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TheJoyITSSPREADING6

A group of "huggers" infecting Leslie, while avoiding Tobias.

The Joy Virus or The Joy, as called by Miss Simian, is a highly contagious virus. It makes its first appearance in "The Joy."

Terminology

The virus gets its name because it causes the infected person to become extremely happy and ecstatic. The virus can spread by hugging and physical contact.

Cause

The virus is triggered when a "Wonder Hug," a hug filled with all the love and happiness in the world, is given. It is unknown if it affects the person who gives the hug. The Wonder Hug will cause a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud to appear, and the person becomes "patient zero."

TheJoyAH

Stage 1. The victim(s) will keep a huge grin on their face. The victim(s) will also heel-click uncontrollably.

TheJoyMAYBE

Stage 2. The victim(s) will start to sing in an auto-tuned voice. Not only that, they will also begin to hysterically laugh, and cough up a mysterious rainbow-colored liquid.

TheJoyCUDDLEMONKEY

Stage 3. The victim(s) pupils on their eyes will dilate, and they will begin to hallucinate.

TheJoyKISS

Stage 4. The victim(s) will have the urge to hug/kiss others. This is how they pass the infection.

TheJoyJOYZOMBIEZ

Stage 5. The infected will pass out for a short period of time, then awaken again, this time, fully infected.

TheJoy4ZOMBIEEZ

Fully infected "huggers" claim their next victim.

  • Stage 1: Smiling: The infected individual will start smiling uncontrollably. The face will remain this way, and any way to change it usually results with the face distorting itself in order to return to the smile. An alternative form is heel-clicking.
  • Stage 2: Singing: The infected individual will then start to sing in an auto-tuned voice. After that, the individual will then begin to laugh hysterically for short periods of time, and they will begin to cough up a rainbow-colored fluid.
  • Stage 3: Hallucinations: At this point, the individual begins to hallucinate. The individual's pupils dilate, which shows they are in the middle of the infection.
  • Stage 4: Hugging and Kissing: Shortly after hallucinating, the individual will feel a dominant need to hug and kiss people. This is how the infection spreads.
  • Stage 5: Final Moments: The individual will begin to laugh very hysterically, cough up rainbow fluid, then pass out for a short period of time, while they are unconscious their heart beat monitor plays a small happy song from the beeps and fills with rainbows.

When the subject wakes back up, they are now fully infected, and are in a zombie-like state. 

Huggers

A hugger is any infected individual who has gone through all five stages of infection. They are mindless, zombie-like, and highly contagious. 

Physical traits

These traits denote a hugger physically.

  • The goofy grin.
  • The rainbow fluid, which the infected individual would continuously cough up before passing out, will now drool out of their mouth.
  • The dilated pupils. In Mr. Small's case, the pupils are smaller and red, and in Tina's case, her pupils seem "demonic", and Gumball gains eyelashes.
  • Arms held out.
  • Hysterical laughter.
  • Ripped clothes.
CrazyDar

A close-up of a hugger.

Mental traits

These can denote a hugger mentally.

  • Huggers lose most of their intelligence and memory when they pass out. They remember basic skills, such as running and hugging, and have retained some memory, as when Gumball hugged (and infected) Penny, after kicking away an infected Banana Joe.
    TheJoyITSSPREADING9

    An example of a hugger retaining some of his memory.

  • They are easily fooled. If one acts like a hugger, the person can get through an entire horde with ease. However, they are attracted to yelling, discipline, and unhappiness, and will try to infect any depressed person.

A hugger hugs any individual in its sight. Any normal hugger is not very strong, yet an entire horde is enough to rip a room apart board by board.

Contagion

A hugger infects people rather quickly. The more huggers, the quicker the infection will spread. Following this rule, one or two huggers can infect an entire school within five minutes. 

The infection for people hugged by a hugger is faster; the infection stages speed up greatly, causing a hugged person to be fully infected within five seconds, unless they are very miserable, like Miss Simian, which in that case the infection will take longer (up to 30 seconds).

Vaccine/Cure

TheJoySadZombieBrown

Principal Brown being warded off by depressing music.

The Joy Virus vaccine is kind of like a camouflage. If you dress up multicolored, for example: Tobias, the infected will think that you are already infected. The only known possible cure is to play depressing music, such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Because of the music's dark and depressing nature, this combats the virus and forces huggers to flee. The hugger's pupils are no longer dilated and will return to its original look. It is unknown if prolonged exposure to this music can completely revert the effects of the virus.

Symptoms of Joy Virus

  • Happiness
  • Hugging
  • Fever
  • Kissing
  • Dilated pupils
  • Rainbow fluids
  • High temperature
  • Uncontrollable smiling
  • Fast heartbeat

People infected

Gallery

Trivia

  • Miss Simian managed to survive the first wave of the infection and even find the cure, but failed to completely neutralize it, and got infected by Gumball and Darwin when they ambushed her from behind.
  • It is possible that Richard was not infected, because he caused the epidemic via the "Wonder Hug."
  • Carrie, Ocho, Hector, Rob and Molly were some of the few students not infected. This is because Carrie, Ocho, and Hector were absent for the duration of the episode. As for Rob and Molly, they had been sucked into the Void. It is also probable that Sarah and Idaho managed to escape, as they were not seen being infected.
  • The Librarian was the only staff member not infected.
  • Gumball and Darwin were the Joy Virus' first victims.
  • Principal Brown is the only known survivor of the Joy Virus.
  • Surprisingly, Bobert was able to get infected despite his emotionless nature.
  • Richard was responsible of the outbreak of the Joy Virus.
    • Anais might be somewhat responsible for the outbreak as well, since she convinced Richard to hug them to begin with.
  • In "The Tape," a similar rainbow liquid to that of the virus comes out of Gumball when he is affected by Darwin's cuteness, and in "The Blame," the rainbow drool from Billy's mouth looks similar like the infected person.
  • By the end of this episode, the Joy Virus may have worn off, because every episode has reverted back to status quo.
  • It is shown that Tobias was the last student infected although it's unknown how or who infected him, as he was shown to be infected when most if not all off the infected ones were shown forcing themselves in the principal's office where Miss Simian was. (see picture 12)
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