The Mind Workers are characters in in the 2015 Disney/Pixar animated feature film Inside Out and its 2024 sequel. They are entities that populate almost every area inside Riley's mind.
Background[]
The Mind Workers are employees who operate Riley's mind. Most Mind Workers take the shape of gumdrop or jelly bean-shaped creatures with human-like arms and legs and are shown to wear several headwear located on top of their head as well as having hair on top of their head or facial hair (occasionally for certain male Mind Workers) or occasionally some types of cloth they wear around their body (such as overalls, belts, or movie costumes). In addition to these, they are shown to have several occupations such as construction workers, train engineers, machine operators, technology officers, stagehands, or directors depending on the location within Riley's mind. In addition to these occupations, several of them are shown in a variety of different shades of colors - mostly blue, green, or purple.
Appearances[]
Inside Out[]
Three Mind Workers - a train conductor and two haulers are first seen passing by Joy riding on the Train of Thought, just before Joy assigns Anger and Sadness on their specific tasks.
In a plan for Joy and Sadness to return to Emotion Headquarters, they hear two Mind Workers, Bobby and Paula patrolling through Long Term Memory planning to make several of the orbs be forgotten. As Joy tries to ask them, they ignore her as they continue doing their duty in dropping the memories in the Memory Dump while another Mind Worker assists them with their tube. Paula explains to Joy that when Riley never cares about a memory, it fades and becomes sent to the Dump. However, the Forgetters decide to keep Riley's memory of the TripleDent Gum commercial just before Joy asks them if they could help her and Sadness find a way to Friendship Island, but they ignore her again just before Friendship Island sinks to the bottom of the abyss.
Later, when Joy and Sadness are following Bing Bong through the Abstract Thought, a Mind Worker asks her fellow coworker about what abstract concept they are trying to comprehend, which he replies to her that loneliness is what they are trying to comprehend, just before the female Mind Worker plans to turn on the light inside the Abstract Thought. Having survived the morphing dimensions of the Abstract Thought and unable to get the Train of Thought Conductor's attention, Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong arrive at Trophy Town where the latter kicks a soccer ball into a goal, causing a group of Mind Workers to give him several rewards. Just as the three continue exploring, they arrive at the House of Cards where two Mind Workers are constructing the artifact made of cards - only for Bing Bong to accidentally knock it down, much to their disappointment. Just as Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bing arrive at the area where they see an imaginary boyfriend, another Mind Worker introduces him by name.
Later, when Hockey Island begins sinking into the Memory Dump, Bing Bong leads Joy and Sadness to Graham Cracker Castle, only to find out that several Mind Workers have torn down the castle, alongside a castle of Princess Dream World, a teddy bear of the Stuffed Animal Hall of Fame, and Bing Bong's rocket, sending them to the Dump, followed by another Mind Worker using his bulldozer pushing it towards the Dump. When Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong board the Train of Thought on their way to Headquarters, the train stops and Joy asks two Mind Workers of why they stopped, which the engineer replies to her that Riley is sleeping, putting the workers on break but not before Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong arrive at a movie studio titled "Dream Productions" from a distance.
Just as Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong arrive at Dream Productions, they walk past various Mind Workers bustling within the studio, just as they pass through some Mind Workers dressed as sheep, followed by Joy approaching Rainbow Unicorn who is busy reading a script. Just as Bing Bong enters a sound stage - unaware that the light is flashing outside with a sign prohibiting anyone from entering while flashing, the Dream Director is commanding a group of Mind Workers to get ready for a movie based on how Riley's day at school went miserable earlier just as the Mind Workers are getting ready to act in a movie. The studio crew films the scene with another Mind Worker playing Riley's teacher reciting her lines. However, Joy and Sadness disrupt the scene, much to the Director's shock, causing the Mind Workers to retreat in a plan for them to wake up Riley. The Dream Director then decides to summon a group of security guards to escort Bing Bong out of the scene and lock him into the Subconscious area.
As Joy and Sadness arrive at Subconscious, they realize that the entrance to the room is guarded by two security guards, Frank and Dave, leading Joy and Sadness a plan to get past the guards who are busy arguing about each other's hats. Just as they detect them, the guards then leads the two inside the Subconscious room in a plan for them to rescue Bing Bong from a giant clown named "Jangles". Just as Joy and Sadness wake up Jangles, the latter smashes through the large doors where Frank and Dave are talking outside, causing them to retreat from the clown. Meanwhile at Dream Productions, Rainbow Unicorn dances with a group of Mind Workers wearing costumes dressed as cupcakes, ice cream cones, sheep, gnomes, and a robot respectively while the studio crew films the rehearsal, but not before Jangles disrupts the scene, causing the survivors inside the studio to retreat from the giant clown.
Later, with Riley awake, the Train of Thought's conductor continues resuming his duty for Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong on their way to Headquarters, but the depression inside Riley's mind negatively affects the train's power, causing it to fall onto Long Term Memory where several Mind Workers retreat from the train falling onto the edge of a cliff as a result of the tracks disappearing, followed by the train conductor and engineer escaping from the fallen train. More Mind Workers rush towards Bing Bong, Sadness, and Joy about to fall off into the Memory Dump, which the train suddenly falls into the Dump, causing the three to lose their only way back to Headquarters, which one of them tells her that Riley is leaving for a bus taking her back to Minnesota, leading the two to save Riley's life.
During the climax of the film, Joy (this time without Bing Bong who faded away in the Memory Dump) tries to convince Sadness to help her save Riley's life just before accidentally passing through a female cloud discussing with Jake and another guard but not before trying to get her attention. Just as Joy blows a balloon to stop Sadness from leaving - unwarily collapsing the House of Cards again, two Mind Workers become frustrated again with one of them resigning from his job in reconstructing the artifact, but not before Joy and Sadness return to Headquarters to save Riley's life.
The next day at Headquarters after Riley's life was saved, Fritz and two Mind Workers introduce the Emotions - Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger to a new console, larger than what they had before. They do not make further appearances afterwards.
Inside Out 2[]
In the sequel, when Riley's puberty alarm kicks in, the mind workers starts destroying HQ and reworking the console for Demo Day. Some of the mind workers now work on Anxiety's scenarios in Imagination Land before Joy and the emotions sabotage the area.
Video game appearances[]
Inside Out: Thought Bubbles[]
Mind Workers appear in certain levels in Inside Out: Thought Bubbles - specifically in levels that involve the player rescuing them. The player must rescue all the Mind Workers depending on how many there are in the level by freeing them who are trapped in Memory Orbs in order to complete these level types. Clearing away all the Memory Orbs is not required to complete levels with Mind Workers part of the main goal, although rescuing all the Mind Workers is part of the main requirement for this level type. Once the player rescues all the Mind Workers - regardless of how many Memory Orbs are left, the level is automatically completed.
Disney Crossy Road[]
Some Mind Workers (referred to as Brain Workers in-game) also appear as playable characters in the discontinued Disney Crossy Road game in the Inside Out hub. In addition to having Dave and Paula as playable characters, a singular individual Brain Worker appears as a playable character simply labeled as "Brain Worker" who has an orange coloration all over his body. In either case, playing as either the aforementioned three did not add changes affecting gameplay. Additionally, three Brain Workers also appear as secret characters that must be unlocked through a specific method such as Bobby who was unlocked for completing the "Brain Maintenance" character set, Fritz unlocked for completing the "Feeling Emotional" character set, and Frank unlocked for capturing Bing Bong while playing as Dave. Although playing as Bobby or Frank neither add changes throughout gameplay, playing as Fritz results in some Brain Workers watching him throughout gameplay. Additionally, when playing as Disgust, Brain Workers occasionally appear where they watch over her during gameplay in certain areas.
In addition to these aforementioned Brain Workers, the Dream Director was also obtainable as the second milestone prize from the second variant of the Inside Out Weekend Challenge or as a winnable prize from the Ticket Machine if the player did not unlock her at the limited time event where she was introduced. Although she does not have a description when selected, playing as the Dream Director affects gameplay with director chairs and movie cameras scattered in certain areas during gameplay, although they serve no purpose for the player but rather as decorations.
Disney Emoji Blitz[]
Mind Workers wearing costumes for Dream Productions appear when playing as Rainbow Unicorn. When playing as her, a group of Mind Workers wearing cupcake and ice cream cone costumes appear after the player taps an area where a Rainbow Star would be placed. Doing so results in them clearing some Emojis as well as a few more tossing Rainbow Unicorn in the air, resulting said power-up to appear on the grid.
Disney Sorcerer's Arena[]
Mind Workers appeared as non-playable characters in the discontinued video game Disney Sorcerer's Arena, usually appearing as enemies in certain levels. They appeared in three different color variants as in red, blue, and green respectively.
Disney Parks[]
Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind[]
A poster depicting two Mind Workers appears in the queue for Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind where two of them are holding Memory Orbs in a poster advertising in getting a career to work for Long Term Memory. Additionally, some of the gates seen within the attraction contain "Cast Members Only" signs written as "Mind Workers Only" to match the attraction's Inside Out theme.
Trivia[]
- Two Mind Workers who are working at the Abstract Thought were voiced by Elissa Knight (who voiced EVE in WALL-E) and Ronnie del Carmen (who is an animator at Pixar) respectively. Both of their voice actors were not directly credited and were listed under "Additional voices"; nevertheless, they were confirmed to have voiced the characters in the audio commentary included in the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Inside Out. Additionally, according to the Pete Docter in the audio commentary, the Mind Worker saying, "Loneliness" was del Carmen's big part in a Pixar film.[1]
- Paula Pell, who voiced the Dream Director, also voiced Mrs. Andersen's Anger.
- Mind Worker Cop Jake's voice actor, Flea, also voiced Jordan's Fear in Riley's First Date?, a short inspired by the franchise. Flea would later voice the TV announcer for the Duke Caboom television commercial in Toy Story 4.
- A minor gag in the original Inside Out film is whenever the House of Cards is toppled, two Mind Workers react with a frustrated expression.
- At one point during the scene where Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong are arriving at Dream Productions, one of the Mind Workers seen in the first Inside Out film wears a Mickey Mouse costume - specifically the ears hat and the red pants.
Gallery[]
.png "Inside Out 2 Teaser (9).png (3.73 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ Inside Out Audio Commentary (Blu-ray Releases).
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