mokuba when he's under Pegasus' control just before his duel with Kaiba.
    • As 4Kids apparently didn't like those boring eyes, they decided to make it a little more "magic" and "mystical" using digitally-added red (Noah arc) and golden (Battle City finals) pupils.
    • Somewhat notably, Kaiba has these eyes when he calls Yugi in the first episode to tell him that he's kidnapped his grandfather, suggesting Kaiba was either not in complete control of himself or he was compelled by some outside force to call. However, this trope was seen for no reason during the first few volumes of the manga.
    • Aki also goes through this in her Black Rose Witch persona in Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds.
    • Asuka in Yu-Gi-Oh GX gets these when the big bad puts her into an apparently heartless state. Oddly enough, it's actually visible to the other characters. Her brother even notes that Judai shouldn't bother treating her like his (former) friend right now, it's pointless.
  • Lina and Gourry in the last episodes of Slayers NEXT. Gourry gets them when he's captured and brainwashed by Phibrizzo. The same happens to Lina very briefly when she invokes the Lord of Nightmares through the Giga Slave and she takes over Lina's body to fight Phibrizzo in person.
  • In School Days: Kotonoha gets Mind Control Eyes when she snaps from all the abuse the series has piled up on her and goes mad. Her eyes go back to normal when Makoto makes her react, but turn back to MCE when she finds him dead.
  • In Shakugan no Shana most normal Torches have Mind Control Eyes.
  • In The Prince of Tennis: When Eiji and Oishi synchronize perfectly in the courts, they both get Mind Control Eyes.
  • Dolls in Darker Than Black have permanent Mind Control Eyes. The protagonist Hei also seems to have them at first, but later evidence suggests they're actually Dull Eyes of Unhappiness.
    • There's also a case of a "Moratorium" who gets these (and goes into a fugue state) whenever her powers activate. Unfortunately, said powers consist of fire, and lots of it.
  • Mizkuki from Mokke gets these when she is overtaken by a very powerful spirit.
  • Pokémon 3. After Entei's cry of "You... are... MAMA!", Ash's mother Delia gains the eyes and is brainwashed into becoming little Molly's "mother". She snaps out of it when she sees Ash on television, trying to climb up the side of the huge crystal tower.
  • Fate Testarossa from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha gets a variation of these after hearing the secrets of her origin from her mother.
  • In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, characters get these eyes when they start the 'bad' kind of reminiscing. It's a step below Hellish Pupils on the anime's "things to run away from really fast" scale, and any onlookers will probably survive.
    • More of a step above, considering that the Mind Control Eyes are actually, well, real.
    • In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Battler has this happen to him when he's forced to marry Erika Furudo in EP6.
      • And to similar effect in the anime, when he surrenders to Beatrice and becomes her furniture.
  • Mytho from Princess Tutu has this happen to his eyes after Kraehe rips out his heart. They even change shape.
  • In Chrono Crusade, this happens to Rosette when Aion kidnaps and brainwashes her.
  • In Ghost Stories, Satsuki's best friend Momoko Koigakubo gets them thrice when possessed by the ghost of Satsuki's mother, a dead but still powerful psychic and exorcist.
  • Cowboy Bebop features a variation: the Mind Control Eyes are used here to indicate blindness.
    • They're also used in "Mushroom Samba" to indicate people under the influence.
  • Hikaru and Umi in Magic Knight Rayearth, when they come under control of the dancing illusionist Caldina. The three girls also get this when confronting the Masshin. And in the anime, Hikaru gets these on her own when mentally-attacked by Nova as Sierra tries to re-create her sword.
    • When Lafarga is brainwashed, he gets MCE too.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima Evangeline practices this on Setsuna for her apparent Secret Test of Character;Setsuna assumed it was a battle to test her will. Eva went along with it.
  • Characters sport mind control eyes for different reasons in Zatch Bell: it usually happens when a character is shocked and at a loss for words. In Kiyo's case it is usually accompanied by a dumb-founded smile.
  • Ichijo from Pani Poni Dash has these eyes all the time.
  • Inverted in Soul Eater. Since Maka normally doesn't have pupils, when she is in a trance, she gains pupils instead of losing them.
  • Rhiannon from Tears to Tiara gets these eyes when she is forced to give up her True Name to the evil high priest Drwc. Ironically, the one who frees her spirit is the same Demon King that Drwc wanted to sacrifice her to in the first place.
  • Happens several times to various characters in D.N.Angel, most notably when Daisuke is taken inside a work of art and hypnotized into painting a place for a spirit to live in.
  • In Lupin III and the Castle of Cagliostro, the lady Clarisse has pupilless eyes as a result of being drugged.
  • In Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou Ran gets these upon being taken over by her Dark Dragon/Kokuryuu powers.
    • On the other hand, in one of the Hachiyou Shou OAVs this effect is used on Yasuaki's shikigami to indicate that she is, well, a shikigami.
    • For people aside from Ran, Hachiyou Shou TV also uses a different variation — pupils shrinking to dots, without visible iris (this happens to victims of Shirin's hypnotic abilities).
  • Flat eyes are used several times in Ghost Hunt to denote possessed people.
  • Subverted in episode 11 of The Daughter of Twenty Faces when Chiko notices the mind control eyes (which appear as concentric circles instead of flat).
  • Mafuyu in Seitokai no Ichizon when Minatsu brainwashes her into deciding Ken is her enemy. Then they turn Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • Shows up on occasion in the Ranma One Half anime, but not in the manga. Usually, it's Ranma Saotome (particularly in male form) who gets them; one anime episode has him hypnotized by an evil sorceress's ghost, while another episode has him being controlled by his evil side brought to independent life as an Opposite Sex Clone.
    • The Ranma anime has also used them to signify supernatural nature. The Cute Ghost Girl Kogane and the psychic Miyo both have Mind Control Eyes, even though they're both totally under their own control and benevolent to boot.
  • Not related to mind control per se, but characters' eyes in Black Lagoon tend to lose their luster as they get more bloodthirsty. Revy's eyes in particular have several degrees of darkness, turning almost completely black when she's in the grip of Whitman Fever.
  • Happens to Leo Aiolia in Saint Seiya after Saga uses his papal mindraping powers to bend him to his will. Mind you, the characters lose their sight so many times their eyes are like this almost permanently...
  • Hansel from Otogi Juushi Akazukin displays these for most of the series. It's later lampshaded when his sister, Gretel notes that she can tell another character is being controlled by the same sort of spell by the look in his eyes.
  • In episode five of Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru a little girl gets these when possessed by a demon.
  • An interesting version in Bakugan Gundalian Invaders. When kids are brainwashed, their eyes turn gold with slitted pupils. Not only is this noticed by the heroes, but they check the eyes of everyone to tell who is brainwashed or not.
  • This happened to Eureka in Eureka Seven starting end of vol 4. The Scab Coral took control of her.
  • In the Hentai Alien from the Darkness, the victims of the titular alien display Mind Control Eyes after being subjected to its Hypnotic Eyes (and subsequent tentacle raping.) These victims then walk around in a zombie-like state, almost entirely unresponsive to their former friends, before flying into an unprovoked, violent rage.
  • Seen temporarily in Naruto with Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage, when under Madara's control.
    • A variation crossed with Black Eyes of Evil is seen with Kabuto's variation of Edo Tensei. The sclera of the summoned individual's eyes are turned black; at first the iris remains the same, but when Kabuto exerts full dominance, they become dull and featureless.
  • This happens in Death Note, though oddly not with everyone whose actions are controlled by the Note - just the women controlled into committing suicide.
  • Mind control eyes are the indicator that Motoko of Change 123 has let Zero out And whoever caused said eyes has about five seconds to make their peace, cause a major ass beating is about to ensue.
  • Subversion: Stocking's eyes have a look very similar to these in the The Stinger of Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt, however, it is unknown if their appearance hold meaning at all. Why? Because it's Gainax. We'll just have to wait for the next season.
  • Chrome gets these when under the influence of Daemon Spade's mind control in Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
  • Alviss gets this when being mind controlled by Phantom in MAR.
  • In episode 21 of D.N.Angel Daisuke gets these when under a trance by Freedert.
  • In one episode of Rosario to Vampire, Tsukune falls prey to a very beautiful math teacher, who insists on giving him extra lessons alone together so that he can bump up his grade in the class. But it soon becomes obvious that Tsukune's sudden proficiency in math has caused him to become a formula-spewing zombie with hazy eyes and no personality. Turns out that the math teacher was controlling him via a weird, snakey-plant tail that latched onto his head and presumably fed him knowledge while sucking out unnecessary thoughts, like his friends and social life. He returns to normal after Moka kicks the lady's ass in her super-vampire form.
  • In Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo, when Cruje Gapp gets mind-controlled, these eyes are shown.
  • In Hayate the Combat Butler, Nagi gets these when she is being hypnotized by the Lelouch Expy.


Films[]

  • In Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, whenever a character is possessed by a Kandarian spirit, they become grotesquely ugly, and their eyes in particular are affected, prompting the film's memorable line, "Her eyes! What happened to her eyes?"
  • Neil Gaiman uses this a fair amount as well: in Mirror Mask, when Helena gets brainwashed, her eyes turn jet black (just like those of the Dark Queen), and it goes away after she is back to normal.
  • The Kurgan in Highlander (the only Highlander) has very black eyes shortly after he is beheaded. Immortals also have completely white eyes when they experience the Quickening.
  • In Big Trouble in Little China, the eyes of David Lo Pan's two would-be brides turn pure white when they are being mentally controlled.
  • In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Victor Krum, when under the Imperius Curse, which controls his mind, has glazed-over eyes.
  • In the 1996 Doctor Who film, the temporary companion of the Doctor had the Fully-Black eyes when she was under mind control.
    • And it applied in-universe, because she couldn't activate an eye scan in this state.
  • In Twenty Eight Days Later, Infection is signaled by the victim's eyes turning red (very shortly followed by lethal aggression against anyone nearby). In the sequel, 28 Weeks Later, one character's heterochromia offers some very valuable information this way.
  • A clip from Nine shows this happening to one of the characters due to some hypnoflashy lights. What makes this interesting is the aforementioned character is a sapient ragdoll and his eyes are camera shutters.
  • In Finding Nemo, would-be vegetarian shark Bruce's eyes turn solid black when he can't control his urge to eat fish.
    • Which is what great white's eyes normally look like anyway.
  • There is a variation on this in WALL-E... when WALL-E appears to have lost his personality after EVE repairs him, his normally expressive eyes appear non-emotional to the point of being disturbing.
  • In Disney Animated Canon's The Little Mermaid, upon seeing Vanessa singing on the beach for the first time, her seashell amulet emits a mist that entrances Eric. It can be seen filling the pupils of Eric's eyes with an eerie yellow glow. This shows up later, but it's not as obvious. It mostly shows up in a glint in his eyes, although you can tell mostly through his mannerisms.
  • Kaa's eyes in Disney's adaptation of The Jungle Book turn psychedelic colorful, as do his victims eyes when hypnotized. Though this is not the origin of this image, it may be the source of its popularity.
    • Also happens to Baloo when he's caught up in the music of King Louie and the Monkeys.
    • Also happens in The Secret of NIMH, when Jeremy is mesmerized by Mrs. Brisby's "sparkly".
  • When Kida is exposed to light coming from the Atlantean Crystal, her eyes actually become a much lighter shade of blue than usual.


Literature[]

  • Coraline, also written by Neil Gaiman, involves sewing buttons onto people's eyes as a method of brainwashing. Both this and the Mirrormask equivalent are used by an Evil Matriarch clone of the regular mother, with these exact eyes herself.
  • In A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Charles Wallace is subjected to telepathic mind control by an oversized brain referred to as IT. As this occurs, his pupils shrink until they disappear, leaving blank blue eyes.
  • Victor, Ginger, Dibbler and others swept up in the Holy Wood craze of Moving Pictures have a tiny gold star appear at the center of each pupil.
  • The final book of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay, uses a mix between the unfocused and dilated pupils. Peeta's eyes are even shown to rapidly dilate and contract in short order when he's Fighting From the Inside.
  • Book the Fourth of A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Miserable Mill. On the cover, Klaus is shown with what appears to be these. It is even implied in the book, with his blank stare and wide-open eyes.
  • Artemis Fowl has a variation: Someone who's been Mind Controlled repeatedly has bloodshot eyes and jagged pupils, but no other symptoms.


Live Action TV[]

  • Doctor Who used to love doing the "unfocused eyes" version.
  • In the original season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Tommy's eyes periodically glowed neon green when he was under Rita's control- usually at points when the spell was asserting itself over what he would do normally, although it also happened whenever it would look the most menacing and nobody was around to see.
  • When Kahlan confesses people in Legend of the Seeker, both her and their eyes go totally black for a period. And it shows it every time she confesses someone.
  • One of the sure signs that someone is possessed by a demon in Supernatural is a flash of completely-black eyes. Particularly powerful demons show other colors in the eyes they possess - Azazel shows yellow eyes, while Lilith and Alastair show white eyes.


Video Games[]

  • In MARDEK RPG: Chapter 3, when Qualna controlled the King of Goznor, his eyes glowed solid pink. Not to be confused with the three priests so far who have similar eyes; in them it's proof of their devotion to YALORT or SOLAK and the power their deity has granted them.
  • In Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman's eyes glow red when he is under the effects of Scarecrow's gas
  • Due to the large number of Brainwashed and Crazy in Super Robot Wars, this shows up a lot, especially on females.
  • In Drakengard, the soldiers of the Union often refer to the soldiers of The Empire as "red-eyed devils" because the only thing they can see out of their face-concealing helmets is the red glow of their eyes. Later, when Inuart is brainwashed by the empress, he also gains Mind Control Eyes similar to the Imperial soldiers.
  • Fate Stay Night, Bad End 18. When Caster takes control of Issei and uses him to kill Shirou, the whites of his eyes turn Red Eyes, Take Warning.
  • In the last one-sixth of The World Ends With You, everyone with Red Skull pins falls under Kitaniji's mind control, and their eyes turn solid red, and all they can say is:
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 To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise. What a wonderful world such would be...

Cquote2
  • In Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade, Ninian has these when she's brainwashed into opening the Dragon's Gate. Her younger brother Nils shows up and is able to snap her out of it (and regain her memory!) before she completely summoned a dragon.
  • Half-lampshaded in Digimon World. A late-game boss' eyes look normal from the camera angle. The main character takes one look at the eyes and concludes it's brainwashed.
  • Two variations in the Rival Schools series:
    • In United By Fate, anyone under the influence of Justice High's brainwashing has red pupils.
    • In Project Justice, the Darkside Council's ending has all the brainwashed students in the background with these eyes.
  • Kohak Hearts in Tales of Hearts has these and a blank expression on her portrait after she becomes playable but before her soul is fully restored. After she's fully healed, she gets normal eyes and a smile.
  • Rika in the second of the Devil Angel Jibril games get flat red eyes when she is corrupted by Rokoko. Also overlaps with Red Eyes, Take Warning, since her eyes are normally brown (in civilian form) or green (Holy Angel form). Hikari in the third game averts this, since her eyes turn gold when she is corrupted by Fateus but otherwise retain their luster.
  • Touko in one of the endings of Suika.
  • In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Terra and Zack Fair have this happen to them when Maleficent and Hades manipulate the darkness within their hearts respectively.
  • Two different flavours are used in the Sam and Max Freelance Police series. The First season uses spinning spirals in the eyes to denote those under Hugh Bliss's hypnotic control. The Third season have Girl Stinky and Sal being enthralled by an Eldritch Abomination, and their eyes (even Sal's normally completely black eyes) are entirely milky white.
  • In Legacy of Kain characters under Hylden mind control sport glowing green eyes, which can flicker back to indicate a battle for control
  • Terra sports a pair of these while under Kefka's control in Dissidia 012: Duodecim.
  • Sahori from Shin Megami Tensei V exhibits these when Lahmu possesses her body once he loses his. There is more to it than just mind control, however. Aside from manipulating her into allowing him to fuse with her, Lahmu took effort to corrupt Sahori into being like himself. And if what he says is any indication, he intended to take away her ability to feel empathy by taking away her ability to feel sadness.

Web Comics[]


Web Original[]

  • A red-write frame is used in Captain Gamer: OOC. Slightly subverted in that it's actually noticeable for the characters, and would probably go unnoticed if the Captain hadn't called attention to it.
  • In The Impossible Man, characters who were subjected to mind control, had their eyes described as being red and pupil-less.


Western Animation[]

  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the victims of A Clockwork Orange-reminiscent brainwashing have their pupils dilate, nearly enveloping the iris.
  • Used in Futurama. All glory to the Hypno-Toad!
    • Also in the Futurama movie Bender's Big Score, Bender gets squared spirals in his eyes to indicate mind control.
  • When Soundwave mind-controls the Autobots in Transformers Animated, their optics turn red.
  • Mind-controlled animals or humans in Code Lyoko have an interesting variation: their pupils are replaced with the "Eye of XANA" symbol. The protagonists can see it, if they are looking for it.
    • And sometimes the "Eye of XANA" flickers a little (which makes it look cooler). However, if XANA needs mind-controlled humans to look normal, their eyes will change back to normal temporarily. This doesn't always happen, though.
  • In The Batman when a mixture of Kryptonite dust and mind control spores are used on Superman, his eyes glow green.
  • Used in more or less every Looney Tunes short involving hypnosis, both the constricted pupil and spiral-eye versions.
  • Animaniacs used the spiral eyes version in a short involving Rasputin's hypnosis of the Czar.
  • Pinky and The Brain used the rare wall-eye version. When a triggering noise was heard by one of the titular characters, they would go into an uncontrollable dance ("I'm a little teapot" for Brain when he heard a tinkly bell, and a stereotypical Russian Squat-dance for Pinky when he heard a gong) with their dilated pupils swimming on the inside edges of their eyes.
  • Teen Titans uses glowing red eyes for normal mind control, as well as pink eyes in the episode "Mother Mae-Eye", when characters are under the titular character's spell.
    • Also spiral eyes in the first "Mad Mod" episode, whenever Beast Boy gets whammied by the hypnoscreens.
    • Green eyes are used in "Switched".
  • In Barbie and the Diamond Castle, those under the villain's mind-control spell get a green glow in their eyes.
  • In Danny Phantom, the color of the characters' eyes signal many things, including possessed characters having the same eye color as the ghost who possessed them. Usually, everyone seems unaware of this, although when Danny Phantom splits himself into a ghost self and a human self in one episode and the ghost Danny overshadows the human Danny, the human Danny checked his eyes in a mirror as soon as he'd forced the ghost Danny out.
  • In Wakfu, Iops gain exaggeratedly blank eyes as they are possessed by ass kicking.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door: In "Operation: D.A.T.E." the Delightful Children mind control a lot of kids causing them to get glowing blue eyes.
  • Whenever a character may be under Mr. Big's trademark Mind Control in Word Girl, their eyes have a hypnotic green glow to them.
  • The Powerpuff Girls. In one episode Professor Utonium had glowing red eyes after Him turned all of his love for the girls into hate.
    • In another episode, Blossom is hypnotized and her eyes are replaced with red spirals.
    • In a third episode, Mojo Jojo brainwashes the Mayor; the eye that can usually be seen through his monocle is replaced with a red spiral.
  • In the second season premiere of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, "The Return Of Harmony" the cruel and cunning Discord puts the heroines through a series of environments to reverse the part of their personality that keeps them friends, and each one gets their own brainwashing to sweeten the deal, as shown by Kaa-esque rippling eyes.
    • Earlier (even though it doesn't result in nor from any actual mind control) Pinkie Pie gets the swirling spiral version every time she sings about Zecora "putting people in trances".
    • In the season 2 episode Heart and Hooves Day, Big Mac and Cheerilee get purple spiral eyes when under the influence of the Love Potion... which is actually a Love Poison.
    • Also seen in the season finale, where Twilight's brother Shining Armor is under a villainesses' control; His eyes turn from blue to sickly green.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy Morph from X-Men has an odd variation. When he first comes Back From the Dead, he's acquired an evil alternate personality (which is enslaved by Mr. Sinister), which takes on a zombie-like form, complete with dark patches around his eyes. As he mentally shifts between personas, he physically shapeshifts between forms. Later in the season, it's averted, as he's more fully brainwashed and obeys Sinister/fights the X-Men in his "normal" form, making it unclear what side he's on at any given time.
  • In the The Legend of Tarzan animated series, one episode has Queen La deposed by her leopard-men and Jane chosen as her replacement. While she's holding La's mystical staff, her eyes go blank white and she's compelled to hold it aloft and do nothing else.
  • In Teamo Supremo, the victims of Hypnotheria's influence will either get contracted pupils (the Teamo in "Appetite for... Dessert") or spiral eyes (the Chief in another episode).
    • Another episode involved Laser Pirate getting his hands on a device that emits "relaxing" frequencies; anyone who hears these will have the alternating circle type Mind-Control Eyes and speak as though hypnotized.
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