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{{Infobox_character
|name=Kyubey
|image=[[File:Kyuubey Chara Sheet.jpg|300px]]
|jname=キュゥべえ
|voices=Japanese: [https://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=creator&creatorid=641 Emiri Katou]<br />English: [https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=95781 Cassandra Lee]<br />Italian: [https://myanimelist.net/people/9993/Loretta_Di_pisa Loretta di Pisa]<br />Spanish: Inmaculada Villalonga (Anime) / Marta Barbará (Rebellion)<br />Cantonese: Wong Wai Zu<br />French: Pascale Chemin<br>Russian: Anna Mosolova (Magia Record)<br />Mexican Spanish: [https://doblaje.fandom.com/es/wiki/Susana_Moreno Susana Moreno] (Magia Record)<br>Brazilian Portuguese: Bianca Lua (Magia Record) 
}}
<blockquote>''"I want you to make contracts with me and become magical girls!"'' - Kyubey, [[Episode 1]].</blockquote> 

{{Nihongo|'''Kyubey'''|キュゥべえ|Kyūbē}} is a {{nihongo|"messenger of magic"|魔法の使者|mahō no shisha}} who grants the wishes of young girls, but in exchange contracts their services as magical girls. Girls who form a contract with him are tasked to defeat witches &mdash; bizarre entities that feed upon the hopes and dreams of normal people. Kyubey features prominently as a character within the entire ''Puella Magi'' series.

==Appearance==
Kyubey is a small cat-like creature about two feet long (including tail). His entire body is covered in often clean, white fur. He has what appear to be four ears; two that resemble an average cat, pointed and up, while the other two appear as long tassel-like appendages that split into three sections at their tip. The tassels fade from white to pink and have three red dots horizontally before the splits. they also bear a pair of floating golden rings.

Kyubey's face is his most well known feature; two beady pink and eyes with dark maroon irises and a tiny, omega-shaped "cat mouth". Due to Kyubey's method of telepathic communication, his face remains almost completely unmoving except for blinking and consuming food. This unmoving face is often a source of fan stigma involving Kyubey "staring into one's soul".

On his back is an egg-shaped red oval. In episode 6, this oval flips up, like a trapdoor to act as a receptacle for grief seed fragments.

In the anime, Kyubey has not been evidenced to bleed, however, when injured, he has red matter underneath his fur. When he is shot by Homura several times, Kyubey's body does not seem to contain organs, only solid red. Whether this is artistic censorship or an actual attribute of Kyubey's anatomy is yet unknown.

In the anime, Kyubey's body often makes noises like a plush toy when squeezed or pressed against, suggesting that he is soft and cuddly, at least physically.

In ''Oriko Magica'', Kyubey takes on even more of a "plush toy" appearance than before. Now, his sharp tipped tassel ears are soft and curved, lacking the pink gradient and red spots. His magical hoops have moved further up his ears and his front legs appear to have shortened.

==Personality==
Kyubey is an alien known as an "incubator". Because of this, he, like his race, cannot exhibit emotions of any kind. As a result, Kyubey often appears cold, calculating and scheming; traits that make him appear villainous in the series. Kyubey, however, only seeks to achieve a goal; to preserve the universe from entropy. To meet this goal, he takes all means logically efficient and reasonable; namely creating Magical Girls. Initially, Kyubey appears enthusiastic to help the Magical Girls in their quest, offering advice where applicable, however, as more of his true motive is revealed, either by him or others, Kyubey becomes progressively more passive and observatory in manner (although this could be because he has no advice left to offer). 

Kyubey uses certain speech patterns that indicate he may see himself as superior to the magical girls; the lack of honorifics, the use of the pronouns "Boku" (僕) and "Kimi" (君) and the misuse or overall lack of polite verbs suggests that he is either rude or very casual towards the girls. However, due to his emotionless nature, and the fact that he is an alien, Kyubey may simply not understand the need to be polite, as opposed to being direct.

{{spoiler|Throughout the series, Kyubey is often accused of trickery and deceit by turning girls into Magical Girls, and subsequently witches, treating humans as energy livestock under the guise of being a miracle granter. Although this can easily be understood, Kyubey states that he never intended to "trick" Magical Girls, but simply leave out traumatizing subtext in order to make the process more appealing to a potential Magical Girls.}}

==Description==
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Kyubey is an Incubator, a member of an alien race dedicated to counteracting the effects of (and possibly negating) entropy: the principle that energy output is always less than energy input, a fact that is presently causing the universe to slowly die out. In order to achieve this, Kyubey collects raw energy from a source that seems to be excepted from entropy: the emotions of girls in their second growth stage (14-18). To harvest this energy, Kyubey forms contracts with teenage girls, trading one wish for their servitude as a Puella Magi, magical girls who use their powers to defeat the evil witches, who then drop grief seeds. The energy produced during this process is then harvested by Kyubey through unknown means. Kyubey does not reveal, however, that Puella Magi turn into witches after falling into despair, which are then fought by other Puella Magi, creating an endless cycle. Because of this, Kyubey is often seen as the true antagonist of the series, despite the fact that his justification is that he is saving countless other sectors of the universe in doing so. Kyubey's goal during the course of ''Madoka Magica'' is to turn Madoka into an incredibly powerful Puella Magi, who will then destroy Walpurgis Night and become the most powerful witch, Kriemhild Gretchen, a process which apparently produces obscene amounts of energy, at the expense of the human race (as there would be no Puella Magi able to defeat the most powerful witch).
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==Story==

==== In [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc|Wraith Arc]] ====
<blockquote>''"There are times when humans become attached to dreams. Until now, civilization has been build in order to repeat those desires. But, longing too much for ungranted wishes hinders the consciousness and leads humans towards ruin."'' - Kyubey, Wraith Arc, Ch. 7 </blockquote> [[File:Kyubey wraith arc.png|thumb|200px|Kyubey in Wraith Arc]]

* Kyubey first appears in Chapter 1, watching Kyoko and Sayaka quarrel and talking with Mami about the giant wraith that looms over the city. He worries about their lack of teamwork.
* In Chapter 2, Kyubey tells Sayaka of a wraith that is currently hunting down Hitomi. Later he appears again after Kyoko and Sayaka's second fight to warn them that Mami is in danger as it seems the giant wraith has taken advantage of their absence in order to target Mami. 
* In Chapter 3, he tells Homura to pace herself better in her relentless battle against the wraiths. They discuss the law of cycles and Kyubey's doubts on the veracity of Homura's tale of the previous universe. 
* In Chapter 4, Kyubey continues their discussion on the nature of Homura's new magical ability of memory manipulation, stating her time-manipulation magic would be very useful and voicing a curiosity at seeing this time of ability. Later, he is seen riding on Homura's shoulders as they search the city for the whereabouts of the giant wraith. 
* In Chapter 6, Kyubey examines the mutant wraith posing as Madoka, noting Homura's magic and a large amount of curses emanating from within the wraith. Later, Homura talks with Kyubey and asks him what she wished for in this world in order to become a magical girl, but Kyubey doesn't know the answer. 
* In Chapter 7, Kyubey is seen in flashback granting Homura's original wish to go back in time in order to protect Madoka. At Homura's apartment, Kyubey comes to see what has become of Homura now that {{spoiler|she has let all her emotions be consumed by a wraith in order to avoid meeting the Law of Cycles.}} 
* In Chapter 9, Kyubey appears it the final pages as Homura discusses with him the previous universe despite Kyubey not believing what she is telling him. As Homura drops to the streets below to battle the wraiths, Kyubey {{spoiler|takes out the piece of Homura's time shield he salvaged in the previous timeline, allowing him to keep his memories of all the events of Wraith Arc and giving him the proof he needed of the existence of Madoka.}}

==== In [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion|The Rebellion Story]] ====

Kyubey spends the majority of the movie playing as the cute mascot he appears to be, complete with only responding with the word "Kyu" whenever anyone interacts with him. 
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By the end of the film, as Homura is transforming into a witch, Kyubey drops his charade and reveals this world to be a witch's barrier that was created inside of Homura's soul gem as a way to lure the Law of Cycles in. This way the Incubators will be able to observe her and ultimately control her, bringing back the old witch system rather than relying on grief cubes to harvest their emotional energy. He is unable to convince Madoka to exhibit her ultimate powers and Homulilly is defeated. After Homura resets the universe, Kyubey and the other Incubators are forced to shoulder the burden of the world's curses.
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==== In [[Puella Magi Kazumi Magica|Kazumi Magica]] ====
<blockquote>''"We Incubators don't have individual consciousnesses. We belong to a single consciousness."'' - Kyubey, Kazumi Magica, Ch. 21.</blockquote> 
[[File:Kyubey with airi.png|thumb|250px|Kyubey proposing a contract to Airi.]]
Kyubey appears in Chapters 2, 4, 5, 14, 20 and 21 of [[Kazumi Magica]].
* In Chapter 2 Kyubey appears as a silhouette along with [[Madoka]] as [[Kaoru]] explains magic to [[Kazumi]].
* In Chapter 4 Kyubey is seen at the very beginning of the chapter, sitting next to [[Jubey]] as they watch the [[Pleiades Saints]]. He cryptically asks if things will go better "this time".
* In Chapter 5 Kyubey's role is expanded. He appears briefly when Yuuri becomes a witch, similar to the end of Episode 8. He then further appears in the extended flashback of [[Yuuri]]'s and Airi's backstory. First he contracts with Yuuri, and then after Yuuri becomes a witch and is killed by the Pleiades he explains exactly what happened to Airi, culminating in her contracting with him. When she contracts, he tells her that "[[Episode 10|Your wish has surpassed entropy.]]" Kyubey also tells Airi about the Pleaides Saints when she asks who killed Yuuri. During the entire chapter, Kyubey either appears as a shadow or in the shadows. It's quite clear that he is manipulating Airi, and that he is ultimately responsible for almost all of the subsequent events in the series beyond simply contracting magical girls to become witches.
* In Chapter 14, Kyubey's face is seen as Satomi realizes the truth of where witches come from after watching Michiru become one. He is also seen watching from above (like [[Niko]] and Jubey, who can be seen a few panels before) while Satomi reveals the truth of the clones to Kazumi and forces them to fight one another.
* In Chapter 20, Kyubey appears in person when {{Spoiler|Umika and Kaoru call for him, having recovered their memories of Incubators, which were suppressed by a spell cast by Umika.}}
* In Chapter 21, Kyubey reveals that Incubators don't have individual consciousnesses. They are like a network terminal connected to one single consciousness. 
** Strangely, Kyubey ''"wanted"'' to talk to Juubey, it wanted to talk to another of his kind, {{spoiler|even if it was man-made}}.
** It's implied that {{Spoiler|in all of the flashbacks from previous chapters, any appearances by Juubey were actually of Kyubey. This suggests that Kyubey was manipulating Airi and Kanna in order to make them go after the Pleiades Saints.}}

==== In [[Puella Magi Oriko Magica|Oriko Magica]] ====
<blockquote>''"What a shame, huh?" <br \ > --"Incubator...!!" <br \ > "Well, I found her. I found Madoka Kaname."'' - Kyubey, Oriko and Homura. Puella Magi Oriko Magica, [[Oriko_Magica#Chapter_6:_Someday_isn.27t_today|Chapter 6]].</blockquote> 
[[File:Kyubeyinoriko01.png|thumb|145px|Kyubey as he appears in Oriko Magica.]]
* In Chapter 1, Kyubey contracts with [[Oriko]], who tells him of [[Yuma]], another Puella Magi candidate he should try contracting. He later tries to convince Yuma to contract with him, but is stopped by [[Kyoko]]. Kyoko then learns from him about the recent murders of Puella Magi. When he appears again, speaking with Oriko, he claims that human emotions are unfathomable to him. Oriko replies that he should learn to appreciate them, as they give him what he desires.
* In Chapter 2, he successfully contracts with Yuma after Kyoko is attacked by a witch.
* In Chapter 3, he tells [[Mami]] about the recent murders of Puella Magi. He says that the most recent victim told him the murderer was a "black Puella Magi," and not a witch.
* In Chapter 5, Kyubey discusses the identity of the black magical girl with Mami, and told her he never mentioned Kirika because he had no proof it was her. He discovers Oriko's plot to kill Madoka before she can contract and eventually become a witch, and tries to stop her.
* In Chapter 6, he sends Kyoko and Yuma to help Mami defeat the witch that has put a barrier around Mitakihara Junior High, as well as stop Oriko, who has gone out of control. Despite both Homura and Oriko's attempts to hide Madoka from him, he finds her inside the barrier.
* In Chapter 7, {{spoiler|Oriko uses the last of her life to shoot a piece of Kirika's witch body through him and Madoka, who was hidden behind him, through a wall. She kills the girl before she can contract, foiling both Homura and Kyubey's plans.}}

Kyubey also appears in ''Noisy Citrine'', the prequel manga that focuses on [[Kirika Kure]].

Additionally, Kyubey exhibits a power he hasn't shown before Oriko Magica: levitation. He is rarely seen standing on anything in the manga, usually preferring to float in mid-air.

==== In [[Puella Magi Suzune Magica|Suzune Magica]] ====
<blockquote>''"...But apart from the use we've found for them, emotions are nothing but illogical, needless impulses that you ought to expunge from yourselves. "'' - Kyubey, Suzune Magica Ch. 8 </blockquote> [[File:Kyubey suzune magica.jpg|thumb|200px|Kyubey in Suzune Magica]]

* Kyubey first appears at the end of Chapter 2, telling the [[Hohzuki]] magical girls about [[Suzune]] assassinating magical girls. 
* In Chapter 3, Kyubey is shown in a flashback forming a contract with [[Arisa]]. 
* In Chapter 5, Kyubey is shown in a flashback forming a contract with [[Haruka]]. 
* In Chapter 6, Kyubey appears at the end of the chapter to confirm Suzune's claims.
* In Chapter 7, Kyubey informs the girls that he is the one who proposed the magical girl system in the first place. He explains entropy and the reason he withheld information from the girls. After Suzune leaves, he shows the girls a vision of Suzune's past and her reason for assassinating magical girls as well as his role in forming a contract with Suzune. 
*In Chapter 8, Kyubey's head is crushed by Arisa after explaining it was more efficient to let Suzune murder magical girls rather than stop her. At the end of the chapter, he has a short discussion with Suzune on how illogical and useless emotions are. 
* In Chapter 9, Kyubey is seen at the end of the chapter urging [[Kagari]] to action.
* In Chapter 11, Kyubey is seen at the end of the chapter asking Kagari what her next action will be. 
* In Chapter 12, Kyubey is shown in a flashback, forming a contract with [[Matsuri]] and offering the same to Kagari. He is walking around the city with the girls as they search for [[Tsubaki]]. 
* In Chapter 13, {{spoiler|Kyubey is shown in flashback eating what appears to be a previous body of his as he explains to Kagari the manner in which magical girls turn into witches. Afterwards, Kagari makes a contract with Kyubey in order to exact revenge on Suzune. Kyubey is willing to go along with her plan so long as the energy that is lost from the murdered magical girls is less than the energy he'll collect from Kagari, Matsuri and Suzune.}}
* In Chapter 15, {{spoiler|Kyubey appears to assist Matsuri in combat against Kagari. He explains Kagari's abilities to her and helps her by reminding her of her ability to track people. }}
* In Chapter 16, {{spoiler|Kyubey appears to inform Suzune that even should she use her last grief seed to save Matsuri, Matsuri may turn into a witch from the sheer grief of losing Kagari and Suzune. At the end of the chapter, Kyubey is seen talking to Matsuri and lamenting the amount of energy he would have gathered from her. }}

==== In [[Puella Magi Tart Magica|Tart Magica]] ====
<blockquote>''"I must admit, you aren't the first to have called me an angel. Are there that many outward similarities between what you call "angels" and myself?"'' - Kyubey, Tart Magica, Ch. 2.</blockquote> [[File:Tartmagica cube.png|thumb|300px|Kyubey in Tart Magica]]

Kyubey appears in [[Tart Magica]], calling himself ''"Cube"'' (''キューブ Kyūbu'') and often times (an) Angel by [[Tart]].
* He first appears in Chapter 2 alongside [[Riz Hawkwood]] when she saved Tart and her sister [[Catherine]] from a witch.
** Because the rings that float around his tassels resemble angel halos, Tart believes him to be an angel and refers to him as such. Kyubey notes that Tart isn't the first to have called him one and wonders if there are that many similarities between himself and angels. He also states that he doesn't mind being called an angel by Tart.
** Kyubey and Riz reveal to Tart that they have been searching for her. Upon asking for her name, she introduces herself as Jeanette and Kyubey asks her to write it to see how it's spelled (where she spells her full name as "Jeanne Tart"). Kyubey likes the sound of Tart better than Jeanne (as it is a common name) and begins referring to her as Tart.
* Riz and Tart travel to meet the King, encountering [[Melissa]] in the process. Melissa can see Cube, but Tart says she doesn't want Melissa to contract.
* Tart and [[La Hire]] are gravely wounded by an attack from [[Flèche]], causing Melissa to make a wish to save their lives.
* It is revealed that {{spoiler|Cube made a wish with [[Isabeau]] to have everything that you (Cube) possesses, like his immortality and ability to grant wishes.}}

==== In [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record|Magia Record]] ====
<blockquote>''"Mokyu!"'' - Small Kyubey</blockquote>[[File:Mokyu.png|thumb|250px|Small Kyubey]]

Kyubey initially appears as a small Kyubey that [[Iroha]] is tracking in [[Kamihama City]]. It isn't until after she is able to capture it that she suddenly recalls all memories of her missing sister [[Ui]]. Thereafter, the name of the creature is whatever the player inputs as their player name and serves as a proxy for the player. It often stands in when Iroha is thinking or talking to herself and will present her with two or three different dialogue options presented as some variation of "Mokyu" with the actual dialogue in parenthesis underneath. The dialogue choice often has no bearing on the story outside of branching events. The small Kyubey itself doesn't speak outside of saying "Mokyu", unlike the regular version of Kyubey. 

Iroha also attempted to make [[Touka]] and [[Nemu]] remember her sister Ui by having them hug the small Kyubey, but they knocked it away before it could make contact. 

In Chapter 10 it was revealed {{spoiler|that Ui, Touka, and Nemu all contracted in order to save Iroha from the fate of turning into a witch. They each took Kyubey's ability to absorb, convert and create energy. As soon as the contract was made, Kyubey's hoops fell off and he regressed into the small Kyubey of the present day.}}

Kyubey himself initially only appeared in events or side stories, often in the past, and is presented as being unable to enter Kamihama City due to the doppel barrier. Beginning in Arc 2, Touka Satomi was able to make contact with Kyubey via a sophisticated machine that allowed her to view and speak with Kyubey on a screen. 

A pink Kyubey also appears in the event [[Magia Record Story Kamihama Cheese Panic!|Kamihama Cheese Panic!]]. It seems to be an envoy of the Law of Cycles and accompanies [[Nagisa Momoe in Magia Record|Nagisa]] to Kamihama city. It doesn't speak and has a pink color scheme with white ear tips. Nagisa is shown blowing it up in front of the other magical girls.
<gallery>
File:Small kyubey manga.jpg|The small Kyubey in the Magia Record manga
File:Pink Kyubey.png|Pink Kyubey
</gallery>

==== In [[Null Magical Girl]] ====
[[File:Null_Vol2_Illustration3.png|thumb|200px|Kyubey in Null Magical Girl]]
In Null Magical Girl, Kyubey acts as a messenger and guide for [[Kosane]] during her journey of finding out the truth of magical girls. He reveals to Kosane that she has no soul and also lacks a brain. Throughout the story, Kyubey lives inside Kosane's empty head and is shown to have the ability to alter her cells. Using this alteration, he has giving Kosane the ability of flight and has also made it so Kosane can no longer perceive emotion.

As the two travel on the Time and Space Railway, the two of them are attacked by five ''[[Homo magica]]''. Kosane blacks out and, when she awakens, she finds herself and Kyubey in a plane full of ''Homo magica''. Kyubey doesn't sense any Incubators, and assumes that they had all gone extinct due to attacks from the ''Homo magica''.

He uses his future sight as the planet Terminus, where Kosane was hiding, is destroyed in order to find the best path for her to escape alive.

==Powers==
Kyubey has a wide variety of magical abilities which he uses in his mission to counteract entropy. They are listed below
*'''Telepathic Communication:''' Kyubey communicates with potential and contracted Magical Girls through telepathy, as opposed to verbally. He is able to use himself as a medium through which non-contracted girls can communicate to each other or contracted Magical Girls.
*'''Vision Sharing:''' Kyubey can share visions of sights and sounds with potential and contracted Magical Girls.
*'''Selective Invisibility:''' Kyubey is invisible to everyone except for Magical Girls and girls with sufficient magical potential. Normal humans do not notice his presence at all, just as he does not seem able to communicate with them. 
*'''Teleportation:''' Kyubey has been evidenced to cross long distances in impossibly short time spans, the method for which is yet unknown, but can be assumed to be teleportation. In episode 10, he also fades into reality above Homura, which may be the visible manifestation of him teleporting.
*'''Wish Granting:''' Kyubey can grant wishes to those with magical [[potential]], no matter how wild and unrealistic they may be. However, this process is limited by the karmic potential of a contractee, and insufficient karmic power may result in negative or unintended side-effects, such as lack of power control or a wish that cannot be properly or completely executed. Kyubey himself has no control over ''how'' a wish is interpreted, and seems to be unable to refuse or revoke a wish once a proper one has been made. However, there have been shown to be some exceptions to what he can grant, unlimited by a girl's karmic potential, such as if a wish is for something that does not exist (for example, wishing to visit a fictional location).
*'''Soul Gem Creation:''' Kyubey is capable of creating a small egg-shaped gemstone called a Soul Gem for each Magical Girl {{Spoiler|; he does this by pulling the contractee's soul out of their body and forming it into their Soul Gem. As such, this results in temporal pain on the contractee while the contract is made}}. This makes the newly formed Magical Girl capable of transforming and using magic, as well as increased agility, strength and pain threshold, {{Spoiler|at the expense of the soul being separate from the body and thus controlling it externally, akin to a puppet}}.
*'''Soul Gem Stimulation:''' As referenced in episode 7, {{Spoiler|Kyubey can create impulses of certain feelings on a soul gem simply by touching it. In Sayaka's case, he emulates a pike (probably mimicking Kyoko's) impaling Sayaka's stomach.}}
*'''Energy Conversion/Collection:''' Kyubey is able to collect emotional energy from {{Spoiler|Witch transformation,}} and Doppel summoning. As explained in Magia Record, Kyubey does not need to be in proximity to a {{spoiler|Witch formation}} or the summoning of a Doppel to obtain its energy, as he collects it even while he cannot enter Kamihama City. This implies that the collection of this emotional energy is an inherent part of either process that he merely facilitates, or that this energy is naturally released into the universe when it is created. In Timeline 6, he collects it by magical girls dropping grief seed fragments into a hatch-like "mouth" on his red oval on his back. How he is able to transport this energy also remains a mystery.
*'''Grief Seed Consumption:''' Said to be one of Kyubey's "many duties", he can open a hole in the teardrop-like marking on his back to consume Grief Seeds. This permanently destroys the Grief Seed, preventing the Witch within it from regenerating when it accumulates enough taint from a Soul Gem it purifies. It is unclear if he only does this to prevent Witches from reappearing, and thus keeping their population manageable, or if it is part of his process of collecting emotional energy, given he already collects it when {{spoiler|Soul Gems become Grief Seeds}}.
*{{Spoiler|'''Replication:''' Kyubeys, or Incubators, are an artificially-created hive-mind/collective that span the universe, looking for people to turn into Magical Girls so as to collect emotional energy and combat entropy. Multiple individuals of his kind, referred to as "terminals", exist simultaneously, and can act, think, and talk independently of each other, but they all retain the same knowledge and memories. Typically, only one Kyubey terminal is primarily active in a given territory at any time, though several are either kept in reserve nearby or are somehow instantly deployed to replace one another if they are killed by some means. So as to save energy, they will consume the remains of their fallen selves when possible.}}
*'''Cell Alteration''': Kyubey can alter the bodies, including the brains, of beings who have incubator cells within them and make it possible for them to do things they otherwise couldn't.
*'''Future Sight''': Kyubey can predict multiple futures and can make attempts to force the future that benefits him the most. Because this is merely a calculation, it is not technically a true "seeing into the future".

==Observations==
*Kyubey's speech patterns may have been used to give a "foreign" touch to Kyubey's speech, as this pattern emulates the typical way of speaking in other languages, such as English.
**It can also be interpreted as Kyubey treating personal names just as tags for identifying individuals, similar to a social security number.
**''Boku'' is also used by girls, but this is uncommon in real life. In manga, anime and alike, this is often employed for girls exhibiting "boyish" personality traits. Such girls are called ''boku-kko'' (僕っ子) a western equivalent is a "tomboy".
* He will often flick his ears or roll around when teasing or being interested.
* In Madoka's new universe, he seems to have lost most of his knowledge and is very interested in what Homura is actually saying.
*It would seem that Kyubey never lies but instead holds back important information, often under the pretense of no-one asking him. An example for this is episode 9: when Kyoko asks him if Sayaka can be saved, he only says that nobody ever tried to turn a witch back into a human being (which could in fact be true), rather than saying that it's indeed possible (which would be a lie, as he reveals to Homura at the end of the episode). However, Kyubey also tells Madoka that he is incapable of manipulating humans, which contradicts the reason why he allowed Kyoko to chase after Sayaka in the first place: he wanted her to be killed so that only Homura would be left to battle the powerful Walpurgis, thus forcing Madoka to become a magical girl. This is clearly an attempt to manipulate Madoka's actions, making his earlier statement to her a lie.
*Apparently Kyubey selects the right moment and the right time to appear to grant wishes to his victims, and he seems to await for the conditions to be perfect to secure a good level of energy. At first glance he gives the impression that he is coming to rescue his victims by allowing them a wish during their weakest moment. He probably can sense a great moment of despair and he awaits for the girls' state of mind to be in turmoil and ready to ask for a (selfish) wish. It is speculated that he does this to guarantee that their wishes will be selfish in nature so it would fail to meet their expectations. In doing so Kyubey secures a great amount of despair thus releasing a great level of energy.
*To our knowledge, Kyubey has thus far only accepted wishes that his species's technology can "grant:" the healing of a paralyzed hand (Sayaka), the rescuing of a girl trapped in a crushed automobile (Mami), mass mind-control (Kyoko), and time travel (Homura). 
**While we don't know for sure the bounds of this technology or of his wish granting abilities, we definitely do know that Kyubey's species can't end the heat death of the universe on its own, meaning that Kyubey may not be able to grant the wish "Save the universe from entropy!" Kyubey most likely can't provide the catalyst necessary for such a wish to come true. He'd have to rely entirely on the magic of the girl in question, and so far as we know Madoka has been the only person he's met who might have the magical potential to rewrite the laws of the universe. 
** No limits on wishes were stated. He hasn't failed to grant (or rejected) any wish on the first request, even though he was shown to have negotiated with Kagari in Suzune Magica due to the potential counterproductivity of her wish. (Was technology ever mentioned?)
** However, note, that wish granting may essentially be considered as an exertion of energy. Yet, magical girls generate more energy upon their deceit, therefore it is anti-entropy. To wish against entropy, all the energy in the universe would not suffice.
*Some fan speculation has arisen that the "Kyu" in Kyubey may be resemblant to a tag or identification number, just as Juubey has the number 10 affixed to "Juu" Kyubey is Number 9 in the series. although this would make sense, Kazumi Magica conffirms that the "Juu" in Juubey does not mean 10. Juubey, however is also not a "real" incubator 
**In Chapter 21 of Kazumi Magica, {{spoiler|Kyubey ''"wanted"'' to communicate with Juubey, even if it was man-made, as it wanted to connect with another of his kind. It is unknown if Kyubey's reasons were because it wanted to learn more about Juubey or if it was ''"feeling lonely"''.}}

==Name spelling==
*Kyubey's Name spelling is often a topic of argument amongst fans, the many various spellings in different texts have caused confusion as to its meaning
**His name is written in both Hiragana and Katakana as キュ''(kyu)''ゥ''(u)''べ''(be)''え''(e)'', so Kyuubee or Kyuubey would be most accurate as a romanization.
**On the other hand, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re0TB956D5E&feature=related the fifth commercial] has his name romanized as "Kyubey", which resulted in controversy. However, the lack of the extra u is probably just a use of the modified Hepburn system, which never accounts for extended vowels.
**[[Translated_Official_Documents#Kyubey_cuteness|Gen Urobuchi joked]] that the "Kyu" comes from the katakana of the English word ''Cute'' so it could also be Cubey.
**[[Episode 8]] suggests that his name comes from 'Incubator', which would be romanized as 'in'''kyubee'''taa.' In the same episode, it is revealed that he has multiple replacements.
***During Kyubey's dialogues in episode 9, he keeps saying "we", meaning that he isn't the only Incubator.
**Some fans of 2ch have taken to assigning the kanji 「九兵衛」 (''Kyūbē'', lit. ''nine protector soldiers'' or ''nine warriors in defense'') to his name, speculating that like Doraemon (whose name can be written as 「銅鑼衛門」), Kyubey's naming might have been inspired by old Samurai dramas.
**'QB' is short for 'Kyubey' in Niconico Douga. This name is also common on 2ch.
[[File:Kyubey's moving tail.gif|200px|right]]

==Trivia==
*For more information about energy, entropy and thermodynamics in general, see [[Thermodynamics]].
**In ''Null Magical Girl'', Kosane is a thermodynamics major.
* Kyubey apparently enjoys hot baths and human food, as evidenced in the second episode of the anime.
* Kyubey's appearance (and name) share an affinity to [[wikipedia:Nine-tailed_fox|Kyuubi]], Mythical Japanese foxes with nine tails. In folklore, Kyuubi were known to possess men and have them do the Kyuubi's bidding, a trait identical to Kyubey's desire to collect energy from magical girls.
*In the [[Drama CD 2|Drama CD ''"Sunny Day Life"'']] Kyubey tries to convince to an exasperated Madoka that ''"he"'' doesn't see himself as male (in human terms) so ''"he"'' doesn't understand why ''"he"'' isn't allowed to be in the bathroom with a naked Madoka.
**On the Blu-ray commentary it was pointed by [[Gen Urobuchi]] that Kyubey has no gender. 
*According to the Blu-Ray Episode 2 voice commentary:
**Kyubey was not based on any animal, just the concept of a "small mahou shoujo animal" 
**When asked what animals were used as the basis for Kyubey's design, Ume Aoki was very cryptic because of spoilers.
***The only clue she gives is {{spoiler|"coil"''. According to the drama CD interpreter, it's possible that it relates to the theory that Kyubey's design is based on the uterus. Supporters of this theory believe Kyubey's ears look like fallopian tubes.}} It could also refer to {{spoiler|Incubator}}, which has a similar meaning to it. This interpretation was proven wrong in the commentary for episode 8, where Chiwa Saito explained that the truth that was hidden was that the marking on Kyubey's back is that of an egg, and that was the connection to {{spoiler|Incubator}}.
* The word '{{spoiler|incubator}}' derives from the Latin word '{{spoiler|incubare}}', meaning '{{spoiler|to lie upon}}'. Another term derived from it is {{spoiler|incubus, a male demon said to have sex with women while they sleep and causing their dreams to become perverted. This happening was believed to be the cause of the birth of witches}}.
*A fanart meme tends to point out Kyubey's similarity to [https://prettycure.fandom.com/wiki/Hummy Hummy], the mascot of ''Suite Precure♪'', the other (much more traditional, child-friendly, and optimistic) magical girl series that began airing in Winter 2011. Due to the closeness of their airing dates, this is likely a coincidence, but it has not gone unnoticed and adds to the series' postmodernist deconstruction of the magical girl genre.
*In an interview with [[NewType 2011-07|NewType]], Shinbo was thinking of giving lip-synching to Kyubey in the new world but Yukihiro Miyamoto said no since fundamentally Kyubey remains the same creature as before, only interested in energy efficiency, so he remains unchanged. Also in the interview it's stated Kyubey doesn't move his mouth to speak because he is communicating by telepathy.
**Prior to broadcasting, no one told the seiyuu (specially Emiri Kato) that Kyubey's mouth doesn't move, so she tried to properly lip-synch her lines. When they saw the first episode on the air, the seiyuu were shocked that they were tricked.
*Aoi Yuuki (Madoka), Chiwa Saito (Homura), and Kaori Mizuhashi (Mami) tried for the role of Kyubey. Saito was told her Kyubey sounded too stupid, and in Yuuki's part hers sounded too naive and that she was too cute for it (no surprise there). They all found the role for Kyubey to be too difficult and the Kyubey character too smart for them.
*In the Audio Commentary for [[Episode 9]], before reading the script or knowing the nature of the show, Emiri Kato (VA of Kyubey) was very happy that she was voicing a cute animal character.
*Gen Urobuchi comments in the Audio Commentary for [[Episode 12]] that Kyubey's presence is world wide. This can be interpreted as multiple Kyubeys are being used to contract and reduce entropy; and are not limited to just using one single Incubator at a time. This would explain as to why Kyubey can consume dead predecessors. It may also suggest that instead of Kyubey being able to teleport, there are simply several, each one assigned to go with a magical girl or clusters thereof, at a time.
*During the [[Sakura-Con 2012 Interview|Sakura-Con 2012 panel interview]], Urobuchi explains that Kyubey is not evil, it is his lack of human feelings that makes him scary. 
**Urobuchi compares [[wikipedia:Hp_lovecraft|H.P. Lovecraft]]'s [[wikipedia:Cthulhu_Mythos_deities|creatures]] to be same as Kyubey, in that they are uninterested in humans feelings.

==Gallery==
See [[Gallery:Kyubey]]

==Memoria Cards==
{{Magia Record Memoria Header}}
{{File:Madoka kyubey memoria.png}}
{{File:Homura kyubey memoria.png}}
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{{File:Madoka homura kyubey memoria.png}}
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{{File:Mamí Madoka Halloween memoria.png}}
{{File:Madoka haregi personal memoria.png}}
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{{File:Mito Aino personal memoria.png}}
{{File:Good time memoria.png}}
{{File:Iroha of the Midsummer Sea Memoria.png}}
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{{File:Kyubey knight.png}}
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{{Magia Record Memoria Footer}}

==See Also==
*[[Animedia_2011-05#Kato_Emiri_.28Kyubey.29_Data_File|Kato Emiri's Data file]]
*[[Emiri Katō]]'s page on the wiki
*[[Thermodynamics]]
*[[Speculah:Kyuubey_is_Evil_Theory|Kyubey is Evil Theory]]
* This speculative philosophical essay deals with the nature of Kyubey's utilitarianism: [[Talk:Philosophical Observations|Talk:Philosophical Observations]]

==External links==
*{{pixiv_tag|キュゥべえ}}
*{{booru_tag|danbooru|kyubey}}
*[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-30/madoka-magica-catchphrase-on-net-buzzword-2011-list Catchphrase on Net Buzzword 2011 List]
*[https://tri4.net/madomagi/realqb/ Kyubey in Akihabara]

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Incubators]]